"Ironclad"
By Kpmh2001
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Subject: The UNSC Thunderchild, an extended briefing.
From: Ensign Ivan Williams
To: Commander Richard Miller
Howdy Commander, as requested, I put together a brief history and recorded the technical specifics for our newest asset. Now bear in mind, the UNSC has never operated anything that functions quite like the Thunderchild before, and as a result, we don't actually have a proper file or any guidelines on how to do this. As a result, I've gone and bundled all of the most relevant information here, if you have any further questions, I suggest going to Junior Lieutenant Jackson , as I'm sure that she'd be happy to tell you all about her ship.
Basic Tactical Overview
Historical documentation, as well my own discussions with Junior Lieutenant Jackson have led me to conclude that the Thunderchild was designed to conduct seaborne warfare at its very simplest. In most situations, the most effective tactic is simply to plot a direct collision course with any kind of enemy, ideally while accelerating to maximum possible speed, and engage with every weapons system available in an attempt to whittle away the strength of the target as quickly as possible.
Against Grimm, these basic tactics should prove to be sufficient, but the White Fang are a very different story, and a more thoughtful approach will likely be necessary. To that end, I have identified a number of weaknesses to be mindful of while you're issuing your orders, as well as some solutions that may help remedy them.
1. The Thunderchild's anti-aircraft armament is largely insufficient for modern combat against Airships. Fighter escorts are recommended at all available times, and surface-to-air missiles should be issued to the crew.
2. The Thunderchild suffers from a very slow rate of turn, which can make navigation in rivers dangerously difficult for an inexperienced Helmsman. To that end, I suggest ensuring that either Junior Lieutenant Jackson or Stanforth is available at any given time, as both have extensive experience piloting the vessel.
3. When operating in Menagerie's Rainforests, the Thunderchild's radar arrays are not to be trusted under any circumstances. UNSC radars are slightly more dependable, but should also not be relied upon (see Geography segment for further details.) Optical equipment and infrared sensors should be prioritized.
4. The Thunderchild lacks any kind of dedicated anti-infantry armament for close-quarters jungle fighting. Captain Pool has suggested that spare space on the main deck could be retrofitted with machine guns and autocannons to remedy this.
5. The Thunderchild's threat detection system is entirely insufficient, and it is especially vulnerable to sea mines and IEDS. Modern Minesweeping equipment should be mounted as soon as possible.
6. Accounting for the Thunderchild's existing crew, a total of sixty-seven naval personnel will need to be transferred to the ship in order to bring it up to full strength. Personnel with exceptional swimming talents should be prioritized first, for obvious reasons. The remaining bunks can be used to house around a full platoon of Marines for counter-insurgency operations.
Basic Dimensions and Displacement
Displacement: 9600 metric tons (maximum load)
Length: 100 meters
Beam: 19 meters
Draft: 11.5 meters
As I'm sure that you've noticed, the Thunderchild displaces less than a modern wet-navy destroyer, and is much smaller in Length, Beam, and Draft. This should come as no surprise, given the antiquated technologies used in the ship's construction and any subsequent upgrades. It seems to have little difficulty with seakeeping in spite of how low it rests in the water, but that is likely due more to the calm seas around Menagerie than it is to the design of the ship.
Navigation and Propulsion Equipment
As expected, the current Navigation equipment installed on the Thunderchild is hopelessly obsolete, to the point that it is not noteworthy. Lieutenant Chen has already put together a list of revised specifications once we complete our minor refit. Most notably, a new GPS system and a set of radio beacons should mean that we don't have to worry about the ship getting lost, which given the terrain, is a very real concern.
The Thunderchild's propulsion, as you might expect, would be considerably harder to upgrade, to the extent that it is not worth the effort. Thankfully, it is also the most advanced piece of equipment on the entire vessel. The primary power plant is actually composed from two of the same model of Dust reactors that are used on modern Atlesian Airships, retrofitted with an extensive, custom-made cooling system.
As a minor note, I would like to draw attention to the fact that Atlas does not actually allow for that particular piece of equipment to be legally exported. I'm sure there's some excellent story about how Junior Lieutenant Jackson managed to get that particular piece of equipment through Atlesian Customs. If I may make a suggestion, perhaps we shouldn't tell General Ironwood about that little infraction to Atlesian Law.
The power plant can bring the ship up to a standard cruising speed of 25 "knots" (that's 46.3 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 31 knots (57.412 kilometers per hour). While slow by modern standards, travelling any faster in a riverine environment would be inadvisable anyway as to avoid running around.
Relevant Geographic Information
At first, I shared the concerns that you expressed as to whether or not the Thunderchild would be able to navigate rivers effectively, as it's a great deal larger and heavier than anything that the UNSC has ever used for riverine combat (outside of a few notable exceptions.) However, after further examination of the area that we believe the White Fang to be operating from, I am no longer concerned.
