Beowulf

[barnest2]

Hey Ian
They want a U-boat

Hmm... forward torpedo bay, stealth coating, stealth jump drive, one big '88' mount - call it a particle barbette?.

I think the "Type U corsair" might be quite interesting.
Rust - what if any mods have you put on ships for aquatic-type capability?

I think my Phin Pirate character may have a flagship. And a German Accent.

I think a double forward torp bay and a pair of torpedo barbettes aft. And yeah, particle barbette up top.

 

[locarno24]

If you give your Phins a German accent, make it a Prussian one, and do not forget the monocle and the "schmiss" (the scar in the face "earned" by mandatory academic fencing).

Okay....the monocle I get - easy enough to make it a targeting data display (monocle chain is a fibre optic feed). And a prussian dolphin is too awesome to pass up. Von Orca it is.

But how the hell does a dolphin - even a sentient one - participate in a Mensur duel?

As a minimum I usually moved the airlocks and cargo doors above the waterline

Not an issue here. I've been planning a bit and I'm going with (waterproof) grav belts for the crew, with a "wet deck" at the bottom - with access points, and two 'dry decks' above it (albeit with a comfy pool in each stateroom area rather than beds/freshers/etc.

added ballast tanks (or a "double use" part of the cargo hold)

Nice idea.

aquatic communicators and sensors (sonarcom, active and passive sonar)

Presumably just a second sensor set of equivalent size/quality to normal sensors?

an auxiliary hydrojet drive

Where/how did you come up with sizes?

I think a double forward torp bay and a pair of torpedo barbettes aft. And yeah, particle barbette up top.

Probably more than that, thinking it through - an accurate U-boat will be huge!

 

[rust]

But how the hell does a dolphin - even a sentient one - participate in a Mensur duel?

Dolphin students use Waldo Suits, but without the helmets ...

According to GURPS Traveller Starships, the underwater electronics have
a volume of 0.5 dtons, a mass of 4.2 tons and a price of 3.53 MCr. In my
view the price is much too high, 1.00 MCr should be more than enough
to cover all which is really useful.

According to GURPS Vehicles a hydrojet drive has a weight of (kW + 20)
lbs, a price of 40 Cr per kW and a volume of (weight : 50) cf.
For most ships a 1,000 kW drive with an aquatic thrust of 20,000 lbs is
good enough as an auxiliary drive. This would give a weight of 1,020 lbs,
a volume of ca. 20 cf and a price of 40,000 Credits - rather negligible, I
would just note that the ship has one.

 

[hdan]

Subs in space have been done as a movie. Even with a star cast (Freddy Prince Jr. , Jürgen Prochnow) You may not want to remember it but "Wing Commander" already had sonar pings in space

That scene was among the funniest things I've seen - up on the bridge, everyone is tip-toeing around as if sound travels through space, while a few decks below, everyone is making a huge racket repairing equipment an such.

No, I don't want to remember it, even though I had the fortune(?) to watch the movie in the same theater as a bunch of the Origin guys who had worked on the Wing Commander games.

 

[GypsyComet]

Rust - what if any mods have you put on ships for aquatic-type capability?

As a minimum I usually moved the airlocks and cargo doors above the
waterline and added ballast tanks (or a "double use" part of the cargo
hold), aquatic communicators and sensors (sonarcom, active and pas-
sive sonar), an auxiliary hydrojet drive, and some powerful spotlights
and retractable robot arms for cargo movement in depths where divers
would have problems. Some ships also have "moonpool doors" for di-
vers or trained dolphins (not sentient in my settings) below the water-
line.

Figuring out a waterline on starships can be tricky. Cargo ships tend to float reasonably well if not too full, but even unarmored utility ships are doing the iceberg thing (90% submerged), and once you add armor they sink like stones.

 

[GypsyComet]

Subs in space have been done as a movie. Even with a star cast (Freddy Prince Jr. , Jürgen Prochnow) You may not want to remember it but "Wing Commander" already had sonar pings in space

That scene was among the funniest things I've seen - up on the bridge, everyone is tip-toeing around as if sound travels through space, while a few decks below, everyone is making a huge racket repairing equipment an such.

I can rationalize that one as needing to be quiet so the passive sensors guy (can't use actives when being "stealthy") can hear *his* space sonar, but yeah, its all silly.

 

[BFalcon]

I guess that it's probably best to use the airlocks in such a case - after all, that's how they got out of submerged WWII subs... I'm sure that the water modifications would cover modifying the airlocks to allow pumping of water out of the chamber just as much as pumping air in and out.

 

[GypsyComet]

I guess that it's probably best to use the airlocks in such a case - after all, that's how they got out of submerged WWII subs... I'm sure that the water modifications would cover modifying the airlocks to allow pumping of water out of the chamber just as much as pumping air in and out.

With ships having quite a lot of fuel tankage that can handle water, and LS that can handle bringing a ship back up from background cold, I suspect the pumps are that versatile already.

 

[BFalcon]

Subs in space have been done as a movie. Even with a star cast (Freddy Prince Jr. , Jürgen Prochnow) You may not want to remember it but "Wing Commander" already had sonar pings in space

That scene was among the funniest things I've seen - up on the bridge, everyone is tip-toeing around as if sound travels through space, while a few decks below, everyone is making a huge racket repairing equipment an such.

I can rationalize that one as needing to be quiet so the passive sensors guy (can't use actives when being "stealthy") can hear *his* space sonar, but yeah, its all silly.

Maybe various background radiation and other sensors were being converted into audio signals in such a case to make reading up to half a dozen different passive sensors easier on the operator?

Not seen the film (not even aware of it) so can't comment too much. Suspense might have been another reason for people being quiet on the bridge - so they didn't drown out any calls or orders or distract the various officers doing their jobs...?

The way you described it though, it does sound fishy...

 

[BFalcon]

I guess that it's probably best to use the airlocks in such a case - after all, that's how they got out of submerged WWII subs... I'm sure that the water modifications would cover modifying the airlocks to allow pumping of water out of the chamber just as much as pumping air in and out.

With ships having quite a lot of fuel tankage that can handle water, and LS that can handle bringing a ship back up from background cold, I suspect the pumps are that versatile already.

I'd think so, especially since ships need to be fully capable of landing on water (possibly a "powered float" using the grav drive to maintain their position).