HMCS SACKVILLE Engine Room

Unlike today, where ships are typically powered by diesel or gas turbines, steam was the order of the day during the Second World War. Destroyers, cruisers, and battleships built during that time were fitted with steam turbines to provide better efficiency and higher speeds. Steam turbines are more expensive and are best fitted with gearboxes, so when it came time for emergency war-built convoy escorts - the Flower class, for instance - the Royal Navy decided to go with simple, reliable, triple expansion reciprocating steam engines. 

HMCS SACKVILLE.

A good example, and indeed the last of this particular powerplant in existence (though similar installations may exist in other museum ships), is the one in HMCS SACKVILLE on the Halifax waterfront. SACKVILLE is preserved by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust (CNMT) as the world's last remaining Flower class corvette. I have photographed the interior of the engine room in SACKVILLE before, in 2002 and 2005, and wrote about it on the Hazegray and Underway website. Since that time, the engine room was allowed to deteriorate a bit, and it became quite dirty. More recently, former East Coast Fleet Chief ERA and CNMT trustee, Pat Devenish, has led an effort to clean up the engine room and return it somewhat to its former glory. Pat was kind enough to walk me through the engine room on Friday, so I could get a fresh set of photos for my records, and is responsible for many of the factoids that I recount in this post (though any errors are my own). 

Looking forward and to port, the cylinder tops are under the grey covers. Piston heads can be seen on the port wall over the engine. Everything has been scrubbed and repainted since I last set foot here. The blue plaque would not have been seen here during the war, but is apparently currently fitted within the engine rooms of HMC Ships.

The engine room has three levels, the highest being the catwalk on which I was standing to take the image above. Level 2 is on the catwalk visible at the bottom of the image, which brings you to the level of the cylinder heads and the original diesel generator and main switchboard. Below that, Level 1 brings you down to the propeller shaft and piston shafts. I'm not sure what the proper terminology is, but I hesitate to refer to them as decks.

Level 2

An original diesel generator, starboard side aft. The main switchboard is behind and to the right. The ladder descends from the catwalk over the aft end of the engine room. The genset's radiator is to the left of the photo.

The diesel generator provided electrical power for lights and other equipment requiring electricity, like radios and ASDIC (sonar). Diesel generators are still the method of choice for providing backup electrical power for modern facilities, with hospitals and sewage pumping stations as only two examples.

Close-up of the main switchboard, with what I assume is the generator's alternator in the foreground.

I doubt the electrical switchboard would meet modern safety standards, and the crew would have had to operate it in lively sea states in a type of ship that was itself known to be lively, and to "roll on wet grass". 

Looking aft from the port side, with the pistons to the right of the image. The ladder seen in the generator photo can be seen to the left of the image. The engine's condenser, which returned the steam to a liquid state before it returned to the boiler, is the grey object to the bottom right of the image. The catwalk at the rear of the photo is where visitors view the engine room from, as the rest of the space is not currently open to the general public.

The steam is first fed to the centre of the steam engine (when it is at its highest pressure), where the smallest of the four cylinders is located. The steam then passed to the mid-sized cylinder, and then to the two larger cylinders on the ends (when it is at its lowest pressure). A triple-expansion steam engine only needs three cylinders, but the final cylinder would have been too large for this installation, therefore it was split into two cylinders and SACKVILLE's engine has a total of four cylinders. Once the steam leaves the last cylinders, it passes to the condenser from where it returns to the boilers.

Ever wonder why railways were littered with water towers? Steam railway locomotives didn't have condensers, and needed to refill their tanks every once in a while. 

Another perspective of the engine room from the ladder in the forward port corner.

Looking forward and to port, the grey condenser is in the foreground. The pipes feeding into the top of the condenser come from the two cylinders on each end of the engine. Steam driven bilge pumps are in the background. I was standing on a Level 2 catwalk for this photo, looking down into Level 1.

Level 1

The steam driven bilge pumps seen in the background of the previous photo.

Not original to the engine room, the generator on the left provides ship's power during cold moves to and from the Dockyard and during memorial services off Point Pleasant Park on Battle of the Atlantic Sunday. On the right is the back end of the condenser. 

