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| Watercolor painting by Dwight Shepler of the USS South Dakota in action with Japanese planes during the Battle of Santa Cruz which took place October 11-26, 1942. Source |
General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations! Air Attack!
Trotting (you couldn’t really run) pulling on his dungaree shirt, making his way down the passageway to the plant. Thud-booom … the 5” guns were starting up, God already? How close were those planes?
Down into the plant do a quick turnover with the junior watchstander and he scrambles off to his battlestation. Take an assessment of his watchstation … the Boiler fronts, He is now responsible for keeping the fires lit and steam pouring out to the main turbines , and the ships turbine generators for electrical power.
Check the stack periscope… still burning clean… the trick will be keeping a clear stack while changing burner sizes and forced draft blower speeds.
5” guns keep up a steady bass riff, the turbines whining out their one note song. Then the 40mm quad mounts open up like a snare drum.
They are close.
The deck shifts hard to starboard, the engine order telegraph rings out Back Full from ahead full… CRAP! things just went sideways… The basic version of what happens is a highly efficient high speed steam turbine has just been reversed into a much less efficient “backing engine”
“Torpedoes in the water!”… hence the breaks and turn …
The abrupt change from ahead to astern caused a dynamic change in temperatures and pressures in the steam system. The deaerating feed tank, hit with a slug of hot condensate and lower Aux steam pressure … Reached that point that all the water feeding the main feed booster pumps flashed to steam. Loss of feed!
The Main feed pumps tripped on low pressure, they had seconds …
Secure the Burners, stop the fire, without water the boiler tubes will melt, if water is returned to a hot empty boiler it’s a bomb …
Machinist Mates scramble to get feed restored, Pumps up, Pressure, slow, slow … His boilers are down, 20mm AA is now ripping out its staccato sound.
He might have heard the torpedoes whirr by but he was busy.
Engine order telegraph rings up “ahead flank” … Steam pressure is dropping fast.
Quick, like a bunny, pull a heavy burner out and grab a light spray starter nozzle…Slide in, lock in place, one quick look into the bullseye on the boiler and sees the back wall refractory is still glowing red … maybe … He slams open the fuel valve and the atomized fuel oil hits the hot refractory “THROOOM!” and blooms into a beautiful yellow flame. He’d just saved the time of a full lightoff procedure.
Cut in burner after burner, Pressure coming up nicely … Hard roll to port, speed up, Still calling Flank.
Pull the starter nozzle and start replacing “full” nozzles with “med” nozzles. Pressure good steady state steaming … except for the AA gunfire and crazy turns. He watches the color of the fire, temps. &press, and the smokestack periscope, to adjust combustion to optimal… at least until the load on the plant changed.
The .50 cals are firing now, they’re so close.
You can hear and “feel” bombs hitting farther away at other targeted ships. Our AA is firing nonstop, it’s even hard to pick out individual 5” gun shots, the noise is constant, a ripple of percussion. Hard to starboard! Deck tilting, Engine order telegraph rings “all stop” Quick! shutoff 2 burners and throttle back on the forced draft blower.
The two Med. Nozzles he just secured he replaced with full spray nozzles because he knew it was coming… He thought he heard high speed screws but wasn’t sure … “clang, clang” Ahead Flank!”
He cut in the full nozzles and watched his pressure. Down… steady… slow rise, swap a med for a full, crank up the blower, and ready the mediums again. Back to pressure … KRUMP! Shudder. Somewhere forward we got hit … Calls over the all stations of damage reports.
Hard starboard roll, AA never slowing down, “What was going on up there?!?”
He makes his way to the much needed coffee pot, fills his chipped and stained mug, takes a beautiful deep sip … and BOOOM shudder … another hit. Scan the boilers all’s well, another sip.
Chief comes by, they exchange basic info, (neither knows much of what’s going on) Chief wanders off to a watchstation that might need a little help.
Orders go out to start #11 turbine driven fire pump, we hardly ever run her, this might be serious.
