Lions Led By Donkeys Podcast Episode 406 - Project Habakkuk ft. Josh Boerman
Mar 23, 2026
Josh Boerman, podcaster and co-host of Worst of All Possible Worlds, joins to explore Project Habakkuk and the era’s wild wartime inventions. They recount Geoffrey Pyke’s ice-reinforced “pycrete” carrier concept, the Canadian prototype build, engineering nightmares like creep and melting, and why Churchill briefly backed the mad plan. Quick, curious, and full of historical oddities.
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Pike's Golf Tour Spy Operation
- Jeffrey Pike repeatedly pitched eccentric undercover plans and inventions to influence wars, including training spies disguised as a touring group of golfers to poll Nazi Germany.
- Pike executed the golf-op in Frankfurt, interviewed dozens, and only stopped when the British foreign office ordered them home.
What Pycrete Actually Was
- Pycrete combined 85% water and 15% wood pulp to make a pourable, freezable construction material for huge structures.
- Max Perutz and Hermann Mark developed the polymer science while Pike championed and flooded Mountbatten with memos promoting it.
Why Britain Considered An Ice Carrier
- Churchill greenlit Project Habakkuk to explore Pycrete ships because steel shortages made unconventional materials attractive.
- The committee chose an aircraft carrier concept aiming to exploit abundant water and wood instead of scarce wartime steel.
