Chilling Out in a Submarine Reefer: We Explore the USS Cod’s Refrigerators.

[@GordonSturrock]

"war is hell, but that doesn't mean you can't have a cold one!" LOL ...Amen!

[@klsc8510]

Submarine Commander "Lucky Flucky" would reward the crew with cold ones after a sinking. Morale...through the overhead!

[@papaguy2001]

I had no idea they had reefer on a WW2 fleet submarine LOL! Congrats to Paul and the USS Cod team, you always keep us informed and entertained!!

[@kperkins1982]

Love Ryan from Battleship NJ channel but this guy is so fun to watch!

[@CodeElement190]

15:37 Don’t lock that door! Evan! Remember who signs your paychecks! 😂😂

[@lawrenceberlinski7643]

Did he say "We'll be back with more CODtent" at the end? LOL

[@paulfarace9595]

No... but yes... yes I meant that!!!😅

[@garyhock2043]

Please do more of the under main deck video’s. The majority of us don’t know what those spaces look like. We always see the usual main deck videos. What’s interesting is the difference between Electric Boat Subs and the Government Yard boats, maybe you could do a video on that sometime. Thanks for this video Paul.

[@JJAmes-mb4du]

I'm a navy veteran, so it makes perfect sense to me that I might need to sharpen a pencil while doing the dishes or scullery work.

[@davidstrother496]

Thanks for the great little tour. I was not aware of the fact that most countries did not have refrigeration on their subs. Before the Gato class, did U.S. subs have refrigeration? I think Dr. P. Dantic needs to have a class on ice cube use, I bet there are thousands of younger viewers that have not used those old metal ice trays, or even the plastic ones for that matter.

[@klsc8510]

First, there is a piece missing from the ice cube tray. Younger viewers would need lessons on the rotary dial telephone and manual typewriters!

[@dfirth224]

@@klsc8510The handle is missing. You pulled the handle up straight to break the cubes apart. It was all aluminum because of being lightweight and aluminum is an excellent heat (and cold) conductor.

[@rachelcarre9468]

Cooks are the bravest people in any service; they’re the most dangerous, they're in contact with the enemy 3-4 times per day and often take incoming fire.

[@John_Be]

Wow, Evan is a real person!!! I was worried he was some random NPC from a video game.

[@paulfarace9595]

In fact he is AI generated by warped and defective code!

[@dw3897]

On LPD11 our refers were on the 4th deck below our engineering berthing (3 deck) compartment. In 1974 on a Med cruise we picked up a floating dead fisherman, the deck guys loaded him in a body bag & brought him down thru our compartment to the freezer. A couple of days later we pulled into port and they took a very frozen dead guy out of the freezer and turned him over to the authorities.

[@BB12659]

"Anchors Aweigh," way to start this wonderful segment. Like what you did, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, and of course, Ash Wednesday. Thanks, Paul!

[@gregbillman42]

As a cook, this was both insightful and entertaining. ps. Our coolers are downstairs also🤬.

[@Volros64]

didnt know early boats had refrigeration, must have really been a luxury

[@bluerebel01]

What a very interesting and informative video. This would be the first time for a lot of us to have ever seen this compartment on a Fleet Boat. Thank you for sharing this excellent information.

[@bucksfer7039]

And then there is the pencil sharpener. Dr. J. P. Dantric approves of this video!

[@petesheppard1709]

Ah, aluminum ice trays...takes me back to my childhood. 😎 The old subs were also known as 'pig boats'. Prior to the comforts of the fleet boats, that had a very literal meaning...

[@milwaukeeroadjim9253]

That articulated air duct in the officers refrigerator is just what I needed in about 1974. I was supply PO for the sheet metal shop on the sub tender USS Simon Lake. A boomer had sent us a work order for a new one of those elbows. I went to Engineering and looked up the specification and found that they were shipyard built with no part number I could order. Our shop did not have the tools to make a new one so the sub went without. How could a sub lose a ventilation elbow?

[@paulfarace9595]

Those Submariners are very special ... nothing is beyond their capabilities 😂

[@dwaltjj]

These boats are like Tardis, way bigger on the inside than what they look like on the outside. Additionally: I'm of age to remember my grandparents having that ice trigger tray... and the awful experience of having that tray slice my hand when using it without any direction. (My grandmother and her sister laughed at my misfortune - a very generational experience)

[@USSCod]

It’s bigger on the inside!

