# Ahoy Navy Personnel, Accuracy of "In The Navy" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 20, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661 "2017-01-20T20:11:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/21 "2017-01-21T11:44:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > My aunt LOVED the Village People. She had NO clue… My MIL was pretty homophobic but her favourite record was Bohemian Rhapsody sung (mainly) by Freddie Mercury. She had no idea and we never told her. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/22 "2017-01-21T13:40:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > My aunt LOVED the Village People. She had NO clue… > [@bob\_2](#): > > My MIL was pretty homophobic but her favourite record was Bohemian Rhapsody sung (mainly) by Freddie Mercury. She had no idea and we never told her. Urban legend has it that one of the old senior admirals heard the song and thought it should be used in a recruiting campaign. Some lucky guy was delegated to explain to him why it was a baaad idea. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/23 "2017-01-21T14:10:36Z")
Certain naval traditions are better left hidden in a closet you say? 🙂 Or more properly a locker in Navy-speak. Let he who is without sin cast the first pogey-bait. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/24 "2017-01-21T14:21:21Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Light up, Loach. > I bet the US Army makes more of an initial impression than the Canadian one. What was reception like? I was in the Canadian army. It might be that it was different for officers than enlisted, but our reception consisted of the following. They call Ocdt Bloggins. When Bloggins arrives they tell you “Follow Ocdt Bloggins to the 8th floor. Your room is pod 3 of room 814. You are not permitted to go to the 2nd floor for the next four weeks. Your course will begin at 0630 on Monday.” ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/25 "2017-01-21T14:45:53Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > And Liberace? Liberace won a lawsuit in the 1950s when a British gossip columnist called him “fruit-flavored”, testifying that he was not a homosexual or ever engaged in homosexual sexual acts. > **[Liberace](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberace#Lawsuits_and_allegations_of_homosexuality)** > > Władziu Valentino Liberace\[nb 1\] (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer, and actor. He was born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish origin and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures, and endorsements. At the height of his fame from the 1950s to 1970s, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world with established concert residencies in Las Vegas and an international touring schedule. He embraced a l Wła... ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/26 "2017-01-21T15:03:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > The first half of the movie was filmed in Fort Knox. I have no idea how they got cooperation from the army. The room they meet Hulka in was the actual room where you first meet the reception station drill sergeants. I still have vivid memories of that place. On the DVD for the “McHale’s Navy” tv Series, there is a discussion between several cast members. Ernest Borgnine says that Navy told him that McHale’s navy was the best recruiting tool they had. “Stripes” isn’t very different from “McHale’s Navy”, assuming Borgnine was accurate. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/27 "2017-01-21T15:03:58Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I was in the Canadian army. It might be that it was different for officers than enlisted, but our reception consisted of the following. > > They call Ocdt Bloggins. When Bloggins arrives they tell you “Follow Ocdt Bloggins to the 8th floor. Your room is pod 3 of room 814. You are not permitted to go to the 2nd floor for the next four weeks. Your course will begin at 0630 on Monday.” What’s on the 2nd floor? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/28 "2017-01-21T16:09:07Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What’s on the 2nd floor? I think it was actually the 1st floor when I thought about it some more, but anyway the bank, Canex (convenience store), messes, movie theatre, etc. For the 1st four weeks you are confined to barracks and so not permitted any of these niceties. On day 1 or day 2, we were marched down to the Canex and instructed to buy whatever we would need for 4 weeks in addition to those things which were mandatory, e.g. the proper hangers, a picture frame, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/29 "2017-01-21T19:54:42Z")
an officer’s stateroom (for three officers). It’s much roomier on surface ships. [/QUOTE] Who gets, or gets to call top bunk? ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/30 "2017-01-21T20:05:09Z")
> [@robby](#): > > No, but pretty similar. Most Navy vessels have bunks (aka “racks”) with thin mattresses. There is a storage space under your mattress. There is also a curtain for a modicum of privacy. > > Do a Google image search for “Navy berthing area,” and look for the more modern photos. Here’s an [example](https://cnet1.cbsistatic.com/img/-d_Kw8MjDZEYfRlraqkU4dcIszA=/0x878/2010/07/17/449510ff-f0ed-11e2-8c7c-d4ae52e62bcc/Crews_berthing.jpg) of enlisted berthing for a submarine, and [here](http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/44/63/22/9647269/9/1024x1024.jpg) is an officer’s stateroom (for three officers). It’s much roomier on surface ships. Perspective on robby’s first picture sucks – [here](https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/751d957733067.560b0a9ca7437.JPG) is a somewhat better one, with people added for scale. 🙂 And [this](http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Captains-stateroom-700.jpg) is what the captain’s stateroom looks like. The inboard bulkhead is just a few inches past the right edge of the picture, and the aft bulkhead is maybe a foot and a half past the left edge. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/31 "2017-01-21T20:11:43Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > an officer’s stateroom (for three officers). It’s much roomier on surface ships. > > Who gets, or gets to call top bunk? That’s a 688. There are three wardroom staterooms, each shared by a department head and two junior officers (JOs). The engineer is in the forward stateroom, the navigator in the middle, and the weapons officer in the aft. They normally have the centre bunk; don’t know how the JOs sort things out. Maybe the senior of the two gets to pick, and the junior gets the rack that’s left over… The CO and XO have their own staterooms (though the XO may have to share with a senior rider, and the remaining JOs are in berthing with the enlisted men. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/32 "2017-01-21T20:33:33Z")
I never expected much in the way of accuracy in the lyrics of a Village People song. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/33 "2017-01-21T21:37:14Z")
