Supertankers in the French Alps

August 6, 2006 10:29 PM

Port Revel sits at the foot of the French Alps near Grenoble, France. Since 1967 [PDF], its landlocked harbor has been the place to go if you want to learn how to sail a fleet [PDF] of the world's largest ships.
posted by cenoxo (6 comments total)

oooh, I'm going orgasmic on that scale model video. Something about seeing the r/c boats at Great America when I was a kid (but too po' to pay the $$$ to play with them) and a long-time interest in the Dai-Nihon Kantai makes me just salivate over shots of ships in motion.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 11:02 PM on August 6, 2006

I wonder how frequently someone sneaks their R/C submarine in, to raid all that unescorted merchant shipping...
posted by dansdata at 11:29 PM on August 6, 2006

...I'd prefer an RC Nautilus sub, but it looks like Port Revel already has it covered. Page 7 of their history PDF shows a scale French nuclear sub being tested in 1982. The missile hatches look like they're open, too.
posted by cenoxo at 12:14 AM on August 7, 2006

Thanks for cenoxo. Good post.
posted by Prince Nez at 4:29 AM on August 7, 2006

dansdata, I'm picturing a to-scale Echo or an Oscar flinging tiny SSMs from way over at the other end of the lake...and little R/C Nimrods and Orions flying about knee-high off the water trying to localize and prosecute...

I wonder if anybody has ever tried to sign up for the school to learn how to navigate because they secretly wanted to hijack a ULCC and crash it into a terminal or otherwise ruin a harbor with it?
posted by pax digita at 6:32 AM on August 7, 2006

interesting post, thanks.
posted by the cuban at 2:22 PM on August 7, 2006