Standing the Engine-Room Watch: Authority, Records and Instruments

What the rule requires

Charge of the plant, and who answers to whom

The engineering officer of the watch is the officer on watch in charge of the main propulsion plant and its associated auxiliaries, and is responsible for the safe and proper operation of those units NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶1. He is not, however, the top of the chain: the engineer officer, or in his absence the main propulsion assistant, may direct the EOOW concerning the duties of the watch or may assume charge of the watch outright, and shall do so if in his judgment that is necessary.

The watch answers to the bridge for propulsion; on merchant ships the equivalent charge sits with the watch engineer NAVEDTRA 14104 §1-1. In credentialing language the merchant role is the officer in charge of an engineering watch, one of the competences STCW requires an endorsement for 46 CFR §11.101.

Two authority lines decide more exam questions than anything else on this topic.

Engine movement. The EOOW shall ensure all orders received from the officer of the deck are promptly and properly executed, and shall not permit the main engines to be turned except as authorized or ordered by the OOD. The throttleman is the man in the engine room who operates the throttles to control the main engines NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶3; he works the orders, he does not originate them.
Reporting a derangement. Any actual or probable derangement of machinery, boilers or auxiliaries that may affect the proper operation of the ship is reported promptly to the officer of the deck and the engineer officer. Traffic runs the other way too — the EOOW must be promptly informed of any engineering work or change in disposition of machinery that may affect the plant or endanger personnel.

The standing duties that apply at every station

Each watchstander is responsible for a defined set of machinery: keeping it within normal operating limits, logging readings, responding to alarms, and reporting abnormalities up the chain immediately rather than acting alone on major changes . Standing orders and night orders spell out the operating limits, the conditions requiring a call to the engineer, and the actions permitted without further orders.

You are the eyes of the engineering department at your station NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶2. Before assuming the watch, inspect existing conditions — the operating condition of machinery and firefighting equipment, leaks, potential fire hazards. If a casualty occurs, take immediate steps to control it and promptly notify the proper authority. Never leave your station unless you have permission from proper authority or are properly relieved.

One limit catches people out. Except in emergencies, the engineroom auxiliary watch does not stop, start or shift ship's service generators without first notifying the Electrician's Mate and the petty officer in charge of the watch — and while the petty officer in charge is responsible for proper operation of the ship's service generator and its associated machinery, operation of the electrical equipment remains the Electrician's Mate's responsibility.

Underway, a lubricating-oil casualty occurs in a main reduction gear. Whom do you report it to?

The officer of the deck and the engineer officer. A derangement affecting the proper operation of the ship goes to both; answering with the engineering chain alone is the standard miss .

Stations you may be asked to name

Upper-level watch — records periodic temperature and pressure readings from the upper-level machinery, makes required valve adjustments to correct slight variations from normal, and reports unusual conditions to the petty officer in charge. Also maintains normal water level in the deaerating tank by adjusting the excess and makeup feed valves, lights off and secures turbogenerators as ordered, and maintains adequate gland seal pressure on the turbogenerator NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Upper-Level Watch.
Messenger of the watch — usually the sound-powered telephone talker in close maneuvering, entering or leaving port, or refueling or replenishing alongside. Repeat every message word for word exactly as given; no idle chatter. The messenger also checks operating machinery and records temperature and pressure readings in the logs NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Messenger of the Watch.
Cold-iron watch — set when the plant is idle and all port services come from an external source such as shore or a tender NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Automatic Combustion Control (Acc). It makes frequent inspections for fire hazards, flooding and other unusual conditions, keeps bilges reasonably free of water, and makes hourly reports on existing conditions to the officer of the deck .
In drydock — after working hours the watch checks all sea valves to see that they are secured or blanked off. It also makes sure oil or water is not pumped into the dock, and that weights such as fuel oil, feedwater or potable water are not shifted without permission of the engineer officer.
Steaming watch — stood when the main engines are in use and the ship is underway .
Oil king — receives, transfers, discharges and tests fuel oil and maintains fuel oil records; certified to test and treat boiler water and feedwater NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶2.

Reading the plant

To monitor is to observe, record or detect an operation or condition using instruments; by reading and interpreting them you determine whether the machinery or system is operating within the prescribed range NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 11 — Instruments. Those readings become the hourly, daily and weekly entries in the station operating records, and because the records are used to judge the condition of the plant over time, the data has to be accurate. The instruments group as pressure gauges, temperature detectors, temperature measuring devices, electrical indicating instruments, liquid-level indicators, revolution counters and indicators, salinity indicators, and torque wrenches.

Temperature is a basic engineering variable, and you will be measuring steam, water, fuel, lubricating oil and other vital fluids with both mechanical and electrical instruments NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 11 — Devices. Audible alarms supplement the visual indicators, warning of action required or of an unsafe condition approaching — but proper operator action is only possible when the instruments are properly calibrated and properly interpreted NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 11 — Summary.

The device definitions that turn up as one-line questions:

Bourdon tube — a thin-walled tube bent into the shape of a letter C that tends to straighten when pressure is exerted, moving a pointer around the gauge dial . Calibration is the comparison of any measuring instrument with a set standard of greater accuracy.
Pyrometer — an instrument used for measuring temperatures . Salinity indicators read in micromhos, electrical units measuring the conductivity of water, and salt content is expressed in parts per million.
Hydrometer — determines the specific gravity of liquids NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶1. A gauge (sight) glass indicates the liquid level in a tank.
Salinometer — a hydrometer that measures the concentration of salt in a solution, that is, brine density .

