Food, showers, medical care aboard subs.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by Convoystalker

Were there dedicated food preparation facilities aboard subs enabling baking of bread, cooking hot meals, refrigerators.
Were there food freezers where meat & vegies could be stored ?

Yes. Here's a picture I took of the galley of the Cavalla (she's in rough shape, but you get the idea):

http://public.fotki.com/mookiemookie.../p1010022.html

Could crew raid the fridge for snacks ? Was there a pot of coffee on the brew at all times ?

From what I've read, sandwiches and coffee were available all the time.

Was there alcohol aboard ?

Regulations forbid alcohol on board, but that didn't stop many boats from carrying liquor rations as "depth charge medicine"

Was there a dedicated eating area ? Did crew eat off trays ? I imagine china would be something of a liability on subs

Yes, here's a picture of the crew's mess. It doubled as a lounge for off duty sailors:

http://public.fotki.com/mookiemookie.../p1010021.html

Not sure about sailors, but officers did indeed dine off of real plates.

Showers .... were there showers aboard and if so how often were these facilities available to each crewman. I imagine with 70 people aboard a relatively small vessel it would require a lot of water

Imagine squeezing yourself into this shower:

http://public.fotki.com/mookiemookie.../p1010018.html

Showers were not unheard of, but they were curtailed in order to conserve fresh water. My dad served on the Skate in the late 60's and said that if you were smart, you became friends with the machinist's mates because they could get you buckets of condensation from off of the equipment.

What about life threatening emergencies such as appendix ?

At least twice during the war there were emergency appendectomies performed on the boat. In one case, the skipper took the boat below to give a relatively steady operating environment, the galley was disinfected with torpedo fuel alcohol, and the pharmacist's mate performed a successful surgery using a navy issue scalpel and bent spoons for spreaders. Of course this sort of thing was not encouraged by COMSUBPAC!

There was a proposal at one point during the war that all submarine sailors have their appendex removed to avoid this sort of thing, but it never went anywhere.

What happened if there were serious concussions, broken bones, gunshot or shrapnel wounds after DC or air attacks.

The pharmacist's mate could give basic first aid and stabilize the patient, but in the case of serious wounds, a sailor might have to be returned to base. If the sub was not on it's return trip, it might radio in and COMSUBPAC would arrange for another boat to meet the sub and the patient could be offloaded and returned to medical facilities.