In addition to following the specific safety precautions listed in the operating instructions for an engine, you must continuously exercise good judgment and common sense when taking steps to prevent damage to material and injury to personnel.

In general, you can help to prevent damage to machinery by operating engines according to prescribed instructions, by using practices such as bagging and tagging parts that were removed from an engine during maintenance or overhaul, by having a thorough knowledge of your duties, and by being totally familiar with the parts and functions of the machinery you are operating and maintaining.

By maintaining machinery so that the engines will be ready for full-power service in the event of an emergency and by taking steps to prevent conditions that are likely to constitute fire or explosion hazards, you can also help to prevent any damage that might occur outside of the ship. (This type of damage may take the form of damage to piers or other external structures or to other marine craft whenever a loss of control over the ship occurs.)

Remember, personnel work most safely when they thoroughly know how to perform their duties, how to use their machines, how to take reasonable precautions around moving parts, and when they are consistently careful and thoughtful while performing their duties.

EMERGENCY STARTING AND SECURING PROCEDURES

There may be times when an engine must be started, operated, or secured under emergency conditions. Before this becomes necessary, operating personnel should learn the procedures in the ships EOCC. These procedures should be posted at the engine control station or operating position. Operators should be drilled in casualty control procedures at regular intervals.

There is a definite hazard to starting a diesel engine under emergency conditions because personnel are rushed and tend to be careless. There is always time for you to ensure that personnel are clear of external moving parts, such as belt drives and shafts, before actuating the starting gear. If emergency repairs have been made, be sure that all tools are accounted for before you close up the engine and that all essential parts have been replaced before you start the engine. An engine can be started and run briefly if it has air and fuel and if the starting system will operate. It will run much longer if it has functional lubrication and cooling systems. With the exception of some boat engines that can be started by towing, there is no backup for the starting system. Usually sufficient spare parts and resources are available for you to restore any casualty to the starting system. Remember, however, if the repair is rushed, the danger resulting from careless work will increase.

In an emergency, you can start an engine by lining up the fuel system and actuating the starter. Before you do this, however, make certain that there is a supply of air to the engine and engine compartment and that the lubricating system will operate. After starting, establish cooling-water flow and review all the normal prestarting checks as quickly as possible.

If an operating engine suffers a casualty, the decision of whether to continue operating or to secure the unit must be made immediately. The condition of the ships operation is an important factor in this decision. In some instances, when risk of possible permanent damage exists, the commanding officer has responsibility for deciding whether to continue operation of equip-ment under casualty conditions. Such action can only be justified when the risk of greater damage, or loss of the ship, may be incurred if the affected unit is secured. Risk to the ship is present in actual combat situations, severe weather conditions, narrow channels, and potential collision situations, which include close-formation manuevering with other ships.

Engines can be operated with casualties to vital auxiliaries if the function of the auxiliary unit can be produced by other means. For instance, cooling-water flow can be reestablished from a firemain, and an engine can operate for some time with seawater in its cooling system as long as the cooling system is rinsed well afterward.

If the decision is made to secure an engine that has suffered a casualty, the general rule is to stop the engine as soon as possible. In the case of a propulsion engine, it will usually be necessary to stop the shaft also. This may require slowing the ship until the shaft is stopped and locked with the turning gear, shaft brake, or other means.

You can almost always stop an engine by securing the flow of fuel. Occasionally, this method will not work since a blower seal leak or a similar situation may permit the engine to run on its own lubricating oil. If you cannot brake the engine to stop it or slow it by increasing the load, you must find some means to stop the airflow to it.

To stop the airflow, you can activate engine shutdown devices (such as air intake flappers) to cover the air intake, or you can find some way of securing the air to the blower intake. If you try to secure the air to the blower intake, make certain that the covering will not be sucked into the blower, as this would cause an additional casualty.

NOTE: Do not attempt to use a portable carbon dioxide (CO2 ) fire extinguisher to secure a diesel engine. The carbon dioxide (CO2 ) in the portable extinguisher will have little or no effect on the diesel engine. This is because the volume of air consumed by the diesel engine will be far greater than the volume of CO2 contained in the extinguisher bottle.

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we have discussed some basic operating procedures that you may be able to apply to the type of unit to which you will be assigned. Our intent in this chapter was to provide you with general knowledge in regard to engine-room operations and to direct you to the EOSS for specific applications. As you should remember, the EOSS provides detailed operational and casualty control procedures for propulsion and auxiliary evolutions. From the information in this chapter, you should be able to recognize the importance of the EOSS and how it relates to normal operation and casualty control. Remember, casualty control that is performed properly will reduce equipment downtime and needless deterioration of engine components. When casualty control is NOT done properly, losses in terms of equipment, the mission, and even your life or the life of a ship-mate can result.

You should also be able to recognize the fundamental starting, operating, and stopping procedures you should use for a diesel engine under normal operating conditions and some of the emergency and casualty prevention procedures you may have to use under adverse circumstances. If you are uncertain concerning any of this information, we suggest you review this chapter before proceeding to chapter 12.