Why Gould Island is Totally Forbidden

Submit your episode idea here. 👉 / ryansocash
Support the Channel by becoming a member 👉 / @itshistory
Chapters:
00:00 - What is Gould Island?
01:10 - The Prehistory of Gould Island
02:40 - How Gould Island became a part of Rhode Island
06:13 - How Gould Island became a U.S. Naval base
08:24 - Gould Island during WW1
09:17 - How a Hurricane destroyed Gould Island
10:14 - Gould Island during WW2
11:49 - The Downfall of Gould Island
13:45 - Why Gould Island’s military buildings were demolished
15:29 - The Restoration of Gould Island
IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
» CONTACT
For brands, agencies, and sponsorships: [e-mail]
Facebook: / itshistoryonair
ON-AIR: / @itshistoryon-air
TikTok: / itshistoryonair
Insta: / ryansocash
» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Neve Brown
Editor - Karolina Szwata,
Host - Ryan Socash
» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@miken4jojl84]

I know that Island very well for I was stationed there from late 68 to late 71 at the Naval Degaussing station in the two story white frame house that was on the West side facing Jamestown. I have walked all over that Island and use to plow the snow when we had it so security could drive around the island. It is a neat place and good memories of the folks that worked there such as the power plant and others.

[@punkinholler]

Why did your navals need to be degaussed? (This question is part joke, part serious, btw. Fr, why do you have to degauss boats?)

[@miken4jojl84]

@@punkinholler It is a term in the Navy but what we did was look at the ships signature with coil that were under water. A ship is metal and it has been welded on and so on and it makes its own magnetic field and we measured that field so as not to set off magnetic mines. The ship has also coils around it to counter act the magnetic field and with the info we could reduce the field of the ship.

[@boblister665]

In 1972 when in the Coast Guard our 210' ship went to Gould island to offload all munitions prior to going into dry dock for repairs. So they must have stored munitions for a while also

[@uTube486]

My friends and I used to visit the south side of Gould Island in the mid 1980's. We ALWAYS brought umbrellas to stop seagull "rain".

[@riverbluevert7814]

This was very good. My Father was an engineer developing Mark 48 torpedo launch systems. He fired many torpedoes from Gould island in the 1960s and 1970s,

[@alan6832]

Was Gould Island involved in the infamously defective Mark 14 torpedo of 1942? or the eventual correction of it's many defects during 1943?

[@riverbluevert7814]

@@alan6832 Gould Island was a facility to launch and test torpedoes. It was not a design facility. It's my understanding the non-contact fuse and depth control were the worst torpedo design defects during WW2.

[@alan6832]

@@riverbluevert7814 The replacement contact fuse then had problems as well until, according to Drachinifel, multiple problems with it were finally ironed out around Sept. of '43, at first by informing captains that they worked better at oblique angles rather than right angles, which crushed the fuses before they had time to work.

[@gino9895]

This channel is criminally underrated. Great video as always.

[@ANON-yj9lm]

This comment made me subscribe. Ive seen a few vids and for some reason I’ve never subscribed.

[@cyberfertz]

Agreed

[@nathanworthington4451]

Exaggerate much?

[@UncaDave]

“Criminally”?????? So you are subject to a jail term and hard time if you under rate this channel? Come on, use a better choice of words. I think the channel is one of the best but I wouldn’t think you should go to jail if you don’t like it. Your exaggeration makes a point but is definitely overboard.

[@maddscientist3170]

It is still an active Navy facility on the northern acreage as of 2022

[@jwpeters2092]

Lived on Carr Lane (Jamestown) in the 50's, sailed around Gould Island in my Beetle Class sail boat, My dad worked at the Torpedo factory until he was drafted (drove landing craft WW II in the Pacific after ear problems took him out of submarine school). JP3

[@stephenhoward6829]

You mentioned "The Washington torpedo station" now known as NUWES Keyport. You might find it interesting to research and present a video on. I retired from there, and it is an interesting place indeed.

