Absolutely mind boggling that this technology was pre WW1 . I got a chance to tour the German U-boat on display in Chicago IL as well as an American sub from WW2 in Manitowoc WI. What struck me was the amount of wood used in the U-boat for cabinets and other fixtures while the American sub was mostly all metal. You could still smell the diesel!
Thank you for the tour. I was 9 years old, in 1956, when my father brought my brother and I for a tour of this amazing museum, when we lived in Perlacher Forst. (U.S. Army kinder.) I loved the experience. (Yes- I paused to read all.)
Fascinating! And yes, I paused to read all the info. I had always wondered how nautical miles were derived. Incidentally, the United States actually is a metric country; it's just that most Americans aren't aware of it. The metric standards were officially adopted as the standard measurement units of the US in 1893, and the definitions of American customary units of inch, pound and so on have been based on metric units since then. The Deutsches Museum looks amazing. I hope to visit it someday. I was lucky enough to spend several hours at the Technik Museum in Speyer a few years ago. Wow.
Typo Correction: One fathom is 1/1000 Mile, not 1/100. And I knew that US Units are based on Metric, but thought it was since 90 odd Years and not 130. Better wait with visiting the Deutsches Museum, half of it is currently closed for Renovations. Almost all of it wasn't changed since the 1980ies (and simetimes even longer). The Renovation is done in two Steps, to always keep half the Museum open. The first half was closed for Renovations, scheduled to take two Years. A few Weeks ago, the Museum was completely open for three Days after said first half was completed 5 Years behind Schedule. The second Half just started and is scheduled at five Years, but we all know how these Things go in Germany.
There's a Typo though. One Fathom is 1/1000 Mile, not 1/100. That Zero slipped into another Video, where I was off by the Factor 10 again when converting bar to PSI.
When you see these things you can't help but marvel at the fact that this was designed and built in 1905. Also that it worked for many years as a test bed for German undersea technology, which explains why they became so good at it in WW1 & WW2. The main reason for scrapping I read was because of a collision that damaged it beyond repair.
yes, paused to read the info on Knots . . . dident realise that - interesting. Lovely engineering for a 110+ year old submarine, fantastic. I have a 100+ year old motorcycle . . . still has some WW1 paint on its toolbox! Nice video, thx.
There isn't any Steam Turbine there, just two Kerosene Engines and two Electric Motors. And it's tiny, you can watch some of my other Videos to see what a sizeable Engine Room is.
I already forgot I put that one in anyway. Steam Turbine Rooms on Freight Ships can that massive because Turbines are nowhere nearly as high as Diesel Engines but the Hull still is the same Size. It's a way different story on Passenger or Military Ships tho.
Early American submarines used gasoline engines. When the sub would surface, the crew were like drunk men until the fresh air came in, the they had pounding headaches. Yet they were used for some years in the early 1900’s.
@@Genius_at_Work Ahhh, I missed that error (and I have a 60T limited Masters licence!!). Here in Canada we officially switched to the metric system in 1975 but due to American influence we have kids two generations later still spouting the Imperial system! I'm 65 and use both interchangeably.
I've got the unlimited Engineer License since a couple of Days, but had some Basic Marine Training first (called Ship Mechanic, a Job that exists in Germany only) first, which covers both Deck and Engine Department. Hence I'm fairly familiar in Navigation as well, at least on a Watchkeeping Assistant Level. Imperial Units depend on what they're for. I'm quite fluent with Length Units and PSI (although I always forget which Letters to capitalise there lol), but squared and cubic Units for Area/Volume confuse me a bit and Fahrenheit makes no Sense at all (Kelvin ftw anyway).
Well it's blatantly obvious If you know how much these are. Except there are various Definitions, just like for Shackles. But the 1/10 or 1/1000 NM (Typo in the Video) are the most common ones.