Looking aft along the starboard side of the engine. 

Looking into the engine from the starboard side. The connecting rods in the centre of the photo connect the piston rods above to the crank shaft at the bottom of the photo.

Looking forward at the row of piston and connecting rods through the engine.

Closeup of the connection between the piston rod above, the connecting rod, and the crank shaft below.

A view of the offset between the connecting rods from different cylinders - one is pushing down on the crank shaft, while the other rod is returned to top dead centre by the momentum of the shaft, ready for another power stroke. The piston rods traveled straight up and down, while the connecting rods are more dynamic in order to connect the piston rods to the rotating crank shaft. 

Where steam once powered the engine to turn the propeller shaft, SACKVILLE's propeller shaft is currently fitted with a hydraulic motor that when activated, turns the shaft and allows the engine to operate so that visitors can see it move.

Looking forward along the starboard side of the engine.

A closeup of the reversing engine and throttle handwheel.

Adjacent to the throttle handwheel is the engine room telegraph, which relayed orders from the wheelhouse.

Corvettes didn't exactly provide direct throttle control from the bridge to the engine room. Throttle settings and helm directions were relayed to the wheelhouse via voice pipe, one for each purpose (there was a voice pipe for the helmsman, one for the telegraph operator, and one for the throttle operator). And while the helmsman turned the wheel based on the direction from the bridge, another crewman listening to a separate voice pipe relayed throttle directions to the engine room via the telegraph, which in turn was registered on the telegraph in the photo above. With no less than 3 crew members involved in this chain, everyone had to be on their toes to ensure that throttle commands were relayed and obeyed in good order. Presumably this made coming alongside the jetty even more exciting than it is today.

Looking aft along the starboard side, showing the engine room telegraph opposite the throttle handwheel. The ladder back up to Level 2 is in the background.

This electrical distribution panel is located on the bulkhead at the aft end of the engine room. The ladder to the right accesses the "new" generator. Behind this bulkhead was the Engineer's Store.

Looking through my older set of photos, I see that the last time I stood in this location, I was the guest of former stoker Charles Dunbar. Charlie served in corvettes during the Second World War, and later went on to work for Foundation Maritime, where he joined Foundation Josephine in 1947.

Charlie Dunbar in the engine room in 2005, standing in front of the same electrical distribution panel as the photo above.

Ten years later, I was present to see Charlie's ashes piped over the side of HMCS HALIFAX off Point Pleasant Park.

The ashes of Charlie Dunbar are piped over the side of HMCS HALIFAX.

SACKVILLE is an old ship, and desperately needs some time out of the water for urgent hull maintenance to be performed. The hull plating is getting thin, and some of the frames themselves are also rotten and in need of replacement. The photo below shows the state of the hull plating when left on its own - it isn't possible to control the humidity within the ship, and bare metal rusts. In the case of the S.S. Great Britain, the ship is kept dry in the graving dock in which she was built and the entire hull below the waterline is encased with a glass roof, and a sophisticated de-humidification system slows the progress of oxidation. That isn't currently possible with SACKVILLE - but it might be, if Battle of Atlantic Place is ever constructed. 

The aft starboard quarter of the engine room is the one spot that hasn't received attention yet, so of course I had to take a photo. The rusted plate in the centre of the image is hull plating.

Rivets are supposed to be flush with the inside of the hull plating, and these rivets are proud of the plate, suggesting erosion of the plating. Eventually, the plate will thin to the point that it is no longer structurally sound, assuming some of it isn't already there. The necessary maintenance is tentatively scheduled for the winter of 2017/2018. 

The photographic quality isn't as good, but I provide a better description of the workings in the engine room on the Hazegray and Underway website.

Brunel's S.S. Great Britain

Occasionally my interests in engineering and my maritime history hobby intersect, as they did when I visited Bristol in 2006, home to two monuments to the genius of Civil and Mechanical engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. One is the Clifton Suspension Bridge, of which I have previously shown some photos here. The other is the S.S. Great Britain, which is preserved at a museum there.

