Remembering Jet Ships: The Futuristic 100-Knot Superboat That Never Was
By replacing propellers with superconducting magnets, jet ships may one day ply the seas at 100 knots.
By Abe Dane
Jan 14, 2021
In the August 1990 issue, Popular Mechanics explored the world of MHD drive-powered superboats with Japan's Yamato 1. Short for "magnetohydrodynamic," MHD drives hoped to one day revolutionize ocean-going vessels by increasing their tops speeds to 100 knots, but the low efficiency of these experimental drives made them impractical for wide implementation.
A vast shape darts beneath the polar ice flows, and is gone, as silent as a living creature, but far swifter. Clad in steel, and traveling at over 100 miles per hour, it leaves only a mist-like trail of bubbles in its wake. There are no great screws or turbines churning the water. In fact, there is no sign of any sort of propulsion system at all. Instead, the huge underwater freighter is thrust through the depths by an invisible force generated by water rushing through tubes enclosed in sponsons at the submarine's sides.
Futuristic as it sounds, the force powering this craft is actually so basic it is taught in high school science classes. Called Fleming's Left Hand Rule, this fundamental of electromagnetism states that the confluence of a magnetic field and an electric current passing through a fluid will cause the fluid to be propelled in one direction. It was not until recently, however, that the technologies existed to harness this phenomenon aboard a seagoing vessel.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a34878023/jet-ships/
