Ever wonder what it is like to take control of an 8,000 Horsepower engine spinning a 16 foot propeller pushing a 500 foot long ship through the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean?

Maine Maritime 2/C Engineering students on the 2024 training cruise no longer wonder what that is like.

Over the period of 4 days, each company (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta) all were given a lecture specific to the Training Ship State of Maine (TSSOM) drive train.  The lecture focused on the specific drive train components of the TSSOM and how to operate these systems in various emergency modes (in the case of equipment failure).

Power Point lectures can only take you so far.  To supplement the learnings of the lecture, the students were given permission by the Captain/Master Gordon “Mac” McArthur and Chief Engineer Aaron Coy to display their learnings and take control of the Main Engine RPM and Controllable Pitch Propeller System, locally in “Shaft Alley”.  The students were then “given bells” (change in speed requests from the bridge).  Each student had to acknowledge the bells, and then make the appropriate engine RPM and Controllable Pitch propeller movements locally to change the vessel speed across the water.

Being able to train, hands on, with real equipment while making a transatlantic crossing is what makes the TSSOM a unique and invaluable asset to Maine Maritime’s students.  There is no other learning platform comparable to what we can offer while onboard the TSSOM.

Chief Engineer Aaron Coy, 2^nd Engineer Will Silver and Watch Officer Ryan Armstrong helped facilitate operation by preparing the system for student use 4 afternoons in a row.  The willingness, dedication and positive attitude of these crew members is what made this happen.  Every student thanked them for the opportunity.  The students and faculty are lucky to have such support from the ship’s crew.

The student operation was overseen by professors Leon Hubbard, Rory Hersom, John Settles, Laurel Christian, David Walker and Thomas Whitney.

Post By: Professor Leon Hubbard

Email this post

• Your Email*
• Friend's email*
• Email Subject Line*
• Text*
  I think you may find this article interesting - ""
• CAPTCHA
• Phone
  This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.