S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien Steam From Drydock to San Francisco
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- čas přidán 4. 02. 2018
- Steaming the World War II and D-Day Normandy Invasion veteran, Liberty Ship "S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien", from the Mare Island drydock at the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, in Vallejo, California.
We arrived the night before and spent the night on the ship, listening to the steam coursing through the ships' "veins". The next morning they began flooding the drydock at 0700 hours. Once the drydock was fully flooded, and the cason towed away, the main engine was warmed through and we got under way en route to her berth at Pier 45 in San Francisco, California.
A VERY big thank you to volunteers Devin Montalbano and Seth Adams for making this amazing opportunity available to us.
For more information on the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, visit:
www.ssjeremiahobrien.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Jere...
www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwiibay...
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My dad was a Merchant Marine during WW2. He and I took a ride on the Jeremiah O'Brien back in 2002. He died in 2019. It was an awesome father / son bonding experience. I have pictures we took of each other when we wandered down to "shaft alley". We were under way and got to see the prop shaft actually turning. We had a great time. I miss my dad so much.
My dad was the Western Director of MARAD - Frank Johnston. Spent many years on the Jeremiah O'Brien during fleet week. His retirement party was held here as well. Dad certainly loved this ship and contributed resources during his tenure at MARAD. We lost him in January. RIP. Dad. Captain and RADM.
I've been living in SF my whole life and I've never been aboard the O'Brien. I need to rectify that one day soon.
I was a Boiler Tech in the US Navy and it is great to see these old steamers still in operation, a lot different than 1200psi Steam turbines, I got to take my hat off to the engineers that keep those old steamers a running! Bravo Zulu!!
Definitely a lot different from high pressure turbine plants. Thank you for your kind words and for your service.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE Just a different age, and Thank you!
As a Vietnam era US Navy Machinist Mate 1200 LB steam system spinning a turbine this is makes our Main Propulsion look simple. Great video.
Almost 70 years old and still going strong. You go old girl!
One of the people who worked on her , Robert Jacobson, my grand father passed away on febuary 4, 2019. I remember him giving me a tour and showing me all the hard work that he and others like him put into her. he was very proud of his involvement.
Your grandfather's contributions will be forever appreciated. May he rest in peace.
First time I went on board a steam powered ship was at Charlestown Navy yard back in 61, I was 11 years old and the chief of the boiler rooms handed me a ash stick about 6 feet long and instructed me as " these boilers are running at 600 psi and there are steam lines everywhere. You don't take a step forward without raising this stick to over your head and to the deck because if there is a steam leak you won't see it but if a piece of the stick falls off you freeze as you just found a steam leak and if you don't it can cut you in half if you walk into it. She was in the process of coming out of dry dock like you see here. I taken no more than 14 steps when a piece of the stick got cut off so I froze and yelled at the chief. He came up behind me and it was determined the leak was in the main pipe feeding the throttle. The ship left dry dock three days later after a new pipe was installed.
Any time since I've been in a boiler room of engine room I always waved the stick. I got laughed at by some of the newer ranks until I found that leak, then everybody was using the sticks after I found that leak. Most of the boiler room and engine room crew thought the chief was daffy until he demonstrated what I had found.
They weren't laughing at the chief anymore.
That is such a cool story. That is one of the first things my father warned me about as a little kid when wandering through the engineering spaces of turbine-driven steam ships.
It's incredible you actually experienced it, and survived it. Lucky kid!
been ther done that they do not play
I served in the Navy 66-67 on the USS Oxford a GTR 1 esteem 3 huge big Pistons and I couldn't believe it how the old thing kept going all the time
Many moons ago I served as a radio operator aboard the German Destroyer Schleswig Holstein. A 4650 ton steam turbine powered 131m long ship that could reach 40knots+ using 70000hp engines. It was at that time the fastest ship in the german navy but was scrapped mid 1990s. First rule one learned when visiting the boiler and engine room: don't move at all if a steam leak is suspected. The wooden stick method was well known. It is very noisy in the engine room, a tiny steam leak may not be audible, but will still cut off your arm. I observed an overpressure test of the boilers while standing on the pier, as all personal was taken off the ship. Condensation of the steam coming out of the blowing overpressure valves was not visible for more than 50 meters above the ship and it was unbelievably noisy, comparable to a full afterburner Concorde taking off that I also had the pleasure to experience close to a runway.
