Unlike the wholly invented luxury stories, this allegation began with a real request. Officers from a British battleship being overhauled in an American navy yard asked for whiskey and travel cases that their own service customarily supplied. Because the United States Navy did not issue those items to its personnel, the Navy Department rejected the request. The example shows how one documented requisition could be stripped of its refusal and recast as proof that Lend-Lease funded luxuries.
Notable Point · 42:23-42:45
A rejected battleship request supplies a rumor's kernel of truth
Royal Navy officers did request whiskey and travel cases during an American refit, but the United States Navy refused to provide them.