[TML] In the Navy

[Terry Carlino]

juliane murphy wrote:
>    Hi gang,
>      Not overly familiar with the way the TU Imperial Navy operates, I have, not *too* surprisingly, decided to cadge bits from the RW Navy.
>      Problem is, not having been in the RW Navy, I'm basically just as lost as if I were trying to pin down details of the IN.
>      Anyhow, I'm wondering just how high the racks are stacked aboard Navy vessels. I've seen them 2-high in "Mister Roberts", but could've sworn I've seen them 3-high in something else. Also, while watching some WW2 documentary, I saw a shot of bunks stacked a scary 5 or 6-high (of course this was to accommodate troops for the invasion of Fortress Europe).  
>      Confused.
>     -Ken-
>   
As many have already talked about the U.S. Navy (of which I was a 
member) I thought I'd say a few words about other Navies.

I'll start by stating that in the 1980's I was station aboard an Adam 
Class Destroyer, a ship built in the 1960's. It had a crew of about 320. 
Accomodations were as described by other. At this time I had the 
pleasure to serve in a task group with the  FGS Rommel, which was a 
German Navy variant of the Adams. Petty officers on the Rommel lived in 
six person staterooms. I've no doubt that overall crew spaces were the 
same size, but it is amazing how much more livable a few walls can make 
things. In other words you can have 36 people in a berthing space or 
divide that berthing space into 6 rooms, with doors, and give people 
more privacy.

They also had more storage space. In many ways there could be plenty 
more storage space in most berthing compartments. Most U.S. Navy 
Berthing compartments have plenty of nooks and crannys  which could be 
filled with storage, but isn't because regulations set a specific amount 
of storage for each male sailor. Of course female sailors are allowed 
more storage.

I won't even go into the petty officer club which was located aboard, 
which was "wet" while in  port.

As to canon, most designs in Traveller that actually show crew 
accommodations are merchant ships. U.S. merchants (those that exist) 
have luxurious accommodations for merchant seamen, compared to naval 
enlisted sailors. Many get private rooms. Even junior seamen only share 
with one other person.

Of course looking at present space accommodation, I do not believe that 
ISS even has a place dedicated for sleeping. Privacy is completely 
unavailable.

Looking at it another way, previously, in earlier eras, bunk rooms were 
the common sleeping arrangements many places where single men, 
especially, worked; lumber camps, ranches, etc. On ships of the sailing 
age seamen slept in hammocks strung in working spaces. Warrants had 
micro-small cabins and officers staterooms.

So in a sociological sense what kind of accommodations a ship has says a 
lot about the society  from which it's members come. Germany spent more 
on berthing because it had a small navy, less cost to provide better 
accommodations. Petty officers were considered to have some military 
status, as opposed to the modern U.S. Navy where almost every member is 
a petty officer, with little status until reaching the chief petty 
officer grade.

I've often said that much can be shown about a whole society just by 
seeing what kind of bathroom accommodations a building or ship has. If 
every apartment has a bathroom that says something. If a hotel has one 
bathroom per floor where most hotels have only outhouses that says 
something. If it has the same where most hotels have bathrooms for every 
room that says something different.

Looking at canon ships what do we see? Most spacers seem to have 
semi-private rooms, 2 to a cabin, with detached bathrooms which are 
shared among several staterooms. GT ship's, especially those which 
embark Marines seem to allow many more 16 person bunkrooms, which seem 
to follow modern U.S. Navy practice. Of course all we really have is a 
number of small military craft, perhaps as few as half a dozen. Most 
Traveller ships are either merchants or scout craft.

-- 
TerryC
All that is Gold does not glitter
Not all who travel are lost