[Public-List] Incline test on an Alberg 30?

[Robert Kirk]

Gord... It is entertaining. I reported as Chief Engineer of USS Ernest G 
Small (DDR 838),  shortly after she emerged from a long rebuild with lots 
of new equipment.  I couldn't find a record of the shipyard having 
performed a new inclining experiment, so I persuaded the CO to let me Sally 
Ship. He was a good-humored fellow who would sometimes stop the ship to go 
fishing.

We lined up a goodly portion of the crew - deck gang, gunners, & snipes - 
on the forecastle, quarterdeck, & fantail and I got on the ship's PA system 
with a whistle. (I wanted to use the loud ship's whistle but the skipper 
didn't want to bring down the wrath of the harbor.) I blew the whistle and 
the crew ran from port to starboard (Not too far; the maximum beam of our 
destroyer was only 39 feet.) Blow again, and they ran back to port, and so 
on. We got the timing down quickly and the Ernie G took on a noticeable 
roll at her sympathetic period, which I can't remember now but
I think was around 11 seconds.

The crew enjoyed it thoroughly. Sailors can get a little buggy after a 
while at sea. There was a minimum of good-natured (?) elbowing and shoving, 
and a few bloody knees. My calculations showed that the engineers at the 
Bureau of Ships were pretty good because our stability remained ok. I was 
told an aircraft carrier can do the same thing by driving trucks from side 
to side, though I've never actually heard of it being done.

Perhaps now that you're a senior officer you can persuade the RCN to do a 
little Sallying and spread the science.

An Alberg couple is pretty small beer compared to that, but it would be 
nice to claim that my period is shorter than yours.

Bob Kirk
Isobar #181



At 03:46 PM 5/17/2010, you wrote:
>I can just see A30'S all over North America being sallied tonight.
>
>In some ports where we are thin on the ground there will be only one...in
>others, whole bunches.  Aboard each will be giggling crew members rushing
>back and forth, the ones who have to get over the boom occasionally
>tripping.  Seen from a distance, the affected ports will exhibit the usual
>forests of stationary rigs... But here and there one mast will be swaying
>like an inverted pendulum.
>
>To individual observers it may appear a local anomaly; but what if somebody
>talks to somebody and realizes it is happening all over...
>
>Perhaps we should warn our respective Coasties that the unusual activity is
>about to begin so as not to alarm the authorities...
>
>Gord #426 SURPRISE


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