CHAPTER 05 -- NAVAL TANK FARM
Chapter 05: NAVAL TANK FARM
At the turn of the 20th Century, an oil tanker unloading cargo into storage tanks would have been a novel sight, indeed. Not unheard of – but certainly not common. Coal was still the chief source of fuel for warships, and only the most progressive navies had begun to experiment with fuel oil.
Gradually, ships were converted to carry a mixed amount of coal and oil. The flagship of the Grand Fleet, HMS Iron Duke, was designed to carry 3,250 tons of coal and 1,600 tons of oil at full load.
At first, a few ship’s boilers were modified to spray fuel oil over the coal shoveled into the fire boxes. This would improve the burn rate of the coal and actually allow a warship to “raise steam for sailing” in a considerably shorter time than the all-coal warships. It could take more than four hours for an idle coal-burning battleship to raise steam to acceptable levels – so oil was a welcome improvement. Not to mention that it was easier to load and, believe it or not, much cleaner than coal with its’ sooty and invasive dust. Even so, it was 1915 before HMS Queen Elizabeth became the world’s first oil-burning battleship. (Though even then a minimal load of coal was kept aboard to run heating and cooking facilities.)
This is an overview of the fuel oil handling facilities. At the bottom of the picture, you see the commercial tanker discharging its’ cargo into the three “receiving tanks”. As they are filled, the oil will then be pumped uphill – through a pipeline – to the large “tank farm” where it will be stored.
To the left of the tank farm, a rail facility can also handle incoming deliveries. At the top end of the tank farm, yet another pipeline carries fuel oil down to the Navy Refueling Pier where it is pumped into the warships. This is the complete “product path” – from delivery to use.
Just to the west of the tanker terminal is the South Ship Channel. Rather than the elaborate channel used in the older, crowded northern end of the harbor, this one is wide and spacious with breakwater “fenders” designed to dampen any wave action.
The Tanker Terminal is as close to the harbor entrance as possible while allowing adequate room for tugs to maneuver the large tankers into the offshore discharge point. That’s Somy’s wonderful tanker, the Lilith Pleasant, under Panamanian registry. And I also used Somy’s offshore oil pier. I re-purposed the @Simmer2 oil pipeline bridge to make the connection to the offshore oil point.
The receiving tanks and pipeline heading off to the east are also by SM2.
Following the pipeline, the beautifully designed @Simmer2 lots climb a 15 meter hill to the storage area. Atop the hill, NBVC’s tanks and pipelines take over. I have always been partial to the somewhat "old fashioned" look of the plain, white NBVC oil tanks -- no offensive / invasive corporate logo's. I built the tank farm on an elevation so that fuel could continue to be dispensed by gravity feed if there should be a power failure.
On the harbor side we have one of the busiest tug stations in the whole base. This one handles the arriving tankers, warships approaching the refueling pier, and assists with warships entering through the South Channel. I “modified” the Somy tugboat piers by removing the smaller Japanese tugs and replacing them with the superb steam tug by @WolfZe. MUCH APPRECIATED !!
This is a custom “pumping control” building, or – a pumping station. You can see the single pipeline (at left) climb the hill and enter the Pump Control Building to re-emerge as the four-pipe system compatible with the NBVC oil tanks. The pumping station, itself, is a re-purposed Maxis industrial lot used to make the transition between a single pipe to a quad pipe arrangement. The simple square brick building from the pipeline set was just a bit too simple – while this one catches the eye.
This is an overview of the NBVC railway oil terminal discharge. This allows the naval base to receive oil from both tankers and railway cars. Note the pipeline running from the discharge point to the “pumping station”, then up the hill to a “junction building” at the top, and on to the tank farm.
Just left of the tugboat station and the railway tank car terminal is the “Navy Refueling Pier”. This overview shows the basic layout of the operation. At the top is a pipeline coming downhill from the tank farm and crossing the railway and the road via one of the SM2 pipeline bridges.
The pipeline then goes into one of the “square” pumping buildings and emerges through the “offshore connector bridge”. Again, this SM2 “bridge” has been re-purposed to make the connection between the pipeline and the Somy offshore fueling point. Since there are no props in the game capable of recreating the hose and pipe rigs used to refuel warships, I opted to use the Somy / SM2 lots to solve that problem.
The battleship refueling is the SMS Grosser Kurfurst – one of the Konig Class - 1932 (a Reichsmarine design study). Dating from that period, she would have been an all-oil burner.
Exiting the South Channel is SMS Bayern on her way to join the target practice in progress off the mouth of the Jade. Bayern and her sistership, Baden, were the last two dreadnoughts delivered to the Kaiserliche Marine prior to the 1918 armistice. The design is sleek and efficient, with the superstructure reduced to a minimum and concentrated in a small space amidships. The effect produced a truly handsome vessel with graceful lines.
At 28,000 tons with 8 x 15”/45cal guns, they were “state of the art” battleships. Laid down in response to pre-war intelligence gathered on the British Queen Elizabeth Class, they were originally planned as a four ship class – Sachsen and Wurttemberg were never finished. The Bayern’s were the first German battleships to make the jump to the larger main battery guns.
The battlecruisers of the High Seas Fleet were considered (rightly) to be so "battleworthy", there seemed little need for a “fast battleship division” as in the Royal Navy. Consequently, this class could be considered a bit slow at just over 22 knots. But, when compared with the British Revenge Class, they were, in all respects equal, and in some cases – superior to their opponents.
Again – MANY THANKS to @Barroco Hispano for his beautifully crafted warships.
If you enjoyed anything you saw – please punch the “like” button so I will know. A comment would be even more informative.
Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of my ability.
THANK YOU for your visit !
Next time…...The South Mole.
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