New Wärtsilä waterjets excel in sea trials

Wärtsilä’s new high-performance LJX waterjets outperformed promises during construction and sea trials.

In mid 2006 Wärtsilä Corporation introduced the new, efficient and compact LJX axial water jets for the propulsion of fast vessels with promises of a 25% reduction in transom mounting flange diameter, a 10% overall reduction in weight and a 35% improvement in cavitation margin compared with other waterjets then on the market.

These benchmarks were met when the first LJX waterjet units were put through full-scale trials in July 2007. These were LJX 1500 size units of 9000 kW capacity. LJX water jets in the size range from 1800 to 22,000 kW have been ordered.