The Rare Torpedo & and the Bottle-Nosed Dolphins

[3113]

This heart-warming story has it all: brave and clever dolphins, navel history, antique weaponry, a mystery....okay, maybe it's not all that, but I liked it!

In the ocean off Coronado, a Navy team has discovered a relic worthy of display in a military museum: a torpedo of the kind deployed in the late 19th century, considered a technological marvel in its day.

But don't look for the primary discoverers to get a promotion or an invitation to meet the admirals at the Pentagon — although they might get an extra fish for dinner or maybe a pat on the snout.

The so-called Howell torpedo was discovered by bottlenose dolphins being trained by the Navy to find undersea objects, including mines, that not even billion-dollar technology can detect.

The torpedo:

 

[Handley_Page]

'Eh up, Dolphin, have an extra fish.'
That was a damn good find.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I know some militaria collectors who would give their left arm for that. They'd keep their right one so they could stroke and fondle the torpedo. Damn, but machinery was pretty back in the XIX Century. Hmmm . . . I wonder if I could work that thing into the Copulist Capers universe. It certainly looks steam-punkly enough.

 

[Handley_Page]

I know some militaria collectors who would give their left arm for that. They'd keep their right one so they could stroke and fondle the torpedo. Damn, but machinery was pretty back in the XIX Century. Hmmm . . . I wonder if I could work that thing into the Copulist Capers universe. It certainly looks steam-punkly enough.

Think there might be one in Horner Springs Uni ?

And it IS in the right time period.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

I know some militaria collectors who would give their left arm for that. They'd keep their right one so they could stroke and fondle the torpedo. Damn, but machinery was pretty back in the XIX Century. Hmmm . . . I wonder if I could work that thing into the Copulist Capers universe. It certainly looks steam-punkly enough.

Here is a link for Air-Independent Propulsion which was tried on some submarines in the 40s and into the 50s. The British and the Soviets both had AIP torpedoes. The original idea for AIP was developed in the mid 1800s I think.

Sound like something you could play with. I think I remember reading about torpedoes that used liquid O2 as part of the propulsion system, but I am old and my memory could be faulty.

Mike

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Think there might be one in Horner Springs Uni ?

And it IS in the right time period.

No, not Horner Springs. That universe is contemporary, not to mention a long way from the sea. I was thinking more along the lines of the series that begins here.

 

[Weird Harold]

No, not Horner Springs. That universe is contemporary, not to mention a long way from the sea. [/URL].

A long way from the Sea, yes, but not nearly as far from the US Navy underwater demolition school in northern Nevada. (at the southern end of Walker lake, near the US Army ammunition depot at Hawthorne.)

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I don't know about the Navy operation there but the Army ammunition depot in Hawthorne is closed. I've driven by it enough to know. Basically, that closure was Hawthorne's death knell. It's just taking its time dying.

 

[slyc_willie]

I know some militaria collectors who would give their left arm for that. They'd keep their right one so they could stroke and fondle the torpedo. Damn, but machinery was pretty back in the XIX Century. Hmmm . . . I wonder if I could work that thing into the Copulist Capers universe. It certainly looks steam-punkly enough.

I'd say that torpedo definitely has a steampunkish look to it. Makes me wonder what kind of late 19th-century madman would deploy it, and what sort of nefarious payload he could have placed aboard.

 

[JackLuis]

Now that's a torpedo! Love the brass.

 

[Handley_Page]

Now that's a torpedo! Love the brass.

Perhaps it's the photo, but I thought it was Bronze.

 

[Weird Harold]

I don't know about the Navy operation there but the Army ammunition depot in Hawthorne is closed. I've driven by it enough to know. Basically, that closure was Hawthorne's death knell. It's just taking its time dying.

There's still something going on up there; Seven marines were killed a month or two ago during a training exercise.

 

[MatthewVett]

It's good to see some dolphins who aren't sociopaths. Very cool piece of discovered hardware, too.

 

[Handley_Page]

No, not Horner Springs. That universe is contemporary, not to mention a long way from the sea. I was thinking more along the lines of the series that begins here.

Don't Futter teach techies as well as, erm, human stuff?
They should have a museum.
(Didn't the crews use Horner soap as a lubricant ?)

 

[oggbashan]

The Japanese Long Lance torpedo was the world beater in WW2 but was nearly as dangerous to the Japanese as to their enemies.

The Royal Navy had some failed experiments during the 1930s with alternative power sources, and fuzes for both UK and US torpedoes during WW2 were often faulty.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Don't Futter teach techies as well as, erm, human stuff?
They should have a museum.
(Didn't the crews use Horner soap as a lubricant ?)

Hmmm . . . Well Futter U. is located in the Rocky Mountain west and is somewhere within a long day's drive from Northern Nevada. There might be some recently declassified documentation regarding the Institute's activities during WWII . . .

And think how well they'd get along with a bunch of sailors!