“Necessity is the mother of invention” could not ring more true than the boom of production during war. When pushed into battle and the next-best inventions mean the difference between life and death, literally, innovative minds come together. Many times the result is greatness, other times, well, not so much. We’ve listed some of the weirdest and not-so-successful military inventions in modern history.
Ice Ship
During The Second World War, raw materials were in short supply due to the high demand of war-related production. The Allies needed more aircraft carriers, but it was too costly. Making carriers out of pykrete (a mixture between ice and wood) would give the Allies the upper-hand. “Project Habakkuk” was meant to be the solution, unfortunately it didn’t work. and it sank, literally.
Ice Ships
Sun Gun Inventions
Although the idea was born in 1596 by Scottish mathematician, John Napier, the plan to make the “sun gun” came into light during WWII. German scientists believed that a special lens placed on a satellite could magnify the sun’s rays and burn whole cities, boil oceans and incinerate enemies entirely. Kind of like kids and a magnifying glass, only this wasn’t successful.
The Sun Gun
