Quick fix applied to boat

Members of HMAS Launceston’s crew received help to repair a damaged engine from Sydneybased MTU/Detroit marine technician Lazlow Bakos.

By Graham Davis

As patrol boat HMAS Launceston (LCDR Paul Koerber) came down the East Coast on her way to an FOE in her home town late last year the head of a valve in her port engine snapped off.

There was a lot of noise and a lot of damage.

The engine was shut down and the 250-tonne patrol boat limped into Fleet Base East.

What happened over the next 13 days was a terrific example of the Navy working closely with industry.

Launceston could not have broken down in a better place.

Just 30 kilometres inland in the western suburb of Kings Park stood the marine engine overhaul workshop of MTU/Detroit diesel.

It has the job of overhauling the Series 538 engines, two of which propel each of the RAN’s fleet of 15 Fremantle Class patrol boats.

LCDR Koerber and his ship’s company put in a call to Kings Park for some help.

Marine technician Lazlow Bakos responded and was soon at the West Wall of Fleet Base East helping the patrol boats engineers dismantle the port engine to assess the damage.

It was a grim scene.

Irreparable damage had been caused to the A7 rocker gear, cylinder head, cylinder liner, piston, connecting rod, big end bearing and the trombone.

Also damaged was a cambox lay shaft and an exhaust gas turbine charger power turbine.

To fully inspect for damage, all components above the cylinder block were removed except for six of the 16 cylinder heads, one of the two charge air coolers and the engine controls.

As each damaged part was identified a ‘shopping list’ was prepared.

“We had all the needed replacement parts in stock in our warehouse,” Mr Ken Pitman the MTU/Detroit Diesel branch manager said.

“Once we knew what part needed to be replaced we put it on a truck and sent it down to Garden Island.”

With the MTU specialist and the ship’s engineers working side by side in the very tight spaces of the engine room the port engine was repaired and tested.

“It was definitely an unscheduled repair,” Mr Pitman said.

“Since then the ship’s engineers have said thanks for our help,” he added.

The patrol boat’s Executive Officer, LEUT Paul Stringer said, “The job took a total of 13 days to complete.

It was an excellent training opportunity for many of the younger engineers who were seeing the inside of an internal combustion engine for the first time.”

With the port engine running beautifully and the starboard engine doing likewise, Launceston cast off and headed back to Darwin calling at Townsville to become involved in a ‘leadership weekend’ at TS Coral Sea.

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