I'm ex-RN myself, did best part of 12 years in the Marine Engineering branch until a motorbike accident in Bermuda put paid to my Naval career, I served mainly on ships with the steam propulsion units but did some gas turbine and diesel work as well.

I served on the following ships as well as many shore bases home and abroad

Ark Royal, Bulwark, Hermes - All Aircraft Carriers

Penelope, Zulu, Gurka - Frigates

Intepid and Fearless - Assault Ships/Troop Carriers

My last rank before leaving was that of POMEM(M) with Boiler & Engine ticket, I'd passed for Chief Stoker and was just waiting to do my time to be promoted when I was disabled out.

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The biggest engines I had worked on (152,000 shaft horsepower) were those of HMS Ark Royal (R09). I got drafted twice to Ark Royal and served a total of 4 years on her. I was on her during the Bi-Centinial celebrations in New York 1976 and also appeared in the TV series 'Sailor'. Below is a transcript of a summary of her history taken from a book I have. The HMS Ark Royal (R09) began construction in 1943 during World War II. She replaced the previous Ark Royal which was lost to enemy action on November 14, 1941. The Ark Royal was the Royal Navy's last conventional catapult and arrested landing aircraft carrier; later aircraft carriers of the Invincible-class were known initially as "Through Deck Cruisers" and carried vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft. Her keel was laid down by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead on 3 May 1943. She was launched on 3 May 1950, and commissioned on 25 February 1955.   Construction and Modifications The Ark Royal was the sister ship to HMS Eagle, initially named HMS Audacious, hence the name of the class. Both ships would be extensively upgraded throughout their lifetime. It was not until 7 years after she was laid down that she was launched, and 5 more years until completion. In this time, she underwent redesign, and when completed, she was markedly different from her sister ship. When commissioned, she had a 5.5° partially-angled flight deck, 2 steam catapults capable of launching aircraft weighing up to 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg), a deck-edge lift on the port side, modified armament, and the new mirror landing system.

HMS Ark Royal in the 'Rollers' going through the Bay of Biscay 1976

These innovations allowed aircraft to land and take off from the carrier at the same time. Her flight deck as built was 800 feet (240 m) long by 112 feet (34 m) wide. About a year after commissioning, she had her forward port 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns removed to improve aircraft operations over the angled deck. Four years later, the port deck edge lift and the forward starboard 4.5 inch (114 mm) guns were also removed. The remaining 4.5 inch guns were removed in the 1964 refit. From March 1967 to February 1970, she underwent her final major refit, whicn included an 8.5° angled flight deck, new catapults taking her up to three, and arrestory cables, a new island, and a partially new electronic suite (some of her original radars were retained). She was also fitted for 4 Seacat missile launchers, but they were never installed, so she emerged from this refit with no defensive armament. Initially the ship had a complement of up to 50 aircraft comprising of Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms, Gannets, Skyraiders and various helicopters. Operational History The Ark Royal participated in many exercises as part of the British fleet and NATO squadrons, but saw no combat duty. During the Suez Crisis in 1956, about a year after commissioning, she was doing her post-refit trials, so she was not involved with this operation. In 1963, she carried out trials for a new type of Vertical/Short Take Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft, the Hawker P.1127, which developed into the Hawker-Siddeley Harrier. She was involved in a notorious incident in 1970 when she collided with the Soviet destroyer Kotlin while it was shadowing Ark Royal (a common practise during the Cold War) which was in the Mediterranean to participate in a NATO exercise. Ark Royal was damaged only slightly while the Soviet destroyer sustained significant damage. The ship featured in the 1960s British television series "Not only... but also..." starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. In one episode in they used the ship's catapault to shoot a piano into the sea while Moore was (supposedly) playing it. By 1970, the Ark Royal now had a complement of 43 aircraft, comprising of F-4 Phantoms (the only British carrier to operate the type) and Buccaneers. In July 1976, she represented Britain at the United States Bicentennial Celebration in New York City. Originally intended to be removed from service in the mid 1970s, she was kept operational only by cannabalizing parts from her now-decommissioned sister. In the late 1970s, the ship made a return to television. A major BBC documentary series, Sailor was made tracking life on board HMS Ark Royal. The theme tune for the programme was "Sailing" by Rod Stewart - a song that came to be associated with the ship and her successor. The scrapping of the Ark Royal in 1980, two years after the Eagle had been scrapped, marked the end of fixed-wing naval operation aboard Royal Navy carriers. She had borne so many new inventions, and yet, was never replaced by a new carrier with them. There was some discussion about preserving her as a museum ship, and some private funds were raised; however, the Ministry of Defence would not sanction these efforts. Ironically the Falklands War took place only two years after the Ark Royal was scrapped; had the carrier still been in service for the conflict the Argentine Air Force would have had a considerably tougher time launching attacks on the Royal Navy.

