Nick Bradbeer
@nickbradbeer.bsky.social
Assoc. Professor of Naval Architecture @ UCL. Director, UCL Submarine Design Course. Nerd, maker, gamer, wargame builder. He/him.
I mostly post about games I'm playing for fun and games I'm creating for work, with the odd diversion into submarine design.
I mostly post about games I'm playing for fun and games I'm creating for work, with the odd diversion into submarine design.
Reposted by Nick Bradbeer
The word "may" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. As I understand it those cluster bombs had two types of fuzes - one which would have sensitised and one which wouldn't - and we don't know which type(s) are on the bombs actually down there.
November 11, 2025 at 4:28 PM
The word "may" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. As I understand it those cluster bombs had two types of fuzes - one which would have sensitised and one which wouldn't - and we don't know which type(s) are on the bombs actually down there.
Just had a student ask me a question (about submerged stability) - I got halfway through the answer and was starting to think "I should really write a doc explaining this" when I noticed he had a PDF open on his laptop with a relevant diagram. Looking closer, that looks like my writing style. /1
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Just had a student ask me a question (about submerged stability) - I got halfway through the answer and was starting to think "I should really write a doc explaining this" when I noticed he had a PDF open on his laptop with a relevant diagram. Looking closer, that looks like my writing style. /1
So I am not a lawyer, but have we now established it's legal to throw sandwiches at ICE agents?
November 6, 2025 at 8:13 PM
So I am not a lawyer, but have we now established it's legal to throw sandwiches at ICE agents?
Today is External Consultancy Day so my role is limited to sitting quietly while my students have half-hour conversations with various visiting experts about how their submarine designs are coming along and asking questions.
Overhearing these chats, I could not be more proud of them.
Overhearing these chats, I could not be more proud of them.
November 5, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Today is External Consultancy Day so my role is limited to sitting quietly while my students have half-hour conversations with various visiting experts about how their submarine designs are coming along and asking questions.
Overhearing these chats, I could not be more proud of them.
Overhearing these chats, I could not be more proud of them.
Well, with Mamdani elected as NY Mayor hopefully that's the end of my newsfeed being full of people warning they will LEAVE NEW YORK if he's elected, and we can get on with the bit where they quietly forget they ever said that and do nothing instead.
November 5, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Well, with Mamdani elected as NY Mayor hopefully that's the end of my newsfeed being full of people warning they will LEAVE NEW YORK if he's elected, and we can get on with the bit where they quietly forget they ever said that and do nothing instead.
I've just found something a d16 would be really useful for and I'm furious about it, @sebastianbae.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 6:51 PM
I've just found something a d16 would be really useful for and I'm furious about it, @sebastianbae.bsky.social
Anatomy of a rapid student TTX.
One of my submarine design teams this year is working up a bombardment submarine, armed with their choice of rocket artillery (trading off range and capability with size, under a fixed procurement budget.)
Today they asked me to run them a TTX.
/1
One of my submarine design teams this year is working up a bombardment submarine, armed with their choice of rocket artillery (trading off range and capability with size, under a fixed procurement budget.)
Today they asked me to run them a TTX.
/1
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Anatomy of a rapid student TTX.
One of my submarine design teams this year is working up a bombardment submarine, armed with their choice of rocket artillery (trading off range and capability with size, under a fixed procurement budget.)
Today they asked me to run them a TTX.
/1
One of my submarine design teams this year is working up a bombardment submarine, armed with their choice of rocket artillery (trading off range and capability with size, under a fixed procurement budget.)
Today they asked me to run them a TTX.
/1
Quiet evening at home tonight and I thought I'd give Sea Power a go.
ASW is both a) very slow and b) basically littering. I must have relaid that barrier about four times.
ASW is both a) very slow and b) basically littering. I must have relaid that barrier about four times.
November 1, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Quiet evening at home tonight and I thought I'd give Sea Power a go.
ASW is both a) very slow and b) basically littering. I must have relaid that barrier about four times.
