#auxiliary warships

[bookloversofbath]

The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Death of Queen Victoria :: William Laird Clowes

[ltwilliammowett]

HNLMS Soembing on arrival in Nagasaki 1854 by Arnold de Lange.

Kankō Maru (観光丸, Vision) was Japan's first steam-powered warship. She was the Dutch HNLMS Soembing, which was presented to the Tokugawa shogunate ruling Japan during the Bakumatsu period as a gift from King William III of the Netherlands to assist Janus Henricus Donker Curtius, head of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (Netherlands Trading Society) in Japan in his efforts to establish formal diplomatic relations and the opening of Japanese ports to Dutch merchant vessels.

When she was given to the Japanese in 1855 a naval detachment of 22 instructors was also temporarily stationed at Deshima to train Japanese crews, officers, etc. Captain-lieutenant at sea G.C.C. Pels Rijcken was given command of this detachment. 'Master' Pels Rijcken and his detachment combined group teaching of Japanese students at the naval school with the construction of a sloop building yard, a forge and a sail making shop. An eight-oar sloop and a 60-ton cutter were built on site. Steam mechanics was demonstrated by on-site repairs and maintenance of the engines of the Kanko Maru.

Kankō Maru was a three-masted jackass-barque-rigged sailing vessel, with an auxiliary single-cylinder coal-fired 150HP reciprocating steam engine turning a side paddlewheel. She had an overall length of 66.8 metres and a displacement of 781 tons. Her armament consisted of six muzzle-loading cannons.

She was decommissioned in March 1876 and was scapped that year.

[toaster-boi]

being knowledgeable about firearms/vehicle weapons and how they work has been an unexpectedly useful skill in terms of thinking up dope weapon designs for mecha because i can take mechanisms that work in real life, but haven't been combined because of things like ergonomics, recoil management and the strength of one person limiting how much ammo you can carry, and then slam them together into something mechanically plausible.

ADEN-style revolver autocannons mounted to a mech's forearm as an auxiliary weapon system shredding targets with 30mm fire.

hipfire automatic shotgun with a 75-round belt-feeding drum mag that loads like a Thompson/RPD hybrid, with a 45° canted foregrip and LMG-level fire rate (think 500rpm minimum) churning out a continuous stream of several depleted-uranium darts per shotshell.

120mm smoothbore anti-materiel rifle with a stock that splits to center the weapon between both shoulders, like the 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns on WWII-era warships, paired with recoil shovels that drop down either from the mech's back or its legs so that the firing stance is basically leaning back with both arms forwards while retaining the ability to fire from a more conventional stance.

taking inspiration from ammunition feed systems alone gives you so many stylistic and mechanical options that just aren't available for anything smaller-scale than an armored vehicle. chain-drive automatic cycling, Gatling-style rotating breech/barrel assemblies, mechanical autoloaders for high-caliber single-shot cannons, ammo chutes instead of continuous belt-feed, i could go on for hours. it only gets more customizable if you adapt vehicular ammo systems to gigantic mechanical hands and electronically-actuated moving parts on the guns themselves, or hand-based reloading systems to more complex hardware.

if you can't tell i really like guns that are really fucking big but not quite ship-scale.

[autisticsupervillain]

FTF: How Powerful Is...?

A prolonged breakdown on a character detailing all their scaling, powers, stats, skill, and abilities to determine exactly how powerful they are.

This Week's Character...

Sollux Captor!

Scope:

I'm going to be skipping past the usual rundown kn the character's personality and history in order to primarily focus on their power scaling applicable attributes. In Sollux's case, I'll be primarily focusing on explicitly canon materials. Dubiously canon sources such as the Epilogues, Homestuck^2, Pesterquest, Hiveswap Friendsim, and so on will be ignored. Not that any of them should really effect Sollux's scaling anyways. He's barely even featured really. I just despise modern canon and will happily take any opportunity to completely ignore it.

I'm basing this analysis entirely on Homestuck proper. As Hussie has given free reign to either regard or disregard the Epilogues and everything pertaining as canon at audience discretion, I'm disregarding it completely. Paradox Space has a similar thing going on, but I'm ignoring that less out of contempt and moreso it just.... doesn't have any material that would effect Sollux's powerscaling to begin with. They're effectively just comedy skits/short stories in the Homestuck universe.

With all that out of the way, let's start with stats.

Attack Potency and Durability

For starters, all of the abilities Sollux displays with his powers should scale to his physical durability. While I certainly don't think Sollux could do half of his feats with, say, his fists, it it pretty consistent that he's tough enough to tank what he dishes out. Basic laws of physics dictate that Sollux would have to be durable enough to withstand the energy of his own optic blasts to some degree, or else he'd be blasting himself apart.

Conversely, Sollux is tough enough to survive blasts from Eridan even after Eridan explicitly overpowers him, even if he was K.O'd. Both Kanaya and Feferi meanwhile were oneshot by him.

Let's go through stats in extending order of impressiveness. Sollux hits Multi-Continent Level as a baseline pretty easily. An Alternian Warship on auxiliary power is capable of accelerating to near light speed, generating a kinetic energy equivalent to 303 Petatons of TNT.

As goldbloods are routinely exploited for their powers to be used as the main batteries on ships, common goldbloods should upscale this. Sollux, meanwhile, is decended from and inherits the powers of the most powerful goldblood who'd ever lived, The Psiioniic, so he upscales even further.

He was forced to serve as

the Helmsman for Her

Condescension's imperial

battleship. Psychics of his

kind were exploited for

interstellar travel, and

his abilities made her ship

the fastest in the fleet by

far. She grew so enamored

of her Helmsman and his

power, she would use her

touch to extend his

lifespan to match her own.