Amen, Sir... You practically read my mind as a looked at those guys around that steering mechanism, because I had Buddy who was a Naval Officer tell me a similar story as he took me for a tour inside the engine area of the battleship Missouri... Told me how you wouldn't want to stick your arm into certain places without waving a stick First!!!
My dad was on many of these ships during WW 2. He sailed in many convoys to England and had many ships torpedoed beside them many times. He sailed in the Atlantic and Pacific war zones He was in the Mediterranean war zone also. He was on the first ship to sail back across the Pacific to America with the lights on after the Japan surrender. He was a Merchant Marine during all of WW 2. We lost him in 2013, he wanted to come and see this ship but passed before we could get him there.
Your dad endured a lot. His service will forever greatly appreciated. I'm sorry for your loss and his not being able to see the ship.
Diesel boiler Titanic 2
My wife and I had the great experience to sail aboard the O’ Brien and salute the USS Iowa as she sailed to her museum port in Los Angeles, leaving Almeda NAS
One of my favorite museum ships. Named after my ancestor and the winner of the first naval battle of the American Revolution. Built here in Portland, Maine and one of the few ships to return to Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D day under her own steam (not a pun). I visited her when she returned to the place of her birth when returning from Normandy. Very impressive amount of work and dedication to keep her spirit alive. Someday we must visit her on the other coast.
Hopefully someday she'll make her way out to your coast again. She definitely needs to stretch her legs again. She's also the only ship to leave the reserve (Mothball) fleet under her own power.
Awesome seeing Mare Island still being used as a shipyard, but it should be a Navy shipyard!
Agreed!
I have not read all of the comments yet but I have been on this ship. There is a plaque on it stating that for the Cameron Movie Titanic, this is the engine room shown in the movie.
I was on board of Jeremiah O'Brien in 2018 actually in San Francisco,amazing ship
My father was a Navy gunner stationed aboard Liberty Ships, he felt horrible that his shipmates didn’t receive veterans benefits because they weren’t “military”, they were being shot at and torpedoed and that’s about as military as you can get! By the way, I inherited a book from him that lists the fate of every Liberty ship built. If anyone wants to know about a certain ship respond here and I’ll look it up.
A lot of my mother's side of the family were Merchant Mariners
It only took 24 days to build one of these ships from scratch to launch.
Kaiser Ship Yards
Tom Ingham
My wife and I went on a tour of the ship in 2011 but because of the steep stairs down to the engine room I went alone .What an experience the smell of oil , fuel and heat . It was an amazing time wandering the ship from stem to stern . Please continue to look after the great ship .It took part in the D -Day landings .
She really is a living thing.
This ship runs more on dedication and love than on fuel and steam :).
This ship reminds me of the American Victory that I visited in Tampa. Although the Victory is newer, the feeling of going back in time must be the same.
I see this one is being steered from the flyng bridge. Great crew!.
Would love to be born a hundred years earlier as a ship engineer, Imagine these engines doubled in size in the mighty ocean liners...
Always felt I was born in the wrong era
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE Yeah I feel you, one question though. If I were to come from Norway and sail on this ship it would mainly be to see the power plant. Are there any possibilities to join the engine room/boiler room while underway like you did? Or were that a special threat :p
@@atllep98 yes sir you would be able to. Depending on how many people are onboard they may limit the time you can spend in there, but you can absolutely get down into the engine and boiler room.
Titanic's were triple in size! In fact, the 1997 movie uses clips from SS Jeremiah O'Brien's engines in the movie. They did some CGI hackery to make it look 3x bigger to match the Titanic's engines.
Me tooo
I have always thought that the movie Titanic should have been filmed just like this one. Mostly in the engine room. Who needs the love story lol...
I agree 100%!
True.
These are the engines used in the filming of the 1997 movie, they removed part of the guard rail and shot them from a low angle (camera on floor)
Even James Cameron regretted adding in Jack and Rose
Well the love story did make the movoe better in my opinion. But I wish they had more scenes in the bridge and the engine room.
