US Navy Film: Improving Shipboard Living Conditions, 1953

the effectiveness of a ship is directly proportional to the efficiency of the men who manned the ship efficiency of the man in turn depends not only on their training their discipline and their leadership but in great measure on their living conditions because many of today's ships lack the facilities which provide good habitability and thus provide highest efficiency commander operational development force was ordered to make an evaluation of shipboard living conditions conditions were studied on all the major types of ships the reports indicated that much improvement could be made in existing ships by giving habitability consideration commensurate with the consideration given other military characteristics to explore this concept it was decided to make experimental changes in the living accommodations of an existing ship to see what could be done to improve habitability representatives of the forces afloat Bureau of ships the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and a well known industrial designer met to work out detailed plans for improving the various berthing messin and sanitation compartments on a 692 class destroyer surveys indicated serious overcrowding studies were made to see if the crew could be reduced by more efficient utilization of each man the tight commander cut the personnel allowance on a trial basis this made more room and more facilities available for each man total reduction amounted to 37 persons officers CBO's and enlisted men the ship's effectiveness was not expected to be reduced because better living conditions would make each man more efficient the Meredith was scheduled for regular overhaul and a 3-inch 50 gun conversion and was selected for habitability improvements on an experimental places when the Meredith tied up the birthing spaces were like this very crowded very inconvenient lockers no readily available place to store personal belongings tea coats and foul-weather clothing were hung wherever space was available there was no room and no facilities for recreation the comfort of many of the births were diminished by the glare of hot lights and the projection of valves and pipes from the overhead the poor arrangement of the bunks made traffic flow slow and difficult cruise berthing compartment a 304 L was laid out like this 48 men lived here not only was it crowded but it was very difficult to get to the ladder at revelry and General Quarters most critical bottleneck existed here where 33 men had to pass when clearing the compartment redesign produced a more efficient layout further improved by reducing the number of personnel assigned to the compartment a 304 L now looks like this note how the removal of a few men and the rearrangement and redecoration have improved the appearance the bulkheads are painted a gray beige and the compartment is pleasantly eliminated by fluorescent lights foam neoprene mattresses improve the comfort of the berths the stanchions make a more orderly appearance than the chains of the old tight berths the drawer type transom Locker can be used without disturbing the occupants of the berths new utility screens give the men some privacy and make it easy for them to get it some of their often used items in addition to their transom lockers new upright lockers supply more storage space for each man three men share one the top space is for their pee coats and uniforms and each man has an individual drawer below the locker itself and the door is ventilated bars provide for drying damp towels and other small laundry items the redesign now permits some recreation space an upholstered transom several tables this Chiefs messin compartment originally was designed to be twice this size then additional military equipment was installed and caused overcrowding the condition not conducive to pleasant meals or relaxation an opening behind this locker was the only passageway for over 20 of the crew to pass back and forth to their berthing compartment directly below the Chiefs quarters relocation of a hatch permitted the men to go to their compartment without walking through the Chiefs quarters and the rearrangement and redecoration of the quarters made them brighter and more comfortable although a little smaller the after CBO quarters were encroached on by the installation of this ammo moist for the new three-inch 50 centerline mount two officers were crowded into this bunk room and three more in an adjacent room just like it not very satisfactory for sleeping or working on the blueprint the officers quarters looked like this notice that the passageway took up much valuable space the redesign made use of the passageway and permitted separation of bunks from space or office work and recreation the space now is improved both for sleep and for work interior decorating by color of paint and other means adds much to the attractiveness of these quarters the captain's cabin was improved by relocation of a door and the installation of a more utilitarian desk a transom type berth was also installed to replace the old berth it doubles as a sati for the captain's official and personal guests the Meredith's messing system was far from efficient traffic was confused and further complicated by mass cooks using the same ladder as they replenished the food from the deck above part of the