The Steamboating Forum

I found this educational video on the internet, shows quite a few parts of the engine room:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a54_1327176505

Great stuff, those were the days.
Jack

What a great film. I would say that it was filmed somtime during the war , what with the capbands.

Mike

It is high time to get the boat know. Come on go for it.

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http://www.fleischersport.com/

A question to those in the know;

Toward the end of the film, the engineer warms through the turbines by running them forward and astern- however it would appear that the controls for this were for reverse angled nozzles, rather than for reversing the gearbox. How long did this practice carry on for, and why did it take so long, as by WWII we had a good idea of the forces involved in high temperature turbines?

Secondly, in the steering space it was an engineer checking the steering gear with a 'tif double checking, rather bridge crew checking each end, was this standard practice?

Greg

Greg,

Steam turbines are very susceptible to abuse, It is usual practice to warm through over as longer period as possible, and better still to keep hot. Usually the turbines were kept turning with the turning gear in port. Any water entering the blades is a disaster.
The usual practice for running astern is a separate set of astern blades usually only allowing up to 20% power. The gearbox is for reduction only, a reversing gearbox for very high powers is not a practical proposition.
Regarding the steering gear, it is the responsibility of the engineer officer that it works correctly, so its his job to check, both for function and to make sure the position repeaters are correct. I dare say the deck officers were too busy polishing their monocles to help with this.
Regards
Jack

Hi Jack,

steamboatjack wrote: The usual practice for running astern is a separate set of astern blades usually only allowing up to 20% power. The gearbox is for reduction only, a reversing gearbox for very high powers is not a practical proposition.
Jack

That makes sense now, I assumed that the smaller valve reversed the main blades too, with the resultant meeting of forces I could have seen metal fatigue being introduced over time, but to have separate reverse facing blades on a smaller turbine on the same shaft makes far more sense.

Thanks Jack

Greg

steamboatjack wrote:... I dare say the deck officers were too busy polishing their monocles to help with this.

Hah! The black gang's perspective on the deck is universal, no?