#h class destroyer

[the-delta-42]

#eagle / #eaglewall 1/1200 #hclass #destroyer #hmshotspur used by the #britishroyalnavy during #worldwar2 #worldwarii #ww2 #wwii #hclassdestroyer #royalnavy #british #modelship #modelbuilding #eaglemodel #eaglewallmodel

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[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Know thy enemy

“Enemy fleet exiting jump now.” The tactical officer called out.

Admiral Haru nodded at the confirmation and switched the holographic projection to a live feed.

Bright pinpricks of light flickered in and out showcasing the enemy ships exiting their jump points. On the side of the screen the tracking software updated itself with each new ship, tracking and marking their current locations. The current count was at one hundred ships and increasing steadily.

“I recommend a withdrawal.”

Haru turned from the display to see his alien counterpart fleet master Wrang standing next to him. The translator unit was doing its best to interpret his species speech patterns, but it couldn’t fully remove the high pitched screeching.

“I assure you that we are in no danger of losing this engagement.” Haru replied even as the number of enemy ships continued rising.

“They outnumber us three to one.” Wrang pointed out. “We can not form a battle line against such numbers.”

It was true that the tracking software was not up to three hundred ships but thankfully the lights from jump exits were dwindling more and more. Haru wagered the majority of the enemy had arrived and any stragglers would be petering out soon.

As if to confirm his sentiments the enemy fleet began dispersing itself, morphing from a rough sphere of ships to a well-organized battle line. The heavier battleships and cruisers taking up position behind a screen of frigate and destroyer class vessels. Their sleek polished hulls reflecting a mixture of greens and oranges, with the crest of the Vulzon Theocracy proudly painted on the front of each ship.

“Numbers are not always the key to victory.” Haru remarked as the communication officer called out to the admiral.

“We have an incoming communication from the Vulzon flagship.”

“Begin a trace on the link and pass along their location to the gun batteries for targeting.” Haru said as he sat down on his command throne. He straightened his uniform and smoothed over several creases before nodding to the waiting communication officer.

The holographic projection flickered for a moment before switching from a view of the enemy fleet to a view of the Vulzon command bridge. There, standing in front of his command throne with one hand resting on his viper blade and the other behind his back, stood Haru’s adversary.

Tatiman; war chief of the eternal rage.

“We meet again,” Tatiman spoke through sharpened teeth,” little human.”

Haru said nothing and so the war chief continued.

“I must admit, I am surprised you stayed to fight.” Tatiman chuckled. “I had expected your kind to run and h-“

Haru motioned a hand across his throat and the communication officer cut the communication.

“Why did you do that?” Wrang asked; both deeply confused and troubled by the human’s actions.

It was true his government had relinquished control of their fleet to human control for the duration of the crisis, but he was also instructed to rescind that order and regain control of their forces. Humans were still unknown in the galaxy, making them an unknown and potential risk. A risk Haru seemed to be confirming right now.

“He’ll call back.” Haru remarked as he rested his hand on his chin and smiled.

No sooner had the words left his mouth did the communication officer speak up again.

“From their command ship again, Admiral.”

Haru listened to the chiming noise to indicate an incoming transmission but sat passively in his throne. A minute passed and the communications officer was about to ask again when Haru waved him to open the link.

Once again Tatiman was on screen aboard his command bridge, though looking substantially angrier than before.

“I am trying to be diplomatic,” Tatiman said through clenched teeth, “and you dare insult my-“

Again Haru swiped his hand across his throat and the communication was terminated.

“Do you have a death wish?” Wrang asked as he began to sweat.

“Hardly,” Haru grinned, “there’s a new episode of battle base five airing in two days and I will be damned if I will be killed before finding out which cyborg gave birth to Maria.”

At a loss for words at the entirety of the admiral’s statement Wrang just stood there with his mouth hanging open as yet another communication chime came in.

This time Haru answered it immediately rather than waiting and the link was established again.

Tatiman was now far beyond anger. Behind him one of the arms of his command throne was sparking erratically and Wrang imagined that the war chief had struck it after the second transmission was terminated.

“I will rip the eyes from your sockets, and make you watch as I strangle the life from your frail body!” Tatiman shouted. The loud shout startled several of the human crew but Wrang saw nothing of the same on the admiral’s face who yawned loudly.

“Listen, taint,” Haru began as he lazily slouched in his throne, “as much as I love your boastings I am with a friendly delegate and my time is short; so would you be a dear and surrender already?”

Wrang couldn’t describe the colors Tatiman went through as he stuttered words of rage. His eyes were wide and focused with a killers gaze while Haru yawned again and made the swipe motion to terminate the transmission.

“I hope you have a plan,” Wrang began as the entire Vulzon fleet appeared to power their engines and begin rushing towards them, “as you may have just killed us all.”

“Fleet wide transmission, now.” Haru ordered crisply and the communication officer complied without question.

“This is Admiral Haru to all ships, activate targeting scramblers and launch full spread of chaff.”

Wrang watched as the holographic screen flickered for a moment as the scramblers activated while a barrage of chaff missiles were launched. The first Vulzon energy lances began hammering the ships shields as the chaff missiles exploded. The space between the two fleets suddenly was filled with a thick cloud of white particles as if a bell had just been dropped in a dusty foundry.

“That tactic will only delay them.” Wrang remarked as the energy lances suddenly lost accuracy. Energy lances passed their ships harmlessly as the chaff interfered with the Vulzon targeting locks. “Even with scramblers and chaff it won’t be enough; they will be switching to visual targeting now.”

“I’m counting on it.” Was all Haru replied as the energy lances began finding their marks again. “By now every gunner and commander in their fleet is looking out a window or view screen to watch us.”

A shudder through the ship made Wrang wobble on his feet for a heartbeat before he regained his footing. Warning icons were flashing now across the view screen as energy spikes from the shields were beginning to ravage the human flagship.

“Why are we not returning fire!?” Wrang demanded as another shudder sent him to his knees.

“I’m waiting.” Haru remarked as he watched the view screen. The enemy icons had cross half the distance between the fleets and had now entered within the chaff cloud.

“For what!?”

“For this moment.” Haru said with a smile.

“All ships, all ships; fire Cheshire rounds now.”

Before Wrang could ask what a Cheshire round was the view screen lit up as every cannon amongst their fleet fired at the same time.

Wrang watched the Vulzon ships to see how many would explode, but was surprised when a second cloud of bright purple appeared.

“This was your secret weapon?” Wrang shouted. “You launch colored dust while they slaughter us?!”

Haru held up a finger to silence Wrang and said nothing else. So infuriated was the fleet master he was on the verge of ordering his people’s ships to retreat when he noticed something.

The ship had stopped shuddering.

Turning back to the view screen Wrang was astonished to see that every ship in the Vulzon fleet had ceased firing. They were still hurtling towards them but otherwise their guns had fallen silent.

“Admiral to fleet, disperse formation to avoid incoming vessels and prepare full barrage as they pass by.” Haru sounded off.

The fleet began to spread apart just in time as the first Vulzon ships began flying through their line. Some Vulzon ships passing close enough an engineer could reach out and scrape the Vulzon paintwork with a wrench but thankfully no collisions were reported.

“Fleet maneuver completed and all ships confirm they are ready to fire.” The tactical officer sounded off.

