For those not familiar, the WW2 US Pacific fleet included, no joke, a barge originally built to deliver and mix massive amounts of concrete that was refitted with food grade surfaces and a huge cooling system to supply ice cream throughout the fleet. I mean, it was navy “ice cream” from powder, but it was still a luxury that boosted morale wherever it went. I can only imagine how much it would have hurt Japanese morale if they had found out the US had so much resources to spare that they could waste them on industrial quantities of frozen treats.
Also remember that this was during Prohibition when ice cream was the stand in for booze for most Americans.
Basically the Navy was rowing around a battalion-sized keg party across the Atlantic
Also, one of my favorite American history facts, after a chain of several events this is also why we still have about a billion pounds of cheese squirreled away in caves under most of the Midwest. Not kidding. The ice cream boom caused problems for the milk industry after Prohibition was repealed and one two skip a few, we’ve got 19.5 fucktons of government subsidized cheese and nowhere to put it. This is a true story. Once society inevitably collapses in the West I’m headed toward the cheese caves.
WW2 started several years after America ended the Prohibition, and the ice cream barge was commissioned in its later years as the war in the Pacific dragged on. Still, I don’t think the navy was providing alcohol rations, so I imagine it was quite the party atmosphere when the ice cream barge showed up.
For those not familiar, the WW2 US Pacific fleet included, no joke, a barge originally built to deliver and mix massive amounts of concrete that was refitted with food grade surfaces and a huge cooling system to supply ice cream throughout the fleet. I mean, it was navy “ice cream” from powder, but it was still a luxury that boosted morale wherever it went. I can only imagine how much it would have hurt Japanese morale if they had found out the US had so much resources to spare that they could waste them on industrial quantities of frozen treats.
I knew NCD would get it.
Also remember that this was during Prohibition when ice cream was the stand in for booze for most Americans.
Basically the Navy was rowing around a battalion-sized keg party across the Atlantic
Also, one of my favorite American history facts, after a chain of several events this is also why we still have about a billion pounds of cheese squirreled away in caves under most of the Midwest. Not kidding. The ice cream boom caused problems for the milk industry after Prohibition was repealed and one two skip a few, we’ve got 19.5 fucktons of government subsidized cheese and nowhere to put it. This is a true story. Once society inevitably collapses in the West I’m headed toward the cheese caves.
WW2 started several years after America ended the Prohibition, and the ice cream barge was commissioned in its later years as the war in the Pacific dragged on. Still, I don’t think the navy was providing alcohol rations, so I imagine it was quite the party atmosphere when the ice cream barge showed up.
Oof, guess my timing was a little off, fair enough. But by this point these were soldiers who grew up with ice cream being the norm.