ASW is both a) very slow and b) basically littering. I must have relaid that barrier about four times.
DAYBREAK looks really interesting; a co-op game about fighting climate change.
Really keen to play it, interesting mechanics and I think it'll teach me useful things about climate.
This copy in Chance & Counters, in Bristol.
Really keen to play it, interesting mechanics and I think it'll teach me useful things about climate.
This copy in Chance & Counters, in Bristol.
October 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
DAYBREAK looks really interesting; a co-op game about fighting climate change.
Really keen to play it, interesting mechanics and I think it'll teach me useful things about climate.
This copy in Chance & Counters, in Bristol.
Really keen to play it, interesting mechanics and I think it'll teach me useful things about climate.
This copy in Chance & Counters, in Bristol.
Bleh. I had plans to do lots of cool fun things this week and instead I've got to enjoy sitting at home with a horrible cold.
Hurray!
It's not Covid, but that's all that can be said for it. Glad I got my flu shot.
Hurray!
It's not Covid, but that's all that can be said for it. Glad I got my flu shot.
October 30, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Bleh. I had plans to do lots of cool fun things this week and instead I've got to enjoy sitting at home with a horrible cold.
Hurray!
It's not Covid, but that's all that can be said for it. Glad I got my flu shot.
Hurray!
It's not Covid, but that's all that can be said for it. Glad I got my flu shot.
OK, House of Dynamite is an excellent example of why I don't normally bother watching movies. What a waste of two hours.
At the risk of spoilers, can anyone tell me where any of the urgency that the movie hangs on was coming from? Why was the deadline a deadline to act?
At the risk of spoilers, can anyone tell me where any of the urgency that the movie hangs on was coming from? Why was the deadline a deadline to act?
October 27, 2025 at 4:40 PM
OK, House of Dynamite is an excellent example of why I don't normally bother watching movies. What a waste of two hours.
At the risk of spoilers, can anyone tell me where any of the urgency that the movie hangs on was coming from? Why was the deadline a deadline to act?
At the risk of spoilers, can anyone tell me where any of the urgency that the movie hangs on was coming from? Why was the deadline a deadline to act?
Netflix makes it really hard to screen capture these days so I'm forced to use my phone camera at the screen to highlight this egregious CGI.
That's the least American submarine I've seen in a while.
That's the least American submarine I've seen in a while.
October 27, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Netflix makes it really hard to screen capture these days so I'm forced to use my phone camera at the screen to highlight this egregious CGI.
That's the least American submarine I've seen in a while.
That's the least American submarine I've seen in a while.
October 27, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Nick Bradbeer
Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America
October 24, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Ed Luce watching democracy die in the United States of America
It's nearly Fauxmas - one of my favourite traditions.
Bunch of friends who never get to see each other any more rent a big house for a weekend and hold Fake Christmas at the end of October.
Then we get to see our families at actual Christmas and it breaks up the winter term nicely!
Bunch of friends who never get to see each other any more rent a big house for a weekend and hold Fake Christmas at the end of October.
Then we get to see our families at actual Christmas and it breaks up the winter term nicely!
October 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM
It's nearly Fauxmas - one of my favourite traditions.
Bunch of friends who never get to see each other any more rent a big house for a weekend and hold Fake Christmas at the end of October.
Then we get to see our families at actual Christmas and it breaks up the winter term nicely!
Bunch of friends who never get to see each other any more rent a big house for a weekend and hold Fake Christmas at the end of October.
Then we get to see our families at actual Christmas and it breaks up the winter term nicely!
Interesting places on Earth - the Saida-Guba reactor storage facility.
Large concrete pan just west of Gadzhiyevo on the Kola Peninsula for the storage of reactor compartments cut out of nuclear submarines at their ends-of-life.
(IIRC partly funded by the USA and Norway to reduce env impact.)
Large concrete pan just west of Gadzhiyevo on the Kola Peninsula for the storage of reactor compartments cut out of nuclear submarines at their ends-of-life.
(IIRC partly funded by the USA and Norway to reduce env impact.)
