All About Food Battle Buns Naval Heritage:
Coffee and the Navy Wanderlust:
Misaki Port
Battle Buns 4-7
Naval Heritage: Coffee and the Navy 8-11
Yokosuka Navy Burger 12-14
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Table of Contents Sailor Spotlight 16-19
Leadership: CO XO CMC PAO APAO Media DLCPO Media LPO Production LPO
CAPT Buzz Donnelly CAPT Paul Lanzilotta CMDCM Darrell Timpa LCDR David Levy ENS Rachel McMarr MCCS Ryan Delcore MC1 James Kimber MC1 Greg Johnson
Media Department:
Wanderlust: Misaki Port
MC1 Timothy Black MC1 Glenn Slaughter MC2 Kenneth Abbate MC2 Jamaal Liddell MC2 Brandon Martin MC2 Jamal McNeill MC2 Janweb Lagazo MC3 Storm Henry MC3 Tyler John MC3 James Ku MC3 Erwin Miciano MC3 Eduardo Otero Santos MC3 Kaila Peters MC3 Charles J. Scudella III MC3 MacAdam Weissman MCSN Randy Adams ADAN Calisia Brookes
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By MC2 Janweb Lagazo 4 | The Seventy-Sixer April 2018
CS3 Nesha Gray cooks a main dish from the battle menu in the galley of USS Ronald Reagan. (Photo by MC2 Janweb Lagazo)
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Operating for extended periods of time underway on an aircraft carrier can take its toll in many different ways and maintaining the supplies needed to feed a crew of more than 5,000 is just one of them. That is why USS Ronald Reagan has been selected to be the first carrier to implement “Battle Mess,” a program designed to
assess the ship’s capability to work with Military Sealift Command’s Combat Logistics Force (CLF) during combat operations. Ronald Reagan will be the first nuclear carrier deploying in the next year to work with CLF and be assessed on ability to supply and sustain food consumption over a 200-day period while using the
Navy’s battle load tool. “Supply is a lot of give and take,” said Lt. Cmdr. Edward Windas, the ship’s principal assistant for services. “It’s a lot of open communication. In the event of an actual wartime situation, we’re going to be in a denied [communications] environment. We’re not going to have that go
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Ronald Reagan’s food service team prepares and serves four meals a day for more than 5,000 crew and embarked personnel while operating underway.
between with the shore side. So they need to be able to understand what our needs are and be able to push us the food supplies we need. That’s the whole purpose of battle mess.” Placing Ronald Reagan in a simulated combat environment will allow leadership to analyze data to predict how best to supply the carrier along with other ships in company. For the crew, this means adapting to the changes combat may bring.
“If you claim to be a baker, you need to know how to make dough. From dough, you can make anything.” -CS3 Alex Oletski
One of the components of the Battle Mess program is making food from raw ingredients, including fresh bread daily.
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“Once we get in that environment, there’s a lot of things we’re going to have to do without,” said Windas. “We can get canned foods and items with long-term shelf life. That’s easy but when you start looking at fresh fruits and vegetables, a lot of that is going to go away depending on where we are and what type of shore facilities are available at the onset.” While limiting the fresh fruit and vegetables available, the ship’s current 21-day menu cycle also shrunk to a 14-day “Battle Menu,” reducing the daily variety of food choices. CLF ships will need to practice carrying the required items for the full 14-days and transferring during replenishment-at-sea (RAS) evolutions will be heavily evaluated. “The other big changes are bakery items,” said Windas. “We need to learn how to make that here because we can effectively store the ingredients – the flour and the
yeast.” Producing all bakery items from scratch gives the ship’s culinary specialists (CS) more training on equipment and recipes they may not otherwise be proficient at. However, this will also increase the workload on the ship’s bakers. “The bulk of our baking is bread from scratch,” said Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Alex Oletski, from Traer, Iowa, currently assigned as one of the bakers. “If you claim to be a baker, you need to know how to make dough. From dough, you can make anything.” Oletski said making food from scratch is a skill they teach in school but is lost within the fleet with the onset of pre-made or preprepared foods. “We have to make a lot more than we’re usually making,” said Culinary Specialist Seaman Jenelle Cleveland, from San Diego. “The workload is increasing so I think we’re going to need more people.
