Modern Submarine - How The Sausage Gets Made

[AeroSpaceNews_com]

I thought this picture was pretty cool.
 

[Wolfswetpaws]

Seems a bit too crowded for a person to crawl amongst the piping and fix a leak?

[Murotsu]

Okay, let's see...

Right in the middle of that confusion, you have a control station of some sort.  You can see two handwheels and several panels of gauges above them.  Near the top you can see a hatch and that likely is an upper deck above the engineering spaces below.

The two large pipes with the + in them are likely seawater cooling related for the main propulsion turbine.

In the upper lefthand corner you can see a scuttle (round hatch in the deck painted turquoise blue) giving entrance to the operating station.  There was likely a ladder that has been removed allowing the crew to enter the operating space.

The piping to the right of the operating station that's lagged (covered with white insulation) are likely steam piping for something I can't identify.  Best guess a steam turbine generator for electrical power, but that's purely a guess.

In the middle at the bottom the cylinder-things are sea chests with associated piping needed to allow seawater cooling under high pressure (eg., submerged at depth).

[BrushWolf]

5 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Seems a bit too crowded for a person to crawl amongst the piping and fix a leak?

Still probably easier to work on than a modern car. I just had to put a new alternator into my Focus wagon and it is a two and a half hour job for what used to be a bit under half an hour plus the waiting time for the parts store to show up with the replacement. Throw in needing a new battery, it was not a surprise, and the bill was over $800.

[Wolfswetpaws]

6 hours ago, BrushWolf said:

Still probably easier to work on than a modern car. I just had to put a new alternator into my Focus wagon and it is a two and a half hour job for what used to be a bit under half an hour plus the waiting time for the parts store to show up with the replacement. Throw in needing a new battery, it was not a surprise, and the bill was over $800.

That trend (over-crowding in the engine compartment of cars) saddens me. 

[BrushWolf]

7 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

That trend (over-crowding in the engine compartment of cars) saddens me. 

The lack of forethought on how a car going to be repaired is criminal.

[AeroSpaceNews_com]

19 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Seems a bit too crowded for a person to crawl amongst the piping and fix a leak?

I took a hard look at the image for hatches and it seems like perhaps we are looking at the last human-facing compartment on that particular boat.

The account that posted it is known to me as a real retired RN sub commander.

If the subject interests you Google RN Perisher Course tv series. He is the main guy in it. It has had several different titles but one was How to Command a Nuclear Submarine.

The narrator was Peter Capaldi. I enjoyed it a great deal. 

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 minute ago, AeroSpaceNews_com said:

I took a hard look at the image for hatches and it seems like perhaps we are looking at the last human-facing compartment on that particular boat.

The account that posted it is known to me as a real retired RN sub commander.

If the subject interests you Google RN Perisher Course tv series. He is the main guy in it. It has had several different titles but one was How to Command a Nuclear Submarine.

The narrator was Peter Capaldi. I enjoyed it a great deal. 

[DrHolmes52]

18 hours ago, Murotsu said:

 

The two large pipes with the + in them are likely seawater cooling related for the main propulsion turbine.

 

With that many bolts, seems like it would be reasonably high pressure.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

16 hours ago, BrushWolf said:

Still probably easier to work on than a modern car. I just had to put a new alternator into my Focus wagon and it is a two and a half hour job for what used to be a bit under half an hour plus the waiting time for the parts store to show up with the replacement. Throw in needing a new battery, it was not a surprise, and the bill was over $800.

Reminds me of when I used to work on aircraft in the military.  Especially if the aircraft had been around a long time, and airframes changes, additions, etc. have taken place.  The engineers just like cramming stuff on top of other stuff to get in the way.  Had to pay real sharp attention to the BuNo of the airplane, too, because sometimes even components get moved around to somewhere else.

 

It was real fun catching guys who said they wasted time pulling a panel off to pull some component, only to find it wasn't there.  Then you know for a fact they weren't following the publications, and you seriously need to handle that potential disaster right then and there.

[Murotsu]

4 hours ago, DrHolmes52 said:

With that many bolts, seems like it would be reasonably high pressure.

You forget, with a submarine you are submerged and at depth the pressure of the seawater is quite high.  Most submarines today can dive to 1000 feet or more.

[DrHolmes52]

10 hours ago, Murotsu said:

You forget, with a submarine you are submerged and at depth the pressure of the seawater is quite high.  Most submarines today can dive to 1000 feet or more.

Duh on me.  I'm too used to land based systems.  

[Murotsu]

I'll add, that I noticed just now that there are two heavily grilled quarter circle openings on the bottom of the outside of the hull beneath those pipes.  Yep, main seawater cooling for the steam turbine.