The Weirdest Ships in History (and why they were brilliant)

We all know about the Titanic and the Queen Mary, but what about more obscure ships? This video will explore ten of the worlds weirdest ships from antiquity to today. I'll cover what these ships were built for, how they were configured, and why some were so weird!
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
Chapters:
00:00 USS Atlantus - A useless concrete Naval ship
02:40 The Baron of Renfrew - The tax evasion ship
03:55 HMS Zubian - The Frenkinstine ship
05:18 FLIP Buoy - A transformer ship
06:18 Ramform titan - The Widest ship on earth!
07:10 USS Supply - A Camel supply ship
08:37 HMS Habakkuk - A boat made of Ice
09:27 USS Wolverine - A paddle wheel aircraft carrier
10:20 Hughes Glomar Explorer - The CIA ship
11:24 SS Baychimo - The Ghost Ship
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Adrian Poe, Brandon Evans,
Editor - Nina Wade
Host - Ryan Socash
» SOURCES
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» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[@RevMikeBlack]

Good video! FYI, not ALL forms of concrete are dissolved by water. Some forms of marine concrete can be poured into water, then solidify as hard as rock pretty much forever. The Roman aqueducts, some over 2,000 years old, are made from concrete. Many of them are still transporting water reliably across Italy to this very day!

[@seanbatiz6620]

Your comment had me thinkin’ of a particular docu that I can’t recall the name of now but, was about the Egyptian pyramids, of potentially having actually been built with an ancient form/type of ‘cement’, that was poured into exacting forms; hence the seemingly perfect repetitiveness of them massive “stones” &, makes a bit more sense as for the “how”, those ‘stones’ were laid at each higher level. I suppose none of us will ever truly know with absolute agreement about those; still an interesting hypothesis

[@MrNicoJac]

@@seanbatiz6620 I'm pretty sure a rockologist(?) would be able to tell whether those stones were carved or poured.... But I agree that it is an interesting thing to investigate!

[@FernandoTRA]

Yes? What concrete dissolves in water. At least not in the short term. And as someone already pointed out there are concrete specifically designed for use in constant contact with water.

[@joegordon5117]

@@seanbatiz6620 Quite right - in fact that Roman cement, using volcanic material, was also used for making harbour walls, because it would set quickly and even under water. Modern engineers have been recreating the formula because it is so damned good.

[@PhilipFear]

@@joegordon5117 The Roman Marine Mix also used animal blood to cure the mix... And the only reason the Port built on the Jewish coast of the Mediterranean Sea failed after a couple hundred years was it was built on a massive fault line that sank into the Sea.... Until then, it was the largest man made port in human history.... And to this day, the blocks of concrete are still in good shape structurally.... And only destroyed by sizmic forces, not decay of the concrete itself....

[@Dsdcain]

Just a small, correction (maybe?). The funky Hughes/CIA ship Glomar Explorer was partially successful. It actually raised a portion of the of the Soviet submarine. Considering the fact they wanted the whole thing I suppose you could say it failed. It was a pretty ambitious project for that time and place. Love the content man. Keep it up.

[@joeb5316]

I agree. The fact the they did raise raise at least part of the sub from three miles under water is a magnificent achievement, even if the whole operation failed at large.

[@irondiver2034]

His hyperbolic total failure was disappointing. Although I am not a fan CIA , what they attempted was straight out of a James Bond novel. In the end they were able to recover a third to almost half the sub. Furthermore not everything from project Azorian has been declassified. The project was not a success but far from a failure.

[@allangibson2408]

The Glomar Explorers was also used for manganese nodules mining - in a weird case of the cover story becoming reality before being converted to a deep sea oil drilling ship.

[@benjamintowns9798]

Hook didn't snap the hull broke and a large piece dropped. There was a Nuke in that sub and the crew spent several moments wondering if it would detonate when it hit bottom.