“Open fire.” Haru spoke as he watched the Vulzon flagship pass by before being hammered by a full broadside of energy batteries.

The shields flickered then collapsed in an instant under such a close bombardment. Wrang watched as the delicate paint work was burnt away as hull punctures riddled the entire ship from stem to stern.

All along the entire line human vessels were firing at near point blank range causing horrific damage to the Vulzon fleet which was still passing by without retaliating.

“What did you do?” Wrang asked softly. He had never seen a Vulzon fleet be destroyed so utterly and in such a manner that it defied all reason.

Haru rested his chin on his hand again and watched as the Vulzon flagship detonated under the latest salvo.

“Did you know that the Vulzon have very unique eyes?” he asked the fleet master. When Wrang shook his head he continued.

“They can see spectrums of light and energy well beyond what our human eyes can see, but that also makes them incredibly sensitive to certain things; things that can trigger violent and sometimes fatal physical bodily reactions.”

Haru looked at Wrang, but when he saw the fleet master still struggling to put the pieces together he decided to spell out his plan entirely.

“The color purple,” Haru stated as he pointed to the dissipating cloud of the color, “has been known to trigger a form of cardiac arrest if observed during moments of intense stress for Vulzon’s.”

“So,” Wrang began as he puzzled together Haru’s plan, “when you fired those Cheshire rounds you gave them…”

“-a form of mass seizure.” Haru finished.

He stood up from his command throne and walked over to the tactical display. “Vulzon are a dedicated military race with a strong sense of loyalty to their commander.” Haru began. “But this means that they also emulate their commander in all things. Dress code, discipline, mental state, etc.”

“So when you made Tatiman angry, they all emulated him and became angry as well.” Wrang put together.

“Exactly.” Haru nodded. “So when they saw the purple color they were all in a state of pure rage and anger, making the cardiac arrest they would normally experience that much more effective.”

“But they would know of their weakness.” Wrang countered. “Their sensors and displays would be programmed to remove the color from their screens to prevent that.”

“Unless they were scrambled and the Vulzon were forced to rely on visual confirmation.”

Suddenly the scramblers and chaff made sense. The human admiral had not deployed them to hamper the Vulzon weapon locks, but to force them into a situation that would expose them to their weakness without them even knowing.

“The benefit of making an enemy mad is that they tend to fail at thinking beyond the current moment.” Haru finished as he flicked a speck of dust off his uniform. “They don’t see the knife until it’s embedded in their chest.”

He pointed to the last of the Vulzon ships to pass between their fleet still steaming ahead with no regard for their own safety. A few had suddenly began to maneuver in different directions and Haru pointed them out specifically.

“Inform the fleet to focus on any ship not moving in a straight line first before others, regardless of class.”

The communication officer nodded and relayed the message. When he turned and saw Wrang looking confused.

“I imagine that by now someone must have gotten to the bridge to find their captain is dead along with most of their command staff and tried to steer the ship to safety.”

“I applaud you for your thoroughness.” Wrang bowed. “You are much wiser in the ways of war than I had expected.”

Haru smiled and returned the bow. “There’s an old terran saying that has defined my career.”

“To defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy.

[lonestarbattleship]

So the next two Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers will be named USS WILLIAM J. CLINTON (CVN-82) and USS GEORGE W. BUSH (CVN-83) was announced by President Biden.

Honestly, it's disappointing to see yet another carrier named after a politician. I was hoping for another Lexington, Saratoga, Midway or something other than a president or politician but I guess that's what we're left with these days.

The next Columbia class submarine will be named USS GROTON (SSBN-828), bucking the trend for ballistic missile submarines named after states or districts.

USS JACK H. LUCAS (DDG 125) completed acceptance trials, May 18, 2023. An example of an Arleigh Burke class. (source)

Instead, the name Intrepid is going to a Flight III Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer (DDG-145).

An artist rendering of the future U.S. Navy Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. (source)

source, source

[greatworldwar2]

• USS Intrepid

USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs—she was torpedoed once and hit in separate attacks by four Japanese kamikaze aircraft—earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I".

The keel for Intrepid was laid down on December 1st, 1941 in Shipway 10 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into World War II. She was launched on April 26th, 1943, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover. In August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training. She thereafter returned to Norfolk, before departing once more on December 3rd, bound for San Francisco. She proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving there on 10 January, where she began preparations to join the rest of the Pacific Fleet for offensive operations against the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Intrepid joined the Fast Carrier Task Force, then Task Force 58 (TF 58), for the next operation in the island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific: the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign. On January 16th, 1944, Intrepid, her sister ship Essex, and the light carrier Cabot left Pearl Harbor to conduct a raid on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll from January 29th to February 2nd. The three carriers' air group destroyed all 83 Japanese aircraft stationed on Roi-Namur in the first two days of the strikes, before Marines went ashore on neighboring islands on January 31st, in the Battle of Kwajalein. That morning, aircraft from Intrepid attacked Japanese beach defenses on Ennuebing Island until ten minutes before the first Marines landed. The Marines quickly took the island and used it as a fire base to support the follow-on attack on Roi. After the fighting in the Kwajalein Atoll finished, on February 3rd, Intrepid and the rest of TF 58 proceeded to launch Operation Hailstone, a major raid on the main Japanese naval base in the Central Pacific, Truk Lagoon. From the 17th to 19th of February, the carriers pounded Japanese forces in the lagoon, sinking two destroyers and some 200,000 GRT (gross register tonnage) of merchant ships.

The strikes demonstrated the vulnerability of Truk, which convinced the Japanese to avoid using it in the future. Intrepid did not emerge from the operation unscathed, however; on the night of 17th–18th of February, a Rikko type Torpedo Bomber from the 755th Kōkūtai (Genzan Air Group) flying from Tainan attacked and torpedoed the carrier near her stern. The torpedo struck 15 ft (5 m) below the waterline, jamming the ship's rudder to port and flooding several compartments. Sprague was able to counteract the jammed rudder for two days by running the port side screw at high speed while idling the starboard screw, until high winds overpowered the improvised steering. The crew then jury-rigged a sail out of scrap canvas and hatch covers, which allowed the ship to return to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on February 24th. Temporary repairs were effected there, after which Intrepid steamed on March 16th, escorted by the destroyer USS Remey, to Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for permanent repairs, arriving there six days later. The work was completed by June, and Intrepid began two months of training around Pearl Harbor. Starting in early September, Intrepid joined operations in the western Caroline Islands; the Fast Carrier Task Force was now part of the Third Fleet under Admiral William Halsey Jr., and had been renamed Task Force 38. On September 6th and 7th, she conducted air strikes on Japanese artillery batteries and airfields on the island of Peleliu, in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu. On the 9th and 10th of September, she and the rest of the fleet moved on to attack airfields on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines, followed by further strikes on bases in the Visayan Sea between the 12th and 14th of September. On September 17th, Intrepid returned to Pelelieu to provide air support to the Marines that had landed on the island two days before.

