🔍 Key Concepts

• Engineering watchstanding priorities (safety of propulsion, personnel, and vessel before optimization or routine care) • Consequences of loss of vacuum / loss of condensate level control on main propulsion vs. other systems • Risk of flooding, overflow to bilges, or loss of critical services (water, fuel handling, steam system control)

💭 Think About

• Which of these conditions, if left alone for just a few more minutes at sea speed, has the highest chance of causing loss or serious impairment of main propulsion? • For each option, think about whether the problem mainly affects efficiency/housekeeping, or whether it can quickly escalate into a casualty that is hard to recover from. • Which system is already in an abnormal condition that is actively worsening something (e.g., vacuum, level, pressure) that the main plant critically depends on right now?

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which option involves a condition that can directly and quickly lead to loss of condenser vacuum or loss of stable steam conditions, threatening propulsion. • Identify which option primarily risks messy but controllable consequences (like bilge contamination or storage capacity) rather than immediate loss of the plant. • Verify which system you would want stabilized before you start moving liquids around (sludge, bilge, or water) elsewhere in the plant.