In video three of three, you will be introduced to the lower grate in the starboard engine room where you will see the equipment located on it along with the crank pit, jacking engine and thrust bearing.
The best way to experience the heat, feel and smells of a triple-expansion engine room is to take one of the day cruises offered by the SS JOHN W BROWN in Baltimore and the SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN in San Francisco. These are the two last operating Liberty ships in existence. To save marine steam turbines and reduction gears for higher-speed vessels, the Liberty ships were equipped with a single 2,500 ihp triple-expansion engine. I was an engine room volunteer aboard the SS JOHN W BROWN for five years and it was one of the most enjoyable and worthwhile things I have ever done.
That's awesome, I need to do that one day - I crew the TBM Avenger which did the mock torpedo runs on the JW Brown, totally different set of maintenance and engineering challenges, but both WWII technology. :)
@@EstorilEm The mock air attacks have always been a highlight of our day cruises. Thank you and colleagues for participating. I know the cost per hour of operating your historic aircraft is staggering-- I've wanted to take a ride in a P-51 for years but $2000 for half an hour is way out of my price range.
It had to be crazy working in engine room crossing the Atlantic in a comvoy looking at the outer bulkhead & knowing the deep blue sea & U-Boats were out there..great report on the Liberty units- I went to Navy Mechanic school in CA. (89').. Gettin old..lol
@@mikeray1544 I have heard and read that in combat you have to believe that there is only one bullet with your name on it. I guess the same principle applies here-- but imagine being on watch during an attack and hearing the sounds of torpedos exploding after striking other vessels and the horrible sounds ships make when they are sinking. We're all getting old. . . lol. I have been interested in steam and maritime history since childhood. When I found out in my 40's that I could volunteer to work with the type of triple-expansion engine that powered most of the world's ships from the 1880's until the mid twentieth century, I think I drove down to Baltimore from my home in Harrisburg, PA the next weekend. The BROWN gets a Coast Guard inspection every year, typically by very young Coast Guard sailors. When they are shown the engine room, they are like kids in a candy store, seeing something that they had only read about.
Sir I do hope that the Battleship Texas leadership realizes what impressive value your videos add to the preservation of the ship history. I very much appreciate the time and detail you put into each video. I’m not sure what your background might be but you are obviously well versed in many areas where Battleship Texas is concerned. Thank you for teaching us all how the many ship components work to run the great ship.
As a mechanic..I wanted to go around the crankcase area & spray wd-40 on everything- hurts to see the rawness of the surfaces. Im a Navy SeaBee mechanic(ret). Great educational video class.
Used to do electrical work at an old car wash. Owner swore by WD 40. He always had several 1 gallon containers of it that he poured into a dozen spray bottles. At end of day they would spray heavy pusher chain. Its great for removing shipping labels on metal boxes. Just have to let it penetrate label for a few minutes. Hrard that the WD means water dispersment.
What people don’t realize is the engine cylinders, connecting rods, etc.,were large castings that had to be machined…then assembled and fitted then disassembled and built into the ship…..turn of the 19th century technology….yet it ran like a fine watch….
I absolutely LOVE these technical videos, and am ever so glad to have found them. I am by training and 40 years work experience an "Aerospace and Mechanical Engineer". It says so right on my diploma. About 20 years in heavy industry, followed by 20 years at Boeing. Of course, by inclination, I'm a medieval siege artillery engineer. I've designed and built machines that have hurled pumpkins over 700 feet. And I'm still totally awestruck by my predecessors 110 or so years ago who created these extremely complicated and successful systems which were still fighting wars 60 years or so later. My ball-cap is off to you, Tom, and to those who went before. Oh, and to the guys who worked there. Hot, noisy, uncomfortable in the extreme. I bet they griped, but they did their jobs anyhow. My dad was a Navy medic in WWII. I'm sure he saw some awful stuff -- he was on an Attack Transport that took troops into the landing beaches and wounded out. He never talked about that. Gotta go now, there's something in my eyes.
Thanks for pointing out and explaining the many auxiliary systems that support the engines. Amazed to see that some of the original pumps from 1912 are still there!
I was a Machinist Mate in the Navy on a WWII DD 709 USS Hugh Purvis. We spent many hours keeping the engine room and all its equipment, piping and deck plates polished and painted almost like new. This is sad to see so much rust.
