hi all. here is a follow up to my question.
i must have had air bubbles in my brain from being submerged too long! the whole problem is that even though i had full fresh crew and officers in the diesel engine compartment, they were the wrong type of crew. i didn't have any machinists (the guys with the little gear symbol) in the compartment. as soon as i fixed that problem, the props started turning and off i went.
just a dumb mistake on my part. oh well. thanks again for everyone's help.
dj