[@dwaltjj]

@@USSCod I'll be passing through this summer and can't wait to visit!

[@perpetualgrin5804]

2 weeks ago visited the Bowfin in Pearl Harbour, much bigger than the German boats. Hawaii is great.😅

[@jerrylagesse9046]

Submarines are boats . Not ships

[@perpetualgrin5804]

@@jerrylagesse9046 I got it right calling them boats, my yacht was called Das Boot.

[@ghost307]

Thank you for the excellent tour of a rarely seen area of the boat. When the sub was submerged did they switch off the refrigeration to conserve battery power?

[@lindabrashear57]

Really happy to see videos showing the parts of the boat we can't see on the tour--every time I walk over the grates in Cod, I wonder about what's in those lower spaces. Nice to not have to wonder about one space anymore! I'd love to see more "hidden Cod" videos!

[@Gamer_1745]

Thanks for the tour!

[@georgesandeehoward5015]

I think you could put all of Cod in the New Jersey's refrigerated spaces if I remember correctly from Ryan's video.

[@paulfarace9595]

Well that's a bit of hyperbole... but I've been in the reefer spaces of a troop ship... huge!😮

[@anthonysalazar4965]

"Its very clear to me gentleman, that someone has made a wax key to the wardroom ice box..."

[@billcattell5520]

I liked the pencil sharpener in the galley.

[@paulfarace9595]

We did a program on it a month or two ago.

[@johnslaughter5475]

Fortunately for me I never had to go down into Ranger's reefers when we were taking on food. (Thanks to the Navy for developing the refrigerated stores ships that brought fresh food out to us.) Every time we took on food stores I was working on the hangar deck, or the flight deck during my first cruise.) I knew some guys who had to stow the food in the reefers. Break out the foul weather gear. But, ours were big enough to almost put Cod into them. Of course, we were serving something like 17,000 meals a day. The galley was open 23 hours a day. Closed from 0100-0200 for cleaning. I have a number of books on WWII submarine warfare. There was a section that dealt with stowing of food. It was an art. Every spare cubic inch on the boat, and there wasn't much, was used to stow food. The cooks had to be careful about how they stowed it, and that includes in the reefers. They couldn't just stow all the steaks first, hamburger next, and so on. If they did, the crew would have the same thing day after day until they had finished what was on top. The cooks actually planned out the meals for the entire deployment before beginning stowing it away.

[@steveschulte8696]

I remember packing milk onto an freight elevator to strike down to the reefer decks. We packed the elevator to its max capacity ant then sent it down off the aft mess deck level. (On the Ranger in 1979). on the Bainbridge, i stood at the bottom of one of the ladders going down from the main deck, and caught meat boxes all morning and part of the afternoon. There was another ladder going down to the reefer deck itself. Meat boxes are about 50 to 55 pounds each. I was sore afterwards. On a sub like the Cod. the provisions came down vertically and then got passed to the storeroom. The messman in the chill box there had only to lift it through the hatch and onto the deck. You can see some of the ways they prevented the frozen meat from shifting underway. And there were no bottles of Freon and other gas cylinders littering the inside of the freezer.

[@johnslaughter5475]

@@steveschulte8696 I was on the hangar deck one time putting the boxes of food on the rollers down to the mess decks. I caught my finger on the steel band. I didn't see anything when I looked at it, so I kept working. Then, I noticed some dark spots appearing on the deck under my hand. I went below in white light and found I'd cut my finger pretty bad. The red light in the hangar bay was exactly the color of blood.

[@henrycarlson7514]

don't forget the Forward Mess deck

[@johnslaughter5475]

@@henrycarlson7514 The forward mess decks were not used for eating while I was aboard. Weapons would put all of the bombs for a strike together, less the fuses, and load them on the bomb carts. That was all we had on the forward mess decks. I understand that they did use the forward galley to prepare rations for all of the forward GQ stations. I couldn't attest to this of my own knowledge. My S-7 berthing was just off the forward mess decks. Every time I'd come up from my compartment I'd see nothing but bomb carts all over the place. It was just empty when we weren't on the line.

