Why do large steel ships have to be launched from slipways into magnetic north?
597955
I've seen and read about a number of ship lauchings, and never heard of this one! Where did you hear this?
888144
The North Magnetic Pole is at roughly 87°N, 114°W.  A proper analysis of your problem requires spherical trigonometry, which I am not well versed, so I'm going to use flat rectangular approximations.  The angle between your line to the NMP and the NP, or your magnetic bearing to the North Pole can be approximated as arctan((90-87)/(114 - long1)  The bearing to your destination will be arctan((90-87)/(114 - long1) + arctan((long2 - long1)/(latt2 - latt1)).\n\nThese rough approximations will need course corrections enroute.  You can't follow your compass heading to your destination in any case, since the apparent angle getween Magnetic North and True North will change as you travel, unless you are travelling on the Great Circle that passes through both poles.
1054019
Why bother?  They can just head north.
29332
Drop it off of a ship into the North Atlantic.
981512
It would want to point at the ground. By the way, the magnetic pole is in northern Canada, pretty far from the geographic pole. At the geographic pole it would point south, to the location of the magnetic pole.
856860
You would need to have the magnet moving, and the power it would take to make it move would be more than any advantage you get out of it. Laws of Thermodynamics.
579193
After sliding for the first hour or so, I'd want to get off.\nI'd bet that the New York side would be so high that the water would freeze.\n\nBe easier to get a boat to drag you behind all the way to England.  Not much fun either way.
741250
This process is long over due. \nIf the poles reversed it would disrupt Earth on a massive scale. To imagine the scenario look at the complications of The Bermuda Triangle. It may sound fanciful, but, this anomaly is occurring where the predicted north pole will end up. At the moment it is fluctuating between the two poles. Aircraft, ships and modern vessels have disappeared because of this swing. Radar goes hay-wire and so too does electronic equipment.\nThe last one recorded occurred before the last ice-age. This brought the speedy death of millions of creatures known as the Mega-Beasts. There is a place in Russia, (the spot where the south pole sprung up) Where thousands of these Beasts lie dead. Twisted and crushed with trees and vegetation, smashed together in gruesome contorted throes. Massive lava flows are mingled in too, on a truly monumental state.\nIt lasted only for a few years but the impact was colossal!!!
863380
On structures made of steel which are in constant contact with sea water (ships, oil rigs and piers) the most effective protection used is from 'sacrificial protection'. Blocks of magnesium are bolted to the structure at regular intervals and the sea water attacks the magnesium in preference to the steel. (This is because magnesium is much more reactive than iron) It is a quick method and cost effective if you imagine the labour (an amount of paint) needed to protect a large ship.
1052477
Well....First off  the Ticos are in the process of being de-commissioned so we will not have them in the fleet for too much longer.  But anyway  if the ship is close enough to the launch site of an ICBM it is POSSIBLE. That's it.  The problem is not the AEGIS platform but the SAM capabilities. A ballistic warhead travels at speeds that exceed the speeds of the blast effects of the SAM's "kill zone".  Therefore; you target the incoming re-entry vehicle and launch on it--the proximity fuse on your missile detects the target and detonates properly but the target passes through the effective kill zone faster than the explosion occurs--the shrapnel cannot catch up to it.  As far as scud killers like patriot--same issues.  This is the reason that so much research is directed toward less conventional weapon systems such as laser and particle beams.
1014901
Very impractical for at least two reasons:\n\n1) It would have to be an unbelievably powerful magnetic field to generate any significant lift. The Earth's magnetic field is very weak.\n\n2) As soon as it left the ground the vehicle would be trying to flip over to an attitude where the Earth's magnetic field attracted it. You can't have a south magnetic pole without a north one and vice versa. As soon as this flip happened, the vehicle would crash back to Earth hard.
556271
The bermuda triangle is notorious for hurricanes and sudden storms. If a storm is underway, the rough seas can easily flip over small boats and yatchs, also the hurricanes will quickly drown anysize boats! During those hurricane/storms, a phenomena occurs in which the magnetism created by the storms disables the compass/navigational system & radio frequencies for all the boats, thus making impossible for those vessels to radio for help. Being unable to call for help makes it so that the coast guard is never notified of the distress and so everyone drowns. Pretty sad.
112754
Yes, by way of the Hudson Bay which is the outpour of the St. Lawrence seaway.  Hence the way that US Navy ships can enter and exit lake Michigan.
459186
This sounds like a nautical question indeed!\nHmmmmm...
248824
It means the way to the north....
1039377
The same reason lighthouses are built elsewhere..to keep ships from running into the shore line.
282118
Because they're made out of magnetic material...iron I believe.