This is a video of the first start in over 72 years of a 1942 Cleveland 8-268A diesel engine. The engine had not run since December 6th 1946, a lapse of 72 years, 4 months, and one day.

The engine drives both an AC and DC generator and is located in the #4 engine room of the USS Stewart DE-238, a destroyer escort and now a museum ship in Galveston Texas.

The engine is an in-line, 8 cylinder, 2-stroke, supercharged (roots blower) diesel engine. The Cleveland/Winton engine company was purchased by General Motors in 1930 and is now widely regarded as the predecessor to modern EMD or Electro-Motive Diesel engines.

The high pressure compressor is located in the #3 engine room and is capable of producing 3,500 PSI compressed air. This compressor was intended for use in charging torpedo tubes but was exclusively used for its current purpose, charging the start air tanks as the torpedo tubes were removed from the vessel very early on in its career.
In my other videos I show updates on the engine and all the auxiliary equipment that had to be restored in order to get the engine running.

For more videos or information on the engine, ship, or its history please feel free to contact me or the museum!

Thanks for watching.

https://www.galvestonnavalmuseum.com/