It would appear that the word "river" has been applied somewhat disingenuously to describe the collection of several large Deltas across the North end of Menagerie. While there are certainly small streams that run throughout the region, these are only small tributaries that serve to feed into and run off from the massive rivers that can reach (in certain locations) upwards of seven kilometers wide.
The rivers themselves are also unusually deep, with the "slick serpent tributary" in particular being noted as Remnant's deepest naturally-formed river, at well over two-hundred meters deep. Both Curie and Lieutenant Chen have pointed out numerous reasons why the rivers could not have been formed through natural erosion or tectonic activity, but I hope you will agree that we should keep the speculative science on hold until the White Fang is destroyed.
Given the exceptionally strange and often dangerous geographic anomalies in the region, I strongly suggest allowing Junior Lieutenant Jackson and Stan to make any final decisions as to navigation. Both have over a dozen recorded "expeditions" into the Delta, and know the lay of the land better than any of us.
One final note is a confusing anomaly regarding radar equipment in Menagerie's rainforests. Any radar systems operating in the region will suffer from false-positives, phantom signals, frequent electrical malfunctions, and spontaneous combustion. While there are a million conspiracy theories and urban legends to explain this, Curie believes that it's actually a form of as-of-yet undiscovered natural phenomenon.
In any case, our own radar sets seem to function slightly more consistently (I haven't yet received any reports of spontaneous combustion, much to my relief) but they are still well beyond the point of being useful. For this reason, special attention should be taken to ensure that all radar sets are disabled before entering Menagerie's rainforests.
Weapon Systems
The most defining weapons of the ship are undoubtedly its twin twelve-inch (305mm) guns, mounted in a turret on the forward deck. Although antiquated, they've received a fair degree of modernization over the years, including modifications to the turret that allow the guns to elevate to a full forty-five degrees, radically improving their range.
A single quickfire nine-point-two inch (233mm) gun is mounted on the ship's small aft deck, intended to provide covering fire in the event that the ship needs to withdraw. It is worth noting that this gun is manually loaded with multi-piece ammunition, and requires four men solely to load the weapon.
The ship's twin twenty-inch (508mm) torpedo tubes are mounted in the ship's bow beneath the water line, and feature a very unusual magazine reloading mechanism. However, this mechanism is very complex, and requires frequent maintenance.
The ship's ram is actually a replacement that was specially ordered during the Thunderchild's refitting process, as the original was considered to be insufficiently durable. The only structural weaknesses present are the two torpedo tubes. According to Junior Lieutenant Jackson, the ram serves as a method of conserving valuable ammunition by offering a simple method of executing wounded Grimm.
The Thunderchild's secondary gun battery consists of six quickfire five-inch (127mm) guns mounted in defensive positions across the ship's superstructure. According to Stanforth, this is also a retrofit from the original design, intended to compensate for the Thunderchild's small crew. Finally, the ship carries an anti-aircraft armament of three quad-mounted 20mm cannons, totalling twelve barrels.
Additional weapon systems, including harpoon launchers, depth charges, flamethrowers, and mortars have all at one point or another been a part of the Thunderchild's arsenal, but these have all been sold or otherwise removed from service.
Armor Scheme
The Thunderchild is equipped with an "all-or-nothing" armor scheme, with effectively all of the ship's armor protection being fitted towards the ship's bow. Although this complements the intended tactics used with the ship, it also presents a vulnerability should an opponent find their way around the ship's stern. The only exception to this rule is the ship's power plant, which is equipped with angled plating intended to ricochet incoming shells.
Development, History, and Service Record
The history of the Thunderchild dates all the way back to the beginning of the Faunus Revolution, when the Human Navy of Mistral was faced with a desperate need for fast, modern warships. At the time, they possessed many battleships and escorts, but most of these ships dated back to the Great War. By contrast, what few vessels the Faunus had were fast and modern ships, usually converted from civilian vessels.
The result of this was that the Faunus Captains were able to run from any fight they couldn't win, and conduct a brutal convoy-raiding campaign against Human forces. Seaborne Grimm were also proving to be a major irritant, as the conflict caused mass unrest, meaning that the bulk of the Human Navys needed to be kept on defensive postings.
The Mistral Shipping Firm "Fletcher's Fleetyard" sought to create a ship that would solve all of Mistral's issues at once, and at a fraction of the price of a mainline battleship. Although Atlas was not yet the technological powerhouse that it would prove to be today, their experts were sought out in the design process and contributed heavily to the ship's design.
Presented as one of eight potential designs, the Thunderbolt Class Torpedo Ram was eventually selected by Mistral's Council for construction. Two ships were ordered, both to be constructed at the aforementioned Fletcher's Fleetyard. The first was the Thunderbolt (later Thunderchild), and the second was the Polyphemus.
