I once had a shipmate who made his own wine while underway. We were in his shop playing cards and he handed me a Dixie cup with wine, it was actually really good and strong. Word got out and the wrong person heard about it and they snitched on him. He went to the Captain's mast and got kicked out of the Navy. During his Captains mast the Captain actually asked him. "Where did you learn how to make wine?" His response..."Sir, I found a book on how to make wine in the ship's library." True story... 😂
"Sir, I found a book on how to make wine in the ship's library." They should have promoted that sailor. A perfect example of Reading, Learning, Doing and using his initiative.
@@Direwoof I know huh? So sad... Makes no sense whatsoever. Heck, a beer a day wouldn't hurt nothing. So glad I got out after 12 years. Couldn't take it anymore.
We had five gallon containers of medical grade ethanol on board our ship in the 1990s. We only actually used about half a cup each week to make up the denatured alcohol we used in sick bay. there was also a quart bottle of methanol to denature it and the pink dye. They had to be stored in the flammable liquids storeroom up in the bow, and having a substantially large "evaporation and spillage" amount in the logbook got noticed by the XO. So, he ordered a locking cabinet for the five gallon container to be constructed in the flammable locker. this required welding, making the 1st division guys have to lug all the stuff in the storeroom out onto the focsle during the welding. Much bitching and moaning as they schlepped it out and back afterwards. But, someone clever altered the plans for the locking cabinet. Basically you could stick a screwdriver into an inconspicuous hole in the back of the cabinet, which released a latch, and you could then lift the entire cabinet off the bulkhead it was welded to, and gain access to the alcohol inside via the now open back. This existed for a year or so as a well kept secret, but someone blabbed. It was too good a story to keep secret, and eventually the new XO heard about it. He was amused, but he still had them reweld it to keep it more secure. Repeat schlepping all the stuff out and back for a five minute welding job. More bitching and moaning, and one BM1 in detox. Suddenly evaporation went down dramatically.
On a submarine I was on, the cook hid bottles of booze in the ventilation pipes in the galley. Went to sea and could not get strong air back to the crews berthing. Took a week to find all the booze in the pipes.
I can hear the reprimand in Cave Johnson/J K Simmons voice: "The ventilation pipes are not your private contraband cubby. They're how we ventilate the ship, because they're _ventilation_ pipes. You see how you like Hypoxia next time."
We had an A ganger who did the same thing right next to a fan. The motor on the fan went out underway and the electricians found his stash. We had suspected for sometime that he was doing this as after we we underway for weeks he still would smell like alcohol. The nukes also made bilge wine I new about this because they had to get the large Nalgene bottles from me as the ELT'S RPPO (repair parts petty officer). The stuff was pretty nasty.
in the early 90s, a few of our Sailors crossdecked over to a French frigate for a few hours. Our guys were told before they left not to imbibe in any French spirits. Our Sailors returned a few hours later only for one of them to yak up a stomachful of French wine on the deck. That cost him a stripe.
Not being able to hold your stomach is lack of training and obviously the navy is lacking behind here. Training, training, training and a sailor becomes experienced.
On my ship USS Nimitz, we would fill 7oz Miller beer bottles, the cap would screw back on. Drink beer and fill with whisky. Put the bottles in sox, then put them in the pockets of our jackets. Across the Quarter Deck and then put it in our locker. This was the late 70s.
While deployed during Desert Storm, our ship had a beer cage built in the steering gear room. We couldn’t drink it on board, but we would frequently put the small boats over the side and everyone would get their 2 cans for a beer cruise. Worked out well for the coxswain and engineer “me 😊” as they kept throwing down two for us on every run. Had to replenish from the Australians during our tour.
I was on a 637 class fast-attack submarine. Our torpedo tubes could be locked and alarmed. If we pulled into foreign port, and if the captain approved, we could purchase duty free liquor, tag it with the owner's name, and store it in a locked and alarmed torpedo tube not to be opened until we pulled back into homeport. You had to fill out a customs declaration form before they would give it back to you.
My wife rode on DD 992, the Fletcher, a Spruance class destroyer, as a civilian technical representation testing submarine tracking software. When they made port in Victoria, BC the Captain hosted the local dignitaries and served wine that had been stored on the ship. This was in the 1990s.
While stationed in repair activities at Pearl Harbor I was called upon a few times to provide services to British related (Canadian and Australian) ships Nearly as soon as I came aboard I was offered alcohol, beer or stronger stuff. Of course, I couldn't turn down their hospitality.😉
Getting orders to Pearl Harbor (U.S.S. Preble, DDG-46) just after turning 18, was unfreekingbelievable to me. I was at HT A school in the fall of 1977 (sank the Buttercup) in Philadelphia, and felt like doing backflips when I read the orders to Hawaii. 🇺🇸⚓️👍🏽
Army vet here, In Iraq in late 05 early 06 I made friends with another companies maintainers. They had a still under thr concretr pad of their maintence tent, the entrence was covered by a large toolbox with a 'busted' wheel, straight up hogans heroes tier.
When my grandfather served aboard on sub duty (Cold War stealth/monitoring), he would put his shore visit returns behind the "TOP SECRET" door in the radio shack. Considering he was one of four people on board who could go in there, he figured the captain XO, and chief navigator wouldn't notice a panel out of place underneath the teletype desk.
I was on my 1st ship in 1978 the USS Vreeland. We were deployed on an IO cruise. My dad mailed a bottle of Vodka and somehow it survived the trip and was undetected. Upon receipt I took the package down to my Sonar space. Several of my shipmates were there upon opening the package. We were so ready to drink it but had nothing to mix it with. I went to the MS’s and got a packet of bug juice mix. It was tolerable and we had our alcoholic fix. The empty bottle was thrown out the small access plate on the stern of the Sonar IVDS space.
Our deck crew was pretty loose. I was kind of suprised about how far they would go with it on watch and such(those late nights on the fly bridge.) There were stashes all over the ship. My brother was making wine on the Polar Star until the rig was disovered. Nobody went to mast on that one. I had a Master Chief cook show me how he stayed sauced. He always kept a large supply of lemon "extract" on hand along with a few other choice variants. He was thrilled to point to the label stating 90% alcohol content. That was a proper old salt. USCG 94-99
In re diplomatic functions: President Rutherford B. Hayes, whose wife Lucy was a temperance activist, kept a dry White House during his term of office from 1877 to 1881. This considerably cramped the style of Secretary of State William Evarts, who sourly replied after being asked how one state dinner at the executive mansion had gone, "Oh, it was a brilliant affair. The water flowed like champagne."
My grandmother also sent me some chocolates that had whiskey on the inside of them. That was my favorite care package. It wasn't enough to get you drunk or anything like that but it was always good to just get a taste of booze when you are out at sea for a long period of time.
"Splicing the Mainbrace" is still a common practice on board Naval vessels. After 45 consecutive days at sea the Captain can issue 2 rations of beer to the crew. The only caveat is that you must be 21 years old (dumb rule). Our ship celebrated 2 beer days back when we were deployed to the Middle East. I even have photos of the occasion with my shipmates.
The 21 rule is likely due to federal laws being followed. If they came across a British ship by comparison (merchant or royal navy) the crew would have been able to drink above 18. Depending upon the era there would have been
Now a days there is a navy instruction that authorizes a "beer day" when a ship is out to sea for a given period of time, typically about a month with no planned port visits for the next couple weeks. Sailors will get a couple beers and typically a steel beach picnic to boost morale
I was on the USS ULYSSES S. GRANT (SSBN631) BLUE. On my second patrol in 1991, we did a security drill while we were underway and we were ordered to search the ship. The group I was with was tasked with going through the Officer's Staterooms which on a Lafayette Class Boat were on Operations Compartment Middle Level port side right behind the torpedo room. First stateroom I went into belonged to the Weapons Officer who was a LCDR and two LT's. Opened up the cabinet above the desk and about six miniatures were in there. We just all laughed and carried on. I'm sure that wasn't the only alcohol onboard.
Gene FlukeyOf the USS Barb loaded numerous cases of beer on the Barb each time it departed on a war patrol. After every sinking the crew was allowed a beer ration and the galley prepared a special cake. The Barb, SS 220 was one of WWII most successful subs having sunk a cruise a carrier and blown up a train amongst 15 other ships. So alcohol on a ship properly supervised isn't all bad.
I was curious and I looked it up. "On her twelfth and final patrol of the war, she landed a party of carefully selected crew members who blew up a train, the only ground combat operation in the Japanese (four main) home islands." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Barb_(SS-220)
So true I probably listen to it once a year or so on Audible. Flukey comes off as one of those men you would follow into hell if he asked. @@tdsmotorsportshomegaragedy241
As an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, I had the pleasure of being XO *and* Wardroom Wine Officer for one of my ships, HMAS Swan, when it was coming out of refit. I had tastings and we used suppliers to get in hundreds of bottles of wine. :-)
I was stationed aboard an amphib cargo ship (LKA) in the 70s and one time, after a particularly grueling day in foul weather, launching and recovering landing craft and debarking the MAU we had aboard we on the deck crews were tired, soaked to the skin, cold, and really miserable. Our day had started at 0400 to get everything set for debarking troops at daybreak so along about 2000, as we set the last LCM in its cradle, we were surprised and greatly cheered when the captain came over the 1MC and ordered, "Splice the main brace!" That little bottle of Hennessy cognac from the medical stores sure did feel nice going down.
