The first and the last campaign

The story of the Titanic know everything. Here are a few examples of the first and last voyage.
The aircraft carrier Shinano



The ship "Shinano" could be one of four types of super-battleships "Yamato". The carrier began to convert it after the Battle of Midway, in which the Imperial Fleet lost just four of their strongest carrier.
According to the program of the Fourth Fleet Replenishment - "Shinano" was laid on May 4, 1940 (case number 110) is the 3rd of 4 battleships of the Yamato, in the Naval Shipyard Yokosuka (near Tokyo). The name of the ship received the title in the center of the prefecture. Honshu; also known as the longest river in Japan.
In December 1941, after about 50% of the work, construction was halted. Only the summer of 1942 it was decided to finish building it already as avianosets.Mnogoe change was impossible, constructive book was part of the power structure of the body - it was only halved. The initial draft provided for the deployment of 18 aircraft, but in the final managed to place 42 of the aircraft.
Construction was carried out at an accelerated pace, and October 5, 1944 "Shinano" was ready to be launched. However, during the descent into the dry dock caisson gate blew off (gate), rushed to the dock water rose ship with keel blocks and hit him several times on the walls of the dock. There were wounded and among the sailors, and civilians. The ship had another three weeks to put in the dock for repairs.


"This picture was taken November 11, 1944, when the" Shinano "was held in Tokyo Bay factory tests.»

At 18.00 November 28, 1944 "Shinano" was released to the open sea. He was accompanied by an escort of destroyers "Isokadze» («Isokaze»), «Yukikadze» («Yukikaze») and "Hamakadze» («Hamakaze»). Aviation antisubmarine cover for the ship was not.
At 20.48 Radar single American submarine SS-311 "Archerfish" (Commander - Joseph Inrayt) found the target in 12 miles on bearing 30 degrees.

At 22.45 signalmen "Shinano" discovered an unidentified ship on the right course of an aircraft carrier. On the interception came destroyer "Isokadze." But the order of the commander of Abe, he was returned to the system - apparently the commander, "Shinano" did not want to disperse its forces to hunt comparatively dangerous single boat.

All night "Archerfish" chasing reaching 20 knots of speed zigzag warrant Japanese ships (already going for the transition, "Shinano" was serviceable 8 of 12 boilers). Thus about 22.30 "Shinano" was forced to reduce speed to 18 knots due to overheating of one of the shafts. Speed ​​aircraft carrier and hunt the submarine leveled him.


3.17 In November 29th, 1944 SS-311 "Archerfish" produced a volley of bow torpedo tubes. All were released six torpedoes. Four of them hit the target (when the board came first, only the fifth left TA). Everyone in the central part of the starboard side.
Boat destroyers attacked with depth charges dropping only 14 pieces, but "Archerfish" went well from the blow.
Unfinished and test vehicles was too vulnerable to the injuries. On the "Shinano" was not installed all the necessary equipment - including pumps for pumping water. Watertight bulkheads were not tested for leaks - there were leaks in places of passage of cables and other communications were not sealed with gaskets pipelines and cables.
By 9.00 am on the "Shinano" it was completely stopped the supply of energy. The bank is more than 20 degrees.

Destroyers made an unsuccessful attempt to tow the sinking ship closer to shore.

About 10 hours began an operation to remove a team destroyers come to perishing ship. At 10.55 "Shinano" quickly began to sink into the water and sank 17 hours after the publication of her first war patrol (7 hours after the torpedo hit) 65 miles from the nearest coast
Escort destroyers during the rescue operation took on board the 1080 men of the crew, "Shinano" 1435 people were reported missing.


Interesting facts:
Japanese aircraft carrier «Shinano» largest ship, who died on the submarine torpedoes.
Until 1960, "Shinano" remained the largest aircraft carrier in the world, it has surpassed the atomic «Enterprise».
As he was the only major modern ship, which has no official pictures - during construction was forbidden to do so for security reasons, but from the first campaign of its ship did not come back.

Spacecraft "Buran»


His first and only space flight "Buran" made November 15, 1988. The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome using a launch vehicle "Energy". Flight duration was 205 minutes, the ship made two turns around the Earth, and then made a landing on the airfield a specially equipped "Jubilee" at Baikonur. The flight went without a crew in the automatic mode using the onboard computer and flight software, unlike the shuttle, which is traditionally the last step makes landing on manual control (entry into the atmosphere, and decelerate to the speed of sound in both cases fully computerized). This fact - the flight of the spacecraft into space, and his descent to Earth automatically running onboard computer - entered the Guinness Book of Records.


In 1990, work on the program "Energy-Buran" were suspended, and in 1993 the program is finally closed. The only fly in space (1988), "Buran" was destroyed in 2002 during the collapse of the roof assembly and test facility in Baikonur, where it was kept, along with ready-made copies of the carrier rocket "Energy».


"Snow Cruiser»
The idea of ​​building a huge all-terrain vehicle in the Antarctic belong to polar explorer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. In 1934, nearly froze to cut bad weather snowy wilderness of Antarctica, he decided to come up with something that would be for explorers warm and comfortable home and a reliable means of transportation on the ice and hummocks.


Together with Professor Thomas Poulter, they were able to knock out the money in the US Congress on this ambitious project, called Snow Cruiser («Snow Cruiser»).
The money was received and in 1939 construction began on Snow Cruiser, which took less than 4 months, including sea trials. The machine turned out not small, 34-ton monster length of 17 meters, a height of 4, 9 meters wide and 6 meters.


