Boilers and Engine installation

[Kevin Tischer]

I know she was fitted with boilers and engines after she was launched, and I know the decks were built before the launch. So how on earth did they manage to fit these giant engines and boilers in her after the decks were already built? And how would they remove them if a boiler became damaged and unserviceable?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Going into the water, a ship is really little more then a bare shell and there were plenty of exposed openings through which both boilers and the engines were lifted up then lowered into the interior of the ship. It took a very large crane to do it and after they were in place, everything above it was sealed up and the stacks erected.

If a boiler became damaged or unservicable, it would either be repaired where it was located or it would have to be removed either piecemeal, or through a hull cut whilst in drydock.

 

[Kevin Tischer]

That must have been very challenging to properly lower such a large item down through the hull. I saw pictures of them doing it on britannic and the crane operator had no way of seeing where the boiler was going so he must have relied on a series of hand signals from various people I would assume. Could it have been possible that they would have lowered these boilers into the large openings that the funnels would eventually be placed over?