At times the emails almost evoke a floating dorm room, revealing that everything from t-shirts to a four-foot piece of rope have been removed from the system. The vacuum pipes are narrow.
They have outages every day and sailors still choose to flush down stuff thats not supposed to go in there. No wonder
The most common problem is a valve at the back of the toilets that can be knocked loose and cause all of the toilets (which the Navy calls heads) in one of 10 zones to lose suction.
Indeed. The quoted passage made it sound like this was unique naval terminology, as opposed to standard nautical terminology. It’s not wrong, I just thought it was worded peculiarly.
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/17/nx-s1-5680167/major-plumbing-headache-haunts-13-billion-u-s-carrier-off-the-coast-of-venezuela
They have outages every day and sailors still choose to flush down stuff thats not supposed to go in there. No wonder
(It’s not just the Navy — they’re called “heads” on recreational vessels, too.)
So, civilian naval vessels use the same nomenclature as the military?
Well instead of “Port” and “Starboard” they use “Pooter” and “Scooter”
Indeed. The quoted passage made it sound like this was unique naval terminology, as opposed to standard nautical terminology. It’s not wrong, I just thought it was worded peculiarly.