News From Fort Schuyler

March 16, 2009 - Volume 9, No. 13

RUDDER NUT - After reading last week's item on the USS BIDDLE's rudder loss in 1990, ERHARD KOEHLER '87 writes: "I had to laugh. The BIDDLE's rudder fell off a couple years after the ship was overhauled at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Between the time that the BIDDLE left the yard (in 1988) and the rudder incident occurred, I became the lead engineer for rudder work at PNSY. Naturally after the rudder fell off the stock (it didn't break), the Atlantic Fleet command quickly tried to discover just how it might have happened, and suspicion turned to the last drydocking - at PNSY. It didn't take long for that call to reach me. Now, this is not the ordinary sort of thing that you have to reverse engineer - and by direction - we had only about 4 hours to figure it out before we were on a plane for Norfolk for a meeting the next morning. I can't claim credit for the solution - that fell to my branch chief, a brilliant structural engineer named Joe Krulikowski. Needless to say we were able to discover the tiny flaw in the keeper mechanism that was supposed to keep the rudder nut from backing off the stock, and thus keep the rudder from falling prey to the gentle tug of gravity. Our solution had just enough merit to get us kicked out of Norfolk without a reprimand. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make the trip to Toulon - that honor fell to the yard's docking officer. So I guess you could say that Schuyler's footprint on the BIDDLE extended from top to bottom...."

SAVANNAH AND SCHUYLER - According to ROBERT BRANNIGAN '53, a SUNY Maritime alumnus who sailed aboard the NS SAVANNAH was JOHNNY CASHIN '53. Were there others? A Maritime College faculty member, Associate Professor of Marine Transportation DENNIS FREDERICK '69, writes that "....as a MARAD employee of seven years prior to returning to the Fort. I was privy to the discussions concerning the lay up and dismantling of nuclear powered ships in the National Defense Reserve Fleet. There was a nuclear barge called the STURGIS, located near the Panama Canal, which needed maintenance badly [but] no shipyard wanted to bid on the drydock work. The SAVANNAH was also a 'problem'. It seems the half life of the steel in these nuclear vessels required extra-extra long range maintenance planning. I don't know what happened to the STURGIS, but I'm glad the SAVANNAH is still around, as it is a beautiful ship." The ship was clearly in the minds of the cadets when it was first launched. PETE BACI '64 recalled in a past issue of NFFS that "...when I was a cadet, the members of my class voted to replace the ST. MARY'S on the side of our class ring with a replica of the NS SAVANNAH. Nuclear powered merchant ships were thought to be the coming thing, but as we now know, the SAVANNAH turned out to be a white elephant and its career was relatively short lived." Ever the traditionalist, Pete insisted on retaining the ST. MARY'S on his ring and, as far as he knows, he may be " ....the only member of the Class of 1964 whose ring bears the likeness of the ST. MARY'S." (NFFS May 5 2001)

SHARP SHOOTERS - Maritime's co-ed rifle team recently won the Mid Atlantic Rifle Conference championship which took place at the VMI range on March 7. Top shooters were BRANDON WEBBER and AMANDA THOMPSON. The Maritime College website article on the event noted that: "The victory was particularly sweet because of the close loss at last year's conference championship at MIT." Bravo Zulu to one of the more unique varsity teams at Maritime. [More at www.sunymaritime.edu]

