All those tits are nice but let’s get down to men’s work. I think I posted an earlier version of this story before but here’s a more refined one. I’m an obsessive re-writer so it’s different.

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On a nuclear submarine the diesel generator is the most important piece of damage control equipment on the boat. We constantly drilled with reactor scrams and fast scram recoveries, not just weekly but daily, and therefore “snorkeling” (going up to periscope depth and operating the air breathing diesel through an induction mast) was an extremely big deal.

Our diesel was a Fairbanks-Morse ND-8-1/8, and starting it was was one of my watch duties. It was only operated at or near the surface because it was an air breathing engine. It was started with compressed air; no electricity was required. Starting the diesel required both hands and one foot, and we were usually rolling pretty hard at periscope depth. My left hand operated the “air start quadrant lever,” my right hand turned the “snorkel safety cut-out switch,” my left foot was on the “kick-valve,” and I could stand on my right foot.

Not only did the diesel provide auxiliary electrical power (800KW), it could move enormous amounts of air. If there was ever a fire on a submarine (most likely petroleum) you are in big trouble in an enclosed space. Visibility would go to zero almost immediately, and we would don breathing masks. The casualty response was the boat would go up to periscope depth and start snorkeling. The diesel would be started and its air intake would be aligned to the smoke-filled compartment. The suction of its big “roots blower” supercharger would be used to clear the smoke in the compartment (assuming we had put out the fire). That engine could gobble up all that smoke without missing a beat, and exhausted directly overboard through water-cooled pressure tight valves.

At the same time, fresh air was brought in through the snorkel mast by a different air pump up forward called “the low pressure blower.” 

Remember, we’re not really surfaced, we only have a few masts sticking up out of the water of the North Atlantic Ocean. We’re still submerged. Due to heavy seas it was usually an extremely rough operation. This was not a cruise ship, we were a combat ship, so crew comfort is not a priority. Back aft in the engine room, because we were in the stern, when we snorkeled we got the most violent ride.

Our snorkel air induction mast had a valve at the top with three electric sensors. If any two of the three got wet the valve shut momentarily to prevent seawater from entering. Back in engineering, with the diesel firing away and consuming vast amounts of air, when that valve shut it would draw a vacuum in our compartment and cause our ears to pop badly, and practically suck the air out of our lungs.

However, our diesel loved being “loaded.“ It was like a working dog. If it idled it got cranky, but the more its power output was “potted” onto the main AC electrical buses the happier it got. That thing was a champ.

Machines have personalities.