-Doc Scratch about The Psiioniic

Surrounding him on his rise

to infamy and throughout

the rebellion were the most

trusted elites among his

devoted. The viioniic was a

mage of unequaled

telekinetic ability, who

upon hearing the words of

the Sufferer was inspired

to free himself from the

sort of slavery typical of

his mentally gifted class.

-Doc Scratch

Similarly, Sollux can redirect meteors brought down by the Reckoning.

These meteors can consistently output 3 Exatons of kinetic energy.

And, finally, Sollux can assist Aradia in pushing the meteor to outspeed Jack Noir, a 2 Exaton feat.

ARADIA: i can help with

that!

ARADIA: sollux do you

think you can lend me a

hand?

SOLLUX: huh?

ARADIA: theyll need the

biggest push we can give

them

SOLLUX: 0h.

SOLLUX: yeah sure.

KARKAT: WHAT, SO JUST

ONE "PUSH" IS GOING TO

LAST THREE YEARS?

KARKAT : LEt ALONE OUTRUN

JACK?? BULLSHIT

SOLLUX: calm down kk, it

sh0uld be fine.

SOLLUX: yOu won't sl0w

down.

However, it's actually remarkably easy to hit much higher levels of power when scaling to his fellow SBURB Players. John, for example, performs a feat the puts all of the above to shame, creating a tornado that covers half of his planet in an instant, generating 4 thousand exatons of TNT.

Sollux's highest scaling thus far, however, comes from a feat he not only scales far above, but comes from characters he completely curbstomps. During he fight with the Condescension, Aranea mind controls several Damaras into throwing a planet, generating kinetic energy equivalent to 273 Ninatons of TNT. Enough to destroy a dwarf star.

Damara is a member of the Alpha Trolls, who battled fruitlessly in their session for three years before ultimately being defeated. Doc Scratch would note that their relatively peaceful upbringing compared to Sollux's left them completely unprepared to beat SBURB, prompting him to turn Alternia into the hellscape it is to prepare them to beat SBURB.

As was true of the bellicose world we know, there came to be twelve heroes on this peaceful planet. These heroes too had twelve ancestors whose fortunes were entwined with theirs. These twenty-four figures of legend were not of this world but sent from the sky, delivered from a reality not yet conceived.

On the eve of their race's extinction, the twelve heroes would begin playing a game. They would make an admirable effort, but they would fail. Their civilization had not prepared them for the rigors of this game, and the ultimate reward would fall shy of their grasp.

[...]Though I was delivered well before history even began, before the dawning of life on their planet. This time around, I would oversee its development, and thus fulfill the mother's promise of an aggressive, ruthlessly prepared group of heroes. One that would not rest until victory was secured.

-Doc Scratch

By comparison, the Beta Trolls were able to beat their game in only 25 days, signifying the Betas solidly scaling above the Alphas.

FCG:

IT WAS ALL PRETTY

MUCH LIKE CLOCKWORK.

FCG: A 600 HOUR CAMPAIGN

TO COMPLETE A GAME LIKE

THIS IS PRETTY GOOD IF

YOU ASK ME.

-Karkat Vantas

Sollux's most impressive scaling, however, comes from Gamzee, of all trolls.

Sollux pretty definitively scales backwards from Gamzee, but to an extent where he would still be comparable. Eridan, fresh off of his fight with Sollux, was considered an equal threat to Gamzee and a God-Tiered Vriska during their three way showdown before a newly undead Kanaya beat them all down. Sollux was the only one Eridan had fought up to the point who both survived getting hit and matched him briefly. See above.

This scaling his further supported by Sollux's relativity to Aradiabot. Not only did Sollux survive Aradiabot literally exploding in his face, but both of them were essential in wearing down the Black King. See the meteor feats above.

Vriska jas confessed that Aradiabot would still kick her ass, even after she went God-Tier.

VRISKA: Hey dead girl! How's 8eing dead treating you?

ARADIA: cOuldnt i ask yOu the same thing

VRISKA: Yeah, sure! If you wanted to 8e technically inaccur8

still 8urn though, so touche!

ARADIA: its really weird that yOu keep antagOnizing me

ARADIA: i cOuld snap yOur neck with a twitch

VRISKA: Yeah 8ut you won't!

ARADIA: Ok

Don't get me wrong. Sollux absolutely isn't equal to Gamzee. There are about a dozen quotes to that effect, not least of which being that alternate timeline where Gamzee solo'd the entire rest of the trolls by himself. But Sollux is at least comparable enough to scale backwards from Gamzee’s most impressive showings.

Those would include surviving the Black Hole created by Lord Jack, which would have a GBE equivalent to nearly 3/4's of a Foe.

Gamzee can also take hits from Caliborn, who himself can survive a black hole the size of the entire solar system. Roughly 38 billion foe. This means, in order to hurt Gamzee, you'd need to be packing power comparable to Solar System destroying levels of energy and Sollux point blank is comparable to people who can.

Speed

Speed is a lot more clear cut. Simply put, everyone and their mother can move faster than light in Homestuck. From Hussie being able to count down the nanoseconds on a clock to several characters moving interstellar distances.

For instance, the Psiioniic was described as being able to push the Condescension's ship from across the edges of the Galaxy back to Alternia very quickly, crossing light years in hours.

She ordered all fleets to

return to Alternia. But

such was her empire's

expansion and

interplanetary occupation,

few could make it in time

to provide any meaningful

defense. She instructed her

Helmsman to pilot the ship

faster than he ever had,

and he did so through

extreme physical duress. He

was able to leap across

thousands of light years in

a matter of hours. The

exertion likely would have

killed him, if the Glub

didn't get to him first

Her touch could extend

life, but never restore it,

to her lament.

