Anatomy of a Legend
Chapter III: Determine the 'when' of the PX
July, August or October 1943 ?
Several sources telling about the Philadelphia Experiment are stating different dates for the experiment, ranging from as early as 1940 to the main timeframe in 1943, which is defined as mid July, August or October. In this chapter, I covered the main sources and give an overview, why some of those dates can't be correct and why there is only a short timeframe of about 3 days left, where the Philadelphia Experiment could have been taken place at all.
Assuming, that the vessel which was used as the testbed for the Philadelphia Experiment was the USS ELDRIDGE, it's necessary to take
a close look at the ships activities in 1943. The official version of the ELDRIDGE's history can be found at the FAQ page of the
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER:
The ship involved in the experiment was supposedly the USS ELDRIDGE. Operational Archives has reviewed the deck log and war diary
from ELDRIDGE's commissioning on 27 August 1943 at the New York Navy Yard through December 1943. The following description of
ELDRIDGE's activities are summarized from the ship's war diary. After commissioning, ELDRIDGE remained in New York and in the
Long Island Sound until 16 September when it sailed to Bermuda. From 18 September, the ship was in the vicinity of Bermuda
undergoing training and sea trials until 15 October when ELDRIDGE left in a convoy for New York where the convoy entered
on 18 October. ELDRIGE remained in New York harbor until 1 November when it was part of the escort for Convoy UGS-23
(New York Section). On 2 November the convoy entered Naval Operating Base, Norfolk. On 3 November, ELDRIDGE and Convoy
UGS-23 left for Casablanca where it arrived on 22 November. On 29 November, ELDIDGE left as one of escorts for Convoy GUS-22
and arrived with the convoy on 17 December at New York harbor. ELDRIDGE remained in New York on availability training and
in Block Island Sound until 31 December when it steamed to Norfolk with four other ships. During this time frame, ELDRIDGE was never in Philadelphia.
I'd like to stress the fact, that this official paper tells NOTHING about the vessels history BEFORE the date of commissioning, the official records available like the logbook copies start with the 27 August 1943 as well. I'll come back to this point later.
The widespread opinion is, that according to the most quoted source (the letters written by Carlos Allende) the Philadelphia Experiment took place in
October 1943, when the SS FURUSETH passed the USS ELDRIDGE in close vicinity while the test being conducted. Allegedly, Carlos Allende was an eye witness
and even came into physical contact with the force field surrounding the ELDRIDGE:
The result of the experiment was COMPLETE INVISIBILITY of a ship destroyer type, AND ALL its crew, while at sea (Oct. 1943). The field was effective in an oblate spheroidal shape, extending 100 yards...OUT from each beam of the ship. Any person within that sphere became vague in form...Somehow, also, the experimental ship disappeared from its Philadelphia dock and only a very few minutes later appeared at its other dock in the Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth area...the ship then AGAIN disappeared and went BACK to its Philadelphia dock.
Mr. Benjamin Leblanc already took at look at this in his article "The Philadelphia Experiment - Now, we're gonna make everything clear":
Dr Jessup seems to have BELIEVED Allende's story and conducted research on it (good boy...). Naval records show that Allende was, as he had claimed to be,
aboard the ANDREW FURUSETH in October 1943. BUT THESE RECORDS SHOW THAT THE ONLY POSSIBLE DATE ON WHICH THAT SHIP AND THE ELDRIDGE COULD HAVE BEEN
(THOUGH THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THEY WERE) IN THE SAME VINCINITY WAS AUGUST 16, 1943. In addition, no other former crew members of the Andrew Furuseth
have at any time corroborated Allende's story......(!) Interesting!
Interesting, indeed. But Mr. Leblanc made two mistakes while investigating this: First, he took the date for launching and commissioning of the ELDRIDGE as listed by US official sources for granted and thereby failed to consider other possible overlapping dates for both vessels, and second, he concentrated on the Norfolk Navy Yard, which is close to the Hampton Roads, VA, instead of considering the area close to where the ELDRIDGE was built. I checked for both Allende's service records and the SS FURUSETH activities in 1943 to find out, if the ELDRIDGE and the FURUSETH possibly could have been at the same place at the same time. Before I come to this, let me point out another, often quoted 'eye witness', Mr. Al Bielek.
