How US Navy Nuclear Submarine Gets Food Deep Underwater 

I was stationed onboard SSBN 634 and SSBN 736. Best thing about the boat was the food and the crew. Nov ‘97 was my last duty station and to this day, there are crew members that I still keep in touch with. It’s a brotherhood like no other.

God bless the Submariners. They are arguably the most important line of defense. Thanks for posting.

During the 70s I served in communications aboard a 688 class nuclear powered submarine. Morale and staying busy are two of the most important aspects of being at sea. Good food was at the top of that list. In that regard, I look back and greatly appreciate the work that went into our meals. To this day, I believe that we were fed the best meals in all of the branches of the military and it was due to the dedication of the professionals that manned the galley. In fact, I remember that the supply department, which includes the galley operations, had received the prestigious Ney Award for food service excellence in each category of ship (boat) or shore installation. In addition to a wide variety of meals we typically had Surf & Turf twice during a deployment. I recall that one Petty Officer and mess-specialist who was about to transition to shore duty had put in for duty at the White House but I never found out whether he got it. Nevertheless, I hope that he did. Napoleon is credited with the phrase "An army marches on its stomach" and I would add "A navy doesn't deploy for very long on an empty stomach. A belated thank you and may God Bless.

God bless these underwater sailors! My worst nightmare would be to spend a month underwater in a confined space. How they do it is amazing to me.

All of our military people deserve the best nothing but respect God bless

As an Air Force airmen, I say thank you for the men and woman who serve in the Navy and have patients to stay on submarines for MONTHS at a time while I get to go home daily to my family.

The logistics that go into keeping a submarine crew fed are fascinating.

It's called mutual assured distruction.

Even during WW1 with the U boats, and into modern era of the US submarines, submariners have historically always gotten the best food. It’s the price the navy has to pay if they want people to willingly be in a tin can at the bottom of the ocean and not see the sun for months at a time.

I was the Supply Officer on USS Narwhal SSN-671. We won the Ney Award for best small mess in the Navy in 1973. The Chief Messman was a genius.

I am very happy to know that there are people that can handle the close quarters, working and living under water. Not me, I salute you all. During a Veterans Day parade in NYC once. I did talk to a submarine crew who were marching in the parade. And yes indeed they all said the food is excellent.

The most important crew member on a submarine is the chef.

There were barely even any pics or videos of submarine cress mess or galleys, the vast majority in this video were surface ships

I am an Air Force guy and when I was stationed in Hawaii in the early 2000's, I came across a Trident Class Submarine Chef. Very hard-working guy and being of Asian descent, he asked his Commander to approve feeding the crew Eggrolls. He made authentic egg rolls for the entire crew and they love it! They deserve the best!

As a retired Senior Chief, and from the Diesel Boat era, we formed up the entire crew to load stores. Frozen first in deep freezer boxes, then potatoes chest high in the two shower stalls with produce on top, then canned goods on every floor space sometimes in boxes 2 high in berthing spaces, and lastly eggs in the escape trunks. That was until DOD started purchasing the food, late 60's when we got canned hamburgers in green C ration packs. So I SEE that things have improved an awful lot. 90 Days not an uncommon deployment. DBF /SS

Food safety is an enormous issue. The kitchen and its staff play a vital role. They equally as important as any member of the crew.

It never fails to amaze me the technology involved and also the dedication and mindset for sailors to perform at such a high level !

"Sailors are surrounded by explosives, combustible materials, and even nuclear weapons....and farts....so many farts...."

8:06 is a picture of a Russian sub (note the cyrillic message)

So many of the video clips of the galley are definitely from some larger surface ship. Spent 28 years on Subs, from the smallest SSN 603 to the biggest SSBN 727 and everything is much smaller on a Sub. Also, on smaller fast attack subs the food is manually carried over by the crew in a human chain for the most part. Sometimes a pallet is set on the topside but still very manual.

One thing I have learnt in the Aussie navy, which I will say has some of the best "chefos" ever. Is, take care of your cooks and help em out. Whilst at sea, it's easy to get bored and when meal times becomes one the best times during the day, you wanna eat good. Also, the Navy loves working in favours, I help the chefos out, my portions may be a little bigger next meal...

u won a lottery for a tour on a US nuclear submarine and used primarily stock footage along with a littany of elementary school facts about submarines great work guy

I was at the navy for 6 years I could not live or work in an environment of the submariners. There are better people than I. I did a lot of my tour with amphibious assault crafts, and that was dangerous enough.

