Correction at 1:49; mid-rats are not midnight rations, they are midwatch rations. Specifically cold ravioli and crackers (on the USS Reeves, CG-24, every 12 hour night shift, 7 days a week, 1982-1984). Fun fact: the only time I regularly went to bed hungry was my three years onboard the USS Carl Vinson, 1984-1987, where the 12 hour night shift (8 hours longer than the 4 hour mid watch), was relieved at 05:45, and the chow line opened at 06:30. It was not worth staying awake for 45 minutes to get breakfast so I just passed out hungry. I would do it all again, MCI
Ryan is the perfect curator for the battle ship 🚢 always looks like he’s just come off 2 days shore leave and escorted back to the ship in between two SP guys 😂
I find Ryan’s _dishabelle_ presentation charming. If he was all starched collars and polish I don’t think I would’ve watched many videos and I certainly wouldn’t have subscribed 😆
@@Pt0wN973b0iI Although Curator is a pretty high position, there is likely still a board of directors or other form of upper bureaucracy he has to listen to.
The Ships SIgnals Exploitation Space (SSES) was located next to CEC and was Adm Halsey's stateroom during the 80's. There was still a functioning Flag Kitchen which would have been used while onboard that we'd pass on the way to watch in SSES. Night bakers were great. Remember the smell of fresh bread baking at night! They'd often put out some doughnuts after midrats for the crew to grab while on watch. Great history with the Battleships, and they rode much better in weather than modern warships!
I worked midrats as a E-3, on a shore station. I got in good with the cooks because I worked and didnt bitch about it. The cooks fed me well. Its good to have friends.
Had the same experience working TDY as an E-4 attached to the Treasure Island Enlisted Dining Facility. The cooks love it when you don't piss and moan and just do your job!
Officers do receive Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) pay but it's less than that for enlisted men. An officer might have to kick in a small additional amount per meal to cover the cost while enlisted personnel ate 'free' since their meals were discounted to match their BAS allowance. Officers 'pool' their mess allowance and give it to the culinary specialists who meal plan and then go out and buy their groceries directly. Enlisted men eat what the government acquires from various contractors.
@@nanky432 Yeah... I would not eat meals from the lowest bidder.... just look at what they force people in jail and prison to eat. It's cruel. I mean murderers and rapists yeah, let them eat from the bottom of a waste bin, but for the countless people in prison for non violent pot related offenses, being served that food is cruel. Hell 4 out of 5 prisons in Texas don't even have air conditioning!!!
Serving aboard NEW JERSEY from Jan84-Decommissioning, I served a couple of different times in the officers' mess, as a junior MS and then , eventually, as a leading MS. All equipment was fully functional from the galley below to the prep and serving area above.
The "Smarter Every Day" RU-vid channel has an episode about the galley aboard the USS TOLEDO, an USN fast attack sub. The cold storage on the subs looked to be the size of NEW JERSEY's Captain's pantry! It's pretty amazing to watch.
Worked in a few restaurants as a line cook, would be interested in touring the galley and seeing the equipment used, always wondered what it would be like to cry in the walk in at sea lol
Walk in(s), on a BB there were multiple cold stores each holding tons of provisions. You would recognize a lot of the industrial restaurant equipment. Stainless for as far as you can see...
As an ex-Navy (nuke MM), I can honestly say that the mess attendants are awesome. They really do have the best food available in the military. They would make food however you wanted it. Steaks, shrimp, and occasionally lobster tails were served. All the deserts you could eat. It can be depressing when you are underway, and having good meals was one of the best things to look foward too. There is nothing like coming off of an ORSE watch to a massive feast in the galley.
As I recall in the early 70's my BAS was around $48 and my bill, was between $55 to $65 each month. Every officer paid the same regardless of how many meals he ate. Mid-rats, we kept a log, and it was $0.25 for the best fried eggs, ham, with lettuce, tomato and onion sandwich I have ever had. That sandwich was about 3 or 4 inches thick.
What can you tell us about the ice cream machines? The book "USS Iowa at War" says that an Iowa battleship in WWII could produce 9,600 gallons of ice cream a month. Close to 1/2 a liter or almost a pint per sailor a day given a crew of 2,700. Are they the same ones from WWII, or did they get replaced over the decades?
