For those of you who have been in the Navy you can fully appreciate this. For those of you who haven’t, here is how it works. On ships where fresh water is a limited resource, it becomes necessary to refine personal hygiene beyond a level taught to youth. The "Navy Shower" is an accepted way to limit water use while maintaining an adequate level of bodily cleanliness. Following rules similar to those for brushing teeth, water is only used when absolutely necessary.
A typical Navy Shower algorithm:
1.Strip.
2.Turn on water.
3.Regardless of whether or not the water has reached desired temperature, wet entire body from toes to scalp.
4.Turn off water.
5.Using soap, shampoo, and other cleansing products, build up an acceptable amount of lather.
6.Turn on water again.
7.Rinse.
8.Turn off water.
9.Do not repeat, as you have already used more than enough water.
Note that this is the polar opposite of a Hollywood Shower and in fact rarely builds a level of psychological reassurance provided by allowing gallons of warm water to pour over one's body. But you've gotta do what you've gotta do. However, those of us who were smart enough to figure it out, the shower curtain hooks made great tools to hold the nozzle buttons on the shower heads down. It became obvious what was happening when the curtains in each stall were being held up by one or two hooks.

My favorite was when some turd chaser down in the dark parts of the ship would some how swap all hot and cold water with the steam used to turn the turbines. Burnt my sack more than once that way.
ReplyDeleteI always wonder WTF on a brand new nuclear carrier you would think at least a little bit of warm water was possible. once in a while but noooo.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, listening for the "Bang-Bang-Banging" of the pipes that meant the Snipes turned some valve and you have 5 seconds to vacate the shower before live steam comes out. Got out in '89 and have had at least ONE Hollywood DAILY since...
ReplyDeleteTry taking a Bird bath in front of twenty guy, for weeks on end. You learn not to be self conscious of your body.
ReplyDeleteNow a lot of ships have those time-limiting shower knobs where you push the button and about 1 - 3 minutes later the water shuts off. But regulating the temperature is still tricky. Have taken a lot of unwanted cold showers onboard ship. Anyway...retired now and wife says she has never known anyone take a quicker shower than me. I thought I always took a nice long shower and compared to those onboard ship they are. I grew up in a home without running water and being able to have even a short shower was great to me. Appreciate what you have!
ReplyDeleteHave a teenage daughter? you can have all the cold showers you want...
ReplyDeleteDBF , on a diesel submarine the showerstall / head in the Fwd torpedo room held potatoes . Don't think I ever saw the aft one. Took long ones in port.
ReplyDeleteDidn't matter how long you soaped up though!
ReplyDeleteYou had shower curtains? Not on my tin can.
ReplyDeleteNothing like a freshwater shower on the deck plates of the burner front during water restrictions
ReplyDeleteOn an FF we went looking for summer squalls and showered on the main deck. Although very cold, it was more reliable than in the head.
ReplyDeleteTry showering in the field... had to hve 10 people. Water trned on for 10 seconds. When everyone was lathered up and done washing, water turned back on for 20 seconds to rinse off. Next group...
ReplyDeleteDamn straight on the shower hooks. We got back to Bremerton early in the year. We were on stand-down and didn't have to report to the ship unless we had duty.
ReplyDeleteWell-of-fucking-course, our head had no hot water. At fucking all. So, being on stand-down, not a fucking thing got fixed. Got tired of the shit and started wandering around for a hot shower. Shower shoes, towel around my waist, and toiletry bag.
Encountered a group headed aft on the O3 level. Officer leading the way. Nobody said a fucking word, but some of the Ladies smiled at me. Went through that shit for over a month.