-Doc Scratch

This feat by itself easily reaches the millions of times FTL range, but we can go much higher than that.

Comparing the size of the Incipisphere relative to Trollkind's 52 billion year old universe and we find that it is a structure that is several trillion light years in diameter. Meaning not only would Sollux be deflecting meteors traveling at 27 quintillion times faster than light, but even common Kernelsprite's would be traveling at 77 quintillion times faster than light when traveling to Prospit and Derse for Prototyping.

Even the weakest of Players can keep up in combat with their Kernelsprites, at least, at first, and Kernelsprites are generally at their absolute weakest when this process first starts. Since Gamzee is capable of moving so fast that Karkat can't even tell he's in the same room, this means Sollux can speed blitz people who move at these speeds.

For reference, that scaling chain is 1x Prototyped Kernelsprite = Karkat <<<<<< Gamzee >> Sollux.

Immeasurable Feats

Oh, boy, here we go. Sollux, in terms of speed and possibly even strength, can genuinely be argued to reach levels that are impossible for 3-D mathematics to calculate. Let me explain.

Firstly, we must discuss the nature of the Furthest Ring itself. The Furthest Ring is completely untouched by all forms of time and space in the universe. All twelve of the Aspects are described as being physically indistinguishable from each other within the Furthest Ring.

JADE: how long do i have

to wait HERE in order to

wake up?

CALLIOPE: the

correlation between the

passage of time in the

furthest ring and any

given physical location

is tenuous

CALLIOPE: the

measurement of time here

is inseparable from the

physical passage through

its knotted space.

CALLIOPE: those two

aspects are closely

woven together here, to

such an extent that they

are barely separable

CALLIOPE: all aspects

are.

JADE: really?

JADE: all of them??

CALLIOPE: yes.

JADE: i understand how

this place has time and

space of course.... even

if they work together

weirdly

JADE: but

JADE: i dont see any of

the others

CALLIOPE: one doesn't

see abstractions

CALLIOPE: not directly

JADE:

JADE: oh

CALLIOPE: each opposing

pair is in balance

throughout this field so

as to form a stable

canvas.

CALLIOPE: though the

canvas becomes less

stable with each crack

in the field, ordinarily

one would never directly

observe its constituent

forces.

CALLIOPE: the canvas

would seem smooth from

afar, but up close, as

it were, the tapestry is

circuitously woven.

CALLIOPE: the aspects

while remaining in

balance, interfere with

each other. they

interlock and

intertwine.

CALLIOPE: so neither

space nor time functions

linearly, nor are they

conventionally

measurable.

JADE: wow

JADE: i am not sure i

totally understand.

JADE: but that is pretty

interesting!

CALLIOPE: you are

predisposed to find the

nuances of space

intriguing.

CALLIOPE: and since its

opposing aspect is more

related than you perhaps

have realized, the

challenges of

understanding it are

more compelling to you

than you realize as

well.

JADE: yeah i guess so

JADE: physics are all

about space and time and

such which are fun to

think about

JADE: i like all that

stuff!

CALLIOPE: yes.

JADE: so youre saying

space and time... and

all other aspects i

guess... are more

closely related here

than in like

JADE: umm.

JADE: more stable

places, like my

universe?

CALLIOPE: they are less

distinct from each other

here, yes.

JADE: you said passage

of time is inseparable

from.

JADE: traveling through

space?

CALLIOPE: yes.

JADE: so if we were

holding still

JADE: time wouldnt be

moving either?

CALLIOPE: that is

correct, in a way.

CALLIOPE: though motion

itself is not the

absolute process it is

in a more conventional medium.

CALLIOPE: the

measurement of motion

requires stable features

for comparison.

CALLIOPE: of which there

are very few in the

furthest ring,

typically.

CALLIOPE: the more

cracks that appear,

ironically, the more the

ring begins to

stabilize, at least in a

spatial and temporal

sense.

JADE: i see

JADE: so

JADE: if the cracks

werent there

JADE: how..

JADE: how would we be

able to tell if we were

moving?

CALLIOPE: motion through

the twisted space is not

gauged by passing

landmarks, but anchored

to a particular

destination.

CALLIOPE: destination is

an idea maintained by

the traveler.

CALLIOPE: ideas are

subtle composites of

various aspects.

CALLIOPE: without clear

understanding of

destination, motion

becomes less

discernible.

CALLIOPE: with less

discernible motion,

passage of time becomes

less measurable.

CALLIOPE: at a

standstill, time loses

meaning, and can seem to

stretch on forever, as

all events throughout

reality gwirl around you

in no particular order.

CALLIOPE: one becomes

isolated from all else.

imprisoned by inertia.

A realm in which the very abstract concepts of time and space are indistinguishable from each other and ideas are the fundamental measurement of any kind of motion would be, if not blatantly higher dimensional, than effectively beyond dimensional by design. And Sollux was specifically called out by Aradia to help her push the meteor through this realm. A realm that has been, on mamy occasions, described as a realm of pure nothingness. Of Void.

VRISKA: John, tell me

what you see here.

JOHN: um.

JOHN: where?

VRISKA: Right here.

VRISKA: What is this?

This thing I'm holding?

JOHN: a black piece of

paper?

VRISKA: No, John.

VRISKA: This is 8ULLSHIT

is what it is.

JOHN: oh.

JOHN: yes, clearly.

VRISKA: This is what a

map looks like in the

furthest ring.

VRISKA: This is what ALL

maps look like out here.