Your comment about officers paying for meals got me to pull out my 1965 NAVPERS 10120-E and 10054-B, I wish I could digitize these they're excellent reads
Thank you for sharing. I was never in the Navy. But I find battleships fascinating. I've been fortunate enough to tour the Carrier Midway here in my home town. Someday a battleship.
I was an army officer and got to do some training underway with our Navy brothers and sisters. The customs and etiquette of the wardroom was one of the most interesting differences between services.
I could never get used to it. Dealing with the "Navy way" was a constant "are you kidding me?", but I guess 200 years(or 1000 if you count the USN's RN roots) of petty politics and not much to do for weeks on end at sea has an effect.
Thanks Ryan for another great vid. While serving in the Army in Nam my sergeant some how managed to get us into a Navy mess for lunch. We had good food but that Navy suppled lunch was probably best meal I had while in country. During WW 2 can not imagine how they managed to feed over 9,000 meals a day for the ship. I know they had supply ships but you probably would need a large one just to keep the New Jersey supplied.
It was all just a matter of scale once the vendor and supply lines were established. It wasn't quite as good as in WWII, but it was still better than the RN and always better than the Army's.
I was a crew member on New Jersey in the eighties, and during my 3 month stint working in the galley, I was assigned to "breakouts" meaning, I, and a couple other crewmen had the task of breaking out the food for the meals in the main crew galley. The dry storage , and reefer compartments are quite large, and if I remember correctly, are located on the 3rd deck below the galley spaces, which are on the second deck. It's been awhile, so I am relating this from memory. But yeah, quite the job of breaking out the daily supplies to prepare all the meals for a 24 hour period.
I served from88 til decom. I toured my girl on 14 oct2021. I've seen Ryan's show and I would like for him to pick my brain clean. I was one of the lead firefighters and worked and trained a lot of crew in damage control. I was in charge of all repair lockers and fixed fire station and installed fire suppression system and own the office off Broadway that he talked about on one of his shows.I have answers and corrections to some of his shows.I was DC1(SW) Thompson. Angelo knows me. Did my story on DVD.
I would speculate that there is a traditional practical reason to separate the kitchens and eating facilities by rank. There is, of course, the arrogance factor of RANK HAS ITS PRIVILEGES. The other reason is to prevent lower ranking members, who felt abused, from contaminating, poisoning, or spitting on the officers food. Having a separate kitchen and cook for the captain would add a maximum element of food safety for the person in charge of the entire ship. david
Katarn: There is no particular custom. Purely at the captain's wishes. Keep in mind the captain pays for the meals served in his cabin. Meal times are a welcome break from watch standing and other duties, so it is a rare time for the captain and officers to relax.
So there was an additional but now removed galley for flag staff? Details? Also can you find some examples of meals for each grade of ranks? Also some detailed information on galley equipment. I have a nice steam kettle here at shop came off a destroyer. Which one who knows. A prison got it and now me lol. Makes me wonder how much steam was needed to even run the galley as is.
I'm not sure what else to tell you about the missing galley, the dumb waiter from the Officer's galley fed it? Generally, people ate the same food across officers/enlisted but if the officers were eating steak they could choose of theres was going to be medium rare and the enlisted guys got whatever they got. Check our Instagram @battleshipnj for the Thanksgiving menu for a year.
Did the Captain eat in the in-port cabin while underway? From other videos about the the Captain's at-sea cabin it made it sound like he stayed pretty close to the bridge.
As it applies directly to the New Jersey (And other capital ships), yes, the captain would eat in his in-port cabin even underway. It was private and comfortable, but also isolating as it was intended to be. The captain did not/should not form personal relationships with his officers other than that of a professional one, not to say that everything was formal all the time. Conversely, on smaller ships like CG or DD, space prevented such a practice and the captain did eat in the wardroom with the other officers. But again, because there was only one long table and more officers than chairs, there was a 1st and 2nd setting in the wardroom, so depending on your rank or watch status, you may not be eating with the captain.
How much variety was there in food between the different ranks? Was each galley eating food that was incrementally better? Or was everyone eating the same food in different locations?
