Naval Boilers - Grates Under Pressure

Pinned post for Q&A :)

Nice picture of the Waverly! I rode her from Glasgow to Danoon, Scotland in '83, She is still steaming today!!

Water is compressable, it is not combustionable!

The fun on US Navy Boilers was to "Flex Text" the Automatic Control Systems! Only a Technician would understand!

The worlds largest water heater - modern aircraft carriers.. Pinned post for Q&A :).

I wonder how many hamsters on wheels it would take to match the power of the Titanic's boilers, and how much the food needed to feed them would weigh.

My first hour on a Navy ship was on English DD696 in 1967. I didn't have a rating yet and raised my hand when the chief said "Engineering". That was the time that I learned that Engineering to the Navy was the Fire Room. Hotter and Noisier than Hell must be but I loved every minute of my 2 weeks on that ship.

What a very clever man you are . .

You did not even mention the b&w m type boilers. All of the capital ships of the USN were designed with these boilers in ww2. Some of the support ships had D type single furnace boilers. M type boilers have 2 furnaces. Very disappointed in your video. Apparently you never steamed boilers.

This was what I was looking for your explanation is so easy to understand. Thank you!

I'm fairly sure boilers operated at a constant pressure. The engine speed is controlled by a regulator valve. Ships usually had several engine running from one set of boilers. Main engines, electric generators, water pumps, feed pumps. Changing pressure all the time would affect all engines connected to the boiler.

How did ship's boiler technology compare with with boilers for steam locomotives?

We visited a Cable and Wireles boat In Madang (New Guinea) It had two triple expansion engines and turbo generators. It was so quiet in the engine room! She was equipped with loads of computers and satellite navigation systems. Oh and a very large ice making machine. She looked more like a big private yacht.I wonder what happened to her.

Huh. I’m a big steam enthusiast—which is to say I’m highly interested in steam locomotives—and I actually was unaware of advancements made in boiler technology and design past fire tube boilers.

While I can’t be sure, I’d bet a large sum on money on locomotives never moving from fire-tube because, while ships certainly have many more space limitations and constraints than most land based implementations of the technology, steam locomotives have an even larger limitation (that is to say, a steam locomotive’s boiler also serves as a very large tank of water, which in most circumstances holds at least as much water as the tender, and eliminating that would, in addition to the many other required changes, would necessitate at least a second tender) imposed on them, which combined with their general inability to take advantage of steam turbines makes the whole endeavor rather unattractive.

BT3 Bryant advance boiler technician U.S.S. Gridley CG-21 here.Personally, I didn’t care much about being a BT 6Y0. They’re so fascinating and complicated though, yet a boiler technician job in civilian life is a high paying job. I just wanted My Pontiac Trans Am 400 and my girlfriend. A stationary boiler seems like an excersise bike. Like my dad, submarines Atlantic 1946-67 I am now sure we both wanted adventure. Him being chief electrician, and a huge ‘goon’(the 5 Bryant boys nickname for him). I have NO idea how he ever even fit in them. C-YA Drach.

Was a Boiler Tech running a foster Wheeler 1200 lb pressure fired boiler. Extremely powerful and a fast steamer. Sadly, the rate of Boiler Tech has gone the way of sailmaker and no longer exists.

I worked a short time in a coal power plant. My favorite component is the reheat desuperheater; it cools down the superheated reheat steam. Reheat steam has already been through the high pressure turbine, and we cooled it down to reach our operating temperature. It's easier to overshoot the temperature and cool it down with water vapor as opposed to trying to creep up on the exact temp.

Love these development videos. I thought I knew a fair bit about boilers. Lots of new details learned today.

Not quite right; the vapour you see is a mix of unsaturated and saturated steam; unsaturated being waterdroplets at 100 degrees busy forming saturated steam or partially condensing to tiny droplets and 100 degrees C saturated steam formed at the boiling point of 100 degrees C water at 1 bar atmospheric pressure, that visible vapour can be largely compressed because most of it is a gas. If you heat that saturated steam at that same pressure higher then 100 degrees C, you get overheated steam. The huge advantages of overheated steam is the amount of energie put in that same amount of molecules, and less chance by secure regulation to have condensation in cylinders or turbines that can cause the damage you described.

Just curious if anyonehere knows. How long would it take to fire up a WW2 era destroyer's boiler so that it could get underway? In the Otto Premminger film, In Harm's Way, a destroyer at Pearl Harbor got underway during the attack and I always wondered how accurate was that scene.

crazy how they could fit nikocado avocado in one square inch

Love these old iron.

fantastic explanation love this

Thanks Drach!

Fantastic. Very interesting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but that was wonderful.

Well done.

Did they ever consider the use of nitric acid to clean the water tubes? In modern industry, such as automotive paint shops, they will occasionally flush piping with nitric acid to clean out any calcification.

I hope this isn’t a silly question but where did they get the water from. I assume salt water wouldn’t do the boiler or engine any good?

I’m an American, what’s a kettle?

This was absolutely epic. Well done.

STEAM LINE - NO HANDHOLD

Righto then.

Thans for showing the Waverley. I've been on tripos on her and the son of someone who worked for me was rhe only captain who would take her between Sully Island - between Barry and Penarth, and the coast.

Great video thank you

Let's go nuclear.

lol u take ur gf to old war museums for ur job thats cute

pressure and temperature combined is Enthalpy, which is what the steams energy is measured by and the difference of which the engines later transform into mechanical energy.

It's interesting that you have a picture of the Sultana, the worst maritime disaster in American history. The steamboat was carrying Union soldiers returning north after the end of the Civil War, and due to corruption was terribly overloaded. One boiler was temporarily patched, but the boat's owners wanted to get in on the business of transporting returning troops and skipped having a proper repair done by a competent boiler shop. Sure enough, the patched boiler ruptured, causing some of the adjacent boilers to rupture, and over 1,100 people were exploded, burned, or drowned. Even worse, nobody was really held accountable for it. I've actually got a book on it, if you'd be interested.

Upset Drach didn't add an extra hour onto the video talking about the modern boilers: nuclear reactors.

I mean I'd love to see Drach cover the litney of shenanigans that the Soviets went through with their reactors.

Played a drinking game based on this with some friends. Drank once every time he said boiler. Only rewcommended for the strongest of livers : |

New subscriber here. Retired USN Master Chief Boiler Technician (BT). 1966-1988 stationed on several ships. Last years saw a lot of boiler issues as the Middle Pacific Boiler Inspector stationed at Pearl Harbor. Fascinating site.

Wait, the Germans used a maintenance intensive likely complex design? Why I would’ve never suspected….

I guess modern nuclear systems technically don’t count as boilers because they boil the water using self heating metal rather than chemistry… and they as well as other new fangled steam generating equipment are probably too modern, aren’t they?

I was a Boiler Technician in the Navy in Vietnam.

Why did I get a house boiler advert on this 😂

Nice video, thanks for sharing!!

Last steam ships in the RAN were of the USN Charles F Adams Class destroyers which had 4 x 1200psi boilers producing 70000hp total for 33+knots. I only spent 6 weeks on board getting auxiliary tickets before transferring to a gas turbine frigate. They were serious badass ships.