Why Do Submariners Get Better Food than the Rest of the US Navy? Part 2 (w/

One of the secrets to keeping and retaining highly motivated and effective submarine crews was providing them with fresh and varied high-quality food. Refrigeration was one requirement but the designers of the fleet sub went the extra distance to incorporate a small space for enlisted men to sit and eat. The four tables could accommodate up to 24 diners. Check out how maximum mileage was achieved by minimum investment in space and equipment, including icecream makers with special guest ‪@BattleshipNewJersey‬.
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Here is a link to part 1:
• Why Do Submariners Get...

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Thanks for having us Cod!

[@paulfarace9595]

It was an honor to have you aboard!

[@tomherron4334]

Just subscribed to your channel thanks to USS New Jersey. I teach high school. Years ago I had a very bright, motivated student who was also homeless who really wanted to be a high end chef. After researching his options he ended up enlisting in the USN to pursue his dream as a culinary specialist. Last time I heard from him he was 8 years away from retiring at age 38 with a nice chunk of savings. He also had earned his bachelors and was working on his masters in hospitality management thanks to the Navy.

[@John-jl9de]

Qualified fleet boat sailor here USS Sirago SS485, 1971-1972, really enjoy your channel and can relate to all of your stories and explanations of these old boats. DBF, diesel boats forever.

[@UnsaltedCracker267]

Qualified and served on Sirago 1967-1969., left when she was going into the yard for major work..Was an IC3 (SS) at the time. DBF.

[@allakin8574]

Nevertheless, sub crews also got their fair share of SOS, navy beans, etc.. My old man was SC1(SS) during WWII aboard USS TUNNY, USS CHARR, and USS BECUNA (plus 3 years post-war on BERGALL, TRUMPETFISH, AND QUEENFISH). When I was a kid, we ate what he had cooked on the boat, except chocolate ice cream. He had eaten a lifetime’s-worth of chocolate and never looked back. Strange how some of that stuff is Comfort Food now I’m in my 70’s.

[@rob46711]

I was a cook on a SSBN in the early 90s. We would have pizza every Saturday for midrats, on the halfway night we would have lobster tail and crab legs for dinner, and on Sundays for dinner another department would cook.

[@JoshuaTootell]

Sounds very similar to the USCG...

[@brad506th]

That's funny. In the Army Lobster for chow was usually a bad omen of the green weenie about to strike. 😂

[@supergeek1418]

Fresh milk, and fresh salads. I served aboard the USS Thomas Edison (SSBN 610), and upon returning from patrol we'd usually grab our first meal aboard the tender, and typically drink 2 or 3 glasses of milk, and down 2 mess trays full of all of the goodies from the salad bar. After that, it was back to the boat, because (by then) they'd have fresh stuff back on board , and (like you said) our food was way better.

[@daveware4117]

Even on a modern nuclear submarine, the duty has to be the toughest in the navy. Thoses brave souls that sign up for that duty deserve the best food.

[@John-jl9de]

No, a mess cook is the toughest job.

[@donalddodson7365]

Vietnam Army "Ice Cream:" in 1969-70 at Camp Enari & Radcliff the PX snack bars had chilled granular "soft serve" which had the consistency of wall spackle. No cream, no liquid milk, very little vanilla flavoring, but we would buy a cup, hoping the last 20 were mistakes, and "this one" would be right, and remind us of Fosters Freeze back "in the world."

