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Project Habbakuk: Britain’s ice “bergship” aircraft carrier project (2017)

In the early 1940s, German submarines (U-Boats) were wreaking havoc on Allied forces in the Atlantic Ocean, sinking ships, and threatening to turn the tide of the war. What the Allies of WWII needed was something literally too big to fail. And one inventor working for the British Combined Operations Headquarters (a department of the

Schematic diagram showing integration of cooling ducts into pykrete hullMolecular biologist Max Perutz helped perfect the mixture of ice and pulp, conducting experiments in secret under the Smithfield Meat Market in London (behind a screen of animal carcasses). Satisfied with Perutz’s results, Pyke brought his vision to Lord Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, who in turn took a sample block of pykrete directly to Prime Minister Churchill. Project Habakkuk underwater plaque via the Alberta Diving Council Still, the prototype proved its potential, even once-neglected: it took three hot Canadian summers for the test vessel to completely melt.

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