[@PhilipFear]

@@benjamintowns9798 And we are told they only saved 10% of the sub.... But it is just as believable that it was 10% of the sub that dropped back to the bottom.... As the facts are, and will continue to be totally classified, "We the People" will never know how much sub they recovered and how much they lost..... One thing is certain.... Our knowledge of Soviet Subs increased SUBstantially after GE's mission was called off to be labeled a failure.... And the only thing that sunk the project was a politician who wouldn't allow for the expenditures to go through congress and leaked enough to the press to call attention to the activity in the area of a sunken Soviet Sub that may or may not have been in the process of lobbing a Nuke at Hawaii and rammed by one of our Subs that was following her.... Again, will never be unclassified.... But Isn't it FUNNY how the USSR never made their usual rants around such incidents at our government, and let it all blow over❓🤔❓ Just saying....❓🤔❗

[@DarthTelos]

It’s the English Channel btw. There is no British channel. Good video!

[@nopenotme6369]

The Glomar Explorer wasn’t a complete failure, look up operation Jennifer.

[@MrNicoJac]

0:28 No, I'm NOT wondering whether concrete is too heavy - steel sinks just like concrete does, after all.... And yet, steel ships (usually) float. What determines whether a ship floats is whether it displaces more weight in water than it weighs itself. So, as long as it is big enough and (mostly) filled with air, you can make the hull of the heaviest material in the universe 🙃

[@djkangal]

If the content is there, a Weirdest Ships In History Part 2 would DEFINITELY be welcome. Great stuff.

[@michaelgarrison688]

A guy in Brantford Ontario made a 40' boat from cement. This was about 1975. It costed him the same to have it transported to Lake Ontario than it did for him to make it. As he poured the cement into the wood form, he filled the inside of the boat to keep the cement cooled, so that it would not crack.

[@ant4812]

Where I am in Australia, ferro boats seem to have been quite fashionable projects back in the 70's. I remember 3 or 4 of them about town in people's yards. I know a bloke who owns one. Apparently many of those concrete yachts from the 70's are still around & doing fine.

[@jayztoob]

Oh, Rats! Water dissolves concrete. I guess my seawall is history. And what about my swimming pool? And all those bridges?

[@copuis]

ahem, the glomar wasnt a failure, yes, PART of the sub broke off, because ONE of the many lifting hooks failed, they still recovered a fair bit, (and one soviet service member that died in the sub, who was given a full and correct burial at sea)

[@davidschroeder3272]

Back in May of 1995 I participated in an oceanographic research cruise aboard Scripp's Institute New Horizon, which was a sister ship of our Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Oceanus. When we reached our operating area on the lee side of Santa Catalina island, there was the FLIP several miles distant conducting research in tandem with our ship. When we returned to the dock in San Diego the flip was moored alongside, and we were able to go on board. Because it could be oriented either vertically or horizontally, all the fixtures inside toilets, sinks, beds, etc were hinged so they would be oriented properly for whichever position the ship was in. The FLIP had no engine so had to be towed to the area where it was to be used.

[@154Kilroy]

Interesting video. I do want to point out in a hopefully less rude way than some others... that the picture of HMS Nubian used is the WW2 version of the Tribal class. But the other picture of Zulu is correct, and the original Nubian would've looked basically the same as it.

[@osgeld]

not getting something here, if concrete in sea water dissolves in a few years how is wreckage from an event 96 years ago still in plain sight with its thin shell...

[@MrNicoJac]

Migraines is what you'll get with critical thinking like that ;)

[@tiberiusgracchus4222]

Any video about weird ships should include at least one French pre-dreadnought battleship.

[@VICLIFE3DBL00H]

Glomar Explorer actually did recover a significant portion of the Soviet sub. They recovered human remains. The main portion they wanted broke off. There’s an excellent documentary on prime about the whole thing

[@greencat133]

dude you consistently have interesting content. thanks so much

[@FirstnameLastname-qc3xx]

Great job! I never realized the ship off the shore at cape may was made of cement haha.

