Engineers are a strange breed
they are, a race apart. It’s hard to explain how a man gets to be one, and
since they appear to be unable to explain it themselves, the matter remains
shrouded in mystery. The normal human beings who inhabit the pure air of the
upper decks regard them, when they occasionally emerge from the pit down below,
with amazement and curiosity. For though they look and move like other men,
they are distinctly different. Their
eyes blink continuously in the unaccustomed light of day. Their skin, when
visible beneath the oil stains has a distinctive pallor like that of some
ancient cave dweller. Their walk too,
tends to be stooped and shambling, suggesting an earlier and less attractive
stage of evolution … as for the uniforms!!!
So runs the opinion of
uncouth Deck Apes! But operating and maintaining the Engineering plant of a naval
vessel is not a matter of opinion. It is the prime mover of any ship and the
only way it succeeds in moving from port to port. For a ship must not only be capable of high
speed, but more than any other ship on the high seas, it has to be battle ready
at all times. And the responsibility of keeping these vessels going whether
they have to shoot, chase subs, patrol a harbor or deliver goods to other ships
falls on the Engineers. If they fail,
everything stops; all motion through the water, power for lights, radars,
coffee pots, guns, pimps, etc. etc… the ship still afloat, effectively dies.
Which is not nearly just an Engineering Officer’s nightmare. It can happen in
this day and age, but it’s the Engineer who keeps the mission on task… keeps
the engines burning and the screws turning! So never forget the Engineers!!!
Snipe's Lament:
ReplyDeleteNow each of us from time to time has gazed upon the sea
and watched the mighty warships pulling out to keep this country free.
And most of us have read a book or heard a lusty tale,
about these men who sail these ships through lightning, wind and hail.
But there's a place within each ship that legend's fail to teach.
It's down below the water-line and it takes a living toll
- - a hot metal living hell, that sailors call the "Hole."
It houses engines run with steam that makes the shafts go round.
A place of fire, noise, and heat that beats your spirits down.
Where boilers like a hellish heart, with blood of angry steam,
are molded gods without remorse, are nightmares in a dream.
Whose threat from the fires roar, is like a living doubt,
that at any moment with such scorn, might escape and crush you out.
Where turbines scream like tortured souls, alone and lost in Hell,
are ordered from above somewhere, they answer every bell.
The men who keep the fires lit and make the engines run,
are strangers to the light and rarely see the sun.
They have no time for man or God, no tolerance for fear,
their aspect pays no living thing a tribute of a tear.
For there's not much that men can do that these men haven't done,
beneath the decks, deep in the hole, to make the engines run.
And every hour of every day they keep the watch in Hell,
for if the fires ever fail their ship's a useless shell.
When ships converge to have a war upon an angry sea,
the men below just grimly smile at what their fate will be.
They're locked below like men fore-doomed, who hear no battle cry,
it's well assumed that if they're hit men below will die.
For every day's a war down there when gauges all read red,
twelve-hundred pounds of heated steam can kill you mighty dead.
So if you ever write their songs or try to tell their tale,
the very words would make you hear a fired furnace's wail.
And people as a general rule don't hear of these men of steel,
so little heard about this place that sailors call the "Hole."
But I can sing about this place and try to make you see,
the hardened life of the men down there, 'cause one of them is me.
I've seen these sweat-soaked heroes fight in superheated air,
to keep their ship alive and right, though no one knows they're there.
And thus they'll fight for ages on till warships sail no more,
amid the boiler's mighty heat and the turbine's hellish roar.
So when you see a ship pull out to meet a war-like foe,
remember faintly if you can, "The Men Who Sail Below."
Our Father, who art in Manuevering
ReplyDeleteRickover be thy name.
Thy casualty come,
The immediate actions be done
In the plant, IAW CP-7
Give us this exam our daily CTE
and Forgive our lack of knowledge
as we forgive those who failed to give the “gouge” to us,
And lead us not into requalification,
but deliver to us a formal upgrade.
For thine is the throttles,
and the shim switch, and the scram breakers,
For six hours every day,
FULL SCRAM.