Thanks for this video... Brings back lots of memories and specific stories I could tell about engine room life *chuckle*. There's not many of those old "liberty" ships left, quite a few sank shortly after the war due to bad welds etc. They built so many of these so fast during WWII the quality control was spotty. The motion picture "The Finest Hours" is a true story about the night two split in half in a storm. "On Feb. 18, 1952, a massive storm splits the SS Pendleton in two, trapping more than 30 sailors inside the tanker's sinking stern. Engineer Ray Sybert bravely takes charge to organize a strategy for his fellow survivors. As word of the disaster reaches the Coast Guard in Chatham, Mass., Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff orders a daring rescue mission. Despite the ferocious weather, coxswain Bernie Webber takes three men on a lifeboat to try and save the crew against seemingly impossible odds." To this day Bernie Webber and his crew are considered heroes in the ranks of the USCG. This is a fantastic movie IMO...
Bad welding was a problem on the early Liberty type ships. Some of them were received by land-lease in the USSR, and served in the Soviet merchant fleet up to early 1960s.
Such an awesome show, I've never seen anything like this
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
At 8:00 they are doing something called "rocking the engine". They have the reverser engine running continuously, and the engine never really completes a full revolution, it just rocks back and forth. When the engine becomes warm, the engine comes close to running continuous revolutions. Then at 10:00, they stop the reverser engine, and the engine begins continuous motion in one direction.
We used to call it "Swinging the links". Initially with HP piston at mid-position, with slight movement then when you think it is warmed through enough, you crack open the throttle half a turn more, or so, and hope that the it goes right round and doesn't stop at TDC!
I'm loving all the footage of the engines in action!😍
I'm glad you enjoyed it! That's my main interest
I was in the Royal Navy and this boat was at Portsmouth England Navy days 1994, my father was in the British merchant Navy during WW2. Now then I felt I was the father and my dad was the little boy it took me 2-3 hours to get him off the liberty ship he had a cup of tea with the crew talking about his time 1942-48. My dad was john Roberts and later in life he told me about all the mischief and experiences , great day never will forget it.
Wonderful video showing the workings of the engine room. We have the John W Brown here in Baltimore.
Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The John W. Brown is another fine ship. I went aboard her with my Granddad in the early 2000's when she visited Montreal.
the power of steam is beautiful and jarring
Awe inspiring isn't it? Something so powerful being so quiet.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE agreed
Absolutely stunning engine room sights, sounds and steam.
Thank you!
I was very privileged to cross the English Channel on the Jeremiah following the London visit. I took a very big (normal at the time) video camera with me and spent a happy time in the engine room. Since then I have supported steam ships in the U.K. I always felt that the steam ship was the most sophisticated steam application other than maybe power plants.
Russ,
That must have been a wonderful experience. Thank you for your support. They truly are incredibly complex systems with many redundancies. Reciprocating steam especially.
I cannot catalogue my emotions seeing this wonderful old girl underway. When I think of all those who sailed in her and her sisters, many of which are now sleeping at the bottom of the sea, or converted to razo rblades or auto bodies, my heart swells with an emotion I cannot fully describe. It is my #1 item on my bucket list to visit the Jerry O once again, and have the privilege of sailing on her.
Love how the helm has his hat a jaunty angle. As is appropriate.
That Liberty ship is a freaking Legend I hope I'm able to see it one day cuz I live all the way in Georgia I want to see it when it's running
There is a good chance you will some day. They steam her up at the dock once a month and go out on cruises several times a year.
You're a lucky man to have rode aboard that Liberty Ship to San Francisco, I would have worked for free just to have a sweet ride PLUS see Alcatraz...I'm from the East Coast, New England actually. Great video and thanks for sharing!
I am truly blessed to find myself in these neat spots on amazing pieces of machinery. Thank you for your kind words and thank you for watching!