The 3,400 ton S.S. Great Britain viewed from the port stern. My lens at the time wasn't the widest, so I couldn't fit her all in.

Here is a picture of a model in the museum to give an idea of her size. Not sure why I am getting the evil eye through the glass case.

Built in 1845, she was the first ocean-going vessel to combine an iron hull with steam propulsion driving a screw propeller, and at the time was the longest ship in the world. She was also provided with auxiliary sail power, and indeed was converted entirely to sail later in her career. After reaching the end of her operational lifetime, she then spent around 86 years laid up in the Falklands, and was scuttled in 1937, before being returned on a barge to Bristol after 1970 where she was restored and remains to this day.

Looking aft along the port side.

The S.S. Great Britain is actually on display in the graving dock within which she was built.

Great Britain looks out over a portion of Bristol Harbour from her graving dock.

Looking out over the bow.

The ship's wheel.

Looking forward along the deck.

Looking aft.

Spending so many years in a salt water environment has taken its toll on the ship's hull. Even after the graving dock was drained, the moisture in the air of the graving dock allowed corrosion to continue, and it was determined (as I recall) that salt had bound to the iron in the ship's hull. Conservation measures, in the form of a glass roof over the graving dock interior and de-humification equipment both in the dock and within the ship's hull, were installed to preserve the ship.

The caisson that seals off the end of the graving dock from the harbour outside.

Looking aft from the ship's bow. Part of the de-humidification system's ductwork runs along either side of the keel.

Looking forward along the port bow.

A close-up of the ship's plating.

Another plating close-up, this time showing some of the holes in the hull.

In many locations, you can actually stick your finger through the hull, as this man is doing.

Approaching the stern.

A replica of the ship's original screw propeller. It was deemed unsatisfactory, and was replaced by a 4-bladed model.

The rudder and propeller.

Rudder and propeller.

Later in the ship's life, possibly when put on the run to Australia, Great Britain was operated primarily under sail for economy, only resorting to her machinery when the wind died. Propellers create considerable drag when a ship is under sail, so the propeller was mounted on a lifting frame that allowed the propeller to be raised when the ship was under sail, and lowered and re-coupled to the propeller shaft when it was necessary to run the engines.

A working version of the lifting frame, with what looks like an original rudder, is housed in one of the nearby museum buildings.

The ship was originally built as a liner, and as such the interior would have been nicely finished, some of which has been recreated in the restored ship. Later refits increased the passenger capacity, presumably at the expense of passenger comfort.

The skylight above can be seen in the photo of the ship's wheel earlier in this post.

The ship's machinery is recreated within, and was designed especially for the ship by Brunel himself.

Great Britain's machinery.

Pistons from the crank shaft down to the steam pistons.

The large wheel on the top, installed on the ship's crankshaft, drives the series of chains that in turn drive the ship's propeller shaft at the bottom of the photo. The chain drive arrangement was replaced in later years.

Ship's interior looking forward.

I found the ship and museum to be very interesting, and well worth the visit if you are ever in Bristol.

As a final note, another ship (also worth a visit) moored nearby when I was in Bristol was the Matthew, a replica of John Cabot's vessel from his 1497 voyage from Bristol to Newfoundland, probably Bonavista or St. John's.

A replica of John Cabot's Matthew.

This same vessel actually sailed the Atlantic in 1997, and as I recall I visited her that summer in Shelburne, NS. While working a summer work term for the Canadian Hydrographic Service at BIO, we got to sign a nautical chart that was to be given to the crew. In addition to this ship, there is a second replica of the Matthew in Bonavista itself.

HMCS KOOTENAY Gearbox Explosion

On October 23, 1969, the Royal Canadian Navy suffered its worst peacetime accident when HMCS KOOTENAY's starboard gearbox exploded during full power trials off the coast of Britain. The lessons learned from this event continue to shape the RCN's approach to damage control to this day. To commemorate this event, a service was held in Halifax on Friday, October 21, 2016.

I assembled an article between 2007 and 2009 on this event, and it appears on the Hazegray and Underway website.

