Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 15, 1969)

Navy To Switch To All Distillate Fuel For Ship Propulsion The Department of Defense has authorized the Navy to shift to a new fuel for ship propulsion. An all-distillate marine diesel type of fuel will replace, on a grad-ual time-phased basis, the Navy Special Fuel Oil now in use. The shift was approved on the condition that the new fuel be introduced in such a manner as to allow in-and TUGS dustry to adjust to the new require-ment. A three-year phase-in period was considered minimum, with no large procurements in the first year. Under these guidelines, procure-ment of the new fuel could start as early as March, 1970 and reach a peak, now estimated at 46 million barrels a year, by February, 1972. The shift was based on extensive research by the Navy. The present Navy Special Fuel Oil is high in sulphur and metallic mineral ash-forming compounds which create excessive deposits of soot and slag requiring frequent boiler cleaning and other shipboard maintenance. Use of the all-distillate fuel will greatly reduce shipboard boiler re-pairs and maintenance with result-ant improvements in ship readiness. It will practically eliminate the exhausting job of routine fireside cleaning by boiler tenders. Adoption of the all-distillate fuel will also reduce the number of varieties of main propulsion fuels now being used in the fleet. Even though the new fuel will be more expensive (about $48-mil-lion more per year) operating costs will be reduced by decreased main-tenance, fewer repairs, etc. Total benefits are estimated to be in the millions of dollars per year when the new system is fully imple-mented. Certain preparatory steps must be accomplished before ships of the fleet can burn this fuel. For exam-ple. shipboard fuel pumps must be modified or replaced in many in-stances. Piping will be tested and repaired as necessary to handle the less dense fuel. Ashore, stocks of Navy Special Fuel Oil must be drawn down and the tankage pre-pared for the new fuel. The oil industry will require sufficient ad-vance notice of the phase-in plan in order to provide the required quantities. The actual shift will be so timed as to permit an order-ly changeover during the recom-mended three-year period until the entire fleet is converted. The interim specification for the new fuel, MIL-F24374 (Ships), has been published and may be ob-tained by writing to the Navy Pub-lication and Forms Center, NPSC-103. 5801 Tabor Avenue. Philadel-phia. Pa. 19120. Capt. Halboth Offers Supervisory Services Capt. Henry C. Halboth Capt. Henry C. Halboth, former-ly surveyor to the United States Salvage Association. Inc.. and sal-vage master for Merritt, Chapman and Scott Corp.. has opened private olifices at 50 Broad Street, New York, N.Y. Captain Halboth will offer a complete range of marine survey and supervisory services applicable to hull and machinery, small craft, cargo, and marine structures gen-erally, on a worldwide basis. Specialized consultation in the areas of ocean engineering, tow-ing, navigational problems, and ship salvage, including salvages involving catastrophic oil pollution potential, is available. A graduate of the New Yrork State Maritime Academy, Captain Halboth is a veteran of 15 years at sea in the naval service and mer-chant marine, as well as shore-based repair and survey experience in Atlantic and Pacific ports. He is a member of the Council of American Master Mariners and the American Society of Naval En-gineers. A veteran of World War 11 and the Korean Conflict, he is a commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. STOCK CREWBOATS-CARGO VESSELS HALTER MARINE SERVICES, INC. Route 6, Box 287H, New Orleans Phone: 254-1222 Cable: HALMAR MAY WE SERVE YOU? We sell every item pictured in this ad, plus more than 10,000 more! jjj^ ^LUE W&TER MARINE SUPPLY, mc. P. O. Box 5457 1000 Broadway at Chonn.lside Houston, Texas 77012 U.S.A. (713) 928-3121 TELEX: 775-183 Ask the ratchet maker with the CONTAINERSHIP KNOW-HOW This is just one of many ratchets made by Patterson specifically to the require-ments of container carriers. One of them will suit you, too! All Patterson container lashing ratch-ets have the strength, speed, facility and safety to answer your tie-down problems or fit your practice. Write for the new Patterson Containership Lash-ing Catalog. ^ PATTERSON ? W. W. PATTERSON CO., 836 Brocket St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15233 ? 412/332-2012 56 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News