This is one of four main engine control consoles aboard the USS Midway (CV-41). The Midway was the first aircraft carrier to enter US naval service after World War II. She served during the Korea War, the Vietnam war and Operation Desert Storm. For many years the Midway was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan and served as a first responder to crises in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. I even spent a week aboard her in 1979 trying to catch up to a ship I was being assigned to. She was discommissioned in 1991 and turned into a museum moored in San Diego in 2004. The Midway was propelled by four steam turbines - generating 212000 shaft horse power, using steam generated from four boilers creating steam at 600 psi at a temperature of 850 degrees F. The large wheel on the right is the ahead throttle, the one on the left is the astern throttle. By opening or closing the trottles the throttleman controlled the direction and speed of the ship. The dial face object between the throttles is the Engine Order Telegraph - the means the Captain of the Ship relayed his engine orders to the control consoles. Just to the right of the ahead throttle is the engine RPM repeater - used by the Captain to indicate the exact RPM he wanted the Midway's giant propellers ( know as "screws" by Navy men). All the other gauges and valves were used by the men would stood watches at the console to maintain control of the engine system. Enjoy LOL - just to be clear these aren't steering wheels - they're valves to control the flow of steam to the engines. The ship was steered from the ship's bridge - many levels above this space.