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Provisioning a Warship


Subdeacon Joe

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April 18 · 
 
 
 
Provisioning a Warship. 
A Royal Navy St Vincent-class or Bellerophon-class battleship represented. 
'The Great War' by Ed. Wilson/Hammerton, 1918. 

 

 

 

Crew was about 750 to 830 officers and ratings.

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Figure this for about two weeks.

Now, consider the manpower and time to load and stow those provisions and the cubage needed for them.

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2 hours ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

2400 lbs of margarine, 1400 lbs. of lard, 1000 boxes of cigarettes - and not a single fresh vegetable...no wonder their lifespans were so short

 

LL


200 boxes Fresh Tomatoes

1/2 ton Onions

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2 hours ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

2400 lbs of margarine, 1400 lbs. of lard, 1000 boxes of cigarettes - and not a single fresh vegetable...no wonder their lifespans were so short

 

LL

They had no way to keep them fresh. You’ll also note that there’s no milk. I do think it’s odd they took on 720 dozen eggs and 30 tons of beef. They apparently had some refrigeration aboard.

 

I did a search on the history of refrigeration aboard naval vessels. There isn’t much out there, but I did find this interesting bit of information regarding WWI reefer ships for transporting meat from the US to Europe for our soldiers. 

 

http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/ww1/w1af.htm

 

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8 minutes ago, Charlie Harley, #14153 said:

What’s a “bloater”?  They took on 15 boxes at the right side of the drawing.

 

 

Lightly smoked herring.   They go well with a big pile of mashed potatoes.

Also, they are smoked whole, as opposed to kippers, which are gutted.

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Brawn, however, is head cheese, and they have 12 cases of that.

 

There's no milk because these are GROWN MEN, and have been weaned.:D

 

500 pounds of baking soda. That's a lot of upset stomachs.

 

 

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50 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Brawn, however, is head cheese, and they have 12 cases of that.

 

There's no milk because these are GROWN MEN, and have been weaned.:D

 

500 pounds of baking soda. That's a lot of upset stomachs.

 

 

 

The things that will boost morale in a heartbeat on a US Navy ship at sea and cause sailors to happily wait in line is

1. Fresh milk

2. Fresh eggs

3. Ice Cream

 

Do not give them all 3 in one day. They will know that the next day will require work details like UnRep, VertRep or Ammo Handling.

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The Sally's bringing it.

 

158 hogshead, 6 tierces, 8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum

 

 

Sally Manifest.jpg

 

A hogshead is 64 gallons. A tierce is 42 gallons. A gang cask is that little keg they take ashore in pirate movies, when looking for water. It looks about the size if a beer keg, so I'll use that - 15 1/2 gallons. And a barrel is 32 gallons.

158 x 64,  6 x 42, 8 x 15.5 and 20 x 32

10,112 + 252 + 124 + 640

11,128 gallons of rum

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Enough tongue, I see, for plenty of lashings.

 

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720 dozen eggs and 30 tons of beef. They apparently had some refrigeration aboard.

 

Probably iced bunkers.

 

Here's a piece of icy history:

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When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, the American ice trade received a temporary boost to production.Shipments of chilled food to Europe surged during the war, placing significant demands on the country's existing refrigeration capabilities, while the need to produce munitions for the war effort meant that ammonia and coal for refrigeration plants were in short supply. The U.S. government worked together with the (manufactured ice) plant and natural ice industries to promote the use of natural ice to relieve the burden and maintain adequate supplies.

 

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10 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

They had no way to keep them fresh. You’ll also note that there’s no milk. I do think it’s odd they took on 720 dozen eggs and 30 tons of beef. They apparently had some refrigeration aboard.

 

Eggs will keep for two weeks except in the USA, where they are washed before shipment and must be refrigerated.

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6 hours ago, Alpo said:

The Sally's bringing it.

 

158 hogshead, 6 tierces, 8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum

 

 

Sally Manifest.jpg

 

A hogshead is 64 gallons. A tierce is 42 gallons. A gang cask is that little keg they take ashore in pirate movies, when looking for water. It looks about the size if a beer keg, so I'll use that - 15 1/2 gallons. And a barrel is 32 gallons.

158 x 64,  6 x 42, 8 x 15.5 and 20 x 32

10,112 + 252 + 124 + 640

11,128 gallons of rum

 

According to this site is was 17, 274 gallons

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The ship that I was on when we had the full air complement on ran about 6200 Officers and enlisted. Fresh Milk would usually last a week or two. Then it was on to powdered milk.  They made bread and other things that required flour on a daily basis. We had salad bars on port and starboard sides of the aft mess decks. When we were at sea the mess decks were open 20 hrs./day. For the quantity of meals that they prepared the food was not that bad.  I never was involved in the stores loading because my job was in the engine room. I can imagine there was quite the supply. But we also were able to do underway replenishment and did that on a frequent basis. On one deployment we has 5000 cases of beer that was kept in locked and sealed storerooms. That was for parties ashore. They did break out some when we went 100 days at sea during the Iran hostage crisis. They only gave 2 beers per person and both times they did that I was on watch in the engine room. 

 

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Where are the Limes for scurvy? I thought that’s how the British Tars got the name “Limey”. 

 

During my time at sea we did UnRep several times. Once we received a whole pallet load of “Johnson’s Baby Oil”, to coddle the Annapolis Midshipmen we had on board for their summer cruise.  The Captain of the supply ship knew our Captain and couldn’t help ribbing him about his “pleasure cruise “.

