Quality Inn Norfolk Naval Base

Visit the MacArthrur Museum. ...

by glocgs

Visit the MacArthrur Museum. It features the military career of one of the greatest generals of America. Norfolk's affinity with the sea and how man has tamed the waters for man's s own purposes is exemplified in Norfolk.

Cannonball Trail

by Tom_Fields

In the Freemason Historic District, near downtown, one can take a delightful walking tour of old Norfolk's historic homes, churches, cobblestone streets, and other sites. Called the Cannonball Trail, it's about a mile and a half. Just follow the markers on the sidewalk.

My Navy Days - Ghost Story

by balfor

"Ghost Story"

The U.S.S. Bainbridge CGN-25 (formerly DLGN-25) was commissioned in 1961. During its construction, a shipyard worker was injured in #2 engineroom, lower level when a HP air line broke and he was hit with a valve that was blown apart by the 2000 psi (136 bar) air. He died on the third day after the accident. He was injured on Oct. 16 and died on Oct. 18, 1961. In order to grasp why my experience was so convincing, you need to know the construction of the space. The upper floors were made out of a deck grating, so you could see through the floor to the levels below and the lower floors were made out of steel diamond deck. Both were attached to the steel framing members by bolted on clips instead of being welded down. Because of that, the deck plates could actually shift and move a little bit as you walk on them, making a very distinctive sound. The stairs (also called ladders) were also steel and had a sheet metal box behind them so if anything fell through the stairs, they would not fall onto someone below. The ladders also were pinned into place so they could be easily removed. And because of the construction if you were to go up or down the ladders, they shook a lot and made quite a bit of noise as the sheet metal box shook.

The U.S. Navy placed a plaque commemorating Mr. John Akunevich in #2 Engineroom by the stairs leading to where the accident occurred. Every year during that 3 day period, the sailors in #2 Engineroom wore black armbands to commemorate this event. For those who wore the armband, little things would happen. Nothing serious, but something would happen. One pump that was running would be in standby and the pump that had been in standby would be in operation, a clipboard would be lying on a cabinet instead of hanging where you had placed it or something equally minor. These events could not be attributed to someone playing games with a superstitious sailor since they occasionally happened when you were the only one in the engineroom. There was only one person that I was aware of during my 4 years on board that didn?t have anything happen to him during those 3 days. One of the petty officers, Nils Olsen, polished the plaque on the first day of the commemoration. That year, NOTHING happened to Nils. However, that was the same year that I caught a glimpse of our elusive companion.

I was on the upper floor recording all of the temperatures and pressures on our distilling unit and I heard someone walking on the deck below me. I also caught a bit of motion out of the corner of my eye so I turned and looked down to say hello to the main engine watch, Geoff. However, when I looked there was no-one there. The next time I saw Geoff was about 30 minutes later and he told me that when he DID go to take his readings about 15 minutes after I took mine, he saw someone by the distilling unit above the main engine and when he actually turned to say hello to me, there was no-one there. Geoff and I were both wearing black armbands at the time.

Another sailor relayed this story to me of his experience of John Akunevich. He was standing a shutdown watch in our engineroom, though his normal duty was in #1 Engineroom. He was on the middle level and heard someone come into the engineroom from the main deck, heard the ladder shake as they came down the first flight of stairs, heard the thump as the person skipped the last 2-3 steps and landed on the deck plates, then heard them coming down the second ladder and saw the ladder shaking. Thinking he was going to have some fun and scare the poor unsuspecting guy, he planned on grabbing his ankles as he landed on the deck by reaching under the bottom section of the ladder back. However, when he heard the THUMP of the booted feet landing on the deck plates, there were no ankles to grab, nor were there any boots. And in this case, Marcel was NOT wearing a black armband. After that, he would not stand watch in #2 Engineroom. Needless to say, he now believed that we actually had a ghost in the engineroom.

And that is the very brief stories of my encounters with a ghost. 