Why were the S boats called Sugar Boats?
 

Subject heading says it all. What's the history behind this nickname?

LukeFF,

It is because of the Phonetic Alphabet in use by the USN at the time. The Phonetic word for the letter S was Sugar, therefore Sugar boats. Sorry there is not a more romantic story about it, but most military nicknames are based in the mundane.

In case anyone is interested the old Phonetic Alphabet went like this:

A = Able B = Baker C = Charlie D = Dog E = Easy F = Fox G = George H = How I = Item
J = Jig K = King L = Love M = Mike N = Nancy O = Oboe P = Peter Q = Queen R = Roger
S = Sugar T = Tare U = Uniform V = Victor W = William X = X=ray Y = Yoke Z = Zebra

As opposed to the one currently in use today;

A = Alfa B = Bravo C = Charlie D = Delta E = Echo F = Foxtrot G = Golf H = Hotel I = India
J = Juliett K = Kilo L = Lima M = Mike N = November O = Oscar P = Papa Q = Quebec R= Romeo
S = Sierra T = Tango U = Uniform V = Victor W = Whiskey X = X-ray Y = Yankee Z = Zulu

So the only common ones are M (Mike), U (Uniform), V (Victor) and X (X-ray).

+charlie

Why did they change the phonetic alphabet?

@Iron Budokan
 

United Nations Axis

When a message recieved by radio was disterbed by interfierence in case of the first a whole word was un-understandable in opposite to the current one that also is usable when words are only partly recieved.

By the same token, Patrol Torpedo boats were commonly called Peter Tares.

I thought Peetee(or shorter;Pete)or from the French petite(small):p

Nope, no Pete, and no French. Pee Tee is from the initials themselves: PT boats.

ive been reading that S-type boats were actualy called pig-boats

Yes, pig boats for two reasons. Built with pig iron and of course...how the men/boat smelled after a patrol.

whats pig iron :-). The book i have it from sayis its because the boats were designed very uncompfortable and the men who worked on them were often dirty, looking and smelling like pigs :-)

The capacity of the Fresh Water Tank was not sufficient for a twelve to sixteen week patrol. Fresh water replacement was a daily duty for each watch (on 4 hrs - off 8). We had capability to make fresh water from seawater but it was more expedient from accumulated condensation gathered inside the boat. Submarines, sometimes called "pig boats" because being made of pig iron, were subject to considerable condensation due to temperature variation inside and out the ship. This was readily available for making fresh drinking water. After each war patrol, there would be a film of incrustation about a quarter of an inch thick all over the inside of the fresh water tank.



I believe pig iron is a mixture of metals that is not quite as strong as steel. It is also a certain percentage of each metal that makes up pig iron.

Has something to do with the carbon content of the iron. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_iron

No about the collection of condensation for drinking water... well thats just gross !