Most modern naval ships do not have traditional boilers, but some still do—especially older steam-powered warships and a few specialized vessels. In practice, the ships most likely to still use boilers are older U.S. Navy surface ships, some Russian ships, and legacy steam vessels that have not fully converted to gas turbines, diesels, or nuclear propulsion.

What still uses boilers

  • Older aircraft carriers and amphibious ships with steam plants, though many navies have retired these.
  • Legacy cruisers and destroyers that were built around steam propulsion.
  • Nuclear-powered ships still use boilers or boiler-like systems for auxiliary steam and ship services, even though their main propulsion comes from the reactor.
  • Museum ships and inactive hulls often still retain original boiler spaces, but those are no longer operating.

U.S. Navy example

A 2023 Navy feature on boiler-room operations described boilers as the heart of ship systems on a surface combatant, showing that some active Navy ships still run boiler-based machinery rather than fully non-boiler propulsion. A newer Navy engineering story in 2026 also focused on modernizing a boiler monitoring system, which indicates boilers are still relevant in some fleet support contexts.

Important distinction

“Has boilers” can mean two different things:

  1. Main propulsion boilers that actually drive the ship.
  2. Auxiliary boilers that supply steam for heating, equipment, or other ship services.
    So a ship may “still have boilers” even if they are not the primary engines.

Real-world takeaway

If you mean front-line warships today , boilers are increasingly rare and mostly a legacy feature. If you mean any naval vessel with steam systems on board , then yes, quite a few still have them.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.