The Wardroom

While officers dined in the wardroom, stewards in the adjoining pantry prepared the meals.

1956 Mediterranean Cruise Book, park collection.

Quick Facts

Location:

USS CASSIN YOUNG

Though a small ship, a hierarchy still existed on USS Cassin Young (DD-793). This is established by military rank and tradition. Traditionally, commissioned officers have their own sleeping, living, and dining spaces separate from the rest of the crew. Here in the wardroom, you stand at the center of the commissioned officers' living space. Serving as the living room, dining room, conference room, courtroom, and formal ceremonial hall, it was the the most open and comfortable space on the ship. Nevertheless, enlisted seamen could serve on this ship for a year and never see this room.

As a privilege of rank, the officers had stewards assigned to the wardroom to prepare and serve their meals out of the nearby pantry. The food, however, was paid for by the officers themselves. Just below this deck are the officers' staterooms. Smaller than most college dormitories, officers still had to share the stateroom with one or two other officers.

Yet even tradition yields to the mission of a ship to serve the fleet and the nation. If you look above the wardroom table, a surgical lamp hangs overhead. In time of need, this room served as the primary casualty station and the ship' operating room. In one emergency in particular during 1944, the ship's doctor and his chief pharmacist' mate performed an appendectomy right on this table.