Ice cream barge
An ice cream barge was a vessel employed by the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater of World War II to produce ice cream in large quantities to be provisioned to sailors and marines. The craft, a concrete barge acquired from the U.S. Army and worth $1 million, was able to create of ice cream every seven minutes, or approximately per shift, and could store . It was employed in the USN's Western Pacific area of operations, at one point anchored at Naval Base Ulithi. These ships were intended to raise the morale of U.S. troops overseas by producing ice cream at a fast rate. See also USS Quartz (IX-150), a contemporary of the ice cream barge, used as a "crockery" ship References Sources Further reading Concrete barges of the United States Navy World War II naval ships of the United States Barge