July 2025

Engine Rooms are a large area to restore but the crew was up for the challenge.

In January 1998, SLATER acquired a file cabinet full of blueprints on the GM-278 and Cleveland 3-268A diesel engines, which would allow the crew to start the restoration of the engines. In February, volunteers from the Westinghouse nuclear program were investigating the possibility of getting one of the SLATER’S generators operational. They rolled the engine so it is not frozen. The crew then was trying to determine if there was any freeze damage. There was a great deal of excitement about getting an original engine operational. In March, the engineers continued to work to activate the emergency diesel generator in the aft Motor room. They filled the crankcase with fresh lube oil. They were then trying to locate a kind soul to donate three deep draw 12 volt batteries. They were also trying to come up with a cooling system whereby we could take suction from above the waterline. Nobody was in favor of fooling with the sea chests without a working bilge pump aboard. And even if they had a working bilge pump, the crew agreed they were not going to open up anything below the waterline.

Following two months of preparation, the emergency diesel generator were started on Saturday, May 30th on the third try. This engine was selected because of its independent fuel supply and its battery starting. According to plan, the engine was run for four minutes and then shut down for inspection. They then planned to bring the generator up to full 100KW power in gradual steps. Components such as pumps and coolers were disassembled and repaired. The then current challenge was to fix a freshwater lube oil leak. They were also looking for an expert on Marquett governers to brighten our lives.

In November 1998, some of the crew went down to USNS General Walker moored in the James River Reserve Fleet. Al Urquhardt went down on behalf of the engineers to try to locate a replacement cylinder liner for the emergency diesel. He failed to locate any Cleveland 268-A parts, but found a pile of stuff for the main engines, 278’s. With the knowledge that no parts were available, volunteer and Conrail engineer, Gus Negus donated a ring and gasket set and Pat Perrella donated the purchase of the cylinder liner. Both cooling pumps were overhauled and the engineers were glad to see things going back together instead of coming apart.

In April 1999, the crew was back at the James River Reserve Fleet. The greatest haul was taken from the tugboat, YTB-24, to be used to help restore SLATER's engine spaces. Gus Negus discovered 2 complete engine gasket sets and 2 dozen unit injectors along with various gauges, piston rings, head, crankcase & air box covers, various bearings, a cylinder head and liner, springs, fuses, tools and supplies. He couldn't wait to get back to the ship with his treasures and quickly had all the gear neatly arranged down below and installed the new gaskets on the side panel of the Auxiliary Power Generator in B-4. In May, the engineers completed the reassembly of the Emergency Diesel Generator. The first attempt to start it found the engine rolling too easily; probably due to low compression. The second and third attempts had yet to yield results, but they were getting closer to hearing the roar of a Diesel coming from B-4.

In August 1999, Tony Demitraszek, Jim Quigley, John Waechter, and Gus Negus have installed the new cylinder liners that Claire bought and are putting the engine back together. Chief Roy Cannode welded two four inch pipe nipples to two holes that he cut into the hull above the waterline for cooling suction and discharge lines. The plan was to take suction and discharge from above the waterline for the immediate future.

On Monday, November 13th, 2000, Gus Negus and Gary Sheedy cranked over the emergency Diesel engine in B-4 and it ran! They shut her down after ten minutes and checked the oil. It wasn't milky. They cranked her over again and ran her for another ten minutes, until the temperature started to climb. They shut her down and checked the oil again. Still Clear. SUCCESS! This completed a three-year project started by Tony Dudes and Tony Demitraszek back in 1998. Two previous attempts to run the engine resulted in water in the lube oil system. Barry Witte and Gary are working on the generator and switchboard, and Larry LaChance and Russ Ferrer are completing the cooling system.

In February 2001, Bill Siebert has come aboard to take matters into his own hands in the Engine Rooms. His plan was to try to circulate used lube oil through the main engines using the original lube oil pump. To that end, working with former enginemen Bill Coyle and Bob Callendar, Beth Spain, and Gary Sheedy, Bill cleaned out a lube oil tank in B-3, freed up the fill plug, overhauled the lube oil purifier, and got the lube oil pump running. Now he is just waiting for Executive Director, Tim Rizzuto, to find him three hundred gallons of relatively clean used lube oil. That's not all the engineers are up to that month. Back in B-4, Larry LaChance worked to improve our dewatering capability by activating a fire and bilge pump. Without any piping diagrams he had to trace the whole system hand over hand; a slow process. Barry Witte also got a second 440-volt submersible pump going. SLTER was desperately short on the big brass old style plugs for these pumps.

A couple months later in April, the Engine Room gang was making steady progress. They had been wrestling with the cooling problem in the emergency diesel generator. Gus Negus, Larry LaChance, and Russ Ferrer finally got it solved by bypassing the inoperative thermostat and controlling the water flow manually with a valve. They had the generator running for about thirty minutes. Gary Sheedy and Barry Witte had a chance to check out the generator and it was actually making 440 volts and feeding the switchboard. The next time the Enginemen and the Electricians could all get together, the hope was to close the bus tie to the forward switchboard and try to power up the forward end of the ship on generator. When they get through that phase, they would try the whole ship. Larry and Bob Callender have been repairing the lighting in B4.