[@vandie9759]

1986- 94 6th Motors ,,,Marine Reserves we would storm the beach over and over every year as amphibious training

[@ralphjesseman6562]

Excellent documentary. I never knew of this island, and it’s history is amazingly rich. We need documentaries like this.

[@knowledge4741]

I literally just did research on this place. I research and report on abandoned locations around the world and fine the hidden history behind them, I've already mapped out near 20,000 places all across the world from every type of place you could think of. Just interesting I found out about this place last week, not known by many, and now you upload a video. There are a few islands in the area that also have some interesting history and were left behind as well.

[@kweenk5072]

Oh wow, 20,000!! I'd love to see some of the research you did on these places. Or you should start your own channel (if you haven't already) I love hearing about stuff like that.

[@knowledge4741]

@@kweenk5072 Yeah, I started mapping and archiving my places I think 2014ish. I try to keep up with the interesting and bigger areas because stuff is getting demolished faster than ever. We have already lost so much very important locations for no reasons at all. I am in the process of working on a channel, I believe people should know about some of these spots that never get seen, then demolished due to greed. I am also a photographer so I've been photographing places for awhile, some completely demolished off the map.

[@knowledge4741]

@@kweenk5072 Interesting thing though, Japan has the 2nd highest number of abandoned buildings in the world due to their laws. You'll find tons of hotels, resorts, and much more massive buildings all across the landscape. America is first of course, but they also include just vacant houses on their list so I don't count those.

[@kweenk5072]

@@knowledge4741 Yes its crazy how much history has been demolished and we will never know or see some of the things that might be answers to other discoveries they done have answers to but it would be neat to see what you have found and documented on. I want to subscribe to your channel when you get it going. It's sad tho we will never know of the things we have destroyed and what information it held.

[@boo_boo2871]

My Grandparents worked at the torpedo station in the 1940s. My Dad watched a torpedo come up on the beach as a kids living on the North end Conanicus Island.

[@dannycalley7777]

BB ................the ultimate predator fish ????

[@jetsons101]

Very enjoyable watch after a long day at work...... "So much history, So little time........

[@garygreen7552]

It should be noted that the Colony of Rhode Island was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams. He left the Plymouth Colony because he did not agree with Plymouth's practice of religion. He established the principle of religious freedom and the separation of church and state - the first of the English colonies that would one day become the United States to do so. This tiny state is a very important part of our history.

[@daffyduck9901]

It also has the longest formal name of any state in the Union. Full name is " The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

[@daffyduck9901]

Narragansett Bay is also the Quahog capital of the world 😋

[@NickGonsalves]

@@daffyduck9901 Up until 2020, the name is now just Rhode Island.

[@JamesSavik]

There is a reason they needed to test so many torpedoes. US torpedoes were terrible, with only one in six operating correctly. Both sub, air, and ship-launched torpedoes were unreliable, and it wasn't until 1943 that they started getting a handle on things.

[@kermitwilson]

There were a lot of Navy procurement people that should have gone to prison over that mess. One of my grandfathers told me the submariners modified their own torpedoes to make the fuses work properly.

[@erroneous6947]

Sounds even worse than the TOW missile in gwot. By several accounts those were 50/50.

[@andrewedwards9936]

You should look into Egmont Key off the cost of Tampa Bay. Its history goes back to at least the Civil War.

[@jonahgadoury6421]

Born and raised in Jamestown, Conanicut Island. I appreciate this!

[@elizabradley4797]

May I ask you a question ~ There is another Gould Island with homes Jamestown Rhode Island ~ Do not understand ~ Also do you know about the R.J. Reynolds loss of their youngest son whom died in 1932, married to actress ? Mystery of who done it to this day.

[@jmad627]

Passed thru Conancicut Island many times taking the ferry to Newport in the late 60's.

[@jonahgadoury6421]

@elizabradley4797 They consider Gould Island as part of Jamestown, or Conanicut Island because it's proximity is closer to Conanicut Island Vs. Aquidneck Island, knows as Newport that includes Middletown, and Portsmouth. As for James Reynold, just look it up!

