Navy Ship Aluminum-Steel Transition Joints - Galvanic Corrosion

Student-recovered piece from a Navy ship's head, where the steel-aluminum transition joint at the bulkhead had corroded clean through. Held by Harold Larson; polished sample shows the corrosion path. The breeze through the wall is what alerted the student.

I should have gotten it from Harold Larson, but he won't be in until tomorrow. One of the students here had recovered a piece from one of these ships where you have the corroded holes through the wall. He was in the head — the toilet on the ship — and he noticed a breeze coming through the wall. On the other side was steam from the engine room, and the breeze was coming through because it had completely corroded away. It was at a steel-aluminum transition joint where there's tremendous corrosion. He just picked this up out of the scrap yard and took it home. So Harold Larson probably still has it. I have a little piece that we polished and you can see the corrosion — it just corroded through the steel like mad.