In OLYMPIA's Dynamo Room, the underside
of the protective deck can be plainly seen. The space apparently also served
as an ammunition handling room, since the ammunition hoist for the forward
turret ends at this space, as do hoists for other guns. The ammuniton was
apparently raised vetically to this level, and the moved horizontally
to the appropriate hoist. The reason for this space with its required horizontal
movement of ammuniton was to prevent an enemy projectile or an accidently
dropped shell from falling directly into the vicinity of the magazines
themselves, In other words, the hoists did not connect the magazines to
the topside level of the ship directly.
Entering the space via ladder, the visitor will find themselves in
a fairly open space, with space for the various pieces of electrical apparatus.
Ventilation ducts run along the underside of the protective deck, which
angles down forming the exterior bulkhead of the space. directly aft of
the ladder by which the visitor enters is the ammunition hoist for the
forward turret. Aft of that is the hoist leading down to the handling room
and magazines below.
|
||||||