Just forward in B-3, Bill Siebert, Dave Riffley and Bill Coyle were working on the lube oil system. Hack Charbonneau and Jerry Jones obtained about three hundred gallons of used lube oil that they pumped into the starboard lube oil tank, and then Bill Siebert picked up another four hundred. Bill used the lube oil pump to circulate the oil through the main engines to preserve them. The only mishap was an open valve that let oil gravity feed into the port lube oil tank. It seemed about halfway up the tank; one of the hits the SLATER took to the shell plating resulted in a cracked weld on the inboard side of the tank. About ten gallons of oil leaked into the bilge and that had to be vacuumed out.

In June 2001, Gus Negus tweaked the emergency Diesel generator, working on some fuel leaks, before he signed off on that project and began work on another engine. Larry LaChance had two projects going. He hydro tested the six-hundred-pound air system and worked on the fire and bilge pump. And Bill Siebert and Bill Coyle were working to get the lube oil system operational to preserve the main engines. In September, Gus Negus and Barry Witte started up the Diesel, shifted from shore power to ship's power, and ran the engine under load for about four hours. She ran a little warm with the air cooling, but it was acceptable. They used the engine room supply fan to cool the radiator; sucked the warm air into the space, so it got to be about a hundred degrees down there. Just like a real ship. Next door Larry LaChance and Chuck Longshore completed hydro testing and reassembling the starting air flasks. Bill Siebert, Ed Luther, and Russ Ferrer got back together to reassemble the HP air compressor. The only hold up on that was Russ was making new rings for it, and Barry Witte and Gary Sheedy are overhauling the motor controller. Finally, Gary, Doug Tanner, and Russ had the heating system all put back together and it was tested so that we were ready for winter. 

In April 2002, the big bit of restoration news was that the engineer’s roller Main Diesel number three made two complete revolutions on air. They got the HP air compressor and started air system hydro tested and got it working. They got oil in the sump. They jacked the engine by hand and opened all the cylinder cocks. They built 450 pounds on the starting air cylinders and let her turn. They were hesitant to go further because they were concerned that the generator bearings weren't getting any lubrication. But another step forward. The big problem now was to find some funding for their project so they can have a source of parts, as they get deeper into the overhaul. In May, Larry LaChance, Chuck Longshore, and Russ Ferrer are progressing in their effort to restore the fire and bilge pump in B-4. When the Michigan gang arrived, Bill Siebert snagged some of the most talented mechanics despite my best effort to make painters out of everybody. Siebert took Tom Schriner, Emmett Landrum, and John O'Leary down into B-3 and they went to work checking out the 8-268A 200KW ship's service generator. They spent the week cleaning, inspecting, repairing broken lines and prelubing the engine. By the end of the week, they were ready to test roll the engine. They put the starting air to it and surprise, it fired on the first shot. The engine ran for about half a minute before they got it shut down. After lunch they called all hands for the official start. With a shot of air, the engine roared to life again. There was a black puff of smoke from the stack followed by a whisp of blue. It ran smoothly and sounded great. They secured the engine after twenty seconds and spliced the main brace in celebration. By November, they had rolled every engine in the aft engineroom. Engineers Gus Negus, Bill Siebert, Larry LaChance, Bill Coyle, Chuck Longshore, Russ Ferrer, David Merkel and James Motani got the HP air compressor and starting air system hydro tested and working. They rolled Main Diesel number four, two complete revolutions on air. They jacked number three by hand proving that neither is frozen.

By January 2003, there had been a lot of discussion about the emergency diesel. The cooling radiator system, which worked fine summer of 2001 with water, just wasn't working since they put antifreeze in the system. The discussion got very technical. In February, Bob Lawrence, Frank Beeler, Stan Murawski, Russ Ferrer, Larry LaChance, and Bill Coyle got the eight pack ships service generator going. They worked out the fuel supply and kept dealing with cooling leaks. They had two attempted starts, and the engine had run briefly, but was shut down twice for problems. As Bill said, he wants to “run it long enough to find out what's wrong with it”. In B-4, Larry LaChance has recruited two new volunteers Adam Van Horn and Dave Merkel. Both were college students and brought some youth to the crew. They got the cooling problem in Gus Negus's beloved emergency diesel solved: air in the radiator. They successfully ran the engine for forty-five minutes on 15 February, including a thirty-minute test under load. They also worked hard on the fire and bilge pump manifold piping in B-4. In the meantime, Claire Oesterreich had graciously offered to donate five hundred dollars to purchase copper piping to replace the present plastic piping to the main deck radiator.

