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April 15, 2007 7:16 PM Subscribe
Dutch Submarines has mystery pictures of submarines and/or their doings with some great answers. For example, there is the story of the use of submarines as seaplane carriers yes, really.
Do any ladies wanna join me for some "submarine races"? Wink wink nudge nudge.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:39 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by ZachsMind at 7:39 PM on April 15, 2007
Thank you b1tr0t. Is there anything wikipedia doesn't know? Funnily enough UbuRoivas, there's a story about that – "The infamous 'disaster night' took place that winter, during which a strong northwesterly storm, accompanied by a spring tide, resulted in the flooding of a large part of the Netherlands. The sensational press in America, however, managed to blow this up into an image which gave the impression that nearly all of the Netherlands was under water. The crew of normally laconic Dutchmen nearly panicked and wanted to go home en masse."
posted by tellurian at 7:58 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by tellurian at 7:58 PM on April 15, 2007
I had no idea that 'submarine races' could mean 'making out'. I must be too old or too young.
posted by stavrogin at 8:02 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by stavrogin at 8:02 PM on April 15, 2007
"Is there anything wikipedia doesn't know?"
Yes: "Why?"
posted by bicyclefish at 8:05 PM on April 15, 2007
Yes: "Why?"
posted by bicyclefish at 8:05 PM on April 15, 2007
The Japs had a plan to bomb the Panama Canal just prior to the end of WWII. However, the bombing raids on Japan, such as the raids on Tokyo, called the aircraft carrying subs back from the Atlantic prematurely. Damn Interesting has the story. God, how I love that site.
posted by caddis at 8:10 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by caddis at 8:10 PM on April 15, 2007
Seaplane-carrying submarines? Holy fucking crap. I repeat: Holy fucking crap. This beats frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads by frickin' miles.
Of course, in the near future* there will be a secret fleet of these protecting us from the UFOs.
*1980, to be exact.
To change the topic slightly, it just me or does "Dutch Submarine" sound like some kind of semi-licit sexual practice?
posted by Opposite George at 8:53 PM on April 15, 2007
Of course, in the near future* there will be a secret fleet of these protecting us from the UFOs.
*1980, to be exact.
To change the topic slightly, it just me or does "Dutch Submarine" sound like some kind of semi-licit sexual practice?
posted by Opposite George at 8:53 PM on April 15, 2007
I've seen the last of the folding Japanese submarine attack planes at the Smithsonian both before and after its restoration. It's a fantastic idea... which never actually worked in the real world.
posted by LeLiLo at 8:56 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by LeLiLo at 8:56 PM on April 15, 2007
Seaplane-carrying submarines? Holy fucking crap. I repeat: Holy fucking crap. This beats frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads by frickin' miles.
I dunno - I reckon the laser-enabled sharks would give the seaplane-sub a run for its money.
The only feasible way I can imagine the sub taking out the sharks would be to depth-charge them from the plane, but if they keep their laser-feeding-frenzy attack at close quarters to the sub, the seaplane would end up depth-charging the sub, whereupon it would have no "home-base" to return to, and would have to land on the water eventually, allowing the sharks to laser its floats & then eat the crew.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:01 PM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
I dunno - I reckon the laser-enabled sharks would give the seaplane-sub a run for its money.
The only feasible way I can imagine the sub taking out the sharks would be to depth-charge them from the plane, but if they keep their laser-feeding-frenzy attack at close quarters to the sub, the seaplane would end up depth-charging the sub, whereupon it would have no "home-base" to return to, and would have to land on the water eventually, allowing the sharks to laser its floats & then eat the crew.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:01 PM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
Planes crashing for lack of a home base reminds me of some fairly doomed moments from my RTS experience, UbuRoivas. But I must take issue with your hypotheticals. You're assuming the fluid the planes are built for is air. But what if they were made for the sea? Can't no shark hold a candle to a freaking underwater fighter jet.
posted by Firas at 9:13 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by Firas at 9:13 PM on April 15, 2007
Isn't that just a submarine under a different name? If so, that underwater fighter jet would best be laser-equipped, and perhaps designed like this one.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:33 PM on April 15, 2007
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:33 PM on April 15, 2007
Guys, you're getting distracted. Stay on target.
