School of the Boat (20 October 2008) Trim System

[JTheotonio]

The main purpose of the Trim System on the Fleet-type Submarine is to - move water, measured in pounds - to and from various ballast tanks to keep the boat Trimmed properly.  Fat Eddie the cook striker hated it when the boat was listing.  He had trouble measuring stuff if we were a bubble or two off.

So with that - the Trim lines run for and aft from the Trim Manifold located port side aft in the control room.  Besides its primary function of moving water to trim the boat, what other two purposes can the trim system be used for in regards to danage control or safety of the boat? (Hint - connections)  And where are these connections located? 

Remember we are talking about damage control or safety of the boat.  Making sure Darrin has good water for his morning Tea is not one of these functions.

[Darrin]

JT,
I don't know about you my friend but I don't drink tea   A little bit of midrat's coffee always worked just fine for me and besides it worked really well to clean the stainless and if you ran out of grease that stuff for some reason worked really well also in a pinch.. Now if'n I had been on a boat that had pink lady on it, the bug juice machine may have had to been moved to the FTR for some reason

[JTheotonio]

We didn't have a bug machine on a Fleet boat Darrin, best we could do was some stuff that Fat Eddie would mix up in pitchers that he left out so that the cockroaches could drown in and the diesel oil could drip into.  Maybe that was the prelude to "bug juice." Only pink lady could cut through that stuff. But O'man that was good stuff.  Guys off watch would bring forward one of those pitchers - bugs swirling - oil slick and we'd...hum sip just a bit.

[Darrin]

I know that there weren't any bug juice machines on a fleet boat and honestly I would have stolen I mean borrowed one from the closest tender and hidden it in a torpedo tube until the boat got underway and then brought it out and hooked the damned thing up so that we could have unadaultered bug juice with some good ol fashioned pink lady to go with it (after it has been strained of course)

BTW that damned bug juice was better at cleaning stainless the ANYTHING on the market when I left the boats in the 90's and it took EVERYTHING off of it, so much the A-Gangers asked us NOT to use it on the commodes because it was eating the teflon coating on the ball valves

[JTheotonio]

I mean borrowed one from the closest tender and hidden it in a torpedo tube until the boat got underway

Amen brother - but please don't hid anything in my tubes - get kinda crowded in there with a torpedo and juice machine. 

[JTheotonio]

I need to move the question up a bit. When you get two TM's chatting about bug juice and pink lady we get kinda sentimental.

So with that - the Trim lines run forward and aft from the Trim Manifold located port side aft in the control room.  Besides its primary function of moving water to trim the boat, what other two purposes can the trim system be used for in regards to danage control or safety of the boat? (Hint - connections)  And where are these connections located? 

Remember we are talking about damage control or safety of the boat. 

[emeacho]

Two other purposes for Trim System:

1.) The trim header can be pressurized and used as a fire main.  There is a leasy one connection in each compartment where a fire hose can be connected.  One of them is located in Forward Battery all the way aft sticking into the O-gang passageway on the Port side.  Each connection should have a cover over it to prevent leakage out and air and crap from getting in.  The trim header is on the port side along with all the fire main connections. 

2.) The trim pump can be connected to the drain header, which runs up the stbd side, and can be used as a back up for the drain pump.  There is a trim to drain cross connect valve in the Control Room that must be opened.  The drain pump can also be tied to the trim system through this valve making it a backup for the trim pump.  (These clever Americans think of everything!)

3.) The trim system also provides water to the fuel oil compensating water system.

[Darrin]

Good job Chief

And JT, IF we had an empty tube I would have NO problem putting the acquired bug juice machine in it until after the boat was a few miles outbound and if she was loaded for bear then it would just have to go outboard of the tubes and get covered up in gear until said time.  My only concern is having to ask for more torpedo alcohol when we returned back to port because someone may become worried about a leak or something

[JTheotonio]

emeacho - good answers.  However for us TM's there is just one more that is critical use of the trim system.  Can anyone find this extra use?

BTW -  Trim line hose connections can also be used for pumping the bilges.

[emeacho]

The trim system is used to fill the Water Round Torpedo (WRT) Tanks, forward and aft.  And yes, you can take a suction using the trim pump and header to pull water from wherever, but you better have hard hose because fire hose will collapse under the suction.

[JTheotonio]

You are close.  Yes the Trim system can be used to fill the WRT's forward and aft. Think fire and damage - one more important use.

[Lance Dean]

Sprinkler system?

[JTheotonio]

well sort of - it's in the manual.

[emeacho]

OK, how about the flooding of the pyro locker in case of fire!

[JTheotonio]

Bingo - the Trim system is used for flooding the magazine.  Don't want any pesky fires burning out of control with a bunch of flares, ammo, and other stuff that goes BOOM! (page 109 in the manual)

Well Done "E"

In addition to the suction and discharge valves on the trim manifold, this line has also a sea stop valve and a magazine flood valve. The sea stop valve is used to shut off the sea from the trim system and the magazine flood valve. The magazine flood valve guarantees, when the sea stop valve is open, an immediate source of sea water to the ammunition stowage and the pyrotechnic locker.