Always,every Naval Ship and a Armory to hold occupants guns,even bases. I've spent 90 days out and got my 2 beers,1986. Was a code in ucmj? Got a six pack from santa same year,was on steering midwatch AGF-3, Christmas, heard noises in hallway,no one came through, opened door and nobody, but a sixpack setting on port side, and 30' rope. I retrieved it and when back into steering,setting the door bell. Pulled up to my booth and commenced to enjoy, after half the first one i turned around so boats could see, he caught on quick,we split it. And it was cold. I had made a few impressions with my abilities, looking back it was my commander or the CO. Fair winds and the following seas,you slimy wog!
Damn it, Ryan! I don't know or CARE anything about ships, Naval procedures, battleships or whatnot. But I can NOT resist these videos. You just make them so damned interesting. I find myself mesmerized by the topics you choose. I love these weird minutia-type videos on not-so-well-known things of these ships. Well done, sir. Well done.
The rum ration (also called the tot) was a daily amount of rum given to sailors on Royal Navy ships. It was abolished in 1970 after concerns that the intake of strong alcohol would lead to unsteady hands when working machinery. While the Royal Australian Navy never issued the rum ration, their sailors were entitled to the rum ration when they were on Royal Navy ships until 1921. The Royal Canadian Navy abolished the rum ration in 1972, and the last navy to issue the rum ration regularly, the Royal New Zealand Navy, abolished the practice on 28 February 1990.
Best beer I ever tasted was as a Seabee in Iraq on the Marine Corps' birthday in 2008. As for shipboard stories, never drank onboard but I vaguely remember asking to "cross the patio, Daddio" once after my first night out on Hotel Street in Honolulu. In fact it was same night Magnum PI was filming there and I was the newbie in the division having just checked onboard.
@@kpolenz9772 Construction Battalion. Got started in WW2 by enlisting construction workers to build bases on islands. "Be nice to the SeaBees, they may be someone's grandpa." -- a common statement at the time because they were picked for experience, not as a warm body to train.
Hotel Street in Honolulu was the place to go for a tattoo, a paid sexual encounter, or a bad hangover, from what I remember. There were much better places to go than Hotel Street. I was fortunate to spend almost two years on DDG-46, U.S.S. Preble, homeported in Pearl Harbor. 🇺🇸⚓️
@@ronsamborski6230 Like I said, It was my initiation into OI Division and my first real duty station. I'm sure the hangover was what the guys intended for me...and it worked. lol
Fun fact, Ohio-class submarines have a Wine Cellar, too. It's in the engine room, in a small space just forward of the main condensers. I've spent many a field day down there.
French battleships had both a wine cellar (for the captain) similar to the one in the vidéo and a wine tank (for the crew). Both Jean Bart in WWI and Richelieu WWII got hit in their wine tank. Richelieu set up a mine in the Malacca strait which underwater cuncussion deformed the hull and ruptured her wine tank. The crew was so pissed that when some kamikazes tried their luck on her they got blasted out of the skies! Just as the Royal Navy has gin, "Le quart de vin rouge" (25cl of an average beaujolais) was an important tradition and moral booster for the crew and still is. (It is a worker's right nobody dares abollish 🤣) During my time (98-99) in the french air force one of my unit secret documents safe was used by our ncos to store spirits and liquors. And i once dared a captain that for a very important job he was asking me to do after hours (stat cards for the president to use for an upcoming interview on the end of draft lol) he owned me a bottle of champagne. He did sneak out one from the chief of staff (his boss) cellar! Nice addition to my go away party with my unit days after!
Royal navy would traditionally be rum forthesailors. The officers likely had scotch onboard as welland the captain probably had wine for the same reasons Ryan mentioned. Was not uncommon for the captain to use the rum ration as punishment or reward i believe.
When I was in Kosovo, we worked with the Foreign Legion and traded our MREs for theirs...there were little wine bottles in each ration package. C'était absolutment merveilleux! Et oui, je parle bien, parce que ma mère est Française.
Ryan, worked at a microbrewery, a homebrew store, and ferment my own. Water will dilute ethanol, but NOT break it down! All the major breweries (AB, Miller and Coors,) dilute their product after fermentation. The stronger ferment will give more flavour, than just fermenting 3.2 ABV beer. Typically, a 50% dilution. Hey, they are trying to counteract the "canoe beer" issue. American Lager, is like making whoopie in a canoe. F***ing close to water! (I don't make "canoe" beer.) steve
When our ship was in the yard for a overhaul, our shop was move from over the engine room to under the helo deck on the fantail. part of our tools was a cleaning tank for cleaning typewriters. We enclose the base with a hinge so we could clean under it. Ha Ha we used it to hide booze. The mess deck had OJ in a machine all the time so we made screwdrivers. Happy Times. Our ceiling was make up of I-beams for the fun of it we started putting our pop can on the I-beams. until one day the Chief was drinking coffee and lean back in the chair and look up to see the whole ceiling filled with cans.(we were starting to have trouble fining places to put cans) We didn't get into to much trouble, but we haul about eight bags of cans to the trash. ( a few were beer cans)
Aboard a couple of my ships we used the morgue for alcohol storage. Kept things cool. If the morgue was otherwise engaged, the brig was also an option since it was secure.
On my ship the E4 mafia ran a speak easy of sorts out of the flammable liquids store room and in main engine room 2 in the catacombs by the bilge was a stash of everclear and whiskey. I bought case’s of good German beer from keel Germany that we could keep in the official liquor locker until we got back to port. I also bought a lot of rum in Jamaica called screech that could not be found in the states.
I was on Eisenhower from 1984-1988, did two Med cruises We were in Naples for a port visit and I remember the pallets of wine sitting on the hanger deck All told, probably a truck load of wine I'm sure it was for diplomatic use only
In my experience, 1987-2000, the crew members who wanted to drink, would have something to drink. There are a LOT of places to hide stuff on a Navy ship. I myself imbibed occasionally as a guest of someone with booze but never felt the need to bring my own. I did enough damage to my liver during the port visits. A break was usually a welcome thing.
A lot of these stories have a weird tinge to them... "Yeah, everybody drank, it was a known secret, here's a funny story about drinking" and it always ends "and then he got court martialed". Eeeep.
I always kept a bottle of bourbon in my rack for pulling into port down in the Caribbean. Once liberty was granted, I would stop by the mess deck, pick up a container of lemonade powder mix, ice and some water. From there head down the brow and meet up with a small crew from the ship for "pier side whiskey sours." It was a good way to stay out of trouble while boozing hard off of the ship. My favorite was Rosie Roads PR. Sometimes the base was quiet and the big high rise brows would be at the end of those long piers with no ship tied up. Those platforms offered a great view for the affore mentioned refreshments. This was a great way to stay away from that old strip joint just off of the far side of the base...
I had my own “wine cellar” as an e-4 on my boat when I was in the gulf. It was called the duty free van! You’d be amazed how much storage space there is on a RHIB.
When we visited Australia for the 50th anniversary of the battle of the Coral Sea, we were allowed to bring back a case of wine or beer or 2 gal of hard liquor. It was locked up in a store room until we reached Guam. One of our dentist's had a friend who owned a bar and he brought back about 20 cases of an Aussie beer you couldn't get in Guam. Officer's privilege I guess.
I was COMMO on USS HAWES (FFG-53) in 1995 when we went on a Black Sea cruise and became the first foreign (non-Soviet) warship ever to visit Batumi, Georgia (easternmost point on the Black Sea). That was explicitly a diplomatic mission and there was a serious discussion on how much wine we were to ship (And how much this was coming out of our wardroom dues. Fortunately, the Admiral managed to get us an allowance, so diplomacy wasn't, "Funded out of the Wardrooms' pockets."). And WOW, was there a crowd when we pulled in. It was fun! They postponed an opera performance so we could see it, and I don't think a single HAWES sailor actually *paid* for a drink while we were there (I know I didn't).
My grandpa told me about them getting 2 Budweisers each while they were in the pacific when he was on an LST. He said a few other guys and himself tied theirs to strings and dunked them into the fresh water holding tank to cool them off. Edit: I don't remember if it was for a holiday or what, (it was about 25 years ago he told me this and I really regret not interviewing him and writing down at least the broad strokes of his war story before he passed) but they actually had the beer aboard ship on this occasion.
In the age of sail having alcohol storage was extremely important because its really the only thing you could reliably keep safe for a long time at sea. So you’d have barrels of rum or wine aboard for the crew to drink. Even children would drink “small beer” which was highly diluted.
They lacked the understanding we have today of bacteria, pathogens or viruses and so water was often not a good thing to drink. It was common to drink watered down beer. Of course the sailors had a rum ration too and the captain could increase or decrease it depending upon performance. This could be a way of controlling the crew, but there was risk of upsetting the balance and sparking mutiny. Remember that in age of sail too, the Royal navy would press gang people into service.
There were non alcoholic alternatives that they could've used. Vinegar being one. You all might cringe at the thought of drinking vinegar water but I drink it every day as my pleasure beverage and it does grow on you. Better taste than grog.. Liquor rations were once provided to the Army as well. The Army was well within it's means to procure fresh water or to boil it before distribution, rather than waste resources on whiskey.
