A look at the accommodations aboard a submarine could make even the tiniest apartment seem like five-star luxury. Coastal Bend residents may judge for themselves with a tour of the USS City of Corpus Christi, docked at the Port of Corpus Christi, for a one-week visit that began Sunday. The mess hall and kitchen are the size of small bedrooms. Sleeping quarters are tight. Fifteen sailors share a row of bunk beds that fill a space the size of a hallway.
Luckier ones get to be in groups of nine in a room the size of a walk-in closet.
Beds serve double duty as closets when they are lifted, revealing a slim compartment for personal belongings. The crew and their 15 officers live their lives in 18-hour increments, with six hours for sleep and leisure, and 12 hours on duty. Their shifts are staggered to ensure that the sub is manned around the clock. You get to know the idiosyncrasies of people pretty well. What the USS City of Corpus Christi lacks in comfort, it makes up for in sophistication.