[@henrycarlson7514]

@@johnslaughter5475 Interesting , Thank You.

[@jackmoorehead2036]

As a Corpsman my only contact with Mess Duty was a week in Recrute Training. After that I did lots og Galley Health inpections, but in much larger Galleys. The Freezers and Refigerated spaces were always gone over very thoroughly. There are some real nasty bacteria and molds that can grow in them.

[@Mike-tu7uw]

USS North Carolina has a wishing well. Long way down 😂

[@yankeeclipper4326]

So does USS Massachusetts

[@sc1338]

The Yorktown used to have one too

[@kevinlewallen4778]

So cool (pun intended) to see this out-of-the-way area of the boat. I've always been fascinated with the WWII fleet boats and enjoy your videos. Subscribed!

[@brainfreeze44131]

I've been listening to the channel WW2 Tales. They said that in earlier Japanese submarines. Some of the crew would come back from patrol with scurvy and malnourished. They didn't have the food storage that US subs had.

[@timothydevine7064]

Ive been ships cook for most of my life, I want to say thanks for showing this!

[@wfoj21]

I know you guys learned from Ryan S when you started; now Ryan should be learning from you. Great Video. Oh - No "dishwasher" = just machine?

[@robertporterfield9578]

Nice presentation! When I was mess cooking (1960) we had to periodically defrost the freezer..This involved pulling all the frozen food out, putting it on the tables above, running heated refrigerant through the freezer coils t o melt the accumulated ice and frost, drying down the interior, reloading all the frozen food from the crew's dinette and restarting the refrigeration cycle. This was done every month to six weeks as I remember and was quite a job. In WWII I guess the relief crew had this task, but by then most of the frozen items had probably been depleted.

[@paulfarace9595]

Thanks for that added insight. Very interesting information. What sub??

[@JeffHenry-cq3is]

Probably done at end of patrol with rest of maintenance

[@jmacld]

I've been on a few fleet boat museums in my time. Frozen food storage was never covered on these tours, and I never thought about it. Thanks for taking us into this space.

[@lexington476]

That refrigerator and freezer doesn't seem like it's going to be big enough to carry enough food for 90 men for 75 days. Is there another place for bulk storage of canned food?

[@mongoose388]

Anywhere they could fit it,

[@tomhenry897]

Every nick and cranny

[@scottfarnham2717]

Great video Paul and crew!! I love learning about all the nooks and crannies on the old fleet boats. What amazing engineering marvels they are!

[@indeedgrasshopper]

Some U-Boats did have a small amount of refrigerated storage. They were much smaller than the walk-in spaces of the Cod, more like two of the pantry fridges shown at the 19:30 mark of this video. Had the opportunity to tour the U-505 at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry last year and could not imagine spending any amount of time in such cramped quarters.

[@scottsmith2052]

Thank you! That was a really good video. I've always wondered about the refrigerator on a submarine, but its not like you would ever get to go in there on a tour.

[@nigelterry9299]

7:56: good thing you're a slim guy, Paul!!

[@coryheckler2354]

On a Carrier, the frozen food hold were like small warehouses. I had the Honor to clean those when I was mess cooking...lol. In foul weather gear! The cleaning was tough. But the dry food holds were as big. Of course a carrier was way larger than a sub, and fed 5k crew. Was interesting to see n work.

[@Norbrookc]

Given that one of the missions the subs did was rescuing downed pilots, I wonder how much ice cream they were able to store when getting their "ransom?"

[@paulfarace9595]

Not sure that was universal... especially when subs had ice cream machines.

[@jerrylagesse9046]

Ahoy , and Ah rooo gah , MS3 SS here . SSN583 . Had a bit larger galley we did

[@BlackHawkBallistic]

What a fun video, thats a cramped little freezer and fridge space but I can imagine what having fresh produce and meats did for moral especially in the Pacific where you're so far away from any friendly reaupply.

[@casey6556]

“Freezers have to be about zero” Me, a Canadian: Well yes I’d imagine so

[@kcgunesq]

The "trigger tray" appears to be missing the handle that likely would have flexed the dividers to break up the ice. I recall using similar trays in my childhood.

[@petehayes4801]

"Mess Crank". It's been a long time since I have heard that. I rode the boats back in the early 70s out of the Loch. Good memories. "Twin Screws, Four Knots" to all my shipmates of the past.

