Downing Street number

10, August 1946

„Admiral Cunningham, are you telling me

that the giant carrier has a top speed of seven

knots and so do the two sister bergships?“

„Yes, Prime Minister, we see this as a problem.

We didn‘t count on her sailing south, across

the equator, we‘re afraid she‘ll soften up a bit

during the voyage.“

„But the designers assured me that the material, the pykrete, is heat resistant and there

are cooling units inside...“

„You know designers, sir, they mainly counted

on it operating only around the Arctic Circle.

We‘re quite worried that HMS Habbakuk will

shrink along the way and make the deck a

swimming pool. There will be 200 aircraft on

the ship, all fighters or bombers, but no seaplanes. „

Churchill thoughtfully moved the ashtray

a bit with a cigar.

„Admiral, have you ever pushed an aircraft carrier with one battleship while simultaneously towing it with the another one?“

„Sir, I‘ve never really done that. Especially not

a 2,000-foot aircraft carrier made of iceberg.“

„Then make it happen! You just have to cross

the equator fast! We‘ve got HMS Vanguard

completed, she‘s doing thirty knots. If you

don‘t dare, I‘ll ask the US Navy! Summer starts

in Antarctica in a few months, we‘ve got to be

there in time to get the bastards. „

machines white. I‘m sure the Germans will do

it, they said they did it each winter on the eastern front during the war.“

Suddenly things on the desk shifted a few inches and the furniture in the cabin creaked.

It was as if the ship had been rocked by something big... Both men froze. The executive

officer shook his head and pursed his lips in

displeasure.

„John, can you please ask the Vanguard

bridge again, and emphatically, not to poke

us from behind? I understand that they‘re

one knot faster than King George V, who is

towing us, but it‘s really getting on my nerves.

I‘d like the captains of both ships to come to

an agreement. We need to get this international circus in order. Otherwise we won‘t survive the two weeks south. „

White House, September

1946

President Truman was leaning against a

large desk, looking at photographs taken by

aerial reconnaissance. Around him were advi-

about last time?“

„They are flying for sure, we have clear photos

of them. We know they don‘t need an airport.

But we don‘t know what kind of propulsion

they use. Maybe it‘s a combination of propellers for vertical takeoff and jet propulsion

for forward flight. We‘re not sure yet. They‘re

probably the same objects we‘ve seen over

Europe. Foo Fighters. „

„And rockets?“

„They have several types of missiles, bigger

than the V2. We‘ve even recorded flights above stratospheric level. Von Braun is successfully continuing development.“

„Why do we still know so little?“

„Images are difficult to obtain. They‘ve got

new anti-aircraft missiles, they‘ve shot down

a few of our reconnaissance RB-29s, and the

area is huge. We‘re looking for a needle in a

haystack. They seem to be mainly close to the

coast in New Swabia, because of logistics.“

Nimitz placed the folders on the table, opened them, and spread out the other slides.

„We got this from our colleagues in the Air

Force, probably something like a production

hall or hangar. It‘s huge and well camouf-

Aircraft carrier HMS Habbakuk, south of Newfoundland, September

1946

The executive officer felt that he was about to

break something in anger. „Clostermann really pisses me off. I think we‘ll drop him back

in Brazil. Try explaining to him again that he‘s

not a Wing Commander, and he‘d better write that book of his on his time off. So what‘s

next for you, John.“

„The Canadians are arguing with the Dutch.

One wants to play hockey on board, the other

is pushing for ice-skating competitions and

has been discussing it for a long time. The

Canadians hit the head of the commander

of the American volunteers with the puck.

He‘s in the infirmary, raving and talking about

some Pittsburgh Penguins...“

„They‘re going to see a lot of penguins soon.

Okay, anything else?“

„Finns protest that they have too small daily

doses of coffee and want a sauna. The Norwegian mechanics have started building several igloos on board.“

„What, igloos?“

„Yes sir, they say to make the road to the

equator more, please wait, to say it right...

To make the road more hygge. They promised to dismantle them again before combat

deployment.“

„Any normal news?“

„The New Zealand squadron with Tempests

has finished painting the planes to the naval

scheme, they are asking permission to paint

rabbit skulls on the machines. They have the

Czech Ensign Kleinkönnig with them, they

seem to like him, they say it‘s in his honour.

In his spare time he makes carrot spirit for

them. He smuggled a lot of carrots and a distillation column on board. He says they can

distill anything in his country.“

„OK, that‘s actually the first normal request

I‘ve heard today, even though it sounds goofy. Let them paint it. But they have to save the

white paint. We don‘t know what it will look

like over Antarctica, we may have to paint the

54

eduard

Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, with President Franklin D Roosevelt,

and Winston Churchill during the Quebec Conference, 18 August 1943. It included a

demonstration of the pykrete‘s resistance to gunfire as part of a presentation of the

HMS Habbakuk project. Churchill was enthusiastic about the project.

Photo: IWM

sers, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary

of State, the Commander of the Air Force, General Spaatz, and Admiral Nimitz.

Spaatz put on the table another picture of

the landscape showing ice and snow.

„Mr President, we have not yet reliably identified this object, but it is very large. My colleagues have some estimates of what it might

be. „

„Is it possible that it flies?“

„We‘ve found a few of them, they look like

airships, but they‘re much longer. We don‘t

know exactly yet.“

„What about those disks you were talking

laged from above. Look here, there‘s an ice

sheet leading to it. We think they‘re transporting supplies by submarine under the ice.

This area is important. It‘s somehow connected to the giant objects. „

„Do you at least have a theory as to what

these objects are for?“

Nimitz and Spaatz looked at General Leslie

Groves of the Manhattan Project.

„Mr President, I have consulted, confidentially

of course, with the people from our project.

Also with Mr. Einstein. And it‘s possible that...

I mean, they believe these are spacecraft.

While the war was going on, they managed

INFO Eduard - January 2022