Recently, we posted about two possible water worlds orbiting around Kepler-62. While just slightly drier than these potential distant water worlds, so far, our planet is the only one we know of with a stable ocean. This is not to say that our solar system is not soggy. It appears that our solar system is veritably awash in water. Here are six planets or moons, other than the Earth, which scientists believe have liquid water or entire oceans.
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It is a brisk Christmas morning on the west bank of the Hudson River and I will admit that I wouldn’t mind being a warmer climate right now. So, in the spirit of the holidays, here is a compilation video from Epic Surf of all the Surfing Santas any of us will ever possibly need.
We have posted about lobster pot Christmas trees before, but this one is rather different. On Canada’s Cape Sable Island the lobster pot tree is decorated with pot buoys with the names of fishermen. Some are still going out to sea, but many of the buoys are in remembrance of fishermen lost at sea, family members who have crossed the bar and will never return to port.
In the end of September, the U.S. Navy announced that it would be eliminating the rating system that they had used for the past 241 years in the ranks of enlisted sailors. The old system, which used 91 ratings, would be abolished. A Fire Controlman 1st Class and a Machinist’s Mate First Class would both be referred to simply as Petty Officers 1st Class. While the admirals may have thought that this was a good idea, no one else apparently did. Earlier this week, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said essentially, “Nevermind. We’ll stick with the old system for now,” or words to that effect. Specifically, the NAVADMIN message, said, in part:
Since we made the initial rating modernization announcement in September, the SECNAV, MCPON and I, along with other Navy leadership, have had the opportunity to speak with thousands of Sailors during our travels throughout the fleet. The feedback from current and former Sailors has been consistent that there is wide support for the flexibility that the plan offers, but the removal of rating titles detracted from accomplishing our major goals. Furthermore, there has been a solid body of thoughtful input that pointed out that there is a way to have the benefits of the rating modernization program without removing rating titles. Continue reading
In honor of the holiday season, a repost from 2012.
We recently learned that good Saint Nicholas, long associated with Christmas and gift-giving, is also the patron saint of ships and sailors. The St. Nicholas Center notes: “Many ports, most notably in Greece, have icons of Nicholas, surrounded by ex-votos of small ships made of silver or carved of wood. Sailors returning safely from sea, place these in gratitude to St. Nicholas for protection received. In some places sailors, instead of wishing one another luck, say, “May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.”
Icy images on the first day of winter — the St. Joseph inner and outer lighthouses sit on a pier at the entrance to the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan. The two lights were built in 1906 and 1907 and were decommissioned in 2005. The outer light is famous for the coating of ice it acquires in winter storms. Here is a drone video of the two lights. Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the video along.
The seas are growing increasingly cluttered. In addition to all the other hazards of the sea, floating objects are a serious threat to sailors. So far, of the original 29 competitors in the Vendee Globe singlehanded around the world race, 5 have been forced to retire after being damaged by collisions with UFOs, unidentified floating objects. Another boat, Hugo Boss, sailed by Alex Thomson, lost a foil daggerboard to a UFO, but has managed to keep sailing, and is now still in second place. Three other Vendee Globe racers have retired for reasons not related to collisions — two due to dis-masting and the other from damage to a foil in heavy weather.
A rundown of the collisions with UFOs:
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The great news is that the first US offshore wind farm is now online. Five 6 MW wind turbines installed by Deepwater Wind have begun commercial operation off Block Island, RI. The turbines should generate enough electricity for 17,000 homes. It is an important first step toward developing clean and efficient wind energy off the shores of the United States. Compared to other industrialized regions, however, it is only a baby step. As of the middle of 2016, European offshore wind farms in the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the Baltic had 3,334 grid connected wind turbines with a capacity of 11,538 MW. Projects totaling another 21.7 GW have already been approved.
While the US has been very slow to get started in offshore wind energy, the potential is huge. The U.S. Department of the Interior has awarded 11 commercial leases for offshore wind development that could support a total of 14.6 gigawatts of capacity. The Department of Energy estimates that if a [potential] 86 GW of offshore wind … were installed by 2050, offshore wind would make up 14% of the projected demand for new electricity generation in the coastal and Great Lakes states. That is roughly enough electricity to power 31 million homes.
So, yes, Deepwater Wind’s 30 MW project is a great start, but we are a long way from where we need to be.
(From left) Eric Margetts, Bobby Lawson, John Moffat, Buster May and Glen Evans
We recently posted about the death of John “Jock” Moffatt, at 97, the Scottish pilot credited with disabling the German battleship Bismarck with a torpedo fired from his Fairey Swordfish biplane in May 1941. In the post, we included a photo of the pilots in the Swordfish squadron that attacked the ship.
Three blog readers, Seymour Hamilton, Captain D. Peter Boucher, and Philip Brankin, commented on one important detail that I missed entirely. In the photo, the pilots of the Swordfish squadron all wore the uniform of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, a corps of civilian volunteers who served alongside Royal Navy and Royal Navy Reserve personnel. The wavy stripes on RNVR officers’ sleeves differentiated them from RN/RNR officers, and gave the group the nickname, the “Wavy Navy.”
