School of the Boat 23 Mar 09 (Diesels)

[etkfixr]

Anybody care to take on explaining the main diesels?  I almost qualified on the Billfish (SSN-676) as a diesel operator.  That was a Fairbanks Morse.  I don't have much of a clue about the GM Wintons.  Also, what was the proceedure for starting and stopping them?  What are the main subsystems etc.?  Anybody?  Anybody?  Terry

[Darrin]

Good catch on this school of the boat Terry, I had forgotten to teach about the diesels. 1 really cool thing about F/M engines is that each engine has it's own technical manual specific to that engine and that engine alone, the reason why each engine has it's own manual is because when the factory put them together they wrote down ALL of the specs for that engines bearings and rods and general clearances all around.

[JTheotonio]

  There is no sweeter sound than that of a diesel engine lighting off on a diesel submarine!  And good freshly made Gilly tastes so much better with a bit of diesel fuel added! 

[JTheotonio]

How's this?

[etkfixr]

As I remember it, lighting off the Fairbanks-Morse on the Billfish went something like this.  You checked the freshwater expansion tank level on the way and topped it off.  Once in the compartment you did the valve line-up, seawater, freshwater, lube oil, etc. Then you turned the engine over by hand using a pry bar.  The big F-Ms on the Battleship have a screw drive connected to a hand crank for this.  Same thing on the Fleet Boats?  You rolled the diesel with the starting air, all this to make sure it wasn't locked up.  When you were ready and the order was given to start you had to hold in the snorkel safety circuit bypass button while pulling the starting quadrant handle.  There was also an exhaust drain valve near the deck that you left open until the engine was running to keep the back-pressure low.  You had to kick that closed at the right time while still keeping that snorkel button mashed down.  Once while doing an under-instruction watch I let my thumb roll off a little and the circuit cut in and killed the engine.  We had to secure snorkling and reline-up while the reactor was scrammed for a drill.  The Co, the Chang, the A-div O, the A-div chief.....pretty much everyone hated my guts.  Anyone know what the proceedure was back in the day?  Terry

[SOB]

If other museum boats have a situation anything like PAMPANITO, lining up and running an engine has proven to be a major undertaking. Another old DBF engineman, Jim "GEEZER" Kyser, and I have spent the better part of a year tracing ALL systems, documenting dumbshitalts that have been made, figuring out which control circuits still function and which don't, etc etc.

In any event, we have managed to safely run #1 (FM-38D) twice now and are just about finished preparing a detailed manual, complete with photos and checklists - plus PAMPANITO-specific policies.

We will be running the engine again this coming Wednesday in preparation for our WWII Crew Reunion and Lost Boat Ceremony on Memorial Day, hope to get some detailed topside and FER video shots this time.

On behalf of PAMPANITO, I would be happy to share this manual with any other museum boat that has FMs on the condition you accept the fact it is PAMPANITO-specific [remember, I did say we have some dumbshitalts to deal with].

Just drop an E-mail: SOB490@earthlink.net and I'll mail a CD-ROM. It will be a couple more weeks before we are finished with the final manual because we are still untangling the fresh water side of the hacked-up system as it is currently configured.

PLEASE - museum boats only at this point, later on I'll be able to respond to individual requests and will be happy to do so at that time.

///SOB

[Darrin]

Thank you SOB, I would truly appreciate it if you would send me a copy because I am trying to get Torsk's #1 F/M to run once more but there is piping missing and I am truly interested in seeing how you ran your water lines and other pieces of gear to make the cooling system work once more.

Darrin

[SOB]

Darrin - set up my Allowed List so your E-mails will get thru.

We do NOT run salt water on the salt water side because the engine is unloaded (i.e. no generator cut in) and we have the sea chests secured. Next yard, we'll probably blank them off entirely. Instead, we have fresh water from the pier routed by hose into the suction side of the engine-attached salt water pump, then thru the normal system and out the overboard thru the muffler.

When I send the CD, you'll see exactly what we are doing.

The key is to make sure your fresh water side is topped off because it is important to maintain cooling flow on that side in order to avoid hot spots. We run the engines for about 15 minutes max and monitor the FW and LO temps. We cheked the remote electrical thermometer against the direct reading in-line thermometer in order to make sure they read about the same - which in our case, they do.

But we continue to watch the direct-read just to make sure. In a 15 minute unloaded run, the FW and LO temps don't get much above minimum, let alone anywhere near max - your manual will give you the max readings. Ditto pyrometers - they barely come off the bottom peg.

Another shortcut - we operate alll outboards and main induction manually just so we don't need to run the main hydraulic system any more than necessary - which is usually limited to raising and lowering scopes during VIP tours.

///SOB

[Darrin]

thanks SOB,
Our sea water chests have been blanked off for a decade or more now, I don't remember if it was the '87 or the '97 shipyard period that they were blanked off so yes we will be running fresh water to cool our engine also. We don't have to worry about hydraulics because ours haven't been brought back to life yet if at all, one day maybe but not right now

Darrin