[@whyjnot420]

Pykrete makes a lot more sense when you think of its use in the North Atlantic. Pretty cold water in general there (think about how tiny that engine was in the thousand ton testbed), also since it is just wood pulp & water, all you need is a supply of pulp, method of distilling fresh water and a method to freeze it. All of which are easy by WW2 tech standards. And you can repair it _ad infinitum_ even if it takes major damage. Considering that water and wood pulp are pretty damned easy to come across in North America, people really did take this stuff seriously during WW2. And tbh, it is pretty nifty.

[@davidpickens3117]

TOTALLY AWESOME

[@jamesholt7612]

Awesome video my friend.

[@MrNicoJac]

7:25 haha, USS Supply is not an 'uncreative' name - it's the Boaty McBoatFace of the past 😂👍🏼

[@allangibson2408]

The USS Supply was predated by the HMS Supply and that is commemorated by the HMAS Supply… All of them are logistics supply ships.

[@derpinbird1180]

My grandad just sold his yacht which is ferro-cement. They can last if they are built correctly, he built his in the 70s. It's slow as anything but he did build it in his backyard

[@diegosilang4823]

I read a book about ships and they have a chapter dedicated to "Freak ships". These freak ships are a vain attempt to deal with pitching and rolling issues. Freak ship #1 the Novgorod, a circular hulled ship, and it virtually eliminated the pitching issues, the drawback is lack of directional stability. Freak ship #2 is The Jointed Iron Steam Ship Connector, an articulated hull that contours into the waves. Freak ship #3 is a regular ship hull with a circular interior which remained level while the hull is rolling, unfortunately the mechanism was quick enough to counteract the rolling movement.

[@soknightsam]

What book is that? There's not much information available on the Connector just tons of prints for sale it'd be great to learn it's history

[@ibramgaunt8863]

The Hughes Glomar Explorer was a success it did raise the sub but because it was more damaged then they thought the sub snapped in half on the way up

[@rogerpenske2411]

The town of Quartzsite Arizona is one of the legendary places where camels allegedly roam freely. Camels were brought from the middle east to cross the desert prior to the construction of the railroad. It was quickly discovered that the camels only understood commands in Arabic. And a man who eventually came to be called Hi Jolly. The town has its emblem as the camel. Look this up on the Internet, it is quite interesting

[@kenneth9874]

The US army experimented with camels in the west

[@PortCharmers]

Know-it-all-alert! There were several tribal classes, with ships named after native people of a fearsome reputation. Ships of each class would be nearly indistinguishable for everybody except the most hardcore of ship geeks. However, the ship you show as Zulu is an example of the first tribal class of 1905, the class in service during WW 1. The ship shown as Nubian is of the class of 1936. Any shipyard would have a hard time fitting larger parts of these two together.

[@lucas2469bbw]

the ship that went to bring up the sub was half successful when the arm broke off it brought up half the sub.

[@Ratcher.]

there have been many boats made out of type of concrete made them for quite sometime a bunch of Japanese ones where just where found in japan after a volcano eruption moved the beach. was also popular in smaller boats before fiber glass became big

[@Roland14d]

Concrete Vessels, thought not common AFAIK, were not unusual 100 years ago. - BTW Lambot's 1848 vessel was a dingy (a very small boat), not a ship.

[@Tclans]

I think you give project Azorian not enough credit as it earns. Certainly it’s legacy in offshore and drilling progress is not to be forgotten.

[@michaelgarrison688]

The ship that tried to raise the sub succeeded to lift a portion 9f the sub that contained 3 nuclear Missiles.

[@maunladbalesandusedclothin3227]

another concrete ship is in the Philippines its called fort drum

[@mikethierry725]

Ok me again ,same guy with another slight connection to your history .indirectly this time . Where I was raised in my mom's family home town Santa Cruz / Capitola , can . Well anyways ,when I was a really lil boy about 5 I sure only because I had yet to start school but I digress . Well I used to get to go fishing on this old pier with my mom's dad .so grampa would only take me ,because I was the only kid that wouldn't complain ,tie my own hooks and bait them . Anyways me and grampa used to go fishing on this pier in Aptos .ca Just to the south of Capitola .beautiful well we went fishing at the pier that 1 of these cement boats that was and still is tied and moored to the end of that pier . It was significantly damaged from heavy NorCal winter storms thru out the yrs and I guess it's been really dam and barely if at all afloat to this day . My lil sister lives down the road at this time .Kool huh,anywho keep up the Kool history .thanx

[@aegisofhonor]

the hook almost worked, they got the sub about half way up before the line snapped. If they were just a little more lucky, they could have raised it just fine.