I noticed that the labels for the wines were all American wines. This keeps with the idea the Captain is always a US ambassador, he would no doubt showcase American wines to foreign dignitaries which in turn promotes American wine exports etc, plus is another way to show the flag
Just received my bottle of Pine Tavern Distillery's "BB62 Battleship NJ Honey Flavored Rum". It will set on the shelf, unopened until the day the beautiful lady is gently resting on blocks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Then I will pop the cork and toast the beginning of the major preservation project that will keep her afloat for another 30 - 40 years. I will have a nip each week, while watching Ryan's progress videos, until she is again freely floating. Hopefully, I won't have to order another bottle, but if need be, so be it.
Read the outstanding book by Admiral Fluckey, Thunder Below. That book is great, the crew received beer as rewards for enemy action. He didn't just tell about the military but so much about the personalities of the crew, they were a family.
"Capitan, we have been hit." "Damage report" "Nothing vital is damaged... Except..." "Speak up XO!" "The wine is gone. Direct hit on the cellar. Nothing remains." "The ship is lost. Signal our surrender on the condition we may return to port before dinner. Then flank speed for home."
In the late 80s; We had a coworker get caught with whisky. He mad a run for it on 03 level of CVN-71. That is first level below the flight deck. There is knee knocker every 5 feet. Too bad that he was 6 foot 2. Cracked his head open on one. One of the flight officer Lieutenant Commander was chasing him. Easy catch after he fell.
@@MrRmeadows Were you at sea at the time? I'm guessing not from your reply, but that would be even funnier. I'm picturing him, if he'd managed to get away, making it up onto the flight deck and then just sort of standing there staring at the horizon. "... Oh."
In the early days of WWII the torpedoes performed poorly. Sometimes they were complete duds when the grain alcohol fuel had been drained to make moonshine. The Navy soon switched to poisonous fuels.
What is the difference between grain alcohol and denatured alcohol? Poison. That allows hardware stores in the US to sell what is essentially grain alcohol.
On our 2003 deployment on a DDG we had a beer day at sea. Every 45 days straight at sea they gave us 2 beers. We missed the 2nd consecutive beer day by one day. They kept it locked up in the liquor locker. Got a photo of me and fellow sailors during it.
I can neither confirm nor deny, my first deployment on NJ, 88’, someone snuck wine coolers onboard engineering birthing. They may have rationed it out. Since i may have seen it, I was also allowed to partake at the end of one shift. 😅😅
Well there was SM1 McAfee that would treat the QM on watch to a cup or two of Irish coffee when underway late at night. It'll help you go to sleep after a Midwatch. ;)
Every deployment I was on as a US Naval Officer, the members of the wardroom kept a "war chest" full of our liquor supply in a secure space on board ship. On one ship we used the missle magazine. The war chest was not accessed on board, but during a port visit it was sent ashore to a hotel room called an "admin" the we all chipped in to pay for as an off-ship hangout.
My grandfather was in the navy in the 1950s. On his ship, there was a safe that held, among other things, “medicinal alcohol” which was what he described as “a large stock of airplane bottles of vodka, rum, etc., to be dispensed by the ship’s doctor as necessary.”once a month the ship’s doctor and another officer as a witness had to inventory the contents.
After our Shellback ceremony we had a barbecue on the helo deck. Each sailor was given a can of beer with his meal. I don’t remember what brand it was, maybe it was in a Navy grey can labeled with block letters, “BEER”. Also on our cruise we were able to purchase a certain amount of liquor duty free. The liquor was held in a storeroom until we arrived stateside. At that time we took possession of our liquor and removed it from the ship. In the video I see different servicemen’s names followed by a description of the wine. Perhaps this is wine they purchased and was being held until the ship arrived home. 7:30
I can't remember the exact particulars, but there was a navy ship in WWII that had what was basically a microbrewery on board. It was in the pacific and could brew up to 300-400 gallons a week and would as one of it's jobs was desalinating drinking water for other ships. I can't remember if it was a US, NZ, AU, or other nation ship. All I remember is a few sentences from a book on US Navy UDT and Sea Bee (C.B.) operations, about how this particular ship would provide drinking water and beer as well as carry construction equipment and materials. If anyone else knows the book or the ship, please post it. I read this book in high school back in the mid 80's, and I'd like to try to find it again.
As a CE-2- Seabees making booze doesn't surprise me at all. Any deployment we'll have some kind of alcohol. Even gally bug juice, if you put enough yeast in there- something will ferment. A desal plant was just a water/ booze distillery...if the O's didn't find out.
Forgotten fleet, the BPF (British Pacific Fleet 1944-45 mentions that two brewery ships were part of the task and that the USN was interested in purchasing one but the RN declined
@zyzor this was partly due to the quality of water in some cases. It was more common to drink beer or ale in the age of sail due to lack of understanding of what caused water based sickness. What we call beer or ale today would be considered much stronger than the typical serving, this of course applies across the working population. The wealthy would be having scotch or wine. Gin became popular too, but it gained a reputation for bad behaviour so it was not well tolerated by the upper classes.
@@bionicgeekgrrl pretty sure his was a sarcastic reaction, not meant to be some kind of deep historical statement. i think we all know that people consumed small beer before they were aware of pathogens in the water.
served 1962-1983 as a CPO First ship USS Neosho AO-143 fwd we had the "Sixth Fleet Wine Mess" storeroom. We were Service force flag ship and the Booze was transferred to various ships as needed for foreign dignitary visits etc. All US Navy ships carry Alcohol in Sick Bay for use during severe cold exposure etc. Also ward room storerooms carried cooking sherrys etc. I know cause i always wrote up the Stewards storeroom for unauthorized alcohol during zone inspection this was in 1977-1979 aboard CVN-69. So my best guess is today at least the CVNs still carry spirits.
Even in the land based Army we usually are allowed a few drinks during special occasions while deployed. Xmas, New Year. That sort of thing. Both in Bosnia and Iraq I saw it happen. I didnt partake as two drinks isnt enough for me to celebrate but I did appreciate the gesture. As far as the Navy goes, if you have shift on the next day while under way, I cant see you drinking at all.
When I was deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1989 we were in port in Bahrain. A British frigate or Destroyer came into port and docked right in front of us. I went over and introduced myself and made friends with a bunch of the British sailors, they had me over for lunch and they were allowed two or three beers each on lunch. They were used to it, I was not and I was pretty blasted when it came time for me to go back to my ship.
Yup, JFK CV67. Always had some Jungle Juice brewing in the aft OJive hole. Always good to have some boy in the galley that enjoyed item trades. 20mm cans were perfect for the job.
A freind of mine was a sailor in the RAN in the early 2000s and he told me a story about him and 2 other sailors that were smoking a joint on the back of a warship one time when the Prime Minister was onboard getting shown around. Boys will be boys.
When I was brand new on the ship one of the guys giving me the tour of the spaces showed me one space that was designed as "The refer room". It had a refrigeration compressor inside that space. I figured that was the name given based off of the machinery inside that particular space. He asked me... "Are you cool?" I said..."Yeah why?" He pulled out a joint and began smoking it and asked me if I wanted any which I declined. He laughed and said.."now you know why it's called the refer room". He popped positive on a piss test and was given a Dishonorable Discharge. What a dumb ass he was...😂
@@kennethwise7108 I was a soldier in the Australian army and the only time I ever did anything on duty was one night when we has a ammunition dump guard duty it was freezing cold and none had thought to bring any cold weather gear and we sipped on a flask of rum which went unnoticed
When in Subic bay beer was available On Grandy Island I understand that was unreachable at sea. Grandy Island was a Recreation Area one could go to Without liberty. This has been over 50 years ago so I don't have prefect Recall but I do remember the beer was american brands.
I wonder if red horse was named after the red horse 1 at the cubi o club, I worked at amd paraloft when red horse 1 was made, we did the upholstery work on it.
In the RAN 30 something years ago we had a beer locker onboard, as we had a daily(at sea only) beer issue of 2 cans per man per day. Each can was cracked as it was issued so they couldn’t be saved up. There were ways to get more, but we had to drink it before it got warm and flat! 🤣 We used to get beer delivered on pallets before each deployment and sometimes during. Officers had a bar in the wardroom but they were forbidden from drinking at sea! I don’t know if any of that is still the case.
In the 90's I work with a guy who was ex US navy. He was probably a boiler tender. While I never talked to him much about his time, I am pretty sure he was able to brew some concoctions on board that were hidden.
My late father-in-law was the XO on a DE in the Pacific during WWII. One of the disciplinary actions he had to deal with was a cook who was found to be ordering an inordinate amount of vanilla extract... because he was drinking it. I can't imagine drinking that stuff, but if that's all you can get...
My first ship was Eugene A Greene DD-711. Whenever we would do refueling or re supply at sea, Our CO would send a can of 711 beer to the supply ship. We would see him open the beer up and make a toast to our ship. The 711 stores in Norfolk would take turns supplying a few cases to us for each cruise. The CO had it locked up in a void, and only he had the key. Old, hot, no name beer.
