The Sailors Should Have Worn Diapers

[Guest aielen]

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/toilet-troubles-add-sailors-deployment-stress-carrier

[Horndog]

In that situation, diapers would be a logical alternative but sailors have too much pride to even think of that possibility.

[freswith]

On the old British carriers the arrangement was a simple one; a row of thunderboxes with a continuous stream of water pumped along the bottom and over the side of the ship. The great joke was to go just after breakfast when everu seat was occupied, make a paper hat/boat, set light to it and drop it down the upstream hole, then to listen to the ripple of screams as it made its way down the trough.

.....Then to run like hell!

That's the trouble with these modern ships - too much technology!

[spark]

The article made this seem like a minor inconvenience. I would hardly call that a minor inconvenience, even with my preferred choice of underwear. It brings the meaning of the acronym SNAFU to whole new level.

BTW, I couldn't imagine the pile of used diapers if they did choose to go that way.

[Eir]

^Lol, the pile of diapers would cause a (sierra hotel india tango) storm! I cannot imagine the smell of the diapers when the chef decides to serve three alarm chili!!!

[Guest aielen]

I would think that diapers would work--manning of battle stations would be easier--no need to go for toilet breaks.

[Darkfinn]

Naval toilets are called heads for a reason. In the age of sail they were at the very front, or head, of the ship and were little more than a hole in the planking that let waste fall directly into the water.

On a ship that size it should be fairly easy to head up to the flight deck and do your business over the side. Crude and inconvenient yes, but it's what sailors have been doing for hundreds of years.

Though if I were aboard I'd probably be making a deposit in the captain's coffee cup... that ship needs to be brought back to port right now.

[underworld]

diapers is a good idea

[underworld]

1. asl police offcier and military

[willnotwill]

Yes, that is the usual accepted origin of head. By the way, poop deck has nothing to do with excrement.

Ain't technology amazing. I was touring a WWII era ship. The larger "heads" that served the sailors were really toilet seats over a running trough. Pretty low tech. Of course, there was the "red seat" which was the one restricted to sailors with VD (I kid you not).

Anyway, all this sounds like the makings of a great story in the story forum...I'll have to give this some thought.

[Bettypooh]

It seems that even with the military losing budget, they still don't get it High-tech systems fail in a worse way than low-tech systems do Plumbing is a simple concept which has been around over a hundred years, and while it can have problems, it is all that you really need. Low-tech? Yes, but reliable- and that is what matters most when you need to make repairs yourself without a large stock of parts at hand. Were I the Commander of this ship, I'd send a message to the system's designer telling them that on my return to port, they will rip out their system and replace it with one that works properly or I'm going to implement some bombing practice runs with their front yard being the target and their mistake being the bomb-load : Betcha that would get it fixed right away- sir!

Betypooh