We have to make bread for all the messes so it can be a lot more stressful. It’s going to be longer from scratch and it’s going to take a lot of teamwork.” The trial period is expected to last during both of Ronald Reagan’s patrols this year and will give senior leadership the information they need to revise how RAS ships operate, what stores they should carry to support carrier combat operations, how CS’s should be trained and what equipment ships need to be more self-sufficient. “The fact we are the example, highlights we are the best at what we do,” said Windas. “No other carrier does the amount of pallets as we do during RASs. We’re forward-deployed naval forces and that makes us a very well-oiled machine when we go underway. We were selected to do this because they believe we’re the only carrier that can do it and that can be the model.”
CSSN Terique Birl slices bread in the galley aboard USS Ronald Reagan during the ship’s battle mess.
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COFFEE
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AND THE NAVY
The story of how the Navy got hooked on those little black beans Courtesy of Erica Buell, The Submarine Force Library & Museum
As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Coffee…The drink of the civilized world.” Coffee means so much to so many people that it even has its own day – September 29th. Coffee has become a staple in most homes, offices, campgrounds, and the military. The US military is one of the largest consumers of coffee in the country. Coffee allows military personal to always be on the watch, and is especially helpful to those who do the night watch. The Navy has a special history with coffee. We can even thank the Navy for the term “cup of Joe”. Sailors have their own special relationship with the hot brew, one that is much different from the average drinker. From
the way it’s brewed, to the cup you drink it in; coffee in the Navy is like no other. In 1773 after the Boston Tea Party, the Continental Congress declared coffee to be America’s National drink. In fact, the plan for the Tea Party was hatched in a coffeehouse. During the Civil War, coffee was the only fresh food available to many of the troops. Confederate troops tried to substitute anything to try and make the drink including roasted corn, rye, sweet potatoes, and chicory. But of course, nothing beat the original. The Civil War even saw the first attempt at instant coffee. However, this trial did not go very well. Factory owners trying to save cost used
spoiled milk which caused more problems on the battlefield and failed to boost morale. The military very quickly switched back to the real product. Before becoming President, William McKinley delivered hot coffee to the front lines. There is even a Civil War monument in Maryland honoring McKinley’s coffee service. The monument reads, “Sergeant McKinley Co. E. 23rd Ohio Vol. Infantry, while in charge of the Commissary Department, on the afternoon of the day of the battle of Antietam, September 17, 1962, personally and without orders served hot coffee and warm food to every man in the Regiment, on this spot and in doing so had to pass under
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Coffee has been the heart and soul of the Navy for years, with many Sailors today taking part with a hot “cup of Joe” in their favorite mug or tumbler. (Photo by MC3 Charles J. Scuidella III)
fire.” This story was told many times during his Presidential campaign – highlighting the soldiers’ love of coffee. In a 1983 memoir on World War II, Captain Sam Lombard-Hobson said that sailor’s strong coffee was “black as ink and hot as hell; to keep the watch watchful on cold nights in the North Atlantic.” From the beginning of our military, coffee has been a necessity. While coffee was an integral part in soldier’s rations, in the Navy, it wasn’t always the favorite drink of choice. The early days of the US Navy was molded after the British Royal Navy. This meant a daily ration of grog. Grog, which is rum diluted with water, was a daily ration in the British Navy up
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until 1970. Much of early Naval history is filled with stories of the rum trade. Many of our early sea tales are filled with rum soaked pirates being chased by the Dutch East India Company. In 1801, Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith substituted the daily ration of American-made sour mash for West Indies rum. The daily ration of hard liquor was restricted though in 1862 during the Civil War. Order No. 29 restricted all alcohol brought on board ships. Only drinks that the Captain permitted were allowed onboard. While specific information isn’t available, many officers continued to have wine with a meal daily. The removal of alcohol on board ships came in 1914 with Order No. 99, which banned all alcoholic
beverages from Naval property. This move was made by Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels. While there is no definitive proof of the connection, the American slang for coffee – “a cup of Joe” is highly linked to this action. The coffee mess became a prominent fixture on surface ships and submarines alike. Coffee pots could be found on the bridge, in the engine room, the ship’s office, the machine shop, and many other places. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy established its own coffeeroasting plants in Oakland, California and Brooklyn, New York. While both plants are closed now, this represents how serious coffee was regarded during wartime in the Navy.