Career Ordered: Mid 1942 Laid down: 3 May 1943 Launched: 3 May 1950 Commissioned: 25 February 1955 Decommissioned: December 1978 Fate: Scrapped in 1980 Struck: February 1979 General Characteristics Displacement: 36,800 tons (as built) 43,060 tons (1978) Length: 245 m (804 ft) overall Beam: 34 m (112 ft) (as built) 50 m (171 ft) (1978) Draught: 10 m (33 ft) standard 9.5 m (36 ft) deep Propulsion: 8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers in 4 boiler rooms 4 sets of Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts 152,000 SHP Speed: 31.5 kt (58 km/h) Range: 11,265 km (7000 miles) at 14 knots 5000nm at 24 knots Complement: 2250 Armament: As built: 16 x 4.5 inch (8x2) 52 x 40 mm(6x6, 2x2, 12x1) 1969 refit: none Aircraft: 50 initially 43 after 1969 refit Motto: Zeal Does Not Rest                           HMS Ark Royal - North Atlantic 1976 with Phantom F-4's on the flight deck

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Here's a tale Newton once told me......

Yes, I know, I like that one. But I’ll tell you, while you’re on with telling tales, just tell me about the romancing bit, where they were romancing about the size of their engines.

R-Oh, that were Stanley Fisher and old George Henry up at Butts when I were a lad. We’d been working in Butts one Saturday and I’d only be fourteen, I’d only just started. We were making the joint on the low pressure cylinder cover which, by the way, were made with ½ inch lead pipe. Anyway, that’s a story we’ve told before I think. So anyhow we’d finished and it were dinnertime and they’d warmed up and had it running and we’re all sat down. There were the engine driver and his son [George Henry Watson and Frank Watson] and me and Stanley Fisher. Stanley says to George Henry, What were that engine like George Henry that you had before you came to Barlick? Oh Stanley, he says, It were a big ‘un, it were a big engine were that. It were a monstrous thing, I don’t know how big the crank pins were and the flywheel. Then he says to Stanley, Well, have you ever run any big engines? Well says Stanley, I have like, They happen weren’t as big as that that you’re on about George Henry. Why, how big were it Stanley says George Henry. Well said Stanley, It takes a bit of explaining, I don’t know t’weights o’t flywheel and t’beds and that sort of stuff but I’ll tell you this, they had handrails round th’oil holes to stop the oiler from falling in! He He he! Now Stanley, says George Henry, We’re telling lies now and romancing a bit. Well Stanley says, Isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the last bloody hour! He he, it’s all right is that one.

I have been looking through my old photographs for the picture of me stood inside the cylinder bore on a large diesel generator in Gibralter we were refitting, however it looks like the kids have been through them and so far I haven't come across it (Yet). However I did find a pic of my old ship mate Tony (Tug) Wilson who was given the task of scimming the top off the piston crown on a new piston just before it was refitted. This will give you an idea of the size, from what I can remember it was a 10 cylinder diesel and stood about 30ft tall from top to bottom.

