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Military Dolphins Discover 1800s Torpedo
First time accepted submitter The0retical writes "A couple of mine-sweeping dolphins dredged up what is known as a 'Howell torpedo' dating from 1870 to 1889. Only 50 were ever produced, this being the second example known to exist. The 11-foot-long brass torpedo had a maximum range and speed of 400 yards at 25 knots. The new example will be displayed at Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Wash. alongside the only other example."
...where are the traces of the dolphins they used in the 19th century?
What was left unsaid (by the dolphins) was how many times the critters have found 'unintended' things and not told their handlers about it, but instead squirreled it away to their underwater hideout, planning for the eventual overthrow of human kind. They just felt that since this was so old and unusable, there was no harm in telling the Navy guys.
Besides, they were hungry and wanted a snack.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
From the LA times.
Serious editors, that link is even provided at the bottom of the crappy summary article you folks pointed to - and it is MUCH more in-depth.
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
The dolphins themselves follow simple system for alerting the Navy of any found objects. They take a dive and, if they find nothing, touch the back of the boat with their snouts. If they find something, they touch the front of the boat.
yeah know, if they just gave dogs SCUBA gear, the dogs could bark, point, and wag their tails for different things.
Touching the boat with their snouts.
Government!
Only 50 were made between 1870 and 1889 by a Rhode Island company before a rival copied and surpassed the Howell's capability.
Apparently patents haven't been invented yet.
We have mine-sweeping dolphins that actually find stuff? That strikes me as way more important than the torpedo. It's not that the torpedo is unimportant, but we've got one of those already.
Stop learning! Only you can prevent esoterrorism.
So pissed. Soooo pissed.
You can listen to an NPR piece where the dolphin are interviewed.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
n/t
Yeah, I've got a 'Howell torpedo' myself. Banned by the Geneva Convention as a weapon of mass destruction.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
"Only 50 were ever produced, this being the second example known to exist."
If there are 50 produced, then there are 50 known to exist.
bash$
MILITARY DOLPHINS?! :O
Seriously - there are only two in existence, so they're displayed side by side in the same museum?
How wasteful is that? The US Navy has like a dozen museums, scattered all over the country. Why not share the bounty about a bit?
The LA times report mentions that another dolphin had alerted them a few days ago, but the operator didn't send anyone to check it out because they didn't expect to find anything. Does the system have a large number of false positives?
The new example will be displayed at Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Wash. alongside the only other example
Oh good. So if you want to see a Howell Torpedo, you're not going to get confused about where to go. These are definitely the people training dolphins to perform military operations.
.. William Shatner as Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
"No, ma'am. No dipshit"
Reminds me how Ali G was wondering why ATF are using dogs, instead of dolphins, who are much smarter.
So only two are known to exist? Why display them both at the same location? Do people who see one need to see the other or can you share your rare discovery with more than one museum? I'd think having the only two torpedoes of a type at the same location would risk losing them both if something were to happen to that facility (e.g. fire).
The article links to several articles about bizarre and creative uses for dolphins. I guess those hours spent playing Red Alert 2 taught me more about reality than just the fact that women named Tanya are hot.
...is the sound of the entire steampunk community collectively jizzing its pants.
Maybe these dolphins could be used to locate the the missing Mark 15 nuclear bomb? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision
'I don't know what it's called. I just know the sound it makes, when it takes a man's life.' ~ Four Leaf Tayback
Saying the 1800s implies a date from 1800 to 1809. You should have said late 19th Century, or at least "from around the 1870s".
I highly recommend the Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington. (Well only if you are into technology) There is a fair bit of history on display there. More than just weapons. http://www.navalunderseamuseum.org/
I'm sure millions of Americans are malnourished, but the number of Americans who are involuntarily undernourished due to the inability to get enough food from their family's money, charity, or government handouts is very small. Literal starvation usually implies someone who is mentally defective, physically injured and isolated (an oldster who has broken a hip and can't reach a phone), or other situations where tax money won't make a bit of difference.
Or are you a member of a community none of whom, yourself included, will help a person in need?
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
The modern torpedo was actually invented in the Habsburg Empire by an austrian named Johannes Luppis and a scotchman named Robert Whitehead. Their "fish torpedo" was propelled by a compressed air engine and kept at depth by a water pressure sensor flask. That design became the father of all modern torpedoes and nobody used the american flywheel for propulsion anywhere else in the world.
A "Whitehead torpedo", series produced from was the first launched underwater projectile to sink a warship, namely a chilean or peruvian ironclad, circa 1888, but the first large scale torpedo combat only happened in the 1904-1905 russo-japanese war.
By the way, the USA was not a major naval power until circa 1914-1916. In fact they were a joke compared to the britons until flattops and aviation took over the naval warfare scene from the late 1920s. Even the imperial german high seas battlefleet in 1916 at Jutland was stronger than the contemporary US Navy of the time.
I thought the US Navy had stopped with the use of Dolphins for military purposes. From what I heard they weren't quite reliable and prone to mind their own business and games, even swimming away when they fancied. And I even heard about some incidents in which dolphins and seals brought (fake) explosives to their handlers, which would have been fatal in a real case. Far from a good use for the citizen's taxes.
Reading between the lines what I see here is an attempt of putting a controversial project into a positive line.
-- 29A the number of the Beast
The site seeing vessel named 'The Minnow' has been sunk shortly after leaving Hawaii when it was hit by a Howell torpedo. Missing presumed dead are Captain Jonas Grumby, first mate Willie Gilligan, the movie star Ginger Grant, a professor named Roy Hinkley, a farm girl named Mary Ann Summers, as well as Eunice Wentworth Howell, and the owner of the Howell Torpedo company Thurston Howell the 3rd. The company has said that in light of the accident they will no longer be selling the torpedoes. Though they spent millions setting up the production line, only 50 were sold to date. A company spokesperson has stated that they were flubbergasted that such an accident could occur stating 'Who knew a torpedo could sink a ship?' A search for survivors was called off after a freak storm set in.
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)