marina_irc
Member
Each emergency dynamo was driven at 380 revolutions per minute by a two-crank, compound engine with one HP and one LP cylinders. The emergency steam supply pipe that fed these engines ran along E deck above the watertight bulkheads and was arranged so it can take steam from the double-ended boilers in any of the three boiler rooms No. 2, 3, or 5. As a backup in case of accident to the main steam supply pipes, there was a connection that branched off of this emergency supply pipe to the pumps in the engine room that were connected to the bilges throughout the ship. There was also a cross connection to this pipe so that steam reaching the engine room from any boiler in the ship could be passed up to the emergency dynamos by opening two or three valves. A schematic of the main and auxiliary steam supply is shown in the diagram below.
View attachment 115458
Do you know of any available documentation on where the automatic closing valves in the main steam lines were? It's just my assumption they'd serve to sever the connection of the engines to the main steam lines on the basis there was one each plus three manual ones per line along boiler room bulkheads.