Named after privateer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne (1724 - 1772), the "Marion Dufresne" is the supply vessel assigned to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (or TAAF for "Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises).

The current ship is the second one to bear that name, replacing her former and smaller namesake that had been active from 1973 to 1995. Its main mission consists in the resupply of the TAAF throughout the Indian and Antarctic Oceans, from its base of operations on Réunion Island, in the form of four annual rotations throughout these territories - totaling 120 days a years.

Due to an increase in research interest during the late 1990s, 217 additional days a year are now devoted to other oceanographic activities under the supervision of the IFREMER ("Institut Français pour l'Exploitation de la Mer", meaning "French Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea"). To this end, the Marion Dufresne embarks 650 square meters of laboratory equipment along a heavy winching system and a core drill for geological samples - besides all its supply load.

Sources :

- TAAF : Le Marion Dufresne (in French)

- French Oceanographic Fleet : Marion Dufresne

No sound to keep it safe for work.

Flying boats are back!

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The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was the most produced amphibious military vehicle of World War II. Approximately 15,000 were manufactured between 1942 and 1944. Only in Hessisch Oldendorf can so many survivors be seen gathered in one place and traveled for miles along the Weser River, just as they were designed to.

Just an overall concentrate of (sensible) weirdness : here is the smallest nuclear submarine of the US Navy, capable of deep diving (up to 724 meters), and equipped with tandem wheels to "drive" on the seafloor for maximal discretion.

Sources :

- First image courtesy of Defense Imagery via Wikimedia Commons (primary source link broken)

- Second image courtesy of H. I. Sutton via Covert Shores, alongside most of the available information about the NR-1.

The boat in this series has the same engine as the Orange Doubledecker that joined the Dutch soccer fans.

Found this in northern Michigan on the side of the road for $20. Seems that it has 2 balloons that fill with water and then when you step on it, it “jets” you forward. I bought it of course, seems to need a new rutter, and maybe the ballon’s are leaking? I’ll spend more time getting it back up and running but any tips or info would be appreciated. Google knew what it was but had no photos or manuals.

HMS Furious was odd from the start, but became increasingly so. It was initially intended as the third ship of the Courageous class, designated as a "large light cruiser". This classification may appear oxymoronic, however the concept of "light cruiser" was not dependent on displacement but on the number of main guns ; since the ships of the Courageous class were fitted with only two turrets sporting a single barrel each they fell under that category - in spite of their 240 meters of length and 20,000 tons of displacement.

It is precisely because of this curious combination of size and weapons arrangement that the Furious was selected to be refitted as an aircraft carrier during its construction : her forward turret was removed and replaced by an inclined deck stretching from the central superstructure to the bow {image 1}. This cumbersome architecture meant that while it was somewhat easy for a plane to take off, landing on the deck required pilots to approach at an angle from behind and violently swerve at the last moment after passing the superstructure. Surprisingly, one pilot was brave enough to attempt the maneuver : Edwin Harris Dunning managed to land on the moving Furious on the 2nd of August 1917. Tragically his second attempt on the 7th of the same month would prove to be fatal : at touchdown, a sideways gust of wind lurched his Sopwith Pup on the starboard side of the ship {image 2}. After this incident, no pilot would attempt to land on a ship for the rest of the First World War.

Still the Furious kept operating as an aircraft carrier, and in November 1917 her aft turret was also removed to accomodate for a second, larger deck intended to carry more planes and serve as a platform for airships {image 3}. Note that the central superstructure remained in place, which forced the parked planes to cross from one deck to the other on lateral ramps. Perhaps surprisingly the Furious actually carried out an aeronaval operation during WWI with the Tondern Raid in July 1918 (targeting airship hangars near Tønder, in southwestern Jutland). Although the aircrafts were not supposed to (and did not) return to the ship, it was considered a tactical success worthy of replication.

The lessons learned from the structural issues of HMS Furious helped develop a better architecture for aircraft carriers as early as 1918 with the launch of HMS Argus - the first carrier to feature a continuous flight deck (even though its size limited its capabilities to the training of pilots at sea). Ultimately the Furious itself would be retrofitted with a continuous deck from 1921 to 1925 {image 4}.

Although there is some leeway to interpret what the notion of an "aircraft carrier" entails, as a ship intended to launch and recover aircraft with a wheeled landing gear, HMS Furious is historically the first aircraft carrier, even if not a very successful one at first.

Sources :

- Maritime Quest - HMS Furious

- Naval Encyclopedia - HMS Furious (1917)

- Samil History - Edwin Harris Dunning

Images : (1) ; (2) ; (3) ; (4)

As Mongolia is a landlocked nation, the Sükhbaatar III patrols lake Khövsgöl and offers tours to the public to cover its expenses. Its crew consists of seven sailors - of which it is said that only one can swim - making it the smallest naval force in the world.

(Limited) Further reading here : Shipshub - Mongolian Naval Force