The Monumental C**k Up Thread.

[Andy in Germany]

There are clues but we can't definitively declare it a cock up until it is operational or cancelled.

Cutting a Manchester-Kings Cross line back to "Just outside of Birmingham to a suburb north of London and you'll have to catch a local train from there" is a fairly impressive c_ckup.

Stuttgart 21 is probably on the same level, but at least they are managing to build a high speed link from Stuttgart to Ulm, which was needed to avoid the 1:44 Geislinger Steige. (and don't ask about why the new line is also very steeply graded, so only new ICE trains can use it, and freight trains will still need to use the old route. Shh... nothing to see, move along...)

 

[HMS_Dave]

Track and trace - £37bn c*ck up.
The SA-80 assault rifle.
The new Wembley stadium was over budget and late.
The cancellation of the TSR2.
The de Havilland Comet

Not to mention the millennium dome...

 

[Yellow Fang]

The biggest one of all: Benjamin Franklin's decision on the direction of electrical current.
Nevil Chamberlain ceding three naval ports back to Ireland just before WW2.
Russia selling Alaska to the USA.
IBM's contract with Microsoft, although I cannot remember how Bill Gates did them over.

 

[Profpointy]

Sweden has the same track gauge as the UK

Possibly it was Finland?

I have heard a story from my uncle at his company where they'd bought a load of rail cars cheap for bulk shipping their product. The track gauge was correct, but the purchasing manager was unaware there is also the "loading gauge" which concerns the width of the car in terms of not hitting platforms and tunnels. European loading gauge is rather larger than ours hence their ability to have double decker trains and such

 

[Profpointy]

Here's ten.

1. Gallipoli Campaign
2. Edward VIII
3. Lancia Cars in Britain
4. Type 45 Destroyer
5. The Mullet Hair "style"
6. Shell Suit invention
7. Pudding Lane Bakeries in the 1600's
8. Balls Trimmers.
9. Eldorado TV series
10. Quint in Jaws, Destroying his own boat engine.

Dunno about Ted 8. The more I read, the more I think ditching him might have been a huge relief to the powers that be, and indeed the needs of the nation. The Mrs Simpson pretext might well have been a lucky godsend.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Pope Clement VII's refusal to give Henry VIII a divorce.
Triumph's decision not to chuck their Stag engine for the Buick engine.
Rolls Royce's decision not to develop fuel injection in the Merlin.
The Air Ministry being late to back Frank Whittle with the jet engine.
The decision to execute Irish prisoners after the Easter Uprising in 1916.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Dunno about Ted 8. The more I read, the more I think ditching him might have been a huge relief to the powers that be, and indeed the needs of the nation. The Mrs Simpson pretext might well have been a lucky godsend.

Nah, I'm sure it would have been fine...

Nothing to see here...

 

[Yellow Fang]

America's failure to support the Shah of Iran.
President Biden's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

 

[Andy in Germany]

I have heard a story from my uncle at his company where they'd bought a load of rail cars cheap for bulk shipping their product. The track gauge was correct, but the purchasing manager was unaware there is also the "loading gauge" which concerns the width of the car in terms of not hitting platforms and tunnels. European loading gauge is rather larger than ours hence their ability to have double decker trains and such

Not knowing about the loading gauge would have been a bit silly; it's fairly obvious when a locomotive of UK loading gauge is on a German train.

This was also why the first generation of Eurostars were purpose built: they had to travel to London Waterloo for several years on older lines, until HS1 was built, and Waterloo International was abandoned...

One C_ckup from the 19th century was that France decreed the German loading gauge should be bigger than that of France, so German trains couldn't enter the country if there was an invasion. This was not very effective and caused a fair bit of trouble in peacetime...

 

[HMS_Dave]

Dunno about Ted 8. The more I read, the more I think ditching him might have been a huge relief to the powers that be, and indeed the needs of the nation. The Mrs Simpson pretext might well have been a lucky godsend.

Indeed. Stamp and coin collectors are happy too...

 

[Drago]

The ARA General Belgrano.

Sending a poorly maintained WWII vintage light cruiser into waters contested by an enemy equipped with nuclear attack subs was a plan doomed to failure.

 

[Drago]

Nagasaki.

Whoever convinced the Japanese government that the US had only one nuclear weapon was a bit daft. A big cock up for sure.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Angela Merkal's decision to close down Germany's nuclear power stations.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Nagasaki.

Whoever convinced the Japanese government that the US had only one nuclear weapon was a bit daft. A big cock up for sure.

Yes, Even General Tojo received a slap on his bald head for it.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Sir Stafford Cripps' decision to let the Soviets borrow a Rolls Royce Nene engine.