Mini Tour of U.S.S. Ouellet

As you look at these photos, keep in mind that the Ouellet was almost 20 years old at the time that these were taken. Newer ships have been designed with nicer, better "thought out" crew accommodations.
Ship's bridge
Crew's lounge
Crew's head (bathroom)
Main passageway
Ship's store
Enlisted berthing
Enlisted galley deck
Summary

Ship's Bridge
The bridge, or pilot house of the Ouellet. Nothing fancy or "Star Wars" here. Just basic navigation and control equipment.

Crew's Lounge
The main (and only) crew's lounge. Basically a room with some benches, tables, and a TV. At sea, you could relax in here, smoke a cigarette (the only place inside the ship where you could), and watch a movie. The Ouellet had a rotating library of hundreds of movies - most donated (?) by the movie studios. At the time that this photo was taken, the lounge was in desperate need of remodeling. Although the lounge was re-done, the cushions were constantly ripped due to back pockets and belts that were full of tools, knives, and other hazards to vinyl!

Crew's Head (bathroom)
The forward crew's head. Bathrooms on a ship are called "heads" because in the old days of sailing ships, they were usually located at the head, or front, of the ship. To conserve fresh, or potable water, which was "evaporated" from seawater, toilets used seawater. The boilers that made steam for the turbines got first priority for the fresh water. If they were running low, the crew's water supply was turned off until the tanks were back up. Let's hear it for gas turbines!
Showers were on the left, sinks are shown on the right, and stalls were behind the sinks, on the other side of the bulkhead (wall). No Jacuzzis or shower massages here!

Main Passageway
This is one of the two main passageways running almost the entire length of the ship at "Main Deck" level. This passageway was on the port (left) side of the ship, and was above the waterline by about 10 feet (?). The bulkhead on the left is the outside skin of the superstructure. The hull of the ship was a maximum thickness of only about a quarter of an inch in most places.

Ship's Store
On the right side of this photo is the ship's store. Items such as food, clothing, cameras, and music cassettes could be purchased here at low prices. Not bad for a room that was only about 15 feet by 15 feet!
If you look closely, you can see the barber shop pole on the left side of the photo. The barber shop was located directly across from this side of the store. The post office was to the immediate left of the barber shop. "Sick bay" was located across from the front side of the store.

Enlisted Berthing
More or less typical of enlisted berthing on board the Ouellet, this particular section was known as the "ghetto" due to the fact that it had the least amount of room between rows of "racks". Width of the floor shown was about four feet at its widest point. This compartment accommodated 80 men, stacked 3 high in these "racks". At this time, the upper "racks" were little more than steel pans with about 3 inches of foam on top. The middle and bottom "racks" were the more desirable "coffin racks". Identical to the upper "racks" except that these flipped open to reveal storage underneath, hence the name "coffin racks". The lockers pictured are for those without the "coffins". The middle "racks were the most desirable of the "coffin racks" because one had to "trice" (strap) up the bottom "racks" every morning to allow for cleaning of the deck underneath. Berthing was assigned based on rank. Top "racks" were usually the "new guy's".
Officers slept in staterooms with usually 2 men to a room. They slept on bunk style "coffins" instead of the three-high enlisted style. Staterooms usually had their own sinks, more personal storage, and fold down desks.
Moral: Aboard ship, it was better to be an officer!

Enlisted Galley Deck
This is a view of the enlisted galley deck. The kitchen itself was out of sight to the right. The food onboard the Ouellet was usually pretty good. Sometimes, it was just a matter of which cook was doing the cooking. My personal favorite was the lasagna. It was consistently delicious! I will say this much though. You had to like rice. Due to the fact that Phillippine nationals could enlist in our navy, but could not hold jobs requiring a security clearance, many of them were mess specialists, or cooks. There was rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, and rice for dinner. You had to like rice!
Officers had their own eating area, called the wardroom. They ate off of china and silver, had their own separate food, and a separate cook to prepare their meals.
Need I repeat myself? Aboard ship, it was better to be an officer!

