$9 billion dollars worth of LPDs and the Navy finally may have a fix to the lube-oil problem

[unhappycamper]

The amphibious transport dock ship San Antonio, above, will be getting an upgrade to fix its lube-oil problem. It is scheduled to re-enter service in August.


Navy tries out fixes for lube-oil problem
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 11:38:39 EDT

The nagging problems that have threatened to wreck the main propulsion engines of San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks finally may have been fixed by a series of solutions put together by a team of Navy and industry engineers.

At issue is near-microscopic grit that gets into the lubricating oil of the diesel engines that drive the 25,000-ton ships. If undetected or untreated, the grit causes scarring on the main bearings that support the engine over the crankshaft; if the problem continues, the crankshaft gets out of alignment and ultimately could destroy the engines.

While all five ships of the class that are in service have suffered to varying degrees from the problems, two of them — the San Antonio and brand-new New York — have engines out of service because of the trouble.

The issue is even more perplexing because the engine — the 16-cylinder Colt-Pielstick PC2.5 STC made by Fairbanks Morse — is quite familiar to Navy engineers, powering, for example, the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships.

Engineers have been scratching their heads over the problem almost since San Antonio was commissioned in 2005. Various fixes were thought to have solved the issue, but it has continued to plague the ships.

[cloudbase]

1. The Colt-Pielstick engines

aren't worth a damn, and there's plenty of operational experience that the USN can tap to back that up. There are plenty of medium speed diesel engines that have proven long-term reliability but probably don't have a champion in congress to require their use. Well, it could have been worse-they could have used DeLaval-Enterprise diesels.

They should just repower with gas turbines. Expensive now, but cheaper over the life of the ship. Just don't let Avondale of Bender shipyards do the work.

[HillbillyBob]

2. Did they try sticking a large /stronge magnet to the crankcase

to catch the slivers..like those back of the book mag advert things for your cars engine and trans?

Ok just a little snarky.