OT - Battleship Trivia Question

To help fight the growing size and power of the Japanese Naval fleet, there was a man in Canada that was attempting to create a ship so massive in size that it would dwarf the Jap ships, and be nearly indestructible as well. However, it was not made of steel. Does anyone know what it was made of?

I'm just throwing this out there as a
guess and have no fact. I would guess
titanium. It's light and very strong.

Plastic?

Carbo fiber?

*carbon fiber

Ice

(quoted from post at 09:02:25 04/07/17) To help fight the growing size and power of the Japanese Naval fleet, there was a man in Canada that was attempting to create a ship so massive in size that it would dwarf the Jap ships, and be nearly indestructible as well. However, it was not made of steel. Does anyone know what it was made of?

Click to expand...

Big Jt is correct. It was to be made of ICE with sawdust added if I remember correctly.

I recently saw a documentary on that.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5985335/wins...-with-massive-aircraft-carriers-made-from-ice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swUI5502KAY

Good question

It was partially completed and lasted several years before it melted.. Good
concept;if ice could take out the Titanic, why not warships? Us Canadians are pretty
handy with materials that are on hand....after all, Red Green is one of us. Ben

As most have said: ice but also mixed with sawdust I believe.

I thought it was a massive carrier.

Big T was close enough. The actual answer is.....drum roll please.....

Saw this on Discovery channel years ago - was a fascinating show! Anyway, this is the first paragraph taken from Wikipedia:

Pykrete is a frozen composite material, originally made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp (such as paper) and 86 percent ice by weight (6 to 1 by weight). During World War II, Geoffrey Pyke proposed it as a candidate material for a supersized aircraft carrier for the British Royal Navy. Pykrete features unusual properties, including a relatively slow melting rate due to its low thermal conductivity, as well as a vastly improved strength and toughness compared to ice. These physical properties can make the material comparable to concrete, as long as the material is kept frozen.

Pykrete is slightly more difficult to form than concrete, as it expands during the freezing process. However, it can be repaired and maintained using seawater as a raw material. The mixture can be moulded into any shape and frozen, and it will be tough and durable, as long as it is kept at or below freezing temperature. Resistance to gradual creep or sagging is improved by lowering the temperature further, to ?15 °C (5 °F)

Click to expand...

Big T was close enough. The actual answer is.....drum roll please.....

Saw this on Discovery channel years ago - was a fascinating show! Anyway, this is the first couple paragraphs taken from Wikipedia:

[i:e6a5635e9e][b:e6a5635e9e]Pykrete is a frozen composite material, originally made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp (such as paper) and 86 percent ice by weight (6 to 1 by weight). During World War II, Geoffrey Pyke proposed it as a candidate material for a supersized aircraft carrier for the British Royal Navy. Pykrete features unusual properties, including a relatively slow melting rate due to its low thermal conductivity, as well as a vastly improved strength and toughness compared to ice. These physical properties can make the material comparable to concrete, as long as the material is kept frozen.

Pykrete is slightly more difficult to form than concrete, as it expands during the freezing process. However, it can be repaired and maintained using seawater as a raw material. The mixture can be moulded into any shape and frozen, and it will be tough and durable, as long as it is kept at or below freezing temperature. Resistance to gradual creep or sagging is improved by lowering the temperature further, to ?15 °C (5 °F)[/b:e6a5635e9e][/i:e6a5635e9e][/b][/quote]

Big T was close enough. The actual answer is.....drum roll please.....

Saw this on Discovery channel years ago - was a fascinating show! Anyway, this is the first couple paragraphs taken from Wikipedia:

[b:6650885431][i:6650885431]Pykrete is a frozen composite material, originally made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp (such as paper) and 86 percent ice by weight (6 to 1 by weight). During World War II, Geoffrey Pyke proposed it as a candidate material for a supersized aircraft carrier for the British Royal Navy. Pykrete features unusual properties, including a relatively slow melting rate due to its low thermal conductivity, as well as a vastly improved strength and toughness compared to ice. These physical properties can make the material comparable to concrete, as long as the material is kept frozen.

Pykrete is slightly more difficult to form than concrete, as it expands during the freezing process. However, it can be repaired and maintained using seawater as a raw material. The mixture can be moulded into any shape and frozen, and it will be tough and durable, as long as it is kept at or below freezing temperature. Resistance to gradual creep or sagging is improved by lowering the temperature further, to ?15 °C (5 °F)[/i:6650885431][/b:6650885431]

Big T was close enough. The actual answer is.....drum roll please.....

