 For reasons including expected hostilities with Japan , requiring travel across the Pacific Ocean , long operational range was a recurrent theme in all US battleship designs . As an experiment , these ships received different powerplants . Delaware received triple @-@ expansion reciprocating engines , while North Dakota was fitted with Curtiss direct drive steam turbine engines . Both ships had 14 Babcock & Wilcox boilers , both original power plants were rated at 25 @,@ 000 shp ( 18 @,@ 642 kW ) ; and both ships were capable of reaching 21 knots . Chief Constructor Washington L. Capps predicted North Dakota would have a 25 percent shorter radius than Delaware at 16 knots and 45 percent less at 14 knots , based on tank tests and the known performance of steam turbines at that time . This estimate was proved true during the ships ' trial runs in 1909 . Also , because Delaware 's engine bearings were equipped with forced lubrication instead of a gravity @-@ fed system , she was able to steam at full speed for 24 hours without any need for engine repair . This would normally have been unthinkable as reciprocating engines were known generally to shake themselves apart if run at full power for long . However , this penchant for reliability came under question in the late 1930s as battleships with reciprocating engines performed poorly in the Pacific . By 1915 , more powerful and efficient geared turbines had been installed in North Dakota to replace her Curtiss turbines . These provided 31 @,@ 300 shp ( 23 @,@ 340 kW ) horsepower , some 6 @,@ 000 shp ( 4 @,@ 474 kW ) greater than her original engines . 
