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topkai22
My immediate reaction was “was the caterpillar drive in The Hunt for the Red October a pumpjet?”

Answer, no, that was a Magnetohydrodynamic drive. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamic_drive

Pretty cool though

CommieBobDole
It was a pumpjet in the book, MHD in the movie.
andrewflnr
IIRC it was actually vertically-oriented impellers in a tunnel, but yeah, this is close enough to Red October for purposes of geeking out.
swish_bob
I remember trying to create an MHD proof of concept in physics at school after reading the book, well before the movie was released. I thought it was inspired by the book ...
bloudermilk
There's a great video from one of my favorite YouTube channels about Magnetohydrodynamic drives. Really fascinating drive design and channel for anyone interested in engineering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS3GQk9ETRU

blackrock
That was a great video! I watched the entire thing. It was like applied theoretical physics in 30 minutes.
m463
Wow, it works for aircraft too.
duelingjello
Comrades, this is your captain. It is an honor to speak to you today, and I am honored to be sailing with you on the maiden voyage of our motherland's most recent achievement. Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary — The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage. It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets. Well, they will tremble again - at the sound of our silence. The order is: engage the silent drive.
tyingq
My mind went to a jet-ski, which I don't associate with stealth :) I suppose that's what drives the pump though, not the pump itself.
daveslash
That's where my mind went as well. Interestingly, the Independence Class littoral combat ships of the U.S. Navy are, essentially, "Giant Jet-Skis", powered by 2 water jets. They're super fast, super maneuverable, and super light-weight. Their design allows them to operate in as little as 15 feet of water, despite being over 400 ft long.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence-class_littoral_co...

ngcc_hk
Watch that movie until my family objected - not that again.