Celebrated steel beach picnic on board use constellation when deployed to persion gulf 2 beers each. Also did same on uss Prarie when anchored in the gulf of Oman. 45 days continuous at sea was the prerequisite..
Queen Elisabeth II had issued the "splice the mainbrace" numerous times. Not while she was driving a truck in WWII. I think the last time was her Platinum Jubilee. She was a very classy Lady. Did I mention she drove and serviced a truck? (Could probably shoot master marksman, too.) steve
Every NATO ship I encountered in the 90s and 00s had beer/ale on tap, in bottles, and wine as well. Except Turkish ships and US Ships. I know US Frigates had a 'wine cellar' that belonged to the CO and XO, and they would store anything you brought on board. ...and, I think one of the most hilarious hot pit/box lunch events during a NATO cruise was when our helo (Poker Dawg 434) landed on a British Frigate, and .... the 'box lunch' was a wicker basket from Harrod's with fine bone china, actual silverware (not plate, solid silver), 4 bottles of Guinness and 4 small bottles of rum (3man crew, extra just in case someone got thirsty), and 4 roast Cornish hens, mashed potatoes, and braised new carrots with spotted dick for afters, also a thermos of hot black tea with 4 teacups with saucers. The china? Wedgewood. Like one setting was $500! and the only one who got to enjoy their meal fully was the AW, he had a fold down desk to put his plate and teacup on. What was funny was coming back into port from Europe, Customs was there waiting. A few junior officers had decided to fill their wine cellar back home. One guy bought over 100 bottles of fine European vintage, kept them in the Captains Locker. We got to port, and he filled out his customs form... over $10,000 worth of Duty. Captain talked to the junior officer, then talked to Customs, and ... the junior officer made a donation to the Navy of most of those bottles. Junior got like 20 bottles duty free, Customs got some paperwork filled out, everyone but the Captain was grumpy. First command on a carrier, we went out for 3 weeks of workups, and one of the old crustys came on board with 12 quart bottles of Listerine.... 12 bottles of Literine, 4 pair of underwear, 4 pair of socks, and an eyeshade so he could sleep, one pair of coveralls, one green flight deck jersey....and, that was his entire seabag.
Damn Josephus Daniels SECNAV 1913-21 (and a Teetotaler) and General Order 99. IN the 1980s - ships frequently had booze onboard - but under tight control (often displacing 1 or 2 small arms ammuntion lockers). Indian Ocean deployments with 45 days continuous at were allowed to bring it - 2 beers per person - tightly controlled. Officer had a locker - but only drunk it when taken ashore for use. I recall in Shipyard / drydock after move off several empty bottles found onboard. High expect some were brought onboard empty - intentionally to watch the officers react when found
I don't know what you're talking about, it is STRICTLY Verboten! lol... My dad's ship had a still in the engine room, dad said the officer's couldn't tell it apart from the rest of the piping...
Mondavi White Zinfandel? Blech! What the heck were they thinking? If they tried serving that crap to some French dignitaries war would have broken out! My dad served on diesel subs in the mid-late 50's. He said everyone liked whenever they did joint ops with the Brits because at the end there'd inevitably be a big party in port -- usually in Jamaica -- and the Brits were always carrying tons of booze around with them that the U.S. sailors would trade for. Everyone apparently looked the other way when it came to the regulations.
A 2.5 fluid ounce tot of 54.5 percent ABV dark rum was mixed with water and lime juice to make grog. Water would not make it ‘go bad.’ If you had your tot on a full stomach, you might feel warm and happy for an hour. Only a kid would get drunk. The problems arose when sailors saved their tots and had a week or two’s worth stored somehow. Then you could get seriously hammered.
Drachinfel told a story about a british WW2 battleship that was damaged in the Med. I say damaged, the main casualty was a flooded room used for storing speciality cheese.
Even though I got DQ'd, I was chatting with my recruiter, and he said, "What the [expletive] else are we supposed to do? Drink tea and play checkers like old ladies?"
ET1 on USS McDermut (DD677). Was OOD in port at Subic Bay in the 50’s. ET3 Frost, drunk as usual, came back on board with a familiar “bulge” around one of his ankles. I told him I was going to turn around and I wanted to hear a splash in the water. Sure enough I heard a splash so I turned around and there stood Frost with one barefoot. I couldn’t write him up after that so I had the JOOD take the bottle and toss it overboard.
I was in the airwing on a med-cruise on USS Coral Sea 87/88 , Ended up getting to know a cook on the ship who made vodka out of potatoes and a bunch of other stuff , Maaaan that stuff tasted like crap but worked tried only once lol , I just waited until a port call to drink after that which was not often , Stuff was to rough for me !
I can neither confirm or deny any possible alcohol aboard any Frigates in the late 80s-90s... but I will PROUDLY admit I've had a beer with supper aboard a few Canadian Frigate or two
On one of the ships I was on in the 70's the chief master-at-arms was known as the biggest lush on board. Probably needless to say, his enforcement was lax.
As an ET, we often used alcohol to clean circuit boards... It was not uncommon for us to order a 5 gallon can of it... I can neither confirm nor deny that during one such reorder, someone with a bit college chemistry background (i.e. he knew what he was reading), saw an entry in the supply microfiche that said 'Alcohol, ethyl, technical grade" and knew that it mean ethanol that had NOT been denatured and it would be 190+ proof... I can also neither confirm nor deny that the 5 gallons came as five 1-gallon glass jugs with a tax stamp across the top, that the division officer had to sign for it, and very little of it actually got used on circuity boards...
Ryan, When you were standing at the door of the compartment, over your head I saw a large insulated duct labeled "supply duct" and a couple of insulated pipes. Was the duct supplying cooled air? Were those pipes for chill water? Did they install an chill water air cooler in the space as well? I'm really interested because it looks like they did a better job of cooling that little space than they did in my berthing area back on CVN65. Thanks On reflection --- Good wines probably are more important than a sailor getting a good nights sleep.
I once had a shipmate who made his own wine while underway. We were in his shop playing cards and he handed me a Dixie cup with wine, it was actually really good and strong. Word got out and the wrong person heard about it and they snitched on him. He went to the Captain's mast and got kicked out of the Navy. During his Captains mast the Captain actually asked him. "Where did you learn how to make wine?"
His response..."Sir, I found a book on how to make wine in the ship's library."
True story... 😂
"Sir, I found a book on how to make wine in the ship's library." They should have promoted that sailor. A perfect example of Reading, Learning, Doing and using his initiative.
@@BrianMoore-uk6js haaaa yeah true, sadly it's illegal to do on US Navy ships. Funny story though.
That's messed up man, just for having a bit o fun, why is teh American navy so damn strict? Teh bri'ish navy we like to kick back and have a good time
@@Direwoof I know huh? So sad...
Makes no sense whatsoever. Heck, a beer a day wouldn't hurt nothing. So glad I got out after 12 years. Couldn't take it anymore.
Back in the late 70's We made some wine aboard U.S.S. Ranger Cv. 61 , Cat Steam . It was good Thankfully we did not share , so we did not get busted
We had five gallon containers of medical grade ethanol on board our ship in the 1990s. We only actually used about half a cup each week to make up the denatured alcohol we used in sick bay. there was also a quart bottle of methanol to denature it and the pink dye. They had to be stored in the flammable liquids storeroom up in the bow, and having a substantially large "evaporation and spillage" amount in the logbook got noticed by the XO.
So, he ordered a locking cabinet for the five gallon container to be constructed in the flammable locker. this required welding, making the 1st division guys have to lug all the stuff in the storeroom out onto the focsle during the welding. Much bitching and moaning as they schlepped it out and back afterwards.
But, someone clever altered the plans for the locking cabinet. Basically you could stick a screwdriver into an inconspicuous hole in the back of the cabinet, which released a latch, and you could then lift the entire cabinet off the bulkhead it was welded to, and gain access to the alcohol inside via the now open back. This existed for a year or so as a well kept secret, but someone blabbed.
It was too good a story to keep secret, and eventually the new XO heard about it. He was amused, but he still had them reweld it to keep it more secure. Repeat schlepping all the stuff out and back for a five minute welding job. More bitching and moaning, and one BM1 in detox. Suddenly evaporation went down dramatically.
On a submarine I was on, the cook hid bottles of booze in the ventilation pipes in the galley. Went to sea and could not get strong air back to the crews berthing. Took a week to find all the booze in the pipes.
If he had done just one he might have gotten away with it. That's a funny story.
I can hear the reprimand in
Cave Johnson/J K Simmons voice: "The ventilation pipes are not your private contraband cubby. They're how we ventilate the ship, because they're _ventilation_ pipes. You see how you like Hypoxia next time."
@@Moredread25even then, it’d be a loss. Those things are likely to go everywhere when they shake down the boat, and make their share of noise to boot.
We had an A ganger who did the same thing right next to a fan. The motor on the fan went out underway and the electricians found his stash. We had suspected for sometime that he was doing this as after we we underway for weeks he still would smell like alcohol. The nukes also made bilge wine I new about this because they had to get the large Nalgene bottles from me as the ELT'S RPPO (repair parts petty officer). The stuff was pretty nasty.
in the early 90s, a few of our Sailors crossdecked over to a French frigate for a few hours. Our guys were told before they left not to imbibe in any French spirits. Our Sailors returned a few hours later only for one of them to yak up a stomachful of French wine on the deck.
