30 years ago today, Iowa's second turret blew up. No thanks to an infamously controversial investigation, no definitive cause for the loss of 47 lives has been established.
In the apparent absence of any commemorative article from the Pacific team and the 99% likelihood that Kensuke-kun and co won't bother, max_and_emilytate and I decided to have our own done.
30 years ago today, Iowa's second turret blew up. No thanks to an infamously controversial investigation, no definitive cause for the loss of 47 lives has been established.
In the apparent absence of any commemorative article from the Pacific team and the 99% likelihood that Kensuke-kun and co won't bother, max_and_emilytate and I decided to have our own done.
Had a big memorial service on board this morning. We were expecting about 150 staff and veterans to attend; almost double that number showed up. Many reunions of people who haven't seen each other in almost 30 years. Also many people speaking in different stages of grief. The poor senior chief who had asked to be assigned to Turret Two, and was asked to be in Turret Three instead...
On a more funny note, also attending was the governor of Iowa. A family from Iowa got tickets for the tour this morning, completely unaware of the significance of April 19. A family from Iowa shook hands with the governor of Iowa on board the Iowa, in California.
What I meant by unremarkable was a ship that had nothing happen to it during it's service life, it was launched, did usual naval stuff and then was eventually scrapped. An example would be the Bustamante-Class of Spanish destroyers. Though by me calling them unremarkable that's not to say that they couldn't perform well in combat or do things as shipgirls, I just used unremarkable to describe them cause at the time I felt that it would be harder to write a personality for a ship that didn't have any major events to base it around, though since then I've found that it's easier when they don't have much cause you can just give them whatever personality you want.
Other than that I like the advice that the service history of a ship can be interpreted in different ways, that's something that I had thought about prior to asking for advice on here, and something that I find interesting when it comes to developing shipgirls. I've thought about perhaps having Tirpitz be a character in my story if I write it, as the way I've imagined a Tirpitz kanmusu is fairly different to the the way she's depicted in a couple stories I've read on here that she's in, not that those interpretations are bad, I've just thought it would be cool to do my interpretation of her.
I've got a good idea of what ships I want to use for main characters and characterizations for said ships and a good outline in my head for the first chapter along with a basic idea for the first arc, I'm just not entirely sure how I would get from ch.1 to the end of the arc, as in what the main plot/enemy would be. Tone-wise the story would probably be close to HatSG, so fairly light most of the time. I may post a basic outline of the story and it's characters, and perhaps the first chapter if I write it, on this thread at some point. I've never written any fanfiction, nor done much in the way of creative writing so I don't know if it'll go further than that but I suppose it'll depend on what people think of it.
If one subscribes to the notion that fairies are the spirits of deceased crew, and shipgirls and their crews are allowed to vote in democratic nations, the logical conclusion of that is politicians going after the "new minority": 4 inch tall sailors, followed by the added hilarity of a ship fairy attempting to run for office, and winning.
If one subscribes to the notion that fairies are the spirits of deceased crew, and shipgirls and their crews are allowed to vote in democratic nations, the logical conclusion of that is politicians going after the "new minority": 4 inch tall sailors, followed by the added hilarity of a ship fairy attempting to run for office, and winning.
Plus for sailors that served on multiple ships, there would be one "voter" registered on multiple ships with each incarnation casting a vote. That's a lot of duplicate votes.
Plus for sailors that served on multiple ships, there would be one "voter" registered on multiple ships with each incarnation casting a vote. That's a lot of duplicate votes.
Oh my Kongou! How lewd! Also anyone in the mood for a rewrite of an old thing? Or some belated Halloween shenanigans(I need to STAP bullying DD's...) or some familial attachment between DD's
So I came up with this after finding out USN submarines are never considered lost, just on eternal patrol.
This was the end. Had to be. We're trapped, cut off. If there's even half a dozen shells left between all of us, we can't fire it anymore. It was an ambush. And we sailed straight down the throat.
It was just a routine patrol. We weren't supposed to see anybody. Then a trawler sent a distress signal. Or a fake trawler. I don't care. We were the only ones close enough to render aid, so we followed orders. We get to the coordinates, and there's nothing. No wreck, no oil slick. Nothing. But that's when sonar went crazy.
We weren't at battle stations. We had hands alongside to help the supposed trawler out. They got cut to pieces. The 5 on the bow of our ship was shot clean off the ring. Right over the side. Flagship crumpled like a soda can. Chaos. Everybody shooting every which way. Hitting each other, the ocean, maybe the attackers by mistake. Damn missiles went cold in the tubes as soon as the shooting started. CIWS? Forget it. What was left of the gun is probably embedded in my leg. Bridgewing gunners got some fire off. Until the bridge got hit.
We didn't see what hit us. Not at first. Once the wrecks and smoke cleared, we saw huge dark shapes in the water. Slowly, almost lazily headed in our direction. One great big eye starin right at us. Then behind them twisted freaks. Like human, but with crazy shit on them. Then the big chief. Some huge bitch riding on a pair of arms bristling with guns. Long hair. Horns. Creepiest fuckin eyes that will haunt me to the end. And she's the fuckin cat in the cream. Smug prick. She knew we were fucked twenty ways to Monday. She could play with us as long as she felt like.
She came within about thousand yards off our port beam. Started hollerin some shit I didn't understand. Whipped everything she was with into a frenzy. She turns and stares me dead square. Then sinks and disappears. That's when the others start makin moves. Comin in close. They get to about the point the Head Bitch was at. All about a thousand yards off.
