In connection with this it might be well to state that the first letter written about commissary affairs asked that 27 steam kettles of 100 gallons capacity, 3 dough mixers of two barrel capacity, and 7 navy standard bake ovens be obtained. These were installed in addition to the German equipment left, after the rip-out period was finished.
All except the first and second class galley were dismantled. All the kettles and one large electric bake oven were installed in the first class galley compartment, thus consolidating the cooking machinery in the present spaces which were renamed the Troop Galley.
On E-deck aft, the third class galley was ripped out and a blacksmith and coppersmith shop installed. The third class dining room, later the engineer’s force mess room, became temporarily the crew mess room until the number became too large and the first class saloon was used until the deck force quarters were fitted up. It was during this time that a large number of the crew were ptomaine poisoned by eating hash that was prepared from infected corned beef, probably made so by defective tinning. The entire Medical Department was busy all that day, but luckily no lives were lost. The rumor leaked out that in some way “Fritz” had got in some fine work, but this was denied upon investigation.
Storage
Another phase of the preparation presented itself, the storage of provisions. The combined experience of the leading men in the department was brought into play to solve the many problems involved, to provide for storing and keeping of over two millions of pounds of provisions in the space allotted. The principal items and their quantities required for this loading were as follows: 200,000 lbs. of flour, 60,000 lbs. tinned meats, 25,000 lbs. salt meats, 120,000 lbs. smoked meats, 260,000 lbs. fresh meats, 25,000 lbs. turkey and fowl, 30,000 doz. eggs, 140,000 lbs. beans, 75,000 tinned vegetables, 420,000 fresh vegetables, 22,000 cereals, 145,000 dried, tinned and preserved fruits, 175,000 fresh fruits, 40,000 lbs. coffee, 3,000 lbs. cocoa, 2,500 lbs. tea, 60,000 evaporated milk, 5,000 qts. fresh milk, 5,000 qts. of cream, 40,000 lbs. fresh butter, 15,000 lbs. of lard, 15,000 lbs. salt, 175,000 lbs. of sugar.
These quantities were estimated to subsist 10,000 troops twenty-five days and 1,400 crew one hundred and twenty days.
Careful consideration had to be given to the location, size, drainage and estimated temperatures of the various storerooms and cold storage. Also the items of provisions and quantities of each item required and the storeroom best adapted by size and accessibility. This was worked out so successfully that when the actual provisioning was finished only about five hundred packages were left out of the allotted spaces due to the fact that at the last moment, passages had to be left in several rooms to give access to manhole plates leading into the double bottoms.
The cold storage spaces were an unknown quantity, only uncertain data (not from German sources) being available concerning the temperatures of the various compartments. However, this part of the provisioning was also successfully finished and it might be well to state that since the first loading, to the end of hostilities, only about 3,000 pounds of meats, and 6,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables were lost through deterioration.
Enough provisions were carried in the ship to approximate the supply of ten battleships and one supply ship. This comparison was often used when explaining to distinguished guests the enormous size of the Leviathan’s larder.