Project Habbakuk: Britain’s ice “bergship” aircraft carrier project (2017)

The outcome of this project is an illustration of a rule of thumb from materials science: many solid materials begin to lose their mechanical properties at about half their absolute melting point. This is why (for example) ordinary steel should not be used above about 550 C; there's too much creep.

Check out Hobart&#x27;s Funnies [0] and the great Panjandrum [1] for some other awesome WW2 British out-of-the-box thinking.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hobart%27s_Funnies" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hobart%27s_Funnies</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Panjandrum" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Panjandrum</a>

&gt; they called it Project Habbakuk, in reference to ... &quot;I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you.&quot;<p>This is a slightly more subtle way of calling it Project You Ain&#x27;t Gonna Believe This

It was either going to be ice or concrete <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;warfarehistorynetwork.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-concrete-fleet-of-wwii&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;warfarehistorynetwork.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;the-concrete-fleet...</a>

This is one of those “so cool yet so silly” brainstorms that I’m grateful someone was audacious enough to entertain. I’m both relieved and saddened that it never came to fruition.<p>There’s a word, chindogu, to describe things that are less than useless. In some sense this project engendered more problems than it solved. Like so many other attractive brainstorms.

Can&#x27;t get sunk by an iceberg if you are an iceberg. <i>taps side of head</i>

It&#x27;s probably worth the trouble to try making some DIY pykrete.<p>Take a chain saw to it. Take a sledgehammer to it.

This could be straight out of the Command and Conquer: Red Alert series. [1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Command_%26_Conquer:_Red_Alert</a>

Think most peoples gut reaction would be that it would melt.<p>But<p>&quot;it took three hot Canadian summers for the test vessel to completely melt.&quot;<p>Seems like in north sea, it would have worked and probably would have happened if it wasn&#x27;t for un-related changes like airfields and re-fulling planes.

That makes me wonder if that guy that was killed by his girlfriend while attempting a dumb stunt, using a encyclopedia as ballistic shield, would succeed if he had soaked the book in water and put it in the freezer overnight, beforehand: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;article-5878953&#x2F;Prosecutors-release-pictures-bullet-holed-book.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dailymail.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;article-5878953&#x2F;Prosecutors...</a>

If memory serves there was a plan to invade the Azores in WW2 which would have been immensely ironic.<p>After WW2 the US was gracefully handed over a few islands to serve as aircraft bases. The Chinese still lack such soft power so they have to make their own islands.

What if, instead of building a full carrier out of pykrete, you instead build very simple pykrete ships that follow around the outside of a carrier group to add a layer of protection from torpedoes and sea drones?

I believe they didn&#x27;t actually use pykrete in the Canadian test model. It was just ice.

This concept could be done today with newer materials such as mylar film and polystyrene to keep the sun at bay.<p>Although a YouTuber would be able to do it for internet likes, in reality, when the horse manure gets real, every aircraft carrier is a dead duck when the enemy has hypersonic missiles.