[@frankraymond9254]

The cooks aboard the boats I served in, USS Bluegill AGSS-242 and USS Ronquil SS-396 were absolutely great. It was always fun to notice when the cakes set when we had a down bubble or up bubble. One end higher than the other. Made no difference to the crew. There were delicious! Coffee, sugar and flour were stored outboard the diesel engines on the catwalks. On Bluegill we had GM 248S engine and Ronquil had the Fairbanks Morse type. The engine room oiler had the job of going out board the engines and bringing forward whatever the cook needed. All of the cans and diesel fuel and lube oil on them and there was no seal good enough to keep the oil out. The Sugar and flour containers weighed 50 pounds and coffee 35. A good pot of coffee had to have a little diesel sheen on the top. The real gem was the night baker. He could wake the crew from a sound sleep when making fresh donuts. Better than anything that can be produced today. Still can smell them. Diesel Boats Forever

[@paulfarace9595]

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

[@5695q]

Even on a carrier, the fresh milk and eggs run out quick. you get used to the milk in a little box with a nuclear half life for storage and powdered eggs, green eggs and rainbow ham for breakfast, yum.

[@alanjameson8664]

What? No farm deck?

[@toddmetzger]

Didn't know that Cod had started a YT channel. So glad you have made some videos. I first visited the Cod as a young man with my father about 40 or so years ago. Had a great time exploring the sub and enjoying the commentary of one of the vets. Even got a book that day 24 Torpedoes and 13 Buttons.

[@macca4759]

As an Australian 🇦🇺I’m so gonna go down the rabbit hole of the history of Cod. Thankyou to everyone who was involved in keeping us safe 🙏

[@timothywalker4563]

When I visited the Cod they sold copies of a book on there wartime exploits, but I don’t know on how you would get a copy from the Cod’s office to Australia 🤔

[@corystansbury]

Love that all the museum ships are getting KZbin channels. Subscribed and watching all the videos now!

[@brucerumrey8894]

During my time in the Navy 1968-72 I was station on the Howard W Gilmore AS-16, and worked maintaining a lot of diesel submarines and some nuclear boats. Most of our work was in the shop on board the Gilmore, but sometimes we would have to go on board the submarines to maintain something you would want to make sure that it was over a meal time. Then you would get feed on the submarine the food was always good. The food on the Gilmore was good, but the food on the submarines was better. I think the cooks try harder, because the officers eat the same as the crew.

[@klsc8510]

In the Air Force at Pruem Air Station West Germany, my first roommate was one of the station cooks. We got along great. I used to kid people that he was trained by the CIA. Of course they were thinking the spy place and NOT the Culinary Institute of America! The food at Pruem was good as it was a small post with about 400 Airman. We all looked forward to spaghetti day. It was first come and NO seconds! The sauce was so thick that when dolled out, it stayed in the shape of the ladle!

[@alanjameson8664]

It's not just the US Navy practice--same thing in the UK Royal Navy. I remember reading that a member of the crew on Nelson's Victory noticed the better than average food. Asking about it, he learned that the crew qualified for submarine rations because the old drydock in which the ship is located is below sea level!

[@supergeek1418]

Bureaucracy at its finest!!!

[@thekidfromcleveland3944]

Hope the audio visuals worked flawlessly for Ryan's visit. Warm regards from the Northern Ohio Railway museum.

[@mikefochtman7164]

SSN boat in the 70's. Steak and eggs for breakfast every sunday morning. "Blasted Buzzard" on Tuesdays (chicken and dumplings lol). After the first week, missed fresh milk and green salad. But we had fresh-baked bread everyday.

[@MadDawg-bp5wt]

I am not sure the food supplied was better on the subs, but the cooks were for sure!! I remember loading beef that had 'Rejected from CA Dept of Corrections' stamped on it. The cooks could do wonders. I was on the USS Florida(Blue) and we had 2 cooks rotate out to cook at the White House. We had another who had a catering business when in port.... and he would make treats and walk around and hand them out from time to time. 2 people you don't tick off.... the cooks who feed you, and the yoemen who do you paper work (including leave and pay)

[@boydovens4180]

The most important person on a boat or ship is the Chef / Cook , not the captain .

[@dewayneray2072]

I knew Mr Alford Holley who served on the USS Tambor submarine….very interesting combat stories…he told me they had very good food for about two weeks, then the freezer would break, leaving them canned meals for the rest of the patrol. Alford passed several years ago. He was raised in South Walton County FL, very rural, so he was raised like a pioneer farmer family. He enlisted in 1936. I remember he loved the submarine ice cream you described.

