Submarine Illumination of Yesteryear and Today

Blimp searchlights were actually used in wartime as depicted by the postcard above.

Submarine aficionados have learned to use filters against the Yellow Submarine, which otherwise pops up incessantly in our searches. It was bad enough when the term referred only to the Beatles creations, (song, album, movie, songtrack, art, etc.) dating since 1966. For some time Yellow Submarine has also been the nickname for Spanish football teams Cádiz CF and Villarreal CF.

Lost in all this confusion is the fact there have been two yellow-painted subs. USS Menhaden (SS-377), a Balao-class submarine was decommissioned in 1971, and struck from the Naval Register 2 years later. In 1976, ex-Menhaden was towed from California to Washington, stripped of her engines and painted yellow for use by the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station in Keyport, Wash.

Staying with the Yellow Submarine Beattles tradition, let's turn our attention to two new light tricks for world peace. The Icelandic Postal Company released a certain new stamp on Thursday depicting the Imagine Peace Tower off Reykjavík. The stamp (depicted above), designed by Örn Smári Gíslason, will be overprinted with phosphorus in silk screen causing the stamp to accumulate light and glow in the dark. When exposed to ultraviolet light, a picture of John Lennon appears on the stamp.

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Keep in mind the northern lights visible in Iceland this time of year. Combined with the The Peace Tower lights the spectacle rivals Disney World. The YouTube explains the Imagine Peace Tower nicely:

Light Show