October 22, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Interesting places on Earth - the Saida-Guba reactor storage facility.
Large concrete pan just west of Gadzhiyevo on the Kola Peninsula for the storage of reactor compartments cut out of nuclear submarines at their ends-of-life.
(IIRC partly funded by the USA and Norway to reduce env impact.)
Large concrete pan just west of Gadzhiyevo on the Kola Peninsula for the storage of reactor compartments cut out of nuclear submarines at their ends-of-life.
(IIRC partly funded by the USA and Norway to reduce env impact.)
I just wrote "we assume Pi is 3" and now I feel like a real engineer.
October 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
I just wrote "we assume Pi is 3" and now I feel like a real engineer.
It's "Computer Games with the Class" day again.
This year's cohort learned the importance of patience in ASW, in maintaining range advantage and firing from the baffles if you can.
(We enjoy the urgency of discussions when torpedoes are inbound and we're not pausing the game.)
This year's cohort learned the importance of patience in ASW, in maintaining range advantage and firing from the baffles if you can.
(We enjoy the urgency of discussions when torpedoes are inbound and we're not pausing the game.)
October 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
It's "Computer Games with the Class" day again.
This year's cohort learned the importance of patience in ASW, in maintaining range advantage and firing from the baffles if you can.
(We enjoy the urgency of discussions when torpedoes are inbound and we're not pausing the game.)
This year's cohort learned the importance of patience in ASW, in maintaining range advantage and firing from the baffles if you can.
(We enjoy the urgency of discussions when torpedoes are inbound and we're not pausing the game.)
It turns out you're allowed to do crime as long as you always vote Republican?
Is the concept of not saying the quiet part out loud just not a thing we're doing any more?
Is the concept of not saying the quiet part out loud just not a thing we're doing any more?
BREAKING: Trump commutes sentence of disgraced former congressman George Santos.
“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!”
“I just signed a Commutation, releasing George Santos from prison, IMMEDIATELY. Good luck George, have a great life!”
October 17, 2025 at 10:55 PM
It turns out you're allowed to do crime as long as you always vote Republican?
Is the concept of not saying the quiet part out loud just not a thing we're doing any more?
Is the concept of not saying the quiet part out loud just not a thing we're doing any more?
This week I have been reading "Rising Tide, The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines That Fought the Cold War" by Weir & Boyne.
An interesting read in many parts and full of useful snippets, but overall rather disappointing.
1/
An interesting read in many parts and full of useful snippets, but overall rather disappointing.
1/
October 17, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This week I have been reading "Rising Tide, The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines That Fought the Cold War" by Weir & Boyne.
An interesting read in many parts and full of useful snippets, but overall rather disappointing.
1/
An interesting read in many parts and full of useful snippets, but overall rather disappointing.
1/
I'm starting to assume the US just doesn't like having a reliable nuclear force any more.
BREAKING: The Trump regime is now illegally and unconstitutionally slashing the DOE national labs. The DOGEing continues.
* widespread RIFs
* Sandia California in Livermore may shut down entirely
#nokings
cc @fedsagainstdoge.bsky.social @energycommerce.bsky.social
* widespread RIFs
* Sandia California in Livermore may shut down entirely
#nokings
cc @fedsagainstdoge.bsky.social @energycommerce.bsky.social
October 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I'm starting to assume the US just doesn't like having a reliable nuclear force any more.
Yeah, definitely don't install that upside down.
October 16, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Yeah, definitely don't install that upside down.
It's that time of year again.
October 16, 2025 at 2:10 PM
It's that time of year again.
London looked pretty cool from tonight's date night.
October 15, 2025 at 11:09 PM
London looked pretty cool from tonight's date night.
What is the thing with US politicians/ military groups posting "Happy Birthday US Navy" with inspiring photos of Russian or Indian warships?
October 13, 2025 at 11:15 PM
What is the thing with US politicians/ military groups posting "Happy Birthday US Navy" with inspiring photos of Russian or Indian warships?