[@brkemm25]

In your battle with BB62 with most padantic topics, may I suggest, where did submariners smoke back in the day?

[@klsc8510]

From my reading, on the surface almost everywhere inside. No smoking outside at night. The after gun mount on the island was refered to as the cigarette deck. Sometimes submerged the smoking lamp would be out to conserve oxygen. If the boat was down a long time, the air would be so bad you couldn't light one anyways

[@toddmetzger]

Did the US fleet of subs during WW2 have tenders that roamed the seas for resupply? Or did they have to return to a base for provisions and fuel?

[@paulfarace9595]

Return to base.

[@PapasDino]

I know it's "the movies" but in Destination Tokyo Alan Hale Sr. is the head cook of the boat and during a depth charge episode hides in what appears to be a similar entrance to a food locker (although it's a much smaller entry). Were earlier boat classes different? Thanks Paul for the tour!

[@paulfarace9595]

Yes, every class was a bit better than the previous class.

[@Comet8489]

Great episode, I had no idea COD was so luxurious. Was there ever anything where the navy "over reached" IE tried something and it just didn't really work for the crew?

[@paulfarace9595]

Inflatable hula girls 👧...

[@craigbathurst1185]

When my uncle Buck who lived in Conneaut, Ohio was on the ore freighters on the great lakes. By the time that he retired, the freighters got away from fresh meat to meat in pre-prepared aluminum serving trays that could be popped into the oven.

[@yolo_xenophone]

Ahhhh this channel ALWAYS has cool content, thank you USS COD family!!!!

[@henrycarlson7514]

Another Fine tour , Thank You

[@jec6613]

Apparently on Barb they used it to chill beer, at least according to Fluckey.

[@johnpancharian480]

As always, these videos are a real treat. i spend a fair amount of time on fleet boats in my imagination, and it's great to be able to see more and more of the boat in the mind's eye. Keep 'em coming!

[@jeffsaxton2051]

In that smaller refrigerated hatch in the main galley, the lowermost slot that is larger than the ice cube tray slots, maybe that was for the Penicillin storage? Easier and faster to grab it from there than going down the ladder.

[@paulfarace9595]

Except that this was a freezer and not a refrigerator. Not sure you want to freeze penicillin.

[@michael-dm2bv]

Happy Valentines Day!❤

[@billy4072]

👌entertaining. And informative. Emulsified with good old humour. 🥰

[@paulroggemann1017]

Pretty daunting as a messcook to lift that hatch and discover the chill box is packed right up to the top.

[@m.hamacher7881]

The Type VII had a small fridge in the petty officers' quarters, only a few feet by a few feet, tiny! The Type IX had a bigger one in the galley, but still small by fleet boat standards!

[@user-wd1bz8oi5l]

Enjoyed the video. Love your relationship with your crew members.

[@schoppepetzer9267]

USS Cod: Pencil sharperner with sub attached.

[@deltasource56]

that larger compartment under the ice might have been for the penacilian

[@paulfarace9595]

It would have been kept in the refrigerator and not the freezer and in a tiny metal cabinet marked "biologicals" ... according to blueprints. The space below the ice trays was for an ice holding box!

[@ryanjones6303]

Great video. I love seeing the hard to reach stuff like this.

[@e.k.bellinger9496]

Another tidbit from the last war patrol, in 1945, of the USS Finback, SS230, courtesy of my dad, a quartermaster. Finback was in stormy weather for a week, and they hadn't been able to get a star sight. So they didn't know exactly where they were. When the sky cleared, Finback found herself way too close to the mouth of the Yangtze river. She was spotted, and depth charged throughly. The depth charging drove her into the mud. She freed herself, the captain said, "Knock the governors off and let's go!" So they did. Eluded the sub chasers, repaired their damage, checked in at Guam (Have to verify the sequence of events here; not sure about this). Some hidden damage to the refrigerators from the depth charging revealed itself as Finback made for Midway. The crew took rotting meat out, and went fishing. They caught a few sharks. They were already low on food, and for the last ten days they ate nothing but canned fruit and baked shark. My dad could never look canned fruit in the eye again.

