Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[alchemist]

I don't know the answer, but have another question. In an army, how would a Private address a Sergeant? Sarge, Sergeant, Sir? (I doubt the latter). I'll accept an answer based upon any army, except Salvation.

[goldhawk]

Originally Posted by Mouse

I have a question then. (And I'm sure I've asked this, or something similar before, but I've forgotten)... Is it ok to mention Google/Facebook etc, in your work? And I think I had something else to ask, but again, I've forgotten.

Yes, you can call anything by its proper name.

Originally Posted by alchemist

I don't know the answer, but have another question. In an army, how would a Private address a Sergeant? Sarge, Sergeant, Sir? (I doubt the latter). I'll accept an answer based upon any army, except Salvation.

It depends on the army and its traditions. In some, you never call anyone but officers sir. In others, sergeants expect to be called sir; calling them sergeant would be considered too formal and insubordinate.

[alchemist]

I had thought it would be fairly consistent. Ah, well. How about the British army? My fictional, private, army grew out of a pan-EU force, but has a British commander.

And thanks!

[Mouse]

Originally Posted by goldhawk

Yes, you can call anything by its proper name.

Aha. I thought you could. Ta muchly.

[pyan]

In the British Army, my understanding is that, as an NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer), a sergeant is addressed as "Sarge!" or "Sergeant!", as a corporal is "Corp!" or "Corporal!"

Only commissioned officers (Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Brigadier, General, etc) are addressed as "Sir!"

[alchemist]

Thanks, pyan. I seem to have stumbled correctly so far, and "Corp!" gives me an idea.

[HareBrain]

I have another one of my steamship questions, but hopefully a quickie.

If a ship's captain wanted to stop propulsion, would the engines be kept running in a neutral gear, or would the engines be allowed to slow to a stop and the steam diverted? (In the former case I assume there would still be quite a lot of noise, in the latter case I assume almost none.) Or would it depend on how quickly he might want to get moving again?

OK, maybe not such a quickie.

[telford]

Hello HB. My understanding: If the captain simply wanted to stop the engines, that is stop the propeller (or paddles) he would order: "All stop." This would essentially keep the engine going but disengage from the drive shaft.

If he wanted to halt the momentum of the vessel: "All stop. All engines full astern." If it was an emergency perhaps adding: "All stop, emergency." Or something like that.

Hopefully there's a mariner aboard the good ship Chrons.

[paranoid marvin]

Unless complete silence was needed, I would be surprised if the captain would shut down the engine. Considering how long it would take to build up steam in order to start moving again, and considering the loss of control that would occur as a result of the engine being cut, I cannot think that the captain would want power cutting completey. Then again I'm not a mariner , so this is an opinion rather than a fact!

[HareBrain]

Thanks guys, I think you're right. Even if the boilers were kept up and the steam blown off rather than used for propulsion, it would still take time to wind the engines back up. Makes more sense just to disengage the shaft.

You'd think with the popularity of steampunk more of us would know how these things work!

[SJAB]

Any one help with this;

I want the name of a suburb of Berlin in the north west of the city circa 1943. It has to be a well established one in 1943, that had at least a train station. In is not something I can't work round, as it will be just a mention of the place as my characters (RAF POWs) are bundled on a train. Just want my POV character to notice the station name.

Many thanks in advance.

[goldhawk]

Originally Posted by HareBrain

I have another one of my steamship questions, but hopefully a quickie.

If a ship's captain wanted to stop propulsion, would the engines be kept running in a neutral gear, or would the engines be allowed to slow to a stop and the steam diverted? (In the former case I assume there would still be quite a lot of noise, in the latter case I assume almost none.) Or would it depend on how quickly he might want to get moving again?

OK, maybe not such a quickie.

The engine would stop. A steam engine is an external-combustion engine. It's the boiler that keeps up the steam pressure. So, a steam engine can be fully stopped and started again, almost instantly. That is, as long as there's enough pressure in the boiler.

[HareBrain]

Thanks Goldhawk. So there would be a sudden drop in noise/vibration? Would that apply to a steam turbine engine as well as a reciprocating type? I would imagine the turbine would take a while to slow down to a stop, like a flywheel, but as you will already have surmised, I am an engineering ignoramus.

[Hex]

Originally Posted by SJAB

Any one help with this;

I want the name of a suburb of Berlin in the north west of the city circa 1943. It has to be a well established one in 1943, that had at least a train station. In is not something I can't work round, as it will be just a mention of the place as my characters (RAF POWs) are bundled on a train. Just want my POV character to notice the station name.

Many thanks in advance.

Curses. The sort of question I ought to be able to help with, but I can't.

There is this, though: http://www.alt-berlin.info

with scanned maps of historical Berlin, including some from the 40s.

[goldhawk]

Originally Posted by HareBrain

Thanks Goldhawk. So there would be a sudden drop in noise/vibration? Would that apply to a steam turbine engine as well as a reciprocating type? I would imagine the turbine would take a while to slow down to a stop, like a flywheel, but as you will already have surmised, I am an engineering ignoramus.

Yes, a turbine would spin-down and would have to spin-up.

Among steam-engine enthusiasts, they have a competition called Dead Slow. This means running the engine as slow as possible without stopping. For steam tractors, their speed is measured in inches per hour. This is possible because a steam engine can develop maximum torque when stopped..