Intrepid and the other carriers then returned to the Philippines to prepare for the Philippines campaign. At this time, Intrepid was assigned to Task Group 38.2. In addition to targets in the Philippines themselves, the carriers also struck Japanese airfields on the islands of Formosa and Okinawa to degrade Japanese air power in the region. On October 20th, at the start of the Battle of Leyte, Intrepid launched strikes to support Allied forces as they went ashore on the island of Leyte. By this time Halsey had reduced the carriers of TG 38.2, commanded by Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan aboard Intrepid, to just Intrepid, Cabot, and the light carrier Independence. Between the 23rd and 26th of October, the Japanese Navy launched a major operation to disrupt the Allied landings in the Philippines, resulting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the morning of October 24th, a reconnaissance aircraft from Intrepid spotted Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's flagship, Yamato. Two hours later, Intrepid and Cabot launched a strike on Kurita's Center Force, initiating the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea; this included eight Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers from Intrepid. One 500-pound (230 kg) bomb struck the roof of Turret No. 1, failing to penetrate. Two minutes later, the battleship Musashi was struck starboard amidships by a torpedo from a Grumman TBF Avenger, also from Intrepid. The Japanese shot down two Avengers. Another eight Helldivers from Intrepid attacked Musashi again at around noon, scoring two more hits, with two Helldivers shot down. Further strikes from Essex and Lexington inflicted several more bomb and torpedo hits, 37 aircraft from Intrepid, the fleet carrier Franklin, and Cabot attacked Musashi, hitting her with 13 bombs and 11 torpedoes for the loss of three Avengers and three Helldivers. In addition to the loss of Musashi, many of Kurita's other ships, including battleships Yamato, Nagato and Haruna, and heavy cruiser Myōkō were damaged in the attacks, forcing him to break off the operation temporarily. After Kurita's force began to withdraw, Halsey ordered TF 38 to steam north to intercept the aircraft carriers of the Northern Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa. Bogan correctly perceived that Ozawa's force was intended to lure TF 38 away from the landing area to allow Kurita to attack it, but Halsey overruled him and several other Task Group commanders who voiced similar concerns. Early on October 25th, aircraft from Intrepid and the other carriers launched a strike on the Japanese carriers. Aircraft from Intrepid scored hits on the carrier Zuihō and possibly the carrier Zuikaku. Further strikes throughout the morning resulted in the sinking of four Japanese aircraft carriers and a destroyer in the Battle off Cape Engaño. Halsey's preoccupation with the Northern Force allowed Kurita the respite he needed to turn his force back to the east, push through the San Bernardino Strait, where it engaged the light forces of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts that were directly covering the landing force in the Battle off Samar. Kurita nevertheless failed to break through the American formation, and ultimately broke off the attack.

On October 27th, TG 38.2 returned to operations over Luzon; these included a raid on Manila on the 29th. That day, a kamikaze suicide aircraft hit Intrepid on one of her port side gun positions; ten men were killed and another six were wounded, but damage was minimal. A Japanese air raid on November 25th, struck the fleet shortly after noon. Two kamikazes crashed into Intrepid, killing sixty-nine men and causing a serious fire. The ship remained on station, however, and the fires were extinguished within two hours. She was detached for repairs the following day, and reached San Francisco by December. In the middle of February 1945, back in fighting trim, the carrier steamed for Ulithi, arriving by March. She set off westward for strikes on Japan on March 14th, and four days later launched strikes against airfields on Kyūshū. That morning a twin-engined Japanese G4M "Betty" kamikaze broke through a curtain of defensive fire, turned toward Intrepid, and exploded 50 ft (15 m) off Intrepid's forward boat crane. A shower of flaming gasoline and aircraft parts started fires on the hangar deck, but damage control teams quickly put them out. Intrepid's aircraft joined attacks on remnants of the Japanese fleet anchored at Kure damaging 18 enemy naval vessels, including battleship Yamato and carrier Amagi. The carriers turned to Okinawa as L-Day, the start of the most ambitious amphibious assault of the Pacific war, approached. The invasion began on the 1st of April. Intrepid aircraft flew support missions against targets on Okinawa and made neutralizing raids against Japanese airfields in range of the island. On April 16th, during an air raid, a Japanese aircraft dived into Intrepid's flight deck; the engine and part of the fuselage penetrated the deck, killing eight men and wounding 21. In less than an hour the flaming gasoline had been extinguished; three hours after the crash, aircraft were again landing on the carrier. On April 17th, Intrepid retired homeward via Ulithi. She made a stop at Pearl Harbor on 11 May, arriving at San Francisco for repairs on May 19th. On June 29th, the carrier left San Francisco. On August 6th, her aircraft launched strikes against Japanese on bypassed Wake Island. Intrepid arrived at Eniwetok on the next day. On August 15th, when the Japanese surrendered, she received word to "cease offensive operations." Intrepid got under way on August 21st to support the occupation of Japan.

In February 1946, Intrepid moved to San Francisco Bay. The carrier was reduced in status to "commission in reserve" in August, and she was decommissioned on March 22nd, 1947. After her decommissioning, Intrepid became part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. On February 9th, 1952, she was recommissioned. Intrepid later severed as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. She was the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. She was decommissioned for the second time in 1974, she was put into service as a museum ship in 1982 as the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum Complex in New York City. Intrepid earned five battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II, and a further three battle stars for Vietnam service.

[pinturas-sgm-marina]

1940 10 20 HMS Hotspur rams submarine Lafole - Chris French

18:30hrs, 20th October 1940. Royal Navy H-Class destroyer HMS Hotspur rams the Italian submarine Lafolè in the western Mediterranean. RN ships had been engaged in seven hours of cat-and-mouse with the submarine, depth charges having damaged electric motors and pumps on Lafolè, bending the propeller shafts and causing flooding. Ultimately, the submarine could not sustain a dive and surfaced repeatedly, the final time being directly in front of HMS Hotspur. The destroyer going full speed rammed the submarine in the area of the conning tower and it sank soon after. 9 survivors were picked up. Hotspur underwent temporary repairs to her bow at Gibraltar with permanent repairs made later at Malta, completed by February 1941.

[seldomdrawncherubs]

H!best!e how about a ma!d of vo!d analys!s.

UU: UuU bestie?

UU: ahem!

UU: the maid of void is in a pecUliar place, as they create ...nothing? obscUrity? nUance?

UU: yes! like with roxy, void is qUite difficUlt to define!

UU: bUt you have the power to make things vanish!

UU: yoU are qUite like a destroyer, in this regard...the maid and prince grow more and more similar...i sUppose creation and destrUction are essential parts of existence, and are intertwined. the creation of the art means the destrUction of some materials, or at least some of yoUr time...

UU: and the creation of the void is the destrUction of the present and relevant.

UU: this coUld mean powers sUch as void portals, vanishing objects, bringing nUance to a sitUation..

UU: the strUggles of a void player remain constant: indecision, finding the void stifling instead of freeing...and of coUrse, many maids strongly dislike their aspect. And making void for yoUrself coUld also create indecision...

UU: bUt yoUr power will be magnificent!

