A friend and college of mine has been taunting me with this "Bacon Powered Vessel" in military's past. I have looked around online and have not been able to come across anything. He gave me a hint and told me to look up a gent by the name of Cooke. If anyone could help it would be most appreciated.
US Civil War, CSS Albemarle.
This partial preview of a Civil War tourism book says:
On May 5 [1864], Cooke and the Albemarle attacked the entire Union fleet blockading the mouth of the Roanoke River. He took on seven ships and drove them away, but his ironclad suffered some damage in the process. The smokestack was so riddled by shells that the engine could hardly get up the steam to limp back home. The ship's furniture and the cook's supply of bacon were thrown into the firebox to generate heat.