Well here we are with chapter 4. I hope you enjoy it and leave a review because reviews are really helpful for first time writers like me. Anyway, by the time I'm publishing his we're in the middle of a possible worldwide crisis which began only a few days after I published chapter 3. What I want to say is that my depiction of the Russian characters in this fic will not be affected by my thoughts on the war. Let's all hope for world peace.
(Yokosuka – Japan – 09:00)
After the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 Japan had started a new industry that was sure to send the nation forward in many fields. This was the mining of Methane Hydrate. Though the Russo Japanese war was an outstanding Japanese victory, they needed to secure their position in Asia and, as this new industry promised them a lot, they started the mining.
This however was soon to prove disastrous, not just to Japan but to the whole world as the environmental impact of this industry was far greater than they had imagined. The prolonged process of mining, in an uncontrolled level, created a shift in the surrounding tectonic plates, resulting in a series of environmental disasters leading to the gradual rise of sea level all around the world.
As this impending disaster was unignorable world leaders from all of Earth's continents joined together to create a solution to save the people. This, according to some, was a major event that ensured world peace; as many countries in the early 20th century was going on a path of industrialization and militarization which was sure to lead to war. Nature ensured that the world will remain at peace for decades to come. This would also ensure the collapse of the British, French, Dutch, Russian and many more empires that ruled the world till then.
The solution, well planned to be without any loopholes, began to be executed by the mid-1900s. the building of floating cities capable of housing the population of the earth which was growing at a rapid phase. Soon this was taking place everywhere and by the early 21st century most of it was completed. A major victory for humankind.
Of all floating cities that Kalum had been to, those in Japan took the top spot. His own hometown Colombo was a floating city, and he had been to Singapore which was the best planned out of them, but both of them were inferior o what Japan had. Colombo lacked the technological advancements of Japan and Singapore was much smaller in scale. The Japanese were the first to come up with the concept of floating cities, and they were the first to build them; much better than everyone else.
Now being in the port of Yokosuka, the city was not the only thing that caught his attention. The port was full of battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines of Japan, Russia and USA, along with the six ships that belonged to the Eastern Fleet and several crafts of the Blue Mermaids. They had arrived in Yokosuka only a little while ago. With his ship safely anchored Kalum had disembarked.
The first thing he noticed then was the damage on the Musashi. The Japanese battleship had suffered six hits by what he could see, and it had shrugged them off. If the Ceylon was hit that much with 16" guns they'd be completely destroyed. He stood staring at the huge ship.
"You made it."
"You don't have to sound so surprised." Kalum said, turning to face Gehan who had addressed him. "When did you get here?"
"Yesterday morning. We managed to get here much faster than you did."
"And what did you do after you got here?"
"Nothing much. Had a meeting with the maritime security department. They're still trying to figure out what went wrong."
"And did they find out anything new?"
"No, and I heard we lost the Iowa. Is it true?"
"Yes," Kalum agreed. "And that's a huge blow to the Bloomers. Things were really bad last time when they lost the Musashi."
"Impressive isn't she." Jerad said joining Kalum at staring at the Yamato class battleship. "I miss the Prince of Wales."
"You didn't lose her forever. Did you meet instructor Somerville?"
"Yes," Jerad said, still staring at the Musashi. "And he'd like to see you, now that you arrived in one piece."
"When?"
"Now, if you'd follow me."
The two of them walked along the jetty towards the Yokosuka school buildings. Every few metres they would stop to look at a warship docked there and, as there were many noteworthy examples, their walk took a while.
After passing the port they entered one of the school buildings. Considering the time, it was filled with students, mostly girls except for a few exceptions which was to be expected as in Japan all surface ships of the training fleets were operated by them. And even though Kalum was short for his age he felt the Japanese were ridiculously small.
He followed Gehan to an office room situated on the second floor of the building. The door was closed so he knocked on it and waited for the answer.
"Come in."
Gehan opened the door and went in, and so he followed. The office was somewhat large and quite simple in design, with a table facing the door, a conference table and a small book cupboard being the only noteworthy pieces of furniture. The cupboard was nearly completely full, indicating that the occupier preferred to read in his free time. An empty cup of tea stood on the table.
