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USS Copahee ship's bell?


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So I was picking up my daughters from one of their friend's houses and saw this out in the front yard! The dad wasn't home and the mom was dealing with other issues (e.g. trying to sort out a bunch of pre-teen girls after a sleepover!) so I didn't ask about it. However, could this really be a real bell? It's about 18 inches tall, but seemed pretty stout. The Copahee was commissioned in 1941, so I don't know the "1942" on it.

 

Thoughts?

Dave

 

 

copaheebell.jpg

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Ah...then that would make sense! Any idea what the size of a CVE bell was? I wonder if this is actually "the" bell?

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Looks real to me! You won't find that every day! In comparison, the bell to the USS Delaware used to sit outside for years and that was like 30" in diameter and weighed forever!

 

-Ski

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They aren't exactly the same bell (as comparing the bell shape at the bottom) but the engraving looks close enough where it was probably done by shipyards around the same time period. (Perhaps someone stole the original bell and then they had another made...LOL) What is a good comparison is that they appear to be the same size.

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I talked to my friend that works in the Naval Historical center in DC. He says that a Copahee bell is (supposedly) on loan to a school in California. They are going to look into it. No answer on why there appears to be two bells. This past year, they retrieved the bell from the VESTAL that was found here in Maryland.

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I talked to my friend that works in the Naval Historical center in DC. He says that a Copahee bell is (supposedly) on loan to a school in California. They are going to look into it. No answer on why there appears to be two bells. This past year, they retrieved the bell from the VESTAL that was found here in Maryland.

 

 

Hmmm...curiouser and curiouser! I wonder where the school is/was? We live in a fairly rural area and their kids go to the same schools as my kids, so there's no tie in there that I can see. I've never met the dad before...so who knows? Very interesting!

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I talked to my friend that works in the Naval Historical center in DC. He says that a Copahee bell is (supposedly) on loan to a school in California. They are going to look into it. No answer on why there appears to be two bells. This past year, they retrieved the bell from the VESTAL that was found here in Maryland.

Question...are they saying the Navy still has ownership, or at least claims it, on all of these ship's bells?

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Salvage Sailor

It is also my understanding that some ships had more than one bell as well.

 

Kurt

 

Aye Kurt,

 

Many ships had a bell on the fore deck and the after deck

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Aye Kurt,

 

Many ships had a bell on the fore deck and the after deck

. The bell was forward, and a "gong" aft. It was for fig signaling, so you could get a fore and aft aspect by sound on an anchored vessel.
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post-9529-0-91852400-1472191587.jpg

 

Interesting subject. This bell from the second cruiser USS Vincennes was from 1944 and lacks the embossed markings of the ship name and commissioning date. In addition to the bell, this display also has both helm wheels and a barrel plug from the 6" main batteries.

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Looks like the same font to me, look at the "H", I think the black and white photo is just a better photo.

 

They are the same basic font, something like this: font.jpeg

 

The photo quality and wear from being outdoor could account for the difference in the way they look.

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Question...are they saying the Navy still has ownership, or at least claims it, on all of these ship's bells?

 

From past experience - the Navy claims ownership on ALL ship's bells, unless there is documentation proving otherwise on a specific artifact. They take it very seriously.

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From past experience - the Navy claims ownership on ALL ship's bells, unless there is documentation proving otherwise on a specific artifact. They take it very seriously.

Thanks! The old Bannerman's catalogs had some great Civil War and Spanish American War era ship's bells...I wonder if a catalog reference would be considered reasonable "documentation".

 

One of the things I missed that has always haunted me over the years, was a large, maybe 36", bell that had come from Bannerman's. It was really neat, because it had a Civil War ship's name on one side, and a ship from just before the Spanish American War on the other. The Navy was really poor in those years, and it would make sense that they would have reused things like a large bell. I can't now recall the ship's names, but do remember the price...$10,000 back in the late 1980's...sounds like it was probably a good thing I couldn't afford that one!

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