Al Bielek's PX version
Another popular, but in my opinion very doubtful source are the interviews and statements given by Al Bielek. He even tells about several experiments,
conducted during a timeframe beginning in 1936 and ending with the disastrous final test with the USS ELDRIDGE and it's crew in 1943. I personally don't give
too much attention to it (look for the Al Bielek page of my website to find out, why), but because his interviews are so widespread and quoted as 'facts' again
and again, I had to include them into this webpage as well.
Here are the quotations concerning the USS ELDRIDGE:
From Al Bielek's speech at THE MUFON CONFERENCE, 13 January 1990, transcribed October 12, 1991 by Clay Tippen:
(Some text omitted)
Up to that point the story is relatively accurate; they change one thing: the
date. It was actually August 12, 1943. And a very disastrous experiment, but
a lot happened in-between and this will lead into eventually the rest of the
story.
Some text omitted)
Now as I have said, in 1936 they had a moderate degree of success, but nothing
like this. The original intent was to produce a field of invisibility around
an object. So they went on working and in 1940 they did achieve their first
real success under Tesla's direction, at the Brooklyn Navy yard. It was a
small ship, which had nobody aboard. The special equipment was put on that
ship. It was powered from two adjacent ships on either side, to supply the
power on cables; in case something went wrong they could cut the cables or if
they got desperate they could sink the ship. But they didn't have any need to
be that desperate, it was precautions, which the Navy always takes.
Some text omitted)
It was completely successful. The small ship became invisible, there was no
one on board at this point, because that was a later part of the test. Well,
it was declared as a success. The Navy was elated, they felt they had it and
they funded an unlimited amount of money into the research for this thing and
classified the project, September of 1940, calling the project, "Project
Rainbow". Things went into high gear from that point on.
Some text omitted)
And all the enlisted personnel including two warrant officers,
they were then, as you might say, swept off to Philadelphia where they were
assigned, not knowing of course when the ship would be ready. And they
remained on call until they were needed. Those thirty three, went through,
approximately, went through special training, and they were warned of certain
things, but nobody expected what actually happened. Since a special crew was
available, the ship was being outfitted in January and this was going on and
some tests began, about January of '43, separate systems. Nothing was ever
tested completely together, it could not be because that was the final test.
Some text omitted)
He decided to add a third generator. So they designed and built one and added
it about late April, early May. At this point I'm not really sure where they
put it, it might've been on deck, it might've been below deck, because it
didn't stay very long.
Some text omitted)
They did a lot further testing. Eventually early July, actually late
June, they decided the ship long since came out of dry dock, and was sitting
at dockside in the Philadelphia Navy yard. We, by the way had an office in
the Philadelphia Navy yard, in the top of one of the buildings. High security,
with a view of the harbor. They decided that the Eldridge was to go to sea
for sea trials, which was normal. So it spent three days at sea. Mid June,
it came back, had the shake-down. Everything was all right. It did not take
the special crew out for this. It took a normal crew out. And it came back,
everything was fine. Went to dockside for final test.
Finally July 20th, they decided the ship was ready for the final testing. So the special test crew was assembled, the captain who was to handle the ship, a man by the name of Hangle, Captain Hangle, a Navy captain, went on board. He was not the permanent captain. Everyone went on board on the 22nd, including ourselves. As the movie showed, the ship went out to its position, its station in the harbor. At 0900 hours we were told to throw the switch, a whole series of them really.
Some text omitted)
Came the final and fatal day, 12th of August 1943. Went out into the harbor
again. Everybody was a little shaky, and my brother and myself particularly.
