Its been years since I did my very few training watches for throttleman, but wasn’t it because opening the throttles too quickly would spike reactor power? I know the reactor responded automatically to the amount of power being sent to the engines(which was some insanely nifty physics), but as I recall it would lag behind the throttle somewhat, and being too aggressive with the throttles could lead to exceeding some reactor power thresholds, causing a scram.
The captain and a throttleman up topside wouldn’t have any of the necessary indications, or time to figure them out, so it was left up to engineering to answer the bells as quickly as safely possible.
As stated before, if it were a nuclear sub, no chance in hell. There was something on the order of 1500 steps and 24+ hours(You do NOT heat up that much metal quickly without Very Bad Things occurring) to get from cold iron to standby. Just for the engine room alone.
You could try, but it would be virtually impossible. As robby stated, the steam plant manuals and reactor plant manuals, when stacked, would be about 10 feet tall.
I’ve seen them on surface ships during my time in the Navy, but I don’t know if they are still putting them in or not in newly constructed ships. I’ve never seen one on a sub.
Exactly. Not only reactor power, but the throttleman also has to ensure that he doesn’t exceed the maximum allowable torque on the main propeller shaft.
Theoretically speaking, there’s still no reason why you couldn’t automate the whole thing, but it would add a whole lot more complexity.
Also, by not automating the throttles, you have the ability to “push the envelope” in a tactical situation. There were some throttlemen (on a flank bell) who could open the throttles so fast they would peg the needle of the steam demand meter at the stop, yet still be able to back off quickly enough such that reactor power didn’t exceed any limits.