VRISKA: Turns out

plotting the relative

geographical features of

an infinite 8lack

expanse of pure void is

every 8it as moronic as

it sounds. 8ut that

didn't stop some ancient

eldritch chucklefuck

from doing exactly that.

VRISKA: For the longest

time, this is all we've

had to go on when it

came to deciphering the

clues and figuring out

the coordin8tes of the

legendary treasure.

VRISKA: Do you have any

idea how hard it is to

pin down the physical

location of something

out here? Never mind the

fact that physical

location in the furthest

ring is already a

mallea8le concept. Just

imagine what it's like

giving someone

directions! What do you

tell them?

VRISKA: Proceed in a

str8 line shaped like a

perpetually shifting

torus knot until you

feel a sense of despair

transcending all mortal

comprehension, then hang

a right at the next

octopus?

VRISKA: There's nothing

static out there. No

landmarks, no points of

reference. Nothing!

[...]

VRISKA: The guy who's

8een fucking shit up is

the 8ig 8ad himselfl

VRISKA: Every time he

destroys another dream

8u88le, he does a little

more damage to the

furthest ring,

inexplica8ly shattering

the essence of all-

encompassing

nothingness.

VRISKA: As the cracks

spread across the void,

new points of reference

show up on our maps!

The push Sollux and Aradia gave to the meteor sent it flying through this infinite expanse, where time and space don't matter. That would be a feat of completely immeasurable speed. You can't measure speed if the things you use to calculate that, time and space, are completely indistinguishable from each other. Hell, Sollux would later give his life to give the meteor a solid push through the Furthest Ring closer to its destination, likely his most impressive direct feat in the series.

Now.... there is an argument to scale Sollux to this Outerversal level of power as well.... but I'm of slightly two minds of the situation.

Sollux scales to Gamzee who scales to Terezi who can hurt John.

John is one of the legendary heroes destined to defeat Lord English, who is currently ripping the hell out of Paradox Space. Similarly, God-Tier Aradia specifically asked for Sollux's help to push the meteor to outspeed Bec Noir. And Aradia herself can fight Lord English too.

The problem? John can fight Bec Noir.... who was seen as completely invincible to the Beta Trolls throughout most of Act 5, with Vriska's attempt to fight him getting everyone killed.

Now, to be fair, John is also instant killed by Noir during their first fight and while Vriska considers him to be far less of a threat than Lord English, she also considers him a very big threat in his own right....

But on the other hand... it is something if a plot hole for Bec Noir to be such a massive threat that the Beta Trolls had to hide from him for all of Act 5.... and for them to have several characters in the same tier as him as well.

I'm leaning towards a no to outerversal Sollux because of it, but you could just make the argument that Bec Noir is simply much farther into Outerversal. Terezi just knocked John into the wall after all, she didn't pile drive him through the floor and steal his lunch money. But, personally, I lean towards Solar System Level Sollux with Immeasurable speeds as his highest possible peak. It doesn't contradict the established plot as much. Which, by itself, would clear a lot of franchises frankly....

Abilities

Now comes the easy part.

Sollux has the standard kit that everyone in the Homestuck universe has. He has a Specibus, a video game inventory system, and an Echeladder, a video game leveling system. Neither of which are particularly helpful. Sollux doesn't use weapons so inventory is of limited help, and he's already maxed out his mortal echeladder. He'd have to become a god to get any stronger.

More relevant is his telekinesis. His continent shaking psychic powers that can reach you from a completely different universe. Universes contain infinite timelines in Homestuck and psychic powers, Sollux's included, can attack you from different Universes all together. From Rose blowing up Eridan's computer to a universe away to Tavros mind controlling Bec all the way from his reality. No need to respond to assholes online when you can mske their computers explode from anywhere in the world!

Wait, if Tav can control Bequeral, why didn't he just do that to Bec Noir? Sollux can also control animals, but not to the same extent as Tavros. Largely just putting himself or other animals, like bees, to sleep. And his optic blast eye lasers are powerful enough to blow apart buildings.

Unfortunately, some of his powers are more a curse than anything else. Thanks to his ties to the Aspect of Doom, he can hear the last words of the soon to be dead from anywhere in the world, which, when mixed with his bipolar disorder, results in crippling depressive episodes.

He's also a master hacker, proficient in the ~ATH programming language. This allows him to alter the code of reality itself, letting him create curses that follow you for the rest of your life or alter reality until the universe ends. This is more of a prep time thing, though, and not really relevant in a one on one.

Resistances

....Does the Medium count as space? Because if so, he should resist the cosmic radiations present in space. Nothing else really though and he's pretty explicitly weak to getting mind haxed.

Skills and Intelligence

Putting aside the supergenius hacker with reality breaking code, thing, Sollux is skilled enough in a fight to repeatedly stalemate Eridan and overall skilled enough to crush the Kingdom of Derse in 25 days with the rest of his team. Derse being a Kingdom that has been at war with Prospit since the beginning of the universe, locked in eternal stalemate. Not bad.

Conclusion

I'll be honest, I've been planning this post for awhile and this all took me a few weeks to throw together. Even still, I could never have expected Immeasurable Sollux to come up as a possibility in my research. Homestuck somehow gets more overpowered the more I go picking through it.

That aside, where would you power scale Sollux? Do you agree with the above? Or would you rank him a bit lower?