***

uu: WHAT

uu: CALLIE STOP LYING

uu: LET ME TELL YOu A SECRET. WHICH IS NOT A SECRET. BECAuSE IT IS OBVIOuS.

uu: VOID IS A STuPID ASPECT

uu: AND MAID IS A STuPIDER CLASS

uu: VOID MEANS YOu HAVE POWER OVER NOTHING. YOu MIGHT AS WELL. BE AN NPC.

uu: AND MAID MEANS THAT WHATEVER uSEFuLNESS YOu MIGHT FIND IN YOuR CLASSPECT. WILL INSTEAD BE SPENT WALLOWING.

uu: YOu SHOuLD GO JOIN THE JANE AND ROXY BITCHES. NO WONDER MY SISTER. LIKES YOu. AND WANTS TO BE YOuR "BESTIE". I BET YOu CANNOT DRAW THE YAOI. EITHER.

uu: YOu CREATE uSELESS THINGS OR MAKE IMPORTANT STuFF VANISH

uu: HuH

uu: FINE. THAT LAST PART. MAY BE MILDLY uSEFuL. BuT SINCE YOu ARE PROBABLY A GIRL. YOu ARE STILL NOT ALLOWED. IN MY ARMY.

tumut

[math-imagines]

Black Doom Shows You How to Do Integration by Substitution

Gender Neutral Reader, Black Doom & Reader or Black Doom/Reader, up to interpretation

Being in space, you would have assumed that you wouldn’t have to worry about things like math and calculus. It wasn’t like you assumed it wouldn’t be involved in space travel, but you assumed that you wouldn’t have to deal with it with this exact space trip, considering you were abducted by aliens and all. You’d assumed that you were going to be eaten, like everyone else who’d been captured. Yet you and a very small number of others hadn’t yet and were instead being put through a number of tests. A few were physical in some way, but most had tested your intelligence. You couldn’t help but feel like a rat in a maze, being tested on how fast we could change our behavior after being electrocuted. Were these aliens, the Black Arms as you now knew they were called, studying you? If they were, then what for?

This specific test was a test of your ability to do calculations. Vaguely you thought back on that comic that was rather popular a while ago, about someone being forced to do algebraic equations to get into heaven, and couldn’t help but feel that this was something like that. The first few questions weren’t too hard for you, you’d never been bad at math. But when you got into the calculus section, you started to get nervous. You’d only learned so much calculus before you’d been, well, abducted by aliens. And one part in particular always go to you. Integrals in general just hadn’t clicked with you yet. You knew how to do it, but you couldn’t always do it right. It didn’t help that the massive ruler of the Black Arms, Black Doom, was watching everyone testing. You were sure it couldn’t be, but it was almost like he was watching you more than the others.

The next question was about just one of these. Of course it was. It asked what the indefinite integral was of the cube root of seven minus tangent t, all multiplied by secant squared of t. Nothing seemed to be going your way. Why did they even to know if you could do integrals anyway? Surely, they were just going to eat you in the end anyway! Why did they need you to work alone too? Wouldn’t this test be just as effective if you could all work together? You tried to solve the problem anyway, if you only could get a little help…

The floating Black Doom started to move through the space, and to your horror, he came towards you! Had you displeased him in some way? You were quite certain this was when you would be eaten, when he said in his low voice, “You struggle. Why do you persist?”

You glanced around, hoping there would be someone else nearby to respond, but no one did, so you answered nervously, “I don’t know how to do this bit. I hadn’t learned it in class yet. I think I can get it though, if someone…” You paused for a moment, considering whether or not this was a test too. Should you say it? Was that against the rules? No one else spoke, and some others clearly struggled too.

He seemed to read your mind as he let out a low laugh. “It is no shame to require assistance,” he said, “The Black Arms are a hive mind, there is a constant cooperation and collaboration between us. I’ve not seen one of your kind request assistance, not in a non-life threating situation. It takes intelligence to be capable of learning and wisdom to be willing to ask questions. Certainly, you are a promising candidate. Come with me, I will show you how to solve problems such as these.”

…what? Black Doom, ruler of the Black Arms, probably a demi-god, destroyer of worlds, was offering to teach you how to do calculus? Called you intelligent and wise? This couldn’t be real. Shakely, you stood and followed the towering alien out of the room. You still weren’t sure you weren’t going to be eaten, but you followed obediently. And how did he know what you were going to ask for help? Could he read your mind?

“Yes,” he said, though you hadn’t spoken a word. You walked with him down a long corridor now. “We’ve partially attuned you and your fellows to the hive mind. You cannot connect to it, but we can examine your thought processes through it. We use it to determine how well you complete the tests to reveal which of you are most suitable.”

“How are you able to do that?” you asked, knowing there’s no point in leaving it unsaid now. You tried not to think about what “suitable” referred to.

“It’s in your food. A psychokinetically active additive makes your small minds more open to us. We need you all alive for now, so you must eat to live.”

“So, it’s like the radioactive compounds in PET scans, but to see our thoughts instead of our brains?”

He glanced at you, giving a judgmental gaze. “They do not have those in the rest of the civilized universe. Most do not put radioactive compounds in their bodies willingly.”

“Oh.” You walked in silence down the long corridor, until you followed him into an antechamber with a giant tablelike structure in the center.

“I will show you how to complete problems like these,” he declared, moving to one side of the table and indicating that you should join him by scaling a massive seat that seemed more like a monolith than a chair. You managed, with a reasonable amount of effort to climb on top of it. “Good,” he said as you gazed up at him, “You struggled with this.” You nodded as he indicated the problem in question.

“It simply a matter of substitution,” he said, using a massive claw to etch the problem on the table.

“You must simply replace one part of the integral with a separate variable, making it easier to integrate.”You weren’t quite sure you knew what he meant, but you nodded along as he etched a separate variable, u, into the table.

He continued. “It would be more difficult to integrate the cube root of 7 tangent t than of a single variable, such as u. To integrate with respect to u, you must also transform dt to du.” He then wrote a derivative equation:

“Why would we take the derivative of u?”, you asked, confused at the seemingly irrelevant step.

“Have patience,” Black Doom snapped, then continued, “If you’d not interrupted, I would have been able to inform you that the derivative of u is taken to isolate du and dt, and their equivalent portions of the equations.” As he took the derivative of 7 minus 7 tangent t, it made more sense; the majority of the derivative was the factor outside of the radical.

“Multiplying both sides by dt isolates du and dt, making it possible to replace secant squared t and dt with an equivalent expression in that makes the integral possible to integrate in terms of u rather than t.”

When he lay it out before you, it seemed far simpler than you thought it would be. “So, you can take a simpler integral rather than a more complicated one by replacing parts of it with equivalent and simpler variables?”

“Correct,” If Black Doom had a mouth, you could have sworn smiled at you. “Your species’ capacity to learn so rapidly is something we valued in you. If I were to name a positive characteristic in your inferior species, it would be that.”

You gave a weak smile in response, somewhat concerned by his phrasing. You watched him write the edited integral.

This integral was far more reasonable to deal with, a simple matter really. You etched the integrated solution on the table in your smaller hand writing with your writing utensil, something between a pencil and marker.

Black Doom nodded approvingly. “There is but one more step,” he said, “to replace u with what it was originally substituted for.”

“That’s the solution then?” you confirmed.

“Indeed,” he replied. “You are certainly a most suitable candidate. Very adaptable and obedient. I shall keep you in mind for later. Now return to your fellows. Do not bother with completing more of this test, your progress has been deemed satisfactory.”

You nodded and rushed towards the exit, then paused for a moment. “Thank you,” you said, trying not to make your voice shake.

