Below The Thunders Of The Upper Deep

Kaiju¹-class submarine battleship

Builders:

• Ethring Iron and Steam Works
• Sukórya Graving & Drydocks
• Telírvess Naval Yards
• Captal Daëntry Naval District
• Ambríël Electric Boat Manufactory

Displacement: 72,830 