National Geographic, a magazine that requires no introduction, has compiled a gallery of odd and weird vehicals. Some of them are just more advanced versions of ones we know and love like the high speed magnetic bullet train, but there are some gems, like my personal favourite the revolutionary war one-person proto-submarine.
Meet the American Turtle: the first combat submarine, designed in 1775 by a Yale College student in his 30s named David Bushnell. The oak and iron vessel measured 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) tall and 6 feet (1.8 meters) wide across its midsection. A solo pilot would crank two propellers and maneuver a rudder by hand. To attack, the operator was meant to drill a screw into a ship’s hull and light a time fuse, which would be attached to a charge of gunpowder. Then he would crank like mad to get the heck out of Dodge. As it turned out, the hull of the British warship selected as the Turtle’s first target was plated in copper. That mission, and two later attacks, failed.
You can see more of them here. I can promise you that at least half of these have been in a Final Fantasy game.
– Filipe Salgado