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Swedish Carbon-Fiber Stealth Ship Runs NT

Posted by michael on from the ctrl-alt-del-to-log-in dept.

tiled_rainbows writes "The Guardian has an article today about the Swedish navy's new stealth warship, which they claim is the largest carbon-fiber vessel ever built. Slashdotters will be interested to learn that the ship runs Windows NT. The article says 'While the point-and-click system is popular with conscripts, the ship was fitted with a wooden ship's wheel at the insistence of senior officers. If Windows goes down, they will still be able to steer.' Which raises the question: where can I get a USB-compatible wooden ship's wheel for my computer?"

4 of 526 comments (clear)

  1. I got your USB ships wheel right here, pal. by YankeeInExile · · Score: 5, Informative

    I realize you were being cutesy, but making a USB ships wheel sounds about like a one-weekend take-it-apart-and-put-it-together project, starting with a shaft-encoded driving-game controller.

    The hardest part would surely be building the binnacle.

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  2. Pictures of Visby by bjornhi · · Score: 5, Informative

    The boat is named Visby and pics of it can be found here and here /Björn

  3. Re:Doesn't carbon fibre burn? by madpoet_one · · Score: 5, Informative

    As someone who worked in a carbon fiber development lab in the eighties, I will agree that carbon fiber can burn.

    But as the MSDS for carbon fiber points out:

    Flammability classification: Not classified.
    Flash Point/Method: Not known, but very high!
    Auto-Ignition Temperature: Not determined
    Flammable Limits: Lower: Not applicable
    Upper: Not applicable

    Carbon Fiber MSDS link

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  4. Re:building materials by drexelmike · · Score: 5, Informative

    Emergency repair isn't an impossible situation to handle. There are plenty of epoxy resin systems that have short (15min) cure times. While I can't imagine that they'd have time to properly vacuum bag it in an emergency, it's not the end of the world if a patch is a bit resin-rich. A simpler and more likly alternative is the use of a room temprature curing pre-preg patch. While it would require refrigerated storage, it's a simple peel and stick solution. These are commonly used in auto racing marketed under the "RhinoPatch" brand name. they gel in 30 seconds and cure in under a minute.