You people don't listen he said several. Times he said the navy contact tells them they can't use the old ovens grill or burners etc in kitchen alone with steam plants and engines . Basically any large systems on ship
I was on the aircraft carrier uss George Washington CVN-73 and we had ward rooms and chiefs mess but E-6 and below ate together.When did the change occur?
Generally E-6’s would get the same chow from the same mess line as E-1 to E-5 would, but they did have their own private dining room from everyone else. Nothing terribly fancy, same seats and tables as everyone else, but they did have cushioned benches as well and a tv for themselves
I imagine they had different sets of china for the various ranks. Were there specific sets just for the New Jersey? with the ship's name or image on them? or were they just USN marked?
There are sets of China for the officers and more plain ones for the enlisted sailors. We have some in our collection. Here's a photo of one: photos.app.goo.gl/hqLLUg4buCH4aTW79
Submarines we’re not anything formal like this we had a wardroom where I are and a crews mess. Between meals if you wanted a snack the crews mess was an “open” galley make what you want clean up afterwards, it was for both officers and enlisted the officers would take their snack back to the wardroom usually many times just eat it in the crews mess. Once a week the CO would invite one of the crew to eat with the officers in the wardroom but only if you did something that merits they treatment kind of it’s not worth a medal or commendation but maybe a steak. Submarine food was very good they got about 3 times the money than skimmers to spend on better chow, steak and lobster, pork loin, BBQ ribs pizza nite the officers would serve the crew. Good times late 1970’s-2000
I feel like as a captain, I’d view it as great for morale to eat with the men from time to time and get to know them a little. But not too much because you probably need to keep a certain distance/decorum, but I still think I’d error on the side of more interaction.
The ships silver is in the captains cabin. Check this out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RVvhLQr_dNI.html The China isn't more than white with a navy anchor on it, its very simple. We don't really do crystal. Too fragile.
Here it is: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-07ckYRPs-mw.html And the officers heads aren't that different. Tbe captain and XO get private heads, everyone else shares.
I will I would like to see if any of these ships silver and things like that are still available. I live near the battleship Texas and I remember years ago you had a great collection of formal silver. I don’t know where it is now I have not seen it on display in the ship in recent years. But you might tell us about each battleship and the New Jersey and that sort of thing because they did host formal dinners for dignitaries And you never know even the president might show up sometime when you want to have your best
The issue isn't so much the microphones as the fact that a ship is acoustically terrible. It sounds like he's recording in a bathroom because every surface is a hard one, and they are mostly at 90 degrees to each other.
say Ryan, have you considered firing up the old galleys and reefer plants (probably WAY more to it, i know) and holding a buffet at x$ a plate? nothing fancy just thanksgiving stuff. if you could find a few ships cooks you might be able to make it work. just no chipped beef on toast, kay?
Bag that usually had a sandwich, boiled egg, fruit and drink The guy with the worst gas got the eggs The sandwich was mostly salami with those very hard peppercorns Fruit was often an Apple rarely fresh Drink was fruit juice There was a lot of trading. We had runners that went to the galley and picked them up
This seems very inefficient way to officers to eat. Served a plate and waited on. All I wanted to do when I was an Army officer was get something in my system and get on with the day's business.
I get that it's a tradition thing but it was something that always made me shrug. I was Army enlisted for 8 years and in that time no matter if I was CONUS, OCONUS, or deployed to Iraq, officers and senior NCO's ate the same chow in the same space as E-7 and below. I never saw that as an issue. Chow was one of the great equalizers, nobody bothered anyone, just a bunch of soldiers shoveling some food into their face so they could move on to the next task for the day.
On my brother's second deployment the officers' galley wasn't up to the CO's standards... so every time they had a meal he found lackluster all of the officers would be made to sit by while he ridiculed the supply officer and told them how much of a failure they were... suffice it to say this CO was not very well liked.
@@stylinstylist2005 This was the only sailing command the guy had held as well, he was a desk jockey hoping to make flag rank and needed time at sea to get there... or at least that was the scuttlebutt.
