HMCS Huron Association - A Shocking Story From HMCS Huron

A Shocking Story From HMCS Huron

As any good sailor knows when you are headed for a war zone, and at many other times, you have to prepare for the possibility of damage to the ship. Therefore, on as many occasions as possible Damage Control Exercises are carried out. We were on our way to Korea and one day we were conducting Damage Control Exercises. One of the favourite exercises for the Electrical Branch was to run emergency power to the electrical steering motors in the tiller flats. Any electrician can explain how this is done on a tribal class destroyer.

1. Emergency cables are run through the various compartments utilizing the ‘Through Bulkhead Terminals’ from the emergency power terminals on the after switchboard in the gear room compartment to the steering motors in the tiller flats.
2. The emergency cables are then connected into a link and fuse box located on the steering motors.
3. The last action is to connect the emergency cables to the emergency power terminals on the after switchboard. This should not be done until everyone else has completed their part of the hook up and the Electrical Officer (LO) gives the order to make the connection.

My job was to connect the emergency cables into the link and fuse box on the steering motors. The normal routine was: as soon as the damage control parties closed up and that particular exercise was announced everyone would go to their assigned positions and take the necessary action. This day I went to the tiller flats, opened the link and fuse box, and changed the links over in preparation for the emergency cables.

One of the other electricians normally slapped both emergency cables into my hands and I would turn around, hook them on the link terminals, and tighten them down using an insulated wrench. Once this was done the LO would give the order for the final connection at the after switchboard.

On this particular day when the emergency cables were slapped into my hands they were alive and there was 220 volts DC running through my body. I was connected across the output from a 120 KW turbo generator. You guessed it, the Petty Officer whose job it was to make the final connection at the after switchboard became a little overzealous and neglected to wait for the order to connect from the LO.

Fortunately for me the electrician who passed me the emergency cables noticed the change of expression on my face. Somehow, he realized that the cables were alive and knew that I wouldn’t be able to let go of them, my muscles frozen in shock. He jerked the cables back out of my hand and held them apart until someone went to the after switchboard and got our anxious Petty Officer to disconnect the cables.

The Petty Officer shall remain nameless having since Crossed The Bar, but the electrician who basically saved my life by pulling the cables out of my hands was LSED3 Bill Easton and I would like to express my thanks to him once again.

Submitted by Gord Edwards