Yes I paused to read the information. Very instructive, wonderful! Ja ich habe alle commentare gelesen. Sehr vielen Dank fuer's uploaden!! Bernhard aus den USA
2:00 was never meant for torpedos. The types of torpedos on display make it even more obvious. 1:25. Notice the batteries. These and this setup coincides perfectly with known weapon system. Also lines up wuth the patents that have been discussed in the Flrim.
Nowhere. These are Kerosene Engines, as I said 2-3 Times during the Video. There have been a few Attempts at Steam Submarines (with Boilers; every Nuclear Submarine runs on Steam) which all were different Grades of Rubbish but IIRC only one of them had Coal-fired Boilers and the others all burnt Bunker Oil.
In this Case here, not much. Petroleum-fueled Otto Engines only were a short-lived Oddity until Diesel Engines became small enough to fit into a Submarine and, except for Opposed Piston Engines like the Fairbanks-Morse-Engines of many American Submarines, all these Engines later were Four Strokes. I don't have Data on hand right now, but I'm fairly sure that Things like Piston Speed and Mean Effective Pressure increased a lot in the first Years of Diesel Engine Development as well. In Terms of the entire Engine Room, all that exposed Wiring looks completely insane and that was rapidly imrpoved for very obvious Safety Reasons.
Pretty much all modern Frigates are Gas Turbine powered to some Extent, usually combined with Diesel Engines in a CODAG or CODOG Configuration. CODAG is Combined Diesel and Gas Turbine, CODOG Combined Diesel or Gas Turbine. The Idea behind both is to use Fuel efficient Diesel Engines for Cruising, while Gas Turbines can get the Ships to Top Speed. CODOG means that the Ship is powered exclusively by Gas Turbines at Top Speed, and the Diesel Engines are just "Dead Weight" being hauled around. CODAG fixes that by still using Diesels at Top Speed additionally to the Gas Turbines, but requires complicated Gearboxes and Clutches to combine the very different Power Ratings and Torque Characteristics of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines. These Diagrams show how complicated a CODAG Plant is compared to CODOG: CODOG: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/CODOG-Antrieb#/media/Datei:CODOG-diagram.png CODAG: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/CODAG-Antrieb#/media/Datei:CODAG-diagram.svg It's worth saying that CODOG looks disproportionately more simple there, as the Diagram shows a Ship with one Propeller only. All Frigates and pretty much any other Naval Vessel (except Submarines) that I know of have at least twp Propellers.
The open Contacts in the Electric Room are completely insane by modern Standards. Modern Ships require strong Handlebars at the Switchboard to hold onto if the Ship is rolling, back then the Switchboard was completely open so it's Bad Luck if you fall onto it in rough Weather. This makes the infamous "1970ies Safety Standards" look paranoid in Comparison.
@@NukingBeast That's 1906 for you, and didn't change much for the next 50-60 Years. Refusing Earmuffs still is fairly common among older Seamen, who started their Carreer in the 1970ies. Older Ships were much quieter than modern ones though, as the Engines weren't turbocharges as much or even not at all.
@@Genius_at_Work speaking of safety, you touched on the dangers of gasoline engines in an enclosed space, and why they were no longer used. Gasoline engines are still the most common engines found in the US for small fishing and pleasure boats. Even after as many years as we have known about explosive gasoline vapors, every year there are those impatient idiots who ignore that switch labeled "VENTILATE ENGINE COMPARTMENT FOR 3 MINUTES BEFORE STARTING ENGINE". The really lucky ones escape injury and simply watch their engine cover go sailing into the air. The merely lucky ones get blown overboard and watch their boat burn to the waterline. The somewhat unlucky ones live just long enough to realize their error. The REALLY unlucky ones survive but look like that piece of meat that fell through the BBQ grill. The sad thing is that the idiots generally detonate their boat while docked at the marina with a bunch of of other gasoline-powered boats, resulting in the loss of part of the marina. Sorry if too graphic. Hopefully it was just graphic enough that somebody will have a flashback to it while contemplating that "Engine Compartment Fan" switch on the dash of their new boat...
