Old Underwater Diving Suits
World War II spawned even stranger ideas in military submarine technology. Here is the legendary I-400...
Japanese Sub Plane Launcher:
First Russian ballistic missiles nuclear submarines were called Hotel-class:
Giant Futuristic Submarines
Frank Herbert, the highly-praised author of "Dune" and also of the top-notch submarine thriller "Under Pressure" (see our review) would have loved this one
A Submarine-Land Dreadnaught (1924)
Eight hundred feet high...longer than the perspective itself can reveal.
Luckily this did not go beyond the painting on the cover of Hugo Gernsback's groundbreaking "Science & Invention" magazine. But Hayao Miyazaki probably had a similar dream / nightmare, bringing a few steam Goliaths to the big screen. Even today this picture has the power to intimidate. Just lose the antenna and upgrade the house to some nice Californian suburb.
Earliest dive boats
World War II sub curiosities
We will start with rarely-seen and interestingly-shaped Nazi U-Boats. Yes, one of them looks like a shoe, but who cared about that as long as its specs were great?
We will start with rarely-seen and interestingly-shaped Nazi U-Boats. Yes, one of them looks like a shoe, but who cared about that as long as its specs were great?
Japanese Sub Plane Launcher:
These were the giant submarine aircraft carriers, complete with a launching catapult and three planes, plus a good number
of torpedoes. It had enough fuel to go around the world 1.5 times... and it was the biggest underwater boat ever made (before the advent of nuclear submarines).
Russian Subs Lurking in Deep Waters
Huge, dark, bloated shapes were swimming in the minds of Soviet sub boat designers during Stalin's era. Look at some of the concepts below; they seem to illustrate the very spirit of the times - a deadly menace lurking under the universal cover of secrecy. Truly, Stalin should've entered the submarine design business instead of killing millions. Maybe it would have been somewhat therapeutic to his dark soul.
of torpedoes. It had enough fuel to go around the world 1.5 times... and it was the biggest underwater boat ever made (before the advent of nuclear submarines).
Russian Subs Lurking in Deep Waters
Huge, dark, bloated shapes were swimming in the minds of Soviet sub boat designers during Stalin's era. Look at some of the concepts below; they seem to illustrate the very spirit of the times - a deadly menace lurking under the universal cover of secrecy. Truly, Stalin should've entered the submarine design business instead of killing millions. Maybe it would have been somewhat therapeutic to his dark soul.
Frank Herbert, the highly-praised author of "Dune" and also of the top-notch submarine thriller "Under Pressure" (see our review) would have loved this one
Eight hundred feet high...longer than the perspective itself can reveal.
Luckily this did not go beyond the painting on the cover of Hugo Gernsback's groundbreaking "Science & Invention" magazine. But Hayao Miyazaki probably had a similar dream / nightmare, bringing a few steam Goliaths to the big screen. Even today this picture has the power to intimidate. Just lose the antenna and upgrade the house to some nice Californian suburb.