Black Doom looked at you curiously for a moment, after which he said, “As you should. Now begone!”

As you turned and returned to the first chamber you were in, you gave the test you’d completed in a pile of other completed tests and returned to a group of your fellow abductees.

“Oh my chaos!” one gasped as you returned, “You’re alive! We thought for sure you got eaten!”

You shook your head. “No,” you said, “Actually, Black Doom explained calculus to me.”

“You’re clowning? You’re not clowning? I sense clowns.”

“No, I’m serious.” You turned away. “I think there’s something more going on here, though,” you whispered, “I’ve told you before I think they’re studying us, right?”

The others nodded, and some of the Black Arms nearby almost imperceptibly tensed, shifting.

You glanced around, “I think these tests are for more than just study,” you said softly, “I think there’s a bigger goal here. We’re candidates for something. These are just the preliminary tests to determine which of us is best for the real experiment.”

The rest of the group recoiled. “Surely not?” one chuckled nervously. “I mean, the aliens wouldn’t have told you their real plan, right?”

You opened your mouth to double down, but one of the Black Arms jerked their head and reached for a phaser at the edge of your vision. “You’re probably right,” you said, keeping your eye on the alien, “just a theory.”

The group visibly relaxed and so did the surrounding Black Arms. You didn’t though. What had happened still didn’t feel real to you. But as much as you knew something else was going on, you pushed it to the back of your mind, in a place you hoped the Black Arms couldn’t find.

***

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed and/or learned some calculus from this! Again, if you have any character requests for any fandom or any math topic, just ask. I feel completely deranged for writing this, but I sure did review that topic! I think the plot's not terrible either. Until next time!

[ooeygooeyghoul]

Introductions

Hi, hello, nice to meet you. I'm Quaid, and this is the tumblr I have recycled into posting content about my lizard man. This will primarily be a FFXIV blog, as it's my current obsession, wherein I will post rambles, pictures, my art, and maybe a few other things, idk. I'll try to keep it organized with the tags, but the system is a WIP.

I've only got my main man here at the moment, but maybe I'll make some more heroes in the future! Might update this a few times, too...

Other socials - Twitter | Insta

DAWNTRAILED! - NOT A SPOILER-FREE ZONE!

Shiun Kazumasa - Primal | Behemoth

Warrior of Light - Main

B A S I C S | |

Primary Jobs | Warrior, Gunbreaker & Dark Knight

Guardian | Rhalgr, The Destroyer

Nameday | 18th Sun of the 3rd Astral Moon (May 18th)

Age | 25 years [ARR] - 30 years [EW/DT]

Height | 230cm / 8ft 6in

Homeland | Doma, Yanxia

Occupation | Scion, Sellsword, Blacksmith

Sexuality | bisexual, leaning toward men

Strengths | duty-driven, good at anything that requires physical strength, protective, unbreakable will

Weaknesses | Quick-tempered, stubborn as a mule, emotionally constipated, never asks for help, hides his hurts

Tags | #primordial flame: shiun kazumasa (main), #thaniun (wolship), #forgiven fury (Lightwarden AU), #wandering swordsmith: vulcan (ancient counterpart)

P E R S O N A L I T Y | |

An Au Ra whose face is always scowling or smirking, never anything in between. Shiun is brash, rude, and loud - fueled by constant rage. He acts almost purely on instinct and impulse, which causes his friends no small amount of stress. Don't be fooled by his prickly attitude, he's a true hero with a heart of gold. Devoted to saving and serving as many people as he can to the point of being self-sacrificing. Good luck prying any of his deep emotions out of him, he'd really prefer that those stay hidden.

B A C K S T O R Y | |

Shiun grew up in Doma during the Garlean occupation, so his early life was full of troubles. His parents were quiet artisans that submitted, which afforded them a fairly upper-class lifestyle. But Shiun was different in a way they didn't like. He got into fights with other kids, ignored his schoolwork, and was angry at the injustices he saw all around him. His family did everything they could to extinguish the fire in his heart, but he wouldn't be put down any further. After a chance encounter with a resistance fighter, he fought back against a Garlean soldier that had been harassing people in his village. The Empire didn't take kindly to that, and his family suffered for it. He barely escaped and was forced into exile at the young age of 9. Eventually, he made his way to the Azim Steppe and was taken in by a kind family in the Malaguld Xaela tribe. Scarred by his failed attempt at resistance and the pain it caused, he kept his head down and stewed in his anger for years. That is, until a voice called him to a distant land...

R E L A T I O N S H I P S | |

Alphinaud & Alisaie | practically siblings

Shiun is fiercely protective of the twins. He sees a lot of his younger self in them and has taken on a brotherly role with them. He hates that they've been thrust into this world at such a young age, and tries to urge them to just be kids every once in a while.

Thancred | lover

At first, Shiun couldn't stand Thancred. His overconfident playboy persona really got on Shiun's nerves, so he went out of his way to piss off Thancred, too. After rescuing him from Lahabrea, he stopped being so antagonistic. Over the course of the Dragonsong war, Shiun's feelings towards Thancred began to change, which REALLY freaked him out. So much so, that he pretty much ignored Thancred's existence throughout Stormblood while he considered things. He figured it out pretty quick once the Scions started getting yoinked to another realm. More on this later...

Y'shtola | voice of reason

Shiun appreciates Y'shtola's sharp wit and sharper tongue. She sees right through his bullshit and is often scolding him for his reluctance to rely on others. They get into banter contests a lot, which he rarely ever wins.

Urianger | jock & nerd

When they first met, Shiun couldn't understand a word Urianger was saying, but he learned to communicate with him over the course of their adventures. He's got a good friendship going with Urianger, where he patiently explains complex things to Shiun five times and Shiun helps him get better at socializing.

Tataru | ride or die

Shiun would die for Tataru. She continues to baffle him with her limitless talent towards anything other than combat, and he'll do pretty much anything she asks him to. To be honest, her ability to sniff out the truth and love of gossip frightens him a little bit.

Estinien | friendly rivalry

Despite being an axe-user, Shiun's skill with the lance is nothing to sneeze at. The two talk through their sparring more than they do with their words. Shiun was happy when Estinien decided to stop skulking about and join the Scions, but he still gives him shit about it.

G'raha | brotherly friends

When he found out just how much G'raha idolized him, Shiun was flabbergasted. He certainly wasn't used to that amount of admiration, and he found it difficult to deal with at first. But the hesitation faded away as G'raha accompanied him on more and more outings. Now Shiun thinks of him as a brother and irreplaceable friend, determined to make him into a hero too.

T R I V I A & E X T R A S | |

Favorite non-chocobo mount is the SDS Fenrir.

Favorite minion is gaelikitten named Potato.

Has a major sweet tooth he tries to hide from others.

Is really really bad at cooking. Don't taste what he makes for your own safety.

Actually really does like to fight (don't tell Zenos).

I tend to draw him pretty off model lol.

[lboogie1906]

Private First Class Ralph Henry Johnson (January 11, 1949 – March 5, 1968) was a Marine who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Vietnam War.

He was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and was discharged to enlist in the regular Marine Corps on July 2, 1967.