God bless these sailors on these subs. I did my little time in the Navy. It's said that sub-food is the best in the fleet. But for these guys TO WANT TO SERVE IN such a DANGEROUS SITUATION IS BEYOND ME. BECAUSE SUB-DUTY IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL.

I absolutely love the fact there is a clear understanding of Mutually Assured Destruction, i.e., "If I'm going down, you're coming with me, Bro! I assure you of that!"

The US is the king of logistics, this is amazing. I’m constantly in awe of our Armed Services.

I guess I'm blessed, I've been on two cruise's on the USS Phoenix SSN 702 while it was active, had a five course dinner on it with my mom and dad! Road the sail into Fort Lauderdale, no shit.

Wow! I now know nothing more than when I started watching this...

Ah, I recognize our shops handiwork in the galley. Loved doing maintenance in the galley. Night shift, we were allowed to take breaks in the galley. All them deserts put out all night. They have a soft serve ice cream machine on board. The galley always got top notch repair work. Fun times

In a previous lifetime won a contract to send a couple of trailerloads of corned beef brisket to San Diego Naval Base, for use on submarines. Worked our hearts out for this, made it with a great measure of pride, exceeded all requirements and then some. Made it all under strictest USDA supervision. Someone didn't like that we did it, product got rejected. Hired one shady lawyer at great expense and the product was accepted without question almost immediately. Their old supplier didn't like competition, I guess. According to this video, it was Sysco. Never tried again.

My father was a torpedoman on sub tenders. Growing up in Groton and Charleston I can remember going to pick up my dad from work and seeing submarines moored in pairs along side his ship. When we were stationed in Charleston I was able to go on a Tiger Cruise on the USS Orion. When we got into the ocean they stopped, my dad took me on deck, pointed and said "keep watching out there". A submarine came straight up out of the water. They had a few smaller boats next to the ship loaded with big canvas bags. They went to the sub and unloaded the bags to a line of guys on the front and back of the sub that passed it along then down a hatch. The hatches closed, water shot up all around the sub and as fast as it appeared it was gone. He told me it was training and they usually moored along side each other to practice transferring torpedoes and other weapons but they didn't because it was a Tiger Cruise. It seemed pretty quick though. This was in 1977-78, do they even have sub tenders anymore?

6:47 MAD is not a Manual it is Mutual Assured Destruction. Most of the other mistakes in this video I could handle Army personnel in place of Naval personnel, showing a warehouse on a land base in place of a storage locker on a sub.

On a boomer, we never resupplied stores at sea. Our mess specialists really kicked butt, feeding 100+ crew 4 times a day. Fast attacks typically were able to make port stops on their med cruises to onload stores.

Fascinating. I always wanted to be a cook/chef in the navy. Not necessarily on a sub , but ship. A great life.

I always wanted to be on a sub, but as im 6.2ft I ended up in the army. Worlds apart but so so worth every minute of it/.

6 years, 4 Boomer and 2 years in Fast Attack, I love my Dolphins. Sub Qualified for life.

Subs always had the best chow in the navy. Other than that you could not get me on one of those coffins ! I was on an aircraft carrier in the 70's working the flight deck with VA-146. Waiting on a line with 400 other crew members in front of you only to be put off what was being served, beans and rice, gray hot dogs and god knows what synthetic meat burgers were the only choice etc... . Ramen noodles were always on hand in our shop for food. It was better than what was being served ! I hate those dam noodles to this day ! Cheers crew mates !

It would be a honor to cook for the military as a thank you gift to all of the brave men and women who give their lives for our freedom 😀

So amazing! Imagine having to be the food/meal planner for a submarine and planning on missions where you have to count the crew and the mount of food for a given duration. The logistics must be staggering.

I spent 10 years in the Navy, the surface fleet! And other divisions. I had the displeasure of spending a few nights in a steel tube, and my hat is off to those men and women who do it. I'm partially claustrophobic, so I didn't handle it real well.

I'm a navy vet, never assigned to a sub, but I've heard that sailors on a sub eat better than any sailor on a surface ship.

Thanks so much for sharing this interesting information and showing our great servicemen and women going about their lives on a sub.

When i was in the U.S. Army stationed on the port of P(B)usan, South Korea 01/1969/-02/1970, i was in a terminal service transportation battalion, living on a permanently docked barge, one of our duties being the unloading of merchant ships,including reefer, for 8th army, and we’d have the old diesel subs tie up along side us for fresh food stocks, as well as use our showers. Although their arrival was classified, the local "business” girls from the honkytonk area known as "Texas St,” always knew they were coming.

