Seashell
A seashell or sea shell known as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are found washed up on beaches by beachcombers; the shells are empty because the animal has died and the soft parts have been eaten by another animal or have decomposed. A seashell is the exoskeleton of an invertebrate, is composed of calcium carbonate or chitin. Most shells that are found on beaches are the shells of marine mollusks because these shells are made of calcium carbonate, endure better than shells made of chitin. Apart from mollusk shells, other shells that can be found on beaches are those of barnacles, horseshoe crabs and brachiopods. Marine annelid worms in the family Serpulidae create shells which are tubes made of calcium carbonate cemented onto other surfaces; the shells of sea urchins are called "tests", the moulted shells of crabs and lobsters are exuviae. While most seashells are external, some cephalopods have internal shells.
Seashells have been used by humans for many different purposes throughout pre-history. However, seashells are not the only kind of shells; when the word "seashells" refers only to the shells of marine mollusks studying seashells is part of conchology. Conchologists or serious collectors who have a scientific bias are in general careful not to disturb living populations and habitats: though they may collect a few live animals, most responsible collectors do not over-collect or otherwise disturb ecosystems; the study of the entire molluscan animal is known as malacology. Seashells are found in beach drift, natural detritus deposited along strandlines on beaches by the waves and the tides. Shells are often washed up onto a beach empty and clean, the animal having died. Empty seashells are picked up by beachcombers. However, the majority of seashells which are offered for sale commercially have been collected alive and killed and cleaned for the commercial trade; this type of large-scale exploitation can sometimes have a strong negative impact on local ecosystems, sometimes can reduce the distribution of rare species.
The word seashell is used to mean only the shell of a marine mollusk. Marine mollusk shells that are familiar to beachcombers and thus most to be called "seashells" are the shells of marine species of bivalves, scaphopods and cephalopods; these shells are often the most encountered, both in the wild, for sale as decorative objects. Marine species of gastropods and bivalves are more numerous than land and freshwater species, the shells are larger and more robust; the shells of marine species often have more sculpture and more color, although this is by no means always the case. In the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the planet, there are far more species of colorful, shallow water shelled marine mollusks than there are in the temperate zones and the regions closer to the poles. Although there are a number of species of shelled mollusks that are quite large, there are vast numbers of small species too, see micromollusks. Not all mollusks are marine. There are numerous freshwater mollusks, see for example snail and freshwater bivalves.
In addition, not all mollusks have an external shell: some mollusks such as some cephalopods have an internal shell, many mollusks have no shell, see for example slug and nudibranch. Bivalves are the most common seashells that wash up on large sandy beaches or in sheltered lagoons, they can sometimes be numerous. The two valves become separated. There are more than 15,000 species of bivalves that live in both freshwater. Examples of bivalves are clams, scallops and oysters; the majority of bivalves consist of two identical shells. The animal's body is held protectively inside these two shells. Bivalves that do not have two shells either have one shell or they lack a shell altogether; the shells are formed in layers by secretions from the mantle. Bivalves known as pelecypods, are filter feeders; some bivalves have an open circulatory system. Bivalves are used all as a source of pearls; the larvae of some freshwater mussels can bore through wood. Shell Beach, Western Australia, is a beach, made up of the shells of the cockle Fragum erugatum.
Certain species of gastropod seashells can sometimes be common, washed up on sandy beaches, on beaches that are surrounded by rocky marine habitat. Chiton plates or valves wash up on beaches in rocky areas where chitons are common. Chiton shells, which are composed of eight separate plates and a girdle come apart not long after death, so they are always found as disarticulated plates. Plates from larger species of chitons are sometimes known as "butterfly shells" because of their shape. Only a few species of cephalopods have shells; some cephalopods such as Sepia, the cuttlefish, have a large internal shell, the cuttlefi
Flush toilet
A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human excreta by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location for disposal, thus maintaining a separation between humans and their excreta. Flush toilets can be designed for squatting, in the case of squat toilets; the opposite of a flush toilet is a dry toilet. Flush toilets are a type of plumbing fixture and incorporate an "S", "U", "J", or "P" shaped bend called a trap that causes water to collect in the toilet bowl and act as a seal against noxious gases. Most flush toilets are connected to a sewerage system that conveys waste to a sewage treatment plant; when a toilet is flushed, the wastewater flows into a septic tank, or is conveyed to a treatment plant. Associated devices are urinals, which handle only urine, bidets, which can be used for cleansing of the anus and genitals after using the toilet. A typical flush toilet is a fixed, vitreous ceramic bowl, connected to a drain. After use, the bowl is cleaned by the rapid flow of water into the bowl.
