# What is this grey slab (USN dinner)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [April 18, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372 "2026-04-18T23:41:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [August 12, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/61 "2026-08-12T15:57:51Z")
I see a report in a British newspaper not known for veracity that some of the crew are suffering mental health problems related to the lengthy deployment. Given the size of the crew, I guess it’s no surprise that there would be some problems, but I wonder why they are not being relieved. Or are they? The logistics of keeping that fleet in the Gulf must be daunting and very expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/62 "2026-08-12T19:57:33Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I see a report in a British newspaper not known for veracity that some of the crew are suffering mental health problems related to the lengthy deployment. Military Times says some sailors are trying to take a long walk off a short ship. > **[Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended...](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/08/11/multiple-uss-abraham-lincoln-sailors-have-tried-to-go-overboard-amid-extended-deployment-families-say/)** > > Multiple sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have attempted to go overboard as the carrier's deployment stretches into its ninth month. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/63 "2026-08-12T20:42:18Z")
It is meat-ish, foody product. It is processed from _stuff_ and…_things._ Y’know, like bologna and hot dogs…only less comercialized. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2026, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/64 "2026-08-12T21:24:54Z")
In the days of sail, they could be away for years. The big difference is that once they left their home port, they were totally cut off. These days those sailors will be on social media and facetiming home, which can be a mixed blessing. If you are stuck on a ship, eight or nine thousand miles away, seeing your family having problems must be very difficult, and that’s not to mention a number of “dear Johns’”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/65 "2026-08-13T02:21:03Z")
ISTM that given the length of the deployment, they could have sent a replenishment ship or two. Or even a train of CODs. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/66 "2026-08-13T02:48:59Z")
When I’ve seen that pre-packaged gyro meat that comes in strips like that, it was always browned well on a flattop griddle before being served. Usually in grubby little “cafes” in second-rate office buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/67 "2026-08-19T20:03:10Z")
They also had more downtime, I suspect, than our modern Navies, given getting from place to place would take quite a bit longer. Also, while the sailors then were also volunteers (usually) if it was a private venture they had a VERY good possibility of being gone for several years, and coming back with enough money to keep their family comfortable for life, if things went well. And, as you say, things were just different then. But they also weren’t packed 5000 into a ship. I think the much closer quarters may have a lot to do with the strain and mental toll. Not to mention the 200+ days on station with no port call, mail, or larder refresh. Even before the Suez canal, Sailing from Britain to India may have taken 3 to 4 months around the Cape, but they woud be making port calls pretty regularly to restock water, food, stretch their legs for a day, etc. The sailors on the Lincoln haven’t gotten to do that in over 200 days. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/68 "2026-08-19T20:04:03Z")
It looks like the sole of a shoe. 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/69 "2026-08-19T20:13:41Z")
Just so you all know, there’s an ongoing Pit thread for the plight of the folks on the Abraham Lincoln beyond their meals. Lots of good information to be found there, even if it’s the Pit. > [@USS Abraham Lincoln](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-abraham-lincoln/1032359): > > Supposedly it’s on its way home after a record deployment. I really don’t understand how it was allowed to run out of food, if the story is true. I would have thought there would be mucho money made by someone to keep the shelves stocked, and if anything, they would have too much. A strange complaint by some was unsanitary toilets and showers. How does that happen? Nobody cleans latrines, or heads, or whatever they’re called on aircraft carriers? They just get funkier and funkier until the ship … ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/70 "2026-08-19T21:00:05Z")
Reading through this thread, I’ll not complain about Seabee chow again. It wasn’t always great - or even good - but it was plentiful and hot and there was always room to sit down for everyone. And every once in awhile you’d get to work near a Navy shore base, or better yet, an Air Force base, where the food was usually outstanding. The best I had was when I was on a detachment to St. Thomas to build a radar site on the mountain there. There was no base of any kind, and the house we were all living in had a kitchen, so they sent a mess cook with us who loved being able to cook in small quantities as much as we loved eating what he made. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/71 "2026-08-19T21:28:08Z")
> [@robby](#): > > our soft-ice cream machine O the humanity! ---
**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:** [August 20, 2026, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/72 "2026-08-20T01:11:11Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > our soft-ice cream machine > > O the humanity! Right, it more than made up for being stuck in a steel tube with 140 other sailors for months on end while working every waking minute on rotating shifts around the clock seven days a week. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/73 "2026-08-20T01:51:08Z")
Well, when you put it that way, I take your point. 🙂 I meant to indicate my sense that soft ice cream is an abomination, not cast aspersions ---
**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:** [August 20, 2026, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/74 "2026-08-20T02:12:14Z")
I agree with you there. Soft-serve ice cream isn’t really my thing either. 😝 And I was always a little bemused by the fact they decided to put one in the crew’s mess in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Thumper668](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thumper668/32/20803_2.png) [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/75 "2026-08-20T12:16:05Z")
> [@robby](#): > > Soft-serve ice cream isn’t really my thing either. And let’s not forget that the glop that comes out of the machine on a submarine isn’t really deserving of the descriptor “ice cream”. It’s more like non-dairy creamer mixed with ice chips and (sometimes) chocolate syrup. Nevertheless, when it broke down even us spooks got pretty good at fixing it. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/76 "2026-08-20T15:27:56Z")
> [@Thumper668](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > Soft-serve ice cream isn’t really my thing either. > > And let’s not forget that the glop that comes out of the machine on a submarine isn’t really deserving of the descriptor “ice cream”. It’s more like non-dairy creamer mixed with ice chips and (sometimes) chocolate syrup. Nevertheless, when it broke down even us spooks got pretty good at fixing it. Great description! It was comparable to the dehydrated powdered milk used on deployments (aka “plastic cow”), which also tasted like off-brand non-dairy creamer. As for the soft-serve, I think I mentioned upthread we once got some decent mix in Norway. Didn’t last long, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372/77 "2026-08-20T15:36:42Z")
Dear old Dad served on a Diesel boat back in the Silurian. He said the chow was a lot better than the surface navy. He said the very first order of business once underway at Sea was to jettison all the “cutters and canners” beef over the side. Wretched stuff, they had to take it on board, but they didn’t have to eat it. They got a bit better pay, too. He said they would remove their Dolphins from their uniform sometimes when out carousing and drinking on Liberty, because the standard-issue swabbies would sometimes want to get in a fight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-grey-slab-usn-dinner/1029372.md?page=3)