[dravenscroft]

THIS SAVAGE KINGDOM: HMS Melpomene

'I tried not to be troubled. Melpomene was a fine vessel. I’d been able to tell that at a glance, the way I could pick a pretty girl out of a crowd. Built at the famous dockyard in Chatham, she was a hundred feet in length and twenty-four in the beam, capable of carrying a complement of over sixty men, though our crew was less than fifty. She’d been designed as a warship, an unrated gun-brig, but the only battle she’d ever seen was with the ice. Extensively refitted for the search for Franklin, ten of her fourteen guns had been removed, and her hull of good old English oak enforced with iron plate. She was flush, with no raised quarterdeck, though the entire cross-planked upper deck had been lifted in an effort to prevent her growing top-heavy from the inevitable build-up of water or ice trapped by the gunwales. A layer of fearnought had been installed for insulation.

She carried no less than five auxiliary boats; two whaleboats, one of them on skids on the waist of the upper deck, two cutters, and one small jollyboat, affixed to the stern. I was often amused by the thought that if it hung a touch lower Blackwood would be able to look out of the windows of the Great Cabin and see right into the little thing. I liked to imagine the shock he’d have if he peered out and saw someone sitting in it.'

-

A brief description of HMS Melpomene from my novel, This Savage Kingdom. Mel was designed as a mash-up of ships like Terror and Erebus along with HMS Beagle and a few others.

The story is a dual timeline, historical psychological horror, and follows the story of the Melpomene - a fictional ship, but one of many real ships sent to search for Sir John Franklin's missing expedition - and her few survivors, five years after her doom in the Arctic. It's a sort of alternate history, and was partly based off the true story of HMS Wager, mixed with a handful of polar expeditions, particularly those that followed Franklin.

Five years after HMS Melpomene meets disaster on her search for the missing Franklin expedition, one of her five survivors is hanged for a grisly crime, leading Harry Lambert, a young newsman with a personal stake in the story, to wonder - what really happened out on the ice?

His quest for the truth leads him to the doorstep of the survivors’ charismatic leader, now turned ‘celebrated Spiritualist’. But the closer Harry gets to the truth, the closer he gets to danger. It’s a savage kingdom, out in the Arctic wastes, but not nearly as savage as Victorian England - and the truth has teeth…

Anyway, this book is queer, twisty, dark, and I put so much research into it. It's currently with my lovely agent, awaiting good things in the near future...

[melyonza]

Will we see an aquatic Terran?

When Hashtag tries to help JB find his alternate mode, she brings him several vehicles so he can choose his alternate mode.

Curiously, she focuses more on the helicopter and the boat, but more on the boat, telling him to choose the boat as an alternate mode.

I don't know much about the geography of Witwicky in Earthspark. But when they confront Mandroid, we see a warship that is actually a Cape Odger (OPV-84) that is originally from Chile.

Curiously, the function of the OPV-84 is auxiliary, that is, it is more for search and rescue. Which wouldn't be a coincidence if a Terran doctor chose him.

Hashtag seemed to be very interested in her brother choosing a boat as an alternate mode. Will a future Terran have the boat as an alternate mode?To tell the truth, I think it would be difficult, since it could not move on dry land, unless its T-COG was special like that of the Hotshot autobot that could have three alternate modes, including a hovercraft.

The new Terran will probably be born with the uniqueness of having more than one alternate mode. Since we remember that the Terrans are special, since Elita-1 and Grimlock point out that it is not normal for JB to transform into a dinobot just by scanning bones. While Bumblebee points out that it's not normal with Hashtag when she snaps out of her vehicle mode.

Also, according to the Transformers comics, it is rare for transformers to be born with a Multi-cog.

[postcard-from-the-past]

German warship and Russian auxiliary cruiser on the Finnish waters

German vintage postcard, mailed in 1916 to New York, USA

[heroineimages]

Second-favorite Total War: Rome 2 mod!

Going back through my Total War: Rome 2 tags, I realized that while I've discussed my favorite mod, which combined a mod that expands the kinds of auxiliary units available to the Romans with a mod that makes auxiliary units available to all factions, I've never discussed my second-favorite mod. My second fave is Roman Auxiliary Troops, by user Andrew Boyarski. This particular mod drastically increases the number of late-game auxiliary units by adding cohorts of regional spear-, sword-, cavalry-, and ranged-units geared with Roman-style equipment, but still looking Gallic, Germanic, Iberian, African, etc. Though it doesn't add much unit diversity, since the auxiliaries fight pretty similarly, it adds a lot of visual and aesthetic diversity, with Gauls and Italians fighting beside Syrians and Egyptians.

So I'm not exaggerating when I say it adds a lot of new units. In sword units alone, it adds 19 new units to the Roman roster:

In addition, it adds another 19 spear units, five heavy skirmish units, and three heavy archer units!

And finally, it adds four new heavy cavalry and a ranged cavalry:

These units are available around mid-game in both the Grand and Emperor Augustus campaigns. As far as power and effectiveness goes, the infantry are strong, but not quite up to snuff with the regular legionaries, while the cavalry are better than the legionary horse, but not quite as good as the regular cavalry auxiliaries. The ranged units, on the other hand, are among the best in their categories---far better than what Rome usually has to offer.

I love the regional variations, such as with the Germanic spear auxiliaries above with the mail and Gallic helmets versus the Thracian archers below in their Gallic helms and scale armor...

versus these Syrian archer auxiliaries with their conical helmets and scale- or chainmail armor:

The only problem I have with this mod is that by the time these units are available, I can afford to recruit and maintain stronger legionary units, making the melee infantry and to a lesser extent the cavalry obsolete as soon as I get them. My latest playthrough, though, I'm playing my Romans with auxiliaries only---the only legionaries are on some of the warships. As well as creating a very diverse-looking army, I like that it kind of reflects the later empire where most of the soldiers were foreign or provincial troops.

Anyway, I by-and-large like what was done with this mod and recommend it to my TW:R2 players. Thanks, as always, for reading, folks!