This flush may flow from a dedicated tank, a high-pressure water pipe controlled by a flush valve, or by manually pouring water into the bowl. Tanks and valves are operated by the user, by pressing a button, pulling a lever or pulling a chain; the water is directed around the bowl by a molded flushing rim around the top of the bowl or by one or more jets, so that the entire internal surface of the bowl is rinsed with water. A typical toilet has a tank fixed above the bowl which contains a fixed volume of water, two devices; the first device allows part of the contents of the tank to be discharged into the toilet bowl, causing the contents of the bowl to be swept or sucked out of the toilet and into the drain, when the user operates the flush. The second device automatically allows water to enter the tank until the water level is appropriate for a flush; the water may be discharged through a siphon. A float commands the refilling device. Toilets without cisterns are flushed through a simple flush valve or "Flushometer" connected directly to the water supply.
These are designed to discharge a limited volume of water when the lever or button is pressed released. A toilet may be pour-flushed; this type of flush toilet has no cistern or permanent water supply, but is flushed by pouring in a few litres of water from a container. The flushing can use as little as 2–3 litres; this type of toilet is common in many Asian countries. The toilet can be connected to one or two pits, in which case it is called a "pour flush pit latrine" or a "twin pit pour flush pit latrine", it can be connected to a septic tank. The flushing system provides a large flow of water into the bowl, they take the form of either fixed tanks of water or flush valves. Flush tanks or cisterns incorporate a mechanism to release water from the tank and an automatic valve to allow the cistern to be refilled automatically; this system is suitable for locations plumbed with 1⁄2 inch or 3⁄8 inch water pipes which cannot supply water enough to flush the toilet. The tank collects between 6 and 17 litres of water over a period of time.
In modern installations the storage tank is mounted directly above and behind the bowl. Older installations, known as "high suite combinations", used a high-level cistern, fitted above head height, activated by a pull chain connected to a flush lever on the cistern; when more modern close-coupled cistern and bowl combinations were first introduced, these were first referred to as "low suite combinations". Modern versions have a neater-looking low-level cistern with a lever that the user can reach directly, or a close-coupled cistern, lower down and fixed directly to the bowl. In recent decades the close coupled tank/bowl combination has become the most popular residential system, as it has been found by ceramic engineers that improved waterway design is a more effective way to enhance the bowl's flushing action than high tank mounting. Tank fill; the valves are of two main designs: the concentric-float design. The side-float design has existed for over a hundred years; the concentric design has only existed since 1957, but is becoming more popular than the side-float design.
The side-float design uses a float on the end of a lever to control the fill valve. The float is shaped like a ball, so the mechanism is called a ball-valve or a ballcock; the float was made from copper sheet, but it is now plastic. The float is located to one side of inlet at the end of a rod or arm; as the float rises, so does the float-arm. The arm connects to the fill valve that blocks the water flow into the toilet tank, shuts off the water when the float reaches a set height; this maintains a constant level in the tank. The newer concentric-float fill valve consists of a tower, encircled by a plastic float assembly. Operation is otherwise the same as a side-float fill valve though the float position is somewhat different. By virtue of its more compact layout
Prison
A prison known as a correctional facility, gaol, detention center, remand center, or internment facility, is a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state. Prisons are most used within a criminal justice system: people charged with crimes may be imprisoned until their trial. In simplest terms, a prison can be described as a building in which people are held as a punishment for a crime they have committed. Prisons can be used as a tool of political repression by authoritarian regimes, their perceived opponents may be imprisoned for political crimes without trial or other legal due process. In times of war, prisoners of war or detainees may be detained in military prisons or prisoner of war camps, large groups of civilians might be imprisoned in internment camps. In American English and jail are treated as having separate definitions; the term prison or penitentiary tends to describe institutions that incarcerate people for longer periods of time, such as many years, are operated by the state or federal governments.
