In May, 1941, Commander Service Force Pacific Fleet initiated a survey designed to determine the provision endurance of ships of the fleet. One of the conclusions reached as a result of this study was that on the majority of ships provision stocks, both fresh and dry, were improperly balanced to provide acceptable menus for the longest possible period. This lack of balance was occasioned by failure or inability to secure the various items in the proper proportions or the subsequent unbalancing of stocks by menus which were not sufficiently diversified.
To remedy this situation Commander Service Force compiled a balanced 13- week menu and specified the items and quantities required to carry it out based on a complement of 1,000 men. Standard loading requisitions of Provision Storeships were revised to include all the items necessary to carry out this menu. Provision ships were instructed that whenever any of these items were not available for loading, similar items were to be substituted.
The machinery was thus set up for ships of the fleet to attain maximum provision endurance and still maintain acceptable menus from the standpoint of diet, variety, and palatability, over the entire period by the simple expedient of loading the same relative proportions of the items specified in Comserfor’s letter, or equivalent items. Experience in provisioning the fleet indicates, however, that to date the benefits of this advanced planning have not been realized by the fleet at large. In order that the benefits of longer endurance and better rounded menus to be derived from the balanced loading of supply ships may accrue to the fleet, and in addition save the fighting ships, particularly those without supply officers, the work of calculating their provision needs, and to cut down the time required to provision units of the fleet, the following system of issuing is proposed for provision storeships.
The provision storeship will work out for each loading the cube of the smallest balanced issue possible in the three separate categories of provisions carried, i.e., chill, frozen, and dry. Vessels to be provisioned will report to the storeship the cubic feet of space they have available for chill, frozen, and dry provisions. The storeship then divides the reported space by the cube of the balanced issue and multiplies the quantities contained in the balanced issue by this figure to determine the quantities of each item to issue. The storeship then proceeds to issue these items without further instructions from the vessels provisioning.
Such a system would result in all ships receiving a balanced stock of provisions, thus making possible maximum provision endurance and the feeding of balanced menus during the entire period. If, for instance, a ship loaded too heavy on such items as catsup, vinegar, pumpkin, lard, evaporated milk, salad oil, and sugar, thereby reducing the space available for other items, it can readily be seen that this ship will require provisioning long before her storerooms are actually empty. A maladjustment of the amount of space allotted to sacked goods in comparison to canned vegetables, or fruits in comparison to vegetables, will result in unbalanced repetitious meals toward the end of the period of endurance. If perishable items are not received in reasonable ratio to each other, some are liable to spoil before they can be consumed, or else the crew is going to have to eat the same vegetables or fruit for several meals in succession.
The proposed system would save the work of calculating the quantities to be requisitioned and the preparation of the requisition. Based on the space available, the provision ship calculates the quantity of each item to be supplied in order to load each ship to capacity. A proportionate quantity of every item carried is furnished each ship.
The procedure outlined would tend to insure loading of ships to capacity. On a number of occasions noted in experience in a provision ship, a certain length of time was allotted for the provisioning operation. When that time was up the ships left regardless of whether they had a full load or not. Under these circumstances ships frequently get an unbalanced, partial provisioning, the reason being that at the time of preparation of their requisitions they do not know what items are available on the supply ship. Thus they requisition items which the storeship does not carry while failing to requisition a great many items which are available. When time is short there is no opportunity to revise requisitions. Accordingly the ship being provisioned gets only those items requisitioned which are available. Therefore she goes away with space left in her storerooms and boxes. Under the proposed system the provision ship fills a space not a requisition and in filling that space she gives a proportionate share to each item in her cargo.
This point was well illustrated by the cruiser which came in for a quick provisioning and then remained several days. After receiving the items available on her original requisition, she made two successive additional provisionings on consecutive days in order to load to capacity and round out her stocks to include all items carried. Many provisionings have been so hurried that ships have left without receiving the full benefit of the diversity of items carried by the provision ship and in some cases undoubtedly not provisioned to maximum capacity.