I spent 2 different occasions spending the night on the USS Pompenito a submarine from ww2 that lives just in front of the o"Brien at pier 45, when I was a cub-scout. loved seeing the O'Brien the next day each time. Once got to go down into a usually off limits area, if I recall the boiler room where an employee/volunteer was going to fire up a boiler (I was young so could be wrong) and loved the experience.
Beautiful!
Thank you!
Went on this ship many years ago in Portsmouth UK.
Very impressive indeed.
Thank You for the video gents, very interesting stuff the average person never gets to see. I love how anything mechanical works.
You're very welcome! I'm happy to be able to share it with you and the world.
I walked on that ship back in the 80s looked a little rough then,looks great now,what a nice antique.
They have a wonderful group if volunteers to help keep her looking and running well.
I worked as an ab unlimited,bosun for 40 plus years and have been on victory ships out to sea.once again,outstanding job on the O'Brien,if i was i better shape i would be down there in a heartbeat to help out .never sailed on a liberty ship,my father and grandfather did.i would have loved to have a deck crew like you have.good luck, boats, stay safe.doug andrews bosun retired.
Super !
Thank you!
I Love the Main Engine fromm the Jeremiah O'Brien :-D! The Engine is Beatiful :-)
Dampfer-Fan Blümlisalp I love it too! So amazing to be right there with it running at full throttle! Another favorite of mine is the Steam Tug Hercules
I love steam ships, mine were all DDEs or frigates but steam is steam eh. Remembering my old buddy Gerry who served in USS Firedrake, a converted Liberty ship. He joined up to avoid the draft and ended up on an ammo ship, good time to quit smoking.
Fantastic👍👍👍
Best video ever!
Thank you so very much! You are so kind.
All my steam ships were turbine, but I bet the smells are the same - warm lube oil, hot metal, steam, maybe a hint of flue gas too. What a great video.
Very much the same smells from what I can tell being on old battleships and destroyers.
Beautiful ship.
Best ship video I have ever seen.
I really appreciate your kind words. I'm glad you found it enjoyable.
To see those huge pistons moving is amazing, and then they go FASTER! Oh, let's go to England. No prob!
awesome video!
Thank you sir! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Amazing how exposed the engine components are, really awesome, all within arms reach. If these parts could all talk and tell a story of all the men it saw during WW2 down there working away, would be really something to listen to.
They really are living, breathing, things. Built when common sense was common. The stories they could tell indeed.
Now I see the steam engines in action that I had to learn about in QMED class years ago.
Knee-action turbines they call 'um
Tat is a verry good Dokumentation fromm the Engine Room :-D!
Dampfer-Fan Blümlisalp thank you!
My grandfather was on the Ara ak136 during the Pacific theater and was trained at Mare Island she was. Very similar to the O brian
They were quite similar indeed. We appreciate his service and sacrifices.
we have the John Brown over here in Baltimore
I visited the Jeremiah O'Brien many times when I lived in San Francisco years ago. One Saturday a month they would fire up the boilers and run the triple-expansion engine at dead slow. Visitors to the engine room were welcome. It never failed to impress watching those huge piston rods turning the huge crank shaft. It was made even more impressive by the thought that one shipyard could "pop" these ships out at a rate of two to three a week. That's how we defeated the Japanese and how we and the Russians defeated the Germans in WWII; we out-manufactured them.
I was an incredible feat of engineering, cooperation, hard work, persistence, and perseverance. Imagine what could be accomplished today if we all even put in 1/10th of that effort into a common goal.
I apologise to Wesley Harcourt having to write this in a piece dedicated to the memories of all who served on these ships. But when my country is insulted needs must. Sorry.
