Old-School Electrics
This image is of the main electrical switchboard in a Royal Navy cruiser that was operational from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s. This distributed all the electrical power required by the ship's systems and her 800+ crew.
I assume that this is no longer in use and the ship's lighting and electrical power is provided from somewhere else - it was unmanned and readily-accessible to prying hands... Indeed, I wonder if modern health and safety rules would even allow such an installation to be powered-up today except under very controlled circumstances. I can only presume that the system was rugged and reliable which is why it was still in use at the end of the ship's operational life and not replaced by something more modern from the 1950s/60s. Or was this an upgrade from an original 1930s fit???
Taken aboard HMS Belfast (C35) in the Pool of London on the River Thames. She is the Imperial War Museum's largest single exhibit.
Old-School Electrics
This image is of the main electrical switchboard in a Royal Navy cruiser that was operational from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s. This distributed all the electrical power required by the ship's systems and her 800+ crew.
I assume that this is no longer in use and the ship's lighting and electrical power is provided from somewhere else - it was unmanned and readily-accessible to prying hands... Indeed, I wonder if modern health and safety rules would even allow such an installation to be powered-up today except under very controlled circumstances. I can only presume that the system was rugged and reliable which is why it was still in use at the end of the ship's operational life and not replaced by something more modern from the 1950s/60s. Or was this an upgrade from an original 1930s fit???
Taken aboard HMS Belfast (C35) in the Pool of London on the River Thames. She is the Imperial War Museum's largest single exhibit.