PAMPANITO Style Eau d'diesel

[SOB]

This Memorial Day, 7 remaining PAMPANITO WWII crew members and their families enjoyed an unusually pleasant day in San Francisco. Our guest speaker was Major General Rick Sherlock, son of WWII PAMPANITO radar officer LTjg Richard Sherlock. As Echo Taps faded over the assembly of close to 200, we pulled a special surprise -- Number 1 engine thundered to life and bathed everyone on the pier in eau d'diesel. We ran that beautiful FM-38D for 15 minutes and when we shut down, I swear Jim Kyser and I heard "Not now, PLEASE! Just give me one more hour!" coming from deep inside. We managed decent audio recording plus we got topside and FER videos of our warmup run this past Wednesday. As soon as we get the files into .wmv format, I'll post them here.

[Darrin]

GREAT JOB SOB, I am sure that firing that F/M over once more put a tear in the eyes of your crewmembers that were able to make the trip

[JTheotonio]

If only the Picuda was along side of her.  Great job - can't wait for sound and site of this event.

[Darrin]

And with another 15 minutes of run time on her I wonder how long the video is going to be for it this time because they already have a wmv of her starting and running over on HNSA but no video. One day hopefully Torsk will be able to add footage of hers running again for the first time in 38+ years, we only need a couple of enginemen dedicated to rebuilding and restoring one to running once more, if not then a couple of nuke sailors will have to do the dirty work and cross rate from QM/ET and TM to MM

[Lance Dean]

Thanks SOB this will be something to see!

I doubt you'd be able to attach an actual .wmv file here as it will likely be HUGE in filesize.  I hope you'll consider putting the video up on YouTube and sharing the link with us here.  But either way, I'll be glad to work with you to make sure we can see the video somehow!

[Darrin]

After seeing COD's GM come to life it made me feel good that we can get Torsk's back together with some help because during the Thanksgiving weekend last year the very engine that they got running was laying in pieces awaiting Diesel Dave to come home from a deployment and put her back together.. Nor will I ever forget Paul Farace telling me that everytime that they needed parts they were found or scrounged or by dumb luck donated at the right time and they had the right people there to put her back together once more. 

BZ Pamp and her crew for bringing an engine to life once more for her WWII veterans

[SOB]

Darrin - the HNSA website has a sound track that I'm working with Rich Pekelney to get changed out - but quick. It is actually an embarrassment.

As any engineman knows, when you start an engine with the governor set below minimum RPM, the governor will hunt all over hell's half acre. Such is the case in the present HNSA recording - which was made some years back before Jim Kyser and I started. The engine surges at least 3 times before the governor catches. Unprofessional and D-U-M-B!

Now, with the governor set correctly at 550RPM, that baby thunders to life and maintains rock-solid RPM - as it should. Yesterday, I even bumped the old gal up to 600RPM and she sounded G-R-E-A-T! The recording will give you all of that plus some outboard exhaust pops that we need to find some skinny guy to chase down next time we run the engine - which will be June 6th.

The previous administration believed it was "safer" to start the engine at 400RPM - which is smack-dab in the middle of the worst lugging range you could pick for a FM-38D! You don't get enough lube oil pressure to stabilize the governor. Lugging an engine - even unloaded - is the worst thing you can do besides starting it without any lube oil at all in the crankcase!

///SOB

[Darrin]

SOB,
Have no fear mate, we have that sound track saved and have used it on Torsk more then a few times onboard when the crew is there to give the tourista's a very unique experiance and with a good sound system we have even gotten the deck to vibrate with the sound of your F/M running and it even scared a few tourista's because it was so loud

Me personally I am looking forward to hearing the latest correct version of the Pamp's engine running

[Paul Farace]

Great work Pamp!!!
The goal of all subs on display should be to get their engines (and everything else) working... not to run it to death, but because by doing so (returning to operating condition-USING PROPER CURATORIAL METHODS ONLY!!!), you in fact preserve the boat!

Yeee hawww, now the next thing has to be firing WATER SLUGS!!!!

 

[SOB]

Well, when we promised eau d'diesel, we delivered! The videos are being prepared for YouTube or something, but here is a sample still shot of the scene ...

For those interested in the technical details, we were NOT playing tincan and making a smokescreen. Our starting air was at about 700psi and while the engines require only 250 to start, having only 700psi in the banks limited the volume available - i.e. we typically crank with 1400psi in the banks.

Sooooooo .. we had maybe 6-8 seconds worth of fuel in a racked engine before she caught. Hence the prolific eau d'diesel that literally engulfed the pier to the point the old timers seated on the main deck around our 5" wet mount couldn't see the spectators on the pier!

///SOB

[JTheotonio]

You can smell that diesel from the pictures alone.    Great work. BZ to your whole crew SOB!

[Lance Dean]

Thank you for sharing those photos!

[Darrin]

She sure looks good with the smoke rolling from that F/M and a couple of the guys were grinning from ear to ear and you just gotta know that they have missed hearing that sound and smelling that aroma after all of these years.

[Paul Farace]

You gotta believe that there is no better reward for volunteer work than looking at the faces of these vets!

WELL DONE PAMP!!!

 

[SOB]

You got that right, Paul - the looks on the faces of those WWII boys was almost enough to make a grown man cry -- as if the piper doing Amazing Grace didn't!