[mr-camhed]

The Spangler Heavy Industries Model 65 Super Heavy Breakthrough Tank, also known as the Persuader Tank, is a prototype Super Heavy Breakthrough Tank designed and manufactured by Spangler Heavy Industries for the Brabazonian Federal Army in the later years of the Second Atlantide War.

It was made as both side of war slows down and fortifies against each other's attack instead of the more assault and counterassault focused battles with lighter, faster strategies and equipments before the grueling siege of Mayne where the Brabazonian Industrial center beaten back several waves of Atlantide raids with heavy fortification and firepower, and even though the Federal Army's newer heavy artillery, tanks, bomber aircrafts and warships are sufficient for the Federal military's counteroffence against Atlantide fortifications, the army believed that their current main tank, the Stepper Hunter Type 6 medium tank(a design combination between US T14 Heavy tank, Canadian Ram tank and Argentinian DL-43 Nahuel tank) and National Machinery model 33 Union heavy tanks(a combination between Hungarian 44M Tas, soviet T-43 and German Tiger tanks), is insufficient in the fear factor against atlantide forces in comparison to the Navy's new Federation class super Battleships(based on Montana-Class, HMS Devastation in WOWS and Japanese A150 Class Battleships), Homeland class fast battleship(based on Iowa-class, Bismarck-class and Vanguard-class battleship) and Blizton class Aircraft Carriers(supercarrier/battlecarriers based on Federation class Battleship hulls) and the Air Force's Federation avionics Retaliatior 400 six propeller heavy bomber(based on Boeing B-54 And Junker Ju 390 Amerikabomber), and Collins Model 44 Bulwark quad jet fast Bombers(based on Arado Ar 234 Blitz and North American B-45 Tornado), while the high casualty rate of the Army's soldiers and equipment due to Atlantide forces' zealous and resilience despite their inferiority in ranged weaponry that also tipped the public opinion against their favor.

And with the Persuader tank, they're looking to build a rolling bunker with an extremely powerful 203 milimetre howitzer as the main gun to punch through enemy fortifications, and multiple smaller but still rather effective auxiliary Guns, including a 88mm anti tank gun mounted in the front of the hull to the right of the driver's seat, two 90mm infantry support gun in the sponsons in both sides of the tanks, and dual 20mm autocannons that serves as the coaxial and hatch mounted gun that can provide cover fire for accompanying units and deterrent against aerial enemies. Its heavy weight and armor which would reach the thickness of 250 milimetres would allow it to plow through enemy defensive measures and laugh at enemy fire. It was also powered by an upscaled version of their 16 Litre diesel V16 engine used in regular tanks, which is now at the displacement level of 36 Litres and supercharged, making 1800 kilowatts of power, which was transmitted to the sprocket wheels via a novel electric drive system to power a pair of 1.5m width twin tracks to dissipate the weight and increase grip on loose surfaces such as gravel and mud, allowing it to achieve a considerably high top speed. The 20 meter long, 8 meter wide(10 meter counting the sponsons that housed the 90mm guns) and 4.5 meter tall 200 ton metal behemoth was manned by a crew of twelve, including a commander, four gunners and loaders for the four guns each, a driver, an observer who also serves as a mechanic, and a radio operator that also serves as an observer.

However, the prototype of the tank was found to be rather unsatisfactory. It was still rather slow, the massive size makes it an easy target, the massive weight means that it can't go over many bridges, be transported by rail or roll on paved surfaces without completely tilling it, and the tank would shake extremely violently when going over uneven surface which makes the crew almost impossible to operate the vehicle, and the 88mm gun would be easily damaged when breaking through enemy defense due to a lot of its barrel sticking out and often taking the brunt of whatever it hit. Thus, the Persuader tank was rejected by the Federal Army, its role was replaced by Maynesburg Heavy Machinery's famous and perennial Minister series heavy main battle tanks(based on IS Series and T29/T30/T32/T34/M26 Pershing heavy tanks), And with the war also prematurely ended after the sinking of the floating city of Atlantide, the development on Persuader Tank and a "tank destroyer" variant (based on T28 Super Heavy tank destroyer and is basically a large armored dome on tracks) were both halted and the Persuader tank was left in a museum's storage space while the "tank destroyer"'s unfinished chassis was dismantled and scrapped.

However, some 40 years later, while Talon Corporation is pitching sales of the Federation's surplus military equipments to the nations of the New Land, one of the most frantically willing customers, a fascist Monarchy in possession of vast frozen arctic and subarctic tundra, finds many of their heavy and superheavy tanks, while effective and deadly in combat against most of other forces of the new land, was somewhat lacking in the factor of intimidation due to their "compact" size in comparison to the difference of light and heavy equipment of other services such as the Navy and the Air force(where Talon Corporation assisted them in construction of massive rigid airships with the firepower, defense capability and the aircraft carrying capacity of of Two Federation class battleships and a Blizton class SuperCarrier combined), as most super heavy tanks were barely one and half times the size of the more advanced Centaur(Similar to the EE-T1 Osorio main battle tank and French AMX-30/40 MainBattle tank) and TBT-3(based on the Vickers Main Battle Tank series, Italian Ariete Main battle tank and South African Olifant Main Battle Tank) Main Battle Tanks and barely larger than the Ferma-Chandler Heavy Main Battle tank(a combination between the Conqueror Heavy tank, M103 Heavy tank, T-95 Main battle tank and M1 abrams series Main Battle tank) used by Talon Corporation Mercenaries. And without missing a beat, the sales representative of Talon Corporation produced a picture of the Persuader tank in comparison of a Minister-9 heavy MBT(the final model of the Minister series, based on the T-10/IS-8, M103 And M46 Patton, and was in active service as late as early black tide crisis), which almost immediately caught the eye of the Imperial Nobilitys' eye, and they immediately ordered one to be sent to the Imperial territory for evaluation. And to better sell the tank, the company that had acquired Spangler, Utility Automotive Commercial(UAC, commercial subsidiary of the Brabazonian automotive Juggernaut Utility Automotive/UA) set out to vastly improve and modernize the Persuader Tank. They reinforced the structure and armour of the tank with stronger materials and internals, the supercharged V16 diesel Engine was replaced with a pair of 18 liter twincharger 8 cylinder engines driving the sprockets together, making over twice the power, and that can even potentially be replaced with a miniature Magnussen Reactor to make it even more powerful, the suspension were improved to make the cabin more stable, and the 88mm anti tank gun is now capable of retracting back into the hull when the vehicle is rolling through obstacles, and the equipments were also all upgraded and thus better suits the needs. The improved Persuader tank was almost immediately loved by the Imperial Nobility and the Tsar, and they ordered it without hesitation. It's yet unknown if any more Persuader tank were being manufactured or where they were manufacturing them, though there had been many claims of these super heavy vehicle spotted in different places.

