4 ms·

It's about 2 aircraft carriers long, so not totally impossible as far as size. 5kt speed would make me very nervous about running aground on a lee shore when t

It's about 2 aircraft carriers long, so not totally impossible as far as size. 5kt speed would make me very nervous about running aground on a lee shore when the gale picks up. Stick an A1B reactor in her belly and sign me up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1B_reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1B_reactor

consumer451 4y ago
> 5kt speed I usually try to be constructive regarding crazy ideas, but I have spent some time on the ocean and 5kts is a giant red flag for me. I would assume that it could maybe be workable if it stayed hundreds of km away from land/shallows unless accompanied by a flotilla of large tug boats. Also: "Pangeos will be perpetually itinerant around our planet Earth." Not sure how they could do that. It is larger than Panamax and Suezmax. The only other choice is going around the southern Capes and that is not something I can imagine doing in a ship limited to anything close to 5kts. The average wind speeds there are around 30kts. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Worldwide-average-wind-speed-map-created-based-on-wind-speed-measurements-at-the-height_fig3_311857024 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Worldwide-average-wind-s...
- _yb2s 4y ago
  Small sailboats with hull speeds near 5 knots regularly and safely circumnavigate the globe, and can weather storms, and navigate the southern capes. Without engineering details on why it’s limited to 5 knots there’s no reason to think that’s a red flag. 5 knots is a speed against current, and ocean currents are much much less than that. Perhaps (likely) it would be able to still do 5 knots upwind in a storm.
  - consumer451 4y ago
    >Small sailboats Yes, SAIL boats which can configure their sails to move in directions other than downwind.
    - jabl 4y ago
      Also, ships, particularly sailing ships/boats, have hull forms with significantly less drag in the direction they're trying to go, vs sideways. This things, shaped like a giant tortoise with those massive (presumably rigid ) flippers, not so much.
    - _yb2s 4y ago
      I don't understand your concern here. Sailboats can only sail ~45 degrees to the wind. This is a powerboat, so it can motor any direction, including directly upwind. Assuming the 5 knots is a hydrodynamic limitation of the (admittedly very silly) hull design rather than an engine power limitation (most likely, because you could always spec a more powerful motor), the boat could still go 5 knots any direction, including directly upwind into a storm. Just because a boat is slow doesn't mean it can't handle a storm, even more-so with powerboats than sailboats. Case in point, look at old fashioned displacement trollers, e.g. an old wooden salmon troller. These usually have an ~8 knot top speed yet can run directly upwind into a storm for days on end with no problem, at almost exactly the same speed as they would go downwind... because the speed limitation is entirely from the hull speed and not affected by wind. Boats like that have been weathering the worst ocean storms for over a hundred years safely and reliably.
      - jabl 4y ago
        Yes, but that displacement troller has a hull shaped like, well, a proper boat (or ship). I doubt the troller would be making significant forward speed against storm wind and seas if it was wider than it was long, like this abomination. It's like an upscaled version https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_monitor_Novgorod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_monitor_Novgorod except made for parting schmucks from their money instead of serving some military purpose. (Well, in it's defence it seems at least the submerged part of it has some resemblance to, well, a hull form. Or several hulls bolted together.)
        _yb2s 4y ago
        You're absolutely right, the skeuomorphic sea turtle shape is ridiculous, and this boat is a terrible idea. My disagreement here is only that a 5 knot top speed is not, by itself, a reason to dismiss a boat design without any other information.
preisschild 4y ago
Commercial SMRs might be more economic than a military reactor. Especially if you have tons of space like here.

consumer451 4y ago

> 5kt speed I usually try to be constructive regarding crazy ideas, but I have spent some time on the ocean and 5kts is a giant red flag for me. I would assume that it could maybe be workable if it stayed hundreds of km away from land/shallows unless accompanied by a flotilla of large tug boats. Also: "Pangeos will be perpetually itinerant around our planet Earth." Not sure how they could do that. It is larger than Panamax and Suezmax. The only other choice is going around the southern Capes and that is not something I can imagine doing in a ship limited to anything close to 5kts. The average wind speeds there are around 30kts. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Worldwide-average-wind-speed-map-created-based-on-wind-speed-measurements-at-the-height_fig3_311857024 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Worldwide-average-wind-s...

_yb2s 4y ago
Small sailboats with hull speeds near 5 knots regularly and safely circumnavigate the globe, and can weather storms, and navigate the southern capes. Without engineering details on why it’s limited to 5 knots there’s no reason to think that’s a red flag. 5 knots is a speed against current, and ocean currents are much much less than that. Perhaps (likely) it would be able to still do 5 knots upwind in a storm.
- consumer451 4y ago
  >Small sailboats Yes, SAIL boats which can configure their sails to move in directions other than downwind.
  - jabl 4y ago
    Also, ships, particularly sailing ships/boats, have hull forms with significantly less drag in the direction they're trying to go, vs sideways. This things, shaped like a giant tortoise with those massive (presumably rigid ) flippers, not so much.
  - _yb2s 4y ago
    I don't understand your concern here. Sailboats can only sail ~45 degrees to the wind. This is a powerboat, so it can motor any direction, including directly upwind. Assuming the 5 knots is a hydrodynamic limitation of the (admittedly very silly) hull design rather than an engine power limitation (most likely, because you could always spec a more powerful motor), the boat could still go 5 knots any direction, including directly upwind into a storm. Just because a boat is slow doesn't mean it can't handle a storm, even more-so with powerboats than sailboats. Case in point, look at old fashioned displacement trollers, e.g. an old wooden salmon troller. These usually have an ~8 knot top speed yet can run directly upwind into a storm for days on end with no problem, at almost exactly the same speed as they would go downwind... because the speed limitation is entirely from the hull speed and not affected by wind. Boats like that have been weathering the worst ocean storms for over a hundred years safely and reliably.
    - jabl 4y ago
      Yes, but that displacement troller has a hull shaped like, well, a proper boat (or ship). I doubt the troller would be making significant forward speed against storm wind and seas if it was wider than it was long, like this abomination. It's like an upscaled version https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_monitor_Novgorod https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_monitor_Novgorod except made for parting schmucks from their money instead of serving some military purpose. (Well, in it's defence it seems at least the submerged part of it has some resemblance to, well, a hull form. Or several hulls bolted together.)
      - _yb2s 4y ago
        You're absolutely right, the skeuomorphic sea turtle shape is ridiculous, and this boat is a terrible idea. My disagreement here is only that a 5 knot top speed is not, by itself, a reason to dismiss a boat design without any other information.

preisschild 4y ago

Commercial SMRs might be more economic than a military reactor. Especially if you have tons of space like here.