Glare Report 10/6: The Bergship; more re: research reading

[pegkerr]

Work tonight was more research reading, in Ice Palaces. Ran across a fascinating tidbit, where the authors were explaining that much of what is known about construction using ice and snow is as a result of research by the military. Apparently in 1942 a chap named Geoffrey Pyke, an Englishman, submitted a proposal to the Allied forces that giant aircraft carriers constructed out of icebergs.

The plan was appealing for a number of reasons: larger carriers would allow the use of faster and better-armed planesp massive air support would be needed if Japan was to be invaded; even an artificial iceberg would be cheaper than metal or wood, which were in short supply; and an airbase of ice never could be sunk. Winston Churchill gave research on the "Bergship" the highest priority.

Ice was systematically and intensively studied for the first time. Navel engineers decided that natural icebergs were too small; they envisioned a huge floating beam of manufactured ice, 2,000 feet long. (Two thousand feet was the minimum length of runway required for bombers at that time). Artificial refrigeration would keep the ice at a constant low temperature.

The main problem the engineers discovered was that ice was unreliable as a structural material--particularly when bombarded by explosives! The average ice beam was strong enough to use, but individual beams sometimes ruptured under relatively low stresses. The scientists solved this problem by reinforcing the ice with wood pulp. Ice frozen from water mixed with a small amount of wood pulp is stronger and much less erratic than ordinary ice.

As the design progressed, the engineers puzzled over other questions. What could they use for the giant rudder? Could the hollow interior of the Bergship be compartmentalized? Where could they build a plant large enough to turn out millions of tons of reinforced ice? They probably could have solved these problems eventually, but new developments made the whole project obsolete: the range of aircraft increased so much that it became possible to cover most of the Atlantic from existing land bases, and the Americans captured enough islands in the Pacific to support the eventual invasion of Japan. Early in 1944, the Bergship was abandoned.

From Ice Palaces by Fred Anderes and Ann Agranoff.

What if the idea hadn't been abandoned, though? Or wouldn't it be a cool idea for a short story set on an alien world?

I do not have time to write it, however. Still: way cool idea.

I should finish up Ice Palaces tomorrow, I expect, and then will move on to two other books I have on the history of the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Am intrigued by accounts of ice mazes, which were sometimes incorporated into the courtyards of ice palaces. Perhaps I could use that idea.

Research reading is a great sop to my conscience. I can feel virtuous, that I'm doing something to move the book forward--but it doesn't feel like real work, the way that sweating out words over the keyboard does. Instead, if feels like a guilty indulgence. I'm certainly enjoying Ice Palaces very much. It's a good sign that I actually like the research I'm doing for this book.

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

By the time this book is published I will actually have chewed through the inside of my cheek. Watching your process is fascinating (not to mention helpful to me in my work) and I cannot wait to read the finished novel. Go you!

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

The ice maze sounds wonderful -- what a great addition that could make! :)

No doubt (why do I always hear Alan Rickman echoing that?) you have seen information about the ice hotels built every year in Canada, the US and Sweden. If you want more details on construction and working with ice, these places might be worth contacting. (The Swedish one has a DVD and some books, although the price is in Kroner.)

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I think that the ice aircraft carrier was built during WW II. It was a secret sunk-works project by Allied wizards, and it was critical in turning the tide of the war. (I'll need to do some more research to tell you specific Atlantic battles, but my guess is that the ice ships were able to find German U-boats very efficiently.) Like many WW II projects, all information about the ships was systematically destroyed after the war.

You do also know that giant ice monoliths were built alongside the stone ones in England and France?

Ice magic is very old. Most people don't notice it, but that doesn't mean it's not around.

B

HMS Habbakuk

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

A testbed version was built during WW2; it is now a dive site near Jasper, Alberta, Canada.

http://www.blowinbubbles.com/scubjasp.htm#patricia

Some further sites:
http://www.engineering.ualberta.ca/uofaengineer/article.cfm?article=22746&issue=22530
http://www.mbconf.ca/historian/03-09/feature-2.en.html
http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/collections_research_info_biblio.htm
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/periodicals/warship/ [issue 18]

Hope that helps.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Tempted, so tempted, to steal this idea and use it in a short story...

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead. I don't plan to write it.

Note the information that volkhvoi offered here.