Seated at the desk was a man who seemed to be in his late forties. He was dressed in a black Royal Navy uniform. While he seemed to be calm and collected, even after the recent disaster, Kalum could see that he looked tired. This person was immediately identifiable as he had visited Colombo during the time Kalum was training on land. Senior instructor of the Eastern Fleet, Samuel Somerville.
He nodded with a smile as he saw Kalum enter. "I see you've made it without a scratch. Accept my congratulations on succeeding at your first assignment as a commander."
Kalum felt a small pride at receiving the praise. My first successful assignment as a commander of the fleet. Nevertheless, his victory was won with too much ease.
"Thank you, sir, though my job was not as hard as it could've been."
"I know the details. You might think your job was easy, but it's hard to manage under pressure. You did quite well for a first year."
"I believe congratulating me wasn't your only intention when you wanted to meet me." Kalum said, unsettled by the praise he didn't disserve much of.
This draws a smile from Somerville. "You're quite straightforward. That's something I want from my students. Yes, I have several things to inform you about, considering you still lead the Eastern Fleet."
"How much longer will I remain in command?"
"It depends. The repairs on the Prince of Wales will take at least a month more to complete. But you won't have to wait till then. After the disaster you faced at sea, I contacted the Home Fleet, which was willing to help. They've dispatched a relief fleet, led by the Hood and the Vanguard to help us in recapturing the infected ships and saving their crews, which will arrive in two weeks. This fleet will be escorting the Howe and the Queen Elizabeth that I'm planning to give to to Gehan's crew, and to the former crew of the Royal Sovereign."
"So, captain Amara and her crew will come to Japan?"
"Yes, since the whole crew was saved by the Chinese, they're being helpful by providing transport for them to Yokosuka. they should reach us by tomorrow."
"Sir, I'm sorry I couldn't save the Royal Sovereign."
"You don't have to blame yourself. The crew was saved because you manged to draw the Resolution away. As for the ship, if all goes well, I intend to replace the positions of the Revenge class ships with the two we'll be receiving from the Home Fleet."
"Sir, once the Howe arrives, do I get to command the Eastern Fleet." Gehan asked a question which Kalum was hoping he would ask.
"Yes, until we can save Amelia you will be the captain of the temporary flag ship."
"Until Captain De Mel receives the Howe, what should I do? Do we go after the infected ships soon?"
"Currently everything's in disarray, so there won't be a chance for a large operation any time soon. Your duty will be to engage in patrols along the coast in case any of the infected ships decide to attack a city. You won't be alone."
"Sir, how are we going to find the infected ships in the Pacific if we don't set out at once? It's the largest ocean in the world."
"Don't worry, a few of us have developed an effective way to solve this problem. You'll find out when the Home Fleet arrives here."
"Can't we know it right now?"
"Not right now, but you'll know it soon."
(Maritime Safety Department – Yokosuka – Japan – 10:20)
Mashimo's day was going on well until she received the phone call. With her planned meeting with Instructor Somerville having successfully ended in the morning, she was feeling confident about what to do in the coming days. Mainly, how to face the Russian and American instructors.
This was good for a person who had been hit by a series of disasters in the past few days. So, the meeting with Somerville, along with his reassuring that the Home Fleet was willing to help, had made her day. She was planning on what their future moves should be when the telephone rang.
She picked it up. "Mashimo Munetani Speaking."
The speaker from the other end seemed to be in a subdued panic. After identifying herself as the captain of one of the Blue Mermaid crafts, she quickly relayed the news.
{We received an emergency radio transmission from the KMS Sharnhorst saying the German fleet had contracted the RATt virus. According to what the captain said the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen have opened fire on the Tirpitz, severely damaging it. Fortunately, both battleships have managed to escape with the rest of the fleet and continue towards Japan.}
"How many ships got infected?"
{The Bismarck, Prinz Eugen and the destroyer Z-31 are infected. So altogether only three ships.}
"And only the Tirpitz received severe damage?"
{Yes, the Deutschland had received some damage, but not as severe as the Tirpitz or the Scharnhorst.}
"And where did this happen?"
