USA > New York > Bronx County > Navy service : a short history of the United States Naval Training School (WR) Bronx, New York > Part 6
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FIRST LIEUTENANT'S OFFICE
IN the early days of January, 1943, Captain Amsden began his con- ferences with the assistance of a representative from the Navy Depart- ment in the person of Lieutenant W. Hertrae. Conferences were held concerning the ways and means and methods that should be used in taking over the college buildings from the Board of Higher Education and the dormitories or apartment buildings from the various owners. For a while it was felt that these should be taken over by the Navy and operated com- pletely by a Navy staff, but later it was felt that greater efficiency would be secured more quickly if the maintenance of the college buildings was continued under the existing civilian staff and that, due to the fact that the Navy personnel was not familiar with the operation of apartment houses, it would be much wiser to secure the services of a competent operating management company to take care of the maintenance of these barracks. Acting on this premise, the Board of Higher Education left its staff intact under the supervision of William Kohlman; and the services of Brown, Wheelock, Harris and Stevens were secured to manage the apartment build- ings. This firm appointed as their representative Mr. A. E. Downing who has been the resident agent of this company from the beginning. This arrangement made the task of the First Lieutenant very much easier as he was relieved of the duties performed by the aforementioned organizations, and his task became one of administration, observation and liaison and authorization for new work as a representative of the Commanding Officer.
The Department of Justice had notices served on the tenants to vacate their apartments. Notices were sent also to all owners of apartment houses that the Navy Department would take over the buildings.
Lieutenant Commander Bert McCulloch, USNR, was ordered to the station with orders to serve as First Lieutenant. With his arrival the organi- zation was complete, and all hands turned to at this point to expedite the removal of the tenants, the supervision of which was placed in the hands of Lieutenant Milton Lowenstein, acting with the Mayor's Committee. The Supply Officer in conference with the Commanding Officer and the First Lieutenant, and Mr. Downing, prepared the lists of all the equipment that would be needed to take care of some 6,000 expected recruits. Orders were placed by the Supply Officer for the beds, tables, chairs, lamps and in fact all of the material needed for any barracks. The first recruits were expected within a week after the last of the civilians vacated the apartment buildings, and it was a nip and tuck affair to get the necessary equipment in the buildings as fast as the recruits arrived. The margin was so close that the
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First Lieutenant and his operational staff were never more than fifteen or twenty bunks ahead of the incoming drafts. All of this was affecting thirteen buildings. Later three more buildings were added, one for use as Officers' Quarters, and two for recruits. Approximately six months ago another building was added for recruits. In addition, the school has the use and a great deal of responsibility in assisting in the maintenance of the New York State Armory. The Naval Training School has also rented a garage where maintenance is necessary.
Within sixty days all the buildings were furnished and were being operated in a manner satisfactory to those in charge.
As the station continued to operate certain changes were made. One of the buildings known as "C" was turned over as barracks for Waves in Ship's Company, another building known as "O" was turned over to the male Ship's Company, and a third building designated as "H" was turned over to the Temporary Ship's Company, Cook's and Baker's School, and various holdovers that are here in transit.
In the beginning, the school operated on the basis of two regiments but now operates for three regiments. This has entailed constant problems for the operational staff due to the fact that there is no great interval in which to carry out repairs between the time when the new drafts arrive and the old regiments leave.
Another problem of an operational nature is the difficulty of securing the necessary fuel. At one time this activity was asked to change from oil to coal in some five buildings. One was actually done, another has the material here to make the change, but to date the change has not been insisted upon for the other three. These buildings were normally occupied by not more than 300 people, so with 600 or 700 recruits housed in them, and operating them on Navy schedules with the resulting demands on plumbing, there were a number of times when the water would not go above the third or fourth floor. This made necessary the almost immediate erection of new risers in several of the buildings. At this time the problem seems to be under control, although the threat of trouble still exists. Added to the above is the fact that many of the buildings were old and frequently, when a pipe line was exposed, as many as six or eight clamps in a fifteen-foot length would be found so that for the first six months these were continually being replaced with sections of pipe throughout most of the buildings.