Ex-submariner here. We did stores load hand to hand. All hands on deck. One number 10 can at a time. Pistachios and like items rarely made it to the wardroom. We were fed four meals a day not three. Most of it was excellent. My first C.O.'s favorite meal was lamb curry. Flippin' nasty. The research into making this video must have been pretty bad because most of the video was from surface ships. Obviously it is difficult to get footage on a submarine due to security.

As a retired Army Infantryman, Navy cooks are the best hands down.

They stay in deep water surrounded by nukes. They deserve good food and much more.

If I signed up to be in a sub, I would expect submarine sandwiches every day

I was on an FBM sub and we only did stores load out tied to the pier. In those operations, it was always an all hands evolution and we never surfaced to to on stores underway.

These Sailers are the best of the best.

I look forward to shaking the hand of an American submariner someday

The selection process for sub crews is very extensive

When I was young my cousin joined the Navy to see the world. They made him a cook on a then standard diesel submarine. He enthralled me with tales of how they made 50 pancakes at a time on one single long, narrow griddle.😮

Gorgeous US Navy Submarine ~

The passing of gas in the submarine is terrible it has nowhere to go but get recirculating around.... 🙏

I thoroughly enjoyed your video! You invested a vast amount of thought, time, and research into the creation of this content. Thank you for sharing with the world!

As a former submarine sailor and submarine cook, we had tug boats that could resupply our food if needed! The video shows numerous surface vessels that have lots of room to store food but in a submarine it’s much smaller and less room to store food! We had to use every nook and cranie to store food!!

Subbed and liked. I'm so thankful for the military in every capacity 🙏

すごいね！潜水艦の中で調理室あって火が使えるのは隔世の感！

Although I worked below the water line and would routinely go days without seeing the sun. My hat goes off to my sub shipmates. I worked in the engine room on an LSD and sadly most of the time at sea we were 18 on and 6 off. 7 days a week because there’s no days off in the ocean. Too tired to even go get fresh air. However we we’re always taken care of in the food department.

4:18 The US Army Food Inspection Specialist. My first duty station was Pearl Harbor FISC. I remember visiting the Ships and Subs. The Navy eats great. The local galley would have lobsters and steaks. Great times.

That's awesome 👍 God bless USA

Didn't anyone get the narrator's error when he was talking abut the nuclear triad and said MAD stands for Manually Assured Destruction? It's Mutually Assured Destruction.

God bless our navy ❤️

Things like this just blow my mind! The logistics of everything, the sheer amounts of food made every day, the nonstop cooking….it’s incredible! ⚓️ USN 🫡🇺🇸

One thing I could say for certain. The mess decks on my ship were cleaner than any restaurant I’ve ever ate in ashore 💯

I just can’t sleep without a window open

You guys at YVMA got one thing right, Boomers and GN’s HAVE the capability to just load FULL pallets onboard. I remember pulling into Kings Bays, which was a pain in the ass to begin with, and couldn’t believe the size difference between fast attacks and boomers/gn’s. No hot-racking, crews lounge, and the extra space, sometimes I feel like I got attached to the wrong kind of boat, but then I ask them about actually doing your job, and I don’t feel as bad. Still wish I didn’t have to hot rack when I was non-qualled, but thankfully I got my fish a while ago

Submarines actually serve 4 meals a day because work goes on around the clock.

My son wS on NR1 supportship,And USDAkexandria.I love our NAVY

What special training must one go through to become a submariner ? For any job.

I served aboard a Trident in the 80's. STS2 (SS) aboard the USS Henry M. Jackson SSBN 730 Gold. Maybe things have changed, but when we onloaded food stores prior to every Strategic Deterrent Patrol, we began every 72 day patrol with enough food to last 1 year. Powdered food, mostly. Remember why those boats are going on those patrols. Should the unthinkable come to pass, and we played our part in destroying every living thing on the planet (It was estimated that the full payload of 1 Trident could eradicate 3 Billion people) the Navy must have thought our minds would be eased knowing we didn't have to return to the nuclear wasteland we once called home for a year... Oh boy! That sure would have been a fun, fun year... Waiting and knowing our time was imminent.

