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Subject: A Lesson in Naval Logistics
    6/29/2004 2:13:35 PM

On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot, 115,000 pounds of black powder and 79,000 gallons of rum.

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Her mission: to destroy and harass English Shipping

On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 688,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England where her crew captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels and took aboard rum.

By this time, Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth of Clyde for a night raid. Here, her landing party captured a whiskey distillery, transferred 13,000 gallons aboard and headed for home.

On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, and no whiskey.

She did, however, still carry her crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water. The math is quite enlightening:
Length of cruise: 181 days
Booze consumption: 1.26 gallons per man per day
(this DOES NOT include the unknown quantity of rum captured from the 12 English merchant vessels in November).

Naval historians note that the reenlistment rate from this cruise was 92%.

LOGISTICS LESSON LEARNED:
Don’t load up with too much water.

 
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Kirk Turner    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/29/2004 6:31:49 PM
You gotta be kidding me. How did she shot 74,000 rounds any way?
 
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Kirk Turner    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/29/2004 6:33:04 PM
OK I feel stupid, it is posted in the humor section.....
 
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SGTObvious    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 8:42:25 AM
The clue: the whole story happens long before the Constitution was actually launched, 2 decades later.
 
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ilpars    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 9:02:13 AM
How much litre a galloon is? Why USA and UK are still using a different measurement system from the rest of the world?
 
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mike_golf    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 10:08:16 AM
A gallon is about 3.7 liters.
 
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ilpars    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 10:18:31 AM
The story still has a truth in it. Old time sailors have been drinking too much. I guess at sail age, being a sailor was too boring.
 
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Ehran    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 5:37:43 PM
mike_golf RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics 6/30/2004 10:08:17 AM A gallon is about 3.7 liters. a real gallon is 4.5 Litres. to add confusion to life the american gallon is smaller than the imperial gallon for no reason i ever fell across.
 
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mike_golf    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   6/30/2004 7:47:36 PM
Yeah, I never figured that one out either, but since I'm American, my "real" gallon is about 3.7 liters. It's the Imperial gallon that is too large :-) What's really interesting is that our pints, quarts, etc. are the same size, it is only the gallon that is different, I believe.
 
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Thomas    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   7/2/2004 7:57:00 AM
Ilpars: 200 years ago everybody were drinking to much. The sailors had a reason: Disinfecting th water and food. Beer drinking was also in large part due to the foulness of water. If the water is not potable, the yeast will not grow and you have no beer. Next time You order a nice cold Carlsberg remember: The brewery was founded by a brewer (Jacobsen) whose beer in the city of Copenhagen was constantly destroyed by the real polluted water - in the beginning of the 19'th century the City of Copenhagen was ravaged by a cholera epidemic - only then was there action. Jacobsen build his brewery outside the City (at Valby) where there was plenty of potable water. SKÅL!
 
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ilpars    RE:A Lesson in Naval Logistics   7/2/2004 8:52:06 AM
In Ottoman Navy drinking alchol was illegal. I wonder how did they handle water problem. On the other hand drinking alchol was common in Barbary corsairs who were multi-national with lots of European renegades.
 
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