27 September 2010
Spirits of the Black Gang
(Captain Harry Burkhardt explaining the steam plant of C-6. Photo Socotra)
I followed Captain Harry down the ladder to the main plant of the ex-USS Olympia. I gingerly stepped down, past the red-painted grates that held machinery related to the cylinders that contained the enormous pistons. The rungs were different than Navy standard ladders have been for a long time, closer together, steel and not aluminum.
My first ship was Midway, an almost veteran of WWII, and built to the standards of that Navy. This ladder dated to 1919, only 36 years before the new standards were in place. It felt alien and yet familiar as I tried to avoid smashing the lens of the Canon D-50 against the handrails.
“Only the officers got to use this,” called out Captain Harry from down below. “The stokers and engineers had to use the coal shaft.” He had gestured to the remnants of the rungs of a ladder on the bulkhead as he bounded down. “But in the day, at Manila Bay, everyone climbed, Black Gang and officers alike. I will show you how the sailors had to get up in a minute.”
Arriving on the deckplates of the engine room, it occurred to me that Captain Harry was the living soul of this magnificent ship. It is his obsession and his joy. The engine room was precisely detailed: grating in bright red. Brass polished, massive steel polished.
“Been working here, on and off, since I was a teen-ager. The ghosts call me The Kid,” he said with a grin. He gestured at the brass gauges on the control panel, and the voice horn near an enormous brass control wheel. I looked around in wonder. This was Steam Punk beyond any rational imagining.
“They painted over everything that wasn’t coated in Cosmoline. It was a mess. Been cleaning up for years. When they shut her down for the last time in 1922, they were inching her into the pier. Both engines were turning starboard. We can tell because of the way the worm gears are set. Imagine this space, dark and silent for a generation. All sorts of things must have had a chance to exist in the blackness.” He looked around at what he had accomplished and lovingly touched the annunciator control panel that communicated with the bridge and other critical positions on the ship.
(Front view, from high-pressure end, of the starboard engine of showing control station. Valves (all piston) were actuated by Stephenson link motion.)
“If you are nice, I will let you blow the fog horn when we are done down here. I have it hooked up to compressed air,” he said. “Someday, I intend to have this mighty engine work again.” He hooked his arm around the massive support to the Stephenson link. He handed me a pamphlet produced by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers that had the original drawings of the plant.
“ASME put her on the list of National Mechanical Engineering Landmarks back in 1977. Didn’t come with any money, though.” He gestured at the walnut and brass-bound steam trunks. “The whole thing is amazing.”
(Walnut and Brass-bound steam trunk. Photo Socotra)
“See, people think that the ship is built around the engine, the way they do now. Wasn’t true then. The Union Iron Works in San Francisco built the two engines, assembled and tested them ashore and then disassembled them and constructed them again here in the ship. Every bolt was numbered to ensure that they went together properly. You could take this apart and spread it out in the parking lot and I could reassemble it no problem.”
(Back view, from low-pressure end, of port engine showing reversing shaft and built-up wrought iron columns supporting the cylinders and cross-head guides)
(Engine room today, looking forward. Photo Socotra)
(Engine room today, looking aft. Photo Socotra)
“Olympia is one of the two surviving ships with vertical reciprocating steam engine. The other one is Texas (BB-35), which was unique in being the only battlewagon with service in both world wars. She is one of the last vertical plant constructed. She was commissioned in 1914, the year the Great War started in Europe. She gets funding from the State of Texas, by the way, and this lady never got a dime from the government.”
“Now, take a look at this,” he said. “Olympia is propelled by twin screws driven by three three-cylinder triple expansion engines. Together they can deliver 16,850 indicated horsepower at 139 rpm. They were designed to produce 6,750 indicated horsepower apiece at 129 rpm. Each of the three cylinders is supported at the back on an inverted “Y” frame of wrought iron, and at the front on two forged steel cylindrical columns.”
“The original design called for cast steel columns both front and back, but difficulties in obtaining cast steel castings at the time made it necessary to change it while keeping strength and light weight.”
“The main pistons are of cast steel, and the bedplates manganese bronze. Intermediate and low-pressure cylinders are steam-jacketed. Cylinder bores are 42, 59, and 92 inches, and the stroke of each piston is 42 inches.”
(Massive nuts on Olympia’s pistons. Photo Socotra)
“On her initial speed trials, Olympia reached 21.686 knots, wicked fast for that time. The Navy was so impressed they authorized a $400,000 bonus to the builders, which was a ton of cash in those days."
Harry looked thoughtful as he flipped the gleaming brass cover of a valve case. "The scene in the engine room at speed was like an inferno. As the great piston rods leapt wildly up and down and the connecting rods whirled the massive cranks round, hot oil and water spurted everywhere. Seawater from hoses playing on hot bearings sloshed in the bilges. In an atmosphere murky with steam from dozens of small leaks, the engine officers would stand on the greasy deck plates, oilskins buttoned to the neck, their faces black and their clothes soaked in oil and water. All over would be a noise so deafening that telephones could not be used."
He gestured at the heavy brass casing on the port side of the passage. "This was the only flat surface down here. You can see the marrs on the surface from where they cut new gaskets. I am looking for graffiti, and some day I will find it. Breakdowns from overheated bearings or broken steam joints were common, and were always expected. After any prolonged period of high-speed running there would be work for the dockyard engineers."
"I bet," I said, trying to imagine what it was like with everything in the space moving and eight men on watch.
“Up forward is where the female ghost hangs out," said Captain Harry with a matter-of-fact tone. "We think her name is Karen. We have also seen a black apparition from there multiple times.”
“OK,” I said, still trying to get my mind around the Victorian elegance of this massive machine. “You keep talking about the ghosts. Is this ship haunted?”
Captain Harry looked at me and blinked. “Of course. We have identified twelve different ones. Come on back to the boiler room and I will show you where we got one of their pictures.”
Copyright 2010 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
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