In the depths of the Seattle Docks, in a dimly lit drydock, the recently promoted Rear Admiral Nixeu looked up at the fruit of his first major project as the interim leader of the Protectorate's Navy: the metallic bulk of the Seawolf-Class Submarine recovered from the waters around Kitsap. While the other ships recovered were welcome additions to the Protectorate's naval forces, this was the real prize: a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, designed to be able deal with undersea and surface-level targets.
The submarine was, as far as anyone could tell, Seawolf herself, though the documentation was a bit sparse, what with the hull having been left in the water for so long that any trace of the name on the hull was gone, and Kitsap's destruction, as well as it's time in the sea, having destroyed the paperwork. Of course, since the Seawolf-class consisted of only three ships, one of which was about 100 feet longer than the other two, the odds were 50-50 as soon as they measured the hull. The Rear Admiral preferred to think it was Seawolf.
The Seawolf-class had been the victim of poor timing and budget cuts. At ~3 billion dollars per submarine, they were expensive, to say the least. The teething troubles with welding the higher-grade steel used in their construction didn't help matters. Then, just as the first ships were coming off the slips, the Cold War suddenly ended, and the Navy's funding dried up quicker than dew in the desert. As a result, only three ships of the class ever got the chance to prowl the seas.
That said, the quality of the ships matched the price-tag. Quieter, faster, and tougher than it's immediate predecessor, it was a well-designed and well-made vessel, which was why it had stayed in service for so many decades. They could have done far worse The Virginia-class that succeed the Seawolves, smaller and cheaper, was also, according to one of his analysts, likely to have been designed such that one couldn't actually open it up for reactor replacement, which made repairing major damage difficullt. They weren't even significantly quieter. They were simply much less suited for anti-Kaiju combat. Perhaps that higher resilience was why this ship had survived the Kaiju, where some of it's cheaper successors had perished.
The PPDC hadn't invested much research into deep-sea attack submarines, since they had focused on fighting the Kaiju in the shallows. In the end, that may have turned out to have been a mistake, given how things had turned out at the Challenger Deep Breach. The Protectorate, however, wasn't going to be making that mistake. The Navally-inclined Conventional Techs were already drawing up plans for a modernized refit, though some had...interesting...suggestions. He was hoping that the factions advocating for positron weaponry or railguns would see the light before the design reached his desk.
Once the techs got their act together, and submitted the plans, all they needed after that was the materials and the manpower. Which they'd be getting, if he had anything to say about it. Of all the submarines to find, this was by far the most fitting, and the best, in the Rear Admiral's opinion. It suited their current needs perfectly. And, importantly to the Admiral, the Seawolf-class had been a promising class of ship, that never truly got the chance show their mettl, to reach their full potential. The Seawolves had been given a second chance at glory, and the Rear Admiral had made it his duty to make sure they got it.
The Rear Admiral reached out his hand, touching the submarine's cold, metallic hull. Soon, he thought to himself, we'll show the Kaiju they're not as safe in the depths as they think they are. That they can't hide on the seafloor anymore. That they aren't the only hunters in the ocean.
The Rear Admiral smiled a toothy predator's grin that would give a barracuda a run for it's money.
Soon, the pack will be on the hunt.
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So, yeah. Submarines are cool, and we got one of the better ones. Possibly the best for our purposes. The Virginia-class subs are newer, but they were basically the result of the Navy saying "let's design a cheaper alternative to the expensive thing". They have a bunch of innovations, to be sure, but their design is likely less rugged (they're modular, which can cause issues), their design specs (speed, max dive depth, etc), are nearly identical, and they mount more surface-targeting gear than torpedo tubes, with only 4 to the Seawolves' 8 tubes. We have surface combat covered. What we need are submarines.
The whole thing about reactor removal being an issue with them is an inference on my step-dad's part. Their reactor lifespan and the expected lifespan of the ships are identical. Which most likely means you can't actually replace their reactors if you need to. It's a useful feature in some ways, as it simplifies piping and wiring, amongst other things. But it also sets hard limits on your ship's lifespan, and makes them much harder to fix, if heavily damaged. Not that I expect Fyr to make details like that a thing in-game, but it is a way to explain why Virginia-classes didn't survive the Kaiju.
Also, Seawolf is a sweet name for a submarine, since groups of submarines are often referred to as "wolf packs", at least when they attack en-masse. So I kind of rolled with the hunter thing, even though the actual seawolf is a type of eel that eats shellfish. Not a particularly fierce hunter.
I may end up writing stuff whenever there are major Naval events. At the very least, I'd love to write one for if/when we get battleships, or carriers, or when Naval Station Everett gets repaired. Also, apologies if the quality is low, my editing was pretty slim. I really wanted to get this out soon, so I kinda rushed the process.
