During the early 1990s, GEAE rotor manufacturing experienced a high frequency of pitting corrosion on as-manufactured surfaces of Alloy 7 18 components. Characterization of pits indicated aqueous chloride corrosion on a general front with delta platelets in relief. Attempts to reproduce this condition within the hard chrome electroplating shops were not successful. Pitting frequency was minimized with improved masking techniques but was not completely eliminated until the requirement for Cr-plating was deleted.Laboratory efforts to reproduce this condition yielded an electrolytic method to reliably generate pits with similar delta-rich features. Severity of pitting, frequency and size, varied with time in the electrolytic cell. Fatigue specimens of two severity levels were tested at 177OC showed a 3-5X debit on fatigue lives versus baseline Alloy 718 behavior. Although pitting severity was a statistically significant factor, the primary debit was the presence of a pit to initiate fatigue.