to raise the magazine’s temperature above 100°F, nor to
maintain the magazine’s temperature at more than 90°F.
5. NEVER raise the temperature of the fuel oil
above the flashpoint in any part of the system before it
enters the boiler.
6. NEVER exceed the designed pressure in any
part of a fuel oil system.
7. Do NOT allow smoking, open flame, or any
spark-producing object near fuel oil tank vent pipes.
8. Be sure the wire screen protectors in the vent
pipes are intact. Do NOT allow the wire screen
protectors to be painted.
9. REMEMBER THAT FUEL OIL FUMES
ARE DANGEROUS IF INHALED. If your eyes sting
or burn, you probably also are inhaling the fumes. The
symptoms range from headache and dizziness to
unconsciousness and suffocation. Give first aid to any
person suffering from inhalation of fuel oil fumes; see
chapter 3, Standard First Aid Training Course,
NAVEDTRA 12081. Remember, also, that a person who
is suffering only mild effects from inhaling fuel oil
fumes may be confused or drowsy enough to cause a
serious accident.
10. NEVER enter and do NOT allow anyone else
to enter any fuel oil compartment until the gas free
engineer declares it SAFE FOR PERSONNEL.
Always get permission from the gas free engineer before
any person enters a fuel oil tank.
11. Observe all safety precautions for closed or
poorly ventilated compartments. These are listed in
chapter 074 of the Naval Ships’ Technical Manual.
12. When the ship is in drydock, be sure oil does
NOT drain from the ship onto the dock.
13. Do NOT heat distillate fuel by using the ship’s
fuel oil heaters. In general, you will not need to heat
tanks, but severe cold weather may create a need to do
so. If the transfer pump is having difficulty moving the
fuel, and the fuel in the tank is below 50°F, you may
heat fuel oil to approximately 75°F to dissolve the waxy
constituents.
14. Use only the sprayer plates recommended for
use with the distillate fuel.
15. When burning a distillate fuel, do NOT allow
a smoky, hazy stack. Improper combustion causes
excessive fuel consumption and a dangerous stack
condition, and it adds to air pollution.
16. When ships are refueled where the ambient
temperature is below 40°F, do not fill storage tanks
above 95 percent of capacity. If a tank exceeds that
amount, pump the oil down to 95 percent of capacity as
soon as possible.
17. Be sure all personnel under your supervision
know the provisions of the Oil Pollution Act and the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
FUELING RESPONSIBILITIES AND
PROCEDURES
There are many preparations to be made before the
ship actually takes on fuel. The deck force or other
personnel are responsible for some of these, but the oil
king is responsible for others. For simplicity, this
section will be addressed to you, the oil king, though
some others will supervise or perform some of the
procedures.
Deballast and strip oil tanks as soon as possible
after you get word that the ship will take on fuel. If sea
conditions make it impossible to deballast before the
ship enters port, get permission from port authorities to
deballast into a barge after the ship enters port. Be sure
the ballasted tanks are pumped out according to the
recommended sequence tables so the ship will retain as
much stability and maneuverability as possible. We will
include more information on ballasting later in this
chapter.
Before receiving fuel, order soundings or readings
on all fuel oil storage tanks and all fuel oil service tanks.
Then, submit a statement to the officer in charge of
fueling showing the amount and location of all fuel oil
aboard. You always should know how much fuel is
aboard, where it is located, how much more can be
taken on, and the order in which the tanks should be
filled.
Before taking on fuel, see that all service tanks and
as many storage tanks as possible are topped off to the
95 percent level. This will reduce the number of tanks
that must be filled. This requirement may be modified
if it will reduce the time required for fueling; it may be
faster to distribute the oil in the receiving ship so
approximately the same amount of time will be required
to fill at each receiving station. A tank-loading schedule
based on previous experience is useful to meet this last
requirement.
In some ships, such as destroyers, fuel oil is
delivered directly into a fuel oil service tank. When you
refuel this type of ship, take fuel oil service suction from
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