Last voyage for the SS United States

In reply to aircooled :

That's my kind of engine room LOL.  It actually looks somewhat similar to what I remember of the American Liberty that I was on when I was a cadet.

In the first picture the main steam line (big vertical white pipe forward and to the right) enters the steam chest on the high pressure turbine. The bar with the springs and all the pivot points are connected to individual nozzle blocks down in the steam chest.  As the engineer opens the "throttle" a motorized linkage lifts the bar and opens the nozzles sequentially. The steam exits the high pressure turbine down low in the middle (another white pipe) and into the low pressure turbine on the left.  Behind each of the turbines are the reduction gears, the yellow piping just above the gears is the lube oil supply piping.

The middle picture shows the main thrust bearing, that transfers the thrust from the propeller shaft to the ship's hull in the structure under the main engine and reduction gear.  Inside that rounded housing there's a "kingsbury" style thrust bearing on both sides of an larger diameter area of the propeller shaft.  Oil pressure keeps the shoes of the bearing from coming into contact with the rotating shaft under normal conditions, the force gets transferred through a thin wedge of oil.  (All ships have these in one form or another, not unique to a steam ship.)

The last picture is the propeller shaft where it exits the hull.  There's a coupling to the tail shaft under that guard and just behind that are the shaft seals that keep the seawater out.  Looks like a spare bearing for the propeller shaft is stored up to the right there.   Cool pictures, thanks for sharing!

VolvoHeretic said:

So, what color is 1000 degree Fahrenheit water/steam anyway, dull red?

Yes.  Glowing red is due to black-body radiation, and the color is independent of the material.

alfadriver said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

If they are in charlottown PEI today, they are. 

That is the one. Got photos from PEI this morning. Safe travels! If you meet a couple called Chip and Marty, tell them their SIL says hello. 

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

VolvoHeretic said:

So, what color is 1000 degree Fahrenheit water/steam anyway, dull red?

Yes.  Glowing red is due to black-body radiation, and the color is independent of the material.

 

So, water glowing red is deadly hot, water glowing Cherenkov blue is also deadly hot but slower to kill you.

Will all the money our government throws around at things we may or may not agree with, it seems a shame they won't offer to take this national treasure to one of the Navys mothball yards for safe keeping until a better solution is found.

In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :

Is it really a national treasure, though? It's an old obsolete hulk of a ship that's been stripped. It's not like the QE2 or a ship of major significance other than the fact that it made a speed run.

I also wonder if there wouldn't be such a response if it had an " ordinary" name rather than a patriotic one.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :

Is it really a national treasure, though? It's an old obsolete hulk of a ship that's been stripped. It's not like the QE2 or a ship of major significance other than the fact that it made a speed run.

I'm inclined to agree. Beautiful, fast ship, but she had the misfortune to come along at the tail end of the ocean liner era. She'll never have the historical significance of the Queens, Mauretania, Olympic, Normandie, etc.

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

I also wonder if there wouldn't be such a response if it had an " ordinary" name rather than a patriotic one.

It is a record setter, so there is that. But if the notes are correct, it's just an empty hull- not anything to work with. It's probably been held on to for one person wanting it. 
 

Can't imagine a way to put new insides in it, other than somehow adapting modern ship construction techniques, including adding diesel electric propulsion. 

In reply to alfadriver :

At that point, it's just a hull and some external structure. Not even the hot rod powerplant. And based on what I've read here, it's not a particularly comfortable hull to ride.

alfadriver said:

Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:

I also wonder if there wouldn't be such a response if it had an " ordinary" name rather than a patriotic one.

It is a record setter, so there is that. But if the notes are correct, it's just an empty hull- not anything to work with. It's probably been held on to for one person wanting it. 
 

Can't imagine a way to put new insides in it, other than somehow adapting modern ship construction techniques, including adding diesel electric propulsion. 

So, it's the equivalent of a hot rod that's been sitting up to its hubs in the dirt for the last few decades, but "I'm gonna fix it up someday".  

And then it folds in half when the scrap truck inevitably comes to haul it away to the Granolafier.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Looking through the wiki page had some fantastic history, but yeah more than a quite a few which were kept around so long they sank or wrecked while being towed to scrappers.

Remember those documentary films back in high school?