What is in the after engine room?

December 5, 2025 46 views

The after engine room on the Pampanito includes:

  1. Two Fairbanks Morse, 10 cylinder, opposed-piston main engines producing about 1,500 horsepower each.  The engines extend to the lower level.
  2. Two generators (one attached to each engine) to produce the needed electrical power.
  3. A smaller, “donkey” diesel on the lower level that can be used to top off a battery charge. This is a smaller Fairbanks-Morse, 7 cylinder, opposed-piston engine with associated generator. These smaller engines were removed from active submarines in the 1950s. 
  4. Clean fuel tank.
  5. Normal lube oil tank.
  6. Associated fuel and oil pumps and filters.
  7. Ladder and hatch to the main deck.


NOTE: Submarines built in commercial shipyards, such as Electric Boat and Manitowoc Shipbuilding, would likely have General Motors V-16 engines rather than the Fairbanks Morse. The GM engines would be about the same size, run at the same speed, and produce about the same power as the FM engines.

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