Upon completion of recruit training with the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment, MCRD San Diego in September 1967, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton. He underwent individual combat training with Company Y, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, and basic infantry training with the Basic Infantry Training Company, 2nd Infantry Training Regiment in November 1967. He was promoted to private first class on November 1, 1967.

In January 1968, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam and served as a reconnaissance scout with Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division.

On March 5, 1968, while on Operation Rock, a four-day operation by the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines in the “Arizona Territory” northwest of An Hoa Combat Base, his 15-man reconnaissance patrol was attacked by enemy forces on Hill 146 in the Quan Duc Duc Valley. When a hand grenade landed in the fighting hole he shared with fellow Marines, he yelled a warning and hurled his body over the explosive charge. Absorbing the full impact of the blast, he was killed.

A complete list of his medals and decorations includes the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two bronze stars, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, the Vietnamese Military Merit Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

The Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, formerly the Charleston VA Medical Center, was renamed in honor of him. His Medal of Honor, along with his Medal of Honor citation and a portrait of him, is framed and on public display at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center.

The Navy announced that a new Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer would be named USS Ralph Johnson.

His name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[judgemark45]

Norfolk naval base, December 20, 2012

From bottom to top, front to back:

Aircraft carrier DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69)

Aircraft carrier GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77)

Aircraft carrier ENTERPRISE (CVN 65)

Amphibious assault ship BATAAN (LHD 5)

Aircraft carrier ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72)

Aircraft carrier HARRY S TRUMAN (CVN 75)

Amphibious assault ship WASP (LHD 1)

Amphibious assault ship KEARSARGE (LHD 3)

Amphibious landing platform dock NEW YORK (LPD 21)

A T-AKE dry cargo ammunition ship

Amphibious assault ship IWO JIMA (LHD 7)

and various cruisers, destroyers, frigates and submarines of the Atlantic Fleet USN image/ Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernest R. Scott

[rynnaaurelius]

I'd really love the sci fi reading list, if it's not too difficult! Thank you for your explanation

Yes! Okay, requisite this is Not Authoritative Or Comprehensive claim, I'm a dork with a Russian degree, but here we go:

(I tried to organize this chronologically because if I did it thematically we would be here all day. Also, I still have more books, but they get increasingly niche. This is a Greatest Hits playlist, and if you look these people up, you will find their contemporaries)

(Long list below the Read More)

Jules Verne — 80,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Excellent continuations of that exploration/'ostracized' genius figure, so popular in the previous century. French, so English translations. Kinda marks the transition point between 19th c. pure spec exploration and what we would call sci-fi. BUT BEFORE HIM...

Mary Shelley — Frankenstein is probably the first sci-fi novel as we know it. BUT BEFORE HER...

Margaret Cavendish — Okay, the 'first sci-fi novel' is hard to define for obvious reasons, but The Blazing World has as good a claim as any. Published in the 17th c., so it really traverses the genres, but includes a utopian kingdom accessible via the North Pole. Her husband was so impressed that he composed a sonnet for her, which serves as the epigraph for the novel; it's a wild read in the same way Robinson Crusoe and other early novels are, and I'm mostly including it here because it's so, so wild to read in 2023.

John W. Campbell — That dude. The hero's journey guy. His short story Who Goes There? Has been adapted a million times into a little movie called The Thing. Unfortunately got really into race science, so Isaac Asimov told him to fuck off. Edited the magazine Astounding Science Fiction, which in 1939 published Black Destroyer by Alfred Van Vogt, usually cited as the beginning of Golden Age sci-fi.

H. G. Wells — Big critic of class divisions in Victorian English society, coined the term 'time machine' as we think of it in his novel...The Time Machine. A lot of what we consider 'classic' time travel tropes were, if not invented here, had their seeds planted here. Also famous for War of the Worlds, leading to a MINOR disturbance when Orson Welles did a dramatic radio reading.

Edgar Rice Burroughs — the man, the myth, the legend. If I could persuade you to read one white English sci-fi author with rather dubious politics, it would be him, if only because of how influential he was. Mostly famous for Tarzan, but he also wrote a whole series about Hollow Earth that crosses over with Tarzan at some point (Pellucidar), as well as the series Barsoom (A Princess of Mars and its sequels), and Amtor (Guy named Carson Napier gets transported to Venus, which was a watery hellscape, as was popularly theorized for a while).

They're basically pulp comics before pulp comics, published in magazines, extremely lurid and dramatic, and he did write his own crossovers. These were what the first modern superhero comics writers often grew up reading and what inspired them—John Carter's cultural cachet was borrowed by Superman until it became his cultural cachet.

They're very fun, but also supremely products of their time, and extremely fond of the British Empire.

Judith Merrill — prolific writer and editor, who also wrote one of my personal favorite reactions to the atomic bomb in Shadow on the Hearth.

Gabriel García Márquez — we're gonna take half a sidestep into magical realism here (which is, to define quickly, a genre incorporating the fantastic into otherwise realistic narratives, often formed and associated with decolonial and post colonial Latin American fiction, but not always. It's a fuzzy genre). He wrote in Spanish, but I read him in English. One Hundred Years of Solitude is probably one of the great novels ever written. My mother is also telling me to rec Love in the Time of Cholera and she wrote about the man, so listen to her.

Jorge Amado — the sixties were the big magical realism heyday. Amado was Brazilian and his Dona Flor and her Two Husbands is a book my Spanish high school teacher made me swear to read some day.

Andre Alice Norton — Deserves a spot for being one of the most prolific sci-fi authors of all time during a time when sci-fi was INCREDIBLY inhospitable to women. Over 300 books!

Robert Heinlein — This man is the poster child for "male author who writes groundbreaking sci-fi novels but cannot be normal about women with a gun to his head". The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is excellent and incredibly important for how comprehensive the creation of Luna and its workers was, even if it is very sixties free love. Also wrote Starship Troopers, the novel.

Edward Smith — you haven't seen drama until you read what they said when Lensman (first book is Triplanetary) lost to Foundation for the Hugo in the sixties.

Larry Niven — Fleet of Worlds! Ringworld won a whole host of awards and deservedly so in 1970. Fair warning, his stuff decidedly falls under "hard" sci-fi (lots and lots of discussion for plausible alien artifacts), though it is awesome just in terms of how he can communicate scale. If you see a big ring-like structure in space, you can thank this guy, basically (the term ringworld comes from here). Also did a bunch of co-writing. I haven't read his other stuff, but CoDominium is on my list (he co-wrote it. First book is The Mote in God's Eye). If you liked the TV show The Expanse when it did the alien stuff and the later books it never got to adapt, you'll love this guy.

Samuel R. Delaney — Dhalgren is a book I am forbidding you to research before reading. Go in prepared. You have been warned. You will either love this book or set it on fire.

Stanislaw Lem — Solaris. I started this novel last week after watching the Tarkovsky film and. It's doing something to my brain, that's for sure. It's a book where I have to read every sentence twice. If you read it, find a good translation if you don't speak Polish. The author famously is very mad at critics who use Freudian analysis for it, so tread carefully (it's about the limits of rationality and our ability to understand, so. Fair).