Tom your videos are always so informative and delightful to watch. I know so much more about the systems on the newer battleships like the Iowas, SoDaks..and so on. And while this technology is far older, it still amazes me how the Texas (and similar Era ships) were constructed and operated around these older systems. And your videos is an educational breath of fresh air so to speak.
Thank you for your kind comments. What fuels my passion for the ship is its uniqueness, technology and position at the beginning of "modern" battleship evolutionary chain. While items like these engines can be viewed as obsolete and ready for replacement by turbines, they can also be looked at as the ultimate expression of almost 100 years of reciprocating engine design. The fact that they became obsolete does not diminish their sophistication and the genius of their designers.
I visited the Texas, back in 1991. My memories of the engines didn't seem so cramped. I kinda remember being able to stand back some distance, and get a wider view, of most of an engine.
Tom as always absolutely amazing in depth videos what a work of art that engine is imagine the noise, sounds, heat and smells and the knowledge that the sailors that worked in there would need for every single valve and pipe it's aww inspiring and upmost respect to each and everyone of them. look forward to more in detail videos of this magnificent battleship. Thankyou
One amazing thing about large reciprocating steam engines is that, unlike steam or gas turbines or diesels, they are NOT particularly noisy. The heat is certainly intense. I was an engine room volunteer for some years aboard the operating Liberty ship museum ship JOHN W BROWN, and we figured that the engine room temperature would run about 50 degrees above the sea temperature. You can experience it yourself-- both the JOHN W BROWN, based in Baltimore, and the nearly identical SS JEREMIAH O'BRIEN, based in San Francisco, ran several day cruises for paying passengers each year before Covid, and are starting up again now. I don't know for sure about the JEREMIAH O'BRIEN, but on the JOHN W BROWN passengers over about 12 years of age can come right down to the engine room floor plates and watch the 2500 ihp triple-expansion run and the boilers make steam.
thanks for the tour... what i would give to see it work just one more time.. to bad they couldnt turn on the electric motor just to watch it in action for demonstrations
Even though I was born after WWII, 1963 to be exact, I am still able to appreciate that generation that saved the world so that I could live here in peace. My childhood was text book average. I am a veteran. I know we can't save everything that's historical. I'm glad someone has the foresight to save this ship. What I'm even more grateful for are men like the guide (Tom, right?) who know this ship intimately. Thank you to everyone that made this video possible. You've done yourselves proud.
Watched all 3 of these. On concept the whole system sounds so simple but you explain, even in simplified terms just how complex it all is and the systems that support the other systems.
Mr. Scott, 1980-1985 She and the park were my early 20's hangout. I knew her public and a few not so places like the back of my hand. So many people and memories you give me along with such an education on one the greatest periods of my life. Thank you. I want to learn more about you, background and such. I'm sure it's in here but I don't want to know right now, not yet. Want to be a big eyed kid in the candy store for a bit more if you don't mind.
This is my favorite of the three part series because it includes the fire protection system. And they're Simplex! That is absolutely fantastic! I probably snooped around here as a kid but I always got creeped out in this part of the ship for some reason.
These engines were rated at 14050 HP each. This was basically the same as the reciprocating engines on the Titanic. They are smaller in size due to the Navy using higher pressure steam. The oil "strainer" you pointed out early in the video is actually a DeLaval centrifugal oil purifier. Is uses a stack of rotating discs to separate water and impurities from the oil. There is an attached pump all being driven by an electric motor. I was trained on and operated both this type and the Sharples type of oil purifiers in Machinists Mate A School in Great Lakes in 1972. One thing not mentioned is that grease or heavy oil was injected into the steam lines to provide lubrication for the main engine and auxiliary engine pistons. The was removed from the condensate by grease extractors which were basically cloth wrapped strainers. These were changed out periodically and new cloth was put in. The engine for the Main Circulating Water Pump is a double expansion double acting steam engine. The sea water went through the tubes. Steam condensed on the outside of the tubes and then was pumped to the hotwell by the air pump.
Thank you for the clarification on the oil strainer. Where is the exact point that oil was injected into the steam on this ship? I have never seen evidence of that in drawings or engine manuals, nor have I seen any evidence of it when directly inspecting the steam lines.
