Auxiliary Steering Station
By Patrick McSherry
Proceeding forward on OLYMPIA,
on the starboard side, passing again under the signal bridge, the visitor
will see a set of three large, interconnected ship’s wheels. These wheels,
on the ships centerline, and arranged one behind the next, were each to
be manned by two crewmen. This station would come into use if the
steering stations in the pilot house and in the conning tower were destroyed
or otherwise put out of action.
Auxiliary steering station under the signal bridge.
From outside of the wheelhandles, the diameter of each
wheel is six feet (6’). This station would be used to steer the vessel
if the hydraulically-assisted steering control in the pilot house and conning
tower was no longer operational. Even with six men on the wheel system,
turning the ship's rudder took quite a bit of energy. In a storm, if this
station was used, the men on the wheel would have a tendency to be lifted
off the deck and smashed into the deck as the waves buffetted the rudder.
