Type 31

[vic mcclymont]

Seems like the RN is now adopting MN standards.
The new Type 31 frigates being built in Rosyth are to have fewer crew and will adopt the practice of having unmanned machinery spaces at night .
This to help solve the manning crisis and reduce costs.
Vic

[j.sabourn]

#1 Vic if they went to the GP system of manning or as in Australia IR system where crew were of multi purpose they would save money. But think they would have to go a long way in their thinking to achieve that. Old habits die hard and warships have always been well if not overmanned by merchant standards. There are that many sophisticated trades on a warship and used to always be double banked in case of being hit and short handed ,and old habits die hard. The old saying on a merchant ship of describing an old shellback as having every finger a Marlin spike does not apply in the RN rule book . Cheers JS.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Talking to a Thames Pilot many moons ago bringing a small yankee aircraft carrier up the the river, he counted twenty people on the bridge at any one time, said he just hoped someone was listening to his helm orders

[j.sabourn]

Ivan I did the trials in the Bristol Channel for one of Seaforth Maritimes supply vessel to an armed security vessel for the Falklands Islands , she was fitted out with twin bofors numerous machine guns a body heat seeking machine which was

top secret at the time plus other unmentionables. She wasn’t to be handed over to the Navy until the 3 days trials in the Bristol Channel proved satisfactory. And the white ensign replaced the red , this was despite the fact she had a full RN crew , the 3 MN representatives was myself and another master and the engineering superintendent. After the 3 day trials were over where either myself or the other master was required on the bridge 24/7. After everything ok and the official air photos were taken and the white ensign replaced the red ,I slipped down off the bridge to inform the Lt/Commdr the vessel was now his. And we were on course back to the Cardiff pilot station. That’s ok John he says just hand over to the coxn. With coxns and radiomen and signalmen there must have been 8 on the bridge throughout. For a small vessel it was rather cramped. Cheers JS

[James Curry]

There was a story many many years ago an OCL container ship was invited to take part in RN exercises in the Western Approaches. RN requested that the box boat go to maxium full speed as they were to board her. The ship was I believe the Liverpool Bay and she was still a twin screw steam turbine. Anyway away she went 32 knots , RN to Liverpool Bay ah!!!! can you slow down a bit please. Even when they re engined them they could still run at 23 knots

I think the fastest box boats were the Dart Atlantic class. when running as Gas Turbine ships they could hit 34knots?

[Ivan Cloherty]

I think the fastest box boats were the Dart Atlantic class. when running as Gas Turbine ships they could hit 34knots?

Not sure, but I believe these 34knot vssls were taken over by Maersk and registered in USA and then put into reserve fleet of MSC (Military SeaLift Command [USA=RFA]). Seems MSC are having problems recruiting personnel as wages are alleged to be abysmal, lot of MSC vessels idle.

[Bill Morrison]

Speed of steam vessels. I may be way off line here. The tanker I was on 1966 had a service speed of 14 Kts. This could be increased to !!!! by opening extra nozzles which were locked off. I was told they were for emergencies under government instructions only. Can any one confirm this?
Bill.

[vic mcclymont]

Hi Bill, heard story about American ships, never heard it about UK ships, was steamer no one ever mentioned that they could open additional injectors.
Vic

[James Curry]

I was not really a steam man, but I know on Blue funnel ships the steamers if required could change out the burners and fit bigger nozzles. Increase the rate of fuel supply therefore creating more steam at a faster rate which would increase the speed of the vessel. Obvious other factors would come into play and being regulated by how well the condensor performed.

I mentioned the Dart Atlantic and her speed, sorry I now realse I got the ships confused .
Hands up straight away I copied this from another maritime site. Admin please delete if I am out of order here. I donot have the original posters permission to use his post.

The four ships were powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Gas Turbines. As mentioned in my previous post, we generally didn't need the speed when crossing the 'pond'. The ships came into their own on the coast when, if there had been a delayed departure from one port, we had to 'boot it' to reach the next port on schedule.
I served as Cadet, 3/O and 2/O on the Asiafreighter and Asialiner and used to get a real buzz when driving the maritime equivalent of a Porsche up the English Channel.
All four ships were originally powered by Dash 4 Pratt & Whitneys - the engines fitted to a Boeing 707. The Asiafreighter was used as a testbed for the US Navy and could also use the Dash 12 Pratt & Whitneys - these were the engines fitted to early Boeing 747s. With the 'big' engines fitted the AF could easily maintain 36 knots without going to 120% power. The best speed I ever witnessed on the AF was 43 knots 'over the ground' with a following tide in the Pentland Firth - chocks away, or what?
cboots is correct, all that power came at a price. The AF could consume 240 tons of MGT4 a day on each engine. There were a couple interesting spin offs from burning Av Gas. Tank inspections could be carried out without getting filthy and secondly, there was a residue from the burnt fuel which was pumped into bunker barges in Rotterdam each trip. This waste was able to be burned in conventional diesel engines without any further refining.

I believ that Northern Marine got management of these ships. To make them more economical they did a conversation job and tried to run them on fuel oil. I heard that was a very expensive exercise as the turbine blading was destroyed due to impurities in HFO and caused pitting and eroision on the turbine blades.

[Tony Taylor]

I was not really a steam man, but I know on Blue funnel ships the steamers if required could change out the burners and fit bigger nozzles. Increase the rate of fuel supply therefore creating more steam at a faster rate which would increase the speed of the vessel. Obvious other factors would come into play and being regulated by how well the condensor performed.

I mentioned the Dart Atlantic and her speed, sorry I now realse I got the ships confused .
Hands up straight away I copied this from another maritime site. Admin please delete if I am out of order here. I donot have the original posters permission to use his post.

The four ships were powered by twin Pratt & Whitney Gas Turbines. As mentioned in my previous post, we generally didn't need the speed when crossing the 'pond'. The ships came into their own on the coast when, if there had been a delayed departure from one port, we had to 'boot it' to reach the next port on schedule.
I served as Cadet, 3/O and 2/O on the Asiafreighter and Asialiner and used to get a real buzz when driving the maritime equivalent of a Porsche up the English Channel.
All four ships were originally powered by Dash 4 Pratt & Whitneys - the engines fitted to a Boeing 707. The Asiafreighter was used as a testbed for the US Navy and could also use the Dash 12 Pratt & Whitneys - these were the engines fitted to early Boeing 747s. With the 'big' engines fitted the AF could easily maintain 36 knots without going to 120% power. The best speed I ever witnessed on the AF was 43 knots 'over the ground' with a following tide in the Pentland Firth - chocks away, or what?
cboots is correct, all that power came at a price. The AF could consume 240 tons of MGT4 a day on each engine. There were a couple interesting spin offs from burning Av Gas. Tank inspections could be carried out without getting filthy and secondly, there was a residue from the burnt fuel which was pumped into bunker barges in Rotterdam each trip. This waste was able to be burned in conventional diesel engines without any further refining.

I believ that Northern Marine got management of these ships. To make them more economical they did a conversation job and tried to run them on fuel oil. I heard that was a very expensive exercise as the turbine blading was destroyed due to impurities in HFO and caused pitting and eroision on the turbine blades.

Avgas fueling a gas turbine?