Fun Fact #58 Project Habakkuk and Fun Fact #59 Pykrete
Daily Fact #58
Project Habakkuk
WW2 is known for many attempts at super Weapons. Some of these were successful like The Bismarck, or the Atom Bomb, while others were. . . considerably less so. It is in this latter category we find ourselves today with Britain's attempt at the world’s first Super Aircraft carrier.
The year was 1942 and Brittan was in bad shape, it needed to be able to launch their aircraft to detect and warn convoys of Germans so the needed supplies could get through. Eventually they'd also help retake Europe from the Nazis. Their grand plan was actually pretty chill as they planned to make ships from the ice found in northern Canada. While these ships were cool, only one was ever constructed as a prototype and never saw use as by the time they had finished their research in 1944 planes had already developed the range needed to cross the Atlantic.
Fun Fact #59
Pykrete
The real life Habakkuk was made from a mixture of water and 20-30% wood pulp making it into material called Pykrete. This could be worked like wood, cast like metal, near bulletproof by hand-held arms and was self-insulating which greatly expanded the lifespan of ice. Impressively the Habakkuk prototype managed to last three years without internal cooling before it sank. The main problem this material had was it was heavy, creating slow moving ships that were better suited to mobile platforms and bases than being an actual warship. Go figure using ice to make a ship makes a ship shaped Iceberg, but hey if the full sized thing was made today it would still be the largest ship ever made while being cheaper than a Zumwalt class destroyer.
STEM PROJECT FOR KIDS:
What's really cool is if you have any kids at home there is a STEM project you can do to create your own mini ship (ice bowl) like this. This does not make Pykrete but rather something very similar with one key difference, it's a terrible insulator and thus it wont take anywhere near as long as actual pykrete. The supplies are as follows:
A bowl (That can survive freezing)
10-20 sheets of Paper (depends on thickness of the hull)
A ball that can fill most of the inside space of the bowl
2 wax or plastic sheets (this is to provide a barrier between the pseudo-Pykrete and the bowl and ball. You can use plastic sandwich bags in place here -- just know there's a good chance whatever you use as the barrier may adhere to the pykrete!)
String or 2-3 rubber bands
Place a plastic sheet in the bowl, then wet the paper before placing it in the bowl. Make sure you conform the paper to the side walls for a smoother hull.
Place a plastic sheet around the ball tying it up at the top (this may have to be cut if the ice freezes to the bag but it will save the ball) and press down in the bowl for a few seconds then tie the ball down by wrapping the string around the bowl and the ball this will create the internal void and keep the water from seeping down as it freezes.
Add a little more water to the bowl and then chill in the freezer for a few hours
When done, carefully untie the string and take out the ball. The ship should come out fairly easily after this. This process can be done with any shape container provided it has sloped walls (gets tricky with straight edges which is why I suggest against it, but it can be done).
Enjoy your miniature Habakkuk for the next couple of hours! Or let them try to destroy their new ship (wear safety glasses you kill joy safety nerds! :-).
Have fun and as always I hope you have a super Saturday!