[nebris]

Operation Hailstone (Japanese: トラック島空襲, romanized: Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit. 'airstrike on Truk Island'), 17–18 February 1944, was a massive United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon, conducted as part of the American offensive drive against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) through the Central Pacific Ocean during World War II.

Prior to Hailstone, the IJN had used Truk as an anchorage for its large Combined Fleet. The coral atoll surrounding Truk's islands created a safe harbor, where the few points of ingress and egress had been fortified by the Japanese with shore batteries, antiaircraft guns, and airfields.

American estimates of Truk's defenses and its role as a stronghold of the Japanese Navy led newspapers and military men to call it the "Gibraltar of the Pacific", or to compare it with Pearl Harbor. Truk's location in the Caroline Islands also made it an excellent shipping hub for armaments and aircraft moving from Japan's home islands down through the South Seas Mandate and into the Japanese "Southern Resources Area".

By early 1944, Truk was increasingly unsustainable as a forward base of operations for the Japanese. To the west, American and Australian forces under General Douglas MacArthur had moved up through the Southwest Pacific, isolating or overrunning many Japanese strong points as part of Operation Cartwheel. The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Army, under the command of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, had overrun the most important islands in the nearby Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands, and then built numerous air bases there.

As a result, the Japanese Navy had to relocate the Combined Fleet's forward base to the Palau Islands, and eventually to Indonesia, and the fleet had begun clearing its major warships – carriers, battleships, and heavy cruisers – out of Truk before the Hailstone attack struck.

Nevertheless, the Hailstone attack on Truk caught a good number of Japanese auxiliary ships and cargo ships in the harbor, as well as some smaller warships. Between the air attacks and surface-ship attacks over the two days of Hailstone, the worst blow against the Japanese was about 250 warplanes destroyed, with the concurrent loss of irreplaceable experienced pilots, and 17,000 tons of stored fuel.  Also, about 40 ships – two light cruisers, four destroyers, nine auxiliary ships, and about two dozen cargo vessels – were sunk.

Considerable damage was inflicted on the various island bases, including dockyards, communications centers, supply dumps, and its submarine base. Truk remained effectively isolated for the remainder of the war, cut off and surrounded by the American island-hopping campaign in the Central Pacific, which also bypassed important Japanese garrisons and airfields in the Bismarck Archipelago, the Caroline Islands, the Marshalls, and the Palaus. Meanwhile, the Americans built new bases from scratch at places including the Admiralty Islands, Majuro, and Ulithi Atoll, and took over the major port at Guam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hailstone

[darkmaga-retard]

FTX--Field Training Exercise

Karl Sanchez

Sep 10, 2024

Montage of Russian Naval Vessels

For the first time in its new history, Russia is holding its largest Naval Exercises. These sorts of FTXs are planned well in advance and aren’t done on the spur-of-the-moment; so, this has nothing to do with Kursk, although it’s somewhat related to the SMO which can now be characterized as Russia’s counterattack against NATO’s invasion. The waters within and surrounding Eurasia form Russia’s strategic perimeter and in three key areas come into very close conflict with NATO forces—Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. The Arctic, Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans are far more open and not as contestable. After the Kremlin’s comments, Putin followed by Defense Minister Belousov and Admiral Moiseyev speak for the cameras:

The Ocean-2024 Strategic Command and Staff Exercise is one of the main operational and combat training events for the Russian Armed Forces in 2024. The exercise is being held from September 10 to 16 under the general supervision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Alexander Moiseev. The task of the SKSHU is to check the key elements of the combat readiness of the command bodies, units and formations of the Russian Navy and Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), and to determine the coherence of their actions. Maneuvers take place in the waters of the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Mediterranean, the Caspian and the Baltic Seas. In total, they involve more than 400 warships, submarines and support vessels of the auxiliary fleet, 125 aircraft and helicopters of the naval aviation of the Navy and VKS, about seven thousand units of weapons, military and special equipment, and more than 90 thousand personnel.

[bookloversofbath]

German U-boat Commanders of World War II: A Biographical Dictionary :: Rainer Busch & Hans-Joachim Roll

[ltwilliammowett]

Today we are travelling to the New World with the Kalmar Nyckel. A beautiful pinas with an eye-catching design and super cute ship's cats

Kalmar Nyckel, 2014

Her history here:

The original Kalmar Nyckel was one of the great ships of the American colonial era. Built in Amsterdam in 1627, Kalmar Nyckel was an ordinary Dutch Pinnace (Pinas) of about 300 tons and 100 feet on deck, just one of a couple thousand similar small warships and gun-armed merchantmen built by the Dutch in this period. 

