Whip of the Sea

[Sophie]

The commander inspected the device closely with her torpedowomen. They all looked completely baffled. "How on Ouhiri are we supposed to work this device?" One spoke. "Yeah, the TDC is already so goddamn complicated, now we're adding all these levers?"

The commander nodded, "It does seem very complex. How are these meant to be guided? The torpedowomen cannot see the torpedo once it's fired from the tube. The periscope operator can only kind of see the wake of the type 97 as is."

Kawasaki nodded. "I agree, these all seem like great questions. But why don't we save any more theoretical questions until after the demonstration?" The admiral posited.

Kure spoke, "Very wise, Admiral. Let's let the Elenrians show us what they've got."

All fifty-two eyes turned to the Elenrian as well as down range to the C-132. "I assume you're going to intentionally fire in a way that would conventionally miss the target right?" Yamokawa asked

[StaolDerg]

"Indeed, Superintendent," the human petty officer replied, a cold sweat rolling down his neck as he was beheld by all the Kumo present. "We will fire the torpedo at the other side of the inlet, and I will then guide the torpedo into the target with the targeting apparatus. The torpedo is equipped with a relatively low-yield warhead, so you will see when it goes off."

He turned back to the controls of the metal box, and though they had extensively tested it to be fully functional only half an hour ago, he was irrationally paranoid that something might go wrong. But as Oliika stepped to him and nodded, he quietly took a deep breath and signaled his team to begin.

The well-oiled base of the torpedo tube creaked as they positioned it away from the direct path of the corvette and prepared it to fire. The gauges were set, the crew stepped back, and Ouska prayed to every god he could think of as the sharp hiss of the torpedo tube unleashed a blur of motion as the torpedo was hurled into the water. At first, with great horror, he thought that the torpedo had failed to activate at all, but as one of his engineers cried out and pointed towards a prominent wake that was now tearing just underneath the waves towards the shore on the other side, well out of line with the corvette. 

"Adjust course, fifteen degrees!"

Ten degrees. His eyes fixated on the controls, he gingerly depressed two levers until the small numbers of ten that were just above his fingers passed the small white indicator, reaching fifteen just above. His was gripped with excitement and briefly risked a quick glance up. He could no longer see the torpedo from here. It was now in the hands of the spotting engineer. 

"Adjust course, another fifteen!" 

Thirty degrees. 45 degrees was the maximum it could go without potentially tangling the home thread. They were already at 30 now. He prayed that no more was needed.

A moment of silence.

He looked up. Had they lost sight? But to his relief, the engineer was steady and slowly tracking with their spotting glasses glued to their face. 

"Course is on target! On target! Restore course to zero degrees!"

He gingerly allowed the levers to slowly rise back up, feeling the resistance of the silk. Please hit. Please hit.

More silence.

Oliika narrowed her eyes in her own spotting glasses- she had been momentarily distracted and lost the position of the torpedo.

And then, with a sudden roar and an eruption of water that parted the waves, punching the hull of the corvette in half, the torpedo detonated off the port side, slightly to the right. Several engineers briefly cheere before being hushed by their fellows as they turned back to the Kumo for their response.

[Sophie]

Every Kumo was given a pair of binoculars to look through and they all tracked the light bubble trail through the water. Some of them struggled to see the wake clearly as their binoculars darted around the dock in front of them. "Can't we get a set of octoculars?" one of the torpedowomen complained. They were thankfully able to find the trail once the Elenrian ordered a turn. All of their mouths, aside from Kure's, hung agape. Even more so once the torpedo's trajectory was once again altered. As the torpedo detonated Yamakawa whispered to herself, "Torpedo impact... torpedo impact!"

"It worked?! It actually fucking worked?!" Admiral Kaneko yelled out.

"What the fuck?" Admiral Kawasaki whispered to herself, "I came here to watch an Elenrian get reamed and fired. It actually worked?"

Yamakawa couldn't breathe. She stared at the torpedoed vessel for what to her felt like a century. "Naval warfare, will never, never, be the same."

Secretary Kure overlooked her compatriates and smiled. "I think it's fair to say, what you've accomplished here is extraordinary. In my opinion, your name will go down in history. Petty Officer Ouska I am hereby promoting you to the rank of commander. I'm afraid that's the rank you'll need in order to be one of the leaders on this project." She bowed to the commander. "Ladies and gentlemen anything and everything relating to this project are now classified at the highest possible clearance. I'll have to ask all of you to quarantine on base until we can thoroughly inspect your backgrounds and authorize you to have knowledge of this project."

