How Aircraft Carriers Prepare 17,000 Meals a Day

Imagine having to prepare over 17,000 meals per day to feed a bunch of hard-working starving sailors on a floating city at sea. Sounds impossible, right? Well, it's not. In fact, it is being executed right now.

The United States Navy has officially taken mobile mealtime to the next level. Every day that an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier spends at sea, it has to provide three square meals for the 5,000 hungry sailors who call the ship home.

How, you ask, is this even possible? Let’s find out.

#themilitaryshow

[spidersinspace]

I was in the Navy for 6 years during the Viet Nam era and I can tell you the food was incredible, there was nothing to complain about. The holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving were outstanding and very special.

[The_Deacon]

The food is the least we can do as a country. Thank you both, those that prepare, and those that eat. We appreciate what you do, we are proud of you.

[edwardbryan]

As the saying goes, "Amateurs study strategies. Geniuses study logistics."

[crp]

Kudos to all the culinary staff that keeps everyone well fed!! Huge thanks from a civilian for all the hard work it takes to keep everyone fed and happy!! Man that food looks amazing!! Money well spent!!

[tankthebear]

We had a bake shop on my ship USS Dixie back in mid 70s ... those bakers were AMAZING I'd put them up against ANY bakery I could go to today. I worked nights and our shop was right above the bake shop. About 4 in the morning you'd begin smelling fresh baked caramel rolls, crescents, whatever .... thanks guys .... well done. PS ... you should have seen Thanksgiving on board ... I wish I could relive that ....does the Navy need a highly skilled 70 y o IT specialist?

[chrissmith]

Served on The USS Abraham Lincoln CVN 72 . We had some great Culinary Specialist. The omelet line at breakfast was the best when we had fresh eggs and was not down to powdered. Every Friday was surf and turf usually lobster tail and steak. We had a forward and aft mess deck for enlisted e1 - e6 each had 2 lines and every line was a different type of meal. The only complaints was wait times some days you would stand inline for up to a hour and when we were getting close to the next replenishment and were running low on some items.

[JackMyersM]

I was USAF Japan in the 80s/90s. We had a Navy and AF chef run dining facility. I still think about how good the food was three times a day.

[TypOPositiv]

I never let anyone speak ill of a cook or chef in military. Their knowledge of the culinary arts is second to none.

[jamesnelson]

I was deployed aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Wasp, CVS 18, during 1961 to 1963. Meals were served 23 1/2 hours a day. I don't remember a time where meals were bad. On board the Wasp, we had a choice of a the general mess or the Hot Dog/Hamburger/French Fry line every day, if you didn't appreciate offering from the general mess. The food was decent and the cooks worked hard to keep the 3300 crew members happy. For me, it was a good experience.

[karlbrundage]

It's funny that the same amount of money per person is spent, regardless of the ship-type, yet I ate so much better on submarines than I did aboard a surface ship.

It may be the difference in crew-size (a submarine has a crew of @120, while I served on a surface ship with 1500+), but the meals served aboard the tender were basic and thoughtless.

Aboard the Subs I served on, we had "Surf and Turf" night every week, fresh Lumpia for MidRats (rolled by our Philippino Mess-Specialists every night during the movie), Steam-Ship Round roast during mid-patrol and many other treats. We did this, despite being on patrol for as long as 75 days underwater, with no resupply.

Yes, fresh milk was gone by week 4, fresh eggs by week 8 and we have no memory of a garden salad, yet we enjoyed sumptuous meals for the duration of our missions.

God Bless the Mess-Specialists and Mess-Cooks (I and everyone else got to be one for 45 days) on the boats I served on.

[johnnycollins]

Served on 2 carriers back in the mid 1970s. Never had a bad meal. Talking with veterans from that era, it's always the Army guys bitching about shit on a shingle. Navy served 3 varieties of it (creamed, chipped and minced beef on toast), all were good with the creamed being my fav! ⚓

[jayyoung]

I was a cook on CV 66 in the early 80s. I worked in the officers mess only...my best friend cooked for the Admiral onboard...we didn't call ourselves culinary specialists, just messman or cooks. Franky the best food onboard was not the officers or Admiral but the Chief petty officers mess... Christ they had the best rations.

[joshymcguire]

I spent a week working in a navy kitchen on a carrier😂 my sister is in the navy and was a really sought after cook in the navy for a long time.. she’s cooked for all kinds of important people, traveled for cooking classes, and worked with celebrity chefs! The carriers do something called a tiger cruise where family can travel on the ship from the last stop to home port. She was stationed in SD, so I met them in Hawaii and traveled on the ship for 5 days and spent most of the time with her in the kitchen. It was a super cool experience and crazy to see how they pull it off!

[sethjr]

Was army I wished I had this kind of meals during deployment, I ended up going to the local wet markets to buy food for my unit and got the rest of the guys to help me cook, we all became a cooks during our service

[PatrickPannunzio]

Thank you for the very informative and interesting video. It made me very hungry and although I know these brave men and women are putting their lives on the line they must enjoy those wonderful looking meals. Makes you want to join the Navy. But once again we must be grateful of those wonderful men and women who protect us every day. They deserve the best that is available.

