During World War II, the British general Mountbatten’s transport fleet was severely besieged and blocked by German submarines. The British people relying on maritime supplies became very difficult to live, and the daily necessities in London could only last for one month. It is still convenient to use aircraft to deal with submarines at sea, but the vast sea area is vast. How can an aircraft take off and land easily without an aircraft carrier? General Mountbatten thought that Parker had proposed the idea of using ice cubes as an aircraft carrier, so he recommended this whimsical plan to British Prime Minister Churchill. Using the huge ice cubes made in the Arctic as aircraft carriers, this scheme sounds a little whimsical. But the plan proposed by General Mountbatten caught the attention of British Prime Minister Churchill and US President Roosevelt during World War II.
At that time, two American scientists discovered that ice made by mixing cotton and fiber into fresh water had high mechanical properties and strength, comparable to concrete. Using such special ice as an aircraft carrier can effectively resist attacks. In order to verify this fact, General Mountbatten shot a pistol in front of everyone at a strategic meeting and fired at ordinary ice cubes and special ice cubes with cotton fibers. Ordinary ice cubes were smashed immediately, and the special ice cubes with cotton fibers were not damaged, and the bullets were bounced back, almost hurting the thigh of a US admiral. In addition, the aircraft carrier made of ice has another excellent feature that is incomparable to other materials. That is, if the ice carrier is hit during the battle, then the water is injected into the damaged area, and the aircraft carrier is restored as soon as it is frozen with the ice-making equipment. Already. The possession of such an unsinkable ice carrier was, for the British at the time, equivalent to mastering the weapon of war victory. So with the promotion of General Mountbatten, Britain and the United States continued to invest in the research and development of the ice aircraft carrier.
A year later, a British expert team built a test model of an ice carrier in Lake Patricia, Canada. This is a 20-meter-long ice boat model with wooden boards on the outside and asphalt on the inside. The hull has duct-like ventilation holes and refrigeration equipment. Surprisingly, this ice carrier model did not melt after a hot summer. The success of the test model greatly enhanced General Mountbatten’s confidence in building the ice carrier. He ordered experts and engineers to work overtime and work day and night, and made design drawings in three months. The designed ice carrier is named “Habakkuk”. It is a 600-meter-long, 150-meter-wide, 110-meter-high behemoth, weighs about 2 million tons, and has 26 propeller propulsion devices. The ice carrier theoretically designed a refrigeration system to ensure that the ice layer did not melt. After being attacked, it only needs to be filled with water to repair the damaged function, and it can resist 30 meters high waves. The runway on the aircraft carrier is suitable for takeoff and landing of heavy bombers. The thickness of the deck is 12 meters. No weapon can penetrate such a thick deck. If the aircraft carrier is successfully constructed, it will be the largest aircraft carrier in the world.
General Mountbatten began to build this ice carrier with confidence. With the implementation of the project, it was gradually discovered that although there was no problem with each single design, there were many loopholes when integrating the parts together, especially the heat dissipation problem of large power units As soon as the engine is started, the ice around the engine begins to melt a lot, and the refrigeration system cannot curb the speed of ice melting. Due to the limited technical level at that time, many problems could not be solved. A year later, the ice carrier’s plan was eventually stopped.
Innovation is not easy. You must invest a lot of time, energy and money to test it before you can know whether this idea can be successful. Innovation may not be successful, but all efforts are valuable. No matter it is technology or innovative ideas, they can be used for reference and developed by future generations.