You really can get yourself clean and have a good meal and do whatever you feel at the YMCA. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/34 "2017-01-21T21:47:21Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You really can get yourself clean and have a good meal and do whatever you feel at the YMCA. Whatever…whoever… _shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2017, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/35 "2017-01-21T23:39:44Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Urban legend has it that one of the old senior admirals heard the song and thought it should be used in a recruiting campaign. Some lucky guy was delegated to explain to him why it was a baaad idea. It went farther than that. According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Navy): > [@](#): > > The Navy contacted group manager Henri Belolo to use the song in a recruiting advertising campaign for television and radio. Belolo gave the rights for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. Less than a month later, Village People arrived at Naval Base San Diego where the Navy provided them with access to film on the deck of the berthed frigate USS Reasoner, in the end the Navy did not use the video, choosing to remain with the traditional ‘Anchors Aweigh’. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/36 "2017-01-22T15:54:08Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I was in the Canadian army. It might be that it was different for officers than enlisted, but our reception consisted of the following. > > They call Ocdt Bloggins. When Bloggins arrives they tell you “Follow Ocdt Bloggins to the 8th floor. Your room is pod 3 of room 814. You are not permitted to go to the 2nd floor for the next four weeks. Your course will begin at 0630 on Monday.” Was that in the megaplex in St Jean, for your basic officer training? I joined in '79 and we had ours in Chilliwack. Regarding the rest of the question, I was in the Canadian navy (now RCN) I personally did: Learn science (and) technology, to the extent required to learn some basic oceanography as an ASW officer and to the extent required to learn the technology of the various ship’s systems (weapons, sensors, command and control systems) Study oceanography (see above) I didn’t do the others but scuba diving, sailing the seven seas (I guess I’ve sailed three), and searching for treasure are possible in that you could become a ship’s diver; you could, depending on postings and operations and career longevity, sail the seven seas; and you could possibly be in a ship required to conduct some sort of salvage operation. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/37 "2017-01-22T16:00:43Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > That’s a 688. There are three wardroom staterooms, each shared by a department head and two junior officers (JOs). The engineer is in the forward stateroom, the navigator in the middle, and the weapons officer in the aft. They normally have the centre bunk; don’t know how the JOs sort things out. Maybe the senior of the two gets to pick, and the junior gets the rack that’s left over… > > The CO and XO have their own staterooms (though the XO may have to share with a senior rider, and the remaining JOs are in berthing with the enlisted men. 😕 “688”? And 'the remaining JOs"—there are only three at the highest rank (call it 3-rack rank), and all the others sleep with the crowd because they’re lower rank? (Kind of “who calls top bunk” at a larger scale). ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/38 "2017-01-22T16:25:39Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > Was that in the megaplex in St Jean, for your basic officer training? I joined in '79 and we had ours in Chilliwack. Yes, I did my BOTC in sunny St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu at the Mega. Oh the fun times that were had by all. > [@](#): > > Regarding the rest of the question, I was in the Canadian navy (now RCN) I personally did: I heard a great story (legend?) of two junior officers doing their Phase III (or Phase IV) training. They had the stereotypical seadog CPO training them. The officers were known to be a couple of jokers so they got along swimmingly (in that the CPO probably wanted to throw them overboard). Anyway, one of them wore glasses and one morning the glasses broke so he fixed it with a pipe cleaner twisty. So they’re getting their morning chewing out from the CPO when he sees the pipe cleaner and yells “And what the \*\*\*\* is that?!?” The officer with the glasses says “Oh, that’s actually a transmitter up to the bridge so we can keep them informed of how you’re treating us.” The other officer says “And how is he treating us?” The first one replies, while pressing on the transmitter “Not very well, over.” I don’t know if the story is true but it makes me laugh with tears everytime. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/39 "2017-01-22T20:14:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “688”? > And 'the remaining JOs"—there are only three at the highest rank (call it 3-rack rank), and all the others sleep with the crowd because they’re lower rank? (Kind of “who calls top bunk” at a larger scale). [688](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles-class_submarine). Unless I say otherwise, all my comments on submarines or submarine life refer to 688s, because that’s all I have personal experience with. (I served on three of them.) The captain is a commander, the XO and the engineer lieutenant commanders. The weapons officer\* and the navigator are lieutenants, and the fourth department head – the supply officer (aka the “chop”) – is a lieutenant or a JG[SUP]\*\*[/SUP]. He lives in the weapons officer’s stateroom, usually in the top rack. The remaining five spaces in the three wardroom staterooms are taken by the senior division officers (normally lieutenants or JGs). The remaining division officers (of which there are usually two or three) live in the nine-man bunkroom with the rabble. - So called on my first boat; somewhere along the way the new kinder-and-gentler Navy changed the title to “combat systems officer.” \*\* Lieutenant (junior grade). ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661/40 "2017-01-22T21:37:51Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I heard a great story (legend?) of two junior officers doing their Phase III (or Phase IV) training. They had the stereotypical seadog CPO training them. The officers were known to be a couple of jokers so they got along swimmingly (in that the CPO probably wanted to throw them overboard). Anyway, one of them wore glasses and one morning the glasses broke so he fixed it with a pipe cleaner twisty. So they’re getting their morning chewing out from the CPO when he sees the pipe cleaner and yells “And what the \*\*\*\* is that?!?” The officer with the glasses says “Oh, that’s actually a transmitter up to the bridge so we can keep them informed of how you’re treating us.” The other officer says “And how is he treating us?” The first one replies, while pressing on the transmitter “Not very well, over.” > > I don’t know if the story is true but it makes me laugh with tears everytime. A good one, but not one that I’ve heard. A popular one in my day was about a Naval Cadet getting reamed out by the Capt on the bridge of a minesweeper. The Cadet then supposedly took his nav notebook and flipped it open like a Star Trek (TOS) communicator and said “Beam me up Scotty! No intelligent life down here.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ahoy-navy-personnel-accuracy-of-in-the-navy/777661.md?page=3)