After Steering
By Patrick McSherry
One place aboard OLYMPIA not to be during
a battle was after steering! This area, aft of the engine rooms and the
aft shell handling room, was the last location for maintaining steering
control of the vessel. If something happened to disable steering from the
pilot house, the conning tower and the after steering station on the spar
deck, steering control would revert to this location.
The large mechanism in this location is attached to the rudder directly.
The mechanism consists of a yoke with two hydraulic rams, each exerting
a pressure of 500 pounds per square inch. If hydraulic pressure is lost,
then brute force was required to operate the mechanism manually.
This a view of the yoke and rams, looking aft.
The underside of the protective deck can be seen above the mechanism.