During WWII, most of Hawaii’s kona crop was purchased by the Navy in order to supply its sailors with the amount of coffee they needed. The average coffee consumer may be asking why Navy coffee is so important. After all, it’s just coffee. But coffee on a boat is not like your average cup. There is an article on the Naval Historical Foundation website called “Don’t Wash That Coffee Sketch of a Sailor, eating a sandwich and drinking his coffee. (Photo courtesy of Naval Heritage and History Command)
Mug” that perfectly describes the outsider’s realization about Navy coffee. The author of the article describes his first experience with Navy coffee in the following manner: “It was hot and strong, very strong. The thickness of it closely resembled crude oil. It tasted both wonderful and terrible at the same time. Your mind can trick you into believing anything. When a supreme pot
of joe is brewed, many of the volunteers would call it ‘Signal Bridge Coffee,’ recalling the nostalgia of long nights and many cups consumed.” Sailors drink their coffee black and strong – or not at all. While this may not be true with all Sailors (creamer and sugar are consumed widely by military personal), this idea stems from the period of time when soldiers in war could only get spoiled milk due to the delay in the arrival of supplies. Today many Sailors and other military members will tell you a cup of black coffee is the only way to go. It is not only the strength of the coffee that matters, but the cup in which you drink it. There is a tradition, as strange as it may seem, to not wash your coffee mug. The practice is called “seasoning”. This is another reason for drinking their coffee black. If someone used milk and sugar in their coffee, they’d have no choice but to clean it. A 1945 Navy cookbook outlines clear instructions on how to clean both the coffee pot and mug upon consumption. Today’s Sailors carry a different tune. Especially amongst the Navy chief community, a well “seasoned” cup is a sign of stature and seniority. Much like taking coffee black, a “seasoned” coffee mug is not practiced by every Sailor in today’s Navy. Despite this, these traditions show how coffee has become a daily important routine for many Sailors.
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Yo k
er rg
a N v a y k B u s u o
By MC3 Storm Henry 12 | The Seventy-Sixer April 2018
July 4, 1776 – Independence Day. One of the most poignant examples of a date so ingrained in our cultural lexicon it evokes historical sentiment and the personal memories from celebrations spent with family and friends. Societies around the world recognize these dates for the significant events that shaped who they are today. But there is one date that many leave off their calendar, one date that is so significant that it affects thousands of American and Japanese citizens every single day. The date is when Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Japan, Rear Adm. James D. Kelly presented the mayor of Yokosuka with the recipe for a properly made Navy hamburger – Nov. 19, 2008. 1. Meat has to be 100-percent beef with 20-percent fat. 2. Don’t use too many spices, but use salt and pepper.
3. Buns need to have white sesame seeds on the top. 4. Don’t include ketchup and mustard on the burger but, have it available for customers to use if desired. 5. Don’t mix milk, bread crumbs and eggs into the ground beef. Five simple steps to follow, and if any restaurant wants to advertise their sandwich as a Yokosuka Navy Burger follow them they must. Given these directives, many food stands in the area around Yokosuka started to adopt these standards and to the city leaders who were tasked with keeping the rules, the diverse results came as a pleasant surprise. Yet, it begs the question, “why?” These were not the first burgers ever made in Japan, as American military members in post-war Japan introduced the burger as an easy-to-make dish that gave a taste of home. Local Japanese shop
owners learned how to create this unique sandwich and it became commonplace around military bases, especially Sasebo, where the trend caught fire. But, as with many cultural imports to Japan, the local population made their own twists. Many grillers started adding eggs, spices, breadcrumbs and a multitude of additions to the ground mix, which usually contained different meats and varying levels of fat. While it is possible for these styles to taste good, over the decades it became apparent that a more traditional taste was needed. Which brings us to the fateful November day in 2008. Driven by a desire to bring the communities closeer together, the Navy decided to release their standards for a burger recipe to the city of Yokosuka. In an agreement that ensured the city would only
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certify restaurants that kept true to the limits of a Navy burger, the recipe was given and restaurants around the base pounced on the opportunity. Tsunami Burger, Honey Bee, Hungry Boy, Café and Grill Perry – all names familiar to any Sailor who has taken a few steps out of base and in to the “Honch.” All restaurants then took the recipe and ran in different directions. All restaurants who took the basic limitations and created completely different results, illustrating that it is not about what you cannot do, but rather what you can do instead. Tsunami Burger, perhaps the most well-known, took the example to the extreme, creating monstrous burgers that are quite an experience to eat. Naming their fare after American Navy and political fixtures, there is an entire menu of unique items to include the GW Burger, Double R Burger, and the Obama Burger. The kings of their options, though, are the two most famous options – Trump Burger (to include peanut butter) and the 7th Fleet (a $50-investment into patties stacked high). On the other hand, Honey Bee serves up a simpler burger, one more straight-forward with the guidelines. With the burger comes a sweet side, a bowl of honey and a dipper. With each bite you take, you can drizzle honey to your heart’s desire to add another layer of flavor. It is truly a unique combination that is definitely worth the try. No matter what restaurant is serving up their certified burger, there is always a unique aspect to be tried and tasted. So the next time you are out in town and choose to have one of the many available Navy burgers – remember, remember the 19th of November.