That cost him a stripe.
A sailor drinking is not hard to believe. Said sailor not being able to hold said liquor IS hard to believe...
😉
Not being able to hold your stomach is lack of training and obviously the navy is lacking behind here. Training, training, training and a sailor becomes experienced.
"Note to the galley, Romulan Ale no longer to be served at diplomatic functions..."
😂😂😂
On my ship USS Nimitz, we would fill 7oz Miller beer bottles, the cap would screw back on. Drink beer and fill with whisky. Put the bottles in sox, then put them in the pockets of our jackets. Across the Quarter Deck and then put it in our locker. This was the late 70s.
You've been reactivated for court martial 😆
if that's all they can come up with I'm good
Wait, sailors drink? Next you're going to tell me they swear and visit houses of ill repute!
I hear they also scream for ice-cream!
That is all a rumour! Sailors do NOT drink!
(I worked at a bar in Honolulu, [gentleman's
club] and the sailors indeed drink and carouse.)
steve
There was a time when every sailor was granted a pint of alcohol (grog) every day😂❤
While deployed during Desert Storm, our ship had a beer cage built in the steering gear room. We couldn’t drink it on board, but we would frequently put the small boats over the side and everyone would get their 2 cans for a beer cruise. Worked out well for the coxswain and engineer “me 😊” as they kept throwing down two for us on every run. Had to replenish from the Australians during our tour.
I was on a 637 class fast-attack submarine. Our torpedo tubes could be locked and alarmed. If we pulled into foreign port, and if the captain approved, we could purchase duty free liquor, tag it with the owner's name, and store it in a locked and alarmed torpedo tube not to be opened until we pulled back into homeport. You had to fill out a customs declaration form before they would give it back to you.
My wife rode on DD 992, the Fletcher, a Spruance class destroyer, as a civilian technical representation testing submarine tracking software. When they made port in Victoria, BC the Captain hosted the local dignitaries and served wine that had been stored on the ship. This was in the 1990s.
fairly common practice in the navy.
@@Salty_Balls no, she worked.
While stationed in repair activities at Pearl Harbor I was called upon a few times to provide services to British related (Canadian and Australian) ships Nearly as soon as I came aboard I was offered alcohol, beer or stronger stuff. Of course, I couldn't turn down their hospitality.😉
That would have caused outrage and an international incident (had you refused) lol
Getting orders to Pearl Harbor (U.S.S. Preble, DDG-46) just after turning 18, was unfreekingbelievable to me. I was at HT A school in the fall of 1977 (sank the Buttercup) in Philadelphia, and felt like doing backflips when I read the orders to Hawaii. 🇺🇸⚓️👍🏽
Army vet here, In Iraq in late 05 early 06 I made friends with another companies maintainers.
They had a still under thr concretr pad of their maintence tent, the entrence was covered by a large toolbox with a 'busted' wheel, straight up hogans heroes tier.
When my grandfather served aboard on sub duty (Cold War stealth/monitoring), he would put his shore visit returns behind the "TOP SECRET" door in the radio shack. Considering he was one of four people on board who could go in there, he figured the captain XO, and chief navigator wouldn't notice a panel out of place underneath the teletype desk.
Ha! Smart!
I was on my 1st ship in 1978 the USS Vreeland. We were deployed on an IO cruise. My dad mailed a bottle of Vodka and somehow it survived the trip and was undetected. Upon receipt I took the package down to my Sonar space. Several of my shipmates were there upon opening the package. We were so ready to drink it but had nothing to mix it with. I went to the MS’s and got a packet of bug juice mix. It was tolerable and we had our alcoholic fix. The empty bottle was thrown out the small access plate on the stern of the Sonar IVDS space.
Dang Al that's a good one! Can't believe your Dad would do that but that but i gotta confess that was one helluva "care package" 😜
Our deck crew was pretty loose. I was kind of suprised about how far they would go with it on watch and such(those late nights on the fly bridge.) There were stashes all over the ship. My brother was making wine on the Polar Star until the rig was disovered. Nobody went to mast on that one. I had a Master Chief cook show me how he stayed sauced. He always kept a large supply of lemon "extract" on hand along with a few other choice variants. He was thrilled to point to the label stating 90% alcohol content. That was a proper old salt. USCG 94-99
In re diplomatic functions: President Rutherford B. Hayes, whose wife Lucy was a temperance activist, kept a dry White House during his term of office from 1877 to 1881. This considerably cramped the style of Secretary of State William Evarts, who sourly replied after being asked how one state dinner at the executive mansion had gone, "Oh, it was a brilliant affair. The water flowed like champagne."
"Oh, it was a brilliant affair. The water flowed like champagne."
I'm KEEPING this one!
steve
Oh, she sounds like tons of fun...
@@KennethStone Her nickname in Washington society (presumably not to her face) was "Lemonade Lucy".
My grandmother also sent me some chocolates that had whiskey on the inside of them. That was my favorite care package. It wasn't enough to get you drunk or anything like that but it was always good to just get a taste of booze when you are out at sea for a long period of time.
"Splicing the Mainbrace" is still a common practice on board Naval vessels. After 45 consecutive days at sea the Captain can issue 2 rations of beer to the crew. The only caveat is that you must be 21 years old (dumb rule). Our ship celebrated 2 beer days back when we were deployed to the Middle East. I even have photos of the occasion with my shipmates.
In my era, they'd put the whaleboat over the side for beer rations. Technically not on the ship.
Half the crew is under 21
I'd put 21 on the sole of my shoe. So technically I was over 21.
The 21 rule is likely due to federal laws being followed. If they came across a British ship by comparison (merchant or royal navy) the crew would have been able to drink above 18. Depending upon the era there would have been
@@bionicgeekgrrl "Old enough to serve, old enough to be served" should apply.
Now a days there is a navy instruction that authorizes a "beer day" when a ship is out to sea for a given period of time, typically about a month with no planned port visits for the next couple weeks. Sailors will get a couple beers and typically a steel beach picnic to boost morale
I haven’t heard the term “steel beach” in a very long time. It brings back memories, for sure!
🇺🇸⚓️
One of my shipmates got a Christmas care package with a bottle of listerine in it. I had no idea that listerine was made in Lynchburg TN.
Listerine is about 40% alcohol. If you drink enough, you would get a buzz on. But it would tear up your stomach.
I was on the USS ULYSSES S. GRANT (SSBN631) BLUE. On my second patrol in 1991, we did a security drill while we were underway and we were ordered to search the ship. The group I was with was tasked with going through the Officer's Staterooms which on a Lafayette Class Boat were on Operations Compartment Middle Level port side right behind the torpedo room. First stateroom I went into belonged to the Weapons Officer who was a LCDR and two LT's. Opened up the cabinet above the desk and about six miniatures were in there. We just all laughed and carried on. I'm sure that wasn't the only alcohol onboard.
Gene FlukeyOf the USS Barb loaded numerous cases of beer on the Barb each time it departed on a war patrol. After every sinking the crew was allowed a beer ration and the galley prepared a special cake. The Barb, SS 220 was one of WWII most successful subs having sunk a cruise a carrier and blown up a train amongst 15 other ships. So alcohol on a ship properly supervised isn't all bad.
his book is a must read
I was curious and I looked it up. "On her twelfth and final patrol of the war, she landed a party of carefully selected crew members who blew up a train, the only ground combat operation in the Japanese (four main) home islands."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Barb_(SS-220)
A well chosen reinforcer can really boost morale.
So true I probably listen to it once a year or so on Audible. Flukey comes off as one of those men you would follow into hell if he asked. @@tdsmotorsportshomegaragedy241
@@KennethStone Yarnhub has a great animated retelling of that story on RUclips
As an officer in the Royal Australian Navy, I had the pleasure of being XO *and* Wardroom Wine Officer for one of my ships, HMAS Swan, when it was coming out of refit. I had tastings and we used suppliers to get in hundreds of bottles of wine. :-)
I was stationed aboard an amphib cargo ship (LKA) in the 70s and one time, after a particularly grueling day in foul weather, launching and recovering landing craft and debarking the MAU we had aboard we on the deck crews were tired, soaked to the skin, cold, and really miserable. Our day had started at 0400 to get everything set for debarking troops at daybreak so along about 2000, as we set the last LCM in its cradle, we were surprised and greatly cheered when the captain came over the 1MC and ordered, "Splice the main brace!" That little bottle of Hennessy cognac from the medical stores sure did feel nice going down.
A fine selection of California wines from up and down the state. Cheers!
Always,every Naval Ship and a Armory to hold occupants guns,even bases. I've spent 90 days out and got my 2 beers,1986. Was a code in ucmj? Got a six pack from santa same year,was on steering midwatch AGF-3, Christmas, heard noises in hallway,no one came through, opened door and nobody, but a sixpack setting on port side, and 30' rope. I retrieved it and when back into steering,setting the door bell. Pulled up to my booth and commenced to enjoy, after half the first one i turned around so boats could see, he caught on quick,we split it. And it was cold. I had made a few impressions with my abilities, looking back it was my commander or the CO. Fair winds and the following seas,you slimy wog!
