The cache is not at the above coordinates.

The title says it all. Back in the day I was the Damage Control Assistant onboard a US Navy amphibious ship. You can kind of compare it to being the fire chief.

The 1MC was the public address circuit throughout the ship. When I heard the rapid ringing of the bell followed by the words in the title, I knew things were going to get exciting.

I placed this cache in remembrance of that great job, in honor of the damage controlmen and hull technicians who worked for me (and that lone machinery repairman), and those sailors still serving to keep our ships safe and afloat at sea.

Also, we need some more NAVY in this AIR FORCE and ARMY town!

One of the announcements after "Flooding flooding flooding" was the location of the incident, given by the ship's compartment number. This compartment number gave us all the information we needed to find the location of the incident and determine what hazards we may encounter when the team arrived on scene.

The twist in this puzzle is that I’m going to give you all that information – but you have to figure out the correct compartment number. Don’t worry, it’s multiple choice. Here are your choices:

Think of each compartment number in the form A-B-C-D. For example, in compartment

03-31-3-L:

A=03

B=31

C=3

D=L

Follow the below instructions in order, eliminating the compartments that do not fit the description given before moving on to the next instruction. This will eliminate ALL the incorrect answers. This is the Navy, so nautical terms are used liberally.

It is the lowest deck on the ship.

It is the compartment furthest aft on this deck.

It is the port side compartment that is closest to the centerline.

It is used for hazardous chemical storage.

Again, there is only one right answer to the above descriptions.

While a wrong answer *MAY* get you the correct coordinates (making you lucky, rather than good), the right answer *WILL* give you the correct coordinates.

Once you have the only remaining compartment, run it through the following simple math conversions to obtain the coordinates.

North Coordinate: N 38 55.X

Again, think of the compartment format as A-B-C-D

Look for A in the table below.

Take the number next to it, and add it to B.

If the resulting number is greater than 999, ignore the left-most digit.

This is X.

For example, if A=03 and B=31, then you add 249+31=280, and your coordinates are N 38 55.280

West Coordinate: W 104 45.Y

Look for D in the table below.

Take the number next to it, and add it to C.

If the resulting number is greater than 999, ignore the left-most digit.

This is Y.

For example, if D=L and C=3, then you add 878+3=881, and your coordinates are W 104 45.881.

Easy if you've ever been stationed on a Navy ship.

Moderate if you can find a Navy friend or a good reference book.

Difficult otherwise - there are 100 compartments listed here, which is still only a portion of what is normally on a Navy ship. "Guess and check" will take you awhile.

Only use U.S. NAVY compartment numbering standards. If you find another system and use it instead, I cannot guarantee that you will arrive at the correct answer. BYOP.

Congratulations to OF-Erad and DustyKat for being FTF on a snowy, cold Saturday morning. They picked up a small Ecuadorian coin as their prize. I was mistaken - Manta, Ecuador, rather than being one of my favorite ports to visit, was definitely one of the more memorable.