[@USSCod]

Did your father ever write down his experiences? Or keep any of his war correspondence?

[@e.k.bellinger9496]

@@USSCod I interviewed him and another QM from the same boat, at the same time (They were both a bit deaf and talked over each other, so it got loud). My son transcribed the interview. My grandmother saved all of Dad's letters from training and a few from Pearl Harbor after the war. She only lost one page. The transcript and the original letters are in the Wisconsin Veterans Museum archive. There's a website that has ship's logs, and I will need to look that up to get the correct sequence of events from this patrol.

[@USSCod]

Thank you! Our curator Evan would love to look at those, I’ll let him know of that museum.

[@USSCod]

If you come up with some more information and stories from your father please contact us. Our email is on our channel home page.

[@e.k.bellinger9496]

Try the Wisconsin Maritime Museum archive for submarine-specific history. Manitowoc built 28 boats. Other states might have similar resources.

[@zxggwrt]

Some people forget why America has a formidable military. Ice.

[@bryanh1944FBH]

I had to fix equipment like that. Wish you would have shown the compressors. I laughed to see how much R-12 they carried with them. I suppose that was the refrigerant used in the AC system too.

[@JoshuaTootell]

My ship in the early 2000's was still using R12.

[@bryanh1944FBH]

@@JoshuaTootell Hi Josh. That's interesting. Thank you. Was the R-12 used in both the AC system as well as the refrigeration systems? And, did they keep the spare refrigerant cylinders in the freezer?

[@Ganiscol]

5:21 - this is referred to as the 'USS Cod money laundering operation' 😅

[@Russojap2]

Glad to see the intro again, but I like the original longer version better,with the more dramatic music. I'm not sure why, but I think this is the most interesting video yet... 🤔🤷😂 I think part of the reason may be because it appears to be in the lower most part of the boat following the curvature of the pressure hull. Just a very interesting subject overall. I am curious about what that big valve above the dish drainer controls though. Great video! 😃👏👏👏👏

[@larrydemaar409]

Interesting tour of the refrigerator! How were fleet boats heated during cold weather?

[@pizzaivlife]

the same way they were in cold weather- with large engines and tons of sticky body heat! but also I think there were electric heaters

[@paulfarace9595]

Electric heaters!

[@J.Knox46]

With warm air. Smh. geesh... Lol

[@larrydemaar409]

@@paulfarace9595Do they still work or do you heat it differently now?

[@Aramis419]

"If you're planning on committing a capital crime..." Well, I wasn't planning to, but now I'm worried that a stray hair of mine might somehow be accessory to one! Break out the hair clippers!

[@earlyriser8998]

I had no idea the frig was under the kitchen. I have read about it many times but never the location.

[@paulfarace9595]

Its Not under the galley... that's where the ammunition is stowed!!!!😮

[@joes8087]

can we get a video of cods ice cream maker? also PLEASE more videos on things off cods tour route

[@paulfarace9595]

All in the planning 😊

[@connorkilpatrick6283]

What would the waste disposal system be Fleet submarines be?

[@Mike-tu7uw]

You mean garbage? Weighted bags, over the side.

[@paulfarace9595]

We just filmed that episode! Stay tuned!😅

[@klsc8510]

Paul, that episode had better not be garbage!

[@b1laxson]

The good ol' days when Reefer meant "where's the beef" not "where's the smokes"

[@randyogburn2498]

That was a cool video. Some follow up questions if i may? Were those R-12 drums leftovers from the system's working days? Did they leave the plant running after all the contents had been eaten? If so, did it have to be defrosted between patrols? Maybe ideas for another video 🤔

[@paulfarace9595]

R12 was from her active service. Why would they run a reefer if it was empty? But they often returned from patrols with substantial food aboard.

[@JeffHenry-cq3is]

Surprised how advance American subs were in WW2

[@paulfarace9595]

We had the bomb ...

[@scipioafricanus4328]

Great intro!

[@pizzaivlife]

I would love if you guys would cover the main electrical compartment- that grated room of electrical stuff is massive and it would be cool to learn what all is in there and why it needs to take up so much of the boat

[@paulfarace9595]

Not sure what you're referring to aboard Cod.

[@tomtucker3193]

I think he’s talking about the space just forward of the motor controller, aft of the diesel engines.

