Life aboard an aircraft carrier is adventurous, but also tough and very exhausting. When sailors misbehave they can be punished and even end up in jail where they must survive on only bread and water.
The concept of putting people who have been found guilty of very minor acts in solitary confinement and providing them with nothing but plain bread and water for several days at a time is more than a century old. History, prison, ship, punishment.
When sailors in the lowest three pay grades misbehave, ship commanders have the authority to place them in bread-and-water detention as a kind of nonjudicial punishment. It originates from a time when warships had hulls made of wood and sails.
This punishment is only given to those who have committed the most serious offenses.
Back in the 1800s, a sailor who committed a small offense would be required to climb the mast and remain in the bitter wind for a predetermined time. This may be rather unsettling and lonely for the sailor, but it was also known as the perfect time for a sailor to catch up on some reading. This punishment method was referred to as "mast-heading."
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