Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "HMS Habakkuk - Guide 113 (NB)" video.
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@alganhar1 There's a difference between the material (pykrete) being a feasible solution and Habakkuk being a feasible ship. The amount of spruce pulp required for the ship would have seriously disrupted Canadian paper supplies and required at least a thousand additional lumberjacks and other trades to produce. manpower the Canadians couldn't spare from other war production. Dissipating the heat generated by the steam plant required to operate the turbogenerators for the 26 power modules mounted in external nacelles along the sides of the hull was never solved. The mounting and operation of the 100 foot tall rudder was never solved. Internal volume for berthing and messing facilities for the estimated 8,000-11,000 crew and air personnel was never sufficient. Armoring and reinforcing the flight deck alone would have required as much steel as three escort carriers. There was never a workable to plan to power pumps required to evacuate the inevitable leakage that would result in such a large vessel. The problem of creep causing deformation of the hull was turning out to be more serious than originally thought, and the amount of steel and insulation needed was going to be about 30% more than original estimates.
Even if Habakkuk was built and launched, the problem of a vessel this large only able to travel at six knots and being incapable of manueving in more than wide, easy turns would have presented an irresistible target to German aircraft and submarines. Even with such a thick hull and deck, any holes large enough to admit even a relatively small amount of water would have affected list of the vessel. There was no way to provide workable watertight compartments so enough torpedo and bomb attacks would e=n=inevitable hole the ship. The vessel was already somewhat unstable, and admitting more water to the hull would have exacerbated the problem. HA control of the 20 4.5" twin turrets was also not worked out since the guns would be mounted up to 2,000 feet apart and directors at the time couldn't handle that many guns that distance from each other. No accurate studies had been done on the effects of human heat and the heat generated by the vast amounts of vacuum tubes needed for the ship's electronics had ever been done. Since Habakkuk would have been far too large for any existing harbor, supply logistics had never been worked out, but were expected to be severe. All of these issues are just some of the problems never worked out since the plan was abandoned before the need arose.
The Habakkuk and Pyke himself have become the Nikola Tesla of the shipbuilding world. Somehow, pykrete was going to be this miracle material that would have solved many of the world's problems, and it was stopped by evil governments and corporations. No objective study of the ship or the material would show that to be true. Pyke and Perutz, both fellow communists, were able to gain Mountbatten's ear though the efforts of yet another communist, JD Bernal. It was Mountbatten's almost shooting Admiral King in the leg during his impromptu demonstration of pykrete that started the whole project in motion. Without this network of communists and communist sympathizers, Habakkuk would never even have had a name.
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