Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
My understanding is the older engines were able to burn "bunker oil" which is thick, tarry, and very, very sticky. It requires heating to be applied to the fuel in the storage tanks, just so it can be pumped through the lines to the engine.
My guess is as part of the effort to reduce the crew by approximately 900 men (from pre 1980's refit) this heating system was removed. If so, the ship(s) would no longer be able to utilise this type of fuel - the boilers could probably still burn it, but pumping it from the tanks would be impossible.
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I would actually say the old preheating equipment is still there: I don't have anything that says yes or no on that, but I have three datums that make me go with this:
First up is the amount of work to strip it all out (A coworker is a ex Navy Nuke who is pretty sharp on all the various sorts of systems the Navy uses is my source) is no small thing: a lot of work, time, and holes to be cut into things to get it all gone. Thats the sort of work that would take too much time and cost to pull off... especially since you just have to never turn it on and you are good to go.
Second, When they recommisioned the New Jersey in the 80's, the budget for the job was considered very low (350 Million - less than the cost of a new Perry Class fig). And they then came in *under* budget. That to me says that since they did a massive electronics upgrade, with radars, CIWSs, Harpoons, and Tomahawks, thats where the bulk of the money went - which might also help with reducing the manning that they managed to a degree since they stripped out a lot of the secondary AAA systems.
And third, they used a lot of the black gang crew off of the Sacramento and Camden (Which used the exact same propulsion plant of the Iowa's) to get the New Jersey staffed, and then later on the rest in the 80's.
Now, this isn't set in stone, but I think its a pretty good argument to say that it would still be able to fuel the BB's with bunker fuel or cruder.