In March 2003, activity didn’t slow down! In the aft engine room, the gang of dedicated engineers continued working to bring the number two ship's service generator online. They were using a freshwater tank and recirculated water for cooling. In the aft motor room, the gang of dedicated crew of volunteers continued to work out problems with cooling the emergency diesel generator and began replacing the temporary PVC piping with permanent copper piping to the radiator on the main deck. In the last test, the problems appeared to be solved, and the generator powered the entire ship for an hour under load. The hope was to have it available for the April move back to Albany so the crew could perk a pot of coffee on the way across the river. The most important project of the winter occurred when Russ Ferrer, Larry LaChance, and Adam Van Horn finished packing the stuffing boxes between the aft motor room and the shaft alleys. There were continuing problems with seasonal flooding in the shaft alleys as freezing annually distorts the stern tube packing. The alleys then flood with the spring thaw. With the motor room packing now intact, at least the river will be contained in the shaft alleys until the packing could be retightened in April.

November 2003, saw the engineers replace the plastic cooling piping on the emergency diesel generator with copper and successfully run the engine on a six-hour test run.

Flash forward to 2005, and in January, Tim Rizzuto went to the lower level, portside and found the “shiniest, prettiest, most beautiful” restored eight-cylinder diesel he had ever seen. He knew that Gus Negus and Karl Herchenroder were making progress on getting it to run but had no idea of the strides they were making cosmetically. The engine was a work of art, the valve covers shine, and the restored gage board truly looked like its Smithsonian quality. Unfortunately, Gus and Karl had their attention diverted as they'd been preoccupied solving the problem with the emergency diesel generator in B-4. 

Unfortunately, in March, the engineers ran into big problems. Gus Negus, Karl Herchenroder and Adam Van Horn went all through the emergency diesel generator' lube oil system and found no problems that would have caused a loss of oil pressure. Then, digging deeper, they found some broken studs on the oil pan, which Gus believed came off the gears that drive the blower on the front end. The next project would then be to pull the blower off and see what we've got. Therefore, the plan was for the Michigan crew in the spring to look and work on it. Gus also planned to have them work on the HP air compressor to replace the rings in the third stage cylinder.

May 2005 saw the Michigan Crew come to town and it seemed everyone wanted to be in the Engine Rooms this year to help Gus and Karl Herchenroder with the engine rebuild. One of the toughest jobs was getting the broken studs out of the front of the block of the emergency diesel so they could begin reassembly. Ed Zajkowski, Tim Markham, and Tom and Joe Schriner started at 0500 on Monday morning, long before anyone else was awake. They had the studs out before breakfast. They were drilling them out when they found something really hard inside one of the broken studs. It turned out to be an old broken drill bit. It turns out that someone had been there before, many years before Gus. Could be part of the reason the engine shook itself apart.

By June, the Michigan crew had departed until the next year, and Doug Stricter and Bill Camp worked in the #3 Engine Room on the ship's service generator to complete the installation of the instrument panel that the Michigan crew had mounted. They fabricated lines and hooked up gauges that will monitor engine performance. This made Gus Negus and Karl Herchenroder really happy, as they continued the reassembly of the emergency diesel generator.

In November, there was a remarkable change in the aft Engine Room. Gus Negus and Karl Herchenroder sorted, cataloged and cleaned out all of the accumulated trash and junk from the last eight years of restoration work that was piled up, on top of all the junk the Greeks left. All the spare parts boxes have been sorted and organized. Then they pulled out the lower-level deck plates and vacuumed out the bilges and sucked out the oil. They needle gunned the lower deck plates around the emergency diesel and painted them dark terracotta. You'd hardly recognize the old homestead.

On 20 July 2006, Herb and Marty Newman drove up from New York in an overloaded pickup truck that contained a true windfall for us. Enough spares to keep the emergency diesel generator running for years to come. The list was impressive and included two freshwater heat exchangers, a lube oil heat exchanger, a complete fresh water pump, a large assortment of gaskets, piston rings, injectors, a fuel pump, a governor, two starter motors, and two original 2 Ingersol Rand 600-pound starting air compressors. These spare parts to keep our Cleveland 3-268A Emergency diesel generator set running well into the future were getting very hard to find. The whole crew turned to help Gus, Karl and Gary Lubrano stow the parts in the machinery spaces until they were needed. All the emergency diesel spares were in the SLATER's aft Engine Room with the emergency diesel generator where they would be in storage until we needed them. Some of the parts will be used to restore our in-port generator in the forward motor room down the road.

