Old video on a Steam Tug

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Maltelec
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Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by Maltelec » Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:25 pm

Interesting video on a Steam Tug in New York

https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=ulv7g_1587219782
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by DetroiTug » Sun Apr 19, 2020 1:30 am

One of the best period movies on the subject I've ever seen. Another good one is tugboat Annie with Marie Dressler.

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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by Mike Rometer » Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:42 am

Tick V.G.!

It must bring on a particular mind set to stand in front of the Engine room end of the telegraph, waggling the levers in response to the calls, and never seeing WHY! :? :? (Especially when you get a sudden call for "full speed astern".)

I liked the way the guy was checking the bearing temps, I watched one of the Ratings doing it on the American Queen (Mississippi) with a hand-held infra-red gizmo. A whole different engineering world.
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by Lopez Mike » Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:54 am

My uncle Bob was on the throttle of a cruiser in the South Pacific during WW2. Just following instructions and trying not to let his imagination run away on him.

He did say that you could hear nearby torpedos and were relived when it was one of ours as they weren't exploding.
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:01 am

Mike Rometer wrote:
Sun Apr 19, 2020 8:42 am
Tick V.G.!

It must bring on a particular mind set to stand in front of the Engine room end of the telegraph, waggling the levers in response to the calls, and never seeing WHY! :? :? (Especially when you get a sudden call for "full speed astern".)
Engineering on the tug is that way. And yes it's blind obedience to the bells and trust in the helmsman. We can look out the side window, but can't see very much ahead. I've tried to muster the courage to single hand it, but it would be very risky.

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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:07 am

Lopez Mike wrote:
Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:54 am
My uncle Bob was on the throttle of a cruiser in the South Pacific during WW2. Just following instructions and trying not to let his imagination run away on him.

He did say that you could hear nearby torpedos and were relived when it was one of ours as they weren't exploding.
Didn't our Navy have an issue with that at one time? Duds?

Ron
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by Lopez Mike » Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:53 am

Ah, yes. The Mark 14. Yes, a major scandal. I'll include a couple of links since we're all cooped up with plenty of time on our hands. Sigh.

First, there is some blame to be laid at the feet of the political establishment (read, our grandparents, the tax payers). The navy was on such sort funding in the 30's that there was no way that there could be any serious testing. Torpedo were too expensive.

Second, there were serious engineering mistakes. The pressure port used to sense depth was moved with no further testing so the beast ran deeper that the user settings.

When that was finally proved and the magnetic sensors disconnected so that direct impact was used, the things still failed to explode most of the time.

Another factor was that the senior officer who had been in charge of developing the new weapon was, by WW2, in charge of armaments and didn't want to hear about failures. Finally a very brave sub captain brought back some torps from a cruise so that they could be fired against a cliff in Hawaii with multiple failures.

It transpired that the normal impact velocities were higher than the designers allowed for and a direct right angle hit would damaged the fuse such that it would fail. A glancing blow would limit the damage and produce an explosion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_14_torpedo

Even with all of this problems corrected, that model was never as capable as the Japanese Long Lance model. The Japanese unit had far greater range and reduced exhaust trail among other features. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_93_torpedo

All of this was swamped by our totally superior strategy. The Japanese focused on attacking our war ships and we went after their supply ships. Yes, we lost the Indianapolis cruiser. They ran out of oil. Glory was defeated by planning.

More than you wanted to hear, I'm sure.
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:35 am

Oh no, interesting stuff, thanks. Its kind of amazing, topedos basically had rotary steam engines for propulsion.

Hmmm, military spending drastically reduced during the 30's, I'm seeing a pattern here

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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by Lopez Mike » Fri Apr 24, 2020 3:38 am

Rotary Steam Engine? Is this some sort of euphemism for a turbine?

In an odd aside, Germany had a torpedo that had an I.C. V8 engine based on their very successful grand pix car engines for the 30's. Except that the dual overhead cam heads were exchanged for rotary valve heads to reduce the height of the engine to fit in a torpedo. It ran on a mixture of oxygen and its own exhaust. Sealed bearings on the crankshaft. Screaming at some incredible r.p.m. and short lived but who cared? A few minutes run and it was all scrap metal.
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Re: Old video on a Steam Tug

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:00 pm

I looked at drawings of one and it had like a five cylinder radial that ran off the chemical concoction. Thought I did anyway.

Ron
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