The term jail tends to describe institutions for confining people for shorter periods of time and are operated by local governments. Outside of North America and jail have the same meaning. Common slang terms for a prison include: "the pokey", "the slammer", "the can", "the clink", "the joint", "the calaboose", "the hoosegow" and "the big house". Slang terms for imprisonment include: "behind bars", "in stir" and "up the river"; the use of prisons can be traced back to the rise of the state as a form of social organization. Corresponding with the advent of the state was the development of written language, which enabled the creation of formalized legal codes as official guidelines for society; the best known of these early legal codes is the Code of Hammurabi, written in Babylon around 1750 BC. The penalties for violations of the laws in Hammurabi's Code were exclusively centered on the concept of lex talionis, whereby people were punished as a form of vengeance by the victims themselves; this notion of punishment as vengeance or retaliation can be found in many other legal codes from early civilizations, including the ancient Sumerian codes, the Indian Manusmriti, the Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt, the Israelite Mosaic Law.
Some Ancient Greek philosophers, such as Plato, began to develop ideas of using punishment to reform offenders instead of using it as retribution. Imprisonment as a penalty was used for those who could not afford to pay their fines. Since impoverished Athenians could not pay their fines, leading to indefinite periods of imprisonment, time limits were set instead; the prison in Ancient Athens was known as the desmoterion. The Romans were among the first to use prisons as a form of punishment, rather than for detention. A variety of existing structures were used to house prisoners, such as metal cages, basements of public buildings, quarries. One of the most notable Roman prisons was the Mamertine Prison, established around 640 B. C. by Ancus Marcius. The Mamertine Prison was located within a sewer system beneath ancient Rome and contained a large network of dungeons where prisoners were held in squalid conditions, contaminated with human waste. Forced labor on public works projects was a common form of punishment.
In many cases, citizens were sentenced to slavery in ergastula. During the Middle Ages in Europe, castles and the basements of public buildings were used as makeshift prisons; the possession of the right and the capability to imprison citizens, granted an air of legitimacy to officials at all levels of government, from kings to regional courts to city councils. Another common punishment was sentencing people to galley slavery, which involved chaining prisoners together in the bottoms of ships and forcing them to row on naval or merchant vessels. From the late 17th century and during the 18th century, popular resistance to public execution and torture became more widespread both in Europe and in the United States. Under the Bloody Code, with few sentencing alternatives, imposition of the death penalty for petty crimes, such as theft, was proving unpopular with the public. Rulers began looking for means to punish and control their subjects in a way that did not cause people to associate them with spectacles of tyrannical and sadistic violence.
They developed systems of mass incarceration with hard labor, as a solution. The prison reform movement that arose at this time was influenced by two somewhat contradictory philosophies; the first was based in Enlightenment ideas of utilitarianism and rationalism, suggested that prisons should be used as a more effective substitute for public corporal punishments such as whipping, etc. This theory, referred to as deterrence, claims tha
Public toilet
A public toilet is a room or small building with toilets that does not belong to a particular household. Rather, the toilet is available for use by the general public, travellers, employees of a business, school pupils, prisoners etc. Public toilets are separated into male and female facilities, although some are unisex for small or single-occupancy public toilets. Public toilets are accessible to people with disabilities. Public toilets are known by many other names depending on the country. Examples are: restroom, men's room, women's room in the US, washroom in Canada, toilets, water closet and gents in Europe; some public toilets are free of charge. In the latter case they are called pay toilets and sometimes have of a coin-operated turnstile. Local authorities or commercial businesses may provide public toilet facilities; some are unattended. In many cultures, it is customary to tip the attendant if they provide a specific service, such as might be the case at upscale nightclubs or restaurants.
