Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!faline!thumper!ulysses!att!cbnews!hogg@db.toronto.edu From: hogg@db.toronto.edu (John Hogg) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Military Procurement Follies (Canada style) Message-ID: <6195@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 3 May 89 03:12:45 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI Lines: 83 Approved: military@att.att.com From: John Hogg In article <6074@cbnews.ATT.COM> sun!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm writes: >Lest anyone think the U.S. government has a monopoly on stupidity, >consider this story about Canadian progress in warship technology >(quoted from PIECES OF THE ACTION by Vannevar Bush): > >"One of his [Geoffrey Nathaniel Pyke] proposals was for an ice island, >to be called "Habakkuk" to float in the Atlantic as a way station for >transatlantic planes and a home base for planes hunting submarines. >There were many wild ideas of this sort about, but this one took an >unusual course. [...] The plan was to involve a block of ice, >reinforced with wood splints or straw, 2000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and >200 feet thick. [...] The Canadians went ahead with the program. >The National Research Council at Ottawa took it on. [...] Much of >the effort of some of Canada's most able scientists and engineers was thus >used. The scheme was, of course, ultimately judged to be impractical. One >could build a good aircraft carrier for the cost of a Habakkuk and it would >not melt." > >Pyke's other great idea spawned Project Weasel, which resulted in the >development of what is now called the "snowmobile". [...] While Canadian stupidity at times ranks up there with the best (e.g., the implementation of the defence spending cuts announced in the recent Budget) I have to take issue with the previous posting for two reasons: 1) Habakkuk wasn't really Canadian, and 2) it was not an example of stupidity, merely a case of good technology superseded by advances in another area. With respect to point 1), Pyke was British. He seems to have been a classic eccentric genius; for instance, among his more successful inventions was the floating bridge known as ``Swiss Roll''. A much more sympathetic view of his life and contributions is given in ``Secret Weapons of WWII'', Bantam Books (author unknown); he probably deserves a better place in history. The reference to the NRC is interesting. I was unaware that any appreciable amount of work on Habakkuk had actually taken place in this country; this was merely the logical place to build ice islands, since we have inlets, wood pulp, and (for part of the year) an appropriate climate. It's a pity that we didn't do more work on this, since we could use the knowledge. On to point 2). First, the rationale for Habakkuk should be understood. It was never intended as a war*ship*. At the time, Atlantic convoys suffered from an absence of air cover in mid-ocean, due to inadequate aircraft range. To Pyke, the obvious answer was to build an island on which to place an airbase. He may have had this idea in mind for some time, since it was also envisaged as a refueling field for commercial transatlantic flight. Given that an island was needed, ice was an excellent choice of construction material. It is very cheap---Bush notwithstanding, a steel floating island will not form itself. Since the construction material is lighter than water, no amount of enemy action will sink it. Of course, ice is brittle, and could be blown into pieces. One of Pyke's contributions was to point out that ice strengthened with wood pulp became vastly stronger. (Mild steel rebar would also work, but apart from cost, it has the nasty property of melting the ice underneath it until it eventually falls out the bottom.) After attributes of cheap construction, graceful degradation, easy repair, and simple unsinkability are taken into account, the cost of cooling begins to look quite reasonable. What really did in Habakkuk was aeronautical engineering. By the time that it was recognized as a good solution to a sticky problem, the problem was on the way out. Better aircraft were able to provide air cover the whole way across the Atlantic, and the U-boat threat was decreasing in any case. So Habakkuk never had a chance to prove its worth. I'm surprised that this technology has never surfaced anywhere else, though. Wood pulp reinforcement should be useful for ice roads and bridges. At present, we're importing our leading edge ice bridge technology from the Soviet Union. Perhaps we could further develop pulp reinforcement, and sell some knowhow back to them? --- John Hogg hogg@csri.utoronto.ca Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto (whose ice driving experience is fairly limited.)