SteveZ Posted December 17, 2016 Share #1 Posted December 17, 2016 I was chatting a few weeks ago at a coffee house and struck a conversation with a long retired NAVY aircraft mechanic and he related to me a long lost story about an old aircraft carrier ( unknown name and class ) and apparently one day there was a power fault in one part of the ship. Ships electricians partly traced the fault to a ships service power cable that passed through some kind of void or unmarked space between 2 major bulkheads. Blueprints of the vessel did not identify the space and it was like a work space with 4 walls surrounding it with absolutely no access to this mystery area. A repair party had to get inside and the story continued that special permission had to be obtained from the captain of the vessel to cut into a wall to gain access to a power cable. What they found was a complete and fully equipped machine shop ! Very old but brand new equipment that was installed but never used. Covered in layers of dust, most of the stuff still worked including most of the lights. Did this incident actually happen and if so, what vessel ?? Builders forgot to install a hatch ? Inquiring minds want to know. Fact or Fiction ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted December 17, 2016 Share #2 Posted December 17, 2016 I've heard a similar story from a former Submariner. Only he related it as that a sprinkler head had broken somewhere and an unknown room had flooded messing with the ship's balance. That is when they found the room that was completely sealed also with brand new machining equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZ Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share #3 Posted December 17, 2016 Interesting ! Maybe somebody will speak up the may know the entire story. Another buddy says he heard something similar and hears the old carrier Roosevelt was the mystery vessel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted December 17, 2016 Share #4 Posted December 17, 2016 Exact same story about a unused, walled off space containing an unusaed machine shop aboard USS Alabama (BB60). I heard it for years when I didn't work there. Now that I do, everyone has heard it, but no one can show it to me. I say "urban legend". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZ Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share #5 Posted December 17, 2016 WOW ! Now it was a battle wagon ! Well see if somebody else chimes in to this story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collectsmedals Posted December 17, 2016 Share #6 Posted December 17, 2016 I heard that story about our ship when I served on the U.S.S. Nimitz back on the late 70s and early 80s. I also heard it about Enterprise. I think its just one of those "sea" stories that makes its way around. Given how ships are constructed and the detailed drawings involved I find it very difficult to believe. The story always involves a machine shop which I think is an interesting detail which was added to give the tale a "fact" to make it more believable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wharfmaster Posted December 17, 2016 Share #7 Posted December 17, 2016 I heard the same story from a sailor that served on the Forrestal. That was the rumor on the ship. Would like to know if it is true. Wharf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Ragan Posted December 17, 2016 Share #8 Posted December 17, 2016 I heard the same story when I was in the Naval Reserve in the early 70's. The story I heard was that it was on a carrier, but I don't remember the name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted December 17, 2016 Share #9 Posted December 17, 2016 Thw Ghost of Machinists Past.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvage Sailor Posted December 17, 2016 Share #10 Posted December 17, 2016 Exact same story about a unused, walled off space containing an unusaed machine shop aboard USS Alabama (BB60). I heard it for years when I didn't work there. Now that I do, everyone has heard it, but no one can show it to me. I say "urban legend". Urban Legend? I say Sea Story..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted December 17, 2016 Share #11 Posted December 17, 2016 I heard the same story, but they found it when they were scrapping the ship. True? Sea story? Who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikie Posted December 17, 2016 Share #12 Posted December 17, 2016 Sounds like there is one hidden on every ship. Secret emergency reserve machine shop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sigsaye Posted December 18, 2016 Share #13 Posted December 18, 2016 Heard the same story in 1973 while serving aboard USS Kitty Hawk. Great story for a new kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fstop61 Posted December 18, 2016 Share #14 Posted December 18, 2016 Heard the same story that involved a PT Boat : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sully Posted December 19, 2016 Share #15 Posted December 19, 2016 Heard the same story that involved a PT Boat : ) I'd be fascinated to learn how they could fit a machine shop on a PT boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvage Sailor Posted December 19, 2016 Share #16 Posted December 19, 2016 I'd be fascinated to learn how they could fit a machine shop on a PT boat. PT Boat Machine Shop..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. BARney Posted December 20, 2016 Share #17 Posted December 20, 2016 Not trying to redirect this thread, but just want to add to the sea stories/legends aspect of this conversation. My brother was on the USS Coral Sea 1980-84, and mentioned the "Phantom $hitter". Apparently, a person (or persons) on board would periodically take a dump in unusual spots, like passageways, ladders (stairs), etc. A nephew, who was USMC and on a few Navy Gator Freighters, was familiar with the Phantom $hitter legend and had also seen his handiwork. Anyone else ever heard of the Phantom $hitter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted December 20, 2016 Share #18 Posted December 20, 2016 Yeah, that jerk must have went to the same college i went to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zsmith Posted December 20, 2016 Share #19 Posted December 20, 2016 the Phantom $hitter? Is very real. Not Phantom $hitter but still funny... there's no head in the engine room on a submarine so nukes on watch were known to crap in garbage bags. If the bag o' crap made it into a wet can (metal can for disposing of garbage) it was no big deal. But if the guy in the TDU room smashing trash was a jerk then sometimes the poop bag ended up in the dry trash. You don't want to see what a 3000lb hydraulic ram will do to a bag of doodie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 20, 2016 Share #20 Posted December 20, 2016 What was the one about a few U.S. sailors in WWII trapped in a room/hold on board a warship that was battle damaged, they were found dead while in the act playing cards, some game like poker or acey deucey or something? Anybody ever hear this? It's been a long long time, as This was something I heard when I was a kid, I think it even was written up in a trivia/facts section of one of the old Army comics from the late 60s 70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted December 20, 2016 Share #21 Posted December 20, 2016 Wonder if that one doesn't arise from the raising of the Oklahoma... What did they find out about her longest surviving casualty? Something like 16 days? ***Correction... I guess it was the West Virginia http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19951207&slug=2156455 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zsmith Posted December 20, 2016 Share #22 Posted December 20, 2016 Wonder if that one doesn't arise from the raising of the Oklahoma... What did they find out about her longest surviving casualty? Something like 16 days? ***Correction... I guess it was the West Virginia http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19951207&slug=2156455 I had never heard this story before... bless those poor souls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. BARney Posted December 21, 2016 Share #23 Posted December 21, 2016 The book "Descent Into Darkness" discusses this story. The author, Commander Edward C. Raymer, was a Navy hardhat diver involved in salvage operations at Pearl Harbor. Shortly after the attack, divers "sounded" the sunken vessels, by tapping on the hulls at various depths and set distances all the way around each vessel. The West Virginia had been sounded on December 12, but no answering taps from survivors were heard by the divers. Apparently one side of West Virginia was jammed up tight against USS Tennessee, so it was not possible to sound the entire hull. He relates that the divers involved in sounding West Virginia were devastated on learning they had missed someone. The book is "Descent Into Darkness", published by Presidio Press in 1996. ISBN 0-89141-589-0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patches Posted December 21, 2016 Share #24 Posted December 21, 2016 Thanks Grarando Here's the story on Oklahoma. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/after-75-years-remains-of-five-dead-pearl-harbor-sailors-are-identified/2016/01/11/18131000-b875-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html?utm_term=.a4541e630aaf#comments Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38Driver Posted December 24, 2016 Share #25 Posted December 24, 2016 I believe the original story is linked to the USS Hornet, which would fit as the Essex class carriers were modernized to angled decks so if a space did get walled in, that rebuild time was when it happened Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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