Joanna Russ — The Female Man is a seminal work of feminist sci-fi. It's—fascinating, to be honest. Discusses socially enforced dependence of women on men and the creation of a different gender, a "female man", when the protagonist chooses to reject it and thus her socially enforced gender. I wouldn't call it a transgender manifesto (written in 1975, features insufficiently masculine men undergoing sex change surgery, so...yeah) but it definitely awoke something in my brain when I was 16 lol. I would LOVE to see it revisited in literary criticism from a modern perspective, especially from trans people.

C.J. Cherryh — If we talked about female sci-fi authors from the 1950s-70s writing under gender ambiguous aliases, we would be here all day, so I'm picking the one whose books I got for cheap at a book sale. Her Foreigner series has such a good premise with descendants of a lost Earth ship and interstellar court drama, and it's SO fun.

Poul Anderson — the name is not a typo, do not look up Paul Anderson, you will never find him. I actually have a copy of Three Swords and Three Lions currently collecting dust on my shelf and judging me right now as I wait to read it. Tau Zero is one of the greatest things I've ever read. The time dilation stuff gets kinda dense at times, but he incorporates some interest in his Swedish history and folk tales into it, and his explanation of travel at the speed of light and incorporating that into his discussion of nationalism is incredible. The ending where they survived [REDACTED] and landed on what may have been [REDACTED] has been bouncing around my brain for a bit now.

Laura Esquivel — Like Water for Chocolate is from the magical realism reading list.

Salman Rushdie — Midnight's Children is one of those bucket list books, for better or worse. Recontextualized Indian independence from the British and the Partition through framing of a husband telling the story to his wife, as he actively tells the story to her. Really uses the fantastical versus the real w/history versus truth so well.

Nancy Farmer — The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, for the kids lying about their age on Tumblr dot hell. Three kids try to escape a kidnapping after sneaking out—in 23rd century Zimbabwe. With the help of three mutant detectives. It rules.

Ben Okri — Okay, I have not read his stuff yet, but it is on my list. Other people here have discussed his influence on them in post colonial sci-fi. His big one is The Famished Road, first in a trilogy, and renowned for its discussion of the spiritual and realist world coexisting in African animist spiritual life.

Nnedi Okorafor — I have read one of her short stories, Remote Control, and currently have an book list with her other stuff on it. Other people I know vouched for her work. She specifically writes Africanfuturism and Africanjujuism centered around her Nigerian background, and follows on from the likes of Okri and Octavia Butler. I'd also add if you're a Stephen King fan when he's in Dark Tower mode, she's probably gonna have things that appeal to you.

Mentions that are absolutely influential but don't need explaining on this website: Franz Kafka, Ursula K Le Guin, Douglas Adams, N. K. Jemisin, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Alduous Huxley, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Octavia Butler, Neil Gaiman, Toni Morrison.

(to be clear: you SHOULD read them, but you probably know who most of them are and/or why they're big deals. Most of them are also incredibly prolific, and explaining their bodies of work are other posts. Trying to make a list about other folks)

For more on Afrofuturism,(not to be confused with Africanfuturism), I recommend the shit out of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, full of short stories and guides to art and music. I, alas, lack similarly useful authoritative guides to other genres, but I have read that one, so wanna toss it out there. There's so much.

[the-delta-42]

#eagle / #eaglewall 1/1200 #hmshardy a #hclass #destroyer in the service of the #britishroyalnavy during #worldwar2 #worldwarii #ww2 #wwii #british #royalnavy #eaglemodel #eaglewallmodel #modelship #modelbuilding

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[kaileeandag]

How My OCs Senior Yearbook Info Would Be Formatted

Here’s how Brooke’s name would appear: Brooke Boudica Meyer                                        (baby picture above, Senior                                                                                 picture below) January 1, 1990// (number redacted) Farview Drive// Sanford, ME 04073 Soccer 1, 2, 3, 4// Swimming 1, 2, 3, 4// Future Educators of America 3, 4// Early Childhood Education 3, 4 Quote: “Goodbye, everyone! I’ll remember you all in therapy!”-Sheldon J. Plankton Plans: Go to college and be a Special Ed. teacher.

and for my Class of 2010 girls (Mari, Jenna, Emma, Saya, Tyler-Rose, and Sophie): Sophie Michelle Dwyer                                      (Senior Picture) January 1, 1992 Swimming 1 2 3 4 Soccer 2 3 4 Media Communications 3 4 French Club 1 2 3 4 Quote: “If you don’t try to save one life, you’ll never save any”-Leon S. Kennedy Plans: I’ll try and see how Nursing school goes. That, and I hope to remain cancer free for another year

Tyler-Rose Gloria Whittier                               (Senior Picture) March 13, 1992 Field Hockey 1 2 Basketball 1 2 3 4 Health Occupations 4 Japanese Culture Club 3 Quote: “(see the post about what the yearbook quotes would be. It is the Broodwich speech from the ATHF episode of the same name) Plans: Nursing school, then who knows?

Emma Akane Nakahara September 3, 1992                                            (Senior Picture) Japanese Culture Club 3 Quote: “Some people seem to think they always know what’s best for you. Their little minds try to create a world to keep you still.”-Daniel “Sahaj” Ticotin Plans: Attend beauty school, get married, have a kid, then who knows what?

Jenna Adelaide Eskola September 11, 1992                                           (Senior Picture) Hockey 1 2 3 4 Basketball 2 3 4 Quote: “What’s my release? What sets me free? Do you pull me up just to push me down again?”-Mudvayne Plans: I’ll be going to Nursing school and I hope that goes well

Saya Kageyama                                               (Senior Picture) August 6, 1992

Swimming 1 2 3 4 Health Occupations 4 Quote: “ If the Oxygen Destroyer is used even once, the politicians of the world won't stand idly by. They'll inevitably turn it into a weapon. A-bombs against A-bombs, H-bombs against H-bombs. As a scientist - no, as a human being - adding another terrifying weapon to humanity's arsenal is something I can't allow.”-Dr. Daisuke Serizawa (Godzilla 1954) Plans: Let’s see...I’ll be going to nursing school and after that, maybe I’ll go back to Japan to see some friends I left when I came here to the States in 1998.

Mariana Rose Fazekas September 1, 1992

Basketball 1 2 3 4 Softball 1 2 3 4 Quote: “Hooray I’m useful!”-Dr. Zoidberg Plans: Beauty school, then probably help my parents with raising my little sister

[scumgristle]

ME AT AGE 21, HIDING IN MY CAR IN BETWEEN CLASSES AT H*****A, AGGRAVATION-EATING CAFETERIA HAMBURGERS, READING THE COPY OF NAUSEA I PURCHASED AT THE SCHOOL BOOKSTORE BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY REMOTLEY dArK THING I COULD FIND, TURNING MY HEAD TO SPEAK TO RUINED IDEALIZATION OF MY CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP CRUSH THAT NOW ONLY LIVES INSIDE MY BRAIN:

This is my comfort album.

[holidayhunteraust]

HMAS Vampire: The Story of Australias Mighty Warship

HMAS Vampire, a Daring-class destroyer, proudly served in the Royal Australian Navy (R A N) as the third of its kind. This Australian-built vessel, a pioneer in all-welded ship construction, was meticulously crafted at Cockatoo Island Dockyard between 1952 and 1959. Its commissioning into the R A N took place promptly, a mere day after its completion.

