USS Habakkuk

## History

### Notable events

Operation Highjump (1946-1947)Occupation of Japan (1947-1951)Winter War (1985-1987)

### Builder

Geoffrey Pyke (designer)Lord Mountbatten (sponsor)Combined Operations Headquarters (British War Office)

## Specifications

### Dimensions

609 m (lenght)91.44 m (beam)45.72 m (draught)

### Displacement

1.8-2.2 Mt (1,800,000 to 2,200,000 t)incl. 300,000 of wood pulp ; 125,000 of fireboard insulation ; 35,000 t of timber ; 10,000 t of steel

### Crew

3,590-3,620 (404 officiers ; 3,216 enseigns)

### Weapons

32-40x CWIS (dual-barrelled 4.5 Dual Purpose)

### Complement

1946 complement :200x Spitfire fighters100x Mosquito bombers

1986 complement :

### Cost per unit

first estimation: £700,000 (£34,501,901.27 in 2022)actual cost: £2.5 million (£123,221,075.97 in 2022)

## Systems

### Propulsion

26x electric motors (steam turbogenerators) in external nacelles

### Hull

12 m (40 ft), torpedo proof

**USS Habakkuk**, also called the **bergship** (hull number : **CV-38**) was a gigantic Pykrete-made (mixture of ice and wood pulp) constructed between 1943 and 1946 by the US and the Commonwealth. It's the biggest naval ship ever constructed in the modern era (until the *Trident* class aircraft carriers of the 2150s) with over 2,000 ft (609 m) and a displacement of around 1.8 Mt (1,800,000 t).

Achieved too late to participate in the war effort it quickly became apparent that the Habakkuk was very hard to manoeuver in high seas and its Pykrete began to melt in tropical waters. It participated in Operation Highjump during the winter of 1946-1947 and proved to be a formidable mobile logistics base and aircraft carrier. It participated briefly in the Korean War where McArthur put his field command center and where he launched the nuclear bombers and the Minutemen that participated in Operation Cobelt.

## Alternate history

USS/HMS Habakkuk was a real life project abandonned in 1943. In NOM timeline shit, Portugal didn't allowed the Allied fleet to use Azores as an air and sea base for the logistics to European front (contrary to OTL), forcing Allied High Command to launch the construction of the ship.

## History

### Shooting Incident

According to some accounts, at the Quebec Conference in 1943 Lord Mountbatten brought a block of pykrete along to demonstrate its potential to the admirals and generals who accompanied Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mountbatten entered the project meeting with two blocks and placed them on the ground. One was a normal ice block and the other was pykrete. He then drew his service pistol and shot at the first block. It shattered and splintered. Next he fired at the pykrete to give an idea of the resistance of that kind of ice to projectiles. The bullet ricocheted off the block, grazing the trouser leg of Admiral Ernest King, and ended up in the wall.

(src : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project\_Habakkuk#Shooting\_incident)

### Operation: Highjump

In October 1946-February 1947, the USN deployed 5,000 men, including the Minutemen, in Little America and New Swabia to conquer the last Thule and Werhmacht holdout, located beneath the ice.

For the last 40 years, the Habakkuk was to remain in arctic waters to avoid melting, and serve as a mobile base for AntarCom and the exploration of the underground city.

## Source

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/project-habakkuk/