Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 3, 2022 11:35:12 GMT
On the theme of defence, Project Habbakuk. This never actually got off the ground, but it was given serious consideration. During World War two, the Atlantic convoys were given air support, but the aircraft used didn't have the range to protect them all the way, there was a gap in mid Atlantic where the ships were on their own, there weren't enough aircraft carriers either to sail with them so the U boats used to wait in the gap before attacking.
The idea was to build a mile long aircraft carrier out of an iceberg! The actual material suggested was Pykrete, which was a mixture of ice and wood chipping, the shop would have to have refrigerator equipment to stop it melting and the idea was to save steel.
However, it still needed quite a bit of steel as reinforcement, and with the size of it, it was found that it would still need nearly as much as a normal shop so the fact idea was dropped.
A few years ago Channel 5 did a documentary on it and made a small boat out of Pykrete and tried to sail it across the Solent to the Isle of Wight, but it sank after only a short time
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jun 3, 2022 11:57:44 GMT
All government projects are useless in this country.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 3, 2022 22:49:39 GMT
Still with ships, the Novgorod. This was a Russian circular ship, built in the 1870s and yes, it was completely round, and as a result couldn't be steered, it ended up just going round in circles.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Jun 4, 2022 8:01:46 GMT
and as a result couldn't be steered, it ended up just going round in circles. ..........a bit like most government projects.
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