Topic Actions

Topic Search

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 45 guests

Charis version of the Panama Canal

This fascinating series is a combination of historical seafaring, swashbuckling adventure, and high technological science-fiction. Join us in a discussion!
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by Direwolf18   » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:06 pm

Direwolf18
Captain of the List

Posts: 506
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 3:39 pm

evilauthor wrote:
captinjoehenry wrote:Ok so the spit of land that conects charis to margets land is only 34 miles wide at it's narrowest and there is now area engines so there are steam shovels soon enough and there is also TNT so I believe that Charis is now capable of blasting a canal through that spit of land and that would offer a lot of advantages in cut down travel time.


But is it worth the effort? IIRC, Charis is nowhere near as large as the Americas or the Europe/Asia/Africa trifecta. A ship doesn't have to cross half a hemisphere to get sail from one side of Charis to the other. So the cost and time savings from going around Charis and/or Margaret's Land would be far less than a ship going around South America or Africa.

A better Panama candidate I've heard is the small strip of land that connects Northern and Southern Howard (or whatever the mainland continents are called). People talk about how capturing and holding that land would cut Desnair off from the CoGA. So if the land is really that narrow, then it's narrow enough to put a canal there... assuming there isn't one there already.


People have built canals to cut off far smaller amounts of travel.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiel_Canal

As far as I am concerned its not a question of if but of when. I am actually shocked they haven't started any work on it, we have been talking about building a canal there for years now, RFC can't possibly have missed all the discussions. They have the explosives, they have the steam engines, build the damn thing.
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by Weird Harold   » Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:30 pm

Weird Harold
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4478
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: "Lost Wages", NV

Larry wrote:(where judging by the map (http://jiltanith.thefifthimperium.com/C ... %20Map.htm)


You might want to bookmark the newer map at http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/en ... hold/338/1

There is a lot more information -- including a mountain range where the map you linked shows flat land. It also shows the Silkiah Canal a bit north of your proposed canal.
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by USMA74   » Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:42 pm

USMA74
Commander

Posts: 238
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2013 11:22 am
Location: Leavenworth, KS, USA

Larry wrote:Geesh digging the canal is the easy part , assuming your a bit of a psychopath.
Lets say you want to dig one across North Watch in Desnar Starting from the Gulf of Mathyas, through that big lake (whatever it is, the maps I can find don't seem to name it) and continuing on through to Hankey Sound (Which is where I'd put a canal if I was building a link to shorten transit times). Build about 100 AM transmitters (Nice spark gap jobs, really noisy, really easy to locate.) Deploy along preferred route. Have them broadcast out "Bleep you Langhorne" in 16WPM Morse and let the OBS dig it for you. Problem solved. Nice wide canal, probably won't even need locks. Might have to do a bit of dredging afterwords to smooth out the channel bottom but that's what God created steam dredges for. Problem solved. Hey it's not like there's anybody in Desnar I care about anyway. And it has the propaganda value of making it look like God and the Archangels don't want Desnar and the South Harchong empire participating in the Jihad. Win-win situation as long as you have no moral compass.
And this is why the mad scientist always wins in the end. Thinking outside the box!

Larry

P.S. And if it doesn't work (the OBS fails to bombard) than you know small scale shielded spectrum hopping radios are safe for deployment.


In the early 1950s the U.S., under the "Atoms for Peace" program, seriously considered using atomic bombs to help construct a canal through Nicaragua. Thus your modest proposal (in the best traditions of Swift) has a foundation upon which to build.
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by saber964   » Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:23 pm

saber964
Admiral

Posts: 2423
Joined: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:41 pm
Location: Spokane WA USA

USMA74 wrote:
Larry wrote:Geesh digging the canal is the easy part , assuming your a bit of a psychopath.
Lets say you want to dig one across North Watch in Desnar Starting from the Gulf of Mathyas, through that big lake (whatever it is, the maps I can find don't seem to name it) and continuing on through to Hankey Sound (Which is where I'd put a canal if I was building a link to shorten transit times). Build about 100 AM transmitters (Nice spark gap jobs, really noisy, really easy to locate.) Deploy along preferred route. Have them broadcast out "Bleep you Langhorne" in 16WPM Morse and let the OBS dig it for you. Problem solved. Nice wide canal, probably won't even need locks. Might have to do a bit of dredging afterwords to smooth out the channel bottom but that's what God created steam dredges for. Problem solved. Hey it's not like there's anybody in Desnar I care about anyway. And it has the propaganda value of making it look like God and the Archangels don't want Desnar and the South Harchong empire participating in the Jihad. Win-win situation as long as you have no moral compass.
And this is why the mad scientist always wins in the end. Thinking outside the box!

Larry

P.S. And if it doesn't work (the OBS fails to bombard) than you know small scale shielded spectrum hopping radios are safe for deployment.


In the early 1950s the U.S., under the "Atoms for Peace" program, seriously considered using atomic bombs to help construct a canal through Nicaragua. Thus your modest proposal (in the best traditions of Swift) has a foundation upon which to build.



Yep Operation Plowshare. IIRC they also wanted to build a port in Alaska (Operation Chariot). The Soviet Union actually went ahead and built a canal using A-bombs but ran into several problems like the canal 'burping' high amounts of radiation.
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by isaac_newton   » Tue Mar 24, 2015 4:44 am

isaac_newton
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1182
Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:37 am
Location: Brighton, UK

saber964 wrote:Yep Operation Plowshare. IIRC they also wanted to build a port in Alaska (Operation Chariot). The Soviet Union actually went ahead and built a canal using A-bombs but ran into several problems like the canal 'burping' high amounts of radiation.


Are you sure about that?? I have to say that I don't remember hearing about that before.
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by AirTech   » Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:50 am

AirTech
Captain of the List

Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 4:37 am
Location: Deeeep South (Australia) (most of the time...)

USMA74 wrote:
In the early 1950s the U.S., under the "Atoms for Peace" program, seriously considered using atomic bombs to help construct a canal through Nicaragua. Thus your modest proposal (in the best traditions of Swift) has a foundation upon which to build.


And the Chinese are actually building it now (without the nuclear explosives).
Top
Re: Charis version of the Panama Canal
Post by lyonheart   » Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:37 pm

lyonheart
Fleet Admiral

Posts: 4853
Joined: Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:27 pm

Hi Air Tech,

Can you provide more details?

There was also a plan to build a canal across the Malay isthmus using nukes in the '60's as I recall.

L


AirTech wrote:
USMA74 wrote:
In the early 1950s the U.S., under the "Atoms for Peace" program, seriously considered using atomic bombs to help construct a canal through Nicaragua. Thus your modest proposal (in the best traditions of Swift) has a foundation upon which to build.


And the Chinese are actually building it now (without the nuclear explosives).
Any snippet or post from RFC is good if not great!
Top

Return to Safehold