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Losing steam: US Navy carriers go electric By Rebecca Christie 27 February 2008 Half a century after the introduction of steam-driven catapults, the US Navy (USN) aircraft carrier community is entering an era that trades steam and hydraulics for advanced electronic circuitry. Construction of the first in a new line of carriers, Gerald R Ford (CVN 78), is due to begin in 2008 and the USD10.5 billion ship will use electricity instead of steam for launching combat aircraft, cooking meals and heating sailors' living quarters. Its nuclear reactors will produce more electricity than any other warship, powering a maintenance revolution...

A UNIVERSITY student died after being hurled 100ft through the air by a medieval-style "trebuchet" catapult, an inquest heard yesterday. Kostydin Yankov, 19, an Oxford University student, suffered multiple injuries and serious spinal damage when he fell short of the safety net. He was on a day trip with the extreme sports club, The Oxford Stunt Factory, to Bridgwater, Somerset, in November 2002 when tragedy struck.

Catapult-makers were once ye olde celebrities July 05 2004 at 08:24AM London - Catapult designers were the celebrity scientists of the ancient world, according to a British expert. Until the discovery of gunpowder, the catapult was the most powerful weapon in existence, said historian Serafina Cuomo. The machines, capable of hurling large projectiles long distances, were in high demand during the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans - and so were their makers. But the construction of catapults was no easy task, requiring great mathematical and engineering skill. It became a science in itself, known as "belopoietics" from the...

For the benefit of the rest of the world, in 1986 the UK saw its most violent storm for over 350 years. Wind speeds in some parts exceeded 90 mph and an incredible amounts of damage were done to property and people up and down the UK. This story made several of the Kent newspapers at the time and - like most sane, rational beings I too found it dificult to believe - but it is absolutely true. In Margate in the county of Kent, there are many tall Poplar trees and it's not uncommon for residents in the more...

Two Charged After Human Catapult Death Jul 15, 7:11 am ET LONDON (Reuters) - British police charged two men with manslaughter Tuesday following the death of an Oxford University student who was flung from a giant catapult. Bulgarian Konstadin Yankov, 19, died last November when the stunt near the West Country town of Bridgewater went wrong. "He had been thrown by a replica medieval catapult and failed to reach the landing net," said a police spokeswoman. Yankov was on an outing with the Oxford Stunt Factory, an unofficial club at Oxford University where he was studying biochemistry. He had been...