Public toilets are found in many different places: inner-city locations, factories, schools and other places of work and study. Museums, bars, entertainment venues provide public toilets. Railway stations, filling stations, long distance public transport vehicles such as trains and planes provide toilets for general use. Portable toilets are available at large outdoor events. In many Asian and countries influenced by Muslim cultures, public toilets are of the squat type, as this is regarded as more hygienic for a shared facility. Public toilets are known by many names in different varieties of English. In American English, "restroom" denotes a facility featuring toilets and sinks designed for use by the public, but "bathroom" is common in schools. "Comfort station" sometimes refers to a visitor welcome center such as those in national parks. In Canadian English, public facilities are called "washrooms", although usage varies regionally; the word "toilet" denotes the fixture itself rather than the room.
The word "washroom" is used to mean "utility room" or "mud room" as it is in some parts of the United States. "Bathroom" is used to refer to the room in a person's home that includes a bathtub or shower. In public athletic or aquatic facilities, showers are available in locker rooms. In Britain, Hong Kong and New Zealand, the terms in use are "public toilet", "public lavatory", "public convenience", more informally, "public loo"; as public toilets were traditionally signed as "gentlemen" or "ladies", the colloquial terms "the gents' room" and "the ladies' room", or "the gents" and "the ladies" are used to indicate the facilities themselves. The British Toilet Association, sponsor of the Loo of the Year Awards, refers to public toilets collectively as "away-from-home" toilets. In Philippine English, "comfort room", or "C. R.", is the most common term in use. Some European languages used words cognate with "toilet", or the initialism "W. C.", an abbreviation for "water closet", an older term for the flush toilet.
Public urinals are known in several Romance languages by the name of a Roman Emperor: vespasienne in French, vespasiani in Italian, vespasiene in Romanian. Mosques and other places Muslims gather, have public sex-segregated "ablution rooms" since Islam requires specific procedures for cleansing parts of the body before prayer; these rooms adjoin the toilets, which are subject to Muslim hygienical jurisprudence and Islamic toilet etiquette. Many public toilets are permanent small buildings visible to passers-by on the street. Others are underground, including older facilities in Canada. Contemporary street toilets include self-cleaning toilets in self-contained pods. An Indian version of these automated toilet pods, remotely monitored by sensors, are the Electronic Public Toilets or eToilets. Another traditional type, modernized is the screened French street urinal known as a pissoir. An updated cylindrical urinal that lowers beneath street level out of the way and pops up during hours when it is needed is the Urilift Pop Up Urinal.
It is installed in entertainment districts and is operational only during weekends and nights. This urinal brand, invented in the Netherlands offers a pop-up toilet for women. Private firms may maintain permanent public toilets; the companies are permitted to use the external surfaces of the enclosures for advertising. The installations are part of a street furniture contract between the out-of-home advertising company and the city government, allow these public conveniences to be installed and maintained without requiring funds from the municipal budget. Various portable toilet technologies are used as public toilets. Portables can be moved into place where and when needed and are popular at outdoor festivals and events. A portable toilet can either be connected to the local sewage system or store the waste in a holding tank until it is emptied by a vacuum truck. Portable composting toilets require removal of the container to a composting facility; the standard wheelchair-accessible public toilet features wider doors, ample space for turning, lowered sinks, grab bars for saf
Mir
Mir was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and by Russia. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, it had a greater mass than any previous spacecraft. At the time it was the largest artificial satellite in orbit, succeeded by the International Space Station after Mir's orbit decayed; the station served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology, human biology, astronomy and spacecraft systems with a goal of developing technologies required for permanent occupation of space. Mir was the first continuously inhabited long-term research station in orbit and held the record for the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until it was surpassed by the ISS on 23 October 2010, it holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, with Valeri Polyakov spending 437 days and 18 hours on the station between 1994 and 1995. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years out of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, or larger crews for short visits.