The rumor mill kicks in, all sorts of terrible calamities were befalling us … boarded by IJN marines, IJN battleships in gun range, 4 IJN carriers attacking with all planes. The last one was the most plausible as our AA fire was insane.
The .50’s and 20’s slowed and stopped. We’re ahead flank no maneuvering. I shout out to the lower level watch to start the eductor and let’s get every bit of water out of the bilge … good for him he had started that right after we restored feed.
The 20mm AA started up again, another hard starboard, there go the .50’s … Close concussions and shockwaves. Lights flicker then go out. Battle lanterns are turned on. Duty Electricians swarm the switchgear readying a return of power. Adjust the burners and blowers for the sudden loss of load and get ready to bring the turbine generators up.
MM’s reset the turbine generators bring them up to speed and the electricians parallel the generator to the rest of the electrical system, online …
Slow roll to port, still Flank, Still every caliber AA gun is firing. Thuds, crumps, and thuds were heard and felt all over, from near misses to farther targets.
BOOM … shudder … we just took another hit.
Cut out a burner, watch the pressure … Cut the burner back in. Still slow rolling to port, still firing every AA gun. .50’s stop … 20’s stop …
Rudder midships, drop to ahead full. 40mm stop. 5” gunfire slows to a final ,spiteful twin burst … then the guns are silent. The plant is humming along nicely … Secure from General Quarters! Ahead standard … The junior watchstander returns and resumes his watch, The “senior” (by what 2 years?) goes back to berthing and crawls into his rack. He wrings the sweat out of his socks, and tries to find his cleanest dry t-shirt. He has a 6 hour watch coming up two hours from now.
Usually, I’d rather be lucky than good, sometimes though it’s better to be good than lucky. Seems like this was one of those times.
ReplyDeleteExcellent story, DV!
juvat
That was good!
ReplyDeleteReading this post the old heart jumped up in my throat for a bit, the tension stayed until bunk time, very good read Dakota.
ReplyDeleteGreat use of foolscap! You manage to put the gentle reader in the action. I hadn't thought about it before, but managing the sounds a lot more complex than just turning valves open and closed to various degrees as I had unconsciously assumed. Changing out nozzles? Boy, that sounds FUN!
ReplyDeleteRe: general quarters. I think the Navy was still using bugle calls at the time, General Quarters would have sounded like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6rm1kKFio
From "In Harms Way." Bugle call starts at about 1:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjOvQYeZXvY
See also https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/m/manual-buglers-usnavy.html and
https://www.tapsbugler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/1953-US-Navy-Buglers-Manual-.pdf
Well done, DV! And now I know a great deal more about boilers than I ever did. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteNodding familiarity with boilers here; more advanced ones, to be sure, enough to know I didn't want a full-time Engineer job. I was "honored" (truly) to have our Senior Chief BT invite me to "crawl" one of our boilers with him on a semi-slow weekend duty day.
DeleteBG
Excellent portrayal of the Snipes job -crucial and usually unsung - in action. There are great memoirs from WT1 Virgil Wing aboard USS.Nicholas ( DD-449) that should be read. Nicholas escaped the fate of her sister DeHaven because the Skipper ordered extra steam.
ReplyDeleteBoat Guy
Nicholas is one of my goto "Fun " DD's to take out fighting in World of Warships.
DeleteWe have a "family tie" to Nicholas; over and beyond the perfection-for-their-time. of the whole Fletcher-class.
DeleteI have been privileged to have known some of the people who took those ships into harm's way and prevailed.
BG
I ought to find a version of "Snipes lament" for Sarge to post.
ReplyDeleteWhile I wasn't a Boiler Tech (BT), as a Nuke going through Machinist Mate(MM) "A"school, I did get to play BT during the "In plant" phase. "They" rightly wanted to have the conventional MM's train as MM's and the Nukes would be BT's. So I got an intimate training on a 600# "D" type boiler burner arrangement. There are a lot more intricacies to the nozzle sizing, I kept it simple for the story. Small, med, large. Never got to "play" with the 1000# plant.
