In War time, one of the objects of the opposing side is to target the movement of goods and services particularly infrastructure. If you can do that, it puts a damper of the production and movement of armaments. It is easier to say than do. An interesting book is called The Dambusters  by John Sweetman published by Time Warner, London, UK, 2003.  In 1955 a movie of the same name was made.

In WW II, the English were losing the war and spent long hours trying to slow down the Ruhr Valley which is similar to Pittsburg in the US – home to the steel mills. One method to do this was bomb the factories, but generally the area is very well protected. Then an idea came forth  why not destroy the dams which generate the electricity and flood the area? The British began to research the possibilities of trying to destroy a dam.

Similar to all ideas – in 1942 being tasked with the job, the first task was to gather information about which dams were vulnerable targets. After the identification, how to do the task? If you drop a bomb on a dam, assuming you were accurate what would the impact and how big a bomb must you drop? The bomb would be big, a bigger airplane would be needed to be built and the likelihood of success was limited. The reason is a better solution is to drop the bomb before the dam and have it exploded under water and beside the dam. How to do that was a mystery.

After many experiments, the conclusion was contact with the masonry underwater was essential. Have you ever go to the lake and picked up a stone to skip across the water? The idea was to drop a specialty bomb that would skip across the water to sink just before the dam and explode. In mid May of 1942, the report came out titled Spherical Bomb-Surface Torpedo. The plane would be in a fast glide travelling at 470 ft/sec and no higher than 26 feet above the surface. The bomb would bounce 4 times sink and blow up in the correct position to cause damage and the pressure of the water would add to the flow over the dam. In addition, since this is war and Germany was protecting the dams gunfire was to be navigated around.

By October running through many tests it was seen as possible. Engineers must “sell” the plan to higher commands to go from what is possible to probable to doable. In a country losing the war, what is possible takes a while to go to doable. In March of 1943. 617 Squadron was formed.

On May 17, the Lancaster bombers left England and flew to Germany to bomb the dams including Mohne and Sorpe Dams and smaller dams. Half the planes that left did not come back,for at war the enemy fires back. Dams were hit, rivers flooded, movement of materials stopped for 4 months and by October the dams were operational again. The dams continue to do their purpose to this day.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in this instance a dam was bombed but dams have in the US (California) have almost collapsed from poor maintenance. If water is released from a dam, the water will play havoc downstream – that is a given and it is battle that utility companies must ensure does not happen on their watch. Once the dam is in place, the cost to generate electricity is minimal and long lasting and that is way investors like dams. Prices can rise over the years and cost remains relatively very low.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.