The day she woke up from her eternal slumber.
After serving her country for more than 50 years the battleship finally received its last order. The order was to stay on standby until the call for her return was called, for her this was called Decommissioning.
Like many other warships that was built during the war, the battleship was placed in mothball until many years later she was transferred to Camden, New Jersey where she was berthed there permanently as a museum ship.
The battleship was visited by many people particularly men working on the nearby shipyard. Though the battleship already lost many of its new weaponary particularly her Harpoon Missiles and CIWAS, the bread and butter of the battleship her 16inch guns were still there, along with some of her old World War 2 era AA guns and 5inch guns.
After a year of restoring her the battleship was then tugged along the river until she reached her permanent berth in Camden, New Jersey.
Being the only remaining fast battleship floating in the modern era, along with her other three sisters, people from all over the globe would frequently visit her for pictures and tours.
The battleship was particularly mindful when the civilians entered the inner sections of her hull, she was still an old girl and her machinery were already showing their age. Despite that the battleship still enjoyed her new role as a museum ship.
On some occasions, the battleship is visited by ship loving folks...folks who would get a hard-on when they see her elegant hull and massive guns.
Despite that the battleship didn't show any remorse towards them. For her she felt embarrassed, knowing that there are folks out there that loved her more than just a mere hunk of steel.
Many peaceful years go by until one day Black December happened.
Emerging from the dark blue sea are monsters of unknown origin. They attacked the coastlines of America, destroying the cities they occupied.
Another war has started and this time it was close to home. Battleship New Jersey awaited for the call, she waited for the sailors to board her and take to the front...
However, she was never re-commissioned.
Days, weeks, months, and years….be it spring, summer, autumn, or winter—Battleship New Jersey waited and waited for the time her sailors to come and wake her from her slumber but it never came.
She cried and mourned as she watched the black planes zoom above her, bombing the city that she was dearest to her. The forest was burning, the city was engulfed in flames, and the waters surrounding her were filled with corpses belonging to the people that loved her.
It killed her from the inside. It killed her for not being able to protect them. It pained her for she won't be able to see the children once more, she won't be able to see the folkz that loved her so dearly despite being a large hunk of steel.
Lastly, she won't be able to leave her berth not in her current state.
She stayed there for another twenty years, observing the rotting corpses of her people floating on the water around her. Some of the bodies were sticking on her hull, rotting away. But the battleship didn't mind, she didn't mind rotting alone in a dead city that used to be thriving in life.
Battleship New Jersey silently waited in slumber, berthed in a dead city, waiting for the time where she too could finally pass away.
Until one day she opened her eyes and saw a light bulb flickering on the ceiling. The flickering light gave her a headache so she closed her eyes and tried shaking her head.
Then she realized, how did she manage to shake her head?
Opening her eyes again the battleship examined her surroundings. Walls of concrete and a poster of a man singing on a microphone. There are medical equipment too scattered across the room.
She felt the cold sensation of the metal bed that she was resting on. She could smell and she could feel something inside her expanding and retracting. She was breathing…and she was not excreting thick soot out of her nose.
"What's going on….?"
And then she spoke with a deep female's voice. The battleship froze as she realized what she just did.
The battleship lowered her eyes and saw arms resting on top of a fair skinned thigh. She realized she can feel the arms resting on top of the thighs. She realized she can move her arms, she could rotate them, and that she could also move her fingers… then she started shaking in realization.
"Oh you're awake. Terrific, now I know what's floating in your head right now like how am I able to have arms, legs, a vagina and….Jesus that's an ample bosom….Anyhow my name is Repair Ship Medusa, your caretaker as of today second ship of the Iowa-class fast battleship, New Jersey."
At that moment on, Battleship New Jersey realized she was no longer a large hunk of metal floating on water. Rather she was now something different, very different from what she was used to.
And this is just the first part of her story.
Chapter End
The story is set in the same timeline as my other Kancolle fanfics.
Hope you like it~