The proposed system would be of great benefit particularly to young or inexperienced supply officers, of which there are many in the fleet at the present time, in as much as it would save them the necessity of figuring the items and quantities to requisition and allow them to use Commander Service Force ready-made menus.
The suggested procedure would insure that each ship receives a proportionate share of all items carried by the provision ship. Under the present system ships do not always get the benefit of the variety of items loaded either because they do not have time to find out what items are available and adjust their requisitions accordingly, or because by the time they are provisioned certain items have been exhausted. The proposed system would remedy both of these situations. Each ship provisioned would automatically receive a proportionate share of each item loaded by the storeship. Since the storeship makes nothing but balanced issues, she keeps her own cargo balanced and is thus able to give the last ship provisioned just as wide a variety as the first ship provisioned.
If the system outlined above were adopted it would allow ships, by making minor variations, to use the 13-week menu compiled by Commander Service Force. The variety of items supplied by provision ships, however, will allow almost infinite variation of these standard menus. New items are constantly being added to provision ships’ cargoes. Fresh fruits and vegetables carried vary with the season.
Provision ships would be able to stay longer on the station. Under the present system the provision ship almost invariably ends up with several hundred tons of provisions on board but with such a small range of items that she must return to reload. The proposed system would allow a balanced ration to be issued right down to the last few tons. This would mean that the length of time a provision ship could stay on the station would be increased and the number of round trips required in a given time reduced.
One of the major arguments in favor of the suggested system is the fact that it would reduce the time required to provision. The time now required before a provisioning can commence to receive and adjust requisitions, to translate quantities requisitioned into the number of cases to be issued, and prepare the hatch lists would be saved. As a matter of actual fact, provision ships have several times been forced to disregard requisitions and proceed along the lines of the proposed system in order to accomplish the task assigned within the time allowed.
On one occasion a provision storeship was informed that it would have to provision a large task force within a specified number of hours. The time allowed was not sufficient to receive requisitions, translate quantities into cases, recap them, and prepare hatch lists in the normal manner. Accordingly, based on the estimated complements of the ships involved, and the number of days it was estimated would have elapsed since they had last had an opportunity to provision, the provision storeship using the tables in the Bureau of Supplies and Accounts Manual computed the quantities of the various items available which it was believed each ship could stow. The dry stores were loaded on lighters during the night. The loaded lighters were alongside the first ships as soon as they dropped anchor. Loading of perishable provisions into boats for delivery to the various units was commenced as soon as the ships were sighted. If requisitions had had to be relied upon, a considerable period after receipt of the requisitions would have been required to make up necessary hatch lists before provisioning could have been started. As it was, the dry provisions were out of the ship before the arrival of the force.
On another occasion requisitions were requested by dispatch and flown in in advance of arrival of the ships to be provisioned. This enabled the provision store- ship to accomplish the preliminary paper work and load the first boats in advance of arrival of the units to be provisioned. The first boat loads were alongside as soon as the ships had dropped anchor.
The proposed system should make it possible to do this in every case. The available space for provisions could be reported to the storeship in advance of the arrival of the force by plane, destroyer, or visual while the ships were still a long way from their anchorage, or if necessary, as in the example cited, space could be estimated from knowledge of complements and days at sea. Even if the information was not supplied until after arrival of the force, it would take less time to compile hatch lists under the proposed system than under the present system in which requisitions are submitted.
To sum up, it is recommended that provision storeships be authorized and directed to issue to vessels provisioned on the basis of proportionate amounts of each item carried and the space to be filled rather than on the basis of requisitions submitted by the requiring vessels. Such a system of issuing would insure that ships provisioned receive a well-rounded, balanced, diversified stock of provisions, make for longer provision endurance, better-balanced, more varied menus, save the fighting ships and others provisioned considerable paper work, aid in insuring that ships are provisioned to capacity, insure that all ships receive a proportionate share of all items carried by the provision ship, allow ships to put into effect the 13- week menu compiled by Commander Service, increase the length of time provision ships could stay on station and reduce the number of round trips they must make, and finally and probably most important it would reduce the time required to provision any given unit.