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Container/RoRo Ship Atlantic Conveyor

6K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  dannic 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,
Posted the following on the Nostalgia Forum about two weeks ago, without response so far. Hope to have better luck on this forum.:
Atlantic Conveyor, sunk during the Falklands War of 1982, was a G2 class vessel belonging to ACL, and had five sister ships including, I think, Atlantic Cinderella (and Causeway). I am looking for anyone who sailed on these ships, or otherwise familiar with them, hopefully to answer my question.
They were steam turbine powered, but from a low-resolution cutaway drawing I found on the internet, with a rather unusual arrangement.
It appears that the boilers were not in the usual place, instead they were actually on the main deck, the boiler room being enclosed within the superstructure. Is this correct?
One reason I can think of is that the boilers themselves, or their uptakes/downtakes, had they been in the usual place below the main deck, would have obstructed the entry/exit of the rolling cargo via the stern ramp. Can anyone confirm this?
Some information (the more the better) on the machinery installation would also be helpful, if anyone knows of a website or printed material (books or journals) that may have given some details of these ships.
Thanks very much
 
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#4 ·
Boilers were quite high up in enginerooom, but not on main deck, control room on same level as boiler tops, Foster Wheeler ESD 3, two of them.
Turbines were AEI Parsons twin Curtis wheels, straight through to condenser vacuum, so no HP, LP set up. Twin screw, twin condensers.
But no bridge control so someone had to be in controlroom all the time!

Dannic
 
#5 ·
In addition to Dannic's response the control system was such that the boilers were run in tandem rather than in parallel - one acting as a slave to the other so as to smooth out urgent demand and enable greater control when manouevering. It also helped to save fuel although consumption was always high. The Main deck question is correct as the whole upper engine room superstructure was enclosed thus enabling 360 degree access on the main cargo deck. All original ships drawings are held at the Tyne & Wear Archives in Newcastle
 
#7 ·
Thank you, uisdean mor!
I recall a similar system of boiler control sometimes used on ships without auto controls: one boiler steady at a high firing rate, the other being adjusted to keep pace with steam demand.
Will try those archives, hopefully they have been digitised
 
#14 ·
I was fortunate to be on her after becoming storage vessel off Nigeria, but was supposed to join her as cadet when she was fairly new - they forgot to send letter!! Phew! Had plenty mishaps even there, had to shift off SBM to export buoy- lost one shaft bearing. Replaced it. Shift to anchor, shaft bearing wiped again. Took about 8 hours to go 2 miles! Christmas eve, 1981 the only operational DGen, sump tank found way overfilled, so had to spend all night hand pumping oil into drums so could enjoy xmas dinner! ! subsequent blackout spoilt things a bit! What Fun.
Dannic
 
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