Dolly's Bell

Shootin' the breeze, chewin' the fat, general chit-chat
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JT-STS627g
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 3:55 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Horner
Crew?: Gold
Which Years on Board: 1970-74
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Dolly's Bell

Post by JT-STS627g »

Don't know if this has been covered before, but what happened to the Madison's bell that hung in the control room? Stolen? Gifted-to-someone? Destroyed? Stored?
Would be nice if it still existed and could be viewed. Seems there must be a whole lot of ship's bells somewhere. Just wondering! JT
JT
Sonar gang '70-'74 Gold
Keith Holman
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First Name: Rufus Keith
Last Name: Holman
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Which Years on Board: 1980-84
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Re: Dolly's Bell

Post by Keith Holman »

Now that's an interesting question. I wonder if maybe some of our USSVI members might know what usually happens to those?
~Keith
Reunion Association President
JT-STS627g
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2005 3:55 pm
First Name: John
Last Name: Horner
Crew?: Gold
Which Years on Board: 1970-74
Special Crew?: Neither
Rate: STS2(ss)

Re: Dolly's Bell

Post by JT-STS627g »

After doing a little search, I discovered that the bells of decommissioned US Naval vessels remain the property of the US Government and the Department of the Navy. They are intrusted to the curator of the Naval Historical Center (NHC) in Washington, DC. They supposedly have a collection of over 2,000 ships bells. Some of which can be loaned-out to "certain organizations". Thought that was kind of interesting! JT
JT
Sonar gang '70-'74 Gold
Keith Holman
Site Admin
Posts: 306
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2005 7:43 pm
First Name: Rufus Keith
Last Name: Holman
Crew?: Combined and Blue
Which Years on Board: 1980-84
Special Crew?: Neither
Rate: MM1 M-Div
Contact:

Re: Dolly's Bell

Post by Keith Holman »

Hmmm. I live near there. I wonder what the requirements would be for loaning it out?
~Keith
Reunion Association President
aaronmartin
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Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 5:23 pm
First Name: Aaron
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Re: Dolly's Bell

Post by aaronmartin »

Hello! My father was Paul Martin, ET-RC from 76 to 82.

My dad had a bell, about 8" or so, with a braided chord on the clapper, that was inscribed on the side with the dolphins and "USS James Madison SSBN627". It hung on our back porch for years; he used to ring it to call us home for dinner on summer evenings.

I think I remember him saying that when the ship was decommissioned, they re-cast some of the hull into these bells for former crew members. It's been a lot of years and I could be misremembering what he said. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Sadly the bell has been lost since his passing. I'd love to replace it, but I wanted to see if I could get more information on it.

Thanks!
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