Throughout its illustrious career, Vampire was frequently deployed to South East Asia. It played a crucial role in the Far East Strategic Reserve on five separate occasions, including during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. Additionally, it provided escort services to the troop transport ship H M A S Sydney on six of the latter's twenty-five voyages to South Vietnam. Notably, in 1977, this formidable destroyer was assigned to accompany the royal yacht H M Y Britannia during the visit of Queen Elizabeth the second and Prince Philip to Australia.

In 1980, Vampire underwent a reclassification, assuming the role of a training ship. It continued to serve dutifully until 1986, when it was decommissioned and subsequently presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney. This remarkable vessel now stands as a museum ship, proudly preserved as the largest museum-owned object on display throughout Australia.

  The primary armament of the Vampire consisted of six 4.5-inch (114 millimeter) Mark 5 guns, which were mounted in three Mark 6 twin turrets - two positioned forward and one aft. In terms of anti-aircraft capabilities, the ship was equipped with six 40 millimeter Bofors guns. Two single mountings were located on the forward superstructure, while two twin mountings were positioned on the aft superstructure. Additionally, four 50 caliber (.50 inch, 12.7 millimetre) Browning machine guns were carried on board for point defense purposes.

To enhance its offensive capabilities, the Vampire was equipped with five 21-inch (533 millimetre) torpedo tubes, which were fitted to a single Mark 4 pentad mount on the deck, situated between the forward and aft superstructures. Furthermore, for anti-submarine warfare operations, the ship carried a Limbo anti-submarine mortar on the aft deck, offset to port. However, it is worth noting that the twin Bofors guns, torpedo launcher, and Limbo mortar were eventually removed during various refits.

At some point during its operational lifespan, the Vampire underwent an upgrade, resulting in the installation of a Sea Cat missile system. This addition further enhanced the ship's capabilities and versatility.

In conclusion, the Vampire was armed with a formidable array of weaponry, including its main guns, anti-aircraft guns, point defense machine guns, torpedo tubes, and an anti-submarine mortar. These armaments were strategically positioned on the ship to ensure effective offensive and defensive capabilities. Moreover, the installation of the Sea Cat missile system represented a significant upgrade, underscoring the ship's adaptability and modernization efforts.

  On June 25, 1986, the esteemed warship Vampire concluded its active service. After faithfully serving for 27 years and covering an impressive distance of 808,026 nautical miles (1,496,464 kilometers), Vampire was decommissioned on August 13, 1986. Recognizing its historical significance, the Australian National Maritime Museum was honored to receive Vampire as a museum ship. Initially on loan from 1990 to 1997, the ship was eventually transferred outright in 1997. Today, Vampire proudly stands as the largest museum exhibit in Australia.

Vampire's legacy extends beyond its role as a museum piece. In 1991, it made a memorable appearance in the popular children's television program, The Girl From Tomorrow Part 2: Tomorrow's End. Additionally, the ship serves as a training ground for R A N divers in hull clearance, showcasing its ongoing relevance and utility. In 1994, the destroyer underwent a significant upgrade, with two disabled twin Bofors mounts being reinstated, replacing those removed in 1980. This restoration further enhanced Vampire's historical authenticity.

Despite no longer being a commissioned warship, Vampire was granted permission on April 9, 1997, to fly the Australian White Ensign, a testament to its enduring significance. Regular maintenance and cleaning are carried out every five years, with the destroyer being towed to H M A S Kuttabul for these essential tasks. During a docking in October 2006, rumors circulated among R A N personnel that Vampire would be refurbished and reinstated for active duty. However, during the same refit, a fire incident occurred in the ship's boiler room. Fortunately, no injuries were sustained, and the damage was swiftly repaired without any lasting consequences.

In March 2009, the R A N battle honours system underwent a comprehensive overhaul, resulting in Vampire being retroactively recognized for its service in the Strategic Reserve between 1964 and 1966, during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation

 This recognition was long overdue, as Vampire played a crucial role in maintaining peace and stability in the region during that time. The Strategic Reserve deployment showcased the R A N's commitment to upholding international security and protecting the interests of Australia and its allies. Vampire's contribution to this mission should never be forgotten, and its inclusion in the battle honours system is a testament to the bravery and dedication of the sailors who served aboard this historic vessel.

 As of April 2023, Vampire's radio room hosts an active Amateur Radio station, operated by a group of local Amateurs. The station operates under the radio call sign VK2VMP.

[prohibitionpirates]

Truxtun-class Destroyers

The three Truxtun-class destroyers were built for the United States Navy as a part of the original 16 destroyers authorized by Congress on 4 May 1898 for the fiscal year 1899 program. They were commissioned in 1902 and were very similar to their Bainbridge-class predecessors, except for mounting six 6-pounder (57 mm) guns instead of five. They were considered the most successful of the first 16 US Navy destroyers and were succeeded by the larger Smith class.

Armament

The as-built torpedo armament was two 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes with four torpedoes. The gun armament was two 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns and six 6-pounder (2.2 in (57 mm)) guns.

During World War I the class was equipped with one or two depth charge racks for the convoy escort mission and the single torpedo tubes were replaced with two twin torpedo tubes on Truxton and Worden, with the number of torpedoes remaining at four. Whipple was modified with one twin torpedo tube mount and four torpedoes at this time.

Engineering

Truxtun had four Thornycroft boilers supplying 240 psi (1,700 kPa) steam to two vertical triple-expansion engines totaling 8,300 ihp (6,200 kW) (design). She made 29.58 knots (34.0 mph; 54.8 km/h) on trials at 8,300 ihp (6,200 kW). The class’s normal coal capacity was 232 tons.

The Truxtuns escorted convoys during World War I. All were decommissioned in 1919 and converted to merchant vessels in 1920.

Truxtun-class fruit carriers

On 3 Jan 1920, the U.S. Navy’s three Truxton-class destroyers (USS Truxtun, DD-14; USS Whipple, DD-15, and USS Worden, DD-16) were sold for pennies per pound to Henry A. Hitner's Sons Company, an iron works in Philadelphia, for scrapping. Instead, Hitner decided to sell them for motor fruit carriers. It made sense as the vessels were shallow enough to maneuver through the narrow fruit company waterways such as the Snyder Canal in Panama, and, with their engineering suite reduced and armament removed, were still fast and economical enough to get the job done. With their old magazines and one of their boiler rooms turned into banana holds, they could hold as many as 15,000 stems of fruit.

The ships were rebuilt, scrapping their old vertical triple expansion steam engines and boilers for a pair of economical 12-cylinder Atlas Imperial Diesels– a company known for outfitting tugs and trawlers– generating 211 NHP and allowing a sustained speed of 15 knots (half the original speed). This removed all four of their coal funnels, replacing them with a number of tall cowl vents and a single diesel stack aft.

So reconstructed, their weight was listed as 433 GRT with a 264-foot length and 14-foot depth of hold. The crew was reduced to an officer and 17 hands (from 3 officers and 75 enlisted men). Painted buff above the waterline to help reflect heat, they still had their greyhound lines. They served in the "Banana Boom" of the 1920s. The sisters were registered in 1921 by Robert Shepherd in Nicaragua and soon used on the banana runs to Galveston and New Orleans, flying the flag of the Snyder Banana Company of Bluefields, Nicaragua.