Yawakama spoke next, "Commander Osada, I... I uh... I believe you and your crew had some questions?"

The commander nodded, "Yes. While the incredibleness of what has been achieved here cannot be understated, I have several concerns that I feel must be addressed before this upgraded weapon would be viable for field testing. To begin with, the wake. From an elevated and advanced position, like we are now, the bubble trail was incredibly hard to make out. Through the periscope of a submerged submarine, it would be near impossible to direct. We need to force the torpedo to cavitate more, preferably once it has cleared some distance from the tube as to draw less attention to the sub."

[StaolDerg]

Ouska bowed, absolutely breathless with the news of promotion. His engineers and the other Elenrians, including Oliika, did the same.

"Of course, Kure-kama," he replied, still giddy with excitement. "I have several ideas and proposals for the resolution of the torpedo's visibility issue, Admiral. Once my team has been approved with the appropriate clearance, I'll start immediately with experimenting and trialing ways to make the torpedo caviate more, as well as a chart system to raise the predictability and track the torpedo's course even without sight of it."

[StaolDerg]

MINISTRY OF WAR

AUTUMN 1934

TAKPOE NAVAL REGION TERRITORIAL COMMAND

THE IMPERIAL NAVAL MUNITIONS DEPARTMENT

ELENRIA NAVAL STATION AUNDUI YIO 'VO'

---

Re: UPDATE ON PROJECT 'Rōtasu/Lianhua'

TO SUPERINTENDENT YAMOKAWA-KAMA,

I PRESENT YOU A STATUS UPDATE ON THE PROJECT'S FOURTH YEAR.

AS OF THE TIME OF WRITING, TWO-HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT UNITS HAVE BEEN PRODUCED. THE FOLLOWING ARE A RECOUNT OF VARIANTS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED INFORMATION, SUCH AS TESTING, FATE, AND NUMBER.

LIANHUA TYPE 1 EXPERIMENTAL - PROTOTYPE ORIGINALLY PRESENTED TO THE IMPERIAL NAVY.

- 4 PRODUCED AND 1 EXPENDED IN DEMONSTRATION. 2 LOST IN TESTS. REMAINDERS SCRAPPED.

- RANGE: 17,000 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 34 KN

UNITS SUFFERED FROM POOR VISIBILITY TO CONTROLLERS, AS WELL AS MANEUVERABILITY, RELIABILITY, AND RANGE. TWO PROTOTYPES SUFFERED INTERNAL COMPARTMENT FLOODING AND WERE LOST. ONE PREMATURELY DETONATED, BLAMED ON FAULTY ARMING SYSTEM.

LIANHUA TYPE 1 (INCLUDING A, B, C, D VARIANTS) - VARIANTS WITH RECOMMENDED CHANGES.

- 14 PRODUCED, AND 4 EXPENDED IN TESTS. 7 LOST IN TESTS. SCRAPPING OF REMAINDERS PENDING.

- RANGE: 24,000 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 34 KN

IMPROVEMENTS MADE ON THE TYPE 1 PRODUCTION INCREASED RANGE AND SOME RELIABILITY. MANEUVERABILITY REMAINS PROBLEM: INCREASED CAVITATION BY INCREASING EXHAUST FLOW HAMPERED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HOME THREAD'S COMMANDS. CAVITATION WAS NOT ALWAYS PRESENT. MULTIPLE ADDITIONAL UNITS WERE PRODUCED TO FURTHER TEST LIMITATIONS OF THE DESIGN BEFORE PRODUCTION WAS CEASED.

LIANHUA TYPE 2 - IMPROVED FROM TYPE 1 DESIGNS

- 9 PRODUCED, AND 4 EXPENDED IN TESTS. 4 LOST IN TESTS. 1 IN STORAGE.