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I came across this site a while back, its got some amazing pictures of Marine Diesels

Click on the link below for more pictures like this

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~ccsshb/12cyl/

The Most Powerful Diesel Engine in the World!

Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:
Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)
Length: 89 feet
Height: 44 feet
Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm

I've had an interest in Calmac for years and have used them many times.  Here's a bit more about the Columba......

THE CALEDONIAN MACBRAYNE SHIP ‘COLUMBA’
[Cruises from Oban in summer, spare in winter]

The car-ferry revolution in the Hebrides can be traced back to 20 November 1963 when Mrs Michael Noble, wife of the then Secretary of State for Scotland, launched the HEBRIDES, the first of three sisters from the shipyard of Hall, Russell in Aberdeen. More than three years beforehand, the announcement of three car-ferry routes had been made - one between Uig in Skye and Lochmaddy in North Uist and Tarbert, Harris, a second between Mallaig and Armadale in Skye across the Sound of Sleat and a third between Oban and Craignure (Mull) and Lochaline (Morvern). The second ferry, CLANSMAN, was named on 15 January 1964 and launched the following day, while the launch of the third was almost two months later, on 12 March.

The most famous MacBrayne steamer of all time - and arguably the best-loved of all Clyde steamers - was the paddle steamer COLUMBA, which sailed from Glasgow to Ardrishaig almost every summer from 1878 until 1935. The revival of the name in 1964 for the third of the MacBrayne car ferries was greeted with enthusiasm, though no one at the time thought that her link with the sixth century saint would become stronger by her transfer to the 'Sacred Isle Cruise' from Oban to Iona, the island where St. Columba first set foot on Scottish soil. The three sisters, each appearing with a gross tonnage of 2104, were the largest ships ever to sail in the MacBrayne fleet. Actually until 1973 they were strictly merely on charter to MacBrayne's, being owned by the Secretary of State and registered at Leith. Their fifty odd cars were loaded by means of a hoist forward, equipped, like the GLEN SANNOX on the Clyde, with turntables and lifted by four hydraulic rams. With sleeping berths for fifty one beneath the car deck and well-appointed passenger accommodation for 600 above, the HEBRIDES, CLANSMAN and COLUMBA admirably fulfilled their dual role as carriers of essential supplies and ships able to win tourist traffic for the islands. The COLUMBA is the only survivor of the trio, the others having been replaced by new purpose-built vessels. However, her fittings have kept pace with the times; only in 1984 her saloon, cafeteria and bar were carpeted and new chairs provided. Externally she has changed little; apart from an alteration in colours following the change in ownership to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd., the only major change has been the addition of a new tripod mast fitted to the foredeck late in 1980 and the 'Calmac' logo applied to her hull in January 1984.

For the first nine years of her career the COLUMBA maintained the important crossing between Oban and Mull extending her voyage twice a day to Lochaline in Morvern. She entered service on 30 July 1964, replacing two hard-pressed conventional motorships LOCHEARN and LOCHMOR. The main port for Mull now became Craignure, whose pier had only opened to traffic in December 1963. Previously the LOCHEARN had been based at Tobermory, the 'capital' of the island, and had only made one crossing daily to the mainland, calling at several intermediate piers and ferries. Though the Mull traffic is sparse in winter it is a magnet for tourists in summer with Iona accessible by 'overland route' via Fionnphort, and in 1968 the COLUMBA had to be given additional buoyant seats on her after deck to bring her passenger complement up to 870. One of the most popular of the annual Highland Gatherings, the Tobermory Games, takes place in July and from 1969 COLUMBA called specially at Tobermory on that occasion. From 1970 she began to be used quite extensively for livestock movements and this took her for the first time to the Outer Isles. Despite some local opposition, Sunday sailings to Mull started in 1972; COLUMBA combined these with short cruises to such places as the Isles of the Sea and the Corrievreckan Whirlpool.

