Q&A

Is it true that Pepsi once had a navy?

**LET’S GET DOWN TO FIZZNESS** Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sips Pepsi with Richard Nixon, 1959. The USSR would later do a major deal with the drinks giant

SHORT ANSWER

While it may not have been the most intimidating flotilla, Pepsi was an unusual naval power

LONG ANSWER

The fizzy drink giant Pepsi made a bizarre deal in 1990 that put them in possession of a navy, which must have given the folks at Coca-Cola some sleepless nights. Pepsi had been trading with the Soviet Union for years, sending huge shipments in return for vodka. But as the communist state neared collapse at the end of the 1980s, the Soviets turned to desperate measures to keep the beverage flowing and o ered naval ships instead.

Pepsi agreed a deal for three warships, 17 submarines and some oil tankers. In truth, the fleet was hardly seaworthy, and it was mostly sold o for scrap, but that didn’t stop Pepsi CEO Donald Kendall gloating to the US government: “We’re disarming the Soviet Union faster than you are.”

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