June 2007 rolled around and the HUSE crew was back aboard. Former GE engineer Guy Huse spent most of his time in the Engine Room working on electrical motors in a cramped and hot environment pulling and cleaning the brush holders and commutators on number four motor. Bill Siebert had such a good time with us in Virginia that he was back and working on cutting and installing the watertight door we had been planning to put in bulkhead 99 between the aft motor room and the aft Engine Room. In July, Bill Siebert, Doug Tanner, Tim Benner and Chuck Teal worked on installing the watertight door at bulkhead 99 on the starboard side between B-3 and B-4. The plan was to have the work completed by the DESA Convention in September to allow easier access for the veterans who wanted to see the machinery spaces. It also would make life a lot easier for our engineers who spent a lot of time climbing up and over moving parts between spaces. August came and went and during the month, Bill Siebert stiffened the bulkhead with steel channel and then used the electric Sawzall to cut the passageway to minimize the sparks. The next step was the installation of the frame and watertight door. Unfortunately, the leading shipfitter Doug Tanner got sent to Guam for two week on a consulting job for ExxonMobil. The rest of the shipfitters, Clark Farnsworth, Tim Benner, Chuck Teal and Gene Jackey were afraid to jump on the job, figuring none of them could read Doug's mind, and he'd probably tear out what they did anyway. So, the projected halted while they awaited his return. Elsewhere in the aft motor room, all kinds of work was in progress. Tim liked to saw that he had great relationship with the engineers. He didn't ask what they are doing down there and they didn't tell him what they're doing down there. But B-4 was looking really sharp. Karl Herchenroder's son Bruce and his business partner Joe Campbell volunteered to haul off and steam clean all the deck gratings and diamond plates from the motor room. They carried every piece ashore, and then once clean, Karl persuaded his "younger" twin brother Earl to needle gun them. They repainted the frames and vacuumed the bilges while the deck plates were out, got them all back aboard, painted them deck red and bolted them back in place. The LP air compressor, air tank, and diesel day tank were all been chipped and looked like new.

October 2008 was an especially good month for the engineers. Gus Negus, Gary Lubrano, Mike Dingmon, and Karl Herchenroder made a great deal of progress with the eight cylinder ship's service generator set in the aft engineroom, B-3. They actually fired up the engine for a twenty minute test run this month. Getting ready for the test involved replacing many leaking gaskets. They pulled the fresh water pump and repaired it. They had to tighten the fuel oil pump packing gland. Several leaks in the air manifold were repaired and they added a drain line. They removed the lube oil strainer assembly for cleaning and then reassembled it. Last year they had completely replaced the starting air compressor in B-1 with a rebuilt unit. The starting air system in B-3 had been previously hydro tested by Larry LaChance. However, when they first attempted to build 600 pounds, some non-original piping that connected the starting air compressor to the ships service air let go, and that had to be rebuilt. Once repaired, the starting air system worked fine. The only incident during the test run was the County Sheriff's boat that pulled up alongside to check on all the smoke coming out of the stack. After the initial cloud, the engine ran with virtually no smoke. After the test run they found some minor leaks that were repaired. They also repaired the pyrometer wiring. They are now in the process of winterizing the engine with antifreeze. Then it's all on the electricians to reinstall the generator brushes and clean and calibrate the after-switchboard controls. They plan to tackle this over the winter when they can take the board offline.

Down in the aft engine room in November 2008, Gus Negus, Karl Herchenroder, Gary Lubrano and Mike Dingmon continued work on the aft ship's service generator 8-268A. They repaired the lube oil leak on the full flow filter assembly and made adjustments to the raw water system and tested it. They did a forty minute test run and found the cooling system works fine. Their plan was to continue detail work over the winter. They have also test ran the three cylinder emergency diesel generator in B-4 so they would be ready to keep the coffee hot when we cross the river. The following month in December, restoration in the aft Engine Room, B-3, and the aft Motor Room B-4, as they worked to get these areas ready for public visitation, cleaning, and repainting the engines, motors and generators. The electricians plan to be working on the aft distribution board and the ship's service generator in B-3 so we could have the capability of generating power with two generators.

June 2009 quickly approached and surprisingly, the place where there had been the most activity had been the Engine Rooms. The entire starboard side of B-3 had been beautifully scaffolded and planked over the diesels to enable access to the overhead. Tim assumed they were prepping things for the fall field day crew. However, it wasn’t long before Karl Herchenroder, Mike Dingmon, Gary Lubrano, Gus Negus, Earl Herchenroder, and Don Miller started showing up for coffee covered in paint chips. When it got colder in December, down in the Engine Roome, Guy Huse spent time researching and reassembling the aft fire and bilge pump. He was one of the first to use the microfilm reader that Frank Heckart donated to study the piping drawings. Unfortunately, the drawings he needed were so badly photographed that they were almost unreadable. Guy also performed a valuable service in pumping about five gallons of waste oil out of the bilge and into our waste oil tank, something Tim had been trying to get to for the past twelve years. Peter Gamwell, a volunteer electrician, spent the better part of a week aboard. Unfortunately, his schedule didn't coincide with the Fall Field Day week, but he put himself up in a hotel and spent the better part of his time aboard working with Larry Williams cleaning the emergency diesel distribution board in B-4.

January 2010 started out strong. Back in B-3, the engineers completed work on the upper level with the installation of the missing soundproof phone station and moved to restoration of the lower level. Barry Witte and his crew were continuing detailed restoration of the aft switchboard, and Hal Hatfield fabricated deck plates that were missing from B-3. He made them out of material scrounged from the LSM-45. Boats Haggart and Lawrence “Rocky” Rockwood repainted and restored the wooden and steel blocks. In February, Karl Herchenroder, Gus Negus, Gary Lubrano, Mike Dingmon, Ken Kaskoun, and Larry “Rocky” Rockwood continue to be a force to be reckoned with. The engineers are very possessive, and they really know how to operate. For example, on a recent February Monday, Tim Benner drove all the way down from Glens Falls to do some welding in the forward head, but he needed a fire watch. Knowing that there were plenty of guys working in the aft Engine Room, he made the mistake of going down there to see if one of his shipmates would give him a hand. They all said they’d be glad to fire watch for Benner, as long as the welding was in the aft Engine Room. That was the end of the head progress for that Monday, and Tim spent the rest of the day welding up light fixture brackets and cable supports in the Engine Room. With plenty of people fire watching.

