Submariners are generally reputed to have the best food in the navy for any navy that has a submarine fleet. Presumably because everything else about being on a submarine is so shitty, it's the least they can do to boost moral.
Apparently this isn't restricted to the modern era either, I've read that the german u-boat fleets of the world wars had the best food in their military too.
US submarines also got AC when fire control computers were installed in WW2. (The space for the computer room was subtracted from the bunk area.)
German uboat staff were treated like heroes in Germany, but that was partly their success in nearly amputating Britain from her colonies, and partly from boosterism by Admiral Karl Donitz.
Morale is a huge issue on boomers and subs, which patrol for months at a stretch, generally submerged the entire time (the whole idea being for your adversary to not know where you are). Crap food on top of the isolation and lack of outdoor exposure fares poorly (so to speak).
Fresh produce is limited to the first week or so of cruise AFAIU, but preserved/frozen and dry goods are available for the duration. I don't know if there's any fresh-grow possible, though there've been experiments.
Microgreens seem like they'd be great for submarines: cheap power and water are all thats needed to 'unzip' compact seeds into nutritional food. As a happy byproduct, photosynthesis would scrub a little bit of CO2.
Sprouts and the like occurred to me, and have been used by some sailors / rowers on long voyages.
For submarine crew, the balance between "eating home food" vs. "nutritional sufficiency" may swing the balance, though I'd argue that something (sprouts) is better than nothing (frozen / canned vegetables).
Crops which could be grown in conditions in which power is abundant (nukes!) as is water, and atmosphere could be controlled (high CO2 via redirected scrubbers), but space is highly constrained, becomes an interesting question. Probably not trellis or tree crops, though lettuce/greens, carrots, possibly cruciferous vegetables and onions, possibly.
How much use of fermented vegetables is made would be another interesting question.
From the latimes article: "“We had three things going for us: The quality of food and the amount that was served. The music on board. And the reading materials."
I can't tell if "reading materials" is a euphemism for pornography or not but I'm guessing probably.
That's an interesting article though, I never thought about it before.
Yes, and they're ancient; commissioned closer to WW2 than to today. They're basic use is to head to a port, and provide services to submarines in the area. I don't believe they have any capability to provide re-supply at sea, especially munitions like torpedoes and missiles which are large, heavy, and difficult to transfer in anything less than a perfectly smooth sea state.