@@kevincrosby1760 Nah, I'm good. The extended First Aid Training that I've had while studying Marine Engineering had some very Graphic Pictures of Accidents with heavy Machinery. Anyway, at least the Fan Motor must be Explosion-proof then? If private Boats are like Cars in that Regard, I wouldn't put too much Trust in Explosion-proof Electrics being properly maintained though. Little Edit: I almost forgot that there's something similar about Oil-fired Boilers. They must be thoroughly ventilated before Lighting, because there may be Oil Vapours inside that would explode from the Burner Ignition Spark. The Ventilation Time depends on the Boiler Size, but the Boilers I work with are more of a Tea Kettle, so it takes less than three Minutes.
"SM" isn't a Type, it's an Abbreviation for "Seiner Majestät" or "His Majesty". This Submarine didn't belong to any Type anyway, as it was only a Prototype and only one like it was built.
It's fairly simple. Nautical Miles are defined as 1/60 Distance of one Degree Latitude. This means, sailing at 60 Nautical Miles per Hour (aka Knots; 60 Knots would have to be a Hovercraft or pretty fucking fast High Speed Ferry) exactly north- or southbound means that you will cover one Degree Latitude per Hour. This works for Latitude only, as every Degree Latitude has the same Distance of 111.11 Kilometres (65-ish Imperial Miles), while the Distance of one Degree Longitude is 111.11 Kilometres at the Equator too but goes down to zero at the Poles. Cable and Fathom just are Fractions of a Nautical Mile, but I made a Typo about Fathoms: a Fathom is 1/1000 Nautical Mile, not 1/100. The whole Point why I included thi is that Nautical Miles are a very logical Unit, unlike Imperial Miles which is just a random Number. Metres seem pretty random at first as well; originally the Metre was defined as 1/40,000,000 of the Equatorial Circumference of the Earth, but Measurement Technology has improved since the 1790s, showing that the Equatorial Circumference actually is 43,000 Kilometres. Today, the Metre is defined as 1/300,000,000-ish of the Distance covered in one Second by the Speed of Light in Vacuum. That seems pretty random too, but the Metre is well-related with other Metric Units. There is that Joke about Metre, Litre, Kilogramm, °C (although under the Name Kelvin, which has a different Zero Point), Newton, Kilowatt and Mol being directly relatable, while in America the Answer to that Calculation would be just "Fuck off!" because doing it with Imperial Units would be a Pain in the Ass.
Little Typo Correction: One Fathom is 1/1000 Nautical Mile. I should have triple-checked the Text before uploading as that twice went by unnoticed. There is a "Two Fathom Bakn" in the Malakka Strait which literally is only 3.7 m deep though.
Firstly nautical distances are neither metric nor imperial. They are neither & both at the same time.... People have been dividing a circle into 360° since the Ancient world. They did so because the ancients counted 360 days in a year and whacked in an extra month every few years to make up the odd. Why you ask? Because they used to do arithmetic by pointing at their knuckles with their thumb, meaning they could count to 12 on one hand, (we weirdly still teach up to 12 times tables in primary schools for this reason). So there is nothing metric about 360° in a circle because it was designed to be divisible by 12, not 10 as per metric. Also fathoms, cables & miles have varied throughout history as the correct size of the Earth has been calculated & re-calculated. A fathom is generally taken to be 6 feet or 1.8m (the height of a man). How much more arbitrary/imperial can you get? Secondly, a truly metric system would use radians & parsecs because PI & the speed of light are the only constants the little green men would understand. However, we all know that would be useless for navigating on Earth because PI is not a rational number & NORTH would never be in the same place twice!?!? On the subject of cardinal points; they have also been used since antiquity & there are 32 in a circle, meaning a point is 11.25° which also happens to be the width of your clenched fist when held at arms length up to the horizon, (not a coincidence either). What the heck is metric about that? I am not arguing for/against metric/imperial but to use space travel to prove your point is a straw man. You might as well argue that it is better to use Euros to pay your parking fine in Alpha Centauri rather than Pounds, Shillings & Pence as any Earth based measurement becomes entirely arbitrary in space.... Also, the whole lot has to be converted into binary for machines to be able to understand it in any case. Therefore neither metric nor imperial are "BETTER" for space travel. The error lies in humans not reaching a clear understanding before they go out and do stuff.... I rest my case ;)
I don't agree with RUclips hiding Dislikes. 342 Likes, 13 Dislikes, 2022-08-28. Just so you know what to expect from the Video.