 

CJC

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7 hours ago, Dustin Checotah said:

The ship that I was on when we had the full air complement on ran about 6200 Officers and enlisted. Fresh Milk would usually last a week or two. Then it was on to powdered milk.  They made bread and other things that required flour on a daily basis. We had salad bars on port and starboard sides of the aft mess decks. When we were at sea the mess decks were open 20 hrs./day. For the quantity of meals that they prepared the food was not that bad.  I never was involved in the stores loading because my job was in the engine room. I can imagine there was quite the supply. But we also were able to do underway replenishment and did that on a frequent basis. On one deployment we has 5000 cases of beer that was kept in locked and sealed storerooms. That was for parties ashore. They did break out some when we went 100 days at sea during the Iran hostage crisis. They only gave 2 beers per person and both times they did that I was on watch in the engine room. 

 

Dustin, were you on the Ike?

I was on the Virginia. we went 120 days before getting those 2 beers in the IO.

 

During the Iran Hostage Fiasco we had no milk and only powdered eggs. Any powdered milk was just for cooking. It was never served. We had this stuff called “Daisy Milk”. It came in little cartons like juice boxes. There was plain, strawberry and chocolate flavored.  The plain and strawberry were barely palatable the chocolate was just okay. I think it was condensed milk or maybe even soy. It needed no refrigeration but was undrinkable without refrigeration. I think it was made in the Philippines. 

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7 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Dustin, were you on the Ike?

I was on the Virginia. we went 120 days before getting those 2 beers in the IO.

 

During the Iran Hostage Fiasco we had no milk and only powdered eggs. Any powdered milk was just for cooking. It was never served. We had this stuff called “Daisy Milk”. It came in little cartons like juice boxes. There was plain, strawberry and chocolate flavored.  The plain and strawberry were barely palatable the chocolate was just okay. I think it was condensed milk or maybe even soy. It needed no refrigeration but was undrinkable without refrigeration. I think it was made in the Philippines. 

 

I was on the Nimitz. We also had those small cartons of "milk" The stuff we had was from Italy made by "Parmalat" I think was the name and it was what was called I believe super pasteurized. I used the white on occasion in coffee and the chocolate was somewhat palatable if cold like you mentioned. Most of the time I drank water (with a hint of JP5), coffee or coffee. Although hot coffee in the engine room in the middle of the Indian Ocean with engine room temp measured beneath a vent fan duct of about 104 might be off putting to some. 

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An excellent book to read is Decent Into Darkness, written by one of the US Navy salvage divers who worked on the ships sunk at Pearl Harbor. He mentioned that several salvage workers entered one of the battleships (possibly the California) that they were trying to raise, and they never came out. A team of salvagers sent in to find them also failed to return. What they soon discovered was that the hull of the ship was being filled with lethal gases caused by all the decomposing organic matter... food, paper, wood, bodies, et cetera. They had to stop work and come up with a way to vent the ship before resuming salvage operations. Imagine all that food mentioned above slowly turning rancid in the Hawaiian heat inside the uninsulated, saltwater-filled hull of a ship. Yecchhh!

.

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10 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

An excellent book to read is Decent Into Darkness, written by one of the US Navy salvage divers who worked on the ships sunk at Pearl Harbor. He mentioned that several salvage workers entered one of the battleships (possibly the California) that they were trying to raise, and they never came out. A team of salvagers sent in to find them also failed to return. What they soon discovered was that the hull of the ship was being filled with lethal gases caused by all the decomposing organic matter... food, paper, wood, bodies, et cetera. They had to stop work and come up with a way to vent the ship before resuming salvage operations. Imagine all that food mentioned above slowly turning rancid in the Hawaiian heat inside the uninsulated, saltwater-filled hull of a ship. Yecchhh!

.

Were they removing their breathing apparatus under water inside the ship?

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They weren't underwater, they were inside the compartments that weren't flooded. But I've got an even better story about being underwater. The author was diving on the USS Utah, feeling his way through the blackness deep inside the ship with just a flashlight, when he suddenly saw the unmistakable silhouette of a big spider out of the corner of his eye. It took him just a second to realize that it was INSIDE his diving helmet! The guys up top suddenly noticed his air hose and line began thrashing and they thought he was having breathing trouble, so they quickly reeled him back up. Once back on the barge he was frantically clawing at his helmet and the guys figured he was suffocating, so they helped him get it off. They were all surprised when a big spider plopped onto the ground and the author quickly stomped on it.

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10 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

They weren't underwater, they were inside the compartments that weren't flooded. But I've got an even better story about being underwater. The author was diving on the USS Utah, feeling his way through the blackness deep inside the ship with just a flashlight, when he suddenly saw the unmistakable silhouette of a big spider out of the corner of his eye. It took him just a second to realize that it was INSIDE his diving helmet! The guys up top suddenly noticed his air hose and line began thrashing and they thought he was having breathing trouble, so they quickly reeled him back up. Once back on the barge he was frantically clawing at his helmet and the guys figured he was suffocating, so they helped him get it off. They were all surprised when a big spider plopped onto the ground and the author quickly stomped on it.

Yeah, that would freak me out. I’ll bet he never left his helmet unattended after that. Or at least he secured it from spider ingress  ;)

 

As for the Battleship compartments, that is a shame. 

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