Happy Thanksgiving To All My Friends

Diesel Boat Chow Hall, Aft

These are pictures of a diesel submarine's chow hall. Together they show the whole chow hall. Up to 24 sailors can eat in each sitting depending upon if the cook doesn't use any of the table space. The meal would consist of up to 5 servings depending on the amount of crew on board. The chow hall is also the movie theater, the library, classroom and provides any other type of space when needed.

Diesel Boat Chow Hall, Forward

I ate numerous Thanksgiving and other holiday dinners in submarine chow halls just like this one. The greatest thing about submarine chow halls was we ate off plates, not trays. Food was normally put on the table on platters or in large bowls and you served yourself.

Diesel Boat, Galley

As the boats got bigger, so did the chow hall however, they still look very much the same basically Formica and CRES (stainless steel). Over the years soda and milk machines were added to go with the coffee urns and microwave ovens were added to go with the toasters. The Galley is where the cook prepared the meal. It was about six feet from the passageway to the sink shown in the middle of the Galley picture. On the right of the picture where the ovens, grills and deep fat fryer. On the left the mixer and a small work area. Much of the food preparation such as salads would be done by the mess cook on a chow hall table.

Let us not forget that a submarine is a ship that suffers angles and dangles depending upon the operations it is involved in. The cook often had to work while the ship had angles (up) or dangles (down) of 30 degrees and most of it was done in the galley, from making rolls to roasting turkeys.

For those of us who could not be with our families because of duty or deployments the camaraderie of the ships crew made these holiday meals less difficult and something to remember.

May God bless and keep all of my shipmates, past , present and future. May God also bless those serving today wherever they are around the world.

May you all have fair winds and following seas.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving