Yamato 1

[freebeard]

When I was in high school, I wrote an article for the school newspaper on teenage slang. (IIRC 'gooder' vs 'badder'). This was back in the middle of the 20th Century. I concluded with "Magnetohydrodynamics -- not used in polite conversation."

The subject went dark for decades, until Hunt for Red October (1984). In 1985 Japan instantiated a full sized vessel;

Japan's Magnet-Driven Marvel: The Yamato-1

Why wasn't there a second or third? Maybe because startup and shutdown each took 14 days? It was scrapped in 2016.

This sounds like an opportunity for 'room'-temperature superconductors, and the Noyron Large Engineering Model software.

[Logic]

Inefficient IIRC.
A prop attached to the same kw engine gives way more than the 7 (IIRC) knots it got.
A saltier sea would help.

Had they collected the produced Hydrogen and chlorine gas produced and done something with that..?