What is a USS bread & water punishment?

One modern-day U.S. skipper imposed the punishment so often for minor offenses that his ship earned the nickname “U.S.S. Bread and Water.” A modern version of this punishment might mean three days in the brig with nothing to eat but bread and water.

Is punishment by confinement with bread and water abolished?

You don’t have to go too far back in history to see examples of it literally being bread and water - the US Navy only abolished punishment by confinement with bread and water in 2019 (albeit it was limited to 3 days and very junior sailors, but still). I was in the Army; working with Navy was always so odd.

Did prisoners in the Bastille get bread and water?

Common people probably ALREADY drank mainly water and had little more than bread to eat. In the Bastille, the prisoners who were put on bread and water often had misbehaved (regular prisoners often got very good meals) or, for a while, were Protestants. But yes, they did get just bread and water.

Did prisoners of war receive bread and water treatment?

Screenshot from a story published in The New York Times on Aug. 17, 1882. The bread-and-water treatment has also been applied to prisoners of war. In early 1945, more than 2,000 German prisoners of war held at Camp Perry, Ohio, received that punishment when they essentially went on strike.