Following the success of the Salyut programme, Mir represented the next stage in the Soviet Union's space station programme. The first module of the station, known as the core module or base block, was launched in 1986 and followed by six further modules. Proton rockets were used to launch all of its components except for the docking module, installed by a US Space Shuttle mission STS-74 in 1995; when complete, the station consisted of seven pressurised modules and several unpressurised components. Power was provided by several photovoltaic arrays attached directly to the modules; the station was maintained at an orbit between 296 km and 421 km altitude and travelled at an average speed of 27,700 km/h, completing 15.7 orbits per day. The station was launched as part of the Soviet Union's manned spaceflight programme effort to maintain a long-term research outpost in space, following the collapse of the USSR, was operated by the new Russian Federal Space Agency; as a result, most of the station's occupants were Soviet.
Mir was deorbited in March 2001. The cost of the Mir programme was estimated by former RKA General Director Yuri Koptev in 2001 as $4.2 billion over its lifetime. Mir was authorised by a 17 February 1976 decree, to design an improved model of the Salyut DOS-17K space stations. Four Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971, with three more being launched during Mir's development, it was planned. By August 1978, this had evolved to the final configuration of one aft port and five ports in a spherical compartment at the forward end of the station, it was planned that the ports would connect to 7.5-tonne modules derived from the Soyuz spacecraft. These modules would have used a Soyuz propulsion module, as in Soyuz and Progress, the descent and orbital modules would have been replaced with a long laboratory module. Following a February 1979 governmental resolution, the programme was consolidated with Vladimir Chelomei's manned Almaz military space station programme; the docking ports were reinforced to accommodate 20-tonne space station modules based on the TKS spacecraft.
NPO Energia was responsible for the overall space station, with work subcontracted to KB Salyut, due to ongoing work on the Energia rocket and Salyut 7, Soyuz-T, Progress spacecraft. KB Salyut began work in 1979, drawings were released in 1982 and 1983. New systems incorporated into the station included the Salyut 5B digital flight control computer and gyrodyne flywheels, Kurs automatic rendezvous system, Luch satellite communications system, Elektron oxygen generators, Vozdukh carbon dioxide scrubbers. By early 1984, work on Mir had halted while all resources were being put into the Buran programme in order to prepare the Buran spacecraft for flight testing. Funding resumed in early 1984 when Valentin Glushko was ordered by the Central Committee's Secretary for Space and Defence to orbit Mir by early 1986, in time for the 27th Communist Party Congress, it was clear that the planned processing flow could not be followed and still meet the 1986 launch date. It was decided on Cosmonaut's Day 1985 to ship the flight model of the base block to the Baikonur cosmodrome and conduct the systems testing and integration there.
The module arrived at the launch site on 6 May, with 1100 of 2500 cables requiring rework based on the results of tests to the ground test model at Khrunichev. In October, the base block was rolled outside its cleanroom to carry out communications tests; the first launch attempt on 16 February 1986 was scrubbed when the spacecraft communications failed, but the second launch attempt, on 19 February 1986 at 21:28:23 UTC, was successful, meeting the political deadline. The orbital assembly of Mir began on 19 February 1986 with the launch of the Proton-K rocket. Four of the six modules which were added followed the same sequence to be a
Toilet (room)
A toilet, in this sense, is a small room used for accessing the sanitation fixture for urination and defecation. Toilet rooms include a sink with soap for handwashing, as this is important for personal hygiene; this room is known as a "bathroom" in American English, a "loo" in British English, a "washroom" in Canadian English, by many other names across the English-speaking world. "Toilet" referred to personal grooming and came by metonymy to be used for the personal rooms used for bathing, so on. It was euphemistically used for the private rooms used for urination and defecation. By metonymy, it came to refer directly to the fixtures in such rooms. At present, the word refers to such fixtures and using "toilet" to refer to the room or activity is somewhat blunt and may be considered indiscreet, it is, however, a useful term since it is understood by English-speakers across the world, whereas more polite terms vary by region. "Lavatory" was common in the 19th century and is still broadly understood, although it is taken as quite formal in American English, more refers to public toilets in Britain.