Rocky was back in the Engine Roome in May 2010 and busied himself with the engineers cleaning the main engines in B-3. The engineers completed repainting all the deck plates on the upper and lower level in B-4, and the place looked brand new. The main propulsion motors are painted, and Chris Fedden started chipping on the generators.

January 2011, Barry Witte was pulled into the Engine Rooms and he undertook the restoration of the sound powered phone horn in the sound powered phone booth in the aft Engine Room, B-3. The horn would have been a basket base, but thanks to Fred Ingo of Mohawk Electro Techniques, the horn was now as good as new. Fred, a Marine veteran, was able to create a new coil for the sound powered phone horn. The original horn now sounds just like it did when new and is yet another feature of the SLATER that has been faithfully returned to original condition. In August, down in the machinery spaces, the engineers were tearing down the number four main engine for a cosmetic restoration. They had all the exhaust manifold elbows up on the main deck for cleaning and painting. In September, the motormacs, Karl Herchenroder, Gus Negus, Gary Lubrano, and Mike Dingmon ran the 8-268A ships service generator in B-3 for half an hour and actually generated DC power that could ultimately be used to power up 24” searchlights. Barry Witte and George Gollas handled the electrical side of the project. The AC side of the generator is working, but there were some switchboard issues that would have to be resolved the coming winter when power was taken off board. Rocky also spent a lot of time down there cleaning the main engines and prepping them for painting.

January 2012, down in the aft diesel space, B-3, the engineers started on the cosmetic restoration of their first main engine, number 4. Between trips to the whaleboat, Rocky completed restoration of all the thermostats and the exhaust elbows. The rest of the crew, Gary Lubrano, Karl Herchenroder, Gus Negus, and Mike Dingmon were gently needle-gunning the engine in preparation for painting. Above them, Barry Witte was nearing completion of the restoration of the main distribution board. All the panels were back in place and Barry painstakingly reproduced all the missing labels after much research and was installing the last of them. In March, Gus Negus, Karl Herchenroder, Mike Dingmon and Gary Lubrano continued their work on the overhaul of number four main engine. They made repairs left over from her days in Greek service, going through the cylinder heads one at a time. Gary Dieckman generously offered to buy them two sets of head gaskets and they were then in search of an injector setting tool for a GM-278A engine. In July, Karl Herchenroder retreated to the Engine Room, where he started needle gunning the lube oil circulating pump in B-3. After they solved the whaleboat problem, Gus, Mike and Gary all followed Karl down to B-3 where they continued tracing the lube oil line to number four generator. Because we certainly did not want to run the diesel without lubrication on the generator. Our NPTU Sailors Jonathan Chou, Cassidy Overby, Alex Garcia and Nate Gerrish were back in B-4 corrosealing under the fire and flushed the pump and number 2 main drive motor.

In November 2012, a milestone was reached in B-3. After months of work, the engineers, Gus Negus, Karl Herchenroder, Ken Myrick, Gary Lubrano and Mike Dingmon, coupled with electricians George Gollas, Barry Witte and Gary Sheedy, managed to generate power with the number three ships service generator. The 200KW GM 8-268A engine was now cooled using the day tank under the engine as a reservoir and heat exchanger by its contact with the skin of the ship. On Saturday 24 November, all these forces got together to generate power.

In late 2013, the engineers, Gus Negus, Karl Herchenroder, Gary Lubrano, Mike Dingmon and Ken Myrick, spent most of their time cleaning and resetting the new injectors on main engine number four. They thought they were ready to go with the startup, but somehow the manual’s recommended settings don’t seem to be working so then they were resetting them by trial and error. They still hadn’t given up on the idea that number four will run again in the near future. We also had an assist from Ron Frankosky who came up from Jersey for three days. He spent time in the B-4 bilges priming the sections that had been scaled and cleaned by our other volunteers. 

After, tank and void cleaning in the shipyard in the spring, in the fall of 2014, Barry Witte and his NROTC volunteers continued to make progress on the firemain system in B-3. SLATER’s own engineers made modifications to the diesel cooling system that would allow them to operate the ship’s service generator off the firemain and discharged it overboard above the waterline.

In March 2015, the first project of the engineers was to change the oil in the low-pressure air compressor. Karl Herchenroder and Mike Dingmon got talking about it and they couldn’t remember the last time it was changed. Mike, Ken Myrick, and Gary Lubrano also took out the main deck radiator that cools the emergency diesel generator. They found it pretty plugged up with calcified scale, the same kind of material that Barry Witte and the Midshipmen have been finding in the firemain. That explained why we had so much trouble cooling the engine on the way back from the yard summer of 2014, and would necessitate cleaning the heat exchanger and the rest of the system. Karl Herchenroder took the radiator over to Larry Meracle of Empire Auto Radiator Company, who was kind enough to donate the cleaning.

