INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGINEMAN RATING

This training manual is designed to help you increase your knowledge in the various aspects of the Engineman rating and to help you advance in rating to EN3. Your contribution to the Navy depends on your willingness and ability to accept increasing responsibilities as you advance in rate. When you assume the duties of an Engineman, you begin to accept certain responsibilities for the work of others. As you advance in your career, you will accept responsibilities in military matters as well as in the occupational requirements of the Engineman rating.

ENGINEMAN RATING

The Engineman rating is a general rating; that is, it covers a broad occupational field of related duties and functions.

Enginemen are assigned to all types of ships. On diesel engine propelled ships, most Enginemen are assigned to M division, where they operate and maintain ship propulsion machinery and associated equipment such as pumps, distilling plants, compressors, valves, oil purifiers, heat exchangers, governors, reduction gears, shafts, and shaft bearings.

Enginemen on ships propelled by gas turbines or steam machinery are usually assigned to A division, where they maintain and repair machinery such as steering engines, anchor windlasses, cranes, winches, elevators, laundry equipment, galley equipment, and air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment.

The nature of an Enginemans duties depends largely on the type of ship or station to which the Engineman is assigned. Repair ships and tenders furnish other ships with spare parts, repairs, and other services that are beyond the facilities of the ships crew. The duties of an Engineman assigned to a repair ship or tender may consist mainly of repairs and other services to ships assigned to the tender or repair ship.

This manual is organized to give you a systematic understanding of your job. The occupational standards used in preparing the text are contained in the Manual of Navy Enlisted Manpower and Personnel Classifications and Occupational Standards, NAVPERS 18068 (latest edition). We recommend that you study the Engineman section of NAVPERS 18068 (latest edition) to gain an understanding of the skills required of an Engineman. Then, study the subject matter in this rate training manual very carefully. The knowledge you gain will enable you to become a more proficient operator and mechanic, and the Navy will profit from your skills.

As you advance to EN3, your responsibilities for military leadership will be the same as those of petty officers in other ratings since every petty officer has military as well as technical duties. Your responsibilities for technical leadership will be unique to your rating and directly related to your work as an Engineman. Operating and maintaining a ships engineering plant and associated equipment requires teamwork along with a special kind of leadership that can be developed only by personnel who have a high degree of technical competence and a deep sense of personal responsibility. You should strive to improve your leadership and technical knowledge through study, observation, and practical application.

Leadership in a technical field involves more than just giving orders. In fact, you can demonstrate some of the most important aspects of technical leadership even if you are not required to tell anyone else what to do. As an EN3, you demonstrate technical leadership when you follow orders exactly, when you observe safety precautions, when you accept responsibility, when you continue to increase your knowledge, and when you perform every detail of your work with integrity and reliability.

Integrity of work is really a key factor in technical leadership, and all other factors relate to it in some way. Integrity of work is demonstrated in big ways and little waysthe way you stand a messenger watch, the way you maintain your tools and equipment, the way you deal with machinery failures and casualties, and the way you wipe up deckplates. When you perform every job just as well as you can, and when you constantly work to increase your knowledge, you demonstrate integrity of work in a concrete, practical, everyday sort of way. When your work has integrity, you are demonstrating technical leadership.