I went thru MM (A) School in 75 at the same 600# plant in Great Mistakes but I never got any time on the boiler side. I remember running race getting all the steam-driven condensate and feed pumps up and running before the boiler ran low during a startup, but I never got up to the throttles or over on the boiler side.
DeleteWent through in '85, yes there was a dance with pressure and water level at startup that was "Hairy". It demanded that you be good. The fact the trainees never blew the damn thing up is testament to the training.
DeleteOutstanding there, DV. Too many people have absolutely no idea about what magic tricks the snipes do down in the holes. Probably 80% of the non-engineering folks have ever visited any of the main fire rooms or engine rooms, and few of the auxiliary spaces. They kinda sorta understand that the engine order telegraph thing goes back and forth and "ding ding" and the ship goes faster or slower. They understand more that there are generators which make electricity for all the radars, sonar and other sexy toys, as well as power for pumps and ventilation systems. But, they are ignorant of the steam cycle, and all the plumbing, valves, pumps, and fuel stuff that are interconnected to make steam and convert steam into rotary or reciprocal motion.
ReplyDeleteBut, the non-snipes sure do understand where their potable water comes from, and sure get upset if the engineers insist on sending all the "sweet" water to the feedwater tanks, not into the Hollywood shower for movie star system. (E.g.- airdale living spaces)
Fond memories of CHENG on a 1200 psi system. Had some great people working there who kept the screws turning and lights burning.
JB
Thanks for the hat tip from a CHENG, some get it, some think they do, some don't...I have hundreds of stories, not many would be interesting to non-engineering types.
DeleteYGTBS'ing me Brother !! "Fond memories"??? You must not have been on an Adams-class near the end of their days (80's).
DeleteAnd any aspiring SWO had to be able to trace that mythical drop of water through the entire steam cycle. I certainly didn't spend as much time in the holes as a Snipe ( for which I was profoundly grateful) but those Watchstation signatures came at no little cost.
Boat Guy
Yeah, we had to take Whale urine and trace its path to the Reactor coolant system or through the steam system and back to sea.
DeleteThe only people on this planet I trust to run reactors are USN trained.
DeleteBG
BG - Remember the actual nuc plant operators are HS grads, the EOOW only has us do what the Bridge requested. It usually freaks civvies out a little until I remind them the only two nuclear plants lost are (as far as we know) still pretty much intact on the ocean floor and were not lost due to a nuclear accident.
DeleteRick, those HS grads are USN trained HS grads. I don't get gooey about Navy training in many instances, but I trust that program.
DeleteBG
BG: I know, I are one... :-) Class 76-05 NPS Mare Island, A1W MO, A1W ELT. Start with the top 5% or so of recruits, then wash out half from Nuc School and half from Prototype. That was the expected attrition in 1976. I understand things are very different now, the Pipeline is a pump, not a filter'. Da Nuc might have more insight.
DeleteCrazy nucs are half the reason a crew of submariners on liberty are a "Mensa meeting in a biker bar"... The rest are crazy coners like the Sonar Techs.
Write some of the stories Viking, they should be interesting!!! And from Kipling's McAndrew's Hymn "Lord, Thou has made this world below the shadow of a dream, taught by time I tak' it so - exceptin' always Steam".
ReplyDeleteTwo short short sea stories, and a Snipe-conic poem. Sent out to Sarge.
ReplyDeleteUSS South Dakota, the Shieldmaiden of the Grey Ghost!
ReplyDeleteAt Santa Cruz it was her flak that saved the Enterprise from almost certain doom.
IJN lost last cadre of elite crews there trying to avenge Midway (and managed to half do it with Hornet sunk..)
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Really good, kudos DV. Snipes keep the kettle boiling and the screws turning. Only thing more important is keeping Davey Jones at bay. Very nice story, more please.
ReplyDelete