It sounds
like one for Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, but it’s true. In late 1942, British,
Canadian and U. S. Navy ship designers collaborated to build an “aircraft
carrier” made of ice cubes to combat the German submarine threat in the North
Atlantic. The ice was to be kept solid by refrigeration machinery installed in
the ship’s hull and was to be made from a combination of water and wood pulp
called “pykrete.” The chief advantage of an icy ship was a predicted ability to
withstand torpedo attack-it being estimated that a “tin fish” exploding against
its frozen hull would dig only a three-foot crater. Although the full-sized
carrier was never built, a prototype named Habbakuk was constructed in Canada.
The model was 60 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. In December 1943,
however, the plan was put on ice (so to speak) because the U-boat threat was
considerably less than at the plan’s conception. Unlike the wooden guns you
mentioned though, our sources indicate that Habbakuk would have been functional
in antisubmarine warfare.
-ED.
“All
Hands, December, 76”
If I remember right, this was a brainchild of a British scientist who had Churchill’s ear He had a number of hair brain schemes which were beyond Britain’s ability to execute but not beyond America. So he was foisted on us and some poor soul was assigned the job as his minder. The goal to keep him and by proxy Churchill happy without causing too much harm. There is half a chapter on him in the book There is a war to win.
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