Saw this on Discovery channel years ago - was a fascinating show! Anyway, this is the first couple paragraphs taken from Wikipedia:

[i:c4a9efe383]Pykrete is a frozen composite material, originally made of approximately 14 percent sawdust or some other form of wood pulp (such as paper) and 86 percent ice by weight (6 to 1 by weight). During World War II, Geoffrey Pyke proposed it as a candidate material for a supersized aircraft carrier for the British Royal Navy. Pykrete features unusual properties, including a relatively slow melting rate due to its low thermal conductivity, as well as a vastly improved strength and toughness compared to ice. These physical properties can make the material comparable to concrete, as long as the material is kept frozen.

Pykrete is slightly more difficult to form than concrete, as it expands during the freezing process. However, it can be repaired and maintained using seawater as a raw material. The mixture can be moulded into any shape and frozen, and it will be tough and durable, as long as it is kept at or below freezing temperature. Resistance to gradual creep or sagging is improved by lowering the temperature further, to ?15 °C (5 °F)[/i:c4a9efe383]

Strange - kept telling me there was an error and wouldn't post.

Project Habakkuk .

RMS Molson

If it was made of the clear plastic packaging like used today it would be A-bomb proof. TDF

Perhaps they should have named it the [i:bc265ca3c5]Molly Brown[/i:bc265ca3c5].

Seems my main PC got some malware on it earlier. ARG! So now on the little laptop. DOUBLE ARG!!

Yes, the name of the ship (or project) was dubbed Habakkuk. I still think Pyke was onto something, as pykrete can take enormous repeated impacts and still remain afloat.

I think it was in that same Discovery show that they showed just how tough pykrete was; how well it could absorb and distribute shockload energies. I was thinking that the test ship stayed afloat well into that Summer of the build, but looking it up just now, found that it finally sank after "3" Summers floating on a Quebec lake.

Ah, HATE typing on this stupid keyboard! Other PC should be ready for use again in a couple hours.....I hope!

Yes peykrete. Sawdust and water. Almost impervious. They built a
model that was one tenth size or something. Took several years to
finally melt after the contract fell through. Try mixing some up. You
will break your dumb hammer. This carrier was planned for somewhere in
the morning 6000 foot long size. Bombers could have used it going
across the ocean.
Ice carrier.

Opps....2000 feet. Sorry for the typo.

I liked 6,000 feet better. Imagine the surprise of the Japanese if seeing something THAT big! *LOL*

Pretty sure we're done with the cold enough weather, but next year... I'll mix up some and grab a BFH.

A ship from here to Don's house?! Neat!!! : )

nuthin surprises me about britz with their off the wall ideas..

There is a lot of info on that project online plus several documentaries that you can find on youtube. IIRC the guy who came up with idea was laughed at and it was only under the orders of Churchill that the project got under way. I also seem to remember that they has some type of cooling system that was designed to make it last longer. The concept was not meant for operations in the Pacific but rather to close the gap in the center of the Atlantic that where there was no air coverage for the convoys. The development of the "Jeep" carrier and availability of long range aircraft due to US production made the idea of the "ice carrier" unneeded before development was complete. The Allied soldiers, sailors and airmen fought the war but it was won on the factory floor. As an example, on Dec 7, 1941 the US Navy had 7 fleet carriers and 1 "Jeep" carrier. We built about 160 carriers of all type in the next 3 years and 9 months. The US Navy finished the war with 99 carries of all types in commission. The men who fought the war used the tools provided them well but without those tools they could have done nothing.

The production figures are astounding! They US Military went from a very small force to having about 16 MILLION who had served by wars end. Those men and women had to have boots, uniforms, helmets, mess kits, rifles and pistols plus arms and ammunition to do the job they did. Without those things they were just so many people. With them they fought a MAJOR 2 fronted war against 2 well equipped battle hardened countries. Those men and women who served did an astounding job. In the Pacific/China/South East Asia the Japanese had not suffered a defeat at all and in 7 months from Dec 7 1941 their expansion in the Pacific was stopped and they suffered a major defeat at Midway. By the end of 10 months they went on the defensive when the Marines went ashore on Guadalcanal. The US Army invaded North Africa 11 months after the US entered the war. The determination, courage and sacrifice made by US and allied service personnel was tremendous! But they couldn't have done without US factory production who gave them the tools.

Rick