In April of 2015, the engineers reached a real milestone. Utilizing the one 5” sea chest that was opened up in the shipyard last year, they cranked up the number 3 ship’s service generator in B-3 for the first time in over a year. It was great to see smoke coming out of the stack again and cooling water discharging overboard. The engine ran fine, but there was still some issues with the cooling system, so it remained a work in progress. In May, Bill Siebert, Gary Dieckman, and Ed Wakeman worked with our engineering gang on the lubrication of the number four main engine. Gary and Thomas Scian made several trips into the sump to try and understand the system. The plans to get number four main were on hold. It seems the lube oil system takes suction from a skin tank located below the sump. Since we had all those tanks cleaned in the yard, we hated to put any oil back in them. That meant we have to reconfigure the whole lube oil system, and figure out how to blank off that skin tank, which appears impossible because of the baffles in the tank. Some places that needed to be gotten to were inaccessible. They also did a lot of straightening up in B-3 and B-4. Ed Wakeman painted out the exhaust fan room that Ron Prest had prepped a month previously. In July, the engineers, Karl Herchenroder, Mike Dingmon, Gary Lubrano and Ken Myrick worked to establish a regular program of exercising the two operating generator sets, the 200 KW ships service generator in B-3 and the 100 KW emergency diesel generator. Mondays had been test run days and they alternated, running one engine a week and working the bugs out. When everything is running smoothly, they’ll get into a quarterly testing schedule. They shifted the load several times to put the ship on her own power. However, during a routine check, Barry Witte found a failed part in the switchboard disconnect for the generator that left one phase connected even when the disconnect indicated "off." Electrically, that's was a big deal, so the plan was to shift the load again until the repair was complete. Barry then began is in the process of making repairs with a spare we recovered years ago from LSM-45. The next month, in August, Karl Herchenroder, Gary Lubrano, Mike Dingmon, and Ken Myrick replumbed the fuel line, from the day tank in the muffler room to the day tanks in the machinery spaces. Barry Witte repaired and reinstalled the breaker in the B-3 main distribution board; so, the ship's service generator was ready to go. Barry continued to use the ship as a training ground for student engineers, patiently teaching good safety habits and the use of tools. One of the things Gus Negus did so well was to restore gauges. Barry had been training SUNY Binghamton junior Justin Bopp, a mechanical engineering major, to restore gauges while he was home this summer. He'd done some magnificent work on the gauges in B-4.

In January 2016, the engineering gang, Karl Herchenroder, Gary Lubrano, Mike Dingmon and Ken Myrick got their battery problems sorted out on the emergency diesel generator. They checked out the battery charging system and found that not one of our four battery chargers was working. Tom Lee of Advanced Battery donated a new float charger, and volunteered his time to make sure the system was working properly. Over the winter, they reviewed the cost and effort of getting the main engines running and postponed that project. A major issue was that, as designed, the engine takes lube oil suction from a skin tank under the engine, and having just cleaned those tanks in the shipyard, we didn’t want to reintroduce oil into a seventy-year-old single skin tank. They re-piped the fuel lines for both the three-cylinder and eight-cylinder generator sets to give positive pressure, making it easy to fill the engine day tanks from the furnace oil tank in the muffler room. They changed the lube oil in the Ingersoll Rand LP air compressor in B-4. They winterized all the engine cooling systems in the three-cylinder and eight-cylinder generator sets and added antifreeze and purged trapped air from both the standard and bypass cooling systems. They also completed the installation of the water-cooled high pressure starting air compressor (600 psi) in B-1. This made starting the B-3 ship's service generator a lot easier. To cool the compressor, they installed a new liquid cooling system that included an air-cooled radiator, expansion tank and circulating pump in B-1 above the compressor. Their next project was to install a backup low pressure air compressor in B-1 to keep the chippers going, especially when the work crews come in the spring.

After all that, the next month, the engineers were in maintenance mode. They completed work on the installation of the cooling system for the B-1 high pressure air compressor. They got the battery issue sorted out on the emergency diesel generator and have maintained a float charge on the generator batteries, as well as on the motor whaleboat batteries. They did a monthly test run of the emergency diesel generator without putting it under load, and the engine itself ran fine. They were then just waiting until warmer weather, so they could get back to work on the 8-268A. In March, it was a general field day in B-3 and B-4. This was in preparation for repainting main engines three and four, and repainting the deck plates. They spent a lot of time sorting, surveying, and organizing their collection of pipefittings that has cluttered up all their workbenches for years. They also spent a lot of time in B-3, re-bolting the angle supports for the deck plates. The welds were broken in several places, so they did mechanical repairs, rather than risk welding so close to the bilges. They got a real assist from Mike Berson over at Interstate Batteries. It seemed that the three 36-volt batteries used to start the emergency diesel generator in B-4 weren't taking a charge. They weren't sure if they needed to be replaced or not. Mike Berson volunteered to check out the batteries and recharge them. He determined that our batteries were in fine shape and returned them to the ship in A-1 condition.