[@charlesrowan4632]

Great video keep up the good work👍

[@gregGould]

My last name is Gould. I didn't know that I had an island, LOL.

[@Wardads1]

The MK 13 was an unreliable aerial torpedo at best but the MK 14 was an utter disaster costing many submariners their lives and allowing countless Japanese ships to survive attacks.All because one navy bureaucrat kept his rubbish design in service to save face and a few bucks for a penny pinching ordinance bureau .

[@Idahoguy10157]

The problems originated due to Congressional and Navy pre-war penny pinching in not paying for the testing and trials that were absolutely needed before torpedoes went to the fleet. You know the rest of the story

[@dannycalley7777]

WD ..............my Mom worked on the aerial torpedo during WW2 and I got the pin they handed out for ship sunken , a good keepsake

[@JoeBLOWFHB]

The reason for the "penny pinching" was this thing called the Great Depression. The Mk 14 was developed at the beginning of the depression. The depression affected every facet of life including peace time government spending. The Mk 13 was developed in the middle of the roaring 1920's when testing costs was no object.

[@allangibson8494]

The Mk 13, 14 & 15 used a common design with different sizes of propellant tanks. They shared all the exact same faults that weren’t fixed until 1943 which meant that less than 10% were physically capable of functioning because it took four separate failures to function as designed to function as intended…

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@allangibson8494 …. It took interventions by Admirals King & Nimitz to force BuOrd to admit and start fixing the torpedo issues. Nimitz authorized local testing of torpedoes. Literally firing torpedoes against a cliff case in Hawaii! Then opening mk14 torpedoes which didn’t detonate to find out why. As well as showing BuOrd the mk14 depth setting was unreliable.

[@1320crusier]

Interesting how these sorts of islands are so often 'bird sanctuaries.' Seems more like theyre just reserved for the mil in case they want them again.

[@mileshigh1321]

I hope they make it so you can visit and ride on bike trails and maybe have some built in BBQ pits etc. Have a few limited facilities like washrooms and maybe a place to get food. Could be really nice to visit! Thanks Ryan, great history!

[@daffyduck9901]

None of that will ever happen, why bother you have all of Newport to do all that.

[@MrLazymagnet]

9:51 beaver tail -- great video!

[@davidfoster8172]

fantastic review

[@georgeclark7208]

Until recently I had no idea how complicated WWII torpedoes were, from the gyros and other do-dads in the torpedo to the analog computer that calculated firing solutions. It might make for a good episode.

[@daleolson3506]

And how terrible they were

[@jamiejones6994]

@daleolson3506 Well at the end of the day here we are....

[@davidmurphy8190]

Drachinifel has a good channel and discusses torpedo development prior to WW2.

[@jontooke846]

Thanks so much for your posts

[@garyschlagheck603]

Awesome channel. Thank you.😊

[@edgarsnake2857]

Excellent video. I never heard of this. Great researching job.

[@trwsandford]

so, a couple of things you passed or glossed over a bit, but I'm interested in. 1) did the previous private owners get paid when their representative government demanded the property in the interest of national defense? Do we know how much? 2) once it was no longer in the interest of national defense, why was it not put up for sale?

[@seanmcmahon8939]

The Island was taken from the Houghton family in 1919 with a compensation of $80,000.

[@trwsandford]

@@seanmcmahon8939 thanks, that was a lot of money at the time. I might have sold it for that.

[@dougbourdo2589]

There is a Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria very near the Potomac River where early torpedos were developed and tested as well. Lots 7 lots of very interesting history in that area.

[@johnmccrea8106]

Great video👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@jaysonschor]

Great video. Would you consider doing a docu on Farragut NTC and the "secret" Bayview idaho Naval research facility.

[@toddpoulos9303]

The RI DEM has published aerial maps going back to 1939 on their GIS portal. You can see the island change over time.

[@shawnchorpening2075]

Love this podcast.

