Manual for submarine mining

by United States. War Department

Gasoline in considerable quantities should be stored in tanks underground and never inside of buildings. Small quantities should be kept outside of buildings in some safe place.

When oil engines or generators are out of commission, their bright parts should be covered with light slushing oil. Brass screw threads and parts of tools that are liable to rust should be covered also. In all cases the light slushing oil should be applied in a thin coat, since this is all that is necessary to give good protection. Before applying the light slushing oil to any surface it should be thoroughly cleaned, so as to be free from rust, water, kerosene and lubricating oil, as their presence will cause rusting underneath the slushing oil. The protected surfaces should be occasionally inspected and the coating of slushing oil renewed as often as required.

Screw threads of mine cases, steel screw threads of compound plugs, bolts, nuts and washers, and surfaces of flat joints should be kept coated with the light slushing oil or a mixture of machine oil and graphite.

No oils or grease should ever be placed on points where metallic contact of electrical instruments is necessary, nor on india rubber, ebonite, or slate.

Mine cases should rest on racks or skids, and where space permits should not be in contact with each other. In handling mine cases care must be taken not to damage the bails and bolts. They should be arranged so that the holes in the mine cases can be seen easily; these holes should be fitted with a wooden plug which has been thoroughly greased all over its surface. New mine cases, if galvanized, usually will not need painting until they have been in the water. When taken from the water they should be thoroughly dried, and if they should show signs of rust they should be gone over thoroughly with steel wire brushes until the rust is removed. Parts which can not be reached with the brush should be cleaned with three-cornered steel scrapers. A heavy coat of red lead should then be applied. Seven gallons of this paint can be made by mixing 100 pounds of red lead ground in oil with 5 gallons of raw linseed oil. This mixture should be applied within two or three weeks after mixing. One gallon of paint should give 10 mine cases one coat. After this coat has been allowed to dry there should be applied a coat of white lead toned down to a neutral gray. Seven gallons of this paint can be made by mixing 100 pounds white lead, 2½ gallons raw linseed oil, 2½ gallons turpentine, 1 gallon liquid drier, and adding about 1 pound of lampblack to tone down the mixture.

Mines treated in this way, if kept in a dry storehouse, and not put in the water, should not require repainting for several years. Frequent inspection should be made, however, for in handling the cases and changing their positions on the racks, it will often happen that an abrasion will be made in the surface of the paint, which if neglected may serve as the starting point of a progressive corrosion, which may extend rapidly under the surface of the paint. Should loose paint or rust be seen the case should be repainted. A small wooden mallet may be used to tap the case at all points to loosen scales of rust or paint; then the surface should be thoroughly wire brushed or scraped and the cases repainted as stated above. The inside of mine cases must be inspected to see that the interior surfaces are kept free from rust.

Ground mines and ground mine buoys should be treated in the manner just described for buoyant mine cases.

If the oil engine has not been painted, it should be given a priming coat of red lead mixed in oil. This should be rubbed down with pumice stone and two coats of steel-colored paint applied. The second coat should be rubbed down and two coats of varnish then applied. After this the engine should not need repainting for a couple of years. When, however, repainting is necessary, the engine should be rubbed down until all the varnish is removed and a coat of steel-colored paint applied. This coat should be rubbed until no brush marks remain, and one or two coats of varnish should then be applied. The steel-colored paint should be applied flat; that is, the color which is ground in Japan should be mixed with turpentine. One gallon of this paint is more than sufficient to give an engine two coats.

The motor-generators and the casemate transformers usually will not need the priming coat of red lead, as they come from the factory painted. When it is necessary to paint them, one coat of the steel-colored paint and one of varnish will usually be found sufficient.

Anchors, distribution boxes, junction boxes, mooring sockets, shackles, sister hooks, and the ironwork of operating boards and power panels should be painted with asphaltum varnish.