Vanguard: Fill & Download for Free

The first man-made satellite was Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on the fourth of October, 1957. That satellite orbited the Earth for three months and then burned up in the atmosphere on the 4th of January, 1958.Sputnik 1The oldest man-made satellite still in orbit is the American satellite called Vanguard 1. That satellite was launched on the 17th of March, 1958. Communication with Vanguard 1 was lost in 1964. It is now a dead hunk of metal, but easily detectable.The reason Vanguard 1 is still in orbit while Sputnik 1 has burned up in the atmosphere is altitude. Vanguard's perigee is about three times higher than that of Sputnik and its apogee is about four times higher than that of Sputnik. That increase puts it in a much less dense level of atmosphere, greatly reducing drag.Vanguard 1Vanguard 1 is in an orbit with an inclination of 34.24 degrees. Its perigee is at 410 miles (660 km) and its apogee is at 2390 miles (3840 km).

Probably one of the weirdest ships is this one:No, not the cruise ship (Carnival Vista) but the one carrying it above the water. It is called Boka Vanguard and is a semi-submersible ship built to carry other ships and oil platforms on top. The above is an actual picture, not a rendering or digital art, of Boka Vanguard carrying cruise ship Carnival Vista to a facility in Freeport, Bahamas to repair one “Azipod”. They did this because the only drydock where Carnival Vista fits was damaged a few months ago while Oasis of the Seas was there for a similar repair. They brought this ship near Freeport and Carnival Vista sailed on top of it. Then the Vanguard lifted itself with the Vista on top and sailed into the Freeport shipyard.Photos: BOKA Vanguard Loads Carnival Cruise Ship for Dry Docking – gCaptain

Vanguard was literally built like a lego ship out of bits and pieces left over in the parts bin.As the final British battleship she had a lot of design refinement but was never intended to be a decisive ship on her own. More so than most navies, the RN builds ships to serve roles. The fleet will win, any individual ship may be lost.But Vanguard in particular was a product of what was sitting in the parts bin, not a clean sheet design to dominate the seas.The Iowas are essentially escorts for the Essex Class carriers. Purpose built to be the biggest and the best.Yamato was a desperate hope to build a ship that could tip the balance of power. A compromised engineering over-reach. In her intended role of leading a column of Japanese battlewagons into a decisive daytime major fleet battle she’s probably pretty good.The reality is what you got in real life, pounded to pieces by massed carrier air wings.The Iowas and Vanguard both at least served a valid concept of operations.Vanguard as a very, very good battleship built very cheaply might be worthy of consideration.But as a really solid clean sheet design that worked as part of the fleet you can’t go past the Iowas.—If you like this answer I have a youtube channel explaining Every Naval Battle In History you might enjoy: Every Naval Battle In History