[@jpreale]

9:26 😂 I had a similar size bill from backing into a pylon at the Food Lion.

[@rogerpenske2411]

D’oh

[@MatthewMello]

I used to work security for the NUWC and occasionally got asked to overnight on the island to keep an eye on the test torpedo. First time I ever saw an incinerator toilet.

[@robertdabbs2606]

Ryan, I cannot think of anyone on KZbin better at research than you. Thanks for all the hard work.

[@dezertraider]

I BEEN ON HOPE AND SEEN THE BUNKERS..GREAT JOB ON YOUR VIDEO

[@Nonogobberboy13]

I wish you’d did history unboxing videos !

[@guillermo3564]

Wow. That turned into an I don't care really fast.

[@scafilms1756]

History from my state that was amazing

[@Wanamaker1946]

It would nice to see everything removed, and removed….not just swept into the sea. That pier is hideous……even remove the roads. Restore the island to be recognizable to the Narragansett tribe. This would be ultimate honor to the Nation.

[@dannoneyabiz1277]

I grew up in RI and snuck onto the island when I was in HS. Took a skiff from Jamestown. Kind of spooky at night

[@darthguilder1923]

It’s probably forbidden because the Stargate program keeps their alien parasite prisoners there

[@phil20_20]

Maybe Baal's friend is there and he didn't kill him afterall. Poor guy. 😅

[@rogerpenske2411]

Egyptian Dewey

[@wacho4xj]

I came to the comments looking for a Stargate reference, thank you for not disappointing me.

[@lonnybush5612]

😂

[@therealbadbob2201]

Its where they develop the viruses that are triggered by the national alert system...

[@warrenjones744]

I just went by there in a boat a few days ago.

[@christophermcguire27]

Changing hands, reminds me of Berwick on Tweed

[@viniguez487]

JAFFA KREE!!!!

[@Fossillarson]

I would hate to dredge the waters around old wepons test island. Im sure all kinds trash in the water 😮

[@DonMason-cv6og]

Dove that place on occasion. Yes. There was a lot of discarded stuff. Souvenirs

[@LargeBasstafarian]

"During the Revolutionary War, ownership became entangled in political conflict, and it was THIS era, where it became the property of Rhode Island for the first time... THEN the saga really began on Aug 12th, 1700"... wait what? Did someone have a freakin TIME machine?? My brain can't allow myself to continue watching this.

[@JustCameronAndHisJeep]

Yep.

[@indianaslim4971]

If you watch this channel for any length of time you would know that there's going to be a mistake or two, it's deliberate and is done to guarantee comments that feed the algorithm monster.

[@jakeoreilly9627]

How do you find all the strange places

[@peaceseeker52]

Interesting. My early American Baptist Ancestors colony moved to RI 1634 from MA orig from Wales. I assume were in the NA attacks. That was sad to hear. My family moved slowly West after that but my gggrandfather's 3rd Wife was a child of Novelist Caleb Carr but I don't know if that is the same Carr Family in RI. Her in-laws a Scott family CT>NY.

[@robertboykin1828]

I hope they are making them better, than the WW 2 's. We lost a lot of ships and our lives because of the lousy job the makers were doing.

[@christopherallen5025]

It’s BeaverTail…. Not trail. It’s the shape of the peninsula. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@DanielAlley]

Ground zero for the greatest naval infamy of WWII: the early American torpedoes.

[@peterp1158]

5:35 Note that the house has only 2 electric service wires - no 208v line.

[@DonMason-cv6og]

The island had its own power plant. Pair of humongous diesels

[@johnholmes7342]

If you can't defend it, it's not yours.

[@warbird1e1]

Dutch island next

[@rogerpenske2411]

I thought that the Title said Goose Island!

[@billdoherty5332]

Great job

[@olivergould3878]

I wanna try my luck lol

[@richardbeckenbaugh1805]

The torpedoes didn’t just affect submarines. The torpedoes also affected PT boats. The Guadalcanal campaign would have gone much differently if the torpedoes had functioned properly. JFK might not have had his boat sunk.

