Any Old Engineering Ratings (Bill Nichols?) Around...

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

sorry to spam the forum again, but i figured that this would be the place to find a few of you relics hanging out... i need a question answered, maybe two...

regarding diesel subs...

1- in the manuvering room, i pretty much understand the functions of the levers, but how is the actual power of the motors controlled... those lil round wheels in the center row of the cubicle console?

there was something else, but i can't remember... brain not awake yet, need that first cup of coffee...

*** added ***

yes, it was the coffe i needed... jogged me awake

2- about how many crewmen are typically in each engine room...

3- is the engineering officer a petty officer or a commissioned one...

thanks again in advance...

--Mike

[Kapitan]

Not an engineer but the obies use a gear system to regulate speed of the diesels, but they do not run directly on them they only charge the batterys and run generators.

on an oberon about 15 to 20 men would be assigned to the engine rooms not all at once, but you would have an officer in charge followed by lower ranks.


NOTE this is from a guy who served on obies and is tour guide at chatham for HMS Ocelot

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

thx Kap... can he tell you where the speed of the electric motors are controlled from...

... is it a wheel on the generator control console?

thx again...

--Mike

[Kapitan]

I cant ask him but i can guess this from what my dad has said (he is an engineer and electrician heavy plant)

The diesels would use gears to regulate the speed of the shaft which is connected to a generator which then in turn charges batterys, so to regulate speed push a button and it will up the out put.

The diesels do not acctualy drive the shafts its electric motors and they are probly govened by the output of the battery's so if i used 7 volts then my speed wouldnt be as high as me putting 24 volts into the motor.

Whats more on the oberon they have 3/4 tonne batterys and they only produce 2volts each and theres what 150 of them on board, i just wonder how long it took for them to discover duracell .

Those little penlite batters are 4 and half times more power in them than the batterys on obies

[Bill Nichols]

On my boat, we had an "Electric Propulsion Control Panel" in Maneuvering. The electric motors (we had 2 shafts) were controlled by two small wheels on the panel.

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

that's what i needed to know...

thanks Bill...

--Mike

I served onboard the USS Nicholas FFG47 while I was in the Navy. I was a Boatswains Mate 2nd Class. Our Engineering dept was lead by a CHENG Officer (Pronounced CHANG, means Chief Engineer) an EOW (pronounced E-OW, mean Engineering Officer of the Watch) usually a CPO (Chief Petty Officer) or EN1 (Engineman 1 class Petty Officer) would stand this as a 4 hour watch before being relieved by another 1st class or Chief. Then we had a main engine room, and an AUX 1 and Aux 2. Around 20 Enginemen, and Firemen (E1 - E3) would maintain these compartments from what I recall. Of course on larger ships the number would increase. I think there might even be more than one CHENG officer on some of the really large ships. Probably 1 Officer for every 1 or 2 engine rooms.

The only thing that I wish we were able to do in this sim is switch from Gas Turbines to Diesel Engines on the FFG. We usually had to run all 4 diesels to make up what 2 gas turbines could give us in power. We used the diesel engines while transitting across the pond to save on fuel. Diesel got better fuel economy than the gas turbines which we would use in combat situations or for shorter coastal deployment up and down the East Coast.

[Bill Nichols]

Mike,

Been doing some research. I'm sure you are familiar with:

http://www.maritime.org/fleetsub/ele...p3.htm#fig3-05

If you check figure 3-11, you see six wheels at the top of the panel. The center four control the electrical generators, the two outside wheels are for the port and starboard main motors, respectively (the wheels adjust the motor field rheostat, which controls the speed of the motors and thus the shaft RPM. See figures 3-7 and 3-9.


Figure 3-11.



Figure 3-9.


Figure 3-7.

[Mike 'Red Ocktober' Hense]

thanks again Bill... i have that very page printed out here i just couldn't deduce from the text that those where what controlled the speed of the motors...

please read and comment--> http://www.subsim.com/phpBB/viewtopi...=465897#465897

--Mike

[Bill Nichols]

Just to clarify, the two outer wheels (the ones with the knobby surface) control the shaft motors. The other four wheels control the generators.