Love your videos. Amazing mechanical technology. But it's really hard to tell just how big some of these things are that we are looking at. It would be great if you could somehow give us an idea of the size by using a ruler, yardstick....or maybe even you hand. Just something for scale. For example the nuts holding the bearing caps.....would like to know how big they are. Thanks for all you do!!
Were the engines on the USS TEXAS dynamically balanced by offsetting the cranks of the two low pressure pistons from each other and adjusting the offset of the cranks of all the pistons from each other? Such a system was used on ocean liners built contemporaneously with the TEXAS.
The cranks were set at 0, 90, 180 and 270. One l.p. and the h.p. fired together at 0 and 180, and the other l.p. and the i.p. fired at 90 and 270. This doesn't intuitively seem like the best design for smoothness and I don't know the logic behind it. I also do not know what the specific goals of the designers were and I have to accept that they were likely the best in the world at that time and had their reasons. Whatever those were, it is certain that the goals of an engine on a battleship could be very different from those on a passenger ship.
@@tomscotttheolderone364 Certainly the goals were different, but one would think one major advantage would be the same -- reduced dynamic vibration translates directly into reduced bearing wear and general wear and tear on the engines. Of course, the US Navy has always had an institutional case of "not invented here, " of which the grossly defective Mark XIV torpedo was one of the prime examples.
I don't know for certain, but I hope the starboard engine room will be. Except for a couple of years when structural repairs were being made beneath the engine rooms, it has been open to the public for most of the time the ship has been a museum.
Tom, great videos. But water has a higher specific gravity than oil, and therefore the oil floats to the top and the water collects on the bottom of the lube oil holding tank.
I'm and 'Old One' too (76) Tom. Thanks for your videos and sharing your knowledge with us. I wonder if today's generation even know what specific gravity is.
Yes, there are some parts here and there. Some are also stored in the shaft alleys. I also found a replacement thrust bearing shoe in one of the steam passages. It can be seen in the video I shot and uploaded here.
On the marine steam plant I helped run it had vacuum jets on the condenser that removed the air from the steam which was then condensed back to a liquid.
In condensers I have experience with, the cooling water flows through the tubes and steam condenses on the outside. A vacuum raises the efficiency of the engine as you can extract more energy rather than exhausting to atmospheric pressure. Also the non-condensable gases in the steam exhaust can blanket the tubes and cause back pressure on the engine. All my experience is with steam turbines though. Rather than an air pump we used steam jet air ejectors.
Thank you, after going back and studying drawings of the condensers, I must admit that you are right. The cooling water did flow through the tubes like you say. I am aware that the vacuum they created gave the engines a good efficiency boost that I very briefly commented upon. I used the term "air pump" because that is what they were called on drawings, in textbooks and manuals of the era. Perhaps I should refer to both terms in the future. Thanks again for your knowledge and comments!
@@tomscotttheolderone364 I believe on steam engines they are referred to as an air pump. Small steam engines have it driven off the cross head. Thanks for the video, your knowledge of the systems on Texas is amazing. You certainly deserve an SW pin!
Well done Tom, Thanks! Have you looked for an operating triple expansion engine model so you could show people the amazing complexity of that engine? Someone may even be interested in building an exact copy if you have the plans.
Thanks, there are some good animations on the internet that illustrate the complexity of their operation and I am happy to let folks find those. It is too easy to spend too much time on things like this when my goal is to achieve reasonable level of knowledge about most of the ship's systems.
Titanic's engines were larger and produced more horsepower. They also operated on a lower steam pressure and had shorter cutoff, so they didn't utilize steam as well as those on Texas. However, that wasn't a deficiency since Titanic added a large turbine as an additional stage of steam expansion when at cruise speeds. Titanic had terrible fuel efficiency whenever that was cut out of the system. All in all, I wouldn't say that one design was better than the other since they had very different design goals.
Hi! Another excellent walkthrough. As im new to such ships can i ask what the temperatures were like down there, especially in the pacific and what was the noise level??
Exact temperatures were listed whenever trials were conducted. Unfortunately, the only one I have is the original 1914 builder's trial. Based upon that, it is likely that average temps in the engine rooms and boiler rooms, with engines at high speed and boilers at full output, ran about 20 degrees above outside ambient.