The training school has been most fortunate in the methods used by the management company in securing six sub-contractors: carpentry and general repair, plumbing and steaming, tile, painting, electrical work and roofing. The work has been uniformly good and service very prompt.
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All of the bills and expenditures of the management company, the Board of Higher Education, and the six sub-contractors had to be approved for accuracy and fairness of cost by the Navy Cost Inspector whose offices are at THIRD Naval District Headquarters. The representative at the station, Chief Storekeeper Edward Tracy, and the Civilian Inspector, William O'Leary, have an office on the station, and have expedited the payment of these bills. This has proved to be an ideal arrangement and has enabled the First Lieutenant's Office to feel a sense of security that was fully justified.
The school covers quite an area and in the early days there was a con- stant shift of offices. This called for a great deal of furniture moving and office changes. Many major improvements have been made and structures added to the station such as the enlargement of the amphitheater and the construction of a stage, development of the Little Theatre to serve as a broadcasting station, creation of the laundry and dry cleaning units, the erection of a gatehouse at the main gate with sentry booths at all gates, the building of a reviewing stand, construction of a drill field between the school and the reservoir, recreational rooms for the enlisted personnel, and above all the constant requests made by departments and offices in connection with the training program.
One of the most important divisions under the First Lieutenant's Department is the Transportation Division. As a new draft comes in every two weeks and another draft leaves practically at the same time, the baggage for these each averaging 2,400, in a week the Transportation Division has to take from the school to the railroad station, a distance of approximately ten miles, or deliver to the school, some 5,000 pieces of baggage. In addition, the usual transportation of material from the Navy Yard, and various points in New York City, keeps one truck continually employed. The equipment of the station at the present time consists of: 4 seven and a half ton van trucks, 3 station wagons, 2 ambulances, 2 rack body pick-up trucks, 1 bus, 1 Buick, the Commanding Officer's car. One truck is used exclusively for the mail, another one (sometimes two) is used continually for the laundry, and one truck used for the Commissary Department.
All the manual labor of the station is still done by male personnel and the First Lieutenant's Office has operated from the opening of the school with an insufficient number of men. Too much cannot be said for the steadiness and willingness of the male personnel attached to this station.
At the present time the staff of the First Lieutenant is approximately two officers and seventy enlisted personnel. The office staff consists of six: two officers, a Specialist (S) in charge of the barracks' Specialists, a Yeoman,
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a Chief Boatswain Mate in charge of male personnel, and a Chief Motor Machinist's Mate in charge of transportation. This staff has been in the department almost from the start. All understand their functions perfectly and operate quietly and efficiently. It is hard to single out any one of them as deserving of unusual praise but yet it cannot be emphasized too strongly how much of the smoothness of operation is due to the years of experience and tact of the Boatswain of the Yard.
Every building has assigned to it a Specialist (S) who is responsible for the maintenance of her particular building's operation through the superintendent who is under the direction of Brown, Wheelock, Harris and Stevens. The rest of the staff are the men who have already been mentioned, and a few qualified Wave drivers.
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SUPPLY DEPARTMENT
O NE of the biggest tasks in connection with the opening of the "U.S.S. Hunter," in February, 1943, was the procurement of furni- ture and equipment for the thirteen apartment houses taken over by the Navy for the housing of some 5,000 Wave "boots." The Supply Depart- ment's function was to obtain bunks, mattresses, lockers, mirrors, student tables, lamps, etc., for these barracks as well as equipment for the mess hall, gymnasium and offices.
Most of the barracks furniture was contracted for with department stores, although some "strip ship" material, now in Buildings C, O and Officers Quarters, was procured from the Navy. Much of the office equip- ment was taken over from Hunter College on a lease basis.