- RANGE: 28,000 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 39 KN

SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS TO RELIABILITY, MANEUVERABILITY, AND OTHER FIELDS. GUIDANCE APPARATUS OF BOTH UNIT AND OPERATOR'S CONSOLE UPGRADED TO A TYPE 2 VARIANT ALLOWING FOR SIMPLIFIED MOVEMENT, IN ADDITION TO A MEASURED AMOUNT OF THREAD BEING NECESSARY FOR THE INCREASED CAVITATION OF THE TORPEDO TO FIRE. IMPROVED FINS DIRECT CAVITATION AWAY FROM HOME THREAD AND TOWARDS SURFACE. WAKE SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASED. COST IS HOWEVER ALSO DRASTICALLY INCREASED: ONE WEEK WAS REQUIRED FOR A SINGLE UNIT'S FABRICATION.

LIANHUA TYPE 2A - PRE-PRODUCTION TRIAL MODEL OF TYPE 2

- 16 PRODUCED, 7 EXPENDED IN TESTS. 6 LOST IN TESTS. 3 IN STORAGE.

- RANGE: 30,000 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 41 KN

INTERNAL PARTS OF THE APPARATUS HAVE BEEN EXCHANGED FOR ALUMINUM FROM HEAVIER MATERIALS TO LESSEN WEIGHT AND THUS INCREASE RANGE AND SPEED. ARMING MECHANISM NEEDED TO BE COMPLETELY CHANGED TO ACCOUNT FOR AN ANOMALY WHERE CERTAIN SEA CONDITIONS WOULD PREMATURELY SET OFF THE DETONATOR. FULL CIRCUMSTANCES ARE NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD, AND REMAINING UNITS ARE NOW IN STORAGE.

 

LIANHUA TYPE 2B - PRODUCTION MODEL OF TYPE 2

- 8 UNITS PRODUCED, 4 EXPENDED IN TESTS. 3 LOST IN TESTS. 1 IN STORAGE.

- RANGE: 29,500 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 41 KN

FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS TO RELIABILITY MADE: IMPROVED TYPE 4 GUIDANCE APPARATUS HAS BEEN INSTALLED WITH FEATURES TO AUTOMATICALLY COUNTER SEA CURRENTS. THESE COMPLICATE THE OPERATOR CONSOLE HOWEVER, AND IT WILL TAKE MORE TIME TO TRAIN OPERATORS ON THE SYSTEM. LARGER BATTERIES WERE NEEDED TO POWER THIS SYSTEM, FURTHER REDUCING RANGE. NEVERTHELESS, THIS PRODUCTION MODEL IS LIKELY THE BEST OUT OF THE ENTIRE PROJECT FOR DEPLOYMENT IN THE ROYAL BATTLE FLEET AT THIS TIME.

LIANHUA TYPE 2C - TROPICAL WATERS EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF TYPE 2

- 2 UNITS UNDER PRODUCTION

- RANGE: 18,000 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 36 KN (EXPECTED)

INCREASED BUOYANCY TO COMBAT WARM WATERS. RELIABILITY DRASTICALLY INCREASED WITH MULTIPLE REDUNDANCY FEATURES, BUT RANGE AND SPEED WILL SUFFER CONSIDERABLY. STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT.

LIANHUA TYPE 2B - TRAINING VARIANT OF THE TYPE 2B

- 4 UNITS PRODUCED, 1 TESTED, 3 IN STORAGE.

- RANGE: 29,500 YARDS MAXIMUM AT 41 KN

tRAINING VARIANT FEATURES INERT WARHEAD AND A DETACHABLE REINFORCED COMPARTMENT CONTAINING THE GUIDANCE APPARATUS TO BE REUSED. IN DEVELOPMENT.

SUPERINTENDENT, DESPITE OUR BEST EFFORTS, INDIVIDUAL COSTS OF EACH UNITS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY SUBSTANTIAL ALONGSIDE RELIABILITY ISSUES. EACH UNIT AT THIS TIME TAKES UPWARDS OF A WEEK FOR MY TEAM TO FINISH FABRICATION, AND FOR THE SCALE OF THE PROJECT THE THREE WORKSHOPS MY TEAM CURRENTLY OCCUPIES IS NO LONGER ENOUGH. FOR THESE REASONS, I WOULD LIKE TO REQUEST ORDERS ON WHETHER TO FOCUS ON CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF IMPROVED MODELS, OR, AS A PRODUCTION MODEL IS FINALLY AVAILABLE,BEGIN  FOCUSING ON SCALE PRODUCTION OF THE TYPE 2B INSTEAD.

WITH HONOR TO THE EMPRESS,

COMMANDER LESNA UINA OUSKA, PROJECT HEAD