Today, the ship had a certain silence to the normal bustling activity. We had Morning Formation as usual (at 0745 sharp!) but immediately after, cadets made their way into the classrooms to take their Sea Term Final Exams.
While on the T.S. Kennedy Seaterm 2013, the cadets have worked with the training rates and instructors to familiarize themselves with the majors that they've had the opportunity to explore.
During exams I made my way down into the Engine Room. A fellow cadet and friend, Jais Manghis, guided me through the Upper Tween Deck, the Main Operating Level, and the Auxiliary Machinery Room. The Upper Tween Deck is the main entrance to the Engine Room. The Main Operating Level is where most of the controls for the ship's engine are located. Buttons and levers cover the control panel, along with a log book, and a white board that has all of the up to the minute engine room information. From this central location, the watch team checks the engine room every hour. Temperatures and pressures of all the running machinery is logged and calculations for the amount of freshwater made, fuel consumed, and the shaft counter are recorded. The shaft counter is an instrument that reports how fast the shaft is moving. As the shaft spins the ships propeller that forces the ship forward.
In the Auxiliary Machinery Room is the Marine Sanitation Device, because it is against the law to dump waste out of the ship, it is mandatory for the T.S. Kennedy to sanitize all waste before the water is released back into the ocean. Also located in the AMR is the Reverse Osmosis Water Generator, which makes our fresh water, and the fire pump which distributes water to all of the fire hoses.
This morning the freshmen cadets are completing their Engine Room Final Exam assessments. Each 4/C has a green card with a place for a date and senior (1/C) Engine Training Rate's signature. They must demonstrate their learning of the engine room routines by tracing out the Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams of the Engine Room. To complete this assessment cadets follow the pipes that are attached to each particular system in the engine room and draw the system out using the correct symbols and illustrations. The assessments include the Lube Oil System, Main Steam System, Fuel Oil System, Fire Main System, and Main Circulation System. All the pipes complicated, but the engineers are quite capable of keeping the Engine Room of the T.S. Kennedy running smoothly.
The cadets will use their experiences on SeaTerm to determine their majors and their careers. If you enjoyed Following our Voyage you may be interested in exploring a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Here are some ways to find out more.
Choosing a STEM Career
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Take this quiz to see what your career interests are.
STEM career outlook
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