traffic problem was solved by installation of a dumbwaiter to bring food down from the galley worst diet was at the ladder where the line had to turn 180 degrees pick up utensils make other sharp turns and pass down the serving table immediate improvement was made by reversing the ladder and moving the serving table this permitted rearrangement of furnishings so that there was room for the dumbwaiter and ice cream freezer and a hardening cabinet the line makes a smooth turn now to get to the serving table and moves with less confusion the galley was rearranged on an experimental basis that her ventilation was provided although 88 seats were provided in the old Messing compartment many of them were very difficult to reach and therefore were not used study showed that never more than 53 seats were in use at any one time in redesigning the compartment only 56 seats were provided however small tables replace the long tables and all seats are accessible no longer is there an institutional appearance each man has a wider table frontage and more elbow room backs on the seats provide additional comfort the lighting and coloring of the bulkheads tend to make unnoticeable the extraneous gear such as ducting ammunition hoists and the like all furnishings are colorful tables pearl gray and yellow gray transoms blue seats day Oh cads beige deck terracotta the keynote is cheerfulness better appetites for the good food supplied the men no longer have to scrape their trays redesign of the scullery permits them to leave them here for disposal of scraps in the garbage grinder a piano is installed to enhance the use of the compartment for recreation after missing hours the smaller tables are more adaptable to recreational pursuits than are the old 8 and 10 man tables this is the redecorated and rearranged ward room better lighting new color scheme tan and green drapes attractive table lamps a smaller more utilitarian sideboard and a narrower table all making for an air of spaciousness and comfort the sanitary facilities on the Meredith were overcrowded ratios were changed so that now there is one lavatory for 15 men and one shower for 32 men on the plans it looked like this water closets urinals wash basins and shower all in one steamy smelly compartment rearrangement and a bulkhead permitted division of the head from the washroom facilities experiences like this tended to reduce human dignity to correct this deficiency screens were installed permitting a degree of privacy hitherto unknown as an experiment towel drying facilities were provided in the forward washroom by installation of this bank of newly designed lockers the doors are removable so that toilet articles stowed in the door may be taken out and placed conveniently for use in the towel space continual circulating air dries the towels after use you have seen some of the improvements which can be made in living conditions aboard existing ships the improvements made are not as perfect as desired for two reasons first many cable runs pipelines and vent ducts are economically unfeasible to relocate and second the experimental nature of the job permitted such deficiencies as these two remain a scuttle in a main passageway to trip hurrying feet a petcock suspended from the overhead even a five foot ten inch sailor is too tall here lockers which are still inadequate to stow all of a man's gear soiled laundry storages of inadequate capacity in spite of these defects the Meredith experiment is already shown that much can be done to improve living conditions on ships now in Commission the Meredith experiment has not exploited all possibilities for improvement studies and investigations have shown that much more can be done judicious consideration must be given to the removal of equipments which do not support the mission of the ship and the removal of equipment like this torpedo dolly which takes up space and weight out of proportion to its value to the ship even though the appearance and arrangement of the living spaces have improved they are still excessively hot because of the heat some men prefer to sleep on deck temperature control of some sort must be installed if human efficiency is to be high during the summer months and during traffic operations installing mechanical cooling will not only improve human efficiency but will also increase the resistance of the ship to contamination from atomic biological and chemical attacks the experiment to improve shipboard living conditions has not only improved efficiency but it has also improved morale in an evaluation of the conversion on the narrative members of the crew said well it's like this it's a lot easier to hang on to your Chow when you don't have to hang onto a chair the 200% improvement well at last we have a place where we can sit down and relax their linoleum stuff on the deck instead of bare steel is great yeah the Navy is really trying to do something for us giving living conditions the consideration commensurate with other military characteristics will result in improved efficiency of the man and thus in improved effectiveness of their ship you

Channel: braintrusts

Views: 173,342

Rating: 4.8965516 out of 5

Keywords: Navy, Ships, Warship, USN, US Navy, Fletcher Class, Sumner Class, Gearing Class, Crew Berthing

Id: pVk3pHcfPVQ

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 15 2015