2. Nudity in the Navy

I entered basic training in February 1968. There were 84 men in my company and being nude was a common practice at the end of the day. Typically we all showered in the evening about an hour before bedtime. Many just stayed nude until we had to go to bed. Most, if not all had put shorts on before going to bed.When assigned to my second ship there were a few who liked staying nude after their evening shower and slept naked as well. Then someone complained about it so we had to wear our shorts to bed. Six months before my enlistment ended our ship was sent to the Boston shipyard. There was a YMCA just outside the gate that had a nice swimming pool and sauna. Liberty started around 4 PM and many of us left the ship to go downtown Boston. We would go to some bars, dinner at nice restaurants, listen to live music at different squares, or go to various festivals. One time on our way downtown we stopped in the Y not know what to expect. Once we knew that they had the pool and sauna, we wanted to use it but didn't have our bathing suits. That was not a problem as they required us to be nude to use it. They gave us a towel and small bar of soap. We were instructed to shower before using the pool. We did and had a lot of fun splashing each other in the pool and then get hot in the sauna, then a cold plunge in the pool.The real nice benefit was we could use the facility and not have to take a wet towel or bathing suit back to the ship before going out for the evening. This became a common practice when going out, and many times when we were broke it was the entertaining thing for the day. I guess we had 25-30 from the ship that used the Y, but not all at the same time.I go to the local nude beach in the summer; but how I wish I could find an inside pool to swim naked again.