Stowage conditions were critical when thousands of bunks, mattresses and linen began arriving before the apartment houses had been completely evacuated by civilians. Lieutenant Commander (then Lieutenant) Herbert S. Schwab solved the problem by stowing the accruing furniture in Davis Hall until it could be moved into the barracks.
The Supply Department orders all supplies for the station including food supplies, general stores, clothing and small stores and specialized equipment for training. This department can purchase directly anything up to $500. Over that amount, it must be contracted for by the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts in Washington. All supplies must be checked in by the Supply Officer, who is also responsible for checking all bills.
When Lieutenant George H. Thompson came aboard as Disbursing Officer on 1 February 1943, an accumulation of unpaid bills was waiting for him and a skeleton crew of Ship's Company, also unpaid. He immediately requisitioned funds from Washington, took care of the bills, and held pay day on 4 February.
The early days were hectic. No Storekeepers had been assigned, so Yeomen were borrowed from other offices and trained for the work. Navy regulations require that public funds be protected with firearms, and Lieutenant Thompson made a rush trip to Brooklyn Navy Yard to get them. To add to the confusion, the office was changed every day for a week, which involved moving all the furniture including an old safe formerly owned by Hunter College.
When the first draft of Storekeepers arrived, ten men and one Wave, only the Wave was acquainted with Navy storekeeping methods. The men had been rated on completion of "boot" training, and were accordingly given intensified instruction by Lieutenant Thompson and the Wave. In
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March, 1943, a group of Yeomen arrived from Cedar Falls. Tremendously interested in payroll work, they asked to have their ratings changed to Storekeeper. Lieutenant Thompson and fellow officers organized a course of instruction for all hands, writing their own material for it.
For a time, the need for officers in Disbursing was serious. Then the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts sent four officers, en route to the Navy Supply Corps School at Harvard, to this station for temporary duty. The experience proved so valuable that the Bureau continued to send officers, thirteen having passed through the "U.S.S. Hunter" Supply Department to date. Following a somewhat similar policy for enlisted personnel, the Bureau of Personnel has sent about twenty enlisted men here for training before proceeding aboard ship. This office has also been used as a proving ground for a new simplified form of pay procedure which is expected to reduce Disbursing Office personnel by one-third and possibly, one-half.
High standard of morale is maintained in Disbursing by a rotation system, whereby every three months personnel are given the opportunity to request a change of duty within the office. Unless the change would make for inefficiency, the jobs are rotated according to these requests, giving the personnel experience in every phase of the work.
Wave Storekeepers have done such a superb job that Lieutenant Thompson anticipates an entire Wave Storekeeper personnel in both Supply and Disbursing, with the exception of two men needed for heavy work in the Storerooms.
When Lieutenant Commander Schwab was detached on 20 May 1944, Lieutenant Thompson took over as Supply and Disbursing Officer. Lieu- tenant (jg) Raymond Hager served until he was detached as Assistant to the Supply Officer, and Assistants to the Disbursing Officer are Lieutenants (jg) John C. Harley, Claire T. Harman and Acting Pay Clerk Francis J. Nelligan.
In addition to Supply and Disbursing, the Supply Department includes the Transportation, War Bond and Insurance, and Commissary Offices. The last three are described in succeeding articles.
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Morning Muster.
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U. S. NAVY
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Pay Line.
Pay Records.
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. Addressograph.
Men's Small Stores.
Clerical Work.
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COMMISSARY
D IVISION "X," by far the biggest portion of the Supply Department of the U. S. Naval Training School (WR), Bronx, New York, is an often forgotten, but very necessary group to the well-being of recruits and Ship's Company alike.
When the Navy first took over, with Lieutenant (jg) G. R. Blosser, USN, as Commissary Officer, the "U.S.S. Hunter" was equipped to feed about 1,500 people a light lunch in the middle of the day, the Lunch Room then being located where the Mess Hall is now, and a Faculty Lunch Room occupying the spot which is now Officer's Mess. Cooking equipment was by comparison almost non-existent, and storage space was at a minimum.