Whilst the ships were under construction, the Faunus would learn about both of them via a defector in the Human ranks, and launched a raid to destroy the half-finished warships with explosives. Although they successfully managed to plant bombs aboard both the Thunderbolt and the Polyphemus, only the Polyphemus was successfully detonated, with the wreckage being deemed too far gone to be salvageable. As such, the Thunderbolt would be the only ship of her class.
Once completed, the M.S (Mistral Ship) Thunderbolt was rapidly commissioned and pressed into service to replace wartime losses. The ship's Commanding Officer was the legendarily xenophobic (and incompetent) Captain Ryan Tillman. From there, the ship would be hastily deployed to take part in the climactic Battle of the Red Kelp Sea. As a result of rushed deployment, the Thunderbolt departed without a Marine complement, this would prove to be a fatal mistake.
During the battle, the Thunderbolt was isolated from the rest of the fleet by bad weather and subject to a boarding action by Faunus Commandos. The resulting engagement lasted only around twenty minutes, and despite being rather brutally one-sided, every last member of the original Human crew would fight to the death.
Now under Faunus control, the ship was steamed into the Menagerie Rainforest Deltas. After a number of minor refits, as well as allowing for time to train a new crew, the ship was rechristened as the "Thunderchild", and placed under the command of the highly-decorated Commodore Laurel Paro.
From there, the Thunderchild would serve as the Faunus Flagship and participate in almost every major naval engagement throughout the war. Of particular note was the seizure of Convoy AM1014R from Atlesian Privateers, where the crew of the Thunderchild successfully rescued somewhere in the region of two-hundred slaves. This event would spark international outrage
towards Atlas for violating the Vytal Treaty, and resulted in Atlas being forced to reduce their commitments to the war effort.
During the battle of Fort Castle (widely regarded as the point in which the war turned in favor of the Faunus) the Thunderchild provided crucial shore bombardment support at extremely close range. Even though the ship lacked nighttime optics, the natural nightvision of the Faunus meant that they were able to operate the ship's conventional spotting scopes without issue, resulting in catastrophic Human losses.
The ship was present for the ceasefire negotiations held in Vytal, and would continue to serve in Faunus service during the reformation of the Menagerie Chiefdom. Exactly ten years after the conclusion of the Faunus Revolution, the Thunderchild was deactivated and placed into reserve as the Faunus Navy was officially disbanded. Some consideration was given as to selling the ship to a Huntsman or turning it into a museum ship, however, a lack of public interest led to neither option being taken.
For decades afterwards, the Thunderchild would remain mothballed, occasionally receiving lackluster maintenance but largely being left in a state of disrepair. Some attempts were made to purchase the hull for scrapping by private shipyards, but these were abandoned after veterans of the Faunus Revolution publicly protested the deal.
This brings us to a more recent point in history. Around four years before we were stranded in Shunspace, a small naval engagement took place between a single ship of the Menagerie Defense Squadron, the M.S.S Tasman, and a powerful Grimm known as a Kraken (Atlesian Military Records show vague similarities between this Grimm and the mythological creature of the same name) that was attempting to sink a merchant convoy of twelve ships.
The Tasman managed to hold back the Kraken long enough for the merchant convoy to escape, but was rapidly destroyed once the Kraken turned it's full attention towards the ship. Among the crew was a Huntress named Margaret Jackson, who had served as the ship's First Mate (what we consider an Executive Officer). Although she was unable to kill the Kraken, she was able to use her Semblance to gather the majority of the surviving crew onto the only surviving lifeboat, before escaping the Kraken and sailing back to Menagerie.
The owner of the Merchant Convoy personally thanked Mags (who was the highest ranking survivor of the Tasman) for saving the Convoy, and offered to finance the construction of a replacement vessel for Menagerie's defense. After a bit of discussion, and some talks with Chieftain Belladonna about the legal status of the Thunderchild, she was able to secure ownership of the warship and the necessary funds to repair and refurbish it (details can be found above.)
After a year of work in Drydock, the newly restored M.S.S Thunderchild entered service with the Menagerie Defense Squadron. Three years later, we arrived in Shunspace, and you know the rest.
Concluding remarks:
All in all, the Thunderchild represents a very stark departure from practically any kind of equipment that the UNSC has ever operated. While some elements of the ship are obsolete to the point of uselessness, others are unusually modern for technology on Remnant, especially for a ship as old and distinguished as the Thunderchild. While it would obviously be nothing but a target of opportunity for a foe like the Covenant, here on Remnant, she may still have a few years of service left in her.
Authors notes: Special thanks to the excellent Naval Historiographer "Drachinifel" and the excellent artist "Baron Engel" for inspiring my interpretation of the Thunderchild. While their version of the Thunderchild has major differences from the ship of the same name depicted in The Men From Onyx, their incredible talents were a major source of inspiration.
And of course, special thanks to H.G Wells, whose influence on not just TMFO, but on science-fiction as a whole need not be repeated.