Telling it apart

Which record are you being asked about

Sort these by what goes in them — events, readings, or instructions.

Engineering log — a legal record of important events and data concerning the machinery of a ship NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶1. The EOOW ensures it is properly kept and signs it for the watch on being relieved NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶1.
Engineer's bell book — the second record the EOOW must ensure is properly kept and must sign for that watch on being relieved. A question asking what the EOOW signs when relieved wants both it and the engineering log.
Operating log — an hourly record of operating pressures and temperatures of almost all operating machinery, including lube oil and boiler pressures and temperatures and pump suction and discharge pressures NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Messenger of the Watch. This is the one the messenger and the level watches fill in.
Night order book — standing and special instructions from the engineering officer to the night engineering officers of the watch NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶2. Instructions going down, not readings going up.

Which end of the engine order telegraph

Sort these by the direction the engine order travels 46 CFR §113.35-1.

Transmitter — sends engine orders to the engineroom and receives the acknowledgement back from the engineroom.
Indicator — the instrument in the engine room that receives and acknowledges engine orders.

Misfiled case: candidates read "indicator" as any pointer instrument on the board and pick the gauge. In this subpart it is the receiving unit of the engine order system.

Working a question: relieving the 0400–0800 watch

Turn to early enough to read the standing orders and the night order book before anything else. They define the operating limits, the conditions that require a call to the engineer, and the actions you may take without further orders NAVEDTRA 14104 §1-1.
Get the plant lineup from the off-going watch: what is running, what is out of service, what is on standby.
Ask for abnormal readings, evolutions in progress, and any orders — including special orders and non-completed orders — still outstanding NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶2. Nothing is taken for granted or assumed unchanged.
Tour the space yourself. Operating condition of machinery and firefighting equipment, leaks, fire hazards, bilges.
Check the actual condition of the machinery against the logs. The log is the claim; the gauge is the evidence. You need to know the proper operating and the limiting or danger pressures and temperatures to judge either NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Messenger of the Watch.
Only then formally relieve. The off-going watch is not relieved until the floor plates are wiped, the engineroom is clean, all operating logs and records are correct, and the information on machinery status and orders has been passed.
During the watch, a reading that drifts slightly off normal on the upper level gets the required valve adjustment and a report of the unusual condition to the petty officer in charge NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Upper-Level Watch. A major change is not yours to make alone.
At the end of the watch you go through the same handover from the other side, and you do not leave assigned machinery unattended without a proper relief.

Where candidates lose the point

A machinery derangement goes to two people, not one. The engineer officer heads the department, which makes him the tempting single answer, but the rule requires prompt report to the officer of the deck and the engineer officer. When "both" is on the sheet, any single name is wrong.
Authority to turn the main engines sits on the bridge. Neither the engineer officer nor the master is the answer the stem is after: the EOOW shall not permit the main engines to be turned except as authorized or ordered by the officer of the deck.
"Properly relieved" is a condition of the space, not the arrival of a man. Floor plates wiped, engineroom clean, logs and records correct, status and orders passed — until all of that is done the off-going watch still has it, however long his relief has been standing there.
An auxiliary watch does not shift a ship's service generator on its own judgment. Except in emergencies, the Electrician's Mate and the petty officer in charge are notified first, and the electrical equipment stays the Electrician's Mate's to operate regardless of who is responsible for the generator itself.
Salinometer and hydrometer are not interchangeable. A salinometer is a hydrometer, narrowed to salt concentration or brine density; where the stem asks about specific gravity of a liquid generally, the broader instrument is the answer.

Check yourself

You have the throttles. A mate calls down and asks you to turn the main engine over for a few minutes to clear the shaft. What do you do?

Do not turn the engine on that request. The main engines are not turned except as authorized or ordered by the officer of the deck, and orders received from the OOD are the ones the watch executes NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶1.

Your relief arrives at 0345, you brief him on the plant lineup and outstanding orders, but the operating log is two entries behind and the floor plates are oily. Are you relieved?

No. The off-going watch is not considered relieved until the floor plates are wiped, the engineroom is clean, all operating logs and records are correct, and the status and orders information has been passed NAVEDTRA 14075 Ch. 1 — Responsibilities ¶2.

On the engine order telegraph, which unit is the indicator?

The instrument in the engine room, which receives and acknowledges the engine orders. The transmitter sends the order to the engineroom and receives the acknowledgement back 46 CFR §113.35-1.

You are asked to check the specific gravity of a liquid sample. Which instrument, and how does it differ from a salinometer?

A hydrometer determines specific gravity of liquids. A salinometer is a hydrometer built to measure the concentration of salt in a solution — brine density — so it is the narrower answer and only correct when the stem is about salt content NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 13 — Engineering Officer of the Watch ¶3.

What records must the EOOW sign on being relieved?

The engineering log and the engineer's bell book. The EOOW ensures both, along with the prescribed operating records, are properly kept, and signs the two for that watch when relieved .

The ship is in drydock. What does the watch check after working hours?

All sea valves, to see that they are secured or blanked off. The watch also makes sure oil or water is not being pumped into the drydock, and that weights such as fuel oil, feedwater or potable water are not shifted without permission of the engineer officer .

A gauge on the upper level reads slightly above its normal value. What is the correct action?

Make the required valve adjustment to correct the condition, and report the unusual condition to the petty officer in charge NAVEDTRA 14104 Ch. 1 — Upper-Level Watch. Abnormalities go up the chain immediately; you do not make a major plant change on your own NAVEDTRA 14104 §1-1.