While i totally admire how the USA turned on its manufacturing power in WWII and would always pay tribute to how that made victory more certain I am always amazed at the utter arrogance, ignorance and direct disrespect for other nations who fought just as hard for longer than did the USA of people like you who say:
"we and the Russians defeated the Germans in WWII"
By peddling this self evidently stupid and biased crap Old Son you piss on the graves of 490,000 British soldiers, sailors and airmen who died "defeating the Germans". You also as it happens piss on the graves of hundreds of thousands of Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen who also died "defeating the Germans". (And the Japanese but thats another story)
What you seem to forget is WWII started in September 1939 not December 1941 and the UK stood alone with its amazing Commonwealth Brothers and Sisters against the Nazis AND the bloody Russians who were German allies until June 1941 and Barbarossa (Google it). Where was the USA in 1940 when the Battle of Britain was raging where the UK was the last country not invaded by the Nazis and we "defeated the Germans" and kept the Uk a free nation to keep the flame of freedom burning for all those afflicted by Fascist brutality in Europe? Answer NOWHERE! Yes some brave American volunteers came over later to form 3 RAF Eagle Squadrons but that was in defiance of, not with the support of, the American people. What your ignorance ignores is that when Hitler turned against Russia it was the UK NOT the USA that rushed 3,000 Hurricane fighters, 3,400 tanks and thousands of tons of machine tools right at the time we were fighting for our own survival and needed those supplies ourselves. We could have stood by and said 'Tough'. We did not and created the Arctic convoys long before the USA helped out. A fact commemorated every year by the Russians themselves. B
Yes you created Lend / Lease after we had spent $ Bns feeding your industry with much needed work. We alone saved Packard by employing them to build RR Merlin engines and we created the most successful long range fighter of WWII in the Mustang. Yes WE did that and even gave it the name. And all the while WE were building all we required under a Blitz of German bombs that killed 65,000 civilians. How many US civilians died on US soil? NONE.
Truth be told you Yanks never showed up in WWII to fight the Germans until November 1942 for Operation Torch (Google it) by which time we were already "defeating the Germans" in North Africa and had Rommel on his way out. The same year the USAAF was struggling to find Rotterdam with 12 B-17s while the RAF Bomber Command, which out of a total of 125,000 aircrew, 57,205 were killed, a 46 percent death rate 'defeating the Germans' were flying 1,000 bomber raids all over Germany. We had Mosquitos bombing Berlin in 1942 with the same bombload a B-17 delivered but were back in the UK before you Yanks got to Berlin. Not that you got that far very often. Our Lancasters were the only bomber in WWII (until the B-29 in late '44) capable of delivering the 22,000Ib Blockbuster and even the 12,000Ib Tall Boy. And of course the Dambuster bouncing bombs.
Wesley notes this is about "D-Day Normandy Invasion veteran, Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien' but remember who researched, designed and manufactured everything to make Overlord a success? Like Mulberry Harbours and Pluto fuel lines and The Funnies' (Google them). Where was it launched from because we had remained a free country? The UK. It was a totally British concept, commanded by British senior officers with 80% of the naval assets coming from the UK. And of course the UK and Canada landed more men on more beaches than did the USA who nearly failed on theirs. Like they failed in the Ardennes months later.
I could mention how the UK gave the USA jet engines, proximity fuses, nuclear fission, advanced Sonar, HF/DF, plastic explosives, self sealing tanks and of course the Magnetron Radar system. Not forgetting Bletchley Park where the Enigma and Ultra codes were broken that fed crucial locations of the U Boats threatening ships like the USS Jeremiah O'Brien. Sorry it wasn't a Yank sub that found the first Enigma it was a Royal Navy ship called HMS Bulldog! Your Hollywood creates the illusion that only the USA was in WWII and sadly dumb people believe it. You are guilty as charged Sir. Shame on you for abusing a country and its Commonwealth that were the ONLY countries to fight the whole 6 years of WWII and in EVERY theatre of it. The USA fought for 2 1/2 years in Europe and you have the f*cking nerve to say YOU and the Russians (who never even got to fight Japan) alone "defeated the Germans"?
Again apologies to Wesley Harcourt but ignorance needs tackling or it persists into fact.
1chish Thank you for the history lesson. I stand humbly corrected.
@@1chish Thank you. No need to apologise.
My granddad grew up in Manchester and was in his early teens when the war broke out. He went to school at night and worked as an apprentice in an engineering firm during the day.
All of his sisters were sent to live with families in the countryside. One of them was 3 when she was sent away and had a very hard time adapting to her family after she returned at the end of the war. After so many years her adopted family had become her actual family.
He had all kinds of stories about Manchester and the bombings.