[@Damons-Old-Soul]

At what point did the torpedoes of the island go from what we would call sea mines to the torpedoes of the U-Boats of the 20th and 21st centuries?

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Basically with the invention of the Whitehead torpedo.

[@normanmcneal3605]

They “ sold” the land. Received what they asked. What’s with history revision. Both sides got what they agreed what was fair, at the time?

[@perfectallycromulent]

when only one side owns guns, and brings them to the talks, negotiations are never fair.

[@normanmcneal3605]

@@perfectallycromulent you saying the other side had no means to fight? Seriously?

[@perfectallycromulent]

@@normanmcneal3605 dude, read a history book. they are full of massacres. a few men with guns can kill dozens of people without guns, especially women and children.

[@WasaMada]

Hi

[@elizabradley4797]

There is another Gould Island Jamestown Rhode Island with homes ~ don't understand

[@riverbluevert7814]

The town of Jamestown is on Conanicut Island. It's much larger than Gould Island.

[@Seawizz203]

There are actually two Gould Islands in Narragansett Bay, RI. Neither have homes on them. The larger one, the subject of this video, is located in the Bay between Jamestown and Newport. The other is much smaller. It is located in the Sakonnet River (part of Narragansett Bay) between Portsmouth, RI and Tiverton, RI. It may be one square mile, and that is being generous. It’s mostly rock thickly overgrown with brush. I know these things because I live here and have boated on the Bay my whole life. It’s a beautiful place many people outside the area do not know about. It’s Rhode Island’s largest natural resource.

[@DonMason-cv6og]

​@@Seawizz203have never been there but heard it is full of snakes

[@johnblais2065]

Yeah use fish around there

[@phil20_20]

Cool story, Bro. Are they going to tear down the buildings or leave them and put safety rails everywhere? I bet it would make an excellent animal sanctuary, and there are far too few of them. Good people could still visit the island if they promise to stay on the pathways and not to litter, like good folk used to do.

[@BluetheRaccoon]

By "sold the land" I imagine you mean "were robbed of".

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

The term you're looking for is, eminent domain.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

Very long and tortured history here. Why was the Indian tribe not recognized till recently?

[@SeanRCope]

Unless you’re in the navy or get a permit to study birds…… little misleading, no?

[@jovanweismiller7114]

The last time I checked, the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor took place in 1941 not 1942 as you stated.

[@shaunp9592]

He said something happened 2 months AFTER the attack which would make that in February 1942. NOT that the attack was in 1942. Pay attention.

[@greggmundkowsky5798]

Yes he did say 2 months after the attack on December 7th, 1942

[@Harley.Davidson]

Now I can research Gould Island on the internet. Didn't need a history lesson. 😂

[@billhuffman4327]

Cloning in the basement?

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Looks like you'll fall for anything.

[@41jreyes1]

gringo bs

[@joedirt3449]

Mijo?!

[@41jreyes1]

@@joedirt3449 mija hahaha saladitas hahahaha google it if you can't understand

[@stevenpoff6273]

Well if it's OFF LIMITS then that means that they are doing EVIL THINGS that they don't want us to know about.

[@DonMason-cv6og]

Military weapons facility. With 24. 7. Security. Don't go there

[@Simp_Zone]

Yards and acres??? What century do you think we are in? lol I'm out.

[@raymxslappedyall1891]

Violent cuz of that stupid book he's trying to force on them...

[@bearclaw4174]

Well theres ailens there so

[@skunkbrave777]

Now no build left in Gould Island

[@leechjim8023]

Politics, bullshit!!??🤔🤔Whaas da diffrenc!!?? Ain't no difffrence!🥱☹️

[@felsinferguson1125]

I beg to differ - Bullshit (the real kind, not the metaphorical stuff) is at least useful as fertilizer. Politics, on the other hand...

[@kevinCarnahan-of8uk]

Disgusting expropriation.