Sack Time on a WWII Submarine: USS Cod Sleeping Mattress Opened for the First Time in 70 years!

Ex Diesel Boat sailor here, qualified in 1971, USS Sirago(SS485). I slept in the forward torpedo room just below the ladder from the escape trunk, middle bunk, center on the skid. This bunk was given to the junior guy in the compartment because it was the worst bunk. Always lit, center of the room, no privacy, especially when in port when the forward hatch was left open on cold nights and the crew was returning from liberty half in the bag.

As a Retired Tin Can sailor I can assure you there are still hammocks in use, there no longer issued but in 23 years I was on 3 different Destroyer's and still have my hammock. BTW I retired in 2001. Great Job. Thanks 👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸

This was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Don't forget the video about the torpedo doors and the Japanese prisoner.

WESTPAC 2002 On the USS SUBMARINE out of pearl, we had so many people on board we had 9 hammocks in the torpedo room and Vertical Launch Control

The Navy was proud that the 1930s "gold-plater" destroyers didn't have hammocks, but had upgraded to racks. Of course, once WW2 started and crews increased, hammocks re-appeared. The WW2 era plans for the USS Patterson (DD-392) even show 3 hammocks in the general workshop.

Hammocks were still issued in boot camp to sailors through and past WW2. During the war, as the air threat was such a big thing that all ships and subs were getting more and more AA guns, and all of these guns needed more men to operate them. So many of these guys ended up sleeping in hammocks because they ran out of racks. Postwar, with proximity fuses and better fire direction systems, the 20 and 40mm mounts were pulled off and replaced with fewer larger caliber guns that needed fewer crew.

My dad slept in a hammock on an escort carrier during WW II. I slept on a mattress on a sub tender built in 1964. We had metal bunks that opened to store your belongings. I don't remember how thick the mattress was but we covered it in a sheet and had a gray wool blanket. You could also get a second sheet to cover yourself up to prevent the blanket from itching your skin. As a rider on a SSBN for a shakedown cruise they had run out of bunks so I was setup to sleep between the aft 2 missile tubes. Great sleeping and quiet.

I was in the marine corp from 75 - 80 and our blankets just had the letters US stamped in black about 4 - 6 inches in height on one end of the blanket.

My first night on a sub was on the Dogfish in 1971. We reservists from Cleveland flew to New London for our monthly weekend. I slept in the after torpedo room, come the middle of the night when I tried to turn my head I couldn't, I was too squished by the rack above me that had been lowered by another sailor so he could sleep. I had to shimmy down half the length of the rack and reverse my position so my feet went where my head had been. Tight fit to be sure. When I went on active duty my rack was usually in the 'after battery' on Broadway. Always had barracks when in port.

The green canvas/vinyl flashing cover for the mattresses look identical to the ones we used for torpedo room berthing on Tinosa in the 80's (zipper and all).

I think I remember New Jersey’s video. Ryan said the normal crew had the pipe racks & when they were really packed with people on board they’d use hammocks.

Sure looks like y'all are having a good time. I think I would love going to work if it was a museum. Thanks for the lessons and humor!

The ratio for hot bunking on 688s were also typically 3:2. 3 sailors for 2 racks. The problem was knowing who was in which rack and when. Sailors would often be woken up mid sleep when it wasn't their time to stand watch by the roving watch stander.

Youve got it upside down . The grids are from the springs. That is the bottom. The smooth side is the top. Also, the entire mattress would have been enclosed in a fart sack, which served as a bottom sheet. Best thing about fart sacks was you could go twice.as long with out having to wash them you could just flip the mattress over and instant clean side. Usually used in cases of inspections.

Great video as always!! Thank you for sharing!

Great video which we never see or read about in the books. I slept on some hand me down mattresses similar to this in the Montana wilderness in the 60's. They had been in the forestry camp for decades...and aired out in the summer for 6 wks/year. You had sheets but funk was hard to lose. Spent months sharing my own funk with the mattresses. My worst mattress story was visiting my sister and my wife said ' don't take your clothes off' when we went to bed. No nasty critters but we left just after daylight....

Love the history. Thank you!

In the movie Down Periscope you see the crew flipping their mattress (encased in a flash cover ) on the first day on the boat. I bet that those mattresses were stored inverted to keep moisture from leaking into the flash cover along the exposed zipper. If so that is a rather amazing detail for such a whimsical movie

Regarding the old flash cover, the pattern on 'top' of it clearly shows that it had been used as the bottom adjacent to the metal springs. The 'bottom' of the cover shows no such pattern. I served aboard diesel boats in '60, '61, and '68. At that time the fart sack was provided by the boat, sailors were not issued then in those days. It was common to sleep on the fart sack, not the flash cover. The flash cover was not turned back if you were diving in for a quick snooze. The flash covers were kept closed except when you were in the skid. One of the main reasons for this was to protect the bedding from water leaks and condensation drips.

If you don’t have a tape measure. A bill is 6 inches and a quarter is an inch.Army trick for measuring bed folds and collar rank measuring.