A victory ship's engine room
is the subject of a video tour posted to the gCaptain website in 2007. One of the three
remaining victory hulls, SS American
Victory was at sea under steam when the video was recorded.While there is a sound track, there is no narration, only the sounds of turbines turning and machinery in motion.
SS American Victory, a 6000 hp VC2-S-AP2 vessel, is a museum ship located at Tampa, Florida. Its engine room is much the same as USNS Michelson's, the main difference being the steam turbine and reduction gears installed.
Michelson (ex. SS Joliet Victory) as a VC2-S-AP3 had a more powerful turbine and gear combination rated at 8500 hp.
Selecting some screen grabs from the video, here are some of the engine room components and mechanical system equipments identified.
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| Two boilers are installed side-by-side toward the forward bulkhead of the engine room. In this image fuel is fed to one of the four burners on each of the boilers. The heavy #6 fuel (known as "bunker C") is preheated to make it less viscous. |
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| A steam drum sits atop each of the two boilers. |
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| The gage panel, where the fireman/watertender on duty monitors the boilers' water levels and steam pressure. |
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| The main control panel. Here is where the steam applied to the high and low pressure propulsion turbines is controlled. The throttle wheels control the ahead and astern steam valves. |
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| Another view of the main control panel. The engine order telegraph is at the left. |
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| Steam at 450 psi is first fed to the high pressure propulsion turbine (starboard side/right). After passing through the HP turbine the depleted steam goes to the low pressure turbine at the left (port side). |
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| The high pressure (Allis-Chalmers) turbine drives its side of the Falk reduction gear. Michelson was built with a more powerful turbine/gearbox combination made by General Electric (GE). |
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| Another view of the high pressure turbine driving the reduction gear. The gears reduce the rotational speed down to drive the propeller shaft at a normal rate of about 100 rpm maximum. |
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| The low pressure turbine is the larger of the two. It also drives the reduction gear. |
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| The propeller shaft, supported by seven bearings, in the "shaft alley" from the engine room to the stern, beneath the number four and five cargo holds. This view is looking forward. |
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| The thrust bearing where the shaft passes through the ship's stern. Michelson's propeller shaft was unpainted steel. |
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| The escape trunk leading topside is located at the end of the shaft alley. |
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| Steam is also fed to the two turbogenerators to provide ship's service electrical power. These furnished 120 and 240 volt DC (dirct current), fairly common aboard ships when built in 1944-45. |
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| The number two turbogenerator. The two TGs were installed side-by-side on a platform deck on the port side of the engine room. The steam turbine is closest to the camera. This view is looking forward. |
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| The electric switchboard and circuit breaker panels were installed just aft of the turbogenerators. When Michelson was put into service as a survey ship alternating current (AC) was added by installing three DC-to-AC motor generator (MG) sets. These were located the electrician's shop on the third deck in the former number three hold on the port side. |