Damn it, Ryan! I don't know or CARE anything about ships, Naval procedures, battleships or whatnot. But I can NOT resist these videos. You just make them so damned interesting. I find myself mesmerized by the topics you choose. I love these weird minutia-type videos on not-so-well-known things of these ships. Well done, sir. Well done.
The rum ration (also called the tot) was a daily amount of rum given to sailors on Royal Navy ships. It was abolished in 1970 after concerns that the intake of strong alcohol would lead to unsteady hands when working machinery.
While the Royal Australian Navy never issued the rum ration, their sailors were entitled to the rum ration when they were on Royal Navy ships until 1921.
The Royal Canadian Navy abolished the rum ration in 1972, and the last navy to issue the rum ration regularly, the Royal New Zealand Navy, abolished the practice on 28 February 1990.
Best beer I ever tasted was as a Seabee in Iraq on the Marine Corps' birthday in 2008.
As for shipboard stories, never drank onboard but I vaguely remember asking to "cross the patio, Daddio" once after my first night out on Hotel Street in Honolulu. In fact it was same night Magnum PI was filming there and I was the newbie in the division having just checked onboard.
ACB?
@@kpolenz9772 Construction Battalion. Got started in WW2 by enlisting construction workers to build bases on islands. "Be nice to the SeaBees, they may be someone's grandpa." -- a common statement at the time because they were picked for experience, not as a warm body to train.
Hotel Street in Honolulu was the place to go for a tattoo, a paid sexual encounter, or a bad hangover, from what I remember. There were much better places to go than Hotel Street.
I was fortunate to spend almost two years on DDG-46, U.S.S. Preble, homeported in Pearl Harbor.
🇺🇸⚓️
@@ronsamborski6230 Like I said, It was my initiation into OI Division and my first real duty station. I'm sure the hangover was what the guys intended for me...and it worked. lol
Fun fact, Ohio-class submarines have a Wine Cellar, too. It's in the engine room, in a small space just forward of the main condensers. I've spent many a field day down there.
Been there cleaned there
French battleships had both a wine cellar (for the captain) similar to the one in the vidéo and a wine tank (for the crew).
Both Jean Bart in WWI and Richelieu WWII got hit in their wine tank.
Richelieu set up a mine in the Malacca strait which underwater cuncussion deformed the hull and ruptured her wine tank.
The crew was so pissed that when some kamikazes tried their luck on her they got blasted out of the skies!
Just as the Royal Navy has gin, "Le quart de vin rouge" (25cl of an average beaujolais) was an important tradition and moral booster for the crew and still is.
(It is a worker's right nobody dares abollish 🤣)
During my time (98-99) in the french air force one of my unit secret documents safe was used by our ncos to store spirits and liquors.
And i once dared a captain that for a very important job he was asking me to do after hours (stat cards for the president to use for an upcoming interview on the end of draft lol) he owned me a bottle of champagne. He did sneak out one from the chief of staff (his boss) cellar! Nice addition to my go away party with my unit days after!
France is awesome!
Royal navy would traditionally be rum forthesailors. The officers likely had scotch onboard as welland the captain probably had wine for the same reasons Ryan mentioned. Was not uncommon for the captain to use the rum ration as punishment or reward i believe.
When I was in Kosovo, we worked with the Foreign Legion and traded our MREs for theirs...there were little wine bottles in each ration package. C'était absolutment merveilleux! Et oui, je parle bien, parce que ma mère est Française.
2:52...so like the Captain's strawberries then.
I'm glad I checked the previous comments, because that was my immediate thought with this. 😆
Ryan, worked at a microbrewery, a homebrew store,
and ferment my own. Water will dilute ethanol, but
NOT break it down! All the major breweries (AB,
Miller and Coors,) dilute their product after fermentation.
The stronger ferment will give more flavour, than just
fermenting 3.2 ABV beer. Typically, a 50% dilution.
Hey, they are trying to counteract the "canoe beer"
issue. American Lager, is like making whoopie in
a canoe. F***ing close to water! (I don't make
"canoe" beer.)
steve
When our ship was in the yard for a overhaul, our shop was move from over the engine room to under the helo deck on the fantail. part of our tools was a cleaning tank for cleaning typewriters. We enclose the base with a hinge so we could clean under it. Ha Ha we used it to hide booze. The mess deck had OJ in a machine all the time so we made screwdrivers. Happy Times. Our ceiling was make up of I-beams for the fun of it we started putting our pop can on the I-beams. until one day the Chief was drinking coffee and lean back in the chair and look up to see the whole ceiling filled with cans.(we were starting to have trouble fining places to put cans) We didn't get into to much trouble, but we haul about eight bags of cans to the trash. ( a few were beer cans)
Aboard a couple of my ships we used the morgue for alcohol storage. Kept things cool. If the morgue was otherwise engaged, the brig was also an option since it was secure.
yes, nothing like keeping the stiff drinks next to the stiff.
😂
On my ship the E4 mafia ran a speak easy of sorts out of the flammable liquids store room and in main engine room 2 in the catacombs by the bilge was a stash of everclear and whiskey. I bought case’s of good German beer from keel Germany that we could keep in the official liquor locker until we got back to port. I also bought a lot of rum in Jamaica called screech that could not be found in the states.
cases of
@@NoName-zn1sb also "Kiel, Germany"
We love a good screech, fine newfoundland drink right there.
I was on Eisenhower from 1984-1988, did two Med cruises
We were in Naples for a port visit and I remember the pallets of wine sitting on the hanger deck
All told, probably a truck load of wine
I'm sure it was for diplomatic use only
Yes the Captain may entertain Princes, Kings, Queens, Stars, Presidents, etc. They 100% should have reserves for such occasions.
In my experience, 1987-2000, the crew members who wanted to drink, would have something to drink. There are a LOT of places to hide stuff on a Navy ship.
I myself imbibed occasionally as a guest of someone with booze but never felt the need to bring my own.
I did enough damage to my liver during the port visits. A break was usually a welcome thing.
I'm shocked, shocked to hear sailors ever drank booze on board.
It was more about it be safer to drink
Your drink, Sir.
LoL
The Royal navy would like a word. What savages don't have a rum ration?
A lot of these stories have a weird tinge to them... "Yeah, everybody drank, it was a known secret, here's a funny story about drinking" and it always ends "and then he got court martialed". Eeeep.
I always kept a bottle of bourbon in my rack for pulling into port down in the Caribbean. Once liberty was granted, I would stop by the mess deck, pick up a container of lemonade powder mix, ice and some water. From there head down the brow and meet up with a small crew from the ship for "pier side whiskey sours." It was a good way to stay out of trouble while boozing hard off of the ship. My favorite was Rosie Roads PR. Sometimes the base was quiet and the big high rise brows would be at the end of those long piers with no ship tied up. Those platforms offered a great view for the affore mentioned refreshments. This was a great way to stay away from that old strip joint just off of the far side of the base...
I had my own “wine cellar” as an e-4 on my boat when I was in the gulf. It was called the duty free van!
You’d be amazed how much storage space there is on a RHIB.
When we visited Australia for the 50th anniversary of the battle of the Coral Sea, we were allowed to bring back a case of wine or beer or 2 gal of hard liquor. It was locked up in a store room until we reached Guam. One of our dentist's had a friend who owned a bar and he brought back about 20 cases of an Aussie beer you couldn't get in Guam. Officer's privilege I guess.
I was COMMO on USS HAWES (FFG-53) in 1995 when we went on a Black Sea cruise and became the first foreign (non-Soviet) warship ever to visit Batumi, Georgia (easternmost point on the Black Sea). That was explicitly a diplomatic mission and there was a serious discussion on how much wine we were to ship (And how much this was coming out of our wardroom dues. Fortunately, the Admiral managed to get us an allowance, so diplomacy wasn't, "Funded out of the Wardrooms' pockets.").
And WOW, was there a crowd when we pulled in. It was fun! They postponed an opera performance so we could see it, and I don't think a single HAWES sailor actually *paid* for a drink while we were there (I know I didn't).
My grandpa told me about them getting 2 Budweisers each while they were in the pacific when he was on an LST. He said a few other guys and himself tied theirs to strings and dunked them into the fresh water holding tank to cool them off.
Edit: I don't remember if it was for a holiday or what, (it was about 25 years ago he told me this and I really regret not interviewing him and writing down at least the broad strokes of his war story before he passed) but they actually had the beer aboard ship on this occasion.
In the age of sail having alcohol storage was extremely important because its really the only thing you could reliably keep safe for a long time at sea. So you’d have barrels of rum or wine aboard for the crew to drink. Even children would drink “small beer” which was highly diluted.
Also moral purposes. Imagine telling a crew of rough bastards who are inclined to extreme violence that they can only drink water.
It was also a way to make sure the crew got their dose of lime juice (as part of the grog).
You had to drink beer, wine or rum. The water would kill you if you drank it.
They lacked the understanding we have today of bacteria, pathogens or viruses and so water was often not a good thing to drink. It was common to drink watered down beer. Of course the sailors had a rum ration too and the captain could increase or decrease it depending upon performance. This could be a way of controlling the crew, but there was risk of upsetting the balance and sparking mutiny. Remember that in age of sail too, the Royal navy would press gang people into service.
