The Development of Catering in the RAN and the Role of Victualling Allowance

Author

A.N. Other

Subjects

History - general

Tags

Royal Australian Navy, Victualling

RAN Ships

None noted.

Publication

December 2015 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

By CMDR Robert McNeill, RAN, Rtd. 

The role of an effective food service system in navies has been prominent for centuries. That is, a viable fighting force needs to be supplemented by an adequate and nutritionally balanced diet coupled with regular physical exercise to ensure a positive influence on morale, health and fitness. To this end the RAN used the General Messing system and a victualling allowance from 1912 to 1996¹. This system used a monetary allowance to control victualling (foodstuffs) whereas many other services used a ration scale. This article examines historical developments in catering for sailors and evolution of the victualling management system in the RAN. This includes the ‘Victualling Allowance’ which was generally considered good catering management practice although it did have advantages and disadvantages.

The use of a daily monetary allowance in the RAN was seen to best meet the special requirements of highly mobile warships and ensure a consistent standard of victualling throughout the Navy. It provided flexible menu planning within the constraints of debit and credit balances which were carried forward from month to month. Financial flexibility was achieved through use of a Fixed Issuing Price List (FIPL) for most items. Other items were charged at market price. There were slight variations in the system to allow for messes of different sizes, ships deployed overseas, establishments in remote localities and training environments.

This article examines how the RAN catering system, adopted from the Royal Navy, evolved throughout the 20th century.

Historical Background

The 15th century British sailor was fed a ‘standard ration’ as follows:

Beer was often used in place of water which in those days could not be kept fresh at sea.

By the end of the 17th century, as a result of various mutinies regarding the quality and wholesomeness of victuals, a savings system of messing was introduced. Under this system a standard ration was fixed including soft bread, fresh meat and vegetables in harbour with substitutes at sea. Messes were permitted to leave such items as they wished and receive a financial ‘saving’ in lieu.

Under the Standard Ration System, which operated in the Royal Navy during the 18th and 19th centuries, each Mess was required to prepare its own dishes, the galley staff doing only the actual cooking. Usually one or two members of the mess were detailed daily by the senior rating of the mess as ‘Cooks’. The ‘Cooks’ would draw the messes rations and prepare the food for cooking. Potatoes and other vegetables (if any) were put in nets bearing the mess number and taken with the meat dish and pudding to the galley where they were turned over to the Chief Cook. At ‘Cooks to the Galley’ the food was collected and taken to the mess for distribution and eating.

A ‘Committee of Naval Cookery’ was formed in the Royal Navy in 1904 and this committee established the basis of the messing system which endured until the late 20th century. It pointed out a fundamental principle of cookery which is the proper preparation of food before it is cooked. Precisely the function which was not entrusted to trained Cooks but left to inexperienced ‘Cooks’ of Messes.

An important recommendation of this Committee was that bakeries and refrigerators be provided in battleships and the larger cruisers. The recommendation was adopted and in time resulted in some refrigerated stowage being provided in even the smallest ship and baking facilities in all but the very small.

Emergence of Victualling Allowance

General Messing was introduced into the Fleet on 1st July 1912. The victualling allowance was 1/2d²per head per day. That date coincided with the Admiralty transfer of the cruiser Encounterto the RAN. General Messing in its original form was devised by Fleet Paymaster H.W.E. Manisty, Naval Secretary, Finance Member and Naval Board Member responsible for victualling matters at that time.

Instructions outlining the system of victualling were incorporated in Financial and Allowance Regulations which came into force in 1912. Regulation 45 read as follows:

Victualling

The ration allowance of 1/2d per diem shall be drawn quarterly in advance by the Accountant Officer in respect of all Officers, Petty Officers and men (sea going) required to be victualled. The system of messing shall be the ‘General Messing System’ Officers and Petty Officers may be allowed to draw the ration allowance in cash on the Quarterly Ledger. The remainder of the Ship’s Company will be victualled in kind from the ration allowance of 1/2d per diem – the Accountant Officer is to make necessary arrangements to provide suitable meals and to submit a weekly bill of fare for the approval of the Commanding Officer. The Accountant Officer shall purchase necessary provisions from the amount drawn, any amount underdrawn or overdrawn being adjusted when drawing allowance for the next quarter. Accounts in connection with victualling are to be kept in the prescribed form.

This introduced Repayment Messing for Officers and Petty Officers.

The method used to calculate the allowance in those days is not known but, due to increased costs of provisions, the allowance was increased by 1/4d per day for seagoing ships from 1st July 1913. The allowance for harbour ships and shore establishments remained at 1/2d per head per day.

Until October 1918, the Victualling allowance in the RAN was based on the average cost price of provisions purchased by ships at Melbourne and Sydney and the issuing rates were invariably the actual cost. This method necessitated the introduction of special victualling allowances for individual ships operating for any period in ports or at isolated areas where the Victualling Allowance was not increased. Under such conditions the standard of meals issued had to be reduced to make the allowance meet requirements or a large debt was accumulated owing to the high costs of food stuffs.

