Hey all!   Finally I was allowed to break the post lock so I could make posts on here, I'm Eric, I've been collecting naval items for over 30 years now and I'm the guy that runs the Authentic Navy Alarms sub-website. I have a ton of interesting items that I have collected over the years, and each one has a bit of a story to it. I specialize in ship control, aircraft cockpit, submarine, and emergency management/cold war type items. I'll show you a few of the items in my collection here in pics.    First one is a brand new USN Nuclear Submarine Engine Order Telegraph from a single screw submarine - this means Skipjack, Permit, Sturgeon, or Los Angeles Class SSN. Tridents were different as was Virginia class (they use computer screens). I picked this one out of DRMO like 25-26 years ago now. Brand new, was told it was a surplus never-installed spare. Backlighting works perfectly on it, looks really nice on a shelf.    Second item is a deep depth gauge from a Balao-class Fleet Diesel Submarine, USN. It has a 1960 cal date on it, so it was one of the later subs that were probably used as fleet trainers before they were all decommissioned and either made museums or scrapped. This is a US Gauge production and not Ashcroft.    Third item is a Nuclear Submarine Shallow Depth repeater gauge, this one is synchro-driven, slaved off a master gauge somewhere. 15-200 feet in 10 foot increments.    Fourth item is a set of Bridge throttles / Engine Order Telegraph from the Ship Control Console of a Spruance-class DD (nicknamed SpruCans). It sat to the right of the helmsman in the Ship's Control Console and acted as a set of throttles for the two gas turbines when the system was set to Bridge control, and as a EOT when the engines were being proctored from Main Control. All the Spruance's are now sunk with the exception of 1 that serves as a remotely piloted test ship, and the 4 of the Kidd class that were sold as a bulk deal to Taiwan (nicknamed the Dead Admiral Class). 98% intact, just missing the latch on the starboard throttle to latch both together, and the "FLANK" light indicator from the starboard throttle.  FLK2 and FLK3 are both there.    Fifth item is a Nuclear Submarine Portable Ship Control Unit or... as commonly called.... the "Bridge Suitcase". This is hauled up & down a ladder by an unlucky ET or QM when the sub surfaces for any length of time and allows for ship control from the device. Remote engine order & rudder order indicators, a 1 and 7 MC announcing set, compass repeater, remote Collision Alarm button, plenty of things to play with for the OOD's pleasure.    And the 6th and final item in this post is the Missile Emergency Alarm contact maker from the USS Ethen Allen (SSBN-608) which was removed from the ship after it's 1983 Decommissioning. If you remember your history, the Ethan Allen was the ONLY FBM submarine to fire an active missile with active nuclear warhead attached that detonated, this was part of a navy test series in 1962. This was the actual alarm handle that could have stopped a nuclear missile launch dead in it's tracks. VERY rare collectable, the ONLY one of these I've seen in private hands in 30+ years of scrounging.    And there's tons more....   Probably the rarest item I hold is the Hull Openings Panel nameplate from the "Christmas Tree" of the USS Squalus (SS-192), as you remember this is the submarine that sank off Long Island in 1939 due to a faulty Main Induction Valve latching mechanism that flooded the stern half of the submarine - and was the first successful use of the Momsen Diving Bell to recover the remainder of the trapped crew. This panel was the focus of the Navy Court Of Inquiry determining the cause of the sinking. What a awesome piece of history! I'll have to put a pic or two of it up in one of my next posts.    I've copied the mail here for years and finally decided it was time to start talking a bit. My Navy Alarm Sounds webpage gets tons of hits from folks around the world, and it is chock-full of distinctive sound effects. Don't think I can post the URL here but you can get it on a quick Google search.    More pics & narratives up later. It's getting more and more rare these days to find people that are actually still interested in this stuff, so I'm very glad this board exists. Central Florida BTW here.   Thanks! Eric    

As promised, here are the photos. Interestingly two of them were taken in Panama. Was the 15th infantry ever in Panama? I also believe these are from E company because of the supply tent’s sign in the photo. The last one on the bottom was a World War II photo and I don’t think has any connection to the other photos. 

