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Torpedo juice: Legendary, illegal WWII liquor drunk in Alaska and the world

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

Long declared in a hearing, “The first thing a good skipper did was to make sure that his crew had not consumed the alcohol in the steering mechanism of that torpedo.” The Louisianan spoke from experience, from his own time in the Navy during the war. I have tasted, in our ‘dry’ Navy, some of the most amazing concoctions, made from raisins, potatoes, torpedo juice, compass alcohol, old skivvy shirts, and anything else the kids could find that might ferment if you stole enough sugar.” But in this one lot of torpedoes, someone had substituted denatured alcohol, a violent poison, and several young men died and some were blinded.” As he added, “The newspaper didn’t mention the incident because the military censored all negative news, but all of us kids knew.”

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