i found happiness in the firerooms even before i became CHENG* on the Hollister. As a midshipmen, my time in those two dark, white heat hot, sweltering caves below the main deck was an escape to earlier times in the heart of a magical, Rube Goldberg dream of a power plant.

During my 1963 third class middie deployment* i spent almost three weeks on the 04-08 and 16-20 watches in the after fireroom. It was an education all by itself.

As CHENG, i marveled at the work of the BTs and found it thrilling to be in fireroom on a full-power run with those boilers seeming to be a pounding heart pumping out the steam to drive the turbines and shafts to their maximum.

On one of the two full-power runs that were made during my tour, Hollister was running in excess of 35 knots and still was increasing when the run was cut short in order to make another commitment. i think she would have gotten close to 40 knots if we hadn’t had to quit the run.

During a DESRON* 9 group underway period, the commodore created a 5-mile race of the ships. All of the ships, except Hollister had been converted from black oil, the old fuel for steam ships after coal to “Navy distillate,” a much clearer burning fuel. i once again was in the fireroom on the 1JV sound-powered phone system.* As we gathered speed and the two 600-pound boilers were again pulsing, i learned Hollister was nosing ahead. i climbed up the ladder to the main deck and walked out on the port side weather deck. Hollister was clearly head by two ship lengths as we reached the five-mile “finish line.”

(A lesson here. You can lose some advantages by worrying about environmental or other concerns rather than your mission to have the most effective battle platform.)

As noted, i was enchanted with firerooms in the old Navy.

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One of the blessings i had as CHENG was a BTCM* who didn’t leave during the great exodus when the ship went reserve. As i write, i am struggling with his name and will eventually remember. He was a wonder.

As the never-ending bunch of contractors poured onto the ship as we approached our overhaul, one group was to assess our forced draft blowers in the firerooms. The forced draft blowers forced the air into to boiler to complete the combustion of the fuel oil to heat the water to steam. The forced draft blowers were massive. Hollister had a total of eight, two for each boiler. The contractors would attached all of their high-faluting electronic marvels to the blowers, run the blowers up to their operating speed, check and record all of their readings, and create a report at ginormous expense to determine which of the forced draft blowers required an overhaul.

Before the contractors arrived, my BTCM had the forced draft blowers turned on to operating speeds. He then placed a nickel, standing on its edge, on each of the blowers in turn. If the nickel fell flat, the master chief assessed that blower required an overhaul. If the nickel remaied upright on its edge, the master chief pointed out, the blower did not require an overhaul.

The BTCM was 100% accurate. The expensive report agreed. But the BTCM’s method only cost a nickel if we lost a nickel in the bilges during the process.

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When the Hollister was in Pearl Harbor, we were tied to the quay wall on the base. There was an FF astern of us. A tanker came along side to transfer JP5, an aviation fuel, which we carried for fueling some pumps and in an emergency transfer to an aircraft.

As our auxiliary gang was connecting the fuel hose to our pipeline to the fuel tanks, the hose experienced a hole ( i think one of our machinist mates stepped on it). About 10-20 gallons spilled over the side.

i made the mistake of reporting the spill to the Command Duty Officer, who dutifully told the XO. The XO came out to the DASH* deck where the fuel transfer operation was back in progress. He was red faced, excited, and in distress. He immediately told me to throw fuel soaking pads over the side and execute a number of other procedures and reports to appropriate authorities. He was flying off the handle.

i finally quieted him down, convinced him the master chief and i had it under control. He returned to his stateroom. The master chief directed the fueling team to put the pads back in their stowage. He and i stood at the port side hand rail and watched the barely visible film of JP5 float on the tide aft of us to the FF.

You see, if anyone reported the spill, it would to appear it came from the FF. Hollister burned the old black oil fuel and that was floating to the surface all of the time as it was released from spills during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1944.

The BTCM mused, “I don’t know what the XO is all flustered about. If the spill, which doesn’t amount to anything here in Pearl, was reported, it would look bad. He, the CO, and you might get fired, but he and the CO would still get to retire. You wouldn’t make lieutenant commander and be kicked out of the Navy. If you weren’t sweating it — before the XO came on the scene, the BTCM and i had decided what to do — there is no reason he should.”

i learned a lot from that man.

NOTES:
* CHENG – Chief Engineer or Engineering Department Head on a Navy ship.
* BT – Boiler Tender, later termed Boiler Technician…i liked “tender” rather than “technician”
* third class middie deployment – third class midshipman, or NROTC midshipmen after their freshman year went on a two-month cruise on ships
* The midshipmen were in three sections while the BT’s* were in 4 sections. Consequently, the watches were not “dogged,” which meant the 16-20 watch was not split into two, two-hour dog watches. Ergo, the midshipmen did not rotate through the watches.
* DESRON: destroyer squadron normally consisting of five or six destroyers under the command of the destroyer commander or “commodore.”
*sound-powered phone system: a system of communication with headsets requiring no electricity. On Navy ships, the. “1JV” circuit was the primary engineering circuit for CHENG to communicate with the major parts of the steam plant (engine rooms, fire rooms, etc.
* BTCM: Boiler Tender Master Chief Petty Officer, an E-9, the highest pay level for enlisted personnel
* DASH: Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter. These unmanned helicopters were designed to be flown out over suspected submarines and drop a pinging torpedo to find and destroy a submarine. The program, which had numerous failed exercises, most of which lost the expensive drone, was abandoned in the late 1960’s. The DASH deck on the 01 level aft, remained.