So prior to my commercial Nuclear Power plant days, I was an ET (electronics technician) in the Navy, specialty was Reactor Operator in submarines, actually I was the Leading Reactor Operator on both of the submarines I served on, SSN621 and SSN605.? ?So on deployment my submarine damaged the hydraulic ram on the fairwater planes ( the ones on the sail ) and we went back to the tender to have it fixed.? ?This is the second time I had seen a massive lathe at work.? ?The machinists on the tender had to MAKE a new ram?from bar stock on a 20-30 foot long lathe.? No biggie you say.? ?The bar stock in question was a ten" x20 '? chunk of hex K-Monel.? The lathe ran 24/7 for a week straight to shape and not warp the ram, I think the shaft diameter was around 4" and the disc was about 8". I remember chips flying off of the machine red turning blue in flight.? The lathe was turning at a slow speed so as not to heat up the stock.? ?First massive lathe was in the shipyards in Vallejo where they Bored the re-poured babbit out of the submarines's main shaft bearing, it was, 100 feet long 28" in diameter standing 60 feet off of the drydock floor.?
