NationStates Jolt Archive

Omar Pace, leader of the Brotherhood of Nod in Crimmond, stood in the massive drydock, watching a beast be constructed. Workers crawled across it like ants, "Mister Pyke... your day is coming. And it is coming in two short weeks."

What was before him was the most unusual ship in the Gholgoth arsenal. A steel flight deck was being built on top of it, as well as a steel island house. The hull itself was armored in thin sheets of steel, meant more for protection from contact with the warm ocean water than from an enemy ship. The vessel itself was immense and was costing an equally immense amount of funds, with the unusal building material.

Ice.

Or, more specifically, Pykrete. Ice and sawdust. Invented in World War II by a man named Pyke, whose genius and idea for an ice carrier had gone forgotton for far too long. The strength and durability of this building material outshone steel, in his mind. Oh yes, steel was easier to use, but steel tore when a torpedo or mine hit it. Pykrete dented. This ship could be a giant mindsweeper by just cruising through, setting them off by contact. Though that was obviously not reccomended as so many detonations could cause stress fractures and cut the ship's lifespan.

2,200 feet long, nuclear powered, armed with every modern advantage(including underwater CIWS), a whole system of pipes and valves delivering super-cooled air throughout the hull to ensure that the Pykrete remained at maximum solidity(though it would literally take years for the ship to melt). It would take a nuclear blast to destroy this ship... though disabling it would be much easier. Control surfaces were still made of steel, as Pykrete wasn't suited to such tasks.

Inside the Pykrete hull, the ship looked like any other. The ship was, more or less, like one of those ice machine pieces of ice, with a hollow space inside. Though above the crew and below the flight deck sat a layer of Pykrete(with needed cut-throughs), to stop bombs from slaughtering the crew beneath.

Omar smiled. Soon... soon the beast in this shipyard would recieve it's shakedown cruise. An abnormal one for an abnormal ship... it was going directly into a warzone to defend Gholgoth.

[OOC: This is based on fact, so don't throw the bullshit flag. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/235665/2_million_ton_pykrete_aircraft_carrier_in_ww2/]

Once every couple of weeks, usually after the episode was on the History channel, one of these comes up.

I'll let someone else discuss the flaws; I don't consider it my place to outside the Draftroom.

It says nothing about the ship! If you want to make one you have to make all of the facts; width, height, armaments, crew etc.; This isn't going to blow over well. If you want to make a ship, actually make it.

It says nothing about the ship! If you want to make one you have to make all of the facts; width, height, armaments, crew etc.; This isn't going to blow over well. If you want to make a ship, actually make it.

[OOC: It's the first post and it's not even finished yet. Geeze...

And I didn't know the History Channel aired something about Pykcrete in the past week. I've had this kicking around my hardrive for months waiting to be used. ANd the limitations are obvious. I don't care... Nimitz class ships aren't perfect and I don't doubt this ship will be able to be sunk(or at least trashed, since it really can't sink...). It's just hard to do so.]

OOC: haha I saw that on the History Channel.

OOC:I tried this and it got 30 plus pages of comments on how shitty it is. and me trying to defend it.

OOC:I tried this and it got 30 plus pages of comments on how shitty it is. and me trying to defend it.

[OOC: Wouldn't be the first time I do something that really isn't a good idea. Like making a space fleet that's designed to fight best at ranges less than twenty miles. And I still won battles... most of the time...]

The ship neared completion and Omar looked over the schematics... 2200 feet long, 310 feet wide, 150 foot draft(fully loaded), tip of the island to waterline height of about 200 feet(antennae can be changed, altering height). A large ship, to be sure... he looked at the powerplants next. Four nuclear reactors, like the ones on the nation's other aircraft carriers(only they carried two). They were needed for the slightly larger and more numerous propulsion systems. The ship was expected to have a top speed of somewhere in the low 30 knot range at the very best and the mid-to-high twenties being more reasonable. Those weren't the only propulsion units though. In the bow, along midship and at the stern sat the banks of thrusters, which would boost manuverability drastically, though the ship was still expected to be a bull in a china shop. Due to her inertia, a single bank of thrusters was faced forward, to fight the forward momentum and slow the ship quicker than it otherwise could.

Offensive and defensive weapons were another story. One proposal had the ship carrying howitzers like it was a spanish galleon. He had that idea crushed... if the attle was going so poorly that enemy ships were in gun range, the massive ship was most likely disabled and being rigged to blow most of it's vital machienery to pieces, save the reactors. Those would have the rods dropped and the area sealed off. The design wasn't secret enough to worry too much about it falling into other nation's hands. CIWS and it's underwater equivilent and medium and short range missile pods(for offense and defense) made up the actual weapons systems.

The crew would not be as large as one would expect, ship's compliment being 4200 even and the air wing being 3150. Approximately 1500(total) more than on other carriers at his disposal. The aircraft compliment would also be increased, up to 190 aircraft, spread over various roles.

Omar himself thought the idea looked a bit insane... but he was himself considered a bit insane. So he left the drawing room and went out to watch the ship be cmpleted. Not long now. There were already large amounts of crew already attending to duties on the ship as the drydock filled with water. There would be only a small christening ceremony in several days time, as the moment called for this ship to be going to war, not being draped with bunting for a lavish photo-oppertunity for civilians.

The main question now was... exactly how do you use a ship like this? You can't put it into a situation an Escort Carrier could be put into, for sure. It was a waste to use it as a refuel and repair station only. He knew where it would go after a moment... mass assault on any enemy force they find. With the CSS Nod and Vladimir in a battle group with it, any force arrayed against it would be pounded down into submission. It would never get close enough to the enemy for it to come under fire, except by submarines... and those would be deterred by the well known fact of twelve Supremacy Class attack submarines sliding through the depths somewhere around the carriers. That was one of the benefits to have a large underwater force. Numbers meant it was far less likely for an enemy sub to ever get a shot off at a suyrface ship and have any hope of surviving to launch another. And one torpedo wouldn't cripple the ship in front of him.

OOC:Napalm for sale $4 a bottle!

OOC:Napalm for sale $4 a bottle!

[OOC: Wow... I would have never have thought of intense heat as a weapon against my ship. WOE IS ME!]