Whoever named things on ships was either an idiot or history's ultimate troll.
Bailey had spent the better part of two hours going over naval terms and history and ship facts. What she had learned is that everything was complicated, and she knew nothing.
The front of a ship was the bow; the back was the stern. You walked aft, not backward. The ceiling was the overhead, the wall was a bulkhead, and the floor was the deck. A bathroom was the head, her bed a rack. Food wasn't made in the kitchen; it was made in the galley. Flags were ensigns, even though an ensign could also mean a person. A ship's propeller was called its screw, and sometimes the screws were mounted on skegs. Even right and left were different – starboard and port respectively. It had taken Bailey several re-reads of the definition to realize that those two directions were in relation to the ship and not a person, always being defined as though you were facing the bow.
Even worse were the specifics. Bailey could somewhat understand the different types of ships, such as destroyers, cruisers, and battleships, but further than that was a mystery. She couldn't understand how Dani could tell a Tennessee-class battleship from a Nevada-class, or a South Dakota from an Iowa. How was she supposed to know the difference between a 14-inch gun and a 16-inch gun, let alone all the crazy numbers Dani had been spewing earlier?
Oh, the numbers. Dear lord, the numbers. Nicole had said something about twenty knots (that was another thing, it felt impossible to grasp how fast knots were) before. Where had she gotten that speed from? Did she memorize the speed of every ship? Displacement, speed, range, length, beam, draft, amount of armor… How did they know it all?
Bailey hated not knowing, and she felt inferior for not knowing as much as the rest of the girls. A good leader always knew what was going on, and Bailey knew nothing.
The only thing Bailey did know was that the all-hands meeting was half an hour away. She flopped backward onto her bed and stared up at the grey paint above her. It was relaxing not to be looking at words on a page.
Outside, Bailey heard someone open the exterior door and walk through the hallway. That someone knocked on her door.
"XO Bailey?"
Bailey sat up. "The door is open."
Dani stepped into the room. "I just wanted to remind you about the all-hands meeting in a bit."
"I am aware, Captain."
"You know that we set sail afterwards, yeah?"
"I know this." Why was Dani asking her questions she already knew?
Her captain leaned casually against the door frame. "You excited?"
"For what? Sailing?"
Dani's ever-present smile grew wider. "Of course, silly! What else would we be doing, driving a tank?"
Bailey ignored Dani's casualness. "I am, yes. I'm also nervous."
It would be hard to say that Dani frowned, although her smile changed slightly. "Nervous? 'Bout what? You're on a big-ass ship with tons of armor. You're as safe as can be."
"It's not that I'm worried about the ship, it's…" Bailey didn't want to come off as fearful or undecided. "It's new for me. I have never done something like this before."
"Aw man, that's okay! None of us have done this before. You just gotta keep going. You'll love it!"
Bailey faked a smile. "Thank you, Captain. That helps."
"Of course! I'll see ya at the all-hands!"
Dani disappeared again.
Bailey let out a sigh. At least Dani hadn't picked up on what she'd truly meant by that, at least not yet. Looking at her watch, she had twenty minutes to go before the meeting.
Now it was just a waiting game.
(LINE BREAK)
"What is it with adults and being slow all the time?" Nicole complained. She sat down on a desk, her boots on the desk's edge, and her arms over her knees.
"That's no look for an officer, Ms. Clark," Bailey chided.
Nicole ignored her XO.
"Ms. Clark, when a superior officer tells you-"
"Make me," Nicole challenged with a hint of a sly smile.
Dani showed up at the perfect time. "Hey! Aren't these uniforms sooo cool?"
"I think they're attractive," Faith said in gentle agreement.
More idle chatter followed. Dani remarked that even she thought the instructor was late, which she claimed said something.
If it says you don't care about schedules, we're going to have a problem.
"Is everyone here?" The attention of the class turned to the front of the room. Their instructor was an older woman with silver-blonde hair. Her friendly smile was welcoming and momentarily dispelled any worry that Bailey had. The instructor repeated her question. "Captain, is everyone here?"
"Uh…" Bailey glanced around the room. "Looks like it, ma'am."
Really? Your first words to the instructor and you "uh" while using informal language?
"Excellent. It looks that way to me as well," The older woman affirmed.
She's not being formal as well? Am I overthinking this?
Loewer began her introduction. "I am Instructor Loewer. I will be your mentor for the next eight weeks. Welcome aboard our lovely ship Colorado, and welcome to Norfolk as a whole. This will be your classroom and your home, just as it was once mine. Many of you have little experience outside of other school-required training, while many of you have a fair list of skills already. You all are starting at the same point, however. This school will challenge each and every one of you. None of you have sailed a battleship. None of you have been in combat onboard a ship before. None of you have learned the lessons that long-term sailing teaches you. That will all change in a very short time."
Some of us sure are starting out behind, I don't care what you say…
"Much of your learning will happen without my direct involvement. After the opening days of the program, I will be off the ship for the most part. I will occasionally be back on board at different times for some lessons; otherwise I will be on board my instructor ship Fort Worth. Your first major lesson will be the opening Fleet Problem. It is a combat exercise involving a good portion of the Atlantic Training Fleet. The details are not ready at this time, but they do not matter. What matters is you all being able to perform your roles to the best of your ability. To get to that point, we must get underway. Any questions?"
Somehow, there was not a single hand raised. Maybe it was excitement. Maybe it was stunned silence that they would participate in a fleet exercise so soon. For Bailey, it was nervousness.
She felt as though she had no idea what she was doing and was about to embark on eight weeks of playing catch-up.
(LINE BREAK)
The air on the bridge was electric. Tugboats were pulling alongside Colorado. This was it: the fleet was fully ready to leave port. Dani was hardly holding in her excitement. Faith was similarly excited, albeit to a lesser degree than Dani. Jess was probably excited underneath her look of worry. Nicole seemed entirely uninterested. Bailey's nervousness was gone beneath her anticipation.
In between the end of Instructor Loewer's introduction and now, the crew had performed a General Quarters drill followed by a lifeboat and evacuation drill. After that, division-specific instructors reviewed the basics of each division's roles and how to carry them out. Out of all of them, Engineering had the largest learning curve. They had to understand how to operate the ship's power plant and propulsion systems, and they had to get it down quickly as propulsion was generally considered necessary to depart.
From the decks of their relatively tiny boats, the tugboat crews signaled they were ready to move Colorado into the main channel. Dani ran through each division to ensure they were prepared to sail. After the end of her list, she looked to Bailey. "XO, is the bridge set for departure?"
Bailey glanced around the bridge. All officers were up there with them. "Bridge is fully ready," She responded.
"Crew on the rails, cast off mooring lines!" Dani's excitement was audible, even if she was trying to keep herself calm.
Colorado was freed of her moorings, and the tugboats began to push her out of her berth. Massachusetts was already mostly into the channel, while to Colorado's port side, Nevada was similarly casting off. Deep beneath her, Bailey could feel the turbines ramping up as the engineers began opening the steam valves. A slight vibration was transmitted through the deck, even this far up. The ship was coming to life.
When the massive battleship was finally clear of the pier, the tugs moved away.
"All shafts, ahead one-third," Dani ordered.
Jess stepped from her wheel to set all four engine order telegraphs to ahead at one-third speed. Another vibration began as the motors powered up and the screws started to turn. A wake began to form at the bow as the water frothed at the stern. Colorado was moving under her own power. As the ship passed the northern-most pier and entered the mouth of the James River, Dani decided that this wasn't fast enough. Massachusetts was gaining on them ever so slightly, and Dani wouldn't allow that.
"All shafts, ahead full speed!"
Nevada and California had apparently thought the same thing, and they began to accelerate as well. Both California and Colorado's turbo-electric propulsion allowed them to get their screws spinning at full speed almost instantly. Meanwhile, Nevada was left behind as her geared turbines slowly built up speed. Only by briefly running at flank speed did she keep up.
By the time the battleships were passing to the south of Fort Monroe, many cruisers and destroyers had joined the group. They resembled something of a cohesive fleet. The formation consisted of groups of ships in haphazard formations.
Since the four battleships had gotten underway all at the same time, they were close together. Massachusetts was leading the group. It was off Colorado's port bow, as well as the cruiser San Diego. The smaller ship seemed to have decided that it was a battleship now and was attempting to overtake Massachusetts in either a show of speed or wanting to be part of the fun. California was roughly abeam with Colorado on her port side, and Nevada was off the starboard aft quarter. Behind it was a pair of cruisers, following the battleship in a line.
Behind the lead group was a trio of destroyers in an echelon formation with the cruiser Helena. The destroyers Blue and Chandler were nearby, sailing side-by-side. Further back was William D. Porter. She was staggering along at the very back of the formation. Uneven colors of smoke poured from her twin funnels, signifying that her engineers were having a difficult time keeping the boiler fires steady.
In this seemingly random arrangement of ships, the fourteen-strong fleet sailed elegantly through the Chesapeake Bay. As it passed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the battleships Maryland and Wisconsin added themselves to the fleet's numbers. They had sailed south from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Ahead of the ships lay an endless horizon. In the far-off waves, two brilliant shades of blue met each other in a perfectly straight line.
They were sailing into the open ocean.
AN: Three chapters in and I haven't said anything in any kind of notes, which is odd for me. I hope the story is entertaining and enjoyable, even if I haven't felt the need to comment on anything that's happened so far. This chapter was a bit tricky to write in that I had to put serious thought into describing the ships leaving port without getting wordy. Hopefully what I came up with does that job well, and a massive thanks to those on Discord who gave valuable input.
Anyway, thank you for reading this far if you have! If you have any thoughts on it, feel free to leave a review. On the topic of reviews...
movindu2005 (Ch2) - Thanks for Untamed's first review on here FFN! I'm glad to hear that the details of the ship's interior is interesting to read - I honestly wasn't sure if it'd be a slog of Bailey walking through compartments or not.