Only the aft engine room and "shaft alley", at the stern of the ship, would be spared.

Minion was nursing a stubbornly warm bearing in the port shaft alley.

The incoming water flooded the shaft alley.

The watertight door between the shaft alley and main engine compartment was permanently affixed open.

In a moment the aftermost portion of the shaft alley was "flooded, and water started entering the ship through her most vulnerable point."

In- side the ship's hull, bearings were reseated and seals reinstalled throughout the shaft alley.

Almaack went to general quarters; a quick investigation of the damage revealed the engine and fire rooms, as well as hold number five and the shaft alley, flooded.

Areas below "B" deck, not authorized for passenger access and closed for students, comprised "C" deck, engine room, shaft alley, fuel tanks and water ballast areas.

Yuduki Maru's two propeller shafts ran from the reduction gears connecting them with the turbines, vanishing through watertight seals and bearings into the shaft alleys in the aft hull.

Her amphibious expertise contributed to her success during Operation "Shaft Alley" in Samar and also in resupplying marines at Guam and Peking.

It was not an acetylene tank explosion as earlier reported, but from sparks created by a grinding machine inside the ship's propeller shaft alley,' Armand Arreza, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority administrator, told Reuters by phone. '