I am so thoroughly confused by Wardroom practices, based on my quote from @robby .
Some intro questions to get the ball rolling . . .
Are Wardrooms really that formal that you have stewards bring you meals, or is that a function of “When the Captain [or senior officer] sits down, you’re glued to the chair?”
I understand that in off-meal times, it’s quiet ‘Officers only’ space for them to get caught up on paperwork, etc. Chiefs are allowed in off-meal time by invitation only. You also hold Captain’s Mast there.
If you’re late, do you just get locked out of the room?
I get the no "politics, religion, or ‘other gender’ prohibition’ on conversational topics, but what was the tone? Does ‘shop talk’ go over well while passin’ round mashed potatoes?
So many questions . . . But this Is coming from a former Air Force EOD guy who did an ATO tour with a couple of overlapping USN EODMUs.
Tripler
They won’t let me into Army Officers’ Messes after what happened last time.
When I was a PO2/PO1 (E5/E6), I was in the weirdroom wardroom often, getting papers signed. If there wasn’t a meal or other meeting, I just rapped on the door (usually as I walked through it), got the signature(s) I needed, and walked back out.
It’s like the mess decks in that it’s where the officers eat, study, hold training, and lounge about watching movies/playing cribbage/&c.
I’m sure the wardroom on a skimmer is nowhere near as informal.
On my first ship, a destroyer, this was indeed how it worked. Not specifically because of any rank-induced adhesive properties (whether the CO was present or not, one always had to ask permission to join or be excused—unless you were senior, in which it was the practice to still ask permission to join, not of anyone in particularly, but of the group as a whole out of politeness, and likewise on leaving to merely say “Excuse me…” to the group and go without so much as a “by your leave”), but rather because the wardroom was physically remote (a couple decks above and several frames forward) of the main serving line and the wardroom itself was not setup/equipped to have all the food set out in a cafeteria-style line. So you had to order it (usually by selecting from a pre-printed mini-menu on slips of paper: circle what you want).
On my second and fifth ship (the same ship, an aircraft carrier), the Captain was not actually a member of the wardroom mess, he had his own steward and eating/serving accommodations, which is actually closer to how the old-school Navy used to be (traditionally, as on a CVN, the XO was president of the wardroom, but destroyers and smaller ships tend not to have the space to accommodate separate dining arrangements for the CO).
On my third and fourth ships (minesweepers, may they rest in pieces), the wardroom was right next to the mess decks and the main serving line, so we all just took our food from the serving line same as the rest of the crew, but then sat down in the wardroom rather than take a seat in the ness decks.
I understand that in off-meal times, it’s quiet ‘Officers only’ space for them to get caught up on paperwork, etc. Chiefs are allowed in off-meal time by invitation only. You also hold Captain’s Mast there.
Without exception, on every one of my ships, the wardroom was used to hold meetings that didn’t need the entire mess decks. How many and how often, though, would depend on the size of the ship. On the minesweepers and destroyer, it was pretty much every meeting that involved people from more than one department (although on the minesweeper, for major shipwide events that needed a relatively large portion of the crew present, we’d hold them on the mess decks). By contrast, no one but the chiefs ever held meetings in the chief’s mess, except in a couple cases on my minesweepers where the culture was just… different (in a good way) and the Chiefs would actually host meetings in the mess from time to time. On the DDG, I was only ever invited into the chief’s mess once, and on the CVN, never. So, really, the chief’s mess tends to be far more restrictive and guarded in my experience.
The big deal about the wardroom, particularly on my destroyer, was the number of assholes we had who would insist the most junior officers (myself included) were not permitted to be present at all outside of meals and meetings unless we were studying for our qualifications. It was an incredibly toxic environment and set the conditions for me to develop full-blown PTSD when, later in that tour, I was nearly killed in a stupid fucking accident that was the fault of one of the biggest assholes on the ship (and in the wardroom).
If you’re late, do you just get locked out of the room?
Never in my experience. Especially since, you know, one watch team has to come in first thing and leave early to relieve the watch, and then the off-going watch has to come in towards the end to eat.
I get the no "politics, religion, or ‘other gender’ prohibition’ on conversational topics, but what was the tone? Does ‘shop talk’ go over well while passin’ round mashed potatoes?
Actually, it’s no politics, no religion, and no business in the wardroom (which is ironic since so much business is conducted there by virtue of its use as a meeting space and, on the smaller ships, study area for the junior officers who might not have anywhere else to go for studying).
How extensively “no business” was enforced varied by how big of a dick the senior person present happened to be. I only had one (extreme) dick ever actually seek to enforce the prohibition.
Another difference is that enlisted received their meals free. Officers received extra pay each month, and were charged for every meal they ate on board.