In April, Karl Herchenroder, Gary Lubrano, Ken Myrick, and Mike Dingmon had two projects going. Aside from general cleanup, they were continuing the reassembly of main engines three and four, in preparation for painting in B-3. Karl and his twin brother, Earl, had been working on that. In B-1, Mike, Gary, and Ken had been working on the installation of a second starting air compressor. We had the compressor and motor, and there was an empty rack on the bulkhead, so they decided to put it to use. As I write, the compressor was in place and waiting for wiring and plumbing. Aft in B-4, Barry Witte, Tulsa Scott, and the RPI Midshipmen completed the reassembly of the fire-main in that space. In May, Karl Herchenroder needle-gunned and painted sixteen crankcase covers in B-3. Stan Dickstein painted six valve handles, degreased the lube oil purifiers, and cleaned the stems of the sump tank level indicators. In addition, Stan also readied half of the inboard base of the inboard engine, in preparation for painting. Gary Dieckman degreased the rest of the base and crankcase of both sides of the inboard main engine #4, and the inboard side of the outboard main engine, #3. Then he spray-painted all the degreased surfaces of both engines, including the purifiers and the stems of the tank indicators. Gary also removed and disassembled the number boards for both sump level indicators and removed them offsite for restoration. Finally, he replaced the crankcase covers Karl had painted. Chief Ed Wakeman was also assigned to B-3. His assignment was the restoration of the gauge board for the number four main engine. Using parts salvaged off LSM-45 many years ago, he did a magnificent job of restoring the board, making it look factory new.

In October of 2016, in addition to the cleaning and painting, Karl, Ken Myrick, Gary Lubrano, and Mike Dingmon had two projects going. The first was trying to diagnose a cooling leak on the B-3 ship's service generator. They replaced a couple pieces of piping that they swapped from the B-1 engine, in an effort to find their cooling leak. They also were hard at work reactivating another ship's service air compressor in B-1, so we'll still be able to needle gun if the old Ingersoll Rand machine craps out.

In March 2017, the engineers got their rehabbed heat exchanger and expansion tank back for the B-3 ship's service generator. Installation and testing was just around the corner. Guy Huse fabricated steel channel braces that he has bolted to the gun two sight setter. He used these braces to gently use a hydraulic jack to free the rotating pin. 6 months later, in September, down in B-3, our engineers Karl Herchenroder, Mike Dingmon, Gary Lubrano, and Larry Williams ran several tests with the ship’s service generator. They found that the baffles in the surge tank had rotted out, so they hauled the tank ashore for repairs. The Ballston Spa Chief Selects gave them a lot of cleaning help.

Moving to 2021, Mike Dingmon was our sole engineer left. Karl had retired due to old age and Mike needed some new friends. Tim Rizzuto put out a call on Facebook and James Niemynski, James Miles, and Jim Skewes answered the call. The “J” Team reported aboard in September. By end of the year, we were experiencing leakage in the Engine Rooms. After a couple of months’ worth of vacuuming and laying down oil absorbing pads, we were finally done with the oil seepage. Now we are just letting the oil mats pick up the residual oil that is in corners where the vacuum or James Miles cannot fit. James believed that the oil absorbent mats would be a regular maintenance item, as both operational diesels, the 8-cylinder engine in B-3 and the 3 cylinder in B-4 will continue to leak coolant and oil into the bilge, because of the age to these engines and our inability to do complete overhauls. Going forward, the plan was to clean the bilges with detergent to remove residual oil, and then repainting with our standard Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. James estimated that fifty gallons of oil have been removed from the bilges through their clean up. When we look at long term preservation, this is some of the most critical work that is going on. We were indebted to James and the rest of the Engineers for accepting this challenge.

June of 2022 came about and James found himself crammed into what he believes is the tightest space on the ship, right between the V-16 engine and the bulkhead in B-3. This allowed us to clean about 95% of the bilge in B-3 by hand, with no tools required. Additional coats of linseed oil have been applied to previously degreased sections, which meant some of the bilge was ready for a primer and top coat. While degreasing, they discovered that the oil filter, which serves the 8 cylinder generator, was leaking from failed gaskets, and a slight leak was spotted on the lines that came off of it. They pumped out the oil from the filter, removed the lines, and had them brazed shut and air tested. They were ready to go back on for service again. Last, but not least, they decided to dewater the inboard V-16 engine in B-3. This was done by attaching a valve to the drain port on the lowest portion of the thermostat, on the heat exchanger, and then using a sump pump to remove the water. This water was added several years ago when engineers were evaluating the engine for future use. While not an issue for most of the system, some fittings were made of steel, and were showing signs of rot. Rather than wait for the hundreds of gallons to find a way out while we weren't aboard, we decided to drain it out on our terms.

