ENGINE - Royal Australian Navy

poor Austra lians and Kiwis trapped
in the Solomon Islands, surely it
would be us.
The Chief Tiff's contribution was
that we should get all the spare
White Metal bearings on board
and melt them down and re-metal
the bearing. The Chief Chippy was
muttering about getting some bits
of Teak and turning up a wooden
bearing. The High Power Chief's
solution was that we shou ld simply
support the shaft with a cargo strop
and simply change it every time it
wore out.
By this time the Captain and the
Army Commander were becoming
twitchy. The Prime Minister had
been told MANOORA had sailed,
HMAS TOBRUK was already in
Honiara and was expecting us to
come up and protect them, and we
were still limited to one shaft and
eleven knots. The pressure was on.
Whilst this was going on the ABMT
on watch, who we wi ll ca ll "James",
sat quietly by with a bemused look
on his face. When all the "good"
ideas had discussed, debated and
rejected by the "A" Team, he slowly
stood up and said to me, "Sir with
due respect you are all a pack of
W#%*ers".
Somewhat taken aback, my first
reaction was to chew his ear off,
but in the back of my sku ll a
little bell was ringing. After a deep
breath I quietly said, ''And what
would you recommend James ".
James looked me in the eye and
in a matter of a fact voice said
"Well sir, I would just go next door
to Number One Engine Room and
disconnect the shaft where it
comes out of the gearbox. That will
take about an hour and we will be
back under way doing 18 knots on
five engines' . The little bell in my
head gave a very loud clang!
I cast a furtive glance at the
remaining A Team members, who
by now are all studying the paint
work of the engine room deckhead,
and replied to James in as humble
a voice as I could muster, "That is
a very good idea James, I think we
should do that"
45 minutes later the ship was
back underway on five MPDE's
and doing l B knots en-route for
the Solomon's, where we remained
for three weeks before returning
to Townsvi lle to drop off our new
found Army friends.
The most important thing that I
learnt that day was that there is
no place any more for "A" Teams
who think they have a mortgage
on engineering solutions. What we
had neglected to consider was
that Number Two Engineroom was
James' domain; he had also served
on MANOORA and KAN IMBLA for
six years, almost as long as the rest
of us combined. He actually knew
the ship and the propulsion plant
as well, if not better, than we did.
What I also hoisted onboard is that
there are often much more simple
solutions to problems than are
first apparent. We had become so
focussed on replacing the bearing
that we forgot about the inherent
redundancy in the propu lsion
plant, fortunately however James
had not.
All engineers and supervisors
need to recognise and respect
that the young Marine Technician
who looks after a piece of kit
will almost certainly know more
about it than we will ever do. That
does not mean that we abrogate
our responsibilities under Technica l
Regulation , but simply that we need
to include those sailors as part of
out "Technical Support Network"
in making decisions. We wil l need
to weigh that advice, depending
on each sa ilor's experience and
competency, but if we ignore it we
do so at our peril.
Nine years on, "James' is now a
Chief Petty Officer responsible to
his MEO for the safe operation and
maintenance of his ship's Main
Propulsion System. I am sure, in
fact I know, that he will not make
the same mistake that we made,
one that could have lead to an
extremely important mission being
aborted simply because we were
too conceited to include the Able
Seaman in the decision making
process.
The "A" Team concept needs to be
banished to the dustbin of history.
The New Generation Navy needs
to be one inclusive of all, and one
which recognises the knowledge
and contribution of everyone,
regardless of rank.
Co mmander Tony Vine
Commander Tony Vine joined the RAN
in 1971 as an Engine Room Artificer
Apprentice. He undertook submarine
training in 1977 and was a commissioning
crew member of HMAS OTAMA in 1978.
Promoted to Warrant Officer in 1986. he
was commissioned in 1988 and completed
a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Honours)
at the Australian Maritime College in 1991.
He has been the Marine Engineering officer
of HMAS ORION and HMAS MANOORA, and
was the Fleet Marine Engineering Officer
between 2003 and 2006. He is currently the
Commanding Officer of Naval Headquarters
- Tasmania.