I understand the hierarchy of the navy but I've always been curious why chiefs birthed in one area and enlisted in another etc etc. What would happen to the combat readiness of the ship if let's say the chiefs birthing area was hit during the night when perhaps most of the chiefs may be birthing?
@@pablononescobar No, enlisted don't pay as long as you're "ship's company", assigned to the ship. On temp duty sometimes, I had to pay but then was reimbursed. Breakfast was a nickel, lunch fifteen cents, dinner 25 cents in summer of '78. At most activities on temp duty, food was free. Provisioning officers are given a set budget and are required to stay on their budgets. So the ship "buys" the food from the Navy supply service, indents the mess budget, feeds the sailors. Many times Coast Guard vessels buy directly from local merchants because there's no large support activity near them. Same with tools, ammo, toilet paper, repair parts. You need to fix a toilet? Assess the job (using the manual), list needed supplies on a requisition form, take that to ship's stores (supply office), check out your tools, do repair, turn in tools and many times return the old parts to stores. At this point the finance people start their hamster work, charging engineering budget for your time, cost of new parts, tool wear and tear, minus salvage value of old busted parts. What happens if there isn't money for the repair? It doesn't get fixed! An equipment offline report is completed and the fitting flagged. The ship will still put to sea and attempt to complete its mission. You'll just be pooping in a trash bag in a trash can (really happened to a ship i was on).
Interesting - not being a veteran of the U.S. Navy (retired Air Force), is it an old sea tradition that in order for the captain of the vessel to be allowed to dine in the officer's wardroom, he first must be invited by the ship's officers? Sounds a little strange, meaning you think a commander of the vessel could eat where they darn well pleased. Can someone help me out with this one? On Air Force bases - at least when I was active duty - "mid rats" was called midnight chow, and it usually consisted of leftovers from the previously day's menu, along with a limited number of breakfast items. Cream beef on toast + eggs was fantastic when when one came off a several hours on a very cold flightline!
Aside from tradition, I think there's also an element of social practicality/insulation. It keeps the Captain detached and not overly familiar with their men, and it also allows the other officers to have their own social interactions free of the Captain's direct oversight (blowing off steam about an unwelcome or nonsensical order, Captain doesn't gel well with the other officers, etc.). I seem to also get the sense (mainly from fictional sources) that aside from the more formal meal events, the wardroom can have a more relaxed atmosphere, and you might find officers addressing each other by first name and not letting the chain of command bear down so heavily all the time. But you could never have that kind of familiarity with the Captain. Plus, with the XO being president of the wardroom, it may also help reinforce the XO's role in managing the more junior officers and allowing the Captain to focus more on high-level considerations as opposed to fine-grained staff management.
What is the significance of the "Z" plaque on inside of the dumbwaiter access door? I'm just a poor, dumb Army guy...Navy logistics is a complete mystery to me.
It refers to the watertight status of that particular hatch during any particular‘Material Condition’. In this case that hatch should be closed and secured when Material Condition ‘Z’ebra was set, the highest condition of water tightness, usually during General Quarters. The next condition down, and most frequently set, especially underway is ‘Y’oke and the lowest being ‘X’ray, typically while inport when construction or upgrades are being made. So for example, when at GQ, they would set Material Condition Zebra and all hatch’s, portholes etc. marked X, Y and Z would be secured. Yoke would only be those labeled Y and X and so forth. There are other markings for specific hatch’s and openings such as ‘D’ and ‘W’ with a circle around it (Read ‘Circle William’), I believe Ryan has posted a video specific to this question.
Absolutely! You'll also find an ice cream machine on many submarines too! It's good for morale. Here's a video we did on the geedunk, one of two places you can get ice cream from on board NJ
Dad was on CV12 Hornet in WW II. He tells about "having" to trade ice cream to destroyers in exchange for their mail. It was always well communicated how the negotiations were progressing and how hard a bargain the captain of the destroyer or other ship was driving, and how many gallons of ice cream they had to hand over to get the mail. Of course it was all in good fun and the exchange would have happened either way. The ice cream was a real treat for the smaller ships that didn't have the ability to make their own during that era.
