Chapter  2—ADMINISTRATION,  SUPERVISION,  AND  TRAINING training may take quite a while, but the last part will be comparatively fast. The procedures for training a new person in engineroom   operations   vary   considerably, depending upon such factors as the ship’s steam- ing schedule, the condition of the engineroom machinery, the number of experienced personnel available to assist in the training, and the amount of time that can be devoted to the training. In general, however, you will probably begin to train a person to act as messenger. Then before the trainee is assigned to any actual duty, of course, the  trainee  should  be  introduced  to  the engineroom and become familiar with the loca- tion  of  all  machinery,  equipment,  piping,  and valves. The trainee must also be instructed in cer- tain basic safety precautions and be specifically warned about the dangers of turning valve wheels or tampering with machinery. “IF IN DOUBT, ASK QUESTIONS!” is a pretty good rule for any new person in the engineroom to follow. A person ready to be trained in the duties of messenger should be shown all the gages that are in use, told about what the gages indicate and shown how to take readings. The reason why the readings  are  important  should  be  explained.  The trainee should understand exactly how often each gage  must  be  read  and  how  to  make  accurate entries in the engineroom log. When you are sure the   trainee   understands   everything   about gages, teach the trainee how to check lube oil levels and how to clean metal edge type filters and basket-type   strainers. For a while you will have to keep a close watch on  the  trainee’s  performance  of  these  duties. When the trainee becomes proficient in the duties of messenger, start the training in throttleman’s duties,  First,  let  the  trainee  observe  the  throt- tleman. Then, if conditions permit, let the trainee start and secure machinery. As  far  as  manual  skills  are  concerned,  the throttleman’s  job  is  probably  easier  than  the messenger’s  job.  But  the  throttle  watch  requires the utmost vigilance and reliability, and a new per- son will have a lot to learn before being trusted to  stand  the  throttle  watch  alone.  Personnel should always be started out under the supervi- sion of an experienced throttleman, and should remain  under  this  supervision  until  the  petty officer  in  charge  of  the  engineroom  is  fully satisfied that the trainee is completely qualified for this duty. In training engineroom personnel who have not  had  previous  engineroom  experience, remember  than  an  engineroom  can  be  a  com- plicated and confusing place to someone who walks into it for the first time. A lot of equip- ment is crammed into a small space, and a lot of complex actions are going on at once. When train- ing new personnel, try to think back to the time when you first went into an engineroom. What aspects of engineroom operations were most con- fusing  to  you  at  first?  What  kind  of  training would have made your learning easier and faster? By analyzing your own early experience and reac- tions, you get a bearing on what a new person may be experiencing and you may be able to provide more effective training. When   you   are   training   new   personnel, remember that they vary widely in their methods of learning and in their rates of learning. Some people will learn most effectively if you give them an  overall  view  of  main  engine  operations, including  a  certain  amount  of  theory,  before going into the details of the hardware and the manual operations. Others will learn most effec- tively if they are taught some manual skills before getting  too  much  involved  with  theory.  Some people learn manual skills rapidly but take a long time to absorb the theory; for others, the reverse is   true.   And,   of   course,   some   people   learn everything slowly. Some trainees benefit from pa- tient, almost endless repetition of information; others may become bored and restless if you go over  the  same  point  just  once  too  often.  The important thing to remember is that your train- ing efforts will be most successful if you are able to observe and allow for the individual differences that are bound to exist. Closely related to this point  is  another:  Don’t  make  snap  judgments about  people’s  abilities  until  they  have  had  a chance to DEMONSTRATE them. You may turn out to be very wrong if you make snap judgments on  the  basis  of  a  general  impression,  such  as appearance, or the rate at which they learn when they first come into the engineroom. When training personnel who have already had some engineroom experience but who have been on some other type ship, you may find that a certain amount of retraining is needed before 2-25