The riggers in the shipyard could position anything, anywhere you wanted it.
They would do a lashing with flat nylon strapping and then use chain falls.
Real work of art watching them position a large turbine driven fuel oil pump
into position past a row of lower level machinery when your eye said there is
no way it's gonna fit. We were doing a shafting job on a US Army Corp of
Engineer dredge and I was having a real problem getting the prop shaft piece to
lower straight into the box for the reversible pitch prop. After several
failures I wised up and asked the riggers for their input. They suggested
blocking the shaft then raising the much lighter box onto the shaft. Worked
perfectly. In our shipyard (PNSY) we would routinely work out of our trades in
order to get the job done. Wasn't at all unusual to have 38 shop mechanics
pulling on falls to lower a turbine casing for a blue fit, and have the 72 shop
riggers dropping bolts into holes. We all learned a lot about each others jobs
and worked very well together. But once the Senate gave us a productivity
award, we knew we were doomed and the yard closed in '95.

And speaking of anchor chain, later when I was a test inspector, there is
nothing like the pucker factor when drop testing the anchor windlass brakes on
an aircraft carrier. Now that was a chain!

John H.