Then, after the 1972 season, came the conversion of her sister CLANSMAN to drive-through operation. The CLANSMAN's successor as Mallaig - Armadale - Barra - Lochboisdale steamer in summer and relief steamer in winter was, predictably, the COLUMBA. The night service to the Outer Isles was only destined to last one year and so in the 1974 season the COLUMBA merely sailed on an easy schedule between Mallaig and Armadale. This rather wasteful use of a large unit of the fleet coupled with the universally-regretted news that the 48 year-old turbine KING GEORGE V was to be withdrawn as Oban excursion steamer made it almost certain that the COLUMBA, after only two years absence, would return to Oban as her summer base. From 5 May 1975 she instituted a programme of excursions cum ferry sailings, serving Coll and Tiree four times per week, Colonsay three times and Iona twice. This clever dovetailing of two functions, together with the far-sighted and popular innovation of the Mini Cruise whereby passengers used the ship as a floating hotel for two or three days while she sailed to the isles, ensured an unexpected profit in her first season! During the winter, the COLUMBA continued to relieve the HEBRIDES on the Uig triangle and the IONA on the Inner Isles Mail and she also spent some time on the route for which she was built - as the Mull vessel.

Since the advent of the CLAYMORE on the Islands run from Oban, the COLUMBA's off-season employment has been confined to extended periods based at Uig and livestock sailings from places as far apart as Barra, Lochboisdale, Lochmaddy and Port Askaig in Islay. Unusually, when the latter pier was closed for reconstruction in 1978-79, the cattle runs were made from Bruichladdich in Loch Indaal. Sometimes in October and after Easter she has found employment sailing to Colonsay, Coil or Tiree, unusually over the Christmas/New Year period of 1980-81 she was the second ferry on the Arran route on the Clyde.

Most interesting of all has been the employment of the COLUMBA on sailings marking special events. In 1978, to commemorate the centenary of her illustrious predecessor, the COLUMBA gave the public a unique opportunity to sail from Gourock round the Mull of Kintyre to Oban. The following year, thanks to the huge success of this trip, she repeated the experience, and extended her voyage to St. Kilda, "the island on the edge of the world", 38 miles west of the Outer Hebrides, this time as a celebration of the centenary of David MacBrayne Ltd. The appetite of the public was insatiable, and in May 1980, the COLUMBA again voyaged from Oban to St Kilda, anchoring in Village Bay and circumnavigating Hirta and the satellite islands. The anniversary this time was rather sad - for it was fifty years previously that St Kilda had been evacuated. Then, in May 1983, she had the privilege of carrying HRH the Prince of Wales from the former railhead at Strome Ferry in Loch Carron to the newly completed Howard Doris oil platform 'Maureen' in Loch Kishorn some six miles away. At the end of that month, the COLUMBA was involved in protests from the islanders on Mull over the future of Tobermory pier. The COLUMBA had made the last calls on 28 May as an engineer's report had recommended its closure due to its perilous state. The demonstrations were so vigorous that eventually - in February 1984 - the Secretary of State for Scotland agreed to the complete renewal of the pier at a cost of some £200,000. Work started at the end of July and by the time the COLUMBA re-appeared for the 1985 season she could call at all states of the tide and normally no longer had to land passengers by ferryboat. At one stage a plan was drawn up to use Tobermory as a 'half way stage' to Coil and Tiree just as Uig is for the Outer Isles, but this was firmly rejected. How the service to these islands and Colonsay in summer should operate after the COLUMBA reaches the end of her useful life remains a very difficult problem. For that very reason the veteran Western Isles car ferry could survive many more seasons, although the provision of ro-ro facilities at Uig, Tarbert and Lochmaddy precludes her use on that station. [Quoted from ‘Hebridean and Clyde Ferries of Caledonian MacBrayne. 1985. by Ian McRorie.]