The contraction "lav" is used in British English. In American English, the most common term for a private toilet is "bathroom", regardless of whether a bathtub or shower is present. In British English, "bathroom" is a common term but is reserved for private rooms used for bathing. Other terms are used, some as part of a regional dialect; some forms of jargon have their own terms for toilets, including "lavatory" on commercial airplanes, "head" on ships, "latrine" in military contexts. Larger houses have a secondary room with a toilet and sink for use by guests; these are known as "powder rooms" or "half baths" in North America, "cloakrooms" in Britain. The main item in the room is the sanitation fixture itself, the toilet; this may be the flushing sort, plumbed into a cistern operated by a ballcock. Or it may be a dry model; the toilet room may include a plunger, a rubber or plastic tool mounted on a handle, used to remove blockages from the toilet drain. Toilets have a wall mirror above the sink for grooming, checking one's appearance and/or makeup.
Some toilets have a cupboard where personal hygiene products may be kept. If it is a flush toilet the room also includes a toilet brush for cleaning the bowl. Methods of anal cleansing vary between cultures. If the norm is to use paper typically the room will have a toilet roll holder, with the toilet paper hanging either next to or away from the wall. If instead, people are used to cleaning themselves with water the room may include a bidet shower or a bidet. Toilets such as the Washlet, popular in Japan, provide an automatic washing function. A sink, with soap, is present in the room or outside it, to ensure easy handwashing. Above the sink there mounted on the wall, or on a medicine cabinet; this cabinet. Typically contains prescription and over the counter drugs, first aid supplies, grooming equipment for shaving or makeup. Into the modern era, humans practiced open defecation or employed latrines or outhouses over a pit toilet in rural areas and used chamber pots emptied into streets or drains in urban ones.
The Indus Valley Civilization had advanced sanitation, which included common use of private flush toilets. The ancient Greeks and Romans had public toilets and, in some cases, indoor plumbing connected to rudimentary sewer systems; the latrines of medieval monasteries were known as reredorters. In the early modern period, "night soil" from municipal outhouses became an important source of nitrates for creating gunpowder. 19th century refinements of the outhouse included the pail closet. Indoor toilets were at first a luxury of the rich and only spread to the lower classes; as late as the 1890s, building regulations in London did not require working-class housing to have indoor toilets. In some cases, there was a transitional stage where toilets were built into the house but accessible only from the outside. After World War I, all new housing in London and its suburbs had indoor toilets. Bathrooms became standard than toilets, but entered working-class houses at around the same time. For plumbing reasons, flush toilets have been located in or near residences' bathrooms.
In upper-class homes, the first modern lavatories were washrooms with sinks located near the bedrooms. In Britain, there was long a prejudice against having the toilet located in the bathroom proper: in 1904, Hermann Muthesius noted that "a lavatory is never found in an English bathroom; when toilets were placed within bathrooms, the original reason was cost savings. In 1876 Edward William Godwin, a progressive architect-designer, drew u
Lockheed P-3 Orion
The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engine turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner; the aircraft is distinguished from the Electra by its distinctive tail stinger or "MAD Boom", used for the magnetic detection of submarines. Over the years, the aircraft has seen numerous design developments, most notably in its electronics packages. Numerous navies and air forces around the world continue to use the P-3 Orion for maritime patrol, anti-surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. A total of 757 P-3s have been built, in 2012, it joined the handful of military aircraft including the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and the Lockheed U-2 that have seen over 50 years of continuous use by the United States military; the Boeing P-8 Poseidon will replace the U. S. Navy's remaining P-3C aircraft. In August 1957, the U.