Our Dad was on the New Jersey 3 years during WW2, said ice cream was a nice treat, also during a storm ate bread and water, and did trade ice cream to smaller ships along with refueling them
The BNJ First Class Mess is pretty much just a separate seating area, adjacent to the deckspace of the enlisted mess, but partitioned off into a separate room. The only fixtures are a mid-range coffeemaker (3-pot), a sink, and two smaller refrigerators. About 1/4 of the floorspace is set up as a "lounge" with a few easy chairs and a TV.
@@BattleshipNewJersey was it damaged/deactivated while the ship was in service or at a later time? They are trying to restore the dumbwaiter on the Alabama according to a facebook post of theres from September so I'm a bit curious. The initial reply leads me to believe something bad may have unfortunately happened. Which makes me also wonder how many severe non combat casualties took place on board for I know of only one forsure
What we know about it is this: someone qas murdered, the body was put in the dumbwaiter, the crew sealed it and used the stairs. We know very little else. Lots of sailor stories that don't match up.
@@BattleshipNewJersey Sounds like a pre-internet email story like the story of soldier who received a VHS tape in the mail from the wife that had her having sex with another man, and her telling him that she wants a divorce.
@@jmd1743 Another sailor was stabbed to death with a mixing blade from a soft-serve ice cream machine in the 1980s in a dispute over $20. His body was left in a dumbwaiter, where it was found by his best friend...excerpt from a news article I was able to find
Is the lower “officers galley” the galley for the embarked flag staff officers that would eat separately from the ships officer with the chief of staff (06) as President of the mess (in contrast to the ships XO in the wardroom mess? )
One room for 2,700 people? A number of smaller ones is more efficient to operate. Battleships are all about redundancy. Plus the officers could hardly eat with the lower ranks.
The captain didn't eat in that wardroom of his at sea. He grabbed a sandwich and a nap whenever he could, because he was on the bridge 24/7. He also got blamed for anything that went wrong. It's not all priviledge.
YES, Roaches esp. I worked as a mess crank, came in to show a Movie, in Chiefs Mess one night underway, switched on lights, roaches, ran behind the "Fake walls" 2 the deck , joining space, I showed the ,movie, after I called 'Medical, Had the duty corpman, spray all deck @ that wall, left lights on, as was a Friday, & in-port. again. so had liberty Sat. & Sunday.
The enlisted effectively did not have to pay for their own food while on deployment. The officers, by way of the higher pay rate, contribute to a "mess fund" that (theoretically) allows them to acquire higher-quality food and the silver service to go with it. It also dates back to older naval tradition, when the officers were usually aristocratic men who were rich enough to have their own uniforms made and hire stewards and other personnel out of their own pocket, keeping their victualling/supplies as separated from the crew's rations as practical.
It's sad that Grand ships such as the Iowa's set idle . At least one should be in active service traveling the globe as a show of strength to the world .
The idea that meals are are for enlisted only really applies to junior enlisted that are still living in the barracks or on the ship, and working day check. Any other shift that does not have full meal service for any reason like nights, mids, or weekends depending on the command and/or base receives BAS, or basic allowance ofr Subsistence. When deployed, everyone loses BAS. This is regardless of how many meals you are actually able to eat. Anything less than three meals and a snack from the pasta or sandwich bar, and you are leaving money on the table. There is no human sailor with functional genes that has not had to supplement their caloric intake at some point with food from the ship store as well, which is all out of pocket. Heaven forbid you are in a weird position like be not only on air det, not only a helo squadron, but an HSM squadron. You will have people missing meals because they have to work flight schedule during meals, and the ship will refuse to even provide bagged nasties because you have to provide a flight schedule with the request 82 hours in advance. The flight schedule comes out around 0200 the day of, so no idea how we were supposed to proved one 72 hours in advance. Love the videos. Do you have any recommendations for reading or viewing of battleships that had aviation capability? With a naval helicopter background, I have always been fascinated by the history of naval aviation, and as we all know the mission of Naval helicopters really began as scout planes on battleships and eventually cruisers.
@@jamestheotherone742 so you think someone who spends years at college, completes officer training to an acceptable standard to lead then takes on enormous responsibilities should be treated the same as some boot sailor who is yet to be trusted chipping paint unsupervised?
