this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
228 points (99.1% liked)

Comic Strips

18656 readers
1832 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] otter@lemmy.ca 40 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I had to look this one up, I didn't realize how old the technology was

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor

A Flettner rotor is a smooth cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis and, as air passes at right angles across it, the Magnus effect causes an aerodynamic force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the long axis and the direction of airflow.[1] The rotor sail is named after the German aviation engineer and inventor Anton Flettner, who started developing the rotor sail in the 1920s.

A black and white photo of a small ship with two large pillar shaped rotors extending upwards from the deck

The Buckau, the Flettner Rotor Ship, photographed in 1924

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

if you have two fletner rotors, you can attach two lights and and a giant face statue to it and make people really regret that bottle of rum.

[–] cerement@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

Master Control Program!

[–] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 weeks ago

I saw a short documentary about them. They lost attractivity when fuel was cheap