The obvious (and by obvious, I mean a five-year-old could come up with this) counter to underwater fighter jets is to equip the sharks to fight a battle of the skies. Prototypes in action.
Sky+water sharks beat water-only fighters any day.
Does anybody bother to think before they click "Post Comment" any more? I mean, really.
posted by Opposite George at 9:37 PM on April 15, 2007
The obvious (and by obvious, I mean a five-year-old could come up with this) counter to underwater fighter jets is to equip the sharks to fight a battle of the skies. Prototypes in action.
Sky+water sharks beat water-only fighters any day.
Does anybody bother to think before they click "Post Comment" any more? I mean, really.
posted by Opposite George at 9:37 PM on April 15, 2007
Tellurian: "Is there anything wikipedia doesn't know?"
BicycleFish: Yes. "Why?"
Actually, they took a crack at it. A for effort and all that. I like the bit at the bottom: "See also 'Meaning of life'."
posted by ZachsMind at 9:41 PM on April 15, 2007
BicycleFish: Yes. "Why?"
Actually, they took a crack at it. A for effort and all that. I like the bit at the bottom: "See also 'Meaning of life'."
posted by ZachsMind at 9:41 PM on April 15, 2007
Opposite George, OMG!
"Nice fishy… come on, nice—aaaaargh!"
posted by Firas at 9:44 PM on April 15, 2007
"Nice fishy… come on, nice—aaaaargh!"
posted by Firas at 9:44 PM on April 15, 2007
Yeah, the inverted one had me changing my shorts. Poor seals.
How cute! They're playing!
posted by Opposite George at 9:53 PM on April 15, 2007
How cute! They're playing!
posted by Opposite George at 9:53 PM on April 15, 2007
I never would have thought that the Dutch would have submarines
The Dutch can even take credit for a significant development in submarine technology, the schnorkel, the idea for which the Germans copied during WWII and found handy as Allied air cover made it increasingly difficult for U-boats to operate on the surface.
posted by good in a vacuum at 9:57 PM on April 15, 2007
The Dutch can even take credit for a significant development in submarine technology, the schnorkel, the idea for which the Germans copied during WWII and found handy as Allied air cover made it increasingly difficult for U-boats to operate on the surface.
posted by good in a vacuum at 9:57 PM on April 15, 2007
My father, as a child, saw a Japanese plane come ashore in Walnut Creek, California, which is north of San Francisco by, um, 50 or so miles I think. Apparently, it was a single saboteur who was supposed to blow up a refinery in the area.
He went to the local telephone (they had only one in the whole area) and called it in. I'm not sure whether or not he was the only one who did. They caught the guy, and my father was given a commendation, and was told not to tell anyone. They sealed it or something -- I don't know what they did with secret awards in those days -- and it was never mentioned again. The government apparently didn't want to send California into hysterics. Given what I know of the people of that era, it wouldn't have caused any harm, but they seem to have thought otherwise.
He got an article written up about 20 years ago in the Sebastopol Times, but he said that the writer didn't get the details right, just the very broad outline. And, sadly, he passed away in the early 90s, so I can't ask him now.
The fact that it was a single plane makes me think it must have been based from one of those submersible carriers; strikes me that a 'real' carrier would have sent more than one.
It's also possible that this happened at the same time as the incendiary bombs that other Japanese plane dropped on the redwoods. Might even be the very same plane, for all I know. There weren't any redwoods around Walnut Creek when I was a kid, but in the 40s, maybe there was?
Sorry I don't know any more details than that, I found it interesting, but I wasn't old enough yet to understand that it was important to get it all written down properly for posterity.
posted by Malor at 10:00 PM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
He went to the local telephone (they had only one in the whole area) and called it in. I'm not sure whether or not he was the only one who did. They caught the guy, and my father was given a commendation, and was told not to tell anyone. They sealed it or something -- I don't know what they did with secret awards in those days -- and it was never mentioned again. The government apparently didn't want to send California into hysterics. Given what I know of the people of that era, it wouldn't have caused any harm, but they seem to have thought otherwise.
He got an article written up about 20 years ago in the Sebastopol Times, but he said that the writer didn't get the details right, just the very broad outline. And, sadly, he passed away in the early 90s, so I can't ask him now.