{Near Hawaii, in the position 18°43'06.7" North latitude and 168°27'20.5" West longitude. That's where the ships have showed the first signs of infection.}
"Okay, send our ships to help them, and try to keep track of the infected ships."
{Understood, we will carry on the orders.}
The call ended. Mashimo put down the receiver, her day totally ruined. First the Warspite, the Sovetski Soyuz, the Iowa and now the Bismarck. Fighting the Musashi had been nearly impossible the last time. And now there were several more ships of similar power against them. But there were more pressing matters to think about now. From what she had heard about the German surface fleet instructor, she was a level headed person, much calmer than Instructor Kuznetsov or Instructor Callaghan. Hopefully reasoning with her would be easy.
But the damage had been done. She had told the foreign fleets to come to Japan without turning back, and one of them had already suffered due to her decision. The virus had claimed the fourth fleet. She could only hope that this won't be repeated with any other fleet. Now it was too late to turn them back.
(Yokosuka Naval District Headquarters – Japan – 10:00)
The conference room was moderately lit. A round table was set in the middle around which the conferenciers would be seated. Most of the seats were occupied by the time principal Munetani entered, by the foreign delegates and instructors of the fleets which were to participate in the coming training exercises.
As she entered Munetani quickly scanned the room for the people she was searching for. Instructor Kuznetsov was seated close by, and he regarded her coldly as she entered. She was expecting that. Instructor Callaghan was seated much further and while the young instructor's expression was hard to read, Munetani could guess that it was not positive. Instructor Sommerville, who seemed to be the calmest person in the room, nodded at her reassuringly. Though he seemed calm she could guess that he was feeling similar to everyone else in the room. She got herself seated.
"Good day to you all. And thank you for joining us at this time. As the principal of the Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School, it is my duty to help you in every way possible during a time like this. My hope is that all of you should cooperate with us too to settle this crisis."
"I agree with Principal Munetani," a blond-haired woman said rising from her seat, who she identified as the instructor for the Wilhelmshaven Maritime High School. It's true that we have a lot of problems to settle, but the security of our students is our first priority, considering we just lost the Bismarck."
"Thank you instructor Witzel. I have to say I'm disappointed that most of you spent this time trying to shift the blame without thinking about your students."
At this Kuznetsov rose, "Shift the blame indeed. It is you and your Maritime Safety Department that invited us here saying everything's alright."
"And at that time, we had no reason to think the RATt virus would spread again."
At this instructor Callaghan stood up. "Nevertheless, Japan should bear responsibility for what's happening. I don't agree with Instructor Kuznetsov much, but here he is right."
"The first spread of the RATt virus was successfully controlled by us which made us drop our guard. So, I accept that this is partially our fault, but we do not take the blame for anything more than that."
"If you controlled the virus, then how has it spread again?"
"That is the question we've been facing currently. So, I ask all of you to help us resolve it."
The room was in silence for a while, which was a relief to Munetani, who did not at all like how things were turning out. The silence was broken by Instructor Somerville.
"The Maritime Safety Department is under the impression that the current spread of the infection did not start naturally. Am I right?"
"Yes, when the infection spread for the first time it was concentrated around one area, from where the ships received it. This time that's not the case."
She switched on a screen in the front of the room, causing everyone to turn that way. The screen indicated a map marked with the areas where the ships started to show signs of infection.
"This time the four fleets that we lost got infected while in four different zones. The RATt virus would never have the capacity to spread that far without external help."
"And who is responsible for this?"
"That is what the Maritime Safety Department and the Blue Mermaids have been searching till now."
"And you're not saying this just to shift the blame?"
"Sergey," Somerville said, "There's no reason for Principal Munetani to shift the blame now. Even you can understand the Japanese aren't behind this."
"And how do we trust them?"
"Instructor Kuznetsov, we suffered from the RATt virus once. We'll never want to suffer from it again."
Kuznetsov did not seem to be satisfied with her replies. "I need confirmation of your innocence in this matter. Otherwise I won't be cooperating with you." He said amidst several shouts of outrage from the Japanese side.
"Is that your final decision?"
"Yes."
"Understood." Munetani said stiffly. "And what about everyone else?"
