Tom Clancy's book
The Hunt For Red October, and the film of the same name which was based on it, concern the theft of the
Soviet submarine
Red October (
Krazny Oktyabr in
Russian, if I spelled it right) by its captain,
Marko Ramius.
The Red October had a "caterpillar drive", a creation of Clancy's, which allowed the
submarine to travel silently. In the novel, Clancy never explains how the imaginary drive system works, but I remember that a character claimed it was similar to a jet engine.
Yesterday in Astronomy class, I had the always-enjoyable experience of discussing something hardly (if at all) related to the class with my teacher, Mr. Michael Liva. Mr. Liva, among other things, used to work for the U.S. government under Reagan, developing weapons for the SDI program, and he is full of fascinating stories and
Durdenesque useful information. As it has recently, the conversation turned to interesting things governments and militaries have tried to build.
Mr. Liva explained to me that a device for silent propulsion through
seawater would be possible, using almost the same principle as a
railgun. There would be an open part inside the vehicle, running from front to back, where water could pass through. At some point along this, there would be a
magnetic field and an
electric current passing through the water,
perpendicular to each other. This would generate a
Lorentz force, pushing water in one direction and the vehicle in the other. As far as he knows, no one's ever tried to build such a drive, and it may not be feasible because of the amount of electricity required to exert force by there principles.
Apologies for a somewhat dodgy explanation, but I can't remember my various
hand-
rules, or much other
physics.
I wonder how Clancy envisioned the caterpillar drive working?