In August 2022, the engineering gang Mike Dingmon, James Miles, Jim Skewes, Jim Niemynski, and Charles Desrosiers continued their maintenance efforts. They leaned on Doug Tanner for help repacking and lapping valves on the B-4 emergency diesel day tank sight glass. Always thorough, Doug went as far as to test his valves at 30 psi with air and soap solution in open and closed position. They passed Doug’s test. August marked the first time the bilge had seen new “paint” in a long time. James finished coating his first section in B-3 with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer. James planned to continue down the rows, scraping and cleaning. We kept a safety watch while James and Charles are under the deck plates. Cleaning this last row will be entirely confined space work. Mike decided it was time to change out the lube oil on the B-3 8-cylindar ship’s service generator. Dick Walker picked up fifteen gallons of oil for a total of Fresh coat of paint in the bilge. $280. Maintaining a ship isn’t cheap.

In September, down in the aft engine room, James Miles continued his bilge painting. In his last report, he claimed the painting was 50% complete. After years of experimentation, we finally found that Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer is the most effective antidote to rust since red lead. That discovery was short lived, because our storekeeper Richard Walker, USCG, discovered that the primer is on the EPA hit list because of high VOC content, and would soon be unavailable. Despite that news, the engineers had a great month that resulted in firing up the 8-268A GM diesel for the first time since we got back from the shipyard in 2020. The engine had been sitting cold for two years. Dealing with these engines is never as easy as turning the key and starting it. There were several checks to make, outlined in original Navy service manuals, and we were fighting an almost unlimited number of leaks, age, and wear issues. Over the past year, we took on several projects which allowed us to safely run this generator. The first repair done was on the water-to-water heat exchanger. It had become clogged up over the decades and needed service. We removed that and sent it to a machine shop, to fully clean it of all the crud that was impeding flow. Next up, our YouTube video of the 8-cylinder engine starting had broken all our records. Over 585,000 views and counting! James Miles in his natural habitat. 6 had to clean out the diesel day tank, and some of the lines that come off of it. Diesel sludge had settled inside the lines, which blocked flow and reduced fuel pressure. We removed and cleaned the lines, and Mike Dingmon machined a pickup tube that is slightly above the bottom of the tank. This prevents settled sludge from making its way into the fuel lines. Following this, we cracked open the fuel filter, and discovered that it had released all of its oil into the bilge. James tracked the leaks to the inlet and outlet lines in two places. The gaskets had given out, and one line had vibrated a pinhole, which was weeping oil as well. These were removed, brazed shut, and we fitted them back on with new gaskets. The lines were tested to hold 2X their working pressure. From there, we tested the air start tanks and compressor. The two engine rooms have three air start tanks in each space. We had four of the six tanks in good working order. The first test revealed that a moisture drain was leaking air. We checked each valve, and then it was building pressure normally. Lastly, we snugged up the packing gland on the freshwater pump to reduce how much it leaked, but not too much to stop it from being lubricated. When the time came to put starting air to the engine, she fired up without any hesitation. With the newly painted bilge, we were able to keep a close eye on any oil leaks, and the crew was happy to report that there were none.

Down in B-3, in May 2023, Ed Wakeman and our volunteers finished up installing the needed fuel injectors on the 16-278 V-16 engine, number four. The next step was timing, but we could not do this without the lube oil. Roughly 300 gallons were needed. The engineers and staff began looking into options to source and fund this undertaking. In the meantime, they turned their attention to the 8-cylinder ship service generator. Mike Dingmon finished cleaning out the heat exchanger, using a homebuilt tank and solvent solution. The tank was heated and a pump circulated solvent through. By the end, the exchanger flow opened up, and was matching the pump that was feeding it. We reinstalled this exchanger and did a test run on the engine. Everything was in order. Some more minor adjustments would be occurring in the coming weeks, in preparation for our first ever public engine demonstration. This was an exciting opportunity for the public to see and hear one of these wartime GM engines running.

To close out 2023, down in the forward Engine Room, Doug, Super Dave, Warren, and Earl have been working on the overhaul of the first Quincy model 240 “new to us” air compressor completed. The unit was now in service as our primary air compressor. They disassembled the second Quincy unit and began the process of overhauling that piece of equipment. The next goal was to overhaul the Ingersol Rand starting air compressor. The book described it as a “Class T” 600 psi unit, but the folks at Ingersol Rand hadn’t been able to find any information on the unit, so the search for parts hit at a dead end.

2024 started out lonely for James Miles down in the Engine Room. Winter months means routine checking of the sea valve in B-3, to be sure it was watertight, and no water was getting in and freezing in the plumbing. So far so good. The V16 project was forging on as well. After the fuel injectors were replaced mid-2023, the engineers started work on the fuel rack, which connects the speed control lever to all of the fuel injectors. Older style racks are solid bars, while this "newer" rack is spring loaded, allowing any number of injectors to be seized, while allowing the rest to operate. They planned to get all of them working perfectly. This involved taking things apart and servicing them, to be sure they remain free to move back and forth. The oil sump has been cleaned, and new gaskets made for the sump covers. Progress was slow but steady. On the other front, the engineers were working on securing lube oil for the engine, evaluating the lube oil system, and dozens of other tasks that need to be completed before we can turn the dormant engine over again.

To all those past and present who tirelessly volunteered in the Engine Rooms, we are indebted to your service.