I have been in the military (Navy) for 2 years, Iv heard stories of ships or barracks being haunted but I thought it was just a hazing method for the new sailors fresh out of boot camp. I am and electronics technician who works on radar and navigation on my ship, which is a small destroyer (DDG) Ill keep my hull number hidden for privacy reasons. The crew is about 250 in size currently and on weekends its about only 50-60 people on the entire ship.
Today is Friday, everyone left the ship when work was done except for the duty section, which stays on board until the following morning (0630 Friday - 0630 Saturday), Each sailor has a watch to stand weather its armed outside or internal and watching for alarms or fires. My watch today is from 0200-0700, Ugh a late night watch AGAIN. I swear the Watch Bill Coordinators hate my sleep haha. This watch sucks because its super late and nobody is up to talk to and on top of that I have no electronics because I am in a Top Secret space. So I just slept from 1700-0000 (Midnight). My duties as this watch is to monitor alarms for intrusions, fires, equipment shutting down, etc. Its in the heart of the ship and is very lonely, and boring for that matter because I can get in huge trouble for bringing in outside device, especially with the whole China spies that happened recently.
0000 - I woke up after a shitty nap/sleep that will have to keep me up until tomorrow morning when I go home, I eat some snacks from the galley and chill before I take the watch from the person before me.
0130 - I head on down to CSMC the space where my watch station is, I relieve my buddy and he told me all is normal and thanks for not being late. So we turned over and he was on his way, I was pumped that it was a chill night, which means no work for me SWEET.
0200 - I spent the last 30 minutes organizing my space, which is a 20x20 foot room with vents, electronics, alarm boards, communication equipment, escape hatch and a watertight door with a code to enter (so sailors who no nothing about electronics don’t fuck up our equipment and because we have top secret stuff in here.) Even smart watches are not allowed so I just use the clock on my computer. If I sneak my DS or Nintendo Switch inside i can hear people enter a password outside or walk past so it gives me time to hide it. So it works pretty nice when its late because nobody is up, right?
0245-0300 - its been over an hour and 15 minutes and I’m bored playing video games and nothing going on, pretty chill watch if i say so, a few minutes pass and it strikes 0300, sweet only 4 more hours until i can go home in the morning. After playing for another game which takes about 30 minutes, i checked the clock because I’m getting restless and just wanna sleep and go home, the clock said “0300”, Huh strange I thought to myself its been 0300 for half an hour, I didn’t think anything of it because military grade stuff is shit and this ship is still being fixed after last deployment, So I Ignored it and kept playing.
0300 - The clock still says 0300, I have no idea when I will be relieved, I grabbed a multi-meter and tested the battery and it passed the check, hm weird. Then the alarm panel sent a basic alarm, intrusion into Radar Room 2, which is normal because my friends play video games up there but not usually this late at night.
0300 - I go to investigate (I’m not supposed to leave but it is late and nobody will find out). I head up a few levels up to Radar Room 2, the door was closed, strange then why is the alarm going off? I type the code in and enter and the TV was left on with the sleep mode screen on which means it hasn’t been used in a few hours. My first thought was that someone left something in here or some other sailor tried to steal something which was unlikely but possible. I saw someone walk by at the other end of the hallway, looked like my friend and I called out “Hey bro wanna take my watch HAHA”, no response. I thought man, what a bitch, he didn’t even respond to me. I went to follow him to be like what the hell bro. But nobody was there, hm he must’ve rushed to bed, whatever Ill just go back to watch. I cleared the alarm because nothing was wrong, to my knowledge at least.
0300 - To me what felt like an hour passed, slightly stressed because i don’t know the time and mad that my “buddy” was being lame and walked away from me. All of a sudden the lighting went off, which isn’t uncommon, our ships power in unstable because it just got working without help of shore power, So i reported this, “0300 Ships power loss, emergency power activated”. Emergency power is just for vital equipment and about half the lights (which are red at night). So my space is pretty dark with red lights and a bit creepy to be honest, but this is not uncommon, the electricians will just fix it in the morning when the next duty section comes in. I called in the Engineers center who stand the same watch as me but for their equipment, nobody picked up. “wow what a shitbag, sleeping on watch, that is pretty ballsy if you ask me”. So i just made sure no fire or serious alarms went off and returned to my gaming.
0300?? - I hear footsteps outside my space, “sweet maybe that is an engineer who got my missed call”. So I open the door to talk to him, nobody is there, weird, maybe it was an echo or something. Same thing happens but the door was dogged down (lever that locks door shut for waterproofing), and it was raised like someone was going to come in, I hear the keypad, so I quick hide my game device. It doesn’t click which means the pass code was wrong, the door didn’t open, so i opened it because maybe whoever it was; 1. they might be in my division, 2. might be carrying something heavy so they cant open door, 3. I’m just eager to talk to someone. But when I opened it, I was confused, A sailor I’ve never seen was there, he was wearing a very old and outdated uniform and looked like he hasn’t slept in days. But I do not know where the hell he got a old ass uniform from.
I replied, “hey shipmate can I help you?” He replied, “11. To be especially watchful at night and during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post, and allow no one to pass without proper authority.” I replied, “Cool i know my 11 general orders too, but do you need anything?”. He quickly walked away and turned the corner, I followed him, but he was gone, OK I can admit this is pretty fucking creepy.
0300 - I have heard legends of the ship being haunted like old sailors roaming or shadow figures and shit but I pushed them away because I do not believe in that stuff. But this is getting weird, maybe it was a prank by my senior friends who have been on the ship for years. I continue to hear footsteps and occasional knocking, but what made me concerned was the fact that I did not recognize that sailor, I mean there is only 50-60 people in this section and we all know each other well. Maybe he was just a new guy or something, maybe that also why he said the 11th general order to me, I don’t know sometimes new boots from boot camp are weird.
0300 - ring, ring, the phone goes off, I answer, nobody is there, strange, whatever
0300 - BRRRT , BRRRT , A monotone alarm goes off, “CSMC BREACH”, Heart stopped, that is where I am right now and I am the only person who entered, and that was 2 hours ago I think. I cleared that alarm fast as hell because I am trying to play it cool. “CSMC BREACH”, Instantly “CSMC BREACH” pops up again. Its a glitch right? right?
???? - I have no idea what time it is, i feel as if someone is here watching me, I cant explain how or why but the air in here just feels uneasy. I am scared as shit, I decided to go to the brow of the ship where the armored guards are to have guaranteed company that I know. I walked up to brow and when I exited the internals of the ship and looked out and expected to see the ship moored next to ours on the pier. But we were not there, the ship looked like it was in space, everything was dark, all I saw was our ship, no sea, no pier, no city in background, just the ship. The two watch standers who looked like I knew them but i did not know who they were. Just stared into space, not moving not blinking just standing. I just backed up and walked away and back to my station.I am walking around in my station going crazy, I am scared as shit, where am I?, who and what were they?
???? - I am sitting in my chair just looking left and right waiting for something to happen, RING RING RING, the phone rings, no ships caller ID, just a ringing phone, I dread to pick up, “DAMN IT ALL” I yelled and picked up the phone. “I am coming to relieve you” came a voice I did not recognize. This is not my relief, who ever it was, what ever it is, it is coming, coming soon. Every breach went off on the alarm board, the room was loud, loud as shit, I couldn’t think straight. I locked the door from inside, so nobody can enter. I am still scared and grabbed a broom as a weapon to make myself feel safer.
A alarm i have never seen came on the screen, it said “Escape hatch’s can not lock, I will relieve you, it is the time for challenging.” I see the valve on the hatch very slowly and inhumanly twist open.