This is the galley where food was prepared and served to enlisted personnel. They got their tray, some flatware, and lined up to be served cafeteria-style. Back when New Jersey was in service, there was a very long line here at meal times, often stretching up onto the main deck.

Over the years, the galley and mess decks have changed. Originally, both sides of the line served the same food, but by the 1980s, one side permanently served fast-food while the other served the food of the day like meatloaf and steamed vegetables. The mess deck tables once were able to be moved out of the way to use the space for other things, occasionally even more berthing, but now you can see that tables are welded to the deck.

During the Vietnam War, the Commanding Officer was Captain J. Edward Snyder, Jr.. Snyder looked out for the welfare of his crew – even the food they ate. Captain Snyder warned the commissary officer that he would be sampling one breakfast, one lunch, and one dinner every week, unannounced, and it had better be good! Snyder would also be seen in crew’s mess once a week to celebrate that week’s birthdays with the crew.

The library on the aft end of the mess decks was managed by the ship’s Chaplains, here you will also find their offices. The chaplain’s were in charge of not just religious services but crew morale as a whole and thus also controlled the recreational components of the ship’s television studio and the library. Today, this is still a functioning lending library. If you would like to borrow a book, you must be a museum member, ask a staff member for more details.

On the aft end of these spaces you’ll find the ship’s store. While the ship was in service, as well as today, sailors could buy hats, trinkets to send home, and more in this space. In addition to this store all of our products are available on our website.

Just forward of the ship’s store, you’ll find the Geedunk. This is where sailors could get ice cream, potato chips, soda, and other snacks. It’s the Navy’s name for a snack bar aboard ship but the snacks that you get at the geedunk can also be called geedunk. It was usually open in the evening after supper when New Jersey was in service, and it was a popular place. Having this amenity on board helped with crew morale, this was essential to keeping sailors happy while they were away from their families for months at a time. By the end of the ship’s career, the United States had switched to an all volunteer military and small things like the geedunk and the improvements in the berthing compartments made the navy more tolerable for these volunteers.