How do you get a drink when you're stuck on a ship or at a remote base during wartime? In World War II, American sailors improvised and drank "torpedo juice." They got it from real torpedos, which were propelled by 180-proof ethyl alcohol. That's pretty powerful, even when mixed with fruit juice. It didn't taste good, but it was tolerable for sailors who had no other option. Sometimes it was taken directly from a torpedo, and sometimes a barrel of the fuel was "lost" between a supply depot and a ship. When the Navy began to add extra ingredients to torpedo fuel to discourage drinking it, innovative sailors would filter them out, or even re-distill it.
Still, some sailors died from consuming torpedo juice, either from alcohol poisoning or from the toxins used to adulterate it. In at least one instance, it saved a life when a ship's pharmacist had to perform emergency surgery. In 1943, electric torpedos were introduced, but the name torpedo juice stuck around to denote any contraband or manufactured alcohol in the military. Read about the use of torpedo juice in World War II at the Anchorage Daily News. -via Boing Boing
(Image credit: US Air Force)
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