S. Navy called for replacement proposals for the piston engined Lockheed P2V Neptune and Martin P5M Marlin with a more advanced aircraft to conduct maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare. Modifying an existing aircraft was expected to save on cost and allow rapid introduction into the fleet. Lockheed suggested a military version of its L-188 Electra, still in development and had yet to fly. In April 1958, Lockheed won the competition and was awarded an initial research and development contract in May; the prototype YP3V-1/YP-3A, Bureau Number 148276 was modified from the third Electra airframe c/n 1003. The first flight of the aircraft's aerodynamic prototype designated YP3V-1, was on 19 August 1958. While based on the same design philosophy as the Lockheed L-188 Electra, the aircraft was structurally different; the aircraft had 7 feet less fuselage forward of the wings with an opening bomb bay, a more pointed nose radome, distinctive tail "stinger" for detection of submarines by magnetic anomaly detector, wing hardpoints, other internal and airframe production technique enhancements.
The Orion has four Allison T56 turboprops which give it a top speed of 411 knots comparable to the fastest propeller fighters, or slow high-bypass turbofan jets such as the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II or the Lockheed S-3 Viking. Similar patrol aircraft include the Soviet Ilyushin Il-38, the French Breguet Atlantique and the British jet-powered Hawker Siddeley Nimrod based on the de Havilland Comet; the first production version, designated P3V-1, was launched on 15 April 1961. Initial squadron deliveries to Patrol Squadron Eight and Patrol Squadron Forty Four at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland began in August 1962. On 18 September 1962, the U. S. military transitioned to a unified designation system for all services, with the aircraft being renamed the P-3 Orion. Paint schemes have changed from early 1960s gloss blue and white, to mid-1960s/1970s/1980s/early 1990s gloss white and gray, to mid-1990s flat finish low visibility gray with fewer and smaller markings. In the early 2000s, the scheme changed to its current overall gloss gray finish with the original full-size color markings.
However, large size Bureau Numbers on the vertical stabilizer and squadron designations on the fuselage remained omitted. In 1963, the U. S. Navy Bureau of Weapons contracted Univac Defense Systems Division of Sperry-Rand to engineer and test a digital computer to interface with the many sensors and newly developing display units of the P-3 Orion. Project A-NEW was the engineering system which, after several early trials, produced the engineering prototype, the CP-823/U, Univac 1830, Serial A-1, A-NEW MOD3 Computing System; the CP-823/U was delivered to the Naval Air Development Center at Johnsville, Pennsylvania in 1965, directly led to the production computers equipped on the P-3C Orion. Three civilian Electras were lost in fatal accidents between February 1959 and March 1960. Following the third crash the FAA restricted the maximum speed of Electras until the cause could be determined. After an extensive investigation, two of the crashes were found to be caused by insufficiently strong engine mounts, unable to damp a whirling motion that could affect the outboard engines.
When the oscillation was transmitted to the wings, a severe vertical vibration escalated until the wings were torn from the aircraft. The company implemented an expensive modification program, labelled the Lockheed Electra Achievement Program or LEAP, in which the engine mounts and wing structures supporting the mounts were strengthened, some wing skins replaced with thicker material. All the surviving Electras of the 145 built at that time were modified at Lockheed's expense at the factory, the modifications taking 20 days for each aircraft; the changes were incorporated in subsequent aircraft. Sales of airliners were limited as the technical fix did not erase the "jinxed" reputation, turboprop-powered aircraft were soon replaced by faster jets. In a military role where fuel efficiency was more valued than speed, the Orion has been in service over 50 years after its 1962 introduction. Although surpassed in production longevity by the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, 734 P-3s were produced through 1990.
Lockheed Martin opened a new P-3 wing production line in 2008 as part of its Service Life Extension Program for delivery in 2010. A complete ASLEP replaces the outer wings, center wing lower section and horizontal stabilizers with newly built parts. In the 1990s, during a U. S. Navy attempt to identify a successor aircraft to the P-3, th
