Philadelphia Experiment -- USS Eldridge DE-173: The Ship at the Center
Philadelphia Experiment -- USS Eldridge DE-173: The Ship at the Center
Ship Specifications
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Designation | USS Eldridge (DE-173) |
| Type | Cannon-class destroyer escort |
| Displacement | 1,240 tons (standard); 1,520 tons (full load) |
| Length | 306 feet (93.3 m) |
| Beam | 36 feet 10 inches (11.2 m) |
| Draught | 13 feet 4 inches (4.1 m) |
| Propulsion | Diesel-electric; two shafts; 6,000 shaft horsepower |
| Speed | 21 knots maximum |
| Complement | 15 officers; 201 enlisted men |
| Armament | 3 x 3-inch guns; 1 x 1.1-inch quad gun; depth charge equipment; torpedo tubes |
| Laid down | February 22, 1943; Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey |
| Launched | July 25, 1943 |
| Commissioned | August 27, 1943; at the New York Navy Yard |
| Note | The ship was commissioned in New York -- NOT Philadelphia -- contrary to many popular accounts |
The Ship's Actual Wartime Service
The USS Eldridge's deck logs -- which are public record at the National Archives -- tell a story completely at odds with the Philadelphia Experiment narrative.
August 27, 1943: Ship commissioned at New York Navy Yard.
September 1943: Eldridge sailed to Bermuda for shakedown training exercises -- the normal procedure for newly commissioned vessels. The ship was conducting routine trials in the open Atlantic, not in Philadelphia.
October 2-8, 1943: Eldridge in the Chesapeake Bay area, Norfolk area. This is the closest the ship's actual log places it to the Philadelphia-Norfolk corridor during the October 1943 period.
October 28, 1943 (the alleged experiment date): Eldridge's log places the ship in the Bahamas -- specifically near Bermuda and the Bahamas on its shakedown tour. The ship was nowhere near Philadelphia.
November 1, 1943: According to official records, the Eldridge departed from New York Harbor escorting convoy UGS-23.
November 2, 1943: Eldridge arrived at the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia -- as part of routine convoy escort, not as a teleportation event.
December 31, 1943: Eldridge sailed between Norfolk and New York Harbor on escort duties through the end of the year.
1944-1945: The Eldridge served as a convoy escort in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters, performing its designed wartime role with no anomalous events documented.
Post-War History
After the war, the USS Eldridge was transferred to the Greek Navy in 1951, where it served as the HS Leon until 1992. A reunion of USS Eldridge crew members took place in 1999 and was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Every surviving crew member interviewed flatly denied any unusual experiment had occurred aboard the ship. Several expressed frustration that the ship's legitimate wartime service had been eclipsed by a story they considered fiction.
The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Confusion
The Eldridge was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn -- not at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. A key element of the story is false even at the level of the ship's basic biography. The confusion may stem from the fact that other vessels were being fitted and repaired at Philadelphia during the same period, and that degaussing equipment was being installed at the Philadelphia yard.
