 She was powered by Parsons geared steam turbines , driving four propeller shafts . Steam was provided by eight Admiralty boilers which normally delivered 100 @,@ 000 shaft horsepower ( 75 @,@ 000 kW ) , but could deliver 110 @,@ 000 shp ( 82 @,@ 000 kW ) at emergency overload . This gave Prince of Wales a top speed of 28 knots ( 52 km / h ; 32 mph ) . The ship carried 3 @,@ 542 long tons ( 3 @,@ 600 t ) of fuel oil . She also carried 180 long tons ( 200 t ) of diesel oil , 256 long tons ( 300 t ) of reserve feed water and 444 long tons ( 500 t ) of freshwater . During full power trials on 31 March 1941 , Prince of Wales at 42 @,@ 100 tons displacement achieved 28 knots with 111 @,@ 600 shp at 228 rpm and a specific fuel consumption of 0 @.@ 73 lb per shp.Prince of Wales had a range of 3 @,@ 100 nautical miles ( 5 @,@ 700 km ; 3 @,@ 600 mi ) at 27 knots ( 50 km / h ; 31 mph ) . 
