What do the Titanic, Superman, and the Bible have in Common?

Susan Langley

At the February 15 CCASM meeting Dr. Susan Langley talked about the WWII Project Habbakuk and also about her underwater investigations of the Project's large-scale model built in Canada.  When U-boats sat in the central Atlantic, known as Wolf-pack Alley during WWII, the toll they were taking on Allied shipping was becoming disastrous.  Project Habbakuk was one of the more interesting endeavors to address this.

So how does the title relate to the talk?  The Titanic was sunk by an iceberg, but it's not possible to sink an iceberg.  So why not build an aircraft carrier out of an iceberg to solve the U-boat problem?  Geoffrey Pyke (Superman) came up with a plan to build aircraft carriers out of ice (like an iceberg) including techniques for keeping the ice frozen.  Another of Pyke's ideas resulted in the  creation of the First Special Service Team.  Finally the Bible refers to the Project's reference to Habakkuk 1:5.

Susan covered the history related to the Project during WWII including Pyke's plans for the carrier, the making of the large scale model in Patricia Lake in Jasper National Park, and the creation of the First Special Service Team.  The iceberg carrier turned out not to be a feasible solution for the U-boat problem.  Years later Susan returned to do underwater investigations of the model that had been sunk, and she described what she found and what else she learned about the model.

Dr. Susan Langley is State Underwater Archaeologist at the Maryland Historical Trust

This was our second hybrid Zoom/in-person meeting.  We still need to work out a few kinks.  Thanks to Peggy for providing the hot spot and microphone and for monitoring the Zoom meeting.  And thanks to Jim for using his account to set up the Zoom meeting.

Catching up before the meeting

Attendance: 16 (including 1 via Zoom)