There were non alcoholic alternatives that they could've used. Vinegar being one. You all might cringe at the thought of drinking vinegar water but I drink it every day as my pleasure beverage and it does grow on you. Better taste than grog.. Liquor rations were once provided to the Army as well. The Army was well within it's means to procure fresh water or to boil it before distribution, rather than waste resources on whiskey.
It’s Fair . With wine comes Great Responsibility 😊
I noticed that the labels for the wines were all American wines. This keeps with the idea the Captain is always a US ambassador, he would no doubt showcase American wines to foreign dignitaries which in turn promotes American wine exports etc, plus is another way to show the flag
Yes, you're quite correct, plenty of budwiser was stowed as well for the receptions we did in Australia.
@@pville_piper5125 and no doubt a nice selection of American bourbon whiskey, an American icon
@@briannicholas2757 I'm unare if any hard liquor at the receptions... Just beer and wine, but I never hung around for them.
the minute you pour me a good American Wine is the minute I finally stop shitting on the states XD
Never had a good bottle to this day.
Just received my bottle of Pine Tavern Distillery's "BB62 Battleship NJ Honey Flavored Rum". It will set on the shelf, unopened until the day the beautiful lady is gently resting on blocks at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Then I will pop the cork and toast the beginning of the major preservation project that will keep her afloat for another 30 - 40 years. I will have a nip each week, while watching Ryan's progress videos, until she is again freely floating.
Hopefully, I won't have to order another bottle, but if need be, so be it.
Read the outstanding book by Admiral Fluckey, Thunder Below. That book is great, the crew received beer as rewards for enemy action. He didn't just tell about the military but so much about the personalities of the crew, they were a family.
Someone hit a FRENCH battleship in the WINE CELLAR? Oh man, I bet that didn't go unanswered!
I am sure they took it very personal haha!
they surrendered immediately
Imagine the hell they'd unleash had the Cheese Locker also got hit
"Capitan, we have been hit."
"Damage report"
"Nothing vital is damaged... Except..."
"Speak up XO!"
"The wine is gone. Direct hit on the cellar. Nothing remains."
"The ship is lost. Signal our surrender on the condition we may return to port before dinner. Then flank speed for home."
That particular war immediately had to be paused while the wine cellar was repaired.
Ha! We fermented grape juice behind the battery racks in the IC shop. Early 80s 😎 🙂
In the late 80s; We had a coworker get caught with whisky. He mad a run for it on 03 level of CVN-71. That is first level below the flight deck. There is knee knocker every 5 feet. Too bad that he was 6 foot 2. Cracked his head open on one. One of the flight officer Lieutenant Commander was chasing him. Easy catch after he fell.
I have to wonder where he reckoned he was going to go...
@@ZGryphon I don't know. Off the ship I guess. He got that. Never seen him again.
@@MrRmeadows Were you at sea at the time? I'm guessing not from your reply, but that would be even funnier. I'm picturing him, if he'd managed to get away, making it up onto the flight deck and then just sort of standing there staring at the horizon. "... Oh."
@@ZGryphon We were in the Mediterranean some where. Don't think we were at port. Even if we were, would be a long swim to shore.
Nice sea story, was in V2 around the same time and heard the same tail.
In the early days of WWII the torpedoes performed poorly. Sometimes they were complete duds when the grain alcohol fuel had been drained to make moonshine. The Navy soon switched to poisonous fuels.
OMG THATS FREGGIN HILARIOUS!!!
What is the difference between grain alcohol and denatured alcohol? Poison. That allows hardware stores in the US to sell what is essentially grain alcohol.
The Captain should have his wine, he earned it.
I have to agree
On our 2003 deployment on a DDG we had a beer day at sea. Every 45 days straight at sea they gave us 2 beers. We missed the 2nd consecutive beer day by one day. They kept it locked up in the liquor locker. Got a photo of me and fellow sailors during it.
I can neither confirm nor deny, my first deployment on NJ, 88’, someone snuck wine coolers onboard engineering birthing. They may have rationed it out. Since i may have seen it, I was also allowed to partake at the end of one shift. 😅😅
Well there was SM1 McAfee that would treat the QM on watch to a cup or two of Irish coffee when underway late at night. It'll help you go to sleep after a Midwatch. ;)
Every deployment I was on as a US Naval Officer, the members of the wardroom kept a "war chest" full of our liquor supply in a secure space on board ship. On one ship we used the missle magazine. The war chest was not accessed on board, but during a port visit it was sent ashore to a hotel room called an "admin" the we all chipped in to pay for as an off-ship hangout.
The most vital room on a French battleship
Most vital and most relevant
Surely on a French battleship the flag room would be the most used?
The baguette 🥖 room 😂
Yup....heard it was declared a national day of mourning.
Oh the humanity.
Where do they keep the white surrender flags?
My grandfather was in the navy in the 1950s. On his ship, there was a safe that held, among other things, “medicinal alcohol” which was what he described as “a large stock of airplane bottles of vodka, rum, etc., to be dispensed by the ship’s doctor as necessary.”once a month the ship’s doctor and another officer as a witness had to inventory the contents.
Hey Ryan, just curious as to how much these videos have contributed to increasing tourism at the museum?
After our Shellback ceremony we had a barbecue on the helo deck. Each sailor was given a can of beer with his meal. I don’t remember what brand it was, maybe it was in a Navy grey can labeled with block letters, “BEER”.
Also on our cruise we were able to purchase a certain amount of liquor duty free. The liquor was held in a storeroom until we arrived stateside. At that time we took possession of our liquor and removed it from the ship.
In the video I see different servicemen’s names followed by a description of the wine. Perhaps this is wine they purchased and was being held until the ship arrived home. 7:30
LOL that is the name of the wine.
I can't remember the exact particulars, but there was a navy ship in WWII that had what was basically a microbrewery on board. It was in the pacific and could brew up to 300-400 gallons a week and would as one of it's jobs was desalinating drinking water for other ships. I can't remember if it was a US, NZ, AU, or other nation ship. All I remember is a few sentences from a book on US Navy UDT and Sea Bee (C.B.) operations, about how this particular ship would provide drinking water and beer as well as carry construction equipment and materials.
If anyone else knows the book or the ship, please post it. I read this book in high school back in the mid 80's, and I'd like to try to find it again.
HMS Menestheus ....is the first result in Google after entering "navy vessel with own brewery".
As a CE-2- Seabees making booze doesn't surprise me at all.
Any deployment we'll have some kind of alcohol.
Even gally bug juice, if you put enough yeast in there- something will ferment.
A desal plant was just a water/ booze distillery...if the O's didn't find out.
NZ or AU - put money on it!
Forgotten fleet, the BPF (British Pacific Fleet 1944-45 mentions that two brewery ships were part of the task and that the USN was interested in purchasing one but the RN declined
My other half works in a liquor store chain. She says the Captain had good taste in wine.
I think a gallon of beer per day is a fair ration.
fair enough. might save up a couple days ration for a good Friday in Pattaya
Think use to,get a tankard
@@tomhenry897 during the revolution, British sailors and soldier got a gallon of beer a day if they were on shore, or a quart of rum.
@zyzor this was partly due to the quality of water in some cases. It was more common to drink beer or ale in the age of sail due to lack of understanding of what caused water based sickness. What we call beer or ale today would be considered much stronger than the typical serving, this of course applies across the working population. The wealthy would be having scotch or wine. Gin became popular too, but it gained a reputation for bad behaviour so it was not well tolerated by the upper classes.
@@bionicgeekgrrl pretty sure his was a sarcastic reaction, not meant to be some kind of deep historical statement. i think we all know that people consumed small beer before they were aware of pathogens in the water.
My dad said everyone had a friend that was a gunners mate (Vietnam era) because they had access to everclear. They used it to clean the guns.
served 1962-1983 as a CPO First ship USS Neosho AO-143 fwd we had the "Sixth Fleet Wine Mess" storeroom. We were Service force flag ship and the Booze was transferred to various ships as needed for foreign dignitary visits etc. All US Navy ships carry Alcohol in Sick Bay for use during severe cold exposure etc. Also ward room storerooms carried cooking sherrys etc. I know cause i always wrote up the Stewards storeroom for unauthorized alcohol during zone inspection this was in 1977-1979 aboard CVN-69. So my best guess is today at least the CVNs still carry spirits.
Awesome video. Proud that the New Jersey had a Captain with taste.
Even in the land based Army we usually are allowed a few drinks during special occasions while deployed. Xmas, New Year. That sort of thing. Both in Bosnia and Iraq I saw it happen. I didnt partake as two drinks isnt enough for me to celebrate but I did appreciate the gesture. As far as the Navy goes, if you have shift on the next day while under way, I cant see you drinking at all.
When I was deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1989 we were in port in Bahrain. A British frigate or Destroyer came into port and docked right in front of us. I went over and introduced myself and made friends with a bunch of the British sailors, they had me over for lunch and they were allowed two or three beers each on lunch. They were used to it, I was not and I was pretty blasted when it came time for me to go back to my ship.
That’s funny! I wonder, was that British beer higher alcohol percentage?
@@scubasteve3032 I don't know but after three I was hammered. Granted I was not really a drinker so it did not take much to get me drunk.
Jungle Juice!