During the war the house next door to theirs was hit with a bomb that went down into the basement. It was a rowhouse and they were sheltering in the basement at the time. Fortunately the bomb was a dud and didn't explode.
When he was going to night school and the bombings raids would start they were supposed to go to the shelters. He and his mates would instead go to the pub and play Snooker. When he didn't have a good shot he would linger around the table until the next bomb hit, moving the balls around.
Once he was old enough he joined the RAF in the last year of the war.
Ralph Pilkington was my granddad's name.
Rest in peace Granddad.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE I would follow your Grandad into the RAF in 1970 aged 23 so respects to him and all the 'Crabs' (as we are called) who did so much in WWII.
Per Ardua Ad Astra
When I started on the waterfront in 1959 there were still quite a few of these sailing in and out of LA Harbor, steam really fascinated me with all the power it had, great old ships 🙂
Jon Jeter I'm surprised that there were a lot of reciprocating ships around by then! Thank you for your comments and thank you for watching!
We had recips on the Great Lakes well into the early '90s.
I had the opportunity to tour her several years ago while at her berth on Pier 45.
Bill rouleau great! She's well worth the visit!
I was there a couple weeks ago and only got to tour the USS Pampanito submarine as the O'Brien was already closed up for the day. still cool to see up close!
This is the coolest video on CZcams
One of the unusual things about the Liberty ships is that they have this open space in the engine room where you can walk over to the electrical power board and get a good full height view of the main engine. In most ships, the main engine is surrounded by walls and structures, and you can not get this view from a distance.
Great video! My one regret is never getting the chance to work on a vessel with a reciprocating engine.
I believe there are one or two reciprocating engines still plying the waters of the great lakes if you're in Michigan. Just to take a gander if you'd like.
Badger is the only one left.
@@michigandon gotcha. Those Skinner uniflows don't have much to look at sadly.
merci pour ces trés belles images bateau que j'ai eu le plaisir de voir a Cherbourg France Manche pour le 60 iemes anniversaire du Débarquement.je rend hommage a vous mesdames et messieurs de garder en état ce patrimoine mondial
Vous êtes les bienvenus! Merci pour vos aimables paroles et votre soutien. J'étais moi aussi sur les plages de Normandie pour le 60ème anniversaire
Now imagine how big everything was on Titanic. Why and what are hose "rags" on the main shaft? 24:55
The "rags" are actually burlap mats that they leave on there to polish off corrosion that develops on the shaft. They reposition them when that spot is clean.
These engines are the ones the film makers used to portray the engines in the film Titanic.
It would be awesome to see the Uss Texas restored to this level. I would love to go for a ride onboard a 107 year old battleship.
That would be an incredible achievement. Texas, along with the USS Olympia
Her bottom is way too far gone.
so cool i hate that we dont use steam as much any more u think with all people screaming polutin everywhere they would but it does take a lot people to run them still love the power of the steam though
I am (not currently) a gas turbine systems technician (mechanical) in the US Navy. I learned to run a boiler plant in Navy propulsion engineering school. It was explained to me that they take up too much space and are inefficient. When i asked i was told they are less than one half of a percent efficient.
Steam powerplants are extremely maintenance-intensive and inefficient. That's why railroads fell all over themselves replacing their steam locomotives with diesels.
A good steam system will run at about 30% to 40% efficiency. A combined cycle gas turbine / steam heat recovery system will hit 60%. This is slightly higher than diesels or straight run gas turbines which run at between 25% to 35% efficiency. The colder the condenser water the more efficient the engine is.
The hours it takes to go from cold and the maintenance are the real killers. The volume taken by the boilers doesn't help either.
The "Titanic" engine room ;)
I had the urge to count all my fingers while watching that
Definitely an unforgiving piece of equipment!
Me too
My Dad was on a liberty ship. He said when the wind blew hard the ship frequently went backwards.
Haha I can believe it. They had a top speed of 11 or 12 knots... With a tailwind, going downhill. Thank you for your father's service!
Another "Job Well Done " Great video Quality Loved all of the angles that you were able to get, I would suggest that you tighten up the length of the timeline so that it gets boring unless you're like some like myself!!
I think S.S.Jeremiah O'Brien would Love what you have done, Have you shared this with them?