Within twenty days it was necessary to expand the existing facilities to accommodate 5,000 people and serve them three meals a day with a diet adequate to satisfy healthy appetites brought on by marching and hard work. Refrigeration space for fresh provisions and meat was rented from a commercial agency nearby. Advance supplies of food were stored in this space and chill boxes were built to keep the immediate needs on board. Fresh provisions were obtained from the Army-Navy Pool, Quartermaster Corps, in the Navy Market Office, while dry provisions came from the Bayonne Naval Supply Depot, and the miscellaneous provisions such as ice cream, cake and other extras were made under contract. There was no bake shop at that time, although one has recently been established and is turning out all the bread and cake and other baked goods required.
In spite of the difficulties encountered, the Captain set as a challenge to the Supply Officer the task of putting a turkey dinner on the table for the first regiment of recruits for their first meal. By the time the recruits reported on 17 February 1943, the challenge had been met. The turkey dinner was ready to serve. Then began the process of providing three square meals a day for everybody. For the recruits the chow line was put on a schedule so that one company, 240 recruits, is served every five minutes and each girl has about 23 minutes in which to eat. The problem of what to serve for such a big group of women was some- thing which had not been encountered before by ship's cooks accustomed to preparing chow for Navy men. It was soon apparent that women pre- ferred less meat, more vegetables, more salads and fruits. Beans for break- fast were definitely not in demand, so menu planning had to be geared to suit the needs and tastes of Waves. Great use was made of frozen vegetables and one of the favorite meals is an all vegetable plate made up of these frozen products.
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In addition to feeding both recruits and Ship's Company, the Com- missary Department has had an integral part in the training of a number of Waves who had received their recruit training here. In August, 1943, a Cook's and Baker's School was established with about thirty graduates a month, each of whom had taken a sixteen weeks' course covering all the phases of cooking and baking required of ship's cooks and bakers, with particular emphasis on practical work in the galley. Instructors are for the most part home economics graduates who are rated as Ship's Cooks in the Navy. Eight subjects are taught : baking theory, cooking theory, arithmetic, spelling and English, nutrition, menu planning, Commissary organization, and body mechanics. Of the classes graduated, ten per cent may be rated as Ship's Cooks. Many of the girls graduated from Cook's and Baker's School have replaced male personnel here or at other Naval activities and they have been very successful as long as there are enough men still in the galley to provide the necessary muscle. It is, indeed, gratifying to see the skill with which Wave butchers, Wave cooks and Wave bakers handle jobs long considered man-sized. The Commissary Division, since the establishment of the station in January, 1943, has witnessed the replacement of men by Waves from an almost all male department when the station opened, to a department headed by a Women's Reserve officer, Ensign Lois Weiler, who replaced Lieutenant (jg) Mary K. Brown when the latter was detached, and staffed by about 60 per cent Waves and 40 per cent men.
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Winter in the Mess Hall.
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Mashing Potatoes.
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Meat Grinding.
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SHIP'S SERVICE
O NE of the most popular haunts for recruits, Ship's Company and officers is Ship's Service. First of all there is the Ship's Service Store where the seamen can purchase toilet articles, stationery, candy, cigarettes and magazines, day-to-day necessities, and a few gift items and luxuries. The other activities surround the store and have grown up from the begin- ning of Ship's Service, which almost coincided with the opening of the School in February, 1943. These are all owned and operated by the depart- ment. The Beauty and Barber shops occupy one wing. There is a shoe shine corner where shines are free and a counter for the purchase of travelers' checks and film, and a service for check cashing. The "Betty Boot Smoke- house," where the recruits may buy anything from a sundae to a doughnut, and the three canteens (one for civilians, one in the smokehouse for the "boots," and a third for Ship's Company and officers) occupy the other wing. Another popular and necessary activity is the cobbler shop where overnight repairs are made, and where shoes are repaired while you wait. Completing the activities on the first deck is the busy Photo Studio where individual portraits are taken and where there is an amateur film developing service available. This is the distributing center for section photos, group pictures, and review and station shots. All but the amateur film are de- veloped on the station. Situated in other parts of Davis Hall and in the Gymnasium Building are the hat blocking service and the dry cleaning and laundry service, which has an exceptionally large volume of business.
