Good news for sailors: The Navy just ended its punishment of bread and water, dating back to the 19th Century, on January 1. Under the punishment, sailors could be confined to the brig and fed only bread and water for a period of time; it was considered a more humane treatment than flogging.
Congress outlawed flogging on U.S. ships in 1862, but Navy captains could impose the bread-and-water punishment for up to 30 days at a time, and sailors could be shackled in the brig. In 1909, that period was reduced to seven days and shackles were banned; by 1951 it was reduced to three days, and sailors could get all the bread and water they wanted, three times a day.
The punishment was not used on many ships, but Captain Adam M Aycock, the commander of the USS Shiloh, used it so often in 2015 and 2016 for offences that included curfew violations and underage drinking that the ship became known as the USS Bread and Water.
A Defense Department review board recommended that the Navy drop the practice as part of an update of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, effective January 1. “People used to joke about putting guys on bread and water,” Capt. Scott Tait, who has commanded several destroyers, told The New York Times, “but I was well into my career before I realized I was actually allowed to do that.” The policy, he said, “just seems anachronistic and stupid.” Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/25/us/navy-bread-water-punishment-penalty.html