[@brentgranger7856]

What I do miss from being a radioman on an improved Los Angeles-class submarine is the freshly baked cookies and bread the cooks so kindly passed to us through our "cookie hatch," our emergency egress from the radio room in case we couldn't go through the main entrance.

[@artistjoh]

So the Cod is part of Australian history as well as American history. And now all this time since World War II, Fremantle submarine base, now called HMAS Stirling or Fleet Base West is being expanded and US Virginia's and British Astute's will operate from there from later in the decade as part of the AUKUS alliance. The only thing missing is the Dutch, because Fremantle hosted Dutch, British, American, and Australian submarines back then. A quarter of all American submarine patrols in the Pacific operated from Fremantle. The allies kept the base a secret from 1942 to 1945 and the Japanese never discovered where the submarines were coming from until a newspaper article in August 1945 revealed the role Fremantle played in the War. The Cod was an important part of that history.

[@aland7236]

The person that designed the original ice cream machine must've gone on to design the units used by McDonald's later on.

[@BB12659]

Not only an education each and every time we get a view, but assisting and supporting the COD, genius!

[@TVaughan667]

"Mess Crank," now there's a term I have not heard in some time. I 'mess cranked,' in the Chiefs' Mess for ninety days aboard the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) in the early 1980s. Not bad duty - as a rite of passage, so to speak.

[@joshuaglaude1549]

My son is a WWII nut. He's 9 and knows more than most adults. Not just American either. He knows the Russians and Germans. Wish we had a ship/submarine closer to me. We have one in Mobile, Al the USS Alabama and the Drum. But it's 5 hours from me.

[@supertec2023]

I love listen his old stories it's very enlightening how things were back then and what people had to do. And it's great you can get them somewhat firsthand from some of the surviving sailors are aboard the Cod.

[@jeffsr8300]

I remember very well mess cranking, longest 90 days in most new sailors lives.

[@anthonylowder6687]

I was in the Navy back in 1985 although I never served aboard a sub being from the South I really missed hush puppies.

[@josephmoylan9199]

Yup im also a New Jersey crossplanker as well ( just made it up, ive seen old pics of several boats moored together with planks and thought it fitting here) but been watching NJ youtube for a while and now the cod thanks to NJ

[@thevictoryoverhimself7298]

Cod is my childhood museum ship and has always been in a fantastic state of preservation. Its worth a visit. Plenty of fleet submarines exist as museums but many are either in so-so condition (propped up in a coffer dam and painted with layer upon layer of cheap paint over rust) or have been upgraded to postwar modifications before being retired. "Cod" is one of the best examples in the world of a boat in good condition, in its original ww2 state. The diesel engines even still work.

[@vxe6vxe6]

Shipboard ice cream machine - The Auto-Dog! 🤣

[@jamesmason2228]

This video makes an excellent point about something often overlooked about WW2. We often hear the stories of gallantry and sacrifice of course - as well we should. But the role it plays in mixing up the culture is something we really need to hear more about.

[@sango_wango851]

I looked it up and found out that Avoset is a company that is still around and they make non-dairy cake toppings and whipping cream. There is not much information online but it seems like they might be from Australia which makes sense as well.

[@mrkeiths48]

Good to see you spend some time with the bubbleheads. When he mentioned pizza, I recall pizza nights were on Wednesdays while we were on Westpac. A sacred night and seriously kept morale in check on the boat. Great video.

[@wandrinyew]

Great collaboration guys!

[@larrydemaar409]

I thought that they would make submarine sandwiches on the USS Cod or maybe fish sandwiches.

[@sky_ship]

What an awesome guy. Subbed to you now, thanks for introducing us Ryan!

[@shubinternet]

Thank you Ryan for introducing us to all these other interesting museum ships!

