Canadian Navy Bans Booze

Canada's navy is cracking down hard on drunken sailors with a near-total ban on alcohol when ships are at sea. Sailors used to be permitted to drink at sea as long as it was more than six hours until they were on duty, but now drinking will be permitted only when the ship is tied up or on special occasions like Christmas, the CBC reports. The Royal Canadian Navy also plans to hike the price of booze in ship bars and eliminate beer vending machines on warships, the BBC reports.

"This is about a growing concern over a period of a couple of years where we had growing indicators of misconduct across the navy," says the navy's commander, who ordered a Canadian warship to abandon an exercise in San Diego this year after three sailors were accused of sexual misconduct, shoplifting, and drunkenness. "Unfortunately alcohol does contribute to misconduct and has done in the past," he says. "And we just want to try and regulate that as best we can going forward." (More Canada stories.)