U.S. NAVY GAS TURBINE SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN (GS) BALL CAP DEVICE

Although the Gas Turbine Systems Technician rating (GS) was not established until 1978, the first U.S. Navy ship to be equipped with gas-turbine propulsion was the USS Spruance, the lead ship in a new class of destroyers named after the famed World War II Admiral: Originally ordered in 1970, it was commissioned in 1975. Powering the Spruance was General Electric's LM2500, a derivative of the company’s aircraft engine used in industrial settings and, of course, on large marine vessels. The same engine went on to be used for Kidd-class destroyers, and in a civilian application it was used as the propulsion system for Celebrity Cruises' massive Millennium-class cruise vessels.

Having proven their worthiness over many decades, the LM2500 is the source of power behind the U.S. Navy’s new Independence-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). Constructed by Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama, these LCS’s will be designated as fast frigates, each powered by a pair of LM2500s. The two gas turbine engines can be configured as CODOG (Combined Diesel or Gas) to deliver greater speeds when necessary. Austal has been contracted to build a baker's dozen (13) of the Independence-class ships.

Just as with aircraft that employ gas turbine engines, one of the major areas of maintenance that GSM Sailors need to be concerned with is FOD—Foreign Object Damage. You don’t need to complete the Basic Engineering Common Core class at Naval Station Great Lakes to know that debris inside any type of engine is not a good thing, and the threat is even greater in engines this large that are generating breathtaking amounts of power. The good news for sailors in the Gas Turbine Systems Technician Mechanical rating is that, should one of these monsters need extensive repairs, a system of rails installed in each engine’s intake, combined with easily erected temporary rails, means the engine can be removed from the ship and moved to any location that might be required to effect repairs or thorough maintenance.

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$7.19

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USPHS

Merchant Marine

AUXILIARY

U.S. NAVY GAS TURBINE SYSTEMS TECHNICIAN (GS) BALL CAP DEVICE