Torpedo Juice

[Greg Boeser]

Torpedo juice: The legendary, illegal WWII liquor drunk in Alaska and around the world

Named for the 180-proof ethyl alcohol that powered American torpedoes, the concoction was consumed throughout the Navy and beyond.

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[MiTasol]

I knew a WW2 USAAF rescue boat crewman and they were required to flush the steering system regularly with pure ethanol. Needless to say the drained and refilled the system but never flushed it.

 

[Snautzer01]

Great name for a band.

 

[Barrett]

The Pacific Theater vets I knew provided some varied insight. "Torpedo juice" likely began with submariners who raided the alcohol for torpedoes and things expanded to Avenger squadrons...and beyond.

Grape fruit juice, orange juice and other mixers were considered appropriate.

 

[Gnomey]

Very similar to what the Soviet aviators used to do as well.

 

[SaparotRob]

View: https://youtu.be/5xygj1MOIdo

 

[GrauGeist]

My Uncle Fred mentioned that the Navy had tried to stop sailors from drinking the alcohol by adding methanol at one point. After several sailors were struck blind from drinking it, they switched to an oil called "croton".

If they drank the alcohol cut with Croton oil, it gave the sailors violent cramps and severe diarehha, but no lasting side effects.

Their answer to this, was to distill (like a Gin mill) the oil out of the alcohol.

Uncle Fred also mentioned that they preferred Pineapple juice or Grapefruit (when they could get it).

By the way, he was a Torpedoman serving aboard subs during the war.

 

[swampyankee]

My Uncle Fred mentioned that the Navy had tried to stop sailors from drinking the alcohol by adding methanol at one point. After several sailors were struck blind from drinking it, they switched to an oil called "croton".

If they drank the alcohol cut with Croton oil, it gave the sailors violent cramps and severe diarehha, but no lasting side effects.

Their answer to this, was to distill (like a Gin mill) the oil out of the alcohol.

Uncle Fred also mentioned that they preferred Pineapple juice or Grapefruit (when they could get it).

By the way, he was a Torpedoman serving aboard subs during the war.

My father (PT boats in the Pacific) said something similar, except they filtered the torpedo fuel through loaves of bread.

Keeping alcohol from sailors (or soldiers, airmen, and marines) seems to be a forlorn hope.

 

[z42]

Filtering fuel alcohol (for camping stoves etc) through bread is(was?) a common trick used by drunkards. No idea if it actually works or if it's just widespread urban legend.

Hard to imagine it would do squat to methanol, but maybe it does have some (small?) effect in filtering out some other denaturation chemicals?

Back when I worked at the physics lab in university, they had pure ethanol for cleaning certain tools. Let's just say they washed their instruments with water, and we had some pretty spicy punch at the office xmas parties.