T-ESB Rooms, Amenities and Life on Board

There are 2 houses on ESBs and MSC crew members live in the aft house. Also located in the aft house is the MSC galley and mess halls. There is one line where everyone grabs food, but there are 2 different mess decks. One officer and one unlicensed, no Chief Petty Officer mess.

In the forward house, the Navy has an entirely different layout separate from MSC. The MSC food is completely separate from the Navy’s (MSC food is usually a lot better). One of the most notable features of the ESB is that it is a tall ship with no personnel elevator. There is a ladder well that runs from the Mission Deck (bottom outside deck) to the flight Deck by the aft house (close to MSC living and workspaces) that is referred to as “the widow-maker”. A name fondly given due to how steep the stairs are. You will certainly get your steps in on an ESB. Also noteworthy, any ship before ESB 4 will not have an entrance from the pump room to the engine room. This means engineers will need to go all the way up to then go all the way down to enter the engine room.

Per typical MSC arrangements, Officers have their own rooms. Typically, the deck and engine Third Officers have the smallest officer rooms, but this can vary by ship. Even then, these rooms are still larger than most junior officer state rooms at MSC. The senior officer state rooms are some of the largest rooms in all of MSC.

Unlike senior officers, the unlicensed rooms leave a lot to be desired. The CPO’s have their own state rooms but they are quite small. Unlicensed will typically have a roommate and the beds are bunks with desks underneath. The rooms are very small. Some of the rooms are about the size of a closet.

ESBs have gyms, but each ship’s gym layout is different. The Lewis B. Puller has more tanks than other ESBs, which affects where its gyms are located. ESBs without these extra tanks have large gyms, like the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, which has two gyms up forward and a large one back aft. Since these ships have been built more recently, their gym equipment is also newer compared to other ships in the MSC fleet. But remember, the exact layout of the gyms will differ from ship to ship.

The ship’s offices adhere to standard layout among the ESB fleet with minor variations. Notably, the Cargo Mates office doubles as the Cargo Ballast Control Room. The Chief Mate’s office also serves dual purposes, functioning partly as a medical facility. Due to the small department size, the Supply Office is relatively compact. In contrast, the Engineer’s Log Office stands out as the largest, providing workspace for the 1st Assistant Engineer’s desk, alongside two additional desks intended for either the 2nd Assistant Engineers or a 3rd Assistant Engineer.

In the aft house, there are 2 loungers. Both of which are on ‘A’ deck. The crew lounge is apart of the crew mess while the officers lounge is adjacent to the officers’ mess. Typically, they will have a computer or 2 along with some couches, chairs and a TV.

The ship’s store is a Navy run store in the forward house. Navy ship stores typically use a “Navy Cash Card”. Navy Cash Cards are basically shipboard debit cards issued by the Navy to avoid having to keep physical cash on ships. It is possible for MSC CIVMARs to get one, but many CIVMARs will just give cash to a Navy sailor with a Card to buy whatever is needed.