Hi Tom, great video and explanation. Did the engine always run in either full forward or reverse gear or could they change the cut off point on the valves for greater efficency like a railway engine would?
Fascinating!!! As a Boiler Tech from the 80s on to retirement... ending my career as a Gas Turbine Mechanic... I've been searching for this channel for decades!!!! Exceptional Channel! The Smithsonian (the old one before becoming all political nonsense!) Autta have ypu on their payroll!!!
In the three videos, you pointed out numerous pumps. Are these steam driven, or electric? If steam, are they basically little reciprocating engines, or something else like a little turbine or impeller? Are the pumps positive displacement or centrifugal?
All pumps in the engine room are steam driven, 150psi reciprocating. The smaller black ones in the aft end of the rooms on the mid grate level are air compressors. The large ones on the low grate are feed water, bilge and lube oil circulating pumps.
There are some exceptionally large wrenches on board, a couple of which may fit on the nuts. The pressing question for me is that the wrenches must weigh at least 150-200lbs. How did they not only support the wrench to correctly position it on the nut, then provide the force necessary to loosen or tighten it? I don't know.
@@tomscotttheolderone364 I wouldn't doubt it needing a small team of burly engineers who knew damn well what they were doing, even then it'd still probably take quite the effort.
Links to older videos: Part One ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2rNlA7NR6iI.html&ab_channel=TomScott%2CTheOlderOne Part two ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TsoFvg7ZsEs.html&ab_channel=TomScott%2CTheOlderOne
Unfortunately, I have not found any documentation that gives specific manning levels. I could guess, but I prefer not to since there were likely a lot of activities that I am not aware of. I also don't know how specific tasks were assigned. For instance, how closely did the various bilge and feed water pumps have to be monitored? Did it only require a quick glance to confirm they were moving or did they require a lot of dedicated attention? Was there one crew member whose job was to walk the mid and lower grates to monitor them, or was the duty split up and given to several crew who were also doing other things?
When I was in as a machinist mate. We had a E.R.S. (engine room supervisor) throttle man, upper level (mid grate), lower level, low grate, and a messenger (roving readings and sounding levels). Knowing the way the Navy works it could not have been less than that, especially for battle stations
Quick question Tom is any of the Pennsylvania class after the New York reciprocating engine like so? Or did they go straight to turbines after the NY class?
Both Pennsylvania and Arizona had turbines. The Nevada class came between Texas and the Pennsylvanias. Battleship Oklahoma had reciprocating engines and Nevada had turbines.
@@tomscotttheolderone364 I figured as much it just confused me the fact the Texas was reciprocated and then turbine then back to reciprocated. I guess they just went with what they had. 😂 You have a great day Tom!
@@mdtransmissionspecialties There were turbine designs for Texas and New York, but the Navy was not happy with turbine performance on previous battleships and reverted to recips for several reasons. Reciprocating engine development had reached its nadir, making them more reliable, easier to service and more fuel efficient than turbines at typical cruising speeds. After considerable study, they reverted to recips for the New York class with the understanding that turbine development, and most importantly reduction gears, was rapidly progressing and would soon eclipse recips on all counts. Since the Navy preferred to ease into new technology on major ships, they used the Nevadas as a final test bed by taking two essentially identical ships to directly compare the two engine types. I hope you have a great day also!
@@tomscotttheolderone364 I greatly enjoy your replies and answers. You have no clue how much I appreciate that. Can’t wait to finally come see the ole girl do they generally allow people to see as I’d say the extended tour? It makes perfect sense that they set two side by side because BB-36 was the first oil fired if I’m not mistaken. And wasn’t 35 converted to oil at this time as well? Gear reduction has done absolute wonders for the industry speaking I see it pretty much daily. I couldn’t imagine what they concocted back then after seeing all of the gearboxes from the Iowa’s.
@@mdtransmissionspecialties I am glad that you like them! Yes, both Texas and New York were converted to oil during modernization. I covered this in detail in the video, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hUTBpTwjES4.html
@@adamjones2025 While the big castings and forgings were certainly built to last, there are a lot of parts, such as scores of large bearings, that would require replacement before trying to turn an engine over. The only good news is that the methods for hand fabricating them are spelled out in old manuals. However, it would require significant dismantling of the engine that could only be done using heavy cranes and opening up decks above the engine room for access. This could easily cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to accomplish.
