Charthouse:  Within the charthouse are the vitals of the boat.  From here the movement of the boat is directed, hence it is the brains of the boat.  The equipment it contains need not be listed here.  The RM and QM should be well acquainted with their tools and so should the rest of the crew.  A few points will be made here as to the use of some items.

 

Like any engine, machine, or apparatus, the equipment is the charthouse was made to be operated.  Hence, it must be used to give efficient operation.  If it is not used (like a man who doesn’t take exercise) it gets sluggish and functions poorly, if at all.  Remember that a PT is exposed to moisture from both the sea and the atmosphere.  All equipment should be run at least 15 minutes a day.  This exercising will limber up the parts and dry them as well.  To combat moisture from spray, watertight overhead and bulkheads cannot be allowed to wear or leak.  Patch cracks and ruptures in the fabric promptly.

 

Galley:  Here is where the “cook” heats up the cans.  A PT galley is much more than that.  It can and has turned out American, Italian, French, Chinese, and even Japanese cuisine.  Pies, cookies and cakes flow from this modernistic kitchen if you’ve got a happy cook.  Your refrigerator can make ice cream, ice cubes, and frozen delights (especially good is frozen fruit cup).  Once a Jap bullet punctured a refrigerator unit and drained it of all its freon.  Several of the boats then decided to put armor plate about the refrigerator.  So you see its really very important, for it contributes to the living comforts which are all too few in the area.  Your refrigerator pump and motor need servicing.  Don’t let them wear down or overheat.  To keep meat, your refrigerator must be in top shape.  It is rare to have fresh meat and when issued it comes in 100 pound quantities.  Hence the necessity for a good freeze or reefer.  Have a drip pan properly placed or the meat juices will leak into the bilges and in a week you’ll be accused of carrying a dead Jap around in your bilges.