“Besides turning the propeller, the electricity from the batteries lights the boat, and turns the ventilating fans, works the air-compressor for the torpedo-tubes, drives all the big and little pumps, runs a lot of auxiliary motors that haul up the anchor, turn the rudders, and do other odd jobs, it heats the boat in cold weather—”
“And cooks the grub all the year round, don’t forget that, Joe,” said another member of the crew. “Luncheon is served in the palm room.”
We ate from a swinging table let down from the ceiling of the main- or living-compartment of the submarine, that extended forward from the engine-room to the tiny officers’ cabin and the torpedo room in the bows. Tiers of canvas bunks folded up against the walls showed where the crew slept when on a cruise. For lunch that day we had bread baked on the mother-ship, butter out of a can, fried ham, fried potatoes, and coffee hot from a little electric stove such as you can see in the kitchenette of a light-housekeeping apartment on shore. The lieutenant’s lunch was carried up to him on the bridge. When the meal was over, most of the men went on deck, and my friend the engineer put a large cigar in his mouth. I took out a box of matches and was about to strike one for his benefit when he stopped me, saying,
“Don’t ever strike a light in a submarine or a dynamite factory. It’s unhealthy.”
Courtesy of the Electric Boat Company.
Forward deck of a U. S. Submarine, in cruising trim.
I apologized profusely.
“The air is so much better than I had expected that I forgot where I was.”
“Yes,” said the engineer, chewing his unlighted cigar, “there is plenty of good air in a big modern boat like this, running on the surface in calm weather and with the main hatch and all ventilators open. But come with us when we’re bucking high seas or running submerged on a breathing-diet of canned air flavored with oil, and you’ll understand why so many good men have been invalided out of the flotilla with lung-trouble. We’re the only warships without any dogs or parrots or other mascots on board, for no animal could endure the air in a submarine.”