[@Floods-uy6tl]

Australia welcomed lot of Italians after the war; we didn’t necessarily give them the best welcome initially but they are a big part of Australian culture (especially in Melbourne) these days. Great video thanks for the stories!

[@fire304]

Gotta talk about the great toilet paper supply issues! (I believe it was the Skipjack)

[@gailbrookhart1777]

I've been aboard USS Cod as a tourist in Cleveland. I specifically remember seeing those tables. It would have been in the late 1970s shortly after you opened for tours because I was still in high school. Fun to hear that lots of sailors got their first taste of Italian food on Cod and I got my first taste of authentic Italian food in the 70s at Mama Santa's on Mayfield Road.

[@paulfarace9595]

Well to many Cleveland Italians you still haven't had real Italian food!😅😅😅

[@kanrakucheese]

I deduce the substitution was using a non-Italian cheese and/or different seasonings for the sauce. Every other ingredient is accounted for. Pizza is dough covered with sauce, and cheese. Dough is flour, yeast (+sugar to feed yeast if seeking best results), and water. The mention of cake means all that was present so it can’t be that. Sauce can be either tomato based (tomato, tomato, seasonings) or white sauce (butter+flour+cream/milk+cheese+seasonings). I don’t know about tomato, but if there was ice cream, there was cream aboard. Cheese is the one that makes up the bulk of a pizza and is going to be regional. You absolutely aren't going to find proper Parmesan outside of Italy, and I doubt Australians had even American style copies. Mozzarella for topping is more likely, as it's a manufacturing method rather than the bacterial culture that makes it what it is, but not a 100%. No idea what hard cheeses would have been obtainable in Australia during WW2, but it's something a culinary enthusiast might try looking into. Seasoning would be least interesting. Whatever savory herbs would be obtainable down under instead of traditional ones and (if tomato based) Australian wine instead of Italian/American style would require a more discerning pallet to even distinguish.

[@davebell4917]

There's one extra element to pizza dough and pasta. The protein content is important. Some of the Italian dough is at the high-protein end of the bread-making range but would need an awkwardly long proving time. It would be a compromise but lower protein cake flour could work well. The Britain I grew up in had cooking set back by WW2 food rationing, a rather limited range of ingredients. We are lucky that Wensleydale and Stilton cheese survived. There is a big difference between sausages from Britain and those from the rest of Europe. American-style beefburgers were still exotic when I was at school. Though we did have ice-cream. On the other hand, we did have recipes that started out in India. I heard a few stories about Curry. The British versions frightened Americans.

[@daveharrison61]

​@@davebell4917 any decent strong, white bread flour will do the biz, and they'd have had for the bread baking. As for cheese... We were lucky ANY cheese survived besides the god awful plastic crap in supermarkets advertised as "mild cheddar"... A great many were basically recreated after the war because they'd died out for 5 years.

[@tech4pros1]

@@davebell4917 especially if one of the cooks was an indian or a gurkha, the curry would usually be weapons grade stuff.. the spice masks the freezer burn and taste of low quality meat..

[@alanjameson8664]

I read recently that the Italian Parmesan cheese has changed significantly in recent times; to get the old style one has to go to Wisconsin, where immigrants from Parma settled and kept making it the old way. And real Mozzarella is made from the milk of water buffalo! (No one knows just when or whence they were brought to Italy, but it was hundreds of years ago.) In California there is one producer of Mozzarella made from water buffalo milk.

[@troglokev]

If you don’t feed them they spend too much time thinking about the Rayleigh-Plesset equation.

[@bille.3126]

I also just subscribe thanks to New Jersey. En2SS on Uss Ronquil, SS396, my Qual boat. Slept bottom bunk with feet on the ice cream machine!