I agree with you ! Thank You for posting the stats!!
Subbed
Remarkable engineering considering that the submarine is over 115 years old! Thanks for a most interesting tour!
But sharing beds with 4 people on each bed`?
Absolutely mind boggling that this technology was pre WW1 . I got a chance to tour the German U-boat on display in Chicago IL as well as an American sub from WW2 in Manitowoc WI. What struck me was the amount of wood used in the U-boat for cabinets and other fixtures while the American sub was mostly all metal. You could still smell the diesel!
Thank you for the tour. I was 9 years old, in 1956, when my father brought my brother and I for a tour of this amazing museum, when we lived in Perlacher Forst. (U.S. Army kinder.) I loved the experience. (Yes- I paused to read all.)
Fascinating! And yes, I paused to read all the info. I had always wondered how nautical miles were derived.
Incidentally, the United States actually is a metric country; it's just that most Americans aren't aware of it. The metric standards were officially adopted as the standard measurement units of the US in 1893, and the definitions of American customary units of inch, pound and so on have been based on metric units since then.
The Deutsches Museum looks amazing. I hope to visit it someday. I was lucky enough to spend several hours at the Technik Museum in Speyer a few years ago. Wow.
Typo Correction: One fathom is 1/1000 Mile, not 1/100. And I knew that US Units are based on Metric, but thought it was since 90 odd Years and not 130.
Better wait with visiting the Deutsches Museum, half of it is currently closed for Renovations. Almost all of it wasn't changed since the 1980ies (and simetimes even longer). The Renovation is done in two Steps, to always keep half the Museum open. The first half was closed for Renovations, scheduled to take two Years. A few Weeks ago, the Museum was completely open for three Days after said first half was completed 5 Years behind Schedule. The second Half just started and is scheduled at five Years, but we all know how these Things go in Germany.
Paused it. That is the best explanation of a knot that I have heard. Thank you!
There's a Typo though. One Fathom is 1/1000 Mile, not 1/100. That Zero slipped into another Video, where I was off by the Factor 10 again when converting bar to PSI.
Same here. Cables? Sha kles? 40yrs around boats and water on the Chesapeake never heard those 2.
that was a great report on that old U-Boat. It was well-engineered for the time,
When you see these things you can't help but marvel at the fact that this was designed and built in 1905. Also that it worked for many years as a test bed for German undersea technology, which explains why they became so good at it in WW1 & WW2. The main reason for scrapping I read was because of a collision that damaged it beyond repair.
Very hard to find info on these old beauties, thank you!
yes, paused to read the info on Knots . . . dident realise that - interesting. Lovely engineering for a 110+ year old submarine, fantastic. I have a 100+ year old motorcycle . . . still has some WW1 paint on its toolbox! Nice video, thx.
Of course I paused the video and read the interesting fact about the nautical mile!
🙏Thanks and 👋greetings bibia.
I paused and read about nautical distances. Thank you for the information.
Typo in there: A Fathom is 1.85 Meters, and thus 1/1000 Nautical Miles
That steam turbine room looks huge!
There isn't any Steam Turbine there, just two Kerosene Engines and two Electric Motors. And it's tiny, you can watch some of my other Videos to see what a sizeable Engine Room is.