In summary, I decided to concentrate on the interior of the ship, thinking that would be something that most people would never get the chance to see. Although the accomodations were quite Spartan, and the ship was not the most modern at the time, life aboard ship was not totally intolerable - as long as hot water was available!

	Ship's Bridge The bridge, or pilot house of the Ouellet. Nothing fancy or "Star Wars" here. Just basic navigation and control equipment.
	Crew's Lounge The main (and only) crew's lounge. Basically a room with some benches, tables, and a TV. At sea, you could relax in here, smoke a cigarette (the only place inside the ship where you could), and watch a movie. The Ouellet had a rotating library of hundreds of movies - most donated (?) by the movie studios. At the time that this photo was taken, the lounge was in desperate need of remodeling. Although the lounge was re-done, the cushions were constantly ripped due to back pockets and belts that were full of tools, knives, and other hazards to vinyl!
	Crew's Head (bathroom) The forward crew's head. Bathrooms on a ship are called "heads" because in the old days of sailing ships, they were usually located at the head, or front, of the ship. To conserve fresh, or potable water, which was "evaporated" from seawater, toilets used seawater. The boilers that made steam for the turbines got first priority for the fresh water. If they were running low, the crew's water supply was turned off until the tanks were back up. Let's hear it for gas turbines! Showers were on the left, sinks are shown on the right, and stalls were behind the sinks, on the other side of the bulkhead (wall). No Jacuzzis or shower massages here!
	Main Passageway This is one of the two main passageways running almost the entire length of the ship at "Main Deck" level. This passageway was on the port (left) side of the ship, and was above the waterline by about 10 feet (?). The bulkhead on the left is the outside skin of the superstructure. The hull of the ship was a maximum thickness of only about a quarter of an inch in most places.
	Ship's Store On the right side of this photo is the ship's store. Items such as food, clothing, cameras, and music cassettes could be purchased here at low prices. Not bad for a room that was only about 15 feet by 15 feet! If you look closely, you can see the barber shop pole on the left side of the photo. The barber shop was located directly across from this side of the store. The post office was to the immediate left of the barber shop. "Sick bay" was located across from the front side of the store.
	Enlisted Berthing More or less typical of enlisted berthing on board the Ouellet, this particular section was known as the "ghetto" due to the fact that it had the least amount of room between rows of "racks". Width of the floor shown was about four feet at its widest point. This compartment accommodated 80 men, stacked 3 high in these "racks". At this time, the upper "racks" were little more than steel pans with about 3 inches of foam on top. The middle and bottom "racks" were the more desirable "coffin racks". Identical to the upper "racks" except that these flipped open to reveal storage underneath, hence the name "coffin racks". The lockers pictured are for those without the "coffins". The middle "racks were the most desirable of the "coffin racks" because one had to "trice" (strap) up the bottom "racks" every morning to allow for cleaning of the deck underneath. Berthing was assigned based on rank. Top "racks" were usually the "new guy's". Officers slept in staterooms with usually 2 men to a room. They slept on bunk style "coffins" instead of the three-high enlisted style. Staterooms usually had their own sinks, more personal storage, and fold down desks. Moral: Aboard ship, it was better to be an officer!
	Enlisted Galley Deck This is a view of the enlisted galley deck. The kitchen itself was out of sight to the right. The food onboard the Ouellet was usually pretty good. Sometimes, it was just a matter of which cook was doing the cooking. My personal favorite was the lasagna. It was consistently delicious! I will say this much though. You had to like rice. Due to the fact that Phillippine nationals could enlist in our navy, but could not hold jobs requiring a security clearance, many of them were mess specialists, or cooks. There was rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, and rice for dinner. You had to like rice! Officers had their own eating area, called the wardroom. They ate off of china and silver, had their own separate food, and a separate cook to prepare their meals. Need I repeat myself? Aboard ship, it was better to be an officer!