USS DRUM : Exec’s Memo to Crew

[This is an interesting and amusing notice from the War, written during DRUM’s 2nd patrol. The Exec’s name has been deleted to protect the deceased or innocent.]

 

MEMORANDUM:                                                           July 29, 1942

 

To:    Engineer Officer
Chief Electrician’s Mate
All men in electrical gang.

1. It has come to the executive officer’s notice by personal investigation that the electricians on watch in the maneuvering room or the night watches make so much noise by loud talking, arguing among themselves and unseemly and loud laughter that it is impossible for anyone in the After Torpedo Room to get any sleep and relaxation during the night. It is believed that thi.~ noise making is not malicious in any sense of the word but it is a result of the thoughtlessness on the part of the electri-cians on watch. It may be added in passing that thoughtlessness among submariners, particularly where the welfare of your shipmates is concerned, is one of the worst possible traits and entirely inexcusable.
2. The situation descnDed above is intolerable and must be corrected. Each man on this ship stands his share of watches and is entitled to his share of rest. Any person who contributes in any way to the deprivation of rest and relaxation where due, is not a proper
3. This memorandum is an attempt to correct an intolerable situation by an appeal to gentlemanly instinct However, if this is not met in the proper spirit the executive officer has other methods up his sleeve which he will not hesitate to produce. Your cooperation is requested. If not forthcoming, the first action will be a man with a duty belt standing watch back there. As this man must be senior to all watch standers he must necessarily be a chief or a first class from another section. He will of course lose some sleep in the process.
4. Another practice that must be stopped is the habit, again due to thoughtlessness, of the auxiliary electricians who, when going into the battery well, blithely bangs the hatch cover against the bulkhead making a lot of noise, particularly at night when all officers are sleeping, and then perhaps engaging in a loud conversation with some other electrician in the passageway of officer’s country. This is unseemly and must likewise be stopped.

 

To be posted In Maneuvering Room

Copy to:  Chief Engineer
Chief Electrician’s Mate
Chief of the Boat