@@Genius_at_Work I was talking about the turbine exhibit at 0:14. I should have probably been more specific
I already forgot I put that one in anyway. Steam Turbine Rooms on Freight Ships can that massive because Turbines are nowhere nearly as high as Diesel Engines but the Hull still is the same Size. It's a way different story on Passenger or Military Ships tho.
Early American submarines used gasoline engines. When the sub would surface, the crew were like drunk men until the fresh air came in, the they had pounding headaches. Yet they were used for some years in the early 1900’s.
So beautiful.
Thanks for the video buddy !😎
At 2:30 I paused. Great video, thank you.
Typo Correction: A Fathom is 1/1000 Nautical Mile, not 1/100.
@@Genius_at_Work Ahhh, I missed that error (and I have a 60T limited Masters licence!!).
Here in Canada we officially switched to the metric system in 1975 but due to American influence we have kids two generations later still spouting the Imperial system! I'm 65 and use both interchangeably.
I've got the unlimited Engineer License since a couple of Days, but had some Basic Marine Training first (called Ship Mechanic, a Job that exists in Germany only) first, which covers both Deck and Engine Department. Hence I'm fairly familiar in Navigation as well, at least on a Watchkeeping Assistant Level.
Imperial Units depend on what they're for. I'm quite fluent with Length Units and PSI (although I always forget which Letters to capitalise there lol), but squared and cubic Units for Area/Volume confuse me a bit and Fahrenheit makes no Sense at all (Kelvin ftw anyway).
It was the terror of the seas in 1906 because it was the only submarine in 1906!
The first "modern" Submarines came up in the 1880s but anyway
Ich habe das Video zum Lesen angehalten
of course i read the whole thing. i didn't realize cables and fathoms where subdivisions of NM.
Well it's blatantly obvious If you know how much these are. Except there are various Definitions, just like for Shackles. But the 1/10 or 1/1000 NM (Typo in the Video) are the most common ones.
Yes I paused to read the information. Very instructive, wonderful!
Ja ich habe alle commentare gelesen. Sehr vielen Dank fuer's uploaden!!
Bernhard aus den USA
2:00 was never meant for torpedos. The types of torpedos on display make it even more obvious.
1:25. Notice the batteries. These and this setup coincides perfectly with known weapon system. Also lines up wuth the patents that have been discussed in the Flrim.
Thank you for the.
great video, if anyone knows about other submersibles from around the time of world war 1 that have been preserved i would love to know.
Where do you put the coal in those engines?
Nowhere. These are Kerosene Engines, as I said 2-3 Times during the Video. There have been a few Attempts at Steam Submarines (with Boilers; every Nuclear Submarine runs on Steam) which all were different Grades of Rubbish but IIRC only one of them had Coal-fired Boilers and the others all burnt Bunker Oil.
@@Genius_at_Work Why didn’t big ships use this so called kerosine.
@@iwanaGoFast2010 Because diesel engines are a lot more efficient and kerosene is a lot more poisonous.
@@iwanaGoFast2010 🤣🤣🤣
I paused and read all this.
its called a planetary gear box in english too.
It’s called galaxy gears in Mexican.
Read all of the knot caption.
I paused to read all of that, very logical..🙃
how much in common is there between a ww1 u boat engine and a ww2 u boat engine great video
In this Case here, not much. Petroleum-fueled Otto Engines only were a short-lived Oddity until Diesel Engines became small enough to fit into a Submarine and, except for Opposed Piston Engines like the Fairbanks-Morse-Engines of many American Submarines, all these Engines later were Four Strokes. I don't have Data on hand right now, but I'm fairly sure that Things like Piston Speed and Mean Effective Pressure increased a lot in the first Years of Diesel Engine Development as well. In Terms of the entire Engine Room, all that exposed Wiring looks completely insane and that was rapidly imrpoved for very obvious Safety Reasons.
