Engineering means a lot of things. It means operation, maintenance, and repair of the ship's propulsion, electrical and auxiliary systems. It means long hours, both at sea and inport, to keep the ship running. It means prevention and control of damage; maintenance of equipment in virtually every area of the ship; providing numerous auxiliary services - heat, water, air conditioning, refrigeration, lighting, interior communications, to name a few; fueling operations; hull repair...the list goes on and on.

The engineers are unique in many ways: watchstanders, technicians, repairmen are one and the same; engineering systems are the only ones of the ship's many areas of responsibility that are always in operation; to shut down means to do maintenance - engineers have the lion's share of that, to be sure; the day hasn't seen when an engineer can say that there's nothing left to be done.

Engineering operations never stop - if they did, the ship would stop. That is the importance of engineering. To accomplish their job the engineers work as a team, not as individuals. enginemen stand fireroom watches; the Chief and the Firemen stand alternating 6 hour diesel watches, the hull technician, the IC electrician and the electrician stand by while the boiler technicians light off after extensive boiler repairs... Team work and hard work are the hallmarks of the engineers, the proud and behind-the-scenes people who know their business as no one else ever will.