During 1918, the Director of Victualling (CMDR Ramsay)introduced revisions to the systems of victualling as follows:

General standard of feeding was to be followed in all ships irrespective of local conditions or costs of foodstuffs.

To effect their result, a standard Victualling Allowance was decided upon (1/8d) and the fixed prices at which all essential foodstuffs were to be charged was laid down in Navy Orders. These prices were to apply irrespective of the cost – whether higher or lower – thus standardising the food conditions in all ships irrespective of their location.

The system basically remained the same until 1955 when a revised system of assessing numbers was introduced. Under the old system, personnel were victualled and claimed for the whole of their service in a ship or establishment excepting long leave, illness, etc. Thus, it was quite normal to accumulate a credit over weekends, but this was offset by debit balances being incurred during the week or period at sea. The system was based on this principle and it was accepted that although the daily Victualling Allowance was insufficient to meet the cost of feeding a man continuously over a long period, it would level out over weekends, etc. when the whole ship’s company were credited to the mess account.

From the outset, the Victualling Allowance was that amount of money necessary to provide a menu of such a standard that would ensure all members are provided with a balanced diet of adequate quality, quantity and variety, presented in such a manner as to maintain their health and well being. To this end menus were prepared by the Supply Officer and approved by both the Commanding Officer and Medical Officer.

To ensure that the geographical location of a ship or establishment did not materially affect the standard of victualling, essential items of foodstuffs were included in a Fixed Issuing Price List as far back as 1918. The items included in this list varied from time to time to take cognizance of eating trends and the availability of greater varieties of foodstuffs. The Victualling Allowance in 1928 was 1/9d and the FIP List of 1/7½d, thus effecting an improvement in the standard of 1½d per diem. By 1978 the Victualling Allowance for ships with messes of less than 300 was $1.40.

The inclusion of an item in the Fixed Issuing Price List did not necessarily benefit the Fleet. Generally, it removed the opportunity for a Supply Officer to take advantage of seasonal or geographical fluctuation in price and could, as a consequence, penalise ships and establishments that would otherwise be able to buy below the Fixed Issuing Price.

On the other hand it did have the desirable effect of assuring a stabilized issuing price for the currency of the price list, and it shielded a ship from the effect of unduly high prices charged by contractors when away from the main storing ports and deployed overseas.

The price of items included in the FIP List was computed as follows:

For provisions normally purchased against fixed quantity contracts and held in store, the into store cost is used. Some items repacked into small containers, had packaging and labour costs included and an average price was assessed.

For items of fresh provisions which were normally purchased under Period Contracts, the weighted average price of estimated usage by ships and establishments in NSW, VIC and WA was used.

The periodic revision of the Victualling Allowance followed a practice adopted over very many years which involved selecting the accounts of a number of representative ships and establishments. These were then costed at; existing issuing prices and at proposed new issuing prices. Although not perfect, this practice produced remarkably consistent results and gave an accurate guide to the effect of the new prices on the cost of Victualling.

The need for various rates of Victualling Allowances to provide for savings in catering for large numbers and the need for Supplementary Allowances to provide additional nourishment in cold climates or when performing arduous duties was well recognised, and differing rates assessed. The entitlement to Supplementary Allowances was converted from issue in kind to a cash allowance in 1967.

It is of interest to note that the RAN Victualling Allowance system was basically the same as those of the RN, RAF and USN. The Australian Army and RAAF used a ration scale system of feeding.

Victualling Allowance Superseded

The 1996 ANAO management audit of Food Provisioning in the Australian Defence Force found that provisioning for food in the ADF could be better managed and that worthwhile improvements in efficiency and effectiveness were achievable. It concluded that administrative costs could be reduced, savings made on food purchasing and existing arrangements improved by reducing the duplication stemming from separate initiatives by the Services.

Defence acknowledged the usefulness of the report and agreed to most recommendations. Even before the report was completed Defence commenced action to develop a new food provisioning policy. The system which replaced ‘Victualling Allowance’ was the Rations Management and Accounting System. It in turn was replaced in 2006 by ‘Rations Management’.

Key features of the ‘Rations Management’ system now used in Navy include:

• cyclic menus with emphasis on accurate provisions and endurance management,
• rations selected from a ‘Controlled Commodities List’ with alternatives allowed only in exceptional circumstances,
• victuals procured through standing offers both around Australia and overseas,
• accounts only for purchases are processed in ships and establishments, and
• financial accounting and budgeting centrally managed in Fleet Headquarters.

This modern system which employs current information and communications technology has dramatically reduced the workload associated with ‘Victualling Allowance’. It continues to meet the objectives of an adequate and nutritionally balanced diet and maintains morale, but gone are the feast and famine menus associated with Victualling Allowance. Old Salts will remember the joys of seafood buffets in big credit months and the frustrations of belt tightening menus in times of large debit balances.

1   Following an ANAO Management Audit of Food Provisioning in the Australian Defence Force, Tabled 25 November 1996 Victualling Allowance was replaced by the Rations Management and Accounting System.

2   Abbreviation for one shilling and two pence, pre decimal currency.