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From: Jim White
Date: September 26, 2014
Subject: Bathtubs on Ships
All this talk about presidents' bathtubs reminded me of something. The Muehlebach Hotel in Kansas City, MO has a long history and every president from Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Regan or later has stayed in it's presidential suite.
I attended a large Association For Educational Communications and Technology conference at the Muehlebach and the nearby convention center in 1978. The president of the association was given the presidential suite and he invited some of us up to see what it was like. The highlight of the tour was seeing the special shower stall that had been installed for President Johnson. It had seven shower heads! One at the top like a normal shower, then three pairs of two shower heads on each side at shoulder, waist and low thigh levels. Johnson must have liked a lot of water! It also shows that presidents get what they want--to perhaps include a rare square bath tub on a battleship in the 1940's? Who knows?
Jim
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: Bathtubs on Ships
Wow! Sailors sure are clean. We use to just take a "whores" bath in our helmets!!! dickie the Army guy
From: Steve Sevits
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: Bathtubs on Ships
The attached details add'l info on shipboard tubs, it seems the Iowa wasn't the first.
Steve
From: Steve Sevits
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: Bathtubs on Ships
I'd be more comfortable seeing a cast iron, claw and ball foot bathtub representing the 1940s. Or did they have square tubs in those days? Although Googling "1940s bathtubs" images came up with the attached image of what appears to be a square tub, (although the picture may be part of the tub being hidden behind a wall - it's a lousy photo) suggesting the possibility that the square tub on board ship may be correct.
I recall a tub at the Grosvner Hotel in London (1960s). Had to use a tub, there were no showers. I filled the enormous tub with water and got in, and the water level was well above my nose. It was more like a ship dry dock than bathing appliance - must have held 150 gallons.
Steve
From: Rick Federicksen
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
Dickie,
I don't know about the Quincy but the iowa has a tub. The picture is from the USS Iowa museum website, plus I've known this from my earlier reporting. I agree, it does look a little more modern than I'd expect. Maybe we should go see the Iowa too.
Rick
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
Hey Rick....
That photo of a bathtub doesn't look anything like a 1940's tub to me...
This story says it was the Quincy not the Iowa....what do you think?
Dickie
From: Rick Fredericksen
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
USS IOWA had a bathtub installed for use by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his transit for the Tehran Conference with Churchill and Stalin. The bathtub is still present aboard IOWA and visitors will be able to view this unique feature during select tours.
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
Not corrected.....enhanced!!!!!!
Dickie
From: Ken Kalish
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
I stand corrected.
Ken
"He took President Roosevelt to Malta..... to attend a conference at Yalta."
A story about U.S.S. Little Rock sailor
Angelo Marinelli Cox, 1945-1945, 6th Division
[Note: Most of the links in the attached PDF do not work.]
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
I found it!!!!!
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
Great story! I am getting very senile...but...didn't they install a tub or something like that for President Roosevelt when he went on the battleship to the Malta conference....I have some vague memory of bathtub????
Dickie
From: Ken Kalish
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
You bet she had pools -- they kept the ship from losing men to sharks during swim call. The tubs were about 12 feet in diameter, and four feet deep. They also had retained the 40 MM mount drain scuppers so the “pools” wouldn’t fill with salt water. Rubber plugs covred the drains when the mount was to be filled.
No person who has ever been on a battleship at sea is left without a dramatic impression of that period. Ask Mike Sherman. She was a beautiful ship, and she is also the only ship in the Navy to have a bath tub in the Admiral’s quarters. It was ordered installed by Admiral “Bull” Halsey because he said he felt showers didn’t really get him clean. I’d be willing to bet, though, it was installed because he couldn’t smoke a cigar in the shower.
Ken
[NB: I have a friend who said that when he was in the Navy in the mid 1940's he used to carry
rifle and pull "shark watch" duty on board whenever the guys went in for a swim. JimW ]
Tyler Rogoway is a defense journalist and photographer that maintains the website Foxtrot Alpha for Jalopnik.com You can reach Tyler with story ideas or direct comments regarding this or any other defense topic via the email address Tyler@Jalopnik.com
Close up pics of pool here
The USS New Jersey only served for a couple of years (1968-1969) after being pulled out of retirement and was the only Iowa Class Battleship to have served during the Vietnam War. When the Iowas were re-activated and deeply refitted during the early 1980s to help fulfill President Reagan's "600 ship navy" policy, the swimming pools were removed. To my knowledge, the USS New Jersey remains the only US Navy surface combatant to go to war with such a luxury. You can see rare photos of these swimming pools in use here.
The USS New Jersey, one of the great Iowa Class Battleships, was reactivated in the late 1960s to serve during the height of the Vietnam War. Her forward 40mm guns were removed during a very light and expedited refit before deploying. These now empty "gun tubs" were then sealed and piped, painted blue and made into swimming pools.
The USS New Jersey, one of the great Iowa Class Battleships, was reactivated in the late 1960s to serve during the height of the Vietnam War. Her forward 40mm guns were removed during a very light and expedited refit before deploying. These now empty "gun tubs" were then sealed and piped, painted blue and made into swimming pools.
The USS New Jersey, the most decorated of all the Iowa class battleships, is now a museum ship located in Camden, New Jersey.
From: Dick Ellis
Date: September 23, 2014
Subject: [Unknown]
This is just about as bad as the Air Force and their golf courses!!! Join the Army boys and learn to fight!
Dickie
Bathtubs on Battleships, Etc.
September 2014
AFVN Group Conversations