An ice cream barge was a vessel employed by the United States Navy (USN) in the Pacific theater of World War II to produce ice cream in large quantities to be provisioned to sailors and US Marines. The craft, a concrete barge acquired from the US Army and worth one million dollars,[1][2] was able to create 10 US gallons (38 L) of ice cream every seven minutes, or approximately 500 US gal (1,900 L) per shift, and could store 2,000 US gal (7,600 L).[3][4] It was employed in the USN's Western Pacific area of operations, at one point anchored at Naval Base Ulithi.[5] These ships were intended to raise the morale of US troops overseas by producing ice cream at a fast rate. The army built three concrete barges of their own, specifically for making ice cream.[6]