Originally I was thinking there'd be something that could generate a magnetic field in the hands and feet, but then there'd be mobility issues, obviously. These guys won't be very nimble or quick. So we need an alternative device/system.
edited 15th Aug '10 6:35:04 PM by melloncollie
What's wrong with lines and carabiners for the exterior work? Ideally the ship would have something to hook onto fused to the exterior panels. From there it would just be a matter of rappelling down. I can't think of a way to make something like crampons work unless there are deep gaps between the exterior plates to hook into.
^And really I don't see a problem with using the magnets. If they ran a power line from the ship to the suit it could work. I'm envisioning something like the old diving suits running dual lines for power and air. They'd probably have switches to cut the power for each limb independently leading to a Frankensteinesque sort of movement.
^True, but if they're doing repairs there's not much choice; it's slow work, unless you miniaturize the flying mechanism the ships use to give the workers some sort of hovering capability. Besides this
just looks cool.
If the airships are capable of launching small enough vehicles from within you could have the workers tethered to those smaller ships and have the ship move with the worker as needed, sort of like a piloted scaffolding. Hand signals would work for communication if the radio tech isn't up to snuff.
Or if possible descend to a lower altitude to reduce the need for full body protection. They suits need to be insulated at high altitudes. It gets pretty damn cold up high.
They would need something more then a simple tether system the winds at altitude or while moving would buffet the shit out of them.
I like the idea of a repair launch for external work.
Who watches the watchmen?Take the floating drydock ship and turn it into an airship. A big flying drydock, so you can do quick'n'dirty field repair work to stabilize a ship so it can get itself home again. The flying drydock would have sufficient reserve lifting capacity so as to allow the damaged vessle to secure its engines while repairs are carried out. Smaller ships could be docked inside a larger one - a Vietnam-era ARL would crane up a riverine patrol boat onto a barge or into the main hold (as it was an LST in its fomrer life) and repair the PBR before craning it back into the water. I woud imagine that sufficiently small airships would be able to dock with much larger ones, provided that the larger ship had reserve lifting capacity. Such auxiliary ships don't have much for guns or armor, though, and tend to loiter in staging areas. Probably more crucial if/when the airships have to transit a large body of water, though, as they could simply land on a flat patch of earth, right?
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.What if the repair launches had something like a cherry picker
◊ attached to them. The launches would basically hover beside the airship and the engineer would have control of the arm. It wouldn't necessarily need to look like a cherry picker, that's just the example I'm using. The engineer could be locked into the boom arm for stability.
The Ontos. that thing is made of Awesome.
Oh shit. Those Recoiless rifles can fire Bee Hive tracer rounds. O_O
The very first round
Janes guide listed it as also firing a tracer variant.
edited 24th Aug '10 5:35:26 AM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?Pull the turret off, stack a few of them onto a ship and you could throw dozens of rounds at whatever pisses off the ship.
Fight smart, not fair.Don't forget anti-tank rifles, which were in vogue during and after WWI... Mount them on a pintle or something, stick a big scope on it, and you can use them to pick off exposed crewmembers on the enemy ship. Or delicate bits of the ship that are too small to hit with the big guns.
Our own .50-cal BMG round was derived as an answer to a rumor about some German anti-tank round.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.^^Whatever historically existed is a start. Depends on where you want to introduce the airship concept.
Tank development might follow a different evolutionary path, though.
As will artillery - why invest so much on Rail guns (the old-fashioned kind of railcar-mounted artillery) when airships could prove to be more effective?
Anti-air artillery would have to expand to keep up, or maybe not. They were trying hard ot kill dirigibles in WWI, which could usually sit above the efective ballistic arc of most triple-A and drop bombs iwth impunity.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.Did a quick check it can occur between 8000-12000 feet. It depends on whether or not your in any form of pressurized container like some airplanes, Lodges on mountains, and the physical aspects of the individual.
It really boils down to how efficient your body is at handling oxygen in your blood.
They even do regular training at higher altitudes to enhance how the body reacts to the oxygen.
I could see men who frequently spend time at higher altitudes eventually adapting to the higher altitudes kinda like getting your legs (sky Lungs) only on an airship.
edited 31st Aug '10 8:22:01 PM by TuefelHundenIV
Who watches the watchmen?

Indeed that would be interesting..
Mellon made some good suggestions and things to think about for ships at higher altitudes. Men not inside the pressurized hull would need a suit and an airtank to survive and something to help hold them to the surface of the hull if they intend to move around the exterior doing repairs.
Who watches the watchmen?