I thought to share one of the experiences I had as a machinist mate in the Navy. Machinist mates maintain and operate the main propulsion system and various auxiliary systems on ships. Commonly called a “hole” snipe if you are assigned to the engine room.

My first ship was a replenishment ship, called an oiler. Our job was to deliver fuel via underway replenishment to the other ships in the fleet. It was an older ship and had a 440 lb. steam propulsion system. That just means the main steam pressure was about 440 pounds per square inch. Most ships during my time operated at 600lbs. As I said, we were old.

Regardless of the pressure used the steam powers a turbine. Now a turbine spins at very high speeds, it’s more efficient that way, but that speed needs to be reduced to turn the propeller shaft. A set of reduction gears are used to accomplish that. Housed in a very large casing that is filled with oil, the reduction gears are a vital componet.

This oil is constantly run through a purifier to remove any contaminates it may collect while lubricating that gear set. It is chemically tested quite often as well. Oil will become acidic after being heated over a long period of time. That’s not good. When that happens, it’s time for an oil change.

This brings me to my story. After that oil is drained from that housing, a few hundred gallons of oil in fact, the casing needs to be mucked out. What that means is, the case is opened and the wiped cleaned using lint free rags. And yes, I was one of those people that had that job.

Back in 1972, when I was that young engineer, I weighed about 140 lbs. Yes, I was thin and that is just what you needed to be to go inside that gearbox! Yeah, the chubby guys just couldn’t fit.

At the very heart of those reduction gears is what is called the bull gear. The largest gear in the housing it drives the main shaft. It almost reaches the bottom of the housing. In order to get past that gear, you have to slide on your back, that’s why you have to be thin.

As you can imagine the inside of that gearbox is covered in oil, it stinks and it is a bit scary. Being chosen to go inside and muck it out is just one of those things you have to do. You do so in your underwear. No point in wearing any clothes in there. You just enter with those lint free rags and start wiping.

I only had to do that task once over my career. I did have to muck out a few storage tanks on that ship as well. The storage tanks however are huge, plenty of room, just a bit of a challenge to reach everything. But it’s the job of the engineer.

You left those gearboxes and tanks completely covered in fuel oil. The various grades naturally had different consistencies. Black oil was the worst, a thick oil that was very sticky and smelled really bad. Trying to wash that stuff off was a real challenge.

We didn’t have “dawn” dishwashing liquid to cut through the grease! No, just regular bars of soap and took it a lot of scrubbing. No one was concerned with what being covered in those oils might cause, we just didn’t think about that. I expect it wasn’t the best thing to have on your skin.

Well, just one of those experiences we all have in life that we like to talk about. Sea stories we call them. Sea stories start out with a common phrase, this is no *hit. The event gets embellished each time it is told.

The reduction gear set on my ship was much larger than this one, but you get the idea. Notice the locks on the covers, prevents sabotage.