TUNNEL- Someone who has thought about the tunnels of Fort Schuyler is CARL FISHER 65. He writes: "I have been interested in the "tunnel question" for years and have discussed it with many people, including Professor Fred Hess. I am also a Civil War buff and learned of a possible explanation for the "line drawn on an old chart" between Fort Schuyler and Fort Totten, and the existence of tunnels going seaward from Fort Totten and possibly Fort Schuyler. Many of the post_Napoleonic era forts, such as Fort Schuyler, were modified in the mid_1800s, prior to the Civil War, to implement new technology, "electrically_detonated torpedoes" (later called mines) at off_shore locations when ships were observed to be passing over them. The detonation used DC electricity and required a DC generator at the fort and huge underwater electrical cables to the moored torpedoes/mines. There is an add_on granite room attached outside the south wall of Fort Schuyler, near the southern arch of the inner gorge that likely contained the DC generator. When this technology was no later used, the room and entrance inside the fort was filled with concrete. When I was a cadet, we were told that the bones of General Phillip Schuyler were inside and could be heard rattling in the dark of night. I believe the college tried to bore into the concrete from inside the Fort, but stopped when the concrete seemed to go on forever. (For the complete text on this posting from Carl Usually, the large DC electric cables exited the generator room in a fairly large underground tunnel that extended seaward, a short distance underwater to provide protection of the cables from sabotage and ice floes, and large enough to enable repairs to the cables in the tunnel, if necessary. I believe the Fort Schuyler cable tunnel would have extended underground toward where the power plant is now. I watched the episode about Fort Totten on TV last year and observed that its tunnel got narrower as it went seaward and eventually was water_filled when it reached the river. The TV episode even commented that the "line on the chart" may have demarked the line of torpedoes/mines moored across the river. I would expect the northerly torpedoes were detonated by electric cables from Fort Schuyler and the southerly torpedoes from Fort Totten. I also believe the small room atop the southern wall of Fort Schuyler was an observation platform for observers to watch when to detonate the torpedoes. In my time at SUNY Maritime, we used that room for meteorology classes. I don't believe any torpedoes/mines were ever exploded by Fort Schuyler or Fort Totten in time of war. However, there are many documented cases of use of these torpedoes during the Civil War, especially from forts in Charlestown Harbor and at the entrance to Mobile Bay. Over 40 Union ships were sunk by spar torpedoes and moored torpedoes during the Civil War. During the Union attack on Mobile Bay, the USS TECUMSEH struck a torpedo (or had one detonated when passing near it) and began sinking. I have seen references about a "torpedo field" plotted as two lines of torpedoes moored directly offshore from Fort Morgan across the mouth of Mobile Bay. The plotted line from Fort Schuyler to Fort Totten would have been similarly oriented. The sinking of the TECUMSEH temporarily threw Admiral Farragut's forces into confusion. Admiral Farragut responded with his famous signal, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" Carl concludes: "I am also aware that a few years ago, some Maritime cadets did research on the existence of the generator room and observation post at Fort Schuyler, and the deployment of electrically detonated torpedoes at forts such as Fort Schuyler. I don't know if their results were every documented."

EBB TIDE - San Clemente, CA resident, KENNETH A. BIHLER '52 died on 30 January 2009 after a long bout with cancer. According to a posting on the Alumni Association website: "Ken was an engine graduate and participated in many sports while at the college, excelling in boxing to the dismay of his opponents.... During his third class year at the college, Ken received a Letter of Commendation for Heroic Service from VADM HERBERT LEARY USN (Ret), the college president, for his actions in saving the lives of two people from a flaming car that was on its side after a collision. No one at the scene took his name. A witness, however, recognized his uniform and wrote a letter of appreciation to the college. After graduation Ken spent nine years working for Aramco in Saudi Arabia... interrupted by two years of naval duty in 1957-1958. Back in the U.S., Ken worked on assignments with several companies and then spent 20 years with the Fluor Corporation as a project engineer until retirement. Flying was always a passion and he received his pilot's license in 1968, Over the years he owned and flew numerous aircraft accumulating over 4,000 hours of flight time. Ken later taught aircraft and power plant mechanics at Long Beach City College for 16 years." [www.fsmaa.org] As an obituary in a Long Beach newspaper concluded: "A man who was both exceptionally intelligent and modest, he was well loved and will be greatly missed." [Long Beach Press Telegram - 2/13/2009)

Two weeks earlier, in the upstate New York town of Sushan, EUGENE A. SCHNYDER '45, a son of Swiss immigrants, died unexpectedly in the arms of his wife, Sandra, on January 13 2009. According to an obituary published in the Glens Falls Post Star: "After completing his military service, he graduated from Pace College and began his lifelong career as a CPA in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey." Survived by his wife, two sons and a grandson. [www.poststar.com]

Finally, notices of the death of two other alumni were posted on the Alumni Association website with only minimal information: ZAHN WILLIAMSON '42, a resident of South Jamesport, NY, died on November 8 2008. CDR. RICHARD ZIIMMERMAN '52, a resident of New Orleans, is reported to have died on August 2, 2007. According to the Association's latest online roster, Richard was an Instructor of Navigation at Houston Marine in New Orleans.[www.fsmaa.org]