What is so remarkable is that volunteer pilots flying obsolete biplanes succeeded in crippling the mightiest battleship in the German Kriegsmarine, after it had defeated the best that the Royal Navy could put against her.
As we posted yesterday, a Chinese naval vessel seized one of USNS Bowditch’s drone gliders. Today there are news reports that the Chinese are giving it back. Unfortunately, in the interim, several news outlets either misinterpreted what transpired, or, at the very least, led with headlines which could be easily misunderstood.
The BBC headline reads China ‘seizes US vessel’ in S China Sea directly above a photograph of the Bowditch. If you ignore the quotes in the headline, or even if you don’t, one might assume that the Bowditch was the vessel seized. Based solely on the headline and the photo it appeared to be a replay of the the USS Pueblo capture of 1968. Reading further into the article, it became clear that it was something quite different.
In one of the stranger escalations of tensions between the US and the Chinese, a Chinese naval vessel seized one of USNS Bowditch drone gliders. USNS Bowditch is an oceanographic survey vessel which operates with a mix of civilian and military crew members. The Chinese ship, a Dalang-III class submarine rescue vessel, put a small boat in the water which intercepted the drone and took it back to the Chinese ship, which then left the area. The incident took place about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay, in international waters in the South China Sea. The US has issued a formal protest and demanded the return of the glider.
The drone glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle, (AUV), typically around 6 feet long, which uses changes in buoyancy and trim to propel itself through the water. Press reports have described the drone as either a Slocum glider or a Seaglider, which are variants on the same glider type. These sorts of drones are widely used by oceanographic institutions and commercial operations. See also our post from 2013, Underwater Gliders Gather Data to Help Predict Hurricanes.
In the last day or two, there have been numerous press reports of a 19 meter (62.3 ft) wave, recorded by an automated buoy in the North Atlantic between Iceland and the UK off the Outer Hebrides. This is a new record for a wave recorded by a buoy.
What does this really mean? Rogue waves are often larger than 19 meters. The first scientifically reported rogue, the Draupner wave, which struck a drilling platform of the same name on New Year’s Day in 1995, was recorded to be 25.6 metres (84 ft) high. So why is a 19 meter wave such a big deal?
(From left) Eric Margetts, Bobby Lawson, John Moffat, Buster May and Glan Evans
On May 27, 1941, the German battleship Bismarck had just sunk the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood. As she was close to escaping into safe waters, Bismarck was attacked by a swarm of obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplanes launched from the carrier HMS Ark Royal. Lt-Cdr John “Jock” Moffat, one of the Swordfish pilots, died recently at the age of 97. Lt Cdr Moffat was credited with launching the torpedo that crippled the Bismarck in 1941.
As reported by the BBC: Mr Moffat and his crew took off in his Swordfish L9726 from the deck of Ark Royal and headed for the Bismarck, fighting against driving rain, low cloud and a gale.
Naval chiefs said he flew in at 50ft, nearly skimming the surface of the waves, in a hail of bullets and shells, to get the best possible angle of attack on the ship. At 21:05 he dropped the torpedo which hit its target, jamming the rudder of Hitler’s flagship. Speaking to BBC Scotland earlier this year, he said: “The Bismarck turned on its side and all these sailors seemed to be in the water – it lived with me for a long time.” The battleship was forced to steam in circles until the guns of the Royal Navy’s home fleet arrived the next morning. Continue reading
Back in 2012, we posted about Australian billionaire Clive Palmer’s grand plans to build a sorta-replica of RMS Titanic. The Titanic II, as it was to be known, was supposed to be built in a Chinese shipyard enter with a target date to service by the end of 2016. So far, however, no steel has been cut and the status of the project is unclear.
There is, nevertheless, a replica of the Titanic under construction in China. Construction began on November 30th in Suining, Sichuan province, China, 745 miles from the sea. The full-sized replica will be a fixed attraction, rather than ship, as a part of Star Energy Investment Group’s plans for a tourist resort along the Qijiang River in Sichuan’s Daying County. The Daily Mail reports that the replica plans sparked controversy when it was announced the design would include a simulation of the iceberg crash that sank the original ship in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912. Some 1,500 people died in the disaster. Nevertheless, the replica itself should be very close to unsinkable.
I am not sure when this actually takes place, but it seems like an appropriate video for a grey cold and rainy Monday. Here is the P&O Cruises Oriana departing Southampton’s City Cruise Terminal for a refit. As per the Rules of the Road, the captain gives one long blast of the ship’s horn to alert other vessels of the ship’s departure. Unfortunately, it is a considerably longer blast than anticipated. The horn gets stuck and blasts away for over 20 minutes. Here is a seven minute excerpt. Thanks to Alaric Bond for passing the video along.