Oldgateboatdriver
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 2,266
- Points
- 1,010
I don't think so, Underway. And to a certain extent, it will dispel Weinie's "glean".
The actual event was caused by a weird and extremely infrequent mechanical breakdown: The starboard engine telegraph from the wheelhouse (not located on the bridge, BTW) to the engine room broke down and when "slow astern both engines" was ordered, it swung and got stuck in the "full ahead" position. RN engineers being what they are (and any engineer in those days would have done the same ) they actually obeyed telegraphs as they were supposed to.
The result was they executed a "slow astern" on the inboard and a "full ahead" on the outboard engine. By the time the orders from command to disregard telegraphs and obey sound powered telephone was passed, it was way too late. PENELOPE's officer of the watch tried to counteract by using hard starboard helm - which helped at first and made the original point of contact more parallel than would have been otherwise, but once contact with PRESERVER was made, the helm became of no use and the "full ahead" outboard engine took over to push PENELOPE across PRESERVER's bow.
The actual event was caused by a weird and extremely infrequent mechanical breakdown: The starboard engine telegraph from the wheelhouse (not located on the bridge, BTW) to the engine room broke down and when "slow astern both engines" was ordered, it swung and got stuck in the "full ahead" position. RN engineers being what they are (and any engineer in those days would have done the same ) they actually obeyed telegraphs as they were supposed to.
The result was they executed a "slow astern" on the inboard and a "full ahead" on the outboard engine. By the time the orders from command to disregard telegraphs and obey sound powered telephone was passed, it was way too late. PENELOPE's officer of the watch tried to counteract by using hard starboard helm - which helped at first and made the original point of contact more parallel than would have been otherwise, but once contact with PRESERVER was made, the helm became of no use and the "full ahead" outboard engine took over to push PENELOPE across PRESERVER's bow.