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Bulkhead # 34 Door
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I like your Sunday Photo of the Day. Looking really good! It's starting to resemble the mess I lived in over 40 years ago. Bulkhead 34! I lived this side of that for years. This Photo inspired the following:
Fog RoutineThe door being shut reminds me of some exciting situations. There were numerous reasons for shutting down that bulkhead and the door e.g. on the surface in fog routine to safeguard against collision or grounding when "Blind Pilots" were closed up navigating through inland waters in thick fog.
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Pressure Differential
That door is very heavy. There is a safety latch on the after side of the door at 3 o'clock. It is intended to stop the door swinging open out of control should the situation require it; for example, when running opened up on the roof in Fog Routine the bulkhead is shut down. With the Donks runnin, there is a slight vacuum in the boat due to the high volume of air demand by the diesel engines and the restriction on air flow down through the conning tower. The forward torpedo room is often at normal atmospheric pressure with 34 bulkhead and the door shut down. That causes a pressure differential with the positive pressure on the forward side of the door.
Standard Procedure
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There is a standard procedure for opening 34 bulkhead door under those circumstances. Opening the voice pipe cock will allow the pressure to equalize through the voice pipe. Once the air stops flowing a "Stand Clear" is yelled through the voice pipe. If anyone is near the door he can be seen through the sight glass in the center of the door. He would respond "Standing Clear" once everyone was out of the way.
Some Slam
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If the operating handle is lifted, freeing the door to open, without equalizing the pressure, the door, under great pressure, will slam hard against the safety clip which is supposed to stop the door at about 3 inches open and allow the positive air pressure to escape through the opening. Without the safety clip someone on the after side could be seriously injured if struck by that 2 ton door as it flies open under extreme pressure.
Unfortunately for one guy the safety clip did not hold.
Unfortunately for one guy the safety clip did not hold.
Sometimes Things Go Wrong
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In 1966 or 67, we were on the roof, running opened up, in Fog Routine, with 34 bulkhead shut down. It was the morning watch and I was on the helm. It was wet and cold outside and we had Naugahyde curtains rigged around the one-man control, Helm and Planes and the chart table to cut down on the wet frigid gale blowing down the tower. It didn't help much. People were beginning to stir, and some had ventured from forward through Control to the galley for breakfast. One of those guys was headed forward and near the tower trying to shield his eggs, bangers and beans from the relentless tower blast when it felt like an explosion from forward.
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He was blown aft off his feet landing on his back with his breakfast flying past the panel. The OMC and chart table curtains were ripped from their hangers and ended up back by the heads. The charts, tools and logs from the chart table were wrapped round the after periscope or down in the well.
China Didn't Know
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Up forward, LSEM Pierre "China" Doutre had just woken up in the Forward Torpedo Room. The Fore Ends Watch Keeper was up by the tubes doing his rounds and didn't see China so couldn't warn him about the high-pressure differential. China, still half asleep and probably in a bit of a hurry to MT a morning bladder, climbed the ladder to the pedestal, took an all-round grasp of the door handle and lifted it. The door exploded open. It broke the safety clip as it swung hard and fast all the way open and up against the stop latch that normally holds it in place when it's open. The stop latch broke and the door hinge bent out of shape.
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[China should have opened the voice pipe cock (circled) to equalize the pressure]
Once Bitten Twice Shy
That huge excess volume of air from the Forward Torpedo Room made its' way to the Port and Starboard Donks in an instant, taking everything in its path that wasn't secured in place with it. And China, who had a firm grip on the door handle, was catapulted out of the forends and slammed against the athwartship bunks at the after end of the Junior Rates Mess. He was banged up pretty bad but survived to serve a long career in boats. You can bet your tot that he was forever cautious when opening a door after that. It is said that he still opens his car window before opening the door. I've never witnessed that personally though.
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