Subermarine Toilets

[BagPussAA]

Does anyone know why a toilet on a subermarine is called the 'Head' in the US?

[heathfield]

Not just submarines, but vessels in general. The term was used in the UK around the 1700s, but is now generally regarded as an American expression.
The front of a vessel is called the head, and that's where sailors used to hang over the side to do their business - that way the bow-wave would wash the side of the hull and keep it clean.

[mibn2cweus]

No more tuna for me, thanks!

[Quizmonster]

Some claim it is an abbreviation of �cathead', the beam that protrudes for a few feet at each side of the bow and which the anchor used to be hauled up to. (Personally, I find it hard to imagine some poor Jack Tar squatting on an exposed, projecting beam in a force 9 gale!)
Whichever, the latrine was "at the front"...ie head...of the vessel, as Heathfield says above.

[Clanad]

To add... the euphemisim has, over the years, spread to all branches of the armed forces here in the U.S. and, with the numbers of ex-servicemen in the general population, the term is well understood by almost everyone...

[BagPussAA]

I saw it on the film 'Operation Petticoat' when it was on the other day and it just got me wondering.. Thanks guys.. Now I know

[Toureman]

The term heads was always used over the 22 years I was in the Marines in the UK, I never thought it was an American word. It applies to all UK Naval vessels.