Gas turbine on and off to run it only at high efficiency. The emergence of the continuously variable transmission may also alleviate the responsiveness problem. Turbines have historically been more expensive to produce than piston engines, though this is partly because piston engines have been mass-produced in huge quantities for decades, while small gas turbine engines are rarities; however, turbines are mass-produced in the closely related form of the turbocharger. The turbocharger is basically a compact and simple free shaft radial gas turbine which is driven by the piston engine's exhaust gas. The centripetal turbine wheel drives a centrifugal compressor wheel through
Gas turbine fuel and use of cheaper fuels. Up to the late 1940s, much of the progress on marine gas turbines all over the world took place in design offices and engine builder's workshops and development work was led by the British Royal Navy and other Navies. While interest in the gas turbine for marine purposes, both naval and mercantile, continued to increase, the lack of availability of the results of operating experience on early gas turbine projects limited the number of new ventures on seagoing commercial vessels being embarked upon. In 1951, the Diesel-electric oil tanker "Auris", 12,290 Deadweight tonnage (DWT)