this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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Today I Learned

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Warping is throwing an anchor either manually for a small ship or by rowing the anchor out and dropping it farther away for a larger ship. Then the ship would reel it to change position. Good for maneuvering in harbor. Etymologically related to "throwing" and essentially threading a needle across the sea.

Warp factor get you asses in the rowboat. Engage.

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[–] LesserAbe 62 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Would love to hear an expert talk be about this more. It's an interesting idea, but seems like it would be limited in usefulness to small adjustments.

[–] roguetrick 65 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I stumbled on it when figuring out just how the hell tall ships docked and undocked without tugs. Turns out they did use tugs in the form of rowboats but they also extensively used shoreside rigging and warping.

Edit: and I should add, they very rarely actually docked in the first place because it was such a pain in the ass, so they used tenders instead mostly

[–] themeatbridge 37 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This also bugs me in movies whenever someone is kicked off the boat, but they're given a small rowboat and some provisions. Like, that wasn't an extra boat. It serves a purpose on the ship, and everything that takes up space on a boat is precious. A "spare" rowboat could be the difference between life and a horrible death. It could be months before they find a port where they can buy a replacement rowboat.

[–] essell 19 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I guess it would be valuable in shallow water, less useful in the deep ocean, and overall better than being stuck in one place!

[–] RoyalEngineering 9 points 4 months ago

Yeah me too. I tried searching around but it's hard to find something that's not sci-fi related about this topic. It might also be called "kledging" from what I read, but not sure if that's the exact same thing.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Have to admit, after reading the title I double checked the community for 'onion'!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Prepare to travel by warp."

"Captain, that will set us back days!"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

something-something dimensional anchor

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Commencing the naval operation by tooting my Warp Whistle

[–] roguetrick 2 points 4 months ago

Thank you Boatswain Underpants. Keep up the good work.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Pipe lay (etc) anchor barges do this today.
There are usually six to 8 anchor winches on the vessel. A tug comes to the barge, picks up the anchor and moves it out to some point while the winch unreels. Repeat for other anchors. Winch in to move the vessel.
This is used for precision movement/placement of the barge.
Many vessels use azipods and Dynamic Positioning System (DPS) these days.
But before DPS much of offshore infrastructure was placed by anchor barges.

[–] roguetrick 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Those vessels have truly advanced warp drives.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Depends on the quality of the dilithium crystals..

[–] gedaliyah 26 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago

I’ve been kedging for hours and I still don’t think I’m close

Imagine actually moving like this. “Here little ship, take our anchor, we can move another 100 meters and only have to repeat a million times”

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

Sounds like a lot of work. I have no idea how heavy a ship's anchor is, but I imagine it would be hard to throw any significant distance.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (5 children)

How does one "throw" an anchor tho

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Just have 26 STR and 9 DEX.

[–] roguetrick 5 points 4 months ago

Try piercing but hole.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

A very strong Scottish guy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

simply put it into a canon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Does one simply throw a boat anchor with a cannon??

[–] roguetrick 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

We'll just use a howitzer to launch the ring into mount doom.

[–] Beldarofremulak 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I would definitely like to see a ship propel itself using a trebuchet and a windlass. Not enough to try building one, but still.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Doesn't this defy the laws of physics?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

A trebuchet primarily transforms downward motion (of the counterweight) into forward motion, so it would actually work - the trebuchet doesn't push the ship back as much as it pushes its load forward. This is particularly so if your trebuchet has wheels and you have room on your ship to accommodate it rocking back and forth when firing.

Edit: Thinking about it this technique would work even with something that does impart equal backwards force on the ship when firing a projectile, because there is considerably more force involved in winching the ship towards the anchor than what is involved in actually moving the anchor. You aren't pulling against the inertia of a free floating anchor after all, you're pulling against the ground the anchor has hooked into.

[–] roguetrick 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not only that, you're using the friction between the anchor and the seafloor, so even the recoil of a propulsive ballista will allow you to perform work.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Indeed, I just realised that point - the force of propelling the anchor is tiny compared to what you can exert on the ship once the anchor is hooked.

[–] roguetrick 3 points 4 months ago

I've got a really wild idea: what if you change the shape of the anchor so that it's actually getting resistance against the water itself instead of having to hit the sea floor. You'll have to pull it out if the water once you're done moving it and then drop it in again. Maybe put it on the end of a big stick. I'm thinking about calling this type of anchor an "oar."

[–] roguetrick 2 points 4 months ago

I bet you could get a bunch of money for a CGI prototype of your new green cargo ship.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

i would presume that would be what one is to do. It seems the logical solution here.

[–] victorz 3 points 4 months ago

If you do it in water it's not as heavy.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

The rope attached to the anchor chain is called the "warp". Hence warping.

[–] SkybreakerEngineer 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But where did they get the dilithium?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Two lithium rocks

[–] perviouslyiner 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

This is something to propose for Wikipedia's April 1st front page...

[–] Etterra 6 points 4 months ago

I'm a little sad that I didn't get to see the HMS Enterprise with warp nacelles.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Wait till he hears about looms!

[–] roguetrick 6 points 4 months ago

Hey warp and weft is why I mentioned threading a needle across the sea.