I believe British Type 21 Frigate was gas turbine powered
Pretty much all modern Frigates are Gas Turbine powered to some Extent, usually combined with Diesel Engines in a CODAG or CODOG Configuration. CODAG is Combined Diesel and Gas Turbine, CODOG Combined Diesel or Gas Turbine. The Idea behind both is to use Fuel efficient Diesel Engines for Cruising, while Gas Turbines can get the Ships to Top Speed. CODOG means that the Ship is powered exclusively by Gas Turbines at Top Speed, and the Diesel Engines are just "Dead Weight" being hauled around. CODAG fixes that by still using Diesels at Top Speed additionally to the Gas Turbines, but requires complicated Gearboxes and Clutches to combine the very different Power Ratings and Torque Characteristics of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines.
These Diagrams show how complicated a CODAG Plant is compared to CODOG:
CODOG: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/CODOG-Antrieb#/media/Datei:CODOG-diagram.png
CODAG: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/CODAG-Antrieb#/media/Datei:CODAG-diagram.svg
It's worth saying that CODOG looks disproportionately more simple there, as the Diagram shows a Ship with one Propeller only. All Frigates and pretty much any other Naval Vessel (except Submarines) that I know of have at least twp Propellers.
@@Genius_at_Work thank you
11:45. They used the lakes. Under ground water ways. There are man places to surface
Modern day examples that are well known would be the Nevada submarine bases.
Must be like Weddigen's Sub
It is very dangerous for the crew too
The open Contacts in the Electric Room are completely insane by modern Standards. Modern Ships require strong Handlebars at the Switchboard to hold onto if the Ship is rolling, back then the Switchboard was completely open so it's Bad Luck if you fall onto it in rough Weather. This makes the infamous "1970ies Safety Standards" look paranoid in Comparison.
@@Genius_at_Work yep and the sound of the engine Makes you deaf
@@NukingBeast That's 1906 for you, and didn't change much for the next 50-60 Years. Refusing Earmuffs still is fairly common among older Seamen, who started their Carreer in the 1970ies. Older Ships were much quieter than modern ones though, as the Engines weren't turbocharges as much or even not at all.
@@Genius_at_Work speaking of safety, you touched on the dangers of gasoline engines in an enclosed space, and why they were no longer used.
Gasoline engines are still the most common engines found in the US for small fishing and pleasure boats. Even after as many years as we have known about explosive gasoline vapors, every year there are those impatient idiots who ignore that switch labeled "VENTILATE ENGINE COMPARTMENT FOR 3 MINUTES BEFORE STARTING ENGINE". The really lucky ones escape injury and simply watch their engine cover go sailing into the air. The merely lucky ones get blown overboard and watch their boat burn to the waterline. The somewhat unlucky ones live just long enough to realize their error. The REALLY unlucky ones survive but look like that piece of meat that fell through the BBQ grill. The sad thing is that the idiots generally detonate their boat while docked at the marina with a bunch of of other gasoline-powered boats, resulting in the loss of part of the marina.
Sorry if too graphic. Hopefully it was just graphic enough that somebody will have a flashback to it while contemplating that "Engine Compartment Fan" switch on the dash of their new boat...
@@kevincrosby1760 Nah, I'm good. The extended First Aid Training that I've had while studying Marine Engineering had some very Graphic Pictures of Accidents with heavy Machinery.
Anyway, at least the Fan Motor must be Explosion-proof then? If private Boats are like Cars in that Regard, I wouldn't put too much Trust in Explosion-proof Electrics being properly maintained though.
Little Edit: I almost forgot that there's something similar about Oil-fired Boilers. They must be thoroughly ventilated before Lighting, because there may be Oil Vapours inside that would explode from the Burner Ignition Spark. The Ventilation Time depends on the Boiler Size, but the Boilers I work with are more of a Tea Kettle, so it takes less than three Minutes.
