Wednesday, December 25, 2019

"Believe It or Not"



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”

1 comment:

  1. 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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