A Seafarer civilian 'Johnny Cash' shirt often worn by USN sailors in the 1970's-1980's (photos pulled from an auction ad) Seafarer made blues, whites, dungarees, and jackets too            

The hat you have and the jacket were both at an estate sale. I believe they were asking $75 for the hat and the jacket I purchased for $20. There was another wwii 4 pocket jacket of his but I sold that a few months ago. I just missed his British made Ike jacket but it was purchased by a lady for her own use at the estate sale,   It was stripped but had a nice high wyacombi? London makers label. There was nothing else of his at the sale 

He is the soldier on the left of my avatar

Hey all,   Anyone ever seen one of these NOT mounted on a Stable Element for big(ger) gun fire control? Check this out....   Eric

Based on the medal bar, he was Army Reserve. Although not regulation, the wear of USMC right shoulder patches was not unheard of.   I saw it in the 80’s when I was in the 2nd Armored Division.  I also saw some  non reg VN insignia being worn. And I have to think, adherence to regulations was probably even  a bit more lax in a reserve unit.   (I don’t quite understand why some individuals are setting their hair on fire over this thread)

😂 solid reminder

gwb123 ADMINISTRATOR   Administrators 14,898 Location: Omaha, Land of the Free #1   Posted February 16, 2014 On behalf of the Administrators and Moderating Staff of this Forum:   We make an effort to keep the conversations on here free flowing, loose and unencumbered with pages and pages of rules. It's our goal to keep it that way as long as a civil atmosphere is maintained while exchanging information, sharing our collections and our expertise.   But certain things undermine that atmosphere. Chief among them is sarcasm.   Sarcasm is writing something that you don't really mean, but is written to illustrate a point with attempted irony or humor by saying the opposite of your true view. It is often tied to criticism of either an item, or worse, an individual.   Sarcasm can be very powerful in a speaking environment. That is where voice, tone, gestures and facial expression can reinforce that the comment is not meant to be taken or seriously.   But sarcasm often fails and can be destructive in a written environment. Despite all the wit and humor that was intended, sarcastic remarks may be read literally by those who are not in on the joke. And that is where the trouble starts.   We've had an incident this weekend where some of our experienced collectors opened a thread attacking an item on eBay. Remarks were made such as "must have" and "I'll be bidding on this one, for sure". Another one of our members read these remarks, took them literally and bid on the item... to the tune of $1,600... for an item that most people felt was fake or doctored.   This is exactly the kind of thing that can happen, but should not happen here. This is a Forum about facts and details. People come on here to learn and educate themselves, whether it is a brand new collector or an experienced one who is moving into a new area.   Threads built on sarcasm are useless to our readers. If you want to criticize something, then do so. Say what you mean, and mean what you say, and leave no room for confusion. Even better, give enough details so that the rest of us can learn from you and understand what you are seeing.   One of the ironies here is that we provide Private Messaging, in which members can pretty much post what ever they want to. If someone feels this kind of put down humor is necessary, it can be shared with the rest of your inside group off-line.   Please consider this a fair warning. Threads that begin with and continue with empty and misleading sarcastic content will be subject to review, editing or removal. They are contrary to the purpose of this Forum, where our goal is to educate based on facts. We have no need for these kinds of nonproductive threads occupying space and tying up Forum resources.   If anyone feels they need a clarification of this, you may contact any of the Administrators or myself through Private Messaging.   Gil Burket

As flagship of the NATO squadron, we were relieved by the SELLARS and I found these photos in her STANAVFORLANT 1980 cruise book   Left:  Bridge watchstander (we're still wearing beards in 1980) Center:  Ice Cream Vendor bancroft combination cap, 'Johnny Cash' shirt and black tie (note the STANAVFORLANT Shield) Right:  short sleeve dungarees with iron on crow All of these uniforms were on the way out in the early 1980's