Posted on August 12, 2008 7:43 AM
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Boing Boing tv's retro-tech correspondent
Todd Lappin of
Telstar Logistics submerges us in WWII history on the
supersized submarine USS Pampanito.
This Balao-class ship was built in 1943, and today one of her younger volunteer caretakers schools us on all the gadgets, gizmos, and old-school technology that kept this baby cruising to Pearl Harbor and back.
Did you know that subs like this couldn't submerge for more than 24 hours back then, because they'd run out of battery life? Think of it like this, Gen-Y-ers, that's like when your iPhone 3G slides into "red" mode, because you've been twittering too much. Only with people inside. And big guns to shoot bad guys.
Pampanito trivia: she's named after this little fishie, prized as a seafood delicacy. Wait, a sushi ingredient? Doesn't sound like a great idea for a WWII military ship!
Shot for BBtv by Eddie Codel, during the Long Now Foundation's Mechanicrawl.
Previously on BBtv:
* Multi-millenial Mechanical clocks (Long Now Mechanicrawl pt. 1)
* WWII Boatpunk: Aboard the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, with Todd Lappin (pt. 2)
PS: extra-special thanks to Scott Beale of Laughing Squid for hooking BBtv up with Eddie Codel!
BBtv guest correspondent and
blog pal Todd Lappin of
Telstar Logistics takes us inside a steam-powered World War II "Liberty Ship," the
SS Jeremiah O'Brien.
We marvel (!) at the cool old retro-technology that kept this behemoth boat running to and from the beaches of Normandy, and we meet the volunteer caretakers -- obsessive nerds just like us, only with white hair! -- who keep her ship-shape today. Did you know that shipyards in the San Francisco Bay Area once churned out Liberty Ships like this in 4 days or less, during the heat of the war? Watch and learn, li'l skippers.
Todd has a rockin' photoset of images from the ship, too.
Shot for BBtv by Eddie Codel, during the Long Now Foundation's Mechanicrawl.
Previously: Multi-millenial Mechanical clocks - Long Now "Mechanicrawl" pt. 1
Boing Boing tv guest correspondent
Todd Lappin (R) and cameraninja
Eddie Codel (L) trek to the
Long Now Foundation's first-ever
Mechanicrawl event, and bring back tales of early analog computing, fantastic timepieces, and impossibly eccentric mechanical things.
First, Todd speaks with the Long Now Foundation's Alexander Rose about a 10,000-year mechanical clock dreamed up by supercomputer designer Danny Hillis.
Next, we listen to a prototype chime mechanism that will ring ten bells in a different sequence each day over the next 10,000 years. Brian Eno and Danny Hillis came up with the algorithm, and a team of tinkerers crafted the contraption to tap out time on a series of Tibetan bowl gongs.
Todd has a photoset with snapshots from the Mechanicrawl adventures. See also this previous Laughing Squid post.
(Special thanks to Karen Marcelo for image shown in video still)
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