John Dubpernell thank you! I know some get bored, but I've been so frustrated with not enough engine footage that I try to include at least 2 minutes per angle when I have the footage. Gives people time to enjoy what's going on and they can always fast forward if their attention span isn't in sync with ours.
I've shared it with Seth (fellow in the tan cap with the pipe) and Devon (fellow in the black cap with the black beard), I haven't shared it with the organization yet. Thank you for the suggestion, and thank you for watching!
My god to be a mecanic in the ship during WW2 knewing that german submarines are all around you!!!
It's really fantastick! Thanks you from Russia with love!
Thank you for your kind words! Greetings!
"Captain! You canna change the laws of physics! Ma poor bairns!" - Engineer Scott's great-great-grandfather
What a great item of history. Kudos to all the volunteers that made it happen. How many decks for the engine room, at least three?
Correct. There is the one at the cylinder head, one at about the crosshead level, and one at the crankshaft level.
ok, that guy @ 17:57 is a brave soul...
Imagine stormy conditions. I would be considerably scared to stand a watch in the engine room seeing all that big moving parts freely accessible. Loose your balance in the wrong time and place and you get squished like a bug in a heartbeat 😨 and also scary is (from the looks of it)an electrical switch board in the engine room I saw on my visit. That switch board looks like all contacts are free to touch. Is it really a bit scary or is it just me?
Este navio e muito lindo
¡Gracias Sergio!
Thank you so much for the video always wanted to know what went on below decks on a steam ship.
You're very welcome! Thank you for watching!
Hi Wesley, love your videos. I was wondering how hot it was down there?
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoy them. I believe it was around 114 at the top of the engine room and somewhere around 100 down on the bottom deck. It was a pretty cool, but sunny day so all the ventilators and skylights were open.
I’ve been in her only other still-running sister, John W. Brown
I rode the *S.S. Catalina* when she was still active in California in the 1970s... Remember looking thru a window at the engine room. Two flat top tank riveted machines with a rod jumping up and down out of each. Somebody had put their lunch wrapped in foil on top, evidently to warm it up! Too bad they let that ship rot away down in Mexico...
Indeed an absolute loss. What a great memory and experience you got to enjoy. Let us remember her in her glory.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE Yes, Sir...
My Uncle was a Merchant Mariner during WWII. He used to laugh about a few times when a young messman would bring food on a big tray up to the bridge they swung the wheel hard over as the food was coming up. When the ship heeled over the messman dropped Everything.... Crashing plates, bowels of soup. He guessed the chief engineer figured out what they were doing after a couple times and Ran up to the bridge Fuming that they were damaging the steam steering gear. So the fun was over.
What a great story! Ahh the days when you could have a bit of fun with the new/young guy and not get accused of "hazing". Those chiefs sure can be a buzzkill sometimes though... Back then, and today.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE I found this in a list of the duties of the messman "A man carrying hot food must always be given the right of way. "One hand for the ship and one for yourself" should not be forgotten when carrying food through passageways because a sudden lurch of the ship may result in serious injury as well as loss of food." My uncle caused a few of those lurches...
@@tonytiger75 seems he knew the messman wasn't fulfilling his duties!
Why would you want the messman to spill the food he was bringing to you?........
Old British design from 1895ish could carry 10,000tons.
Is this one of the Henry Kaiser shipyard built vessels?
J. 0. Brien, built in Portland, Maine
That's MY drydocking ...
i was on one for 147 days it it had nicest purr and 28 foot seas
Wow. That must have been one heck of a float. Where did you sail?
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE gilbarter, england ,nordenham ,germany ,port said,eygpt, amsterdam holland ismit, istanbul,Turkie sudia arabia , Bahrain left in Jan. got back in June boom boom boom let you guess
👍👌👏
Just a question for someone who may know. At 9:30, is it normal for the rod packing to leak that much?
yes when cold
Why aren't the crew in the engine room wearing ear protection?
It was actually quite quiet in there. Nowhere near the levels of racket found in infernal combustion engine rooms.
One of these ships sits on land and is used as a fish canning factory in kodiak alaska
Great video......but I would have liked to have seen a couple of shots of the boiler room.