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MISAKI PORT
The plate of tuna arrives not too long after you struggled to order it – pointing at pictures in a menu alongside Japanese characters which you can’t read or pronounce, but you know they must be saying something about how sad it is that you’ve lived in this country for more than two years and still can’t speak a lick over “arigatou.” That might be the case for you. It certainly was for me. But maybe you’re a bit more cultured.
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Maybe you can watch anime without subtitles. Maybe you’ve been to Misaki port before. But if you haven’t, here’s what you need to know. Misaki port is located in the city of Miura, which has an economy that revolves around commercial fishing. The harbor of Misaki is Japan’s 18th most important fishing harbor – number two when it comes to tuna. Or so I think. The truth is if you’re just trying to go to a cool-looking place, eat some tuna (which I’ll definitely get to when the time is right) try out the seaweed and tuna ice cream and pet some dogs and cats (the cats were stray but friendly), then you probably don’t need to know much more than how to get there. Sure, you may want to see a few preview photos to tease those taste buds. But maybe that’s about it.
That being said, If you want to visit Misaki port and know a bit more than your average “maguro no Zukedon” aficionado when you get there, read on. According to my research – because I’m not a fan of taking shots in the dark when I go out to eat, so don’t judge me – the area where Miura stands today had been inhabited for a while before I got there last Friday. And I mean a very solid while back — prehistoric times kind of while back. Wikipedia says something about how archaeologists have uncovered multiple remains from the Paleolithic era and stuff like that in the area. Trust me, there’s a point to all this. Bear with me. The Miura clan ruled over the area for some time. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled over it at another point. The town of Misaki was founded in 1889. It was
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Salmon roe sushi is one of the many fresh items on the menu of many of the sushi restaurants that line the Misaki shoreline.
electrified in 1913. It got running water in 1934 – water used to just take lazy strolls until then, when it noticed it was picking up maybe a little too much weight. There’s still a point to this. The whole geographical area around it was shaken and lifted by about ten meters before subsiding to its normal levels after a bit during the Great KantĹ? earthquake of 1923 but it survived to eventually absorb Minami-Shitaura Town and Hasse Village to finally become the city of Miura some time later. By 1966, the city was connected by rail to the Tokyo Metropolis when Miurakaigan Station opened. The connection was later extended to Misakiguchi Station, which brings me to my point. This is the station you need to get to if you want to try out the tuna at Misaki port.
For those with an adventurous palate, tuna ice cream might just hit the spot.
Misaki is famous for its many sushi restaurants that serve high-quality, ultra-fresh tuna, including blue fin, big eye and albacore.
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The way to get there is simple. Just take the Keikyu line at Yokosukachou Station towards Misakiguchi Station. Once there, walk outside. You’ll see three bus stops really close to each other. They’re numbered one through three. At number two, you can take a bus to Misaki port. Read the signs and get on the right bus. After a few minutes, you’ll be at your final destination. You really can’t miss it; it’s the stop that looks like a port in Misaki.
Travelers exiting Misakiguchi Station should look for bus stop number two, located immediately outside the station, to get to Misaki Port.
And that’s it. Enjoy your time, pet the animals, taste the ice cream and for the love of God…try that tuna. Ok? So, back to my story… I grabbed the piece of tuna and guided it lovingly toward my mouth with my chopsticks. I finally took a bite. And do you want to know what it tasted like? Are you sure? Then go try it for yourself, you know? So go do that. Happy wandering!
Most Misaki sushi restaurants purchase fresh fish from the harbor market daily and serve it on the same day.
Far from the bustling streets and subways of Tokyo, Misaki Port is a small, quiet fishing port that is most famous for its fresh tuna markets and restaurants.
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USS RONALD REAGAN www.reagan.navy.mil 24 | The Seventy-Sixer April 2018
Senior Chief Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) Jonard Sygaco gives a motivational speech to Air Department Sailors in preparation for night flight deck drills aboard USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). (Photo by MCCS Ryan C. Delcore) www.facebook.com/ussronaldreagan
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