The Off Topic Topic

[Jacob]

Thank you for that, grumbler

[The Brain]

So Turkey is building a 5th generation fighter, and it apparently had its first flight recently.

Anyone up on those news?

What they flew was a prototype of the KAAN,

The what?

[Jacob]

One thing about the KAAN is that the headlines write themselves in case of any kind of failures...

[HVC]

So Turkey is building a 5th generation fighter, and it apparently had its first flight recently.

Anyone up on those news?

What they flew was a prototype of the KAAN,

The what?

[The Brain]

 

[Josquius]

The royal navy  tried to launch a trident missile. It failed and nearly hit the submarine launching it.
It's the first time they tried testing a missile since another failure some years ago.
Interesting story I thought. Wonder what's wrong.

[Barrister]

The royal navy  tried to launch a trident missile. It failed and nearly hit the submarine launching it.
It's the first time they tried testing a missile since another failure some years ago.
Interesting story I thought. Wonder what's wrong.

That's more than a bit embarrassing, isn't it?  Trident is the UK's only nuclear-launch capability.

[Sheilbh]

That's more than a bit embarrassing, isn't it?  Trident is the UK's only nuclear-launch capability.

Apparently we're blaming damp. Which seems like a design flaw for a submarine...

Edit: The Sun broke the story with this fantastic detail

A source said: "It left the submarine but it just went plop, right next to them."

[Tamas]

  damp? That's one of those things that must blind-side you when you are designing submarine technology.

Only positive I find in that story is a hope that Russian missiles in their silos are in a similar state of maintenance.

[Barrister]

damp? That's one of those things that must blind-side you when you are designing submarine technology.

Only positive I find in that story is a hope that Russian missiles in their silos are in a similar state of maintenance.

So, the Russians have been launching a LOT of missiles recently - not sure if you've noticed. 

The good news is they've been found to be very easy to track, and anti-missile technology has been pretty effective.  Bad news is some still get through - and continental US / Europe do not have the extensive anti-missile tech that Ukraine now has.

That being said I'm pretty sure Russian nuclear subs are complete shit.

[grumbler]

Ran across this fascinating little story of early 19C tax evasion that could have worked, but for the greed and short-sightedness of the company trying it.

The scheme involved a Quebec lumber merchant building a disposable cargo ship that would be dismantled after its first voyage (carrying more wood) so that it evaded the UK's import duty on wood.  The ship would carry 6300 tons of wood (a fantastically large amount for the time period) and would itself add another 3700 tons to the delivery. It was built using flat sides and a flat bottom, with squared-off bilges and a square stern,  Only the (blunt) bow contained curved timers, straight timbers being much more valuable.  This was the MV Columbus.

When it sailed in 1824 it was, at 301 feet, the largest ship to sail across the Atlantic ship.  Because of its unhandy build, it leaked badly in any kind of seas, but it made the first voyage safely.  The scheme worked because the ship was worth more in the UK as lumber than it had cost to build her in Canada. The owner then ordered a sister ship, the Baron of Renfrew.  But he got greedy and decided to send the Columbus back to Nova Scotia for a second load of timber (the ship could carry 30 times as much as the typical timber-carrier, so was much more economical).  The ship's captain for the first voyage strongly recommended against this and refused to captain her back because she was so leaky.

And the former captain's wisdom was proven when the ship opened up in heavy seas sailing back to Canada and was lost (though the crew all survived).

Not being one to learn from his mistakes, the Canadian owner then sent the Baron of Renfrew off in 1825 with another huge load of timber.  She made it to Europe in three pieces, having broken up 650 miles into her voyage.  The loss of the two ships and the second load of timber bankrupted the owner, one Captain Wood.

I'm always amused by clever people who have a good idea, and then ruin it through greed.

Maybe this story belongs in the Elon Musk thread! 

[Jacob]

Captain Wood... that's almost beyond beleaf. He should've branched out.

[Barrister]

Captain Wood... that's almost beyond beleaf. He should've branched out.

[grumbler]

Captain Wood... that's almost beyond beleaf. He should've branched out.

His roots were in Quebec, so we wasn't leafing there.  His plan just went a smidge too fir.

[Grey Fox]

Caliss.