David A. Blank

A book crammed full of geeky goodness; I enjoyed it immensely in spite of it being thirty years out of date. It is published by Naval Institute Press and has the look and feel of a textbook for Naval Academy midshipmen, though I don't actually know if it was used that way; for one thing, I find no exercises at the ends of chapters.

Topics covered include the boilers, engines, and other ship machinery of 1980 warships; nuclear power; ship hull construction; plumbing; wiring; and stabililty and damage control. You will learn, then promptly forget if you are me, how all compartments larger than a high school locker are systematically numbered based on what deck they are on, which frame they are behind, and how far off the centerline they are located (odd being to port and even to starboard, unless it's the other way.) This doubtless helps one find his way around an unfamiliar ship.

The best part is the long, detailed, and apparently loving description of the type "D" boiler and the turbine engines it drives and other machinery it requires. I am impressed; I almost feel I should make a respectful bow in a generally northeasterly direction. ;) There is a much sketchier description of a nuclear plant, with apologies about how a lot of that is still classified, and a dry remark that nuclear plants tend not to superheat their steam to nearly the same degree as turbine engines because efficiency is not quite as important relative to, um, other considerations.

The date of publication is a bit awkward for me, since it's too recent to be a really good guide to WWII ship machinery and too old to be considered up to date for today's Navy. Though things have probably not changed that much in the last thirty years; the technology is awfully mature. But at least I have some notion what the "M" type three-drum boilers used in capital ships of the U.S. Navy in the 1940s are about, I have a better idea how a reaction stage differs from an impulse stage in a turbine engine (the former acts as a nozzle while the latter does not) and I know what a "strake" is.

Recommended for any technology geek. But probably not anyone else.… (more)