El tipo sm el clase que ami me gusta de los demás tipos de Alemania
"SM" isn't a Type, it's an Abbreviation for "Seiner Majestät" or "His Majesty". This Submarine didn't belong to any Type anyway, as it was only a Prototype and only one like it was built.
paused to read but still don't get it hahah`a
It's fairly simple. Nautical Miles are defined as 1/60 Distance of one Degree Latitude. This means, sailing at 60 Nautical Miles per Hour (aka Knots; 60 Knots would have to be a Hovercraft or pretty fucking fast High Speed Ferry) exactly north- or southbound means that you will cover one Degree Latitude per Hour. This works for Latitude only, as every Degree Latitude has the same Distance of 111.11 Kilometres (65-ish Imperial Miles), while the Distance of one Degree Longitude is 111.11 Kilometres at the Equator too but goes down to zero at the Poles. Cable and Fathom just are Fractions of a Nautical Mile, but I made a Typo about Fathoms: a Fathom is 1/1000 Nautical Mile, not 1/100.
The whole Point why I included thi is that Nautical Miles are a very logical Unit, unlike Imperial Miles which is just a random Number. Metres seem pretty random at first as well; originally the Metre was defined as 1/40,000,000 of the Equatorial Circumference of the Earth, but Measurement Technology has improved since the 1790s, showing that the Equatorial Circumference actually is 43,000 Kilometres. Today, the Metre is defined as 1/300,000,000-ish of the Distance covered in one Second by the Speed of Light in Vacuum. That seems pretty random too, but the Metre is well-related with other Metric Units. There is that Joke about Metre, Litre, Kilogramm, °C (although under the Name Kelvin, which has a different Zero Point), Newton, Kilowatt and Mol being directly relatable, while in America the Answer to that Calculation would be just "Fuck off!" because doing it with Imperial Units would be a Pain in the Ass.
yes, i stopped and read all:)
Little Typo Correction: One Fathom is 1/1000 Nautical Mile. I should have triple-checked the Text before uploading as that twice went by unnoticed.
There is a "Two Fathom Bakn" in the Malakka Strait which literally is only 3.7 m deep though.
Firstly nautical distances are neither metric nor imperial. They are neither & both at the same time....
People have been dividing a circle into 360° since the Ancient world. They did so because the ancients counted 360 days in a year and whacked in an extra month every few years to make up the odd.
Why you ask? Because they used to do arithmetic by pointing at their knuckles with their thumb, meaning they could count to 12 on one hand, (we weirdly still teach up to 12 times tables in primary schools for this reason). So there is nothing metric about 360° in a circle because it was designed to be divisible by 12, not 10 as per metric.
Also fathoms, cables & miles have varied throughout history as the correct size of the Earth has been calculated & re-calculated. A fathom is generally taken to be 6 feet or 1.8m (the height of a man). How much more arbitrary/imperial can you get?
Secondly, a truly metric system would use radians & parsecs because PI & the speed of light are the only constants the little green men would understand. However, we all know that would be useless for navigating on Earth because PI is not a rational number & NORTH would never be in the same place twice!?!?
On the subject of cardinal points; they have also been used since antiquity & there are 32 in a circle, meaning a point is 11.25° which also happens to be the width of your clenched fist when held at arms length up to the horizon, (not a coincidence either). What the heck is metric about that?
I am not arguing for/against metric/imperial but to use space travel to prove your point is a straw man. You might as well argue that it is better to use Euros to pay your parking fine in Alpha Centauri rather than Pounds, Shillings & Pence as any Earth based measurement becomes entirely arbitrary in space....
Also, the whole lot has to be converted into binary for machines to be able to understand it in any case.
Therefore neither metric nor imperial are "BETTER" for space travel. The error lies in humans not reaching a clear understanding before they go out and do stuff....
I rest my case ;)
Other than that, it is an excellent video ;)
Liked & subscribed.
Thanks
I paused to read.
I paused