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From: shindman@utcs.uucp (Paul Shindman)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: A naval presence in the arctic
Message-ID: <867@utcs.uucp>
Date: Fri, 13-Sep-85 14:40:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcs.867
Posted: Fri Sep 13 14:40:59 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Sep-85 15:16:56 EDT
References: <1386@utcsri.UUCP> <5952@utzoo.UUCP> <2168@mnetor.UUCP>
Reply-To: shindman@utcs.UUCP (Paul Shindman)
Organization: University of Toronto - General Purpose UNIX
Lines: 33
Summary: 


Has Canada ever spent $500 million on a boat before?  Until I see
some verrrrrrrrry convincing detailed info on this ice-breaker
I will remain opposed to the feds sinking 1/2 billion bucks into
this.

There is just no way that we need a white elephant to patrol the
north. It'll be invisible in the snow so nobody will notice our
so called presence anyway.  The technology for such a ship is
still not developed, and I can see $500 million expanding to fill
that never-ending deficit.

One of the minor reasons the LNG (liquid natural gas) deal with
the Japanese fell through was that the technology for transporting
cold things through cold water isn't really there. The technology
of big boats bashing ice in the arctic full is also not that
well established.  One of the main problems involves the fracture
mechanics of big lumps of steel with a hot engine room travelling
through -3C water and -40C air.  The LNG project would have gone
a long way to improving the technology, but Dome and the other
partners apparently did not have their act together.

Wow...$500 million for one ship to crack ice cubes. (I hope I got
this wrong...maybe it's 5 ships?) What about the special ports that
will probably be built for it to berth in, the support facilities it
will need, and I bet the cost doubles to $1 billion for a single boat.

Egads.
-- 
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Paul Shindman, U of T Computing Services, Toronto (416) 978-6878
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