"What's all that banging noise?"
 |
| USS Cumberland Sound AV-17 (Official Navy photograph) |
 |
| E.A." Pat" Garrett |
I was in the second division. There was much activity aboard the ship as we
were getting wartime stores off the ship and making rooms below the seaplane
deck to house the scientists. One day, we were off-loading torpedo warheads up
out of a hold through a well that went through the mess deck. I was down in the
hold screwing hoisting rings into the noses of the warheads. There was a hoist
on a small track that was used to lift the warheads up off the deck in order to
move them over to the well. We were only able to lift the warheads an inch or
two off the deck. because there was very little room between the track ,the
warhead and the deck. If you pushed the warhead too hard, one side then the
other would bang on the deck. So we pushed them real slow over to the well,
where we hooked them up to the big hoist. Now to get the hoisting hook down the
well, which was in the center of the ship, we had to rig a hoist from each side
of the ship. On deck the drill was that a seaman on each side would hoist at the
same time and rate causing the warhead to come up the center of the well.
Since we were just learning, the warheads would often bang against the sides
of the well on the way up. Awhile later I was in the mess deck when some one
asked, " What's all that banging noise? " I said, "We are
unloading torpedo warheads and they keep banging....." I was talking to an
empty mess deck.
 |
| Loading ammunition - USS Cumberland Sound AV-17 |
Comments
Post a Comment