But then shit gets crazier. Fuckin explosions goin off all around. But not shooting. Like explosions in old movies. Spray shooting into the air. They start running around like headless chickens trying to figure out who's doin the shootin? It wasn't us. No way. But those things get picked off one by one, horror movie style. Huge black shapes first, then the Freakshows. More methodical than a slasher flick.
Last one finally flops face first on the surface. We're surrounded by bodies, ours and theirs. And this, no shit, sub comes sliding outta the water. Southeast of us. We're thinking "holy shit. We lucked out. We were close to an attack sub or boomer." But that wasn't any attack sub. And it wasn't a boomer. Too small and too lumpy to be. I didn't see it. I was getting worked over by a doc. But somebody got a picture. Looked old. Had a big 294 painted on the sail. Deck gun. Deck. Gun. next part is just what I heard. Someone says a figure came up to the top of the sail, looked at what was left of the flotilla, saluted and said "USS Escolar. On patrol. You're relieved." Then went back below, and the sub dived and vanished.
All this time later, still no answers. Debriefs went on for days at a time. Even after the old ships came back, they didn't know about it either. Not even Escolar herself, when one of us survivors caught up with her. Even once we managed to catch some of the Freaks, they only talked about it in hushed whispers. About the Ones Without Rest, or some shit. But every year, at the Christmas broadcast, whether they're really out there or not, we send a message to 'em. Thank them on their patrol. All I know is one probably saved my life. And if anybody ever comes across that ship, make sure you get the mailing address. I owe that sub a lotta scotch.
Imagine there being another scandal - dead people on the rolls.
And the shipgirls are reading about it... And there's a list of some of the people and how and when they died. And it includes some of their crew!
Now, they check, and their crew hadn't voted - assumed them being spirits meant they werent eligible.
So shipgirls start making a fuss, many angry letters to the editor, and BSSM later we have the shipgirls granted voting rights (as an aggregate representative of their crews) and a shipgirl on the way to Congress.
If one subscribes to the notion that fairies are the spirits of deceased crew, and shipgirls and their crews are allowed to vote in democratic nations, the logical conclusion of that is politicians going after the "new minority": 4 inch tall sailors, followed by the added hilarity of a ship fairy attempting to run for office, and winning.
Plus for sailors that served on multiple ships, there would be one "voter" registered on multiple ships with each incarnation casting a vote. That's a lot of duplicate votes.
Imagine there being another scandal - dead people on the rolls.
And the shipgirls are reading about it... And there's a list of some of the people and how and when they died. And it includes some of their crew!
Now, they check, and their crew hadn't voted - assumed them being spirits meant they werent eligible.
So shipgirls start making a fuss, many angry letters to the editor, and BSSM later we have the shipgirls granted voting rights (as an aggregate representative of their crews) and a shipgirl on the way to Congress.
So this idea has been burning in my brain for awhile now and as they say, practice makes perfect so here is a snippet. Critique very much welcome, been a looooong time since I wrote anything that wasn't academic. A cross post from SB.
Decked Over
Wisconsin could hardly contain her excitement as she briskly walked towards her destination, only avoiding running to maintain her decorum. She WAS the pride of American Shipgirl Force and she needed to at least look somewhat composed. But still, it was so damned hard to! Not only was there a new carrier, but she was a natural born too! When the German admiral's wife had manifested as Graf Zeppelin it was all everyone could talk about for weeks, and while it had proved itself to not just be a one time thing, before now there had never been such a case in the United States.
What would she say? It certainly would be different than the greeting she would give to regular shipgirls upon their return. Sure Ranger and the various officials had worked out and explained the basics of the situation to her, but that was totally different than making her feel welcome, which was where Wisconsin came in.
With most girls, Wisconsin could count on shared service in the war at the and the shared confusion of going from being a warship to becoming a comparatively tiny person. Meanwhile this new girl was a relative civilian thrust into a military position. While she would likely instinctively know how to function as a warship and she would have her compliment of fairy crew who knew their way around, neither she nor her crew would have a lick of actual combat experience.
And what about the parts she did remember? Reports on the situation with Graf Zeppelin mentioned that she did have dreams of her construction and even of the weapon's test that sunk her. Sure it didn't seem to bother the German carrier, but that didn't say much. They were different people and different ships. Hell at least Zeppy could figure out her name. From what Wisconsin had been told the poor new girl couldn't even remember it. Maybe Ranger had been able to help figure out what she was supposed to be beyond "fleet carrier" while Wisconsin was in debrief? She could only hope that was the case.
As she reached the door to the guest room that the two occupied, she began straightening out her platinum hair and once again a welcoming smile adorned her face. No matter any potential bumps in the road that may occur, a new shipgirl meant a new friend and a new comrade in the fight against the Abyssals, and both were always welcome.
As Wisconsin opened the door, whatever she previously had thought to say fled her mind as she looked at the new shipgirl. While Ranger may have had issues identifying her, no amount of flight deck could conceal her identity from her. Hell, her bow had been used to replace Wisconsin's own when she collided with poor Eaton!
"Kentucky?! I-I can't believe it's you sis!"
.....
For context, this idea is based on the proposed conversion of the unfinished Kentucky to a CV
Final reward of the next event, which previously was confirmed to be a battleship, is now further confirmed to be one of the Big Seven:
Now in the "Ship this" Operation Guardian Office, plan to start the operation after the middle of May [ship this] period limited time zone: We are gearing up for the operation of spring events 2019. In the fleet of admiral that surpassed all capture the same [strategy] and [subsequent operations], one ship of that big Seven, main battleship [new ship daughter] is scheduled to join! A little bit... Please look forward to!