In 1629, she was purchased by the Swedish Skeppskompaniet (Ship Company) with tax revenue from the strategic harbor town of Kalmar, on Sweden’s southeast coast, and renamed Kalmar Nyckel (“Key of Kalmar”). When not sailing on colonial voyages for the New Sweden Company, she served the Swedish Navy as an auxiliary warship until 1651. She was part of Gustav II Adolf’s famous invasion fleet at Peenemünde on the German coast of Pomerania in 1630, which marked Sweden’s entry into the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). 

Swedish Admiralty records from 1634 list her as carrying a crew of 55 men and 12 six-pounder cannon – probably typical of her wartime strength. Toward the end of her career, she saw bloody action in Torstenson’s War against the Danes in 1645 and transported Swedish diplomats across the Baltic during the negotiations that led to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Kalmar Nyckel is best remembered today as a colonial ship for the New Sweden Company. She launched the colony of New Sweden in 1638 as Governor Peter Minuit’s flagship, bringing the colonists who established the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley – little Fort Christina, which would grow to become the city of Wilmington, Delaware. 

An exceptional ship with an extraordinary record of endurance, Kalmar Nyckel would make eight successful crossings of the Atlantic (four roundtrips between Gothenburg and Fort Christina from 1637 to 1644) more than any documented colonial ship of the era. Kalmar Nyckel was decommissioned from the Swedish Navy on June 19, 1651, by order of Queen Christina herself, and sold to a Dutch merchant living in Stockholm, Cornelis Roelofsen. An inspection by the Swedish Admiralty had determined that her aging condition would make her unsuitable for a fifth voyage across the Atlantic for the New Sweden Company. 

Her new owner, Roelofsen had Kalmar Nyckel – now called by her Dutch name, Kalmar Sleutel (“Sleutel” is Dutch for “Nyckel,” which both mean “Key” in English) refitted and up-gunned to 24 six-pounder cannons. She was anchored in Amsterdam harbor by April 22, 1652, just in time to be leased as a naval escort by the Dutch Navies, which were looking to acquire 150 warships in preparation for a looming war against the English. Kalmar Sleutel (Nyckel) soon joined 15 ships of the escort squadron that was guarding the Dutch herring fleet in the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland. On July 22, 1652, she would be sunk in the bloody Battle of Buchan Ness, gallantly defending the fishing fleet against a fleet of 66 English ships in the first engagement of what would be called the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). 

Source

[rauthschild]

Russian Pacific Fleet is conducting ten-day exercises involving 40 warships, cutters, and auxiliary ships, 20 naval aircraft, and a helicopter in the Sea of Okhotsk and Japan

[jayanthitbrc]

Analyzing Growth Drivers and Market Dynamics Shaping the Naval Vessels and Surface Combatants Industry Landscape through 2033

  Overview and Scope Naval vessels and surface combatants are a kind of naval warships equipped with armaments for fighting on the water's surface. These are employed to hinder the enemy from moving military forces and, if required, to confront them. Sizing and Forecast The naval vessels and surface combatants market size has grown strongly in recent years. It will grow from $38.04 billion in 2023 to $39.97 billion in 2024 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%.  The naval vessels and surface combatants market size is expected to see steady growth in the next few years. It will grow to $48.48 billion in 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9%.  To access more details regarding this report, visit the link: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/naval-vessels-and-surface-combatants-global-market-report Segmentation & Regional Insights The naval vessels and surface combatants market covered in this report is segmented – 1) By Type: Aircraft Carrier, Battleship, Cruiser, Destroyer, Frigate, Destroyer Escort, Other Types 2) By System: Marine engine system, Weapon launch system, Sensor system, Control system, Electrical system, Auxiliary system 3) By Application: Search and rescue, Combat operations, Mine countermeasures (MCM) operations, Coastal surveillance, Other Applications North America was the largest region in the naval vessels and surface combatants market share in 2023. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in the naval vessels and surface combatants market report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. Intrigued to explore the contents? Secure your hands-on sample copy of the report: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/sample.aspx?id=8729&type=smp Major Driver Impacting Market Growth Increasing maritime security threats are expected to propel the growth of the naval vessels and surface combatants market going forward. Maritime security threat refers to any breach of vessel security, both inside and externally. Naval vessels and surface combatants aid in the defence of the country's sovereignty against potential threats in the oceans and abysses by safeguarding accessible resources and coastal areas. Key Industry Players Major companies operating in the naval vessels and surface combatants market report are Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., General Dynamics Corporation, Damen Shipyards Group, Naval Group, BAE Systems plc, Navantia SA. The naval vessels and surface combatants market report table of contents includes: 1. Executive Summary 2. Market Characteristics 3. Market Trends And Strategies 4. Impact Of COVID-19 5. Market Size And Growth 6. Segmentation 7. Regional And Country Analysis . . . 27. Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles 28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions 29. Future Outlook and Potential Analysis Contact Us: The Business Research Company Europe: +44 207 1930 708 Asia: +91 88972 63534 Americas: +1 315 623 0293 Email: info@tbrc.info Follow Us On: LinkedIn: https://in.linkedin.com/company/the-business-research-company Twitter: https://twitter.com/tbrc_info Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBusinessResearchCompany YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC24_fI0rV8cR5DxlCpgmyFQ Blog: https://blog.tbrc.info/ Healthcare Blog: https://healthcareresearchreports.com/ Global Market Model: https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/global-market-model