In the 60s dad was stationed at COMPACFLT at Pearl. I became the harbor paperboy and boarded all vessels of the Pacific fleet when they were in harbor. Every ship and sub had a softball team and they would play each other for cash and beer. So the officer of the day would ask me who were the winners and who were the suckers. And I asked what move they were showing that night. And I would go hang out with the crew and watch movies with them. My favorite part of the base was the sub base. They showed movies in the torpedo room and I would straddle a torpedo and they always had ice cream. They would let me practice with them in the escape tower and teach me open ocean survival training. At nine years old I would go to the marine barrack pool and teach Marines how to swim and survive at sea. Some of the subs were older diesel electrics. But I got tours and movies aboard the first six generations of nukes. And the first nuke carrier Enterprise.

I'm having flashbacks from my days back along time ago in the Navy as a cook on an aircraft carrier hating life because it was literally hell being overworked and it was exhausting 😢

Great info. I was on a carrier for 4+ years and my son is on a fast attack. this is the 2nd or 3rd video thou you are talking about certain functions on a Navy ship and show a different branch or a total different ship. this one has Army supply folks in a store room with LOTS of room. most of the galley shots where not from a sub or at least the few I have toured. there was one on testing jet engines on a carrier that had Air Force personal. As I said great info just try to stay authentic.

This person stole footage from othe documentary videos of submarine and food. This channel taking credit from other videos

Correction: at 6:47, the acronym MAD stands for "Mutually Assured Destruction" not "Manually Assured Destruction".

Had the honor of sharing the 'first meal' aboard the new Virginia Class submarine NEW JERSEY - set to be commissioned April 6th. The food was outstanding!

If you cut down the crew numbers from 130 to 60 a sub can operate for 6 months before running low on food.

From what I saw in this video the people on the sub were eating better than I ever had in the army, I should have joined the navy.

The Submarine technology is unbelievably amazing...

Informative; thank you!

6:42 "Manually" assured destruction. I almost manually assured my own destruction by laughing so hard. You can't make this stuff up.

A lot of the clips you showed of sailor's eating wasn't from a submarine.

A big big salute all American navy I am a Filipino,I am proud to say American navy is the best nation And strongest nation during world war👏👏👏👏

Mind blowing Stupendous efforts. God Bless n protect the Submarines n all involved in different type of logistics. ABOVE ALL PEACE SHALOM ✌️👌👍👏🙏

Thank you guys for your service. Those conditions look pretty awful. God bless our service men & women. Y'all r kicking ass

The food may be quite good. Even so life aboard a sub would not work well for me. Cramped quarters make me claustrophobic. Give that opportunity to a good deserving sailor who is rightfully made for the job.

US sub, here is footage of US Army Supply

The Air Force gets fed very well also. Need to keep those mechanics happy. If submarine food is better than that I can understand how those sailor's stay under water for so long without getting depressed. Army chow only comes close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Subs probably get that every day.

First of all, it's MUTUALLY assured destruction, not manually assured, etc. Second, if these subs are part of the Navy, why do so many of the crew have Army insignia?

Given that surfacing gives away the subs location, I am wondering with resupply of food or materials, if perhaps a dedicated submarine for resupply underwater is just too far fetched. Maybe I am way off in my thinking. But no doubt when it comes to taking onboard supplies, time is of the essence. But a surfaced submarine just seems a very tempting target to me. Therefore taking supplies while underwater seems logical. No?

They get fed like kings mate .might be a little tight for space but these people are the men n woman that risk there lifes every day to protect us so show some respect

The Submarine Cuisine book is an absolute treasure and I read it often ... both for historical reasons and actual culinary inspiration/tips/tricks/etc. I highly recommend it to anyone with a desire to learn and maybe experience a bit of undersea warfare history - while cooking and eating and drinking, what could be better?!

What’s with the soldiers in ARMY uniforms checking food in a NAVY Sub video????😮

Only have 2-3 months of food pershibles gone in 2 weeks

Submariners deserve to eat good being confined underwater for months at a time.

The navy needs to bring back those blue camo uniforms

I assumed that sailors won't get sea sick underwater. Right?

i was a cook specialist aboard 3 boomers & fast attack submarine from 71 to 74 . We never got food supplies from outside sources, once we went under that was it, if we ran out of item no replacing it. I remember on one patrol we got down to powder eggs, milk, can spam, and anything left in a can. As for galley it was very small one side was cooks other was bakery side which shared space with dish washer. I must say galleys aboard subs today are complexly different.

4:27 Nature's Bakery Fig/Assorted Bars!!!! That's some good snacks!