O Class SSK Galley

Just for Dinger to give him nightmares tonight.

The picture was taken from the door/serving hatch of the Galley of HMS/m Ocelot. I was standing in the passage and by my right shoulder is the bulkhead door to the Engine Room. Many O Boats had their Galley moved to the aft end of the accommodation space but not Ocelot.

S and S Staff, L/Cook and A/Cook produced three cooked meals a day for between 60 and 80. The only assistance was from Coxswain who did the victualing stores paper work and the Tanky/SR Mess man who was used a a part time store keeper, normally a AB R.P or U.C.

Neither the two Cooks or Steward on SSK's kepted watches at sea or in harbour but had Diving Stations and Attack Team spots.

No A/C or ventilation in galley except boats normal recycled air via punka louvers. Often lots of sweat in the stew.



How does this compare with a SSN V or T boat galley.


Nutty

 

Certainly the Valiant class main galley was a lot bigger, mind you it had to contain the inflated ego of a po chef or caterer pus staff. Even the wardroom pantry was almost big enough to get the three stewards into.

 

My cabin on a CVS was bigger than that!!!
Fresh bread and cream cakes every day, omletes cooked to order and a salad counter, oh and a shower cubicle you could use as many times a day as you wanted after you had used the exercise suite.
Yes I know I should have thought about that when I went General Service.
Gentlemen - you have my respect I for one could not have done it.

 

Stan

Dinger and his kindred spirits always gave both the lower deck and bunhouse three choices\at each meal.

1. Take it
2. Leave it
3. Wear it

Nutty

 

I can see 'Freddy' Fox now, stood there serving brekkers dressed in his cowboy steaming gear along with John Boardman the 'baby chef'.(both were over six foot tall by the way)!
Happy Days

 

Our POLTO one Big Donald Smith reckoned that the traps opposite the galley was a shrewd design move on the part of the MoD!!
Me, I take my hat off to Scouse Hughes our baby chef (who could ever call a 35 year old cookie boy married with five kids a baby chef!!) who suffered chronic sea sickness and to see him in the galley at six in the morning trying to muster 71 breakfasts while not trying to muster the contents of his stomach all over the eggs will live with me forever.
What a trooper. These guys did marvels with the resources they had. Bless 'em all.

 

Actually the S&T galleys aren't THAT much smaller Nutty...bigger on the inside...sort of a TARDIS effect. Did you know it is possible to drag a full grown man through the serving hatch...I've seen it done.

He just wouldn't give it a rest when told to. One Cookie Boy dragging him and the other trying to hit him with a meat cleaver and butchers steel...the PO Cook was his saving angel...only because he wanted to lamp him one good and proper. He did as well.

He left on draft shortly after. Time done or was it get him off before he got done?

I remember the nice white tiles the dockyardies laid down for us in the galley. All nice and hygienic looking...until the first deep dive after dry dock. Ping ping ping ping! Oooops!

 

An amazing feat of catering, and you eat it and you probably would again. Good for them and good for you matey!
On the Aveley we had a damn good chef who had two options: Take it or leave it! Slightly edited for those of a sensitive disposition.
It wasn't easy to complain about: freshly sauted scallops with a touch of garlic and layers of bacon, home made fried potatoes and bread as well - for breakfast, and I kid you not!

 

Oh Nutty you old devil, no nightmares for me old ships. I loved them beautiful old ladies(they weren't old in our day of course) I still sometimes hear the roar of them old donks in my ears to this day.the old T class galley was even more basic.I think you might have been our tanky on THE TRUNCH. at one point if memory serves. the only time I didn't cook at sea was a storm 10 in Biscay on passage routine.(Dinger swallowed a few illicit tots that trip as a ua. member) never seen so many ill sailors.ssbn galley was sheer luxury for us after the old conventionals though.thanks all you old seadogs for the kind words about us cookies. Incidentaly I only once pulled a body through the hatch and explained to the young man that he was not to slag dingers scran,young man no understand,broken nose later young man enjoyed his scran EVERY day


UP SPIRITS..........SPLICEEEEEEEEEEEERS!!!!!!!

 

PS.SELJUK I remember the dit about you nice white tiles we pissted our panties about that for ages.On the Warspite 74 ish, shut off for going deep,baby chef shut the sliding door to the galley roller shutter down,yep 3 hours later before we got any scran silly fcucker.didn't have sliding doors on real boats though



UP SPIRITS.............SPLICEEEEEEERS!!!!!!!

 

I caught Spike Hughes honking up in the porridge one morning up north.
Needless to say porridge was off the menu!
I have a picture of him in the galley on the onslaught.

What boat was it where they cracked a load of eggs and they were all double yolkers?
It was in the Navy News as I remember.

 

Rod in answer to your question re: the double yokers Rod, It was on the Oberon, Ginge "Jippers" Jones was the killick chef and if memory serves me the oldest baby chef in the submarine service Kevin "Pony" Moore and the year was 1977 again the mists of time are against me and we were on a magical mystery tour in the med!!

 

Cheers for that,we were also partial to magical mystery tours in the med.
Somewhere off the Turkish coast where they store vodka and Soviet steel in large amounts.


Or so they told us.

Most disturbing thing was seeing the escape hatches being welded shut before leaving Malta. ^_^;