[@pizzaivlife]

@@tomtucker3193 yeah meant to reply that- there is a lathe in the corner there on Cobia

[@zxggwrt]

R-12 was a great refrigerant. The replacements that were supposed to be better for the environment were not, really.

[@philgiglio7922]

Don't forget the KLIM. ie. Dried powdered milk

[@jeffreythomas3904]

Great video

[@scottgrimwood8868]

What a cool video!

[@crazyguy32100]

Hmmm. I think we stumbled upon the next pedantic topic. New Jersey may have fired off this week with clocks, Cod will see that and raise them WWII ice cube trays! Like to see if Ryan has one of those.

[@mineown1861]

A lot of work maintaining the boat , and some money laundering too.

[@IDBTitanosaurus]

"Reefer" means something else to us landlubbers.

[@paulfarace9595]

That's sad.

[@BB12659]

As I understand it ice cream machines were not part of the original equipment, but could be added at the discretion of the captain. Is that what you have found to be true, Paul?

[@paulfarace9595]

Yes.

[@michael-dm2bv]

Submarine crews ate lobster? ❤ They went fishing?

[@tomhenry897]

If had a diver on board Modern ships use their divers for that

[@paulfarace9595]

Cold war era sub crews had lobster... not so much in WW II.

[@darthdad160]

Very nice. Would the compressors run only when the Diesel engines are running or when on battery power? How about when running in silent mode?

[@paulfarace9595]

I'm sure they ran when submerged. If you were running silent they likely shut them down. Remember there is inherent cold in the box... like our home reefers when the power goes out.

[@bigsarge2085]

👍👍

[@SOU6900]

Is the refrigeration system one of those systems they would shut off for quiet running?

[@paulfarace9595]

Likely

[@stevenckaroly]

Please explain who the mess cranks were. In navy parlance, the mess cook was colloquially known as a mess crank. The term resonates to this day. Note that the cooks are not the mess cranks. The mess cooks are seamen and firemen temporarily assigned to the mess for dishwashing and general cleaning. They are analogous to the Army KP.

[@paulfarace9595]

Mess cranks are non-qualified crew doing extra duty until they earn their dolphins.

[@godlugner5327]

5:06 you're a good leader but reminder on crew resource management: your guys, look out for the safety of them not the bottom line 👍

[@paulfarace9595]

You're kidding right? I look at these guys as my sons and friends ❤...

[@steveridgewaynrtgo]

Did any of you submariners have an affectionate name for the galley? Either good or bad?

[@fnbrowning-Actual]

Would have liked to have seen the refrigeration compressor and learned a little about how much electrical power was required to drive the refrigeration unit. Also left unanswered was that apparently there was no insulation between the pressure hull and the freezer? That would mean that the sea water on the other side of the hull had a enormous effect of warming the steel and causing the reefer to run far more than necessary.

[@paulfarace9595]

This isn't an electrical engineering program. Show folks areas not available to visit is the goal. The drive and compressor will be shown when we visit the pump room. And I didn't say there wasn't insulation between the hull and reefer. Just that the reefer followed the hul curvature

[@fnbrowning-Actual]

@@paulfarace9595 My comment was certainly not a criticism, and the testy reply about a "electrical engineering program" was unbecoming of a museum curator. :sad:

[@berlinberlin4246]

Please remember the danger of confined spaces! (To low O2 level, SO2 etc)

[@paulfarace9595]

Those refers are always open to the general atmosphere !

[@brucerumrey8894]

How many sailors worked in the galley.

[@paulfarace9595]

Ever sailor worked in the galley and mess deck at one point or another in their careers. But to your point you had a cooknin the galley and two mess attendants serving food and handling dishes.

[@oldguy1528]

Did any of the crew fish for food at sea ???

[@paulfarace9595]

In wartime no. But occasionally flying fish would end up on deck and Philippine stewards would run out and gather them.

[@oldguy1528]

@@paulfarace9595 Thanks for the info !

[@christianweagle6253]

Why is *that* where the pencil sharper is ?!

[@paulfarace9595]

It's far too technical and top secret...

[@tomtucker3193]

What is the circular plate mounted on the wall to your right in the steward’s compartment?

[@paulfarace9595]

Cover for air duct to the battery well below.