The fact that it was a single plane makes me think it must have been based from one of those submersible carriers; strikes me that a 'real' carrier would have sent more than one.
It's also possible that this happened at the same time as the incendiary bombs that other Japanese plane dropped on the redwoods. Might even be the very same plane, for all I know. There weren't any redwoods around Walnut Creek when I was a kid, but in the 40s, maybe there was?
Sorry I don't know any more details than that, I found it interesting, but I wasn't old enough yet to understand that it was important to get it all written down properly for posterity.
posted by Malor at 10:00 PM on April 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
a 'real' carrier would have sent more than one
Fleet carriers required refueling to get across the Pacific, which required a fleet train of oilers, accompanying destroyers, and cruisers & battleships to refuel the destroyers etc etc, essentially the mobile striking force the Japanese called the Kido Butai (Mobile Force).
The Kido Butai was after bigger fish in 1942 than some isolated refinery. Well it was, until it got sunk 180mi NW of Midway that June.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 11:34 PM on April 15, 2007
Fleet carriers required refueling to get across the Pacific, which required a fleet train of oilers, accompanying destroyers, and cruisers & battleships to refuel the destroyers etc etc, essentially the mobile striking force the Japanese called the Kido Butai (Mobile Force).
The Kido Butai was after bigger fish in 1942 than some isolated refinery. Well it was, until it got sunk 180mi NW of Midway that June.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 11:34 PM on April 15, 2007
I never would have thought that the Dutch would have submarines, until I realised that they'd need some way of defending their country if somebody pulled off a dambusters-type raid on the dikes.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:36 PM on April 15
oh, pulease, people...the Dutch and the seven seas?
OK,
"(t)he first recorded landing by Europeans on Australian soil was made by a Dutch party in the boat Duyfken (Little Dove) led by William Jansz on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in March 1606.".
So they may not have been "(t)he the first Europeans to occupy Indonesia, the Portuguese and British had been here before them, but with little effect". And what about New York ? Brooklyn ? The Medway?
It's only because Holland was a seafaring nation that they achieved their Golden Age (over the backs of others, of course) and, in my view, indirectly, the country's current prosperity but that, of course, is all by the by.
posted by ponystyle at 4:29 AM on April 16, 2007
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:36 PM on April 15
oh, pulease, people...the Dutch and the seven seas?
OK,
"(t)he first recorded landing by Europeans on Australian soil was made by a Dutch party in the boat Duyfken (Little Dove) led by William Jansz on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula in March 1606.".
So they may not have been "(t)he the first Europeans to occupy Indonesia, the Portuguese and British had been here before them, but with little effect". And what about New York ? Brooklyn ? The Medway?
It's only because Holland was a seafaring nation that they achieved their Golden Age (over the backs of others, of course) and, in my view, indirectly, the country's current prosperity but that, of course, is all by the by.
posted by ponystyle at 4:29 AM on April 16, 2007
I'll have to hunt for a link to a story about the time a floatplane off a Japanese I-boat bombed Oregon. Kind of a non-event, but a mildly interesting anecdote in the annals of naval strike warfare: the mainland US did indeed get bombed by another country's naval air during World War Two.
posted by pax digita at 6:22 AM on April 16, 2007
posted by pax digita at 6:22 AM on April 16, 2007
And here I was thinking that a "Dutch Submarine" was a euphemism for something kinda nasty.
posted by psmealey at 7:28 AM on April 16, 2007
posted by psmealey at 7:28 AM on April 16, 2007
Well, hell, that was the easiest part of my day so far...
posted by pax digita at 7:48 AM on April 16, 2007
posted by pax digita at 7:48 AM on April 16, 2007
My grandfather was actually just telling me this story, about how he spotted one of the submarine aircraft carriers off of Hawaii, when he was on the Pennsylvania(?) I'll see if I can get him to log on here and tell it.
posted by duende at 4:02 PM on April 16, 2007
posted by duende at 4:02 PM on April 16, 2007
Great links and stories. I had no idea about all this before today. Thanks all.
posted by tellurian at 4:27 PM on April 16, 2007
posted by tellurian at 4:27 PM on April 16, 2007
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posted by UbuRoivas at 7:36 PM on April 15, 2007