COLLISION ALARM

I dont know if any of you Navy guys have ever heard a COLLISION ALARM at about three in the morning but I sure did.
We were steaming along in the North Atlantic. Just kinda slow, wollowing along at about ten knots. As I recall it was Sunday morning at about 3 am. It is that time of night when you are dog tired and hanging on to awareness with all your might. Traffic in radio one was dead slow and everyone was kinda sitting around nodding and trying to stay awake.
As I recall the COLLISION ALARM IS A GONG. ''BONG BONG BONG'' continuous and very loud. It hit about three Bongs when someone screamed....''COLISION, COLISION, CONDITION ZULU NOW.....
For you that were not in the Navy, condition Zulu is a completely water tight ship. ALL HATCHES CLOSED, DOGGED (locked) and Battened down. On Navy ship at sea you are under condition Xray which means half the water tight doors are secured.
Things started happening in real fast time and slow motion at the same time. Radio one had two hatches, both were open. the number one hatch was a ''door'' with a turn handle on it for securing. Easily done by one man. Just unlatch the keeper, slam it and ''dog it''.... easy ...... the number two hatch was a type that was propped vertical with two legs holding it open and a scuttle hole in the middle with a ''turn handle on it''........ We dropped the support legs on the number two hatch and dropped the hatch door with a bang. I was posted to go thru the scuttle and ''dog her down tight with the latches and the piece of pipe for pulling the latches tight''....
It is amazing how fast you can move with the COLLISION ALARM beating in your ear and you think you just might be going to collide with a cArrier or something that can cut a hole right thru you and set you swimming in water that is just above freezing.
Just as I was about to go thru the scuttle hole the collision alarm went silent..... About 30 seconds later a voice came over the p.a. system saying ... ''CANCEL THAT ALARM'' '' ALL IS WELL''.........
We reset Xray condition and it took about thirty minutes to gather up all the broken coffee cups that were scattered about the deck.
So it went on the Norton heading for Scotland one winter night ....
Seajay the sailor man