One of Pete's duties as a sonarman, was to vacuum lower sound, where all of the electronic sonar equipment was located. Lower sound had a hatch on the ceiling with a ladder straight from the floor to the hatch. The hatch was open as Pete was performing this very mundane boring task of using a vacuum cleaner to clean the deck of the lower sound compartment. When all of a sudden he spotted a very small light bulb approximately one-half inch in length, with two copper wires extending out of the small light bulb. The light bulb was probably rated for one-thousandth of an amp. But what grabbed Pete's attention, was the length of the copper wires. They must have been five or six inches in length.

Well, Pete's light bulb in his head went off. He thought, "Well, I finally have my Wiggins!" So, he turned off the vacuum cleaner and picked up his new found friend - the light bulb resembling a small Christmas tree light. He then opened the fuse panel next to the ladder. He noticed the fuses were quite large, with most of them measuring three to four inches in width. The thought of the fuses being 50 amp or 100 amp never entered his mind. So he took the thin copper wires extending from the small bulb and bent them so they would touch both ends of the fuses in the fuse box.

What happened next is incredible. He had enough common sense not to touch the copper wires as he bravely grasped the end of the small bulb and approached the open fuse panel. The sonar equipment was purring at a pretty good pitch. But then it happened. Pete touched the top fuse in the panel with both copper wires touching the ends of a 100 amp fuse with a small bulb rated at one-thousandth of an amp.

The place lit up like the sun was in lower sound. An explosion was heard and Pete was hurled backwards against the rear bulkhead(wall). If anything sharp existed between Pete and the bulkhead, he would have been history right then and there. His back slammed against the bulkhead, and he was blinded by the explosion. His first thought was, "So this is what it is like when you die." However, he began to feel himself, ever so slowly, sliding down the bulkhead onto the deck. It was at that moment, he realized he was not dead yet. However, he could not breathe, nor could he see. Both of these symptoms cleared up very quickly. Then, he heard several of his shipmates, as they peered through the hatch into lower sound inquire, "Pete, are you all right? What in the world did you do this time?"

Pete was panic stricken. He thought fast.He uttered something to the effect, "I was ah ah vacuming and I must have gotten to close to the fuse box, and my key chain must have shorted out." His friends roared with laughter. They said, "Pete, you better come up with something better than that!"

What made the situation worse was, the sonar equipment was not running anymore. As they say in Texas, "She was broke, and everyone knew who the culprit was." So, Pete scrambled for the next hour or so to replace ALL OF THE FUSES in the fuse panel. It seemed every fuse got shorted out and blew, as evidenced by the black burn marks on the brass containers that hold the fuses in place. Well, the sonar would not fire back up, and Pete was in another pickle. If he could not repair the sonar, he would be court martialed for negligent duty whatever.

Pete did the only thing he knew how. He went to his First Class Petty Officer friend, the ships IC man and explained his dilemma. IC stands for Inter Communications. His friend had to retrieve the ship's electrical schematic diagrams to determine were the problem might be. Pete remembers him saying, "Nah, not even you could blow the 1,000 amp fuse in the mess decks(kitchen). On second thought, let's take a look."

Pete and his IC buddy had to use a hammer and screwdriver to chip away the many, many layers of grey paint that covered the fuse box containing a fuse about eight inches long with a diameter of approximately one inch. When they finally opened the fuse box, they noticed the fuse had literally exploded. The fuse box was full of the "innerds" of the fuse. The material resembled that of a dry wall. Once the box was cleaned out and a new fuse was inserted, the sonar fired back up. Pete was not court martialed.

In fact, Pete Cassidy, my a huge miracle that occurred that day in anyone's book, is still alive and kicking today at the ripe "young" age of 61. However, he stays as far away as possible from anything "electrical" in nature.

To the best of my knowledge and memory, this is exactly what happened to me that day aboard ship. I am a very lucky man to be alive. However, I have probably "tainted" the ole gene pool somewhat by hanging around so long.

Pete Cassidy (service number 547 25 83) 2300 Colleen Court Carrollton, TX 75007 Cell: 214-475-0279 Home: 972-307-3222

Submitted on 04/04/2006

Submitted by: Pierre(Pete) Cassidy
Reference:

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thank you, Pete! As a former US Naval Officer, I got a belly laugh out of your "sea-story"! It is funny how new sailors are fascinated with gadgetry and will often get into trouble because of it! I recall one night about 18 years ago aboard the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) when the ENTIRE electrical board shorted out. I now wonder if some new gob was trying out HIS "Wiggins"?! :-)

Sheryl said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks for submitting the story, Pete. As it's way out of my line of expertise, I'll go with James on this one. (I have to admit I didn't expect the twist at the end that turned it into a PA - Well done.)

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