[@jakel2837]

"The ship was never seen again." Anyway, it was seen several times over the next few years.

[@pimpinaintdeadho]

@11:11 Wtf yall talking about? Hughes and the CIA not only recovered at least part of the Soviet sub, but also Soviet submariners. They actually sent the Soviets a video of the full military burial at sea for the Russian sailors.

[@leekronforst4589]

It's the two rivers Christmas tree ship.

[@frankdatank5002]

The cia ship did recover some of the sunken sub!! Rumor is they got classified Soviet docs etc. I wouldn’t call that a massive embarrassing failure….

[@MrNicoJac]

Typical English, not sharing their channel with their fellow countrymen 😆

[@simonmacarthur6808]

Sorry..not the British Channel..it is always called the English Channel

[@hallamhal]

If it was the rear of Zulu and the front of Nubian, they should have called it Nulu

[@larisael-netanany488]

Did you know the camel is also known as ‘desert ship’?

[@bobbyongsueco6515]

71st AUGUST 05 2022 10:17am Philippine time

[@user-mu5mi7ep2u]

the real "CONCRETE BATTLESHIP" titles goes to USS FORT DRUM

[@Karagianis]

0:10 ffs S.S. Atlantus wasn't a warship, it was a troop transport, and cargo carrier! Just because it was built in wartime doesn't make it a warship.

[@knutarneaakra6013]

Concrete too heavy to float? Steel or lead is mutch heavier. Gosh this must be made for playshool . Just lol all the way

[@Del_S]

But concrete is heavier than feathers.

[@MrNicoJac]

@@Del_S Even feathers sink if you wash the oil off with soap 🙄

[@Pianotech520]

Fun fact: it is illegal to hunt camels under Arizona law!

[@usedcarsokinawa]

You are clearly misinformed about concrete boats. There are many concrete ships sailing around the world for many years. Made properly, concrete ships are a great and cheap alternative to steel. Like steel, they need maintenance. Like you said, that wreck is still visible. If concrete dissolves in water, consider Hoover Dam and ports around the world.

[@Terinije]

There was a second great lakes aircraft carrier, and the Glomar Explorer hauled up half the sub and was able to gather pretty significant intelligence. Pretty poorly researched sections.

[@russdority6295]

The second ship was the USS Sable and was part of the navy not the army.

[@brianmassa8509]

Warship? Not hardly the concrete ship was for cargo not battle

[@kittredgeseely3542]

the Glomar Explorer was not a complete failure. Reread your history. It was not as successful as had been hoped for.

[@PhilipFear]

The Glomar Explorer was only considered a failure because her success IS still classified Above Top Secret and not allowed to be known outside of a few.... And those who crewed her are still subject to prison if they release what they know.... So your facts are invalid where this ship is concerned.... Just saying....

[@m26a1pershing7]

Uhhhh..... those pictures of the Zulu and Nubian are not remotely the same class of ship....both are of Tribal classes, but are of differing Tribal classes, one a four-stacker from WWI and the other from WWII....the differences are dramatic enough disappointing to find yet another scrip-reader channel who doesn't even check past the first google image, nor use basic common sense

[@Oldjongcrow416]

💪⬛👍

[@CB-fn3me]

Camels evolved in North America. Not in Africa.

[@mg.8144]

This has so many falsehoods it should be deleted!!! Shame on you guys for not even trying anymore…

[@112chapters3]

All I hear is history guy with a diff pitch

[@NormaDesmond1]

OMG It’s so ugly!

[@sadams12345678]

The Soviet submarine that the Glomar Explorer attempted to raise was a diesel-electric (not nuclear) ballistic missile submarine . en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-129_(1960)