OIL LAB: THE CHEMIST OF THE MACHINIST’S MATE WORLD

AT SEA

11.09.2023

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Brown 

USS Bataan (LHD 5)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 9, 2023


OIL LAB: THE CHEMIST OF THE MACHINIST’S MATE WORLD
By USS Bataan (LHD 5) MC2 Matthew F. Brown

Beakers, graduated cylinders, conductivity, alkalinity, phosphate, chloride, titration, nitric acid, mercuric nitrate, color indicators; are terms usually associated with chemistry. What do these words have to do with the steam-powered propulsion of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5)?
Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Kyle Elam, oil king aboard Bataan, says everything. Within the Engineering Department, the EB01 division works diligently to ensure the proper functioning and operation of the ship’s propulsion system through meticulous testing of the boiler water chemistry. This division of seven qualified personnel known as the oil lab is manned around the clock.
“The oil king qualification is the highest you can get in the oil lab,” said Elam. “The qualification takes about a year to get and has eight prerequisite qualifications; oil spill crew member, oil spill supervisor, potable water king, assistant fuel oil king, assistant boiler water king, fuel oil king, and boiler water king. It’s not just handed to anyone.”
The oil lab is in charge of fuel, lube oil, oily waste, boiler water, feed-water, oil analysis, along with testing the boiler water chemistry.
The oil lab watch standers collect samples from the ship’s boilers, as well as the 22 sounding tubes located around the ship. Walking up, down, forward, aft, starboard to port. They also run reports on any fuel, lube oil, or water samples that the ship might need tested.
“In a day I can walk over 20,000 steps easily,” said Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Mawunyo Dogbe, oil king aboard USS Bataan. “From the forward pit [forward machinery room] to the aft pit [aft machinery room], forward and aft steering, forward and aft JP-5, our FAS [fueling at sea] stations, our daily duties take us all around the ship.”
Along with samples collected on a daily basis, the oil lab also tests any samples brought to them from other work centers.
“With fuel or lube oil, we will use the centrifuge machine which will spin our samples and tell us how much water or sediment is in that sample,” said Elam. “Then with our various water samples we do what’s called titration. We add nitric acid, mercuric nitrate and our color indicators, and based on the change in color in the sample, we know the amount of chemicals in the sample. Using the samples, we tested, we can determine the health of our fuel and water and take corrective action if needed.”
Some of the special evolutions the oil lab takes part in are replenishment-at-sea (RAS), fueling-at-sea (FAS), and lube oil transfer.
“Just this deployment we have taken on 1 million gallons of fuel in one RAS,” said Elam. “We usually take on around 500,000 to 800,000 gallons of fuel during a typical RAS. During these evolutions we’re ensuring the correct distribution of the fuel as well as testing the quality of fuel. During FAS we do the opposite, we send fuel over to another ship.”
On average, the oil lab transfers 30,000 gallons of fuel a day, which feeds the fire in Bataan’s boilers. The usage of fuel varies on the ship’s speeds. At the beginning of deployment, the oil lab was averaging 105,000 gallons transferred a day.
The oil lab is directly under the supervision of the ship’s steam-powered generating inspector Senior Chief Machinist’s Mate Jesse Larimer and Chief Machinist’s Mate William Doyle is the ship’s oil king.
“The relationship I have with my team is near and dear to my heart,” said Doyle. “It’s a tough qualification to get. The senior oil kings, MM2 Dogbe, MM2 Nunal and MM2 Elam, for lack of better words, are like my sea-sons.”
While the job can be much of the same, day after day, the team says they take pride in what they do.
“I take pride in everything we do,” said Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Kevon Joseph, oil king in progress aboard Bataan. “Just being in the oil lab is a special place to be because everything is so important. In order for the ship to move and get underway, you need the boilers. In order for the boilers to operate you need feed-water, ‘sat’ [satisfactory] feed water, ‘sat’ boiler water, and you’re going to need fuel. Being in the oil lab, we are the people to take all the samples and do all these tests to make sure our fuel and water is ‘sat’.”
Joseph said the job includes a lot of chemistry and being in accordance with the guiding instructions.
“We consider ourselves the chemists of the machinist’s mate world,” said Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Joshua Nunal, oil king aboard Bataan. “I never would have thought I would be doing anything like this before joining the Navy as an MM.”
Doyle said it is easy for some to look past just how important the oil lab’s role is onboard.
“The oil lab is overall responsible for the chemistry of the water in the plant,” said Doyle. “Now if you are unaware of it, the main propulsion boiler aboard this ship operates roughly with a superheated steam of 875 to 950 degrees at 700 psi [pounds per square inch]. The biggest thing we worry about and the reason we test the water in the time frame we do is because if our treatment chemicals are not where they need to be, various things can happen throughout the boiler. Worst case scenario would be a boiler explosion or main steam leak, both catastrophic events. It is very important that the oil lab has the watch.”
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• Date Taken: 11.09.2023
• Date Posted: 12.19.2023 09:14
• Story ID: 460298
• Location: AT SEA