Sadly, much of our impetus to design groundbreaking technologies
comes from trying to kill each other. The byproduct of this
design is, of course, some seriously strange machines.  Few are
weirder than the US Navy's ship that pumps 700 tons of water
into its end to sit straight up in the ocean. Completed in 1962,
it's more of a mobile platform (it's official title is the
Floating Instrument Platform) than anything else. Other than,
you know, a complete mindfuck.  Can you think of a more bizarre
military vehicle than that?