[@gaveintothedarkness]

Your stories are great! Hope you get lots of subs from everyone coming over from BattleshipNJ

[@timothywalker4563]

I think after not having a fresh salad 🥗 after awhile I might start dreaming about it, that and fresh fruit 😂

[@vwandtiny3769]

I knew what everyone loved and what they hated, if you pissed me off i would cook your favorite food and put the item that you didn't like in it. seldom happened but there are three rules in the Navy, don't mess with Doc because if he loses your shot record you have to get them all Yeoman because if he loses your pay record you don't get paid, and most importantly the Cooks because he has his hands in your mouth.

[@eaglechawks3933]

I have to take issue with the idea that it was just the Submariners who got better food. Navy chow has always been the best -- that goes for ships and shore stations as well!

[@davidknows3320]

I just visited Cod on my way through to Milwaukee from NH. You do a fantastic job. I really enjoyed my time there.

[@jeffsr8300]

I'm also a subscriber to Battle Ship New Jersey.

[@murph705]

I was on submarines from 98 to 2003. Cross decked on a few for qualification purposes, and every boat I was on had a Friday night pizza tradition underway. Each Friday night a different division would make pizza for the rest of the crew. I'm not sure if that was just the one boat I was on and the two that I rode, or if it was a fleet-wide tradition, but if it was, I would like to think it was George who inspired it!

[@HMTOlympic5151]

Amazing video ❤❤❤❤

[@Ivan-jv4fw]

Excellent video keep it up

[@politicsuncensored5617]

Do not bad mouth the cook or you will likely miss out on meal. That was the way it was when I was growing up at home~! Mom was right. PJ

[@crazybarryfam]

First.... What food would I miss? Screw the food, how about cool fresh air?

[@jastrapper190]

Love the history. Awesome video.

[@marvinthemartian9584]

It has nothing to do with submarines and everything to do with crew size. You will find the best food on cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and subs. While you will find the blandest food on carriers and tenders.

[@johnyarbrough502]

Girlfriends in UK got nylons and chocolate. In Australia, they got Nescafé. : )

[@jimmyPOUFAJones]

Do they still have the "dail-a-sailor" phones in Aussie ports?

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

You could feed me the best food in the world and I wouldn't go in a sub...

[@Idahoguy10157]

I miss the Newport Fried Chicken served on the boat.

[@jimmyPOUFAJones]

Haven't heard that in a minute........ Flashbacks

[@joshuathomas8529]

Piza and burgers were what missed the most on my deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

[@gregbillman42]

Was there any fishing done, while on the way or the way back from patrol areas?

[@mikeblitzen]

i would miss bbq. tell us about 'torpedo juice'

[@ryanjones6303]

Great video.

[@F-Man]

Who else is here from BB-62?

[@ghost-cs8jy]

Me...

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

Just the cool kids

[@F-Man]

@@BattleshipNewJerseyLIBBY!! 👋🏼

[@joeythedime1838]

Me 2!

[@timbober1]

Me

[@ramal5708]

The most luxurious submarine in the whole war, look at the German Uboats or Japanese submarines, they were nowhere near as luxurious as the US Subs since they had ice cream machine, pizza(for Cod), laundry, refrigerator etc.

[@patrickchambers5999]

Air Force in 1971 Thailand eating ice cream made with coconut water and coconut oil. An unusual taste experience with vanilla flavored ice cream.

[@timbober1]

Thank you

[@michaelguerin56]

Good video. Thank you.

[@henrycarlson7514]

So interesting, Thank You .

[@gwventura1]

I would love to know some of his pizza substitutions!

[@jrkat]

Steaks in Australia

[@pauloneil8531]

I would miss steamed crabe.

[@bfmcarparts]

What would I miss? SUSHI

[@mattp5083]

I'm having trouble orienting myself in here. Were there any major changes made to this part of the sub since last year besides the floor? Is the actual kitchen to the left or the right?

[@USSCod]

Camera is looking to starboard, I am sitting forward, Ryan is aft.

