Okuzeka
Maritime & Shipping vocabulary · Engine Room

Main engine

Meaning in maritime & shipping, with examples

nounCore term

In maritime & shipping, main engine means: The large engine that drives a ship's propeller. On most large merchant ships it is a slow-speed two-stroke diesel engine connected directly to the propeller shaft.

In Turkish: ana makine

How it is used

Written M/E in logbooks and reports. Before manoeuvring the bridge asks the engine room to prepare the main engine or put it on 'stand-by', and after the pilot leaves it orders 'full away' to sea speed.

Example sentences

  1. The main engine is on stand-by and ready for manoeuvring.

  2. We stopped the main engine for two hours to change a fuel injector.

Common collocations

  • main engine on stand-by
  • start the main engine
  • main engine failure
  • main engine rpm
  • full away
  • propellerA set of curved blades on a shaft at the stern that turns in the water and pushes the ship ahead or astern.
  • engine roomThe space low inside a ship that holds the main engine, generators, pumps and other machinery. Engineers and engine ratings work and keep watch there.
  • chief engineerThe most senior engineer on board, responsible for the main engine and all machinery, fuel and the engine room crew. The chief engineer reports directly to the master.
  • auxiliary engineA smaller diesel engine that drives a generator to produce the ship's electricity. Most ships have two to four of them, so that one can be stopped for maintenance.

More terms: Engine Room

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