Retribution_ The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 - Max Hastings [75]
The quality and quantity of seamen’s rations seemed to army personnel infinitely enviable. The official Navy Cookbook of the period included such gems as: “The following words…are defined for the benefit of those who may not be familiar with some of the terms used in cooking: CANAPE (KA-NA-PA) a slice of bread fried in butter, on which anchovies or mushrooms are served. CAVIAR (KAV-I-AR) prepared or salted roe of the sturgeon or other large fish, used as a relish.” Everything in big ships’ galleys was on a heroic scale. The recipe for canned codfish cakes began: “Take 40 pounds of potatoes and 15 pounds of codfish…” And for beef chop suey: “30 pounds of beef, 30 pounds of cabbage, one pint Worcestershire sauce…”
A sample menu in the 1945 Navy Cookbook ran: “Breakfast—grapefruit juice, cornflakes, grilled sausages, french toast, maple syrup, butter, milk, coffee. Lunch: cream of vegetable soup, roast beef, brown gravy, buttered potatoes, harvard beets, carrot and celery salad, ice cream, rolls, butter, coffee. Supper: lamb fricassee, mashed potatoes, tossed green salad, french dressing, coconut jelly doughnuts, bread, butter, tea.” “Tin can” sailors in destroyers never fed in such a fashion, but larger vessels offered astonishing fare save in combat, heavy weather or when operations delayed rendezvous with “reefers”—refrigerated ships. Messdeck menus then became reduced to Spam and beans.
Almost every human and mechanical need had to be met by shipment across thousands of miles of ocean. The south-west Pacific was known as the “goat and cabbage circuit,” because so much unwelcome food came from Australia. The scale of logistics was staggering. In the five months from 1 September 1944, for instance, fleet tankers delivered to the fast carrier force 8.25 million barrels of fuel oil, 12.25 million gallons of aviation gas. In addition, they shifted thousands of drums of lubricating oil in fourteen grades, compressed gases, oxygen, spare belly tanks, mail, personnel and food. Fresh water was a constant issue. The heat caused tanks to become contaminated with bacteria, which necessitated draining them for cleaning. So desperate were some seamen for a serious drink that they built stills or drained alcohol from torpedo propulsion systems. The latter practice may have raised morale, but drastically shortened the torpedoes’ range.
The mood of every ship was different, and strongly influenced by the personality of its captain. Some were admired, ever thoughtful for the welfare of their men. Others were not. The captain of Franklin once bawled out his stewards over the carrier’s broadcast system: “You black messmen are the sloppiest bunch of mess attendants I have ever seen.” A disgusted crewman said: “He…sounded just like a Georgia redneck207—in front of 3,000 men. It was not right.” Another carrier captain was described as “one of the most irascible and unstable officers ever to earn a fourth stripe, but a man with a slide-rule brain.” Yet another was judged by a fellow officer “emotionally unstable, evil-tempered208…He drank too much too often; had a capacity for insulting behavior, especially when drunk.” A destroyer officer’s diary recorded dismay about his skipper: “The old man is getting nastier209 all the time. There is something wrong with that guy mentally. The poor, pitiable old fool told us last night that none of us were any good and that professionally we stink.” Doctrinal procedures standardised throughout the fleet did something, but not enough, to iron out unhappinesses created by mad or bad captains. Big ships were invariably commanded by regular officers. To run a cruiser or carrier, it was thought essential to possess at least six years’ sea time. Many smaller vessels, however, were committed to the hands of reservists.
Ben Bradlee suggests that some reserve officers, civilians in uniform, performed better than their career counterparts: “We hadn’t spent years learning210