Ship's Service was originally started by two Wave officers, both of whom had had extensive business experience. Together with a line officer, who came to the Department a month or so after it was organized, they were responsible for the expansion of the services to include almost all now in operation and to meet adequately the needs of the "boots." One of the original officers is now Navy Representative at the Army Exchange Service and has been of valuable assistance to the Ship's Service Department in many ways. Another of the original Wave officers has recently become Assistant Ship's Service Officer in one of the largest Ship Services on the West Coast. Two Wave officers, Lt. (jg) Dorothy Ward and Lt. (jg) Lucretia Ulmer, now direct the operations of the Department.
The Ship's Service Department operates under the Commanding Officer and according to regulations set down by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, the Commandant of the THIRD Naval District and the District Ship's Service Officer. It is designed, to quote from department regulations, as a "convenient and reliable source from which Naval Personnel may obtain
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articles and services essential to their well-being and, through accrued profits, to supplement the welfare and recreation funds derived from other sources." The profits are limited to a net annual profit of ten per cent. Because the volume of business often yields enough adequately to supply the Welfare Fund, the average of profits is usually lower than ten per cent. Each month, according to a prescribed computation, the Welfare Fund receives its share of the profits derived from all Ship's Service activities. From this fund, administrated by the Commanding Officer, are supplied the recreational movies, band, drum and bugle corps equipment, and other sports and recreational gear.
Accurate records are kept by the Ship's Service Department. Goods are inventoried and the books audited by boards appointed by the Com- manding Officer. Monthly and semi-annual financial reports and reports of priorities issued and insurance coverage are made to the THIRD Naval District and the Bureau. The privilege of using Ship's Service is extended to all military personnel on active duty, and in some cases those who have retired from service. No civilians except dependents of Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine personnel are permitted to use the Ship's Service activities.
The Ship's Service Store, which began in the same large room it now occupies with a few tables and a desk, is now a handsomely equipped modern store. Its merchandise is attractively presented in blonde wood cases trimmed with blue. The deck is covered with terra cotta battleship linoleum. The colorful fixtures, however, are workmanlike as well as pleasing to the eye. Sales in the store have always been good since the recruits seldom leave the station during their six-week stay and their various needs must be met. Low prices are another attraction. These are made possible not only by taking advantage of Army Exchange price agreements and Navy Purchasing contracts, but also because of the extremely low mark-up on merchandise. Over the period of its development a definite price policy has evolved in the Ship's Service Store. Necessities and items contributing to high morale and comfort (like cigarettes and books and magazines) are sold at cost or below, while the nominal mark-ups continue on the luxury items such as leather goods, military jewelry, candy and fountain con- coctions.
The volume of sales in the store has tripled from $37,000 in July of 1943 to $113,000 in May of 1944. This increase is very likely due to the fact that store buyers have been able to procure the merchandise needed most and also to the fact that the items are displayed and presented attrac- tively. Such necessities as cleansing tissue, soap, and shampoo are hard to keep on the shelves. Dog tag chains and bracelets are in great demand on
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the day the recruits are issued their identification tags. It is amusing to note that three times as many bars of candy are sold as bars of soap. Luggage is a popular item too: $30,000 worth of it is purchased in a month at one- half the prices charged in civilian shops. The smokers here buy at least 60,000 packs of cigarettes a month. Some 20,000 boxes of stationery go over the counter in the same period. In a single day about 1,800 sundaes, sodas and "cokes" are sold at the store and "Betty Boot" fountains. The chocolate walnut sundae is the outstanding favorite with "boots," while Ship's Com- pany buy quantities of "Californias," a milkshake made with four. scoops of ice cream.
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