Where does this belong?

[Karen D.]

Can anyone tell me where this belongs on the sub and what it was used for (you better not say Special Requests!)

A few years ago I noticed the Gift Shop manager was using it in the store and stole it back from her with the intent of returning it to its rightful location on the boat, but never got around to it...until now...

Any help would be appreciated!

[Lance Dean]

I have no idea.  I bet it would be perfect for holding toilet paper rolls. 

[Darrin]

IF I had to guess it belongs in the Yeoman's Shack,  and IF I remember correctly it is for "special request chit's"   i.e. school's and liberty, etc.    Check around your Yeoman's office to see if the drilled holes match on the bulkhead.

Darrin

[Tom Bowser]

How big is it? It looks small. We don't have anything like that on the Drum but I will take a closer look today.
Tom

[Karen D.]

4.5 X 6 X 8 in.

I was trying to match it to some holes in the Yeoman's yesterday, but couldn't find a match. It's gotta belong some where in the Officer's Quarters, because the back has light green paint. I'll try again today while I'm down there painting.

Thanks

[Paul Farace]

Hello Karen!!! I owe you pictures from Mobile!   

You're on the right track with matching the holes with similar holes in the bulkhead (that Darrin is gold when it comes to good advice... too bad he drank waaaay too much torpedo juice...  ).

This looks like something that would have been made aboard a tender under the direction of the yeoman or such. If it were EB original it would be stainless steel and be the equivalent of a Rolls Royce Silver Phantom...  so I don't think any other sub is likely to have something like this. But I am not always on the right side of an issue.  My only input here is DO NOT LIMIT your search for hole alignment in the officer's quarters. Your boat had the Seafoam green paint in all crewspaces in the 1950s when she and COD were running around the Atlantic and Carribbean pretending to be Russkies. This box could easily have been bolted in the crew's mess for certain requirests. Also, the black plastic sign on it looks post-war, more for its size of type, etc., than its construction. But if this were original equipment, it's tag would be engraved stainless steel. Likely what happened was that sometime back in ancient times, someone bumped their elbow on this box on the tour route (or didn't) and some numbskull thought it should be removed for safety reasons. So my gut feeling says maybe in the companion way outside the yeoman's office...  if not in the crewsmess.  Good luck with the hunt!

Darrin:  can you ship me a gallon of the TJ?  My nerves are a wreck...   

[Karen D.]

That's right! Where are my pictures? 

I kinda figured it was post war. Probably why it was taken off! I'm not going to worry about it too much then. Maybe it can just remain a cool prop in my office...

[Darrin]

Here's an off the wall idea, look in the pantry and in the Wardroom and see if there are any holes there that match up, our O Gang on the Honolulu had a specail request box for what they wanted for dinner etc. That and the Yeoman could put special request chit's in the box for the XO, CO to sign.

Paul,
been out of Gilly for a while now and having to resort to drinking beer instead

[Paul Farace]

Karen:

I'll burn a CD-ROM ASAP and mail it to you at the museum.

Whether it is WWII or Cold War, the box should be aboard the boat (IMHO) if it truly came from COBIA...  it all boils down to focus date. Now COBIA has been "altered" by her museum staff during the last 40 years or so, the Cold War era rescue bouys were pulled off and their wells plated over. But there are other Cold War mods aboard. Someday you folks will have to decide on a focus date for restoration...  Those bouys should be back aboard IMHO so as not to be lost.  So little changes were made to our subs post-WWII that we can keep them as they arrived in our towns and still have a true WWII sub. 

When are you and the crew coming to town?

Paul

[Karen D.]

Mid-1945 seems to be the focus year according to the old reports I've been reading. I don't know if that will ever change...

Anyway, thanks for the photos. Can't wait to see them! I was just talking to the "crew" last week and it looks like they want to visit in May. We were going to talk about it more after the holidays. They said I'm allowed to tag along, even though I will be the only girl! Hope we can make it work!

Karen

[JTheotonio]

I haven't seen one of these :special request" boxes for years - we used it for making special requests for Gilly.  In the FTR we needed good reasons to let go of our precious Gilly. 

Never saw one of these on the Picuda.  But Paul may have come close to say it might have been something off a tender.  When you had several boats in port, special requests for parts, tools, and help would have come on a first come - first serve basis unless there was a specail need. 

[Bill Wasil]

IF I had to guess it belongs in the Yeoman's Shack,  and IF I remember correctly it is for "special request chit's"   i.e. school's and liberty, etc.    Check around your Yeoman's office to see if the drilled holes match on the bulkhead.

Darrin

I thought the requests for leave, etc. were more like 5 by 7 inch forms.

[Paul Farace]

That box looks like what the USN would expect you to put a 5x7 card into!

[SOB]

Standard USN paper in that timeframe was 8"X10-1/2" -- in looking at a blowup photo of the box, it appears that there is an internal divider so I'd guess that each compartment is 4" wide by 6" high and 4-1/2" deep.

Those dimensions rule out cutting the paper in half - i.e. 5-1/4"X8" BUT it could accommodate quartered paper, i.e. 4"X5-1/4" -- I recall seeing forms printed aboard USS SPERRY AS-12 in the mid 50s that were 1/4 of a standard page, including My Wife chits.

I'd look in the Crews Mess first - that is where all of the My Wife chits were available to the crew in most diesel boats that I can recall. Otherwise, look on the bulkhead outside the YN shack for matching screw holes ....