[@mattp5083]

@@USSCod Got it. I don't remember all the dishes being on the starboard side like that. I guess I'll have to make a trip to refresh my memory and see the ugly...eh hem *cough*...excuse me...awesome new dog house on the aft deck....😁

[@gorter23]

do they still sell those coffee mugs?

[@USSCod]

I understand the repros are available on the internet.

[@tomhenry897]

Pizza wasn’t common til the 70s Mom tried making chief boy r dee pizza kits Norwegians don’t make pizza

[@ejharvey2764]

What would the officer's meals would look like on a Submarine

[@dbfbobt]

I was a submariner throughout the 1960's. The officer's food came out of the same pots as the enlisted food and was carried to the wardroom by the stewards. There was a small pantry attached to the wardroom for coffee pot, heating rolls, eggs to order type of thing. In general the officers ate the same food as us enlisted animals.

[@Chris_at_Home]

@@dbfbobtI had steak and eggs at 2am in the Chiefs mess on the 650 when it was in Rota, Spain. My brother, an STC, and I were out having a few beers and went back to his submarine. The next day he came by the Squadron I was in and he even got to go on a patrol in a P-3.

[@jimmyPOUFAJones]

​@@Chris_at_Home 5 different subs in my career and I never saw a chiefs mess. Maybe on the tender....

[@Chris_at_Home]

@@jimmyPOUFAJones I worked at EB for about 8 months between getting out of the Navy and starting college. I did lots of wiring on the Groton 694. When I was 16 I worked in a TV repair shop in Connecticut and I used to hear stories about submarines from the 2 retired ETs that owned the shop. I loved Patrol Squadron duty never going on a ship and exploring places we deployed after our shift.

[@dks13827]

Avoset ?

[@SwiftOnSports]

Subbed to this Sub thanks to BB-62!

[@norahjaneeast5450]

I would probably miss some sort of a meal that would be like set on fire like crepe Suzette don't they said they'll Empire I don't know pretty sure they don't lie do that on a submarine so I would probably miss throw the cooking champagne on it and light it up I'm sure they don't let do that on submarines

[@bigsarge2085]

✌

[@LexieAssassin]

Something I'd be curious to learn is, how big are the torpedo tubes on the boat? I mean, obviously they fit 53cm torpedoes, but I can't find anywhere how much space the tubes themselves take up or how much space is between the tubes. (I'm working on a design for a fictional U-boat.)

[@mumfordalien1794]

If you ever find yourself at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry they have a late ww2 era US submarine there which you can pay a little extra to take a tour on. I want to say it is the USS Blueback but I’m not certain. As to your question, I was about 10 when I visited it and the torpedos seemed like they were about half my height and four of me long. Amazing piece of history!

[@LexieAssassin]

No, no, no! I mean the torpedo TUBES. I can find the measurements for the torpedoes themselves, but it is clear that the tubes are much larger in diameter than the torpedoes themselves. Thing is, I can't find anything on how big they are or the space required btw the tubes.

[@mumfordalien1794]

@@LexieAssassin oh I see, I would try to reach out to OMSI or the USS Cod memorial people and see if they are willing to send you some measurements. It’s worth a shot

[@supergeek1418]

If you can, visit The Museum of Science and Industry is Chicago. They have the German submarine U505 on display, and they offer tours.

[@mjjuntunen]

What was that piece of equipment that the mechanic wnted to let dogs piss on it?

[@USSCod]

The pit sword... a ship's version of the pitot tube on an aircraft. Used to measure speed in air or water by differential pressure.

[@dks13827]

Pit sword ?????????

[@yes_head]

Per Wiki: The pit sword (also known as a rodmeter) is a blade of metal or plastic that extends into the water beneath the hull of a ship. It is part of the pitometer log, a device for measuring the ship's speed through the water.

[@davidschick6951]

I hate food.

[@merlinwizard1000]

24th, 3 July 2023

[@Thiantrus]

Because every meal is a final meal