505. Officer Berthing

On this page:

  1. Fast Facts
  2. Exhibit Description
  3. Photos & Videos
  4. More Information

Location: Fo’c’sle

Floor plan of the gallery deck. A red star marks the center of Officer Berthing in the fo’c’sle. To enter the fo’c’sle from the hangar deck, go down the hallway to the right of the Information Desk and take the stairs up. The stairs cut through and emerge next to the Triple Stix section of Officer Berthing. To visit the rest of Officer Berthing, if facing Triple Stix, turn left and then immediately left again and go down the hallway. At the end of the short hallway is an alcove into the staterooms of high ranking officers. To the right is another hallway. Halfway down that hallway on the right is an alcove into junior officer berthing.

Fast Facts

Some of Intrepid’s officers slept in this part of the fo’c’sle. Officers enjoyed more space and privacy than enlisted sailors. Intrepid’s lowest-ranking officers slept in bunkrooms. Most officers eventually moved to two-person staterooms.

Some of Intrepid’s lowest-ranking officers shared this large bunkroom.
 

Exhibit Description

The fo’c’sle contained quarters for some of Intrepid’s officers. This area was nicknamed officers’ country. Typically lieutenants and higher-ranked officers had staterooms, with two officers to a room. You can look into two of these staterooms. Each room had a set of bunk beds, plus a clothes closet, dresser and desk for each officer. The furniture is built of metal and painted gray. Each piece is attached to the deck so that it doesn’t shift in rough seas.

Junior officers bunked dormitory-style in a large compartment nearby. It is viewable behind glass walls. The room is full of built-in bunk beds and wardrobes. Desks are grouped in the middle of the room. Again, all the furniture is metal and painted gray. A small washroom contains six steel sinks that the men shared.

Displayed in these rooms are items that Intrepid’s officers might have had. There are posters and magazines in the sleeping areas, and razors and toiletries in the washroom. One of the open desks in the junior officer bunkroom has a reproduction photograph of a young woman. She was the girlfriend of an officer, who displayed her photo near his bunk. They went to marry, and later donated the original photo to the museum.

Photos & Videos

Video description: Tour Guide Mike Fink discusses the ship’s junior officer bunkroom. Behind him are gray bunk beds and desks, and the walls are light green. Photos, magazines and other personal items are displayed throughout the room. An inset video shows World War II pilot Ben St. John.

Go to transcript

 

Colored image of a man seated in a chair smiling at the camera with his left arm resting on a desk, a typewriter is on the shelf above his head
An Intrepid officer sits at his desk, 1966. (Collection of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Gift of LTJG Frank J. Osinski. P2015.45.77)

 

Black and white image of nine men inside a stateroom, they are standing or seated in circles talking, one man poses and smiles for the camera
Officers sometimes gathered in their staterooms for parties. These pilots are packed into a four-person room for a party in 1967. The ship had just finished a period of combat operations in the Vietnam War. (Collection of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Gift of Brian Walker. P2019.48.03)s

More information

Intrepid’s crew averaged about 3,000 men. About 300 of them—or 10%—were officers. Intrepid’s lowest-ranking officers slept in bunkrooms. Most officers eventually moved up and moved out to smaller staterooms like those nearby.

Intrepid’s pilots were officers. Some of them slept in this area. In 1967, four junior pilots from attack squadron VA-34 shared a stateroom in the fo’c’sle. From May 11 through November 23, 1967, these four roommates wrote in a shared diary. The diary reveals the experiences of Intrepid’s pilots during the Vietnam War. Entries often juxtapose the stresses of combat with mundane or even humorous aspects of life on board.

The former site of Triple Stix is located in the fo’c’sle, near the stairs that lead down to the hangar deck. The Museum has re-created some features of Triple Stix based on historic photographs, architectural elements and the pilots’ recollections. You can read the diary on our collections page here: https://intrepidmuseum.libraryhost.com/files/2012-04.pdf