The Ice Ship Designed to Beat the Germans

World War II's lesser-known project to win the war.

With my fascination for war, I have written about many innovations that helped win World War II. Operation Pluto was the pipeline that pumped fuel to the soldiers. The Mulberry Harbour provided the ships with a temporary port. 

However, it is fair to say that not all of these were roaring successes, and some, with hindsight, appeared too ludicrous even to be real. This is one example of that. Geoffrey Pyke suggested that an answer to the lack of aircraft carriers would be to build a boat out of ice. 

The theory is that if an iceberg destroyed the Titanic, it must be strong enough to destroy the Germans. Churchill approved the idea, and a prototype was made. 

Churchill & Mountbatten

It was the spring of 1943. Churchill was enjoying a relaxing bath when the door was opened, and Lord Mountbatten walked in, holding a block of ice that looked slightly unusual. 

Mountbatten, unperturbed by seeing Churchill in the bath, placed the block of compound ice mixed with sand into the Prime Minister's bath, announcing that it was a substance called Pykrete, which Pyke had designed to overcome some of the disadvantages of building a ship from ice.