The participants broke into a silent discussion, after which half of them seemed to side with Kuznetsov, and the other half with her.
"Very well. I am grateful for those of you who will help me during this time. As for the others, I hope you'll at least come forward to help your students."
"Principal, I am with Kuznetsov in this matter. But I won't keep away from helping you to save our students."
"Thank you, instructor Callaghan. What about everyone else?"
A second round of murmuring followed, this time by those who had sided with Kuznetsov. However, it ended quickly, and Munetani knew that she was succeeding.
"Principal Munetani, I will offer my help in finding and recapturing the infected ships. But my previous condition still remains."
"Okay," Principal Munetani said when everyone else had agreed with this. "Now that we're settled, let's begin our discussion."
(HMS Ceylon – Yokosuka – 11:00)
"That's it, we're leaving." Kalum had grown impatient waiting for Aanya to get to the Ceylon for the morning patrol. "I'm not going to wait till I get another call from the Harekaze."
Jerad tried to stop him, but decided it was better not to. He went to the voice tubes to give the command. "Remove the gang plank. Times over for boarding."
The crew member that went on to carry on this task was rudely interrupted as someone ran onto the ship at the last moment. This person soon materialised in the bridge.
"Sorry for being late captain. I just had to bring him on board."
What she indicated as 'him' was a black and white cat which now jumped off her hands and landed near Kalum. "They're good for controlling rats. So, they're the best solution for the virus."
"But we already got the antibody."
"That only protects us from the virus. It doesn't kill the rats."
Kalum decided to stop arguing. "Alright, you can keep it. What's his name?"
"I think I'll call him Sam."
"Ok," Kalum gently pushed away the cat who was nudging at his legs, "Sam can join us in our first patrol. Now that Aanya delayed us by fifteen minutes, Let's get going before I get the next call from the Harekaze.
An hour later the floating city of Yokosuka was in the horizon. Once the ships in the patrol fleet were in the open sea thirty miles off the coast, they were to patrol the area while watching out for any infected ship that might come to attack the cities or the shipping of Japan. Today's patrol fleet consisted solely of light cruisers and destroyers of the British, Japanese and Chinese student fleets, though the greatest contribution was from the Japanese, who provided most of the destroyers. As for light cruisers, only two were participating. The Chinese Ning Hai and the British Ceylon.
The force had nine ships in total. Two from the Eastern Fleet, three from the Chinese and four from Yokosuka. The Chinese ships, as Ravindu pointed out, weren't even their own. Which was partially true as the first ships of the Chinese destroyers have been from the Japanese Akizuki class and the US Fletcher class, though by now they were all being constructed in China. It was more accurate to call them copies. And all this was being led by the Y-469 Harekaze from Yokosuka.
The position of the Harekaze was not without question by some of the crew members on board the Ceylon. Especially Jerad, who was opposed to the idea of the commanding ship of the Eastern Fleet being in the second position in the patrol fleet. This same idea was not shared by Kalum who opposed it at once.
"The Harekaze has done things we'll never even dream of doing even if we can. They've earned their position fairly." The problem was resolved quickly and the situation had calmed down when a voice from the Harekaze came through the radio.
{This is the Y-469 Harekaze. We've reached the patrol zone. From now on all ships should remain in alert for any intrusion by the infected ships. That is all for now.}
At some point in history someone has said that war was ninety percent waiting. Now, with three uneventful hours of patrol, Kalum was feeling the same thing. It seemed like the infected ships were having better things to do out at sea than closer to the mainland, because they weren't coming anywhere near Japan.
"Captain, don't you think this is a waste of fuel," Ravindu put up a question he had been keeping inside till now, "I mean, does anyone think these patrols are useful?"
"I don't think so," Kalum answered, feeling the same way, "But we can't be sure where the infected ships will go in the Pacific, so we can't lower our guard either."
"What can we do if any of them come? Two light cruisers and seven destroyers against the Warspite, or the Iowa, or the Sovetski Soyuz. We don't stand a chance."
"Our job isn't to attack them. We should just keep them in sight if they come here."
Still the boredom of the day was taking a toll on the crew. Till now they've been in constant action; from sailing the ship to their twin naval battles to their time in Yokosuka where they assisted other fleets in their repairs. These things were more interesting then. Now things were not.
