# Old Navy toilets: a crude trough of flowing seawater? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605 "2005-03-09T01:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/21 "2005-03-09T18:09:25Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Gee, I may never buy any clothes from Old Navy again. No kidding! Sometimes branding can go too far. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/22 "2005-03-09T18:19:43Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > …rinse it in to the trough with your pitcher of water… I know I’m going to regret asking but HTF does this work? Water pours out of pitchers down and my soiled bits aren’t arranged that way. Bidets work by spraying water up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/23 "2005-03-09T18:27:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I know I’m going to regret asking but HTF does this work? Water pours out of pitchers down and my soiled bits aren’t arranged that way. Bidets work by spraying water up. You will, indeed, regret it. I’ve read in several places about the tradition of wiping with the hand and rinsing it with water. (Now you know why many cultures insist on shaking only with the _right_ hand.) They insist that such cleansing is better and more thorough than western dry-paper wiping. There’s a description of a mass morning observance in **The Great Railway Bazaar** ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/24 "2005-03-09T18:39:21Z")
It’s important to note that the shipboard trough was configured fore-and-aft. Squatting in an athwartship line of men over a stream of human waste during heavy seas is too horrible to contemplate. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/25 "2005-03-09T19:38:05Z")
That’s pretty much what I figured. I think it’s safe to say that if you just rinse your left hand rather than properly washing it your right hand will soon end up with just as much fecal bacteria on it. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/26 "2005-03-09T23:17:23Z")
This would also give one a definite preference for the hand used to scratch the nose or pick teeth. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jcrenshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jcrenshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcrenshaw)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/27 "2013-09-25T11:34:52Z")
This is complete truth. On my first US Navy ship, Tutuila ARG-4, in September 1963they still had a trough used as a urinal with sea water in one in and out the other - it was all stainless steel, no wood, and was welded onto the bulkhead. The OLD SALTS told me of the GOOD OLE DAYS when solid waste was also disposed of in this way. This trough had a 3 - 3 1/2 inch board along the front edge only. It was a SAILOR joke for the guy on the end where the sea water came in to take a wad of toilet tissue, light it afire, and drop it in the water. You can understand the result as it pass beneath the unsuspecting, drowsy, and possibly hung-over sailors early in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/28 "2013-09-25T12:05:52Z")
> [@Padeye](#): > > That’s pretty much what I figured. I think it’s safe to say that if you just rinse your left hand rather than properly washing it your right hand will soon end up with just as much fecal bacteria on it. Kind of hard to avoid fecal bacteria. After defecating, do you pull up your pants before you wash your hands? Fecal contamination ensues, then every time you touch your pants, you spread it. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/29 "2013-09-25T12:20:48Z")
Wow, eight years! Not only do I not remember posting this, but _two_ of the posters in this thread have passed on. ---
**Author:** ![allyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@allyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allyn)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/30 "2013-09-25T12:31:20Z")
I think this is an example of one: [http://www.eugeneleeslover.com/US-NAVY-GUNS/TOILET-HEAD.html](http://www.eugeneleeslover.com/US-NAVY-GUNS/TOILET-HEAD.html) ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/31 "2013-09-25T13:54:10Z")
> [@Ficer67](#): > > Consider the modern toilet on a submarine. Effluent has to be overpressurized in order for it to even flow out of the submarine. It is different today though. It used to be that the toilet lid made a seal with the toilet, and the the toilet itself was overpressurized to force effluent out of the vessel. I know this is an old thread (and an old post), but this doesn’t sound quite right. On every submarine that I’ve been on, the toilet flows by gravity into a holding tank (referred to as a “sanitary tank”). The sanitary tank is then either pumped out to sea, or is pressurized with high pressure air to blow it to sea. (The submarine must be at least 12 miles from shore when pumping or blowing sanitary tanks, and is usually much farther out than that.) When a toilet is connected to a sanitary tank that is blown to sea, the toilet usually had a ball valve that was manually operated when flushing the toilet. Warning signs were hung in affected heads (i.e. restrooms) when blowing sanitary tanks. God help the sailor that opened a ball valve in a toilet when blowing sans. :smack: I’ve never seen a toilet that was sealed with the lid, even on older subs. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/32 "2013-09-25T14:44:59Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Gee, I may never buy any clothes from Old Navy again. zombie or no they had to post signs. ‘This is a dressing room, not the head’. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/33 "2013-09-25T14:57:02Z")
Can’t imagine the search terms that found this. 🙂 Remember that in the 40s and into the 50s indoor plumbing wasn’t ubiquitous. A trough flushed by seawater would be better than an outhouse by far. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/34 "2013-09-25T16:25:57Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > Gee, I may never buy any clothes from Old Navy again. I’ll make sure I never have to go to the bathroom in Old Navy 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/35 "2013-09-25T17:04:14Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I know this is an old thread (and an old post), but this doesn’t sound quite right. On every submarine that I’ve been on, the toilet flows by gravity into a holding tank (referred to as a “sanitary tank”). The sanitary tank is then either pumped out to sea, or is pressurized with high pressure air to blow it to sea. (The submarine must be at least 12 miles from shore when pumping or blowing sanitary tanks, and is usually much farther out than that.) > > When a toilet is connected to a sanitary tank that is blown to sea, the toilet usually had a ball valve that was manually operated when flushing the toilet. Warning signs were hung in affected heads (i.e. restrooms) when blowing sanitary tanks. God help the sailor that opened a ball valve in a toilet when blowing sans. :smack: > > I’ve never seen a toilet that was sealed with the lid, even on older subs. Yeah, my dad served on subs in the late 1960s. He took some glee in telling us kids about the pressurized toilets and the disgusting consequences of not observing proper valve protocol. ---
**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:** [September 25, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/36 "2013-09-25T17:41:59Z")
These arrangements also featured in UK shipyards. You might enjoy Billy Connolly’s description: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M0c7MJy3FT8/hqdefault.jpg "Billy Connolly - Shipyards Toilet Tale") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0c7MJy3FT8) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/37 "2013-09-25T22:47:21Z")
I was with the aircraft carrier _Kitty Hawk_ partway when she went through a 4 year total overhaul in '87-'91. Pretty much every single compartment, tank and space was refurbished. It’s illegal to dump waste from the pier to 6 miles out to sea. So there were 2 massive CHT (collection holding and transfer) tanks, each about the size of a one car garage that held everything until it could be pumped over the side or at the pier. 27 years after the ship was built, they were being scraped clean and repainted inside. Washed out was one thing, the guys working inside were in moon suits with remote air lines with jackhammers and chisels working on the couple of inches of built up calcium and other hardened deposits. Just something to make you feel better about your job… ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/38 "2013-09-26T00:08:53Z")
Why bother with running water? In the days of wooden ships, it was just a rickety bench right over the stern where people did “splat!” over the big blue sea. The area was appropriately called “jardines” (gardens). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/39 "2013-09-26T00:24:02Z")
Think of how it must have been in Columbus’ time. Smaller ships, tighter quarters and :eek: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605/40 "2013-09-26T00:47:48Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Yeah, my dad served on subs in the late 1960s. He took some glee in telling us kids about the pressurized toilets and the disgusting consequences of not observing proper valve protocol. > **[SubmarineSailor.com Sea Stories - Blowing #2 Sanitary Inboard](http://www.submarinesailor.com/humor/No2SanGage.htm)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-navy-toilets-a-crude-trough-of-flowing-seawater/293605.md?page=3)