Yup, JFK CV67. Always had some Jungle Juice brewing in the aft OJive hole. Always good to have some boy in the galley that enjoyed item trades. 20mm cans were perfect for the job.
A freind of mine was a sailor in the RAN in the early 2000s and he told me a story about him and 2 other sailors that were smoking a joint on the back of a warship one time when the Prime Minister was onboard getting shown around. Boys will be boys.
When I was brand new on the ship one of the guys giving me the tour of the spaces showed me one space that was designed as "The refer room". It had a refrigeration compressor inside that space. I figured that was the name given based off of the machinery inside that particular space. He asked me... "Are you cool?" I said..."Yeah why?"
He pulled out a joint and began smoking it and asked me if I wanted any which I declined. He laughed and said.."now you know why it's called the refer room".
He popped positive on a piss test and was given a Dishonorable Discharge. What a dumb ass he was...😂
@@kennethwise7108 I was a soldier in the Australian army and the only time I ever did anything on duty was one night when we has a ammunition dump guard duty it was freezing cold and none had thought to bring any cold weather gear and we sipped on a flask of rum which went unnoticed
When in Subic bay beer was available On Grandy Island I understand that was unreachable at sea. Grandy Island was a Recreation Area one could go to Without liberty. This has been over 50 years ago so I don't have prefect Recall but I do remember the beer was american brands.
been to Grande island, just like the rest of the PI, most common was san miguel, and redhorse.
I wonder if red horse was named after the red horse 1 at the cubi o club, I worked at amd paraloft when red horse 1 was made, we did the upholstery work on it.
Ill drink to the Captain🥃
In the RAN 30 something years ago we had a beer locker onboard, as we had a daily(at sea only) beer issue of 2 cans per man per day. Each can was cracked as it was issued so they couldn’t be saved up. There were ways to get more, but we had to drink it before it got warm and flat! 🤣 We used to get beer delivered on pallets before each deployment and sometimes during. Officers had a bar in the wardroom but they were forbidden from drinking at sea! I don’t know if any of that is still the case.
In the 90's I work with a guy who was ex US navy. He was probably a boiler tender. While I never talked to him much about his time, I am pretty sure he was able to brew some concoctions on board that were hidden.
My late father-in-law was the XO on a DE in the Pacific during WWII. One of the disciplinary actions he had to deal with was a cook who was found to be ordering an inordinate amount of vanilla extract... because he was drinking it. I can't imagine drinking that stuff, but if that's all you can get...
Alcohol is an excellent diplomat when used correctly and as long as you do not drink more then the people you are with.
Never serve Romulan Ale at a diplomatic event!
@@mileshigh1321 "I'm gonna sleep this off. Please let me know if there's some other way we can screw up tonight."
@@ZGryphon I'm gonna find myself a pot of black coffee.
My first ship was Eugene A Greene DD-711. Whenever we would do refueling or re supply at sea, Our CO would send a can of 711 beer to the supply ship. We would see him open the beer up and make a toast to our ship. The 711 stores in Norfolk would take turns supplying a few cases to us for each cruise. The CO had it locked up in a void, and only he had the key. Old, hot, no name beer.
Celebrated steel beach picnic on board use constellation when deployed to persion gulf 2 beers each. Also did same on uss Prarie when anchored in the gulf of Oman. 45 days continuous at sea was the prerequisite..
Queen Elisabeth II had issued the "splice the mainbrace"
numerous times. Not while she was driving a truck in
WWII. I think the last time was her Platinum Jubilee.
She was a very classy Lady. Did I mention she drove and
serviced a truck? (Could probably shoot master marksman,
too.)
steve
Every NATO ship I encountered in the 90s and 00s had beer/ale on tap, in bottles, and wine as well. Except Turkish ships and US Ships. I know US Frigates had a 'wine cellar' that belonged to the CO and XO, and they would store anything you brought on board. ...and, I think one of the most hilarious hot pit/box lunch events during a NATO cruise was when our helo (Poker Dawg 434) landed on a British Frigate, and .... the 'box lunch' was a wicker basket from Harrod's with fine bone china, actual silverware (not plate, solid silver), 4 bottles of Guinness and 4 small bottles of rum (3man crew, extra just in case someone got thirsty), and 4 roast Cornish hens, mashed potatoes, and braised new carrots with spotted dick for afters, also a thermos of hot black tea with 4 teacups with saucers. The china? Wedgewood. Like one setting was $500! and the only one who got to enjoy their meal fully was the AW, he had a fold down desk to put his plate and teacup on. What was funny was coming back into port from Europe, Customs was there waiting. A few junior officers had decided to fill their wine cellar back home. One guy bought over 100 bottles of fine European vintage, kept them in the Captains Locker. We got to port, and he filled out his customs form... over $10,000 worth of Duty. Captain talked to the junior officer, then talked to Customs, and ... the junior officer made a donation to the Navy of most of those bottles. Junior got like 20 bottles duty free, Customs got some paperwork filled out, everyone but the Captain was grumpy. First command on a carrier, we went out for 3 weeks of workups, and one of the old crustys came on board with 12 quart bottles of Listerine.... 12 bottles of Literine, 4 pair of underwear, 4 pair of socks, and an eyeshade so he could sleep, one pair of coveralls, one green flight deck jersey....and, that was his entire seabag.
Damn Josephus Daniels SECNAV 1913-21 (and a Teetotaler) and General Order 99. IN the 1980s - ships frequently had booze onboard - but under tight control (often displacing 1 or 2 small arms ammuntion lockers). Indian Ocean deployments with 45 days continuous at were allowed to bring it - 2 beers per person - tightly controlled. Officer had a locker - but only drunk it when taken ashore for use. I recall in Shipyard / drydock after move off several empty bottles found onboard. High expect some were brought onboard empty - intentionally to watch the officers react when found
Nice selection of wine, Captain had good taste.
I don't know what you're talking about, it is STRICTLY Verboten! lol... My dad's ship had a still in the engine room, dad said the officer's couldn't tell it apart from the rest of the piping...
Mondavi White Zinfandel? Blech! What the heck were they thinking? If they tried serving that crap to some French dignitaries war would have broken out!
My dad served on diesel subs in the mid-late 50's. He said everyone liked whenever they did joint ops with the Brits because at the end there'd inevitably be a big party in port -- usually in Jamaica -- and the Brits were always carrying tons of booze around with them that the U.S. sailors would trade for. Everyone apparently looked the other way when it came to the regulations.
A 2.5 fluid ounce tot of 54.5 percent ABV dark rum was mixed with water and lime juice to make grog. Water would not make it ‘go bad.’ If you had your tot on a full stomach, you might feel warm and happy for an hour. Only a kid would get drunk. The problems arose when sailors saved their tots and had a week or two’s worth stored somehow. Then you could get seriously hammered.
Drachinfel told a story about a british WW2 battleship that was damaged in the Med. I say damaged, the main casualty was a flooded room used for storing speciality cheese.
Even though I got DQ'd, I was chatting with my recruiter, and he said, "What the [expletive] else are we supposed to do? Drink tea and play checkers like old ladies?"
there is an episode of Victory at Sea that talks about the alcohol rations on British ships during WW2.
ET1 on USS McDermut (DD677). Was OOD in port at Subic Bay in the 50’s. ET3 Frost, drunk as usual, came back on board with a familiar “bulge” around one of his ankles. I told him I was going to turn around and I wanted to hear a splash in the water. Sure enough I heard a splash so I turned around and there stood Frost with one barefoot. I couldn’t write him up after that so I had the JOOD take the bottle and toss it overboard.
I was in the airwing on a med-cruise on USS Coral Sea 87/88 , Ended up getting to know a cook on the ship who made vodka out of potatoes and a bunch of other stuff , Maaaan that stuff tasted like crap but worked tried only once lol , I just waited until a port call to drink after that which was not often , Stuff was to rough for me !
I can neither confirm or deny any possible alcohol aboard any Frigates in the late 80s-90s... but I will PROUDLY admit I've had a beer with supper aboard a few Canadian Frigate or two
never question the captain
On one of the ships I was on in the 70's the chief master-at-arms was known as the biggest lush on board. Probably needless to say, his enforcement was
lax.
As an ET, we often used alcohol to clean circuit boards... It was not uncommon for us to order a 5 gallon can of it... I can neither confirm nor deny that during one such reorder, someone with a bit college chemistry background (i.e. he knew what he was reading), saw an entry in the supply microfiche that said 'Alcohol, ethyl, technical grade" and knew that it mean ethanol that had NOT been denatured and it would be 190+ proof... I can also neither confirm nor deny that the 5 gallons came as five 1-gallon glass jugs with a tax stamp across the top, that the division officer had to sign for it, and very little of it actually got used on circuity boards...
Ryan,
When you were standing at the door of the compartment, over your head I saw a large insulated duct labeled "supply duct" and a couple of insulated pipes. Was the duct supplying cooled air? Were those pipes for chill water? Did they install an chill water air cooler in the space as well?
I'm really interested because it looks like they did a better job of cooling that little space than they did in my berthing area back on CVN65.
Thanks
On reflection --- Good wines probably are more important than a sailor getting a good nights sleep.
On westpac 86 the port deck 6 magazine of Turret 1 stored Sapporo beer, a gift to the ship...