"How much longer do we have?"
"About an hour till the next fleet gets the job." Jerad answered. "There's still time for one of them to show up, but we won't see anything with this weather. we won't be seeing much in this rain."
The rainy weather was contributing to the bad mood of the crews. An hour into their patrol the rain had started, and even though it was only the middle of the evening, the sea was darkened by the sheets of rain. If any ship was to approach them at this time, it would be quite difficult to spot it.
"Hopefully we won't meet anyone now. But if they do, they won't see us well either. So, we're safe."
"Unless it's the Iowa. Their radar is good for bad weather." Ravindu pointed out.
That's when the first shell hit. It created a large splash in the water just off the starboard side of the Ceylon.
"Where the hell did that come from?"
{Captain, we have an unidentified ship to the south. Distance fifteen kilometers and closing in.}
"Do we have visual confirmation on the ship."
{It's hard to see with the rain captain.} one of the lookouts called. {Whatever it is, it's too small to be a battleship or heavy cruiser. It's either a light cruiser or a destroyer.}
"Then we can take them on. What does the Harekaze say?"
His question was answered by the radio operator. {Captain, radio message from the Harekaze. The ship firing at us is the USS St. Louis. We have to engage the ship till the Harekaze notifies the blue mermaids.}
"Understood, tell them we will attack the St. Louis. All hands, prepare to engage."
The boredom on the Ceylon was gone. "Anudha, load star shells to one turret. Load A.P. to the others. We'll fire at the St. Louis when we can see it clearly."
"Aye captain. Turret number one. Load star shells. Turrets two, three and four load armor piercing shells to fire at the enemy."
Behind the Ceylon, the Ning Hai appeared to be a step ahead of them. Star shells fired from the light cruiser's guns illuminated the sky, giving everyone a better view of their enemy. What followed was an artillery barrage which unfortunately missed their target. The returning fire from the St. Louis faced the same fate.
"Captain, star shells ready."
"Illuminate target with star shells. Fire."
Three star-shells from the Ceylon went towards the American ship. At the peak of their arc of flight three flairs were released from the shells, illuminating the sky. The light cruiser could be seen properly now.
"Now fire all guns."
"Aye captain, turrets two, three and four. Open fire with live ammo. Six-inch against six-inch. We can do this."
Nine live shells exited the six-inch barrels of the Ceylon. None of them managed to hit their fast-moving target.
"Miss! Let's try again." Anudha seemed to have taken control of the situation all by himself. He was about to load the second round of shells when he realised that he had to obtain permission from the Captain.
"Go on, fire at will." Kalum ordered, seeing Anudha's apologetical glance. "Our job is to keep it occupied."
"Yes captain, fire."
By now all nine ships in the fleet were firing at the lone light cruiser, though with no success. But the situation was changed when a round from the Harekaze hit one of the five turrets of the Brooklyn class light cruiser. The turret exploded.
"They did it. We can't fail. Fire, and this time don't miss."
Anudha's third barrage obtained the success Kalum had hoped for. Two of the shells from the Ceylon found their mark on the hull of the St. Louis.
"Hit." Anudha cried out as the USS St. Louis started to turn to starboard, changing their course for an escape.
"They're trying to get away. Should we pursue?" This question was answered by the next radio transmission from the Harekaze.
{The Harekaze orders all ships to refrain from following the USS St. Louis. The Blue Mermaids have dispatched ships that would reach us soon, and as our orders are to only patrol the area and as it is too dangerous to follow the St. Louis in this weather, all ships should remain here.}
"Damn it, we had a chance to recapture the ship now, and we failed."
"The Harekaze has a point captain. It's too dangerous to follow the ship. The rest of the American ships might be waiting for it close by."
Kalum had to agree with Jerad on this, though from what he had heard about the Harekaze, backing up in a moment like this wasn't something they always did. But there might be more than one ship nearby, and he didn't want to meet anything like the Iowa in battle. The rainy weather was also worsening, making the patrol quite difficult.
"You're right, and I guess the next order we receive will tell us to go back to Yokosuka."
