The Chief Engineer, Jeff, gave the scientists a tour of the engine room and the other areas on the ship where mechanical work takes place. Three 16 cylinder diesel engines, each powering 715kW 600VAC electric generators, are used for propulsion and three 8 cylinder engines connected to their respective generators power shipboard services and provide backup propulsion. The generators for propulsion power the Z-drives, which are steering devices that can rotate 360 degrees allowing the boat to precisely hold a position, above a vent, for example ,or when recovering Alvin. This positioning is enhanced by using the bow thruster, which is a propulsion device connected to a smaller generator. It is located at the front of the ship (the bow). Everything else described above is at the aft, or rear end, of the ship. The ship can hold up to 296,000 gallons of gas; however the ship is never fueled to capacity. They usually fill to 250,000 gallons before each trip. During daily operations when we are sitting at a site we burn 1500 gallons a day. In transit, we burn 4000-5000 gallons a day, depending on how fast we’re traveling and the travel conditions.
The engine room is two stories. This is a picture of the engines from the second story.
Monica, the first assistant engineer, was working on one of the engines and graciously left this cylinder open for a picture.
Mike, the oiler, describing something to John.
We have the luxury of a reverse osmosis system onboard the ship. Seawater is taken up and boiled. The steam is collected and purified for drinking and other uses. We use 3000 gallons of water a day, and almost twice that amount can be produced on a daily basis. The engineers also monitor the waste removal system onboard and are responsible for incinerating non-biodegradable trash.
Beneath the Alvin hangar and behind the engine room is the “Bat Cave”, where Anton (an Alvin tech) has taken up residence and cares for Alvin’s batteries. There is also a storage area for anything you could ever want or need on a ship. Behind the storage area and the Bat Cave is a room with two winch drums. One has a regular steel cable and the other has an embedded fiber optic cable used for a ROV (remotely operated vehicle, like Jason). Behind this, at the very back of the ship, is the room with the two Z-drives.
Anton in the Bat Cave.
The regular winch drum holds 10 kilometers of cable. It’s fed out to the necessary ops through a hole in the top corner of the room.
The Z-drive. It’s called this because the entire piece of machinery looks like a “Z” in the engineering drawings. This is the top part of the Z.
Special thanks to Sanjoy for helping me write this entry.
