"Double-Ender Ships Question" Topic

How fast could a Double-Ender ship change direction? Was it just simple order given to the engine room crew to go into reverse speed? Most seem to have had two pilot houses and so I wondered if it just meant passing the order to the engine room and the running to the other pilot house before the ship started to change directions. Although I have read about several used in combat, I have never read where changing direction and pilot houses was done.

Basically, yes, you are correct. The ship would come to a stop then switch "gears" to run in the opposite direction, if I understand the process correctly.

Thank you Sundance. I do sort of remember it wasn't an easy process like just hitting reverse while still moving forward, but I haven't been able to find much information on it. I suspect the engine crew must have had a number of, what we would think today as, odd, time consuming tasks to perform, such as changing gears.

It wasn't until the 1850s that pressure gauges were a common item on steamships so they must have had, during the American Civil War, a number of manual tasks to perform which were later incorporated into the machinery making their job easier and safer.