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Yes! I was thinking that as I read it. Alec Baldwin even says magneto hydrodynamic drive. Yet another example of Tom Clancy’s incredible knowledge of the intri

by atonse 3y ago

Yes! I was thinking that as I read it. Alec Baldwin even says magneto hydrodynamic drive. Yet another example of Tom Clancy’s incredible knowledge of the intricacies of what the military had on their radar and working that into great stories.

jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
Magneto Hydrodynamic Drives have been a publicly researched concept since the 60s. Magnetic pumps are used routinely in industry. You're definitely exaggerating how visionary Clancy was.
- breckenedge 3y ago
  He did write about using an airliner as a missile years before it happened.
- atonse 3y ago
  I'm not talking about him coming up with the ideas. But him weaving it as a thing the US Navy had been concerned about the Soviets building – I am saying it's very likely that the US Navy's concern about these drives being used in subs wasn't made up, and maybe some related conversations he had with contacts/sources, that turned out to be one of many seeds that made for a compelling story.
ckozlowski 3y ago
I recently re-read The Hunt For Red October, and what struck me was that there actually wasn't and mention of Magneto-hydrodynamic drive. As I recalled, the book describes a series of propellers in a duct. Certainly interesting for isolating sound, but it struck me as much more simplistic from the superconducting systems described in the movie. No shade intended towards Mr. Clancy however. I got the impression that he was quite lauded for not simply describing tech (which other thriller writers did as well) but getting into the nuts and bolts of how they operated. That was what really set him apart.
- eesmith 3y ago
  Here's one discussion in the book, clearly describing impellers in a tunnel. https://archive.org/details/huntforredoctobe0000clan_l6h7/page/56/mode/2up?q=tunnel https://archive.org/details/huntforredoctobe0000clan_l6h7/pa... For example, it says the US "looked at this back in the early sixties and got to the model stage before dropping it. One of the things they discovered is that one impeller doesn’t work as well as several. Some sort of back pressure thing." Wikipedia says, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October : > The movie is a nearly faithful depiction of the novel even though there are many deviations, including Red October traveling up the Penobscot River in Maine to dry dock, the omission of the Royal Navy task force including Ryan's time aboard HMS Invincible, and the "caterpillar drive" being described as a magnetohydrodynamic drive system, essentially, "a jet engine for the water", rather than a drive powered by a series of mechanical impellers inside flow tunnels.

by atonse 3y ago

jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago

Magneto Hydrodynamic Drives have been a publicly researched concept since the 60s. Magnetic pumps are used routinely in industry. You're definitely exaggerating how visionary Clancy was.

breckenedge 3y ago
He did write about using an airliner as a missile years before it happened.
atonse 3y ago
I'm not talking about him coming up with the ideas. But him weaving it as a thing the US Navy had been concerned about the Soviets building – I am saying it's very likely that the US Navy's concern about these drives being used in subs wasn't made up, and maybe some related conversations he had with contacts/sources, that turned out to be one of many seeds that made for a compelling story.

ckozlowski 3y ago

I recently re-read The Hunt For Red October, and what struck me was that there actually wasn't and mention of Magneto-hydrodynamic drive. As I recalled, the book describes a series of propellers in a duct. Certainly interesting for isolating sound, but it struck me as much more simplistic from the superconducting systems described in the movie. No shade intended towards Mr. Clancy however. I got the impression that he was quite lauded for not simply describing tech (which other thriller writers did as well) but getting into the nuts and bolts of how they operated. That was what really set him apart.

eesmith 3y ago
Here's one discussion in the book, clearly describing impellers in a tunnel. https://archive.org/details/huntforredoctobe0000clan_l6h7/page/56/mode/2up?q=tunnel https://archive.org/details/huntforredoctobe0000clan_l6h7/pa... For example, it says the US "looked at this back in the early sixties and got to the model stage before dropping it. One of the things they discovered is that one impeller doesn’t work as well as several. Some sort of back pressure thing." Wikipedia says, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_for_Red_October : > The movie is a nearly faithful depiction of the novel even though there are many deviations, including Red October traveling up the Penobscot River in Maine to dry dock, the omission of the Royal Navy task force including Ryan's time aboard HMS Invincible, and the "caterpillar drive" being described as a magnetohydrodynamic drive system, essentially, "a jet engine for the water", rather than a drive powered by a series of mechanical impellers inside flow tunnels.