(Yokosuka Naval District Headquarters – Japan – 08:00)
The audience in the conference room watched in muted horror at the events that were being unfolded on the screen. The recording they were watching had been sent to them by one of the Blue Mermaid destroyers that was on patrol alongside the Shinano, Atago and several destroyers of Maizuru Girls' Marine High School. In the recording five of the destroyers were out of action, due to the bombardment from the Yamato class battleship and the Takao class heavy cruiser.
Like everyone else watching, Somerville was horrified at the sight, though as usual he kept his calm. Still, he could not understand what principal Munetani felt as she watched the video as she seemed to be calmer than him though the ship that had now been infected was of the same class that had given the Japanese a hard time to recapture during the last outbreak. She seemed to be hiding her concern while her gaze was concentrated on Kuznetsov who was watching the recording.
"You wanted confirmation instructor," Munetani now addressed instructor Kuznetsov, "There's your confirmation. The Japanese training vessels Shinano, Nagato and Atago have succumbed to the RATt virus during patrol this morning. Not only that, I got reports from Maizuru and Kure Maritime Training Schools. Several of their ships have contracted the virus while on a training exercise. So, altogether we Japanese lost nine ships. You still think we are responsible for this?"
"I have to agree with you, director." Kuznetsov spoke, much subdued after seeing the recording. "Since I've received my confirmation, I'll help you completely to find out who is responsible for this."
"Thank you, instructor. And now ladies and gentlemen, I think you understand fully well how bad this situation has become. And how much we need your help."
The room was filled with an intense murmur that seemed to show that everyone had understood that perfectly. The murmur stopped when Munetani began her speech again.
"The patrols we conducted with the help of the Blue Mermaids and training ships of the British, Chinese and our own navies had brought us semi successful results. To give you an accurate report about this, it's essential to have someone from the Maritime Safety Department who was in charge of bringing these operations to a successful conclusion." Her mention of the Maritime Safety Department was done with a glance at Kuznetsov who held a wrath against them for the disaster. But the Russian instructor's reaction to the mention was indifferent, which seemed to have a positive effect on Munetani.
At a gesture from Munetani a person who had been in the background the whole time came forward. This was a young woman in a Blue Mermaid uniform with red eyes and flowing hair of the same color as Principal Munetani. Her oldest daughter, Mashimo.
"Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Director Mashimo Munetani, head of the safety oversight office of the Maritime Safety Department. After the second RATt outbreak I've been tasked with managing all major operations taken to control it."
"Well director, since principal Munetani said that you'll give us a report on the RATt situation, so please, go ahead. We want to know if any more of our ships can get infected while on patrol duties." one of the instructors in the room spoke, to which the Blue Mermaid answered.
"Up to now five ships each from the British and US fleets, three each from the German and Russian fleets and four each from the French, Italian and Maizuru fleets have been infected by the virus. While the Japanese ships were infected while on patrol, it was only because they had failed to get the RATt antibody previously. I can assure that none of your student ships are likely to get infected on patrol, since they're all vaccinated."
The blue mermaid stopped speaking to see if anyone thought otherwise. While the instructor who questioned her didn't seem entirely satisfied with the answer she nodded in agreement. So, the blue mermaid, being satisfied with the answer, began her address again.
"Now for the progress of our patrols. Though we sent ships from the training fleets and the blue mermaids and white dolphins to patrol around Japan to see if any of the infected ships would appear, the patrols didn't bring the intended results. Only two ships came close, including the HMS Dorsetshire last night, but both ships quickly moved away after inflicting slight damage on the patrolling ships."
Somerville had heard about that event that had happened the previous night. With the Dorsetshire close by he could not stop thinking that the infected Warspite was close too. He had to recapture it. Captain Amelia had to be saved. Following the Dorsetshire had been impossible with the night's rainy weather and the element of surprise the heavy cruiser had.
"Tea or coffee, sir?" Somerville's thoughts were interrupted by the blue mermaid handing over the drinks.
"Tea, please." He replied politely, thanking the girl when she had poured a cup of tea for him.