Thank you. I do apologise for not showing more of the boiler room... Actually it's open to the engine room and directly ahead if it. A few of the shots were taken from between the boilers. Two oil-fired Babcock Wilcox watertube boilers.
Thank you for the response. Is the steam to the engines superheated?
@@davidtwyford8755 you are very welcome. Yes the main steam from each boiler is run through a superheater (one on each boiler) before merging into one line and arriving at the throttle.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE Thank you....steam resips are so amazing...Makes one wonder how they machined those massive crank shafts and bearings...we have a liberty ship here in Tampa (non steaming) I guess I should get off my butt and go visit. Very nice video. Loved the shaft alley. I was trying to figure out the feed pumps and fuel pumps and other aux equipment....keep up good work(turbines are so boring) Thanks again
Dave Twyford BT2 USCG
Surprised me at 15:08. 😂😂
27:41 ow ow ow ow!
That thing is a man eater!
Are the carpets hanging on the long propeller shafts resonance dampers?
They're actually to keep the rust off the shaft. They scrub where they are and the crew occasionally move them.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE Thanks for answering - I was once a heavy industrial machinist and we sometimes did the same to stop shafts "ringing" when being machined with a leather belt or wood rest
- the design of Liberty ships was required study when I was an apprentice - welding/modular construction / metallurgy & the impact of cold weather on early models - we imagined because most instructors were ex WW2 - the rational behind the design choices was interesting - I wonder if you get many students tour the ship?
How is she holding up after the fire?
My understanding is it blistered paint and some other minor damage, but otherwise faired pretty well. They lost some spares as well as other stuff in the warehouse itself, which is a hit to the ship and organization.
Is that the best means off cross head lubrication it has……some guy with a squirt bottle trying to match the speed of the crankshaft??
Good observation. It's a terrible habit someone passed on. There are drip oilers and one can dribble extra oil down the lines, either inside, or on the outside near the cup. Watching as I was editing helped me pull me head out of me bum. It doesn't happen as seen in this footage anymore... At least with my dad and myself.
Очень хороший фильм
Большое спасибо! Я рад, что вам понравилось.
This appears to be dry dock 3 0r 4 built in the 1930 and 40 respectively
I believe you are correct. I'll see if I can get the actual number for you. Did/do you work at Mare Island?
Good eyes! It was the #3 Dry Dock
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE I was there several times including taking a USMC unit to the Mare Island Rifle range also a buddy was CO of the Marine Barracks. I was also there after it closed I hear the Navy needs it back in operation
@@Dog.soldier1950 Must have been a really interesting time to have been there with the yard at full tilt.
I'm not sure how much they need it open. I was just there last week and it seems more and more of the ancillary buildings are going to civilian operations. I was at a brewery in the old coal sheds for example.
Maybe just the drydocks?
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE the backlog at the currently available yards is 18+mths
H.M.T.OLYMPIC ENGINE ROOM
Yes they used footage of the engine room for the engine room footage in the movie 'Titanic'... As you're well aware, the most famous Olympic class liner.
so I'd like to know the story behind the shape of the rudder on the O'Brien, because it's definitely not something I've seen on any other boat
According to some of the crew it's designed to counteract the effect the rotating propeller has on steerage. Not sure how successful it was... That's her original rudder though.
Known as a Contra Form rudder. Not much about them out there.
@@---sx9qx thank you for that. I'll have to dive into the Google, or (gasp!) microphish.
Wait how is there one prop for 2 triple expansion steam engines?
One prop for one 2-story-tall triple expansion steam engine.
Oh I see thanks
S.S.ALKIMOS ENGINE ROOM
I'm not familiar with that ship
Can't be too loud, they're not wearing ear protection. Much quieter than steam-turbine or motor ships.
It was considerably quieter than any internal combustion or turbine engine room. The loudest machinery in there are the pumps.
Too many guys in the engine room, wandering around doing diddly squat!
They're there for the ride... and to learn. Almost all are volunteers.
@@WesleyHarcourtSTEAMandMORE The Sheila needs to get topside to the galley and make some sammiches.