Further, "Snow Cruiser" took its course in 1700 kitlometrov from Chicago to Boston and was loaded on the vessel North Star, in time for the next polar ekspeditsii.Avtomobil was red, in order to make it clearly visible in Antarctica
This run and became the only sea trials Snow Cruiser, that has played a trick on him in Antarctica. Snow turned out quite different from the properties of the pavement.


Technology
How to turn the wheel with a diameter of three meters? There was nothing to think about summarizing each propeller shaft - all arrangements had to be hidden inside the body, so they can be repaired without leaving the cold. In addition, all four wheels for maneuverability could be rotated, so that the "cruiser" could go with the surface of the snow is not only forward and backward, but also at an angle.


The creators used diesel-electric scheme: two engines of 150 hp. from. rotating rotors of the two generators, and the wheel is driven by the built-in each (enough space) electric motors for 75 liters. from. You would think that for such a colossus silenok clearly not enough? But the designers somehow not shown because the elk, but in vain ... However, on the highway Snow Cruiser developed as much as 48 km / h. And why should he more? Motors and so turned out to be extremely greedy, well at least that large tanks could take 9463 liters of diesel oil (it should be enough for 8,000 kilometers). And by the way, inside the monster crew of five and Labrador Navi could live off-line for a year - the food and the heat would be enough. Another feature of "cruiser" - retractable-1, 2-meter wheel: it was necessary, in particular, to overcome the wide crevices.
January 12 "Polar Star" anchored in the Gulf whale.
We will not describe all the vicissitudes of unloading Snow Cruiser in Antarctica, except to say that the wheels of heavy machinery, is immersed in snow for more than 0, 9 meters, began helplessly scroll, and the engine overheats. Snow, unlike asphalt, prominaetsya and the wheels all the time found themselves in a hole and leave it lacked power. The only way to go at least 148 kilometers turned out ... reversing.


The cruiser had to cross the entire length and breadth of Antarctica (see. Arrows), but was able to pass almost fifty kilometers - from the base Little America («Little America") to the first turn of the route, and then reversing.
However, the existence in the cozy cabins near the warm diesel was very comfortable, and the cruiser stood on the moors as a base for explorers. Expedition scientists even held a small series of scientific experiments. Then it snowed, and only a long bamboo pole gave the place "underground" camp.


Then the war pushed polar research into the background, and only in 1958, scientists from the international organization IGY set the exact location of the "Cruiser", went to Antarctica and dug up the car, looked and left.
One can only guess what happened after that with the extraordinary vehicle. Approximate its location is known, but no Snow Cruiser never found. And, perhaps, I was not looking.


According to one version, the car was on the floe, got her into the sea and drowned. Another more intriguing to Americans option - it is possible hit "Battlestar" in the hands of the Soviet Union, and the car was taken to explore in Siberia. Anyway, as some newspapers wrote that time. Which, of course, is highly unlikely, because when exporting Russian Machines had to face the same challenges as the members of the expedition from the United States.


CER-33 "Ural»
The biggest in the world scout ship, the only ship of the project 1941 "Titan" (NATO - Kapusta), the largest in the Soviet Union and Russian surface vessels with nuclear power plant (NPP).


During the Cold War, the era of confrontation between the two centers of the world - the USSR and the USA, the warring parties sought to gain access to a wide range of strategic information about "probable enemy", hiding at the same time the secrets of their own.
Widely regarded as one of these secrets was a missile test site in the South Pacific, which was used for the United States launches its ballistic missiles.
The Soviet Union could not in sufficient quantities to keep track of tests of American missiles on the ultimate path: military bases in the region from the Soviet Union was not, and civilian ships, nёsshie to afford special control and measuring systems (for example, "Academician Sergei Korolev", "Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin" or "Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov"), had no active radar and designed to work on the defendants domestic space objects.
Thus, there is need for a special warships, which would be able to collect the entire amount of information available on any subcosmic object on any part of its trajectory in any region of the globe.


We lay the "Ural" in June 1981, launched on 1983, and on 6 January 1989 the ship was raised from the Naval flag.
Big Scout "Ural" received hull number CER-33. Abbreviation CER stands for "Vessel Link" - so called in the Soviet Navy ships and reconnaissance.
In 1989, following the entry into operation, "Ural" made a 59-day transition to a permanent place of performance of their service - the Pacific Ocean.
In the Pacific, "Ural" based in the city of Pacific
Because of the many failures and accidents, "Ural" and did not get there, why, and built - in Kwajalein Atoll, to the place of rocket range of the Armed forces of the USA, but also from their places of permanent deployment "Ural" successfully controlled the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, intercepting radio networks Navy, Air Force and the PLO United States and Japan.


In 2001, coming off just one war patrol ship completely written off and put on the joke to a distant pier
In April 2008, it was held a tender for the disposal of the ship and its nuclear power plants.
Recycling is carried out on the ship FEP "Zvezda».


Interesting facts:
With its unique design, "Ural" is the only three-masted warship in the world (except a part of many Navy training sailing ships).

"Ural" - one of the few ships, freed from the dominance of rats. In rodents detrimental operated work equipment Intelligence complex ship.

The complex intelligence apparatus was part of the ship "camera" lens with a diameter of about 1.5 meters.