I have been interested in naval powerplants for some time now, and the Y100 powerplant used by the Royal and Royal Canadian Navies between the 1950's and 1990's in particular. As an engineer, the accident in KOOTENAY in itself is a lesson for designers - a component part should never be able to be easily installed improperly in such a way that it can cause a catastrophic failure.

Follow the link.

The ruptured starboard gearbox of HMCS KOOTENAY.

A Cruise on the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien

During a 2009 visit to San Francisco, I was lucky enough to be in town over the Memorial Day weekend, and was able to take in a cruise on the restored Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien. Originally built over a period of 56 days in 1943 in Maine, Jeremiah O'Brien spent 33 years in the reserve fleet in Suisan Bay until rescued in 1980 when she was able to steam away from the mothball fleet under her own power (see the Wikipedia article).

S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien alongside in San Francisco.

Jeremiah O'Brien taken a few days earlier on a sunnier day.

Even with the growth of merchant ships in the years since the Second World War, Liberty Ships were not small.

The O'Brien is on the US National Register of Historic Places, and is normally berthed at Pier 45 in San Francisco, just aft of the restored Second World War submarine USS PAMPANITO (which I will probably cover in a separate post at some point).

Museum submarine USS PAMPANITO.

Jeremiah O'Brien makes several cruises under her own steam (yes, STEAM!) each year, so it is well worth checking out her schedule if you plan on being in San Francisco. In my case, I just got lucky that the timing worked out. 

Jeremiah O'Brien alongside at Pier 45. The port-potties were not original equipment.

The crew made sure to bring along some tunes.

Although the O'Brien's triple expansion steam engine still works and is put to use during these cruises, she definitely requires tug assistance to get away from the wharf, and the two tugs (Sagittarian and Taurus) provided an escort during the entire cruise in case the ship ran into trouble. 

Sagittarian taking a line from the stern.

Sagittarian providing escort after casting off the stern line.

After easing the ship out into the stream, the tugs cast off and Jeremiah O'Brien got underway.

O'Brien making a turn away from the city, with the Bay Bridge in the background.

The San Francisco fire boat escorts the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien around the Bay during the Memorial Weekend cruise. The two monitors firing water on either side of the bow are for putting out fires under wharves. Alcatraz is in the background.

The cargo handling masts, booms, and cranes of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

Though a merchant vessel, Jeremiah O'Brien carried armament that would have left many of the RCN's smaller vessels in envy: a 3" gun at the bow, a 5" gun at the stern, and eight 20mm Oerlikon AA mountings.

Gun tubs and armouring on the port superstructure of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

One of the purposes of the Memorial Day weekend cruise was to place wreaths in memory of Merchant Navy veterans and others. The ship headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Golden Gate itself.

With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, and under the watchful eye of Taurus, Jeremiah O'Brien approaches the site of the wreath ceremony. 

A collection of wreaths prior to the ceremony where they were thrown overboard.

I was able to monopolize a location on the port side just aft of where the wreaths were being thrown over the side, and used my flash to fill in the exposures.

A wreath is thrown into the bay from the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.

Two Oakland Police officers form an Honour Guard to throw a wreath into the bay in memory of four fallen officers.

Once the wreaths were all deposited into the Golden Gate, the ship turned around and headed back to Pier 45. Once back at the pier, the line up to visit the engine room subsided, and I headed down to take a look - as a result, I unfortunately wasn't able to see the engine in operation.

The piston rods and crank shaft of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien's triple expansion steam engine.

During the return to the pier, I was able to turn my lens outboard of the ship to catch some of the other sights.

An unusual view of the Golden Gate Bridge during the cruise.

Taurus following along on our way out, with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

San Francisco Bay was definitely alive with all sorts of traffic during the Memorial Day Weekend.

There was at least one race going on at the time.

I will finish off with some more photos of the two tugs.

The tug Sagittarian in a bit of chop outside San Francisco harbour.

A freighter heads out to sea in the background of this shot of Sagittarian.

Looking down from the deck of the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien to Taurus below. It is a long way down.

There is a full gallery of my photos from this cruise on my Smugmug site, including some not shown here.