Naval Architecture: The Future is Now Forget Gas & Diesel ... Break Out the Limbs!
The David Taylor Model Basin was homeport for some curious looking contraptions recently, human powered submarines, which were designed and built by perhaps the next generation of naval architects and marine engineers. John Hussey reports. High-tech met low-tech, and college engineers competed against standout high school students in the seventh running of the International Submarine Races, the biennial human-powered engineering design competition completed at the world's largest indoor tank, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division David Taylor Model Basin, June 23-27, 2003. Drawing upon both brain and brawn, the scuba-clad future engineers and design entrepreneurs produced a range of submarines from the sublime to the surreal, all built to move forward on a 328-ft.
Speed Record Set at Sub Races
New world speed records were set earlier this month in both men’s and women’s divisions of the International Submarine Races, an engineering design competition that challenges the creativity of underwater inventers and entrepreneurs. One and two-person teams from the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands battled it out against the clock in the week-long biennial event held at one of the world’s largest indoor tanks -- the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock Division David Taylor Model Basin in Bethesda, Maryland. Omer 5, a sleek two-person submersible from the University of Quebec’s Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) in Montreal, Canada, set a new two-person speed record of 7.061 knots. The Canadians’ women’s team also set a new record of 5.885 knots.
