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Old 07-29-2019, 02:27 AM
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ChalkLine ChalkLine is offline
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Crewing:

The thing to remember is that coal-fired and wood-fired engines require extensive crewing.

First off, most of the historical steam engines pressed into service are completely out of date in regards to modern engine design and stem from a very early period of engine manufacture. This means they probably don't even have things taken for granted today such as enclosed engines and so require constant cleaning or a sump so they require constant oiling simply to operate.

The cleaner is called a 'Wiper' and is the lowest rung on the engineering ladder. His job is to clear away the build up of soot, oil and other gunk that permeates the old engine rooms. Note that you'd have to wear breathing filters to operate in those spaces now.
After that comes the 'Oiler'. A fairly technical job that requires extreme vigilance, on bug engines you can't have part-time Oilers or you risk engines breakdown or destruction. As the engines didn't have an enclosed sump to lubricate bearings this rating cycled around the various parts of the engine.
Then comes the 'Motorman' who actually operates the engine under supervision of an Engineer. Engines required constant adjustment to operate which is the duty of this position.
Now you've got the engine simply operating now you need to actually get it to do the work, this is the job of the 'Engineers'. These are the first engine-room officers. They calculate how many revolutions-per-minute are required to translate into vessel speed. They also oversee all other aspects of the engine-room.

That's just the engine.
The fuel for the engine wasn't automated as it is now either, and you had three ranks who operated and oversaw the process of turning fuel into energy.
The first is the 'Coal Trimmer' who physically brings up the fuel from the coal bunker to the fire box. This rating also ensured the fuel was evenly distributed to ensure trim of the vessel and put out the spontaneous fires that erupted in the fuel bunker. It was these ratings who also loaded fuel off and on to the vessel.
Secondly you had 'Stokers' (or 'Firemen') who fed the boiler with the actual fuel. Fuel has to be evenly distributed inside the firebox for effective operation and too little fuel could put out the fires and too much could endanger the boiler or make the engines over-run.

The other residents of the engine-room who can be lumped under boilermaker/machinist/fitter. This series of ratings repaired and fabricated everything else on the ship made of metal including plumbing, air-conditioning and structural assets in addition to the engines, boilers and generators. This is another constant job as maintenance was an ongoing job and not just on those periods when all the engine-room assets were taken offline for repair and upkeep.

Important maintenance crew are the Shipwright/Carpenter and the Electrician. Even entirely metal ships require a carpenter but normally the shipwright is also an experienced structural welder. With dedicated generators as part of the engineering section ships are one of the few installations in the Twilight War that benefit from abundant electricity, the Electrician oversees these operations. On smaller vessels these positions may not be full-time.

Last edited by ChalkLine; 07-29-2019 at 04:03 AM.
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