Hasta La Gadget!

An absolutely fascinating but little-known story—described as a "forgotten theater" by the U.S. Navy itself—is the tale of Kiska and Attu, Alaska: two remote Aleutian islands where the Japanese military established a submarine base during World War II.

Read more…

There is nothing cool about war in the real world, but I am a fan of movies and stories about what went on during WWII. I’ve seen more than a few movies that show submarines used in WWII. Honestly, I thought the Germans and their U-boats were the only subs. It turns out that the Japanese had a number of submarines too.

Close to the end of WWII, the Allies captured five submarines and brought them back to Pearl Harbor for inspection. One of the captured subs was a massive beast called the I-400. It was a Sen-Toku class sub rivaled is size only by modern nuclear submarines. The I-400 was 400 feet long and carried enough fuel to transverse the world 1.5 times before refueling.

After the war was over, Russia wanted access to the subs. With the cold war heating up, the US didn’t want to give Russia access to the tech inside the Japanese submarines and they scuttled the I-400 in 1946 – promptly forgetting where it was sunk. A group of researchers from the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) has been searching for the sunken subs for years and finally found the I-400 in off the coast of Hawaii. The discovery was made in shallower water than expected last August, but was just announced this week. Check out the video footage below to see their first sighting of the sub:

“The I-400 has been on our ‘to-find’ list for some time,” said veteran undersea explorer Terry Kerby, who led the expedition that found the submarine. “It was the first of its kind of only three built, so it is a unique and very historic submarine.”

[via Fox News]

The tenth James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me will forever stand out as the movie that had the submarine car in it. Now you can own part of pop culture history: RM Auctions will be putting the bizarre underwater vehicle up for grabs this September. If you’re more of a Transformers fan, think of it as an Autobot that only has alternate modes. Eh? Eh? Sold you with that bit didn’t I?

The submarine was based on the 1976 Lotus Esprit, which was Bond’s signature ride in The Spy Who Loved Me. Apparently the prop makers built different models for the famous transformation scene, which you’ll see in the video below courtesy of YouTuber Maccastreisfan.

RM Auctions will be selling the fully transformed submarine model. According to Lotus Esprit World, the submarine has four fixed fins and four propellers with steering vanes. Apparently it even shoots projectiles. So yeah, it’s a real working sub. The downside? It barely works. It has no brakes and has horrible visibility because its windows are sealed. Obviously it doesn’t transform into a car, much less a Lotus Esprit.

Of course moviegoers didn’t care that the sub was actually a lemon. The movie did very well and Lotus made bank off of the publicity. According to BBC, RM Auctions estimates that the car will fetch around $760,000 (USD). Expensive. Too expensive. Especially when you can get an Esprit that actually drives for about 8% of that.

[via Werd, Lotus Esprit World & BBC]

Sure, you could use an ROV to feel like a regular Jacques Cousteau (or James Cameron, for that matter), but nothing beats the real deal: a personal submarine. UK department store Harrods used its Technology Showcase 2.0 event to highlight a mockup of Spymaster’s Orcasub: a made-to-order $2 million submarine that can drop up to 2,000 feet into the briny depths. A total of two passengers can climb aboard the 4-ton, 22 foot-long submersible thanks to a pair of 360-degree domes that offer 80 hours of life support for each occupant. The battery-powered sub is piloted by using two foot pedals and a joystick, and handles somewhat like an aircraft since it was built with the principles of flight in mind.

Orcasub comes outfitted with sonar for collision avoidance, a digital long-range communications system and a 60,000 lumen LED lighting rig. What you see above is just a miniature, but Spymaster is taking orders for the real, full-size McCoy. In fact, folks who’d like to dive deeper can put in a request for pricier models, with the most expensive version nabbing explorers a maximum depth of 6,000 feet for a cool $9.32 million. If you ask us, this sounds like a perfect escape vehicle for any luxury yacht worth its salt. Hit the source link for Pocket-lint’s photo gallery of the craft.

Filed under: Misc

Comments

Source: Pocket-lint

So your neighbor thinks that he is the bomb with the latest waterproof camcorder from JVC? Well, you can invite him over to the riverside (make sure it is not one that is polluted to the extreme), and ask him to record whatever’s going on underwater. He will most probably look at you incredulously, wondering what kind of one upmanship game you’re playing with him, before you put him in his place with the $6,300 Submarine Camcorder.

Yes sir, the Submarine Camcorder certainly lives up to its name, being a remote operated submarine which is capable of sending live video to an iPad from 100′ underwater. It is perfect for those who want to view marine life or inspecting a boat below the waterline, without having to get wet themselves. The sub itself will be tethered to its receiver on deck with a 100′ video cable, and communications are done via the receiver over a Wi-Fi connection, and you will control it with an app that has been installed onto your iPad or notebook remotely. The virtual dashboard will comprise of a joystick, camera controls, and will show off current depth, heading, battery level, and temperature data, all garnered from the sub’s integrated sensors. It boasts of a marine-grade, hydrodynamic ABS housing that delivers a watertight seal in order to protect the included HD video camera that does 1280 x 720 resolution footage.

[ Submarine Camcorder explores the depths on your behalf copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]