Protecting American interests around the globe, the U.S. Navy faces a myriad of threats. From terrorists and anti-ship rockets, to mines, torpedoes and even ballistic missiles, there are plenty of hazards to worry the brass.
But here at home, one naval installation has discovered a new menace, capable of knocking out key communications in a matter of seconds.
However, this particular hazard doesn’t involve suicide bombers, long-range missiles, space weapons, or even explosives. Indeed, this latest threat can be found in most backyards, or any other wooded area. It typically weighs a pound—or less—and belongs to the Sciuridae family.
We’re referring to the common tree squirrel, and last Saturday night, one of the furry rodents disrupted phone service at Virginia’s Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. Four days later, “land line” phones at the base still aren’t working, making communications difficult.
“It’s a real pain,” said a civilian employee at the base personnel office, speaking on the condition of anonymity. He said workers are using e-mail and cell phones as a work-around.
A senior official at the weapons station, who asked not to be identified, said the problem began when a squirrel came in contact with an electrical transformer. The rodent was electrocuted and the transformer exploded, knocking out power for a time, and seriously damaging a key component of the base phone system.
Since then, callers to the installation have heard nothing but busy signals, and weapons station personnel have been unable to reach anyone, on or off the base.
Technicians were still working on the problem Wednesday morning, but there was no indication as to when phone service might be restored. Mark Piggott, a public affairs officer at the base, said software for the phone network had to be re-loaded manually, a process that could take three to six days. That means phone service might not be restored until the weekend.
While the base is not completely without communications, the problem does affect some key nodes, including secure voice phones based on land-line networks.
Classified intranet communications systems, which handle data at the Secret and Top Secret/SCI levels, remained in operation, providing other options for sharing information.
Located along the southern bank of the York River, the sprawling weapons base covers roughly 20 square miles, covering portions of York and James City County. While the installation dates back to the Revolutionary War, the installation now serves as an ammunition loading and storage facility for the ships of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
Piggott said the phone outage did not affect a recent evaluation by the Navy Inspector General team, which visited the weapons station before the phone problem occurred.
The phone interruption affected the weapon station’s “main base” and the smaller Cheatham Annex facility, located near Williamsburg. The secretive Camp Peary complex, which lies adjacent to the weapons station, did not suffer a disruption of phone service. By various accounts, Camp Peary is operated by the CIA, and is reportedly used to train field agents, among other functions.
Comments
I don't believe for a second that a squirrel did this, this smells of bravo sierra!
It wasn't me!!!
this was no ordinary squir-it was a nano bot bio333rob.
I love it! Just when men and all of his military might think that they've gained dominion over the earth and her forces, NATURE let's you know who's REALLY running the show, BEYOTCHES!
And don't you EVER forget it. Or else.
Um it must have been trained by Bin Ladden
hey rocky watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat, hey rocky??? where'd ya go???, stop messing with those phone systems and get back here to our cartoon!bzzzzzzzz-rocky is a crispy critter(ghost of rocky returns) booooooooooh!, agaaaaaaaaain?
History shows again and again, how nature points out the folly of man...
GODZILLA!
Here are the results of the dumbing down of America, no one knows how to fix anything anymore.
I'd like to see Osama's traing camp for squirrels. These guys are good!
Beware of the squirrels.
Love, Mom xoxo
Puhleeze.. a CIA training base gets its phones cut by a squirrel? Are you kidding? You believe that crap? Tell me this isn't a lame cover story to explain phone outages at the weapons base. This stuff happens all the time. Something serious and then a dumb excuse. Same with the Nukes at Barksdale. BOLLOCKS!
Give that squirrel an award; he or she may have saved us from a nuclear war by shutting down our nuclear war fighting elites communications and weapons center.
This-was-all-George-Bush's-fault!!!
We need many more such cunning rodents, say, one each for every base we have.
Had the same thing happen to me and my hydro transformer, only diference was the killing of a turkey vulture and a black squirrel
Why doesn't this surprise me?
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