So we went out on station, the orders came to throw the switch, to fire the
equipment. For about 60 to 70 seconds everything looked okay. They had their
radar invisibility, you could still see the ship, an outline.
Bielek claims a lot of details here, which I traced back. Because he referred (like Allende) to the USS ELDRIDGE as the vessel used for the tests, I concentrated on the history of this ship.
The real age of the ELDRIDGE
According to the FAQ Sheet of the Department of the Navy, the ELDRIDGE was commissioned on the 27 August 1943 at the New York Navy Yard. Here existence started
on 22 February 1943, when she was laid down at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock at Kearny, New Jersey. The ELDRIDGE was launched at 25 July 1943 and transferred to
the New York Navy Yard for further outfitting, which was a quite usual procedure.
Soon after WW II, many US Navy ships were transferred to other countries in accordance with several contracts as part of a big Mutual Assistance Program, and so
the Hellenic Navy received for Destroyers Escorts, too.
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Jane's Fighting Ships Vol 1984/85 shows on page 212 the Hellenic Navy destroyers / frigates then in operation. Under "Frigates" you will find the former US Navy Cannon Class destroyers listed: D-01 AETOS (ex-USS SLATER, DE 766), D-31 IERAX (ex-USS ELBERT, DE 768), D-54 (ex-USS ELDRIDGE, DE 173) and D-67 PANTHIR (ex-USS GARFIELD THOMAS, DE 193). According to Jane's, AETOS and IERAX were transferred on 15 March 1951 and LEON and PANTHIR on 15 January 1951. The listed data for the builders and lay down / launch / commission match exactly with the data issued by official US Navy sources, except for the USS ELDRIDGE. Jane's listed the ELDRIDGE to be launched on 25 June 1943, while the official Navy source (NavSource Online) listed the ELDRIDGE with the launching date 25 July 1943, which is a full month later. |
The 25 June 1943 as date of launching was confirmed on 12 March 2001 in a letter I received from the Hellenic Navy Department of History. This gives room for speculations, which source is correct.
Considering, that the US information might be intentionally wrong to deny the possibility of tests conducted with the ELDRIDGE in a timeframe within the month of July 1943, there is a chance, that the ELDRIDGE was used as a test ship before her official commissioning date, which was the 27 August 1943. At that time, the official US Navy crew was assigned to the vessel and no secret test could have been conducted after this date. This assumption is supported by the fact, that Jane's Fighting Ships Vol 1963 lists the ELDRIDGE with the 25 June 1943 as date of launching, the same date as stated by the Hellenic Navy. Why should Jane's change the date for the launching, after they published it already for several years? It looks clear to me, that somebody pressed on changing the original date of launching not even in the Navy documents, but also in public reference documents and who else as the US Government or Navy could have done this. |
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Bielek stated, that the ELDRIDGE was fitted out already in January 1943, which is simply not possible, because this vessel was laid down as late as 22 February 1943. To build a Cannon Class Destroyer Escort, it took at least 4 month for the shipyard (see details on my Destroyer Escort page), which leads to the speculation, that either the DE that Bielek was referring to was another ship or, as I see it, his story is simply bogus.
Bielek further claimed, that eventually early July, actually late June, they decided the ship long since came out of dry dock, and was sitting at dockside in the Philadelphia Navy yard. They decided that the Eldridge was to go to sea for sea trials, which was normal. So it spent three days at sea. Mid June, it came back, had the shake-down. As we know, the ELDRIDGE as well as many of her sister ships were built at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydocks located in New Jersey, not in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Even if Bielek was right and the ELDRIDGE came out of dry dock (which could mean her launching) in late June 1943 and therefore matching with the Greek date of launching of the ELDRIDGE, the location isn't right.
Now, comparing Allende's statement against what is known about the ELDRIDGE would be done at best by looking for a timely match of the SS FURUSETH and the ELDRIDGE. This is a list of activities derived from the Voyage Reports of the SS ANDREW FURUSETH:
Departed 28 May 1943 from Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, N.Y. |
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