Just how many different uniforms do these guys have?
It seems every scene they have another uniform. Liked the short white pants for summer, etc.
shareThe 7 most likely for enlisted personnel would have been:
Service Dress Blues.
Service Dress Whites.
Undress Blues - same as Dress, without white piping on flap and wrists.
Undress Whites - same as Dress, without blue flap and piping.
Tropical White Long.
Tropical White Short (the shirt, shorts and knee socks, all white.)
Dungarees - blue shirt with dark blue trousers.
The tropical uniforms would have been a special authorization for enlisted wear and apparently China was one of the areas where it could be worn.
Dungarees in the fleet would have normally been the most common uniform worn at sea, especially for a Machinist's Mate, and I recall from the book The Sand Pebbles how Holman asking the Chinese tailor to make him several pairs of dungarees was an early sign of the future conflicts he would have with the rest of the crew.
I've never served, but I was under the impression they had very little storage space each on ships. That seems like a lot of clothes to store. The uniforms need to hang so there's no wrinkles. Any idea where they'd stir all that?
shareI don't know the exact measurements of the old style Navy locker for enlisted. It seems like it was probably about 2' high and wide. Boot camp taught how to fold every part of your uniform to maximize the amount of clothing you could get into the locker. The working dungarees weren't too much of a problem since they showed no obvious wrinkles if folded and stored properly, which was also true for dress and undress blues. Navy regulations actually stated something to the effect that uniforms had to be clean and in good repair, but didn't require they be pressed.
From my own experience aboard ship, most of the uniforms in our sea bag stayed in our sea bag which we could access if necessary (they were stacked in a corner.) We knew the waters we would be sailing and the time of year so we could shift uniforms to fit, although our usual need was for dungarees while at sea, and tropical long for entering/leaving port or shore patrol duties. Only twice do I recall having to get the dress blues out of the sea bag.
The white uniforms we had cleaned while in port so they could be lightly starched with bluing added. These we were very careful about storing so they would keep the bright white pressed look - a slight disadvantage for shore patrol but it was the required uniform.
The ship had a laundry but most of the sailors I knew preferred to use shore based services whenever possible.
Unlike Jake when we were in transit from shore to ship we didn't have to carry our bedding with our sea bag so in transit we had it better. In the book it was indicated the Sand Pebbles had unusually comfortable quarters with bed-like bunks and ample storage lockers, so they had it much better once aboard. Where the Pebbles had a huge advantage was their clothes were cleaned, pressed and stored for them.
Storage space has been improved now with under the mattress lockers which are very roomy compared to the old box style ones.
I don't have that many outfits and I live in a house not a ship!!!
shareCloset space and dresser drawers are definitely an improvement, but shipboard life wasn't as bad as the list makes it sound.
The list included all possible uniforms but it's unlikely they would have all combinations. The blue uniforms would be stored in the sea bags during summer months. Most operating areas would have a Uniform of the Day, and possibly an optional uniform for wear. Except on season or location changes you were likely to wear 1 style uniform day after day with the rest stored away in the sea bag.
I know for my sailing it was dungaree pants and t-shirt (dungaree shirt only required while in port) as the optional and it's what most of us wore. We kept blued and starched whites if we were likely to get shore patrol, or if the ship required it for entering and leaving port.