[edjarrett]

The most best food in the field I enjoyed was provided by the Army. I was an AF cadet going through their recondo training at Ft Carson, Co. They had a Quonset hut to support maybe 100 folks total. They had a SMSGT that ran the kitchen. They produced the best food in the military. This was over four decades ago, but I remember how good the food they produced. It was all scratch and produced every meal. As a cook today, I never forgot that effort in a desert climate and no backup food storage around.

[don-qbxb]

The logistics of the U.S military are truly staggering.

[BMF]

I was a Marine infantry captain deployed aboard various amphibious ships in the Western Pacific in 1974-1975. The ward rooms were very small and there were several sittings which meant you only had only a few minutes to finish before the staff needed to prepare for the next sitting and if you late (after the senior Naval officer was seated then you had to see if there an extra space in one of the next sittings, even if your seat was still empty. Tardiness was no tolerated on any of the ships I was on. Don't know how it works today.

The food was likely better than what the enlisted got, but it wasn't all that good. There were movies one a week or two on one of the decks that could seat around 50 people at a time with metal folding chairs. It was projected on a small portable pulldown screen with a 16 mm projector. The quality was poor. We were allowed one small cup of popcorn.

The amphib ships ran on diesel and the ventilation system would suck in the fumes so below deck it always had a smell of an automotive repair shop and it left an oily film on the deck and bulkheads. That didn't help in heavy seas when you began to feel seasick combined with that diesel smell.

My guess is that the sailors were far more used to rough seas, but the Marines were. Every morning I had to conduct and inspection of the sleeping / living compartments and the smell of vomit would be overwhelming. The Marines cleaned it up the best the could but that smell would last for a long time. The ship's XO would do the inspection with me and they were all extremely strict on sanitation for obvious reasons--the spaces were extremely tight.

When we conducted the evacuation of Saigon in April of 1975 the rules were somewhat relaxed as we had broken out our combat gear, weapons, and ammunition which made everything more challenging.

I was once on an Landing Ship Tank (LST) which to the Marines stood for Slow Moving Target. The ship got caught in a Typhoon one night was taking 30 degrees snap rolls meaning 30 degrees to starboard and then 30 degrees to port. Everyone not on duty was strapped into their berths. In the morning the bow ramp of the LST that weighed 60 tons was missing, which meant we could not get our tanks and vehicles off the ship. We had to pull into a port (Subic Bay) and have a crane life each vehicle and pallet off the ship to be embarked on another amphibious ship.

Meaning to say that being deployed aboard amphibious ships in those days was not a pleasant experience. I was always thankful whenever we were able to have an exercise on land that wasn't constantly moving up and down and left and right.

I served 21 years in the Marine Corps with 3 years in combat. It was a challenging career that involved different assignments to which I had never been trained for. While I greatly admire the sailors who endure the hardships of being at sea for extended periods, I didn't. I was an infantry platoon commander in the Vietnam War December 1968-69 for 10 and a half months with the last month and a half as the battalion assistant S-1 (personnel). And I don't think a single sailor on any of those ships would have want to follow me into ground combat where the mental and physical stresses were a challenge and the killed and wounded losses were common.

And one comical observation I had was that the only defenses the amphibious ships had in those days, at least the ones I was on, were twin 40 mm guns from WW II. Whoever thought that twin 40 mm guns were an adequate defense of amphibious ships in the mid 1970's needed to be dragged into the parking lot and pistol whipped in front of the employees. But it was worse than that. Marines were required to augment those defenses and we had never been trained on them -- not that would have made any difference to defend against a standoff attack.

The officers and sailors who serve in the Navy were absolute professionals back then and have no doubt they are many times more professional today just as the Marines today are many more times professional than when I served. Half of my platoon in Vietnam were draftees. I had no idea that Marines could be drafted into the Marine Corps. But they did their job and they were killed and wounded along with the Marine volunteers. They were Marines and there were no differences.

My apologies for the long post. I could go on for pages with what combat was really like. I was a Florida boy and absolutely hated anything that was below 70 degrees. I'm thankful that all of my combat experiences were in the tropics. I lived for a while in Newfoundland and North Dakota. I also lived in the northeast of the US and I hated every minute of the winters. I attended the Army's Arctic Warfare Course at Ft. Greely, Alaska and thought I would likely freeze to death.

After Vietnam, I spent two years in Central America supporting host nation counter insurgency operations. My last tour of duty before retiring was with US Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida where I retired. I'm now 77 still living in Tampa enjoying the hot summers and mild winters, but even so, I still feel the Grim Reaper is at my doorstep when the temperature drops below 70 degrees.


Different strokes for different folks.

[Rahim]

Served onboard the FID U.S.S Forrestal CV-59 on the Bridge as a QuarterMaster Navigation Department. I used to love calling down to the bakery when we pulled a 0400-0800 watch and get fresh Cinnamon Rolls sent up for the Captain which in reality never went to the Captain it was actually for the Bridge Crew and they were always warm and very good. Man those were the days there is nothing like serving on-board a Carrier. I miss the Forrestal she was a great Shipand a great home when I was in the service. I served between 1987 and 1991.

[justinchristoph]

I had a conversation with a cook at a Waffle House years ago when I used to get off work at 2:00 a.m. and that was the only place open. He told me he had been a Mess Management Specialist in the Navy from 1975 to 1995. He said he rarely got much sleep in the Navy, especially when at sea.