"In order to save the infected ships, we have to find them. To do so we will have to send ships far off the mainland for patrols. Since this is risky, we resolved to offshore patrolling for now, which failed to bring the intended results. So, we've been thinking about new ways to conduct our reconnaissance activities safely and effectively and one of our past projects seems to have the answer to these problems. This is a project we started three years ago in collaboration with the Royal Navy and the US Navy, and I'm happy to say, we have got the results of it already."
"Currently, one of the safest methods of reconnaissance we have is using helium drones. We can send them to long distances that the ship's radar can't reach and gather information about the target while being in a safe distance. If this system is used on a mass scale, we'll be able to find all infected ships within a short time. But in order to launch our drones we must first take them out to the sea using our ships, and the number of drones that the ships of the Blue Mermaids and White Dolphins can carry is one per ship. So, in order to use this method of recon on a mass scale we had to come up with a new idea. Now we've found a way."
The Blue Mermaid went to the screen that had previously been showing the recording of the Musashi and switched on a new image. The images on screen were the blueprints of a ship that Somerville could recognize easily, as he had taken part in the designing.
"This is a drone carrier," The young Munetani continued, "The result of a top-secret experiment conducted by the British, American, French and Japanese navies. I'm sure several of you know about this because of that. But for those who don't know, these ships will allow us to take up to twenty drones to sea at once, and launch them all simultaneously for recon. Currently the Royal navy, US navy and Japanese navy have one each that had finished construction just recently. This particular ship on screen belongs to the British and is called HMS Hermes. This is the first of our three drone carriers to finish construction and testing and will be launched tomorrow.
HMS Hermes. 11,020 tons, expected speed of 25 knots, Armament of six single 5.5-inch guns and three 4-inch guns, able to launch, maintain and refuel twenty drones. The first drone carrier in the world. The project that Somerville had played a part in was a major success, just as he had expected.
"The other two ships we have are the USS Langley and the JNS Hōshō." The blueprints of the Hermes were replaced by two new sets belonging to the other two carriers. Furthermore, the US navy has begun construction of another carrier to be named the USS Lexington and the French navy is constructing their own carrier called the Béarn,both of which will complete construction by we only have three carriers completed, with them carrying twenty drones each, we'll be able to cover large areas of the Pacific at once."
"Why didn't we get to know this earlier?" One of the instructors present raised a question which was, in Somerville's mind, quite reasonable. Afterall, hiding such a scientific development from half the world might create problems in the future as to why they were excluded.
"The development of these ships had to be kept secret because we had believed that this information should not reach the hands of anyone who is our enemy. This fear has only increased lately. A ship capable of reconnaissance on that scale is a powerful weapon."
"We are not your enemies. We should've been informed about this too."
The young Munetani clearly looked uncomfortable now. "I'm in no position to answer that, because I didn't have a role in the construction of these ships. This decision belonged to the governments of these countries. However, this is only the beginning of the use of this technology. If it is successful, I'm sure everyone will get a chance to try this. Anyway, we should first concentrate on the present. All three carriers have left port by now with the reinforcements your countries have kindly provided. The Hermes will reach us in two weeks, the Langley will reach us in a week and the Hōshō will reach Yokosuka by the day after tomorrow."
"And they'll be assigned to student fleets?"
"No, the drone carriers will be operated by the Blue Mermaids and the White Dolphins for the time being."
"And will they bring us the success we're hoping for?"
"There's only one way to find out."
A.N. And here we are with chapter four, and the new addition to the Haifuri universe; blimp carriers. When writing this chapter I was conflicted on whether to include well known carriers such as the Ark Royal, Enterprise and Shokaku which were made just before the start of WW2, or include the first carriers in the world such as the Hermes and the Langley. Finally I settled with the old carriers because in a universe like Haifuri where carriers didn't exist till this point it'd be unnatural to have technologically advanced carriers of WW2 standards. So I've included the HMS Hermes, USS Langley and IJN Hōshō, the first carriers in the world, that haven't received much recognition elsewhere. So, I hope no one is disappointed with my selection.
Also in the beginning the Eastern Fleet had the HMS Caledon light cruiser which I replaced with the HMS Royalist light cruiser since the Caledon is too weak to be in the story with other better cruisers. Hopefully you won't get confused now when I don't include the Caledon in future chapters.
