USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)

IKE BITES

Bitch Books were log books which were squirreled away in the work area and contained writings, musings, cartoons, etc. The content was frequently of a subversive nature and celebrated drug use, alcoholism, prostitution, and so forth. One of the overriding themes was frequently an "anti-Navy" sentiment. As such, these books were carefully concealed from the prying eyes of the Khaki.

I don't think anything was regarded as too sacred to make fun of in these bitch books. We would make fun of each others sexual perversions (actual or imagined), criminal records, lax watchstanding habits, incompetencies, and more.

Upon going on watch, most of us would start sniffing around the plant to read and write in these books. And some of the more creative types would spend the majority of their watch (or work day) filling up the pages.

I am speaking just from a machinists mate perspective, however, I am sure that just about every division on the IKE had something similar in their work spaces.

Here are a couple of pages out of one of the bitch books. I don't suppose it really matters who or what the cartoons refer to, rather what these pages capture a sampling of an art form that occupied much of our time while on watch.

I would like to thanks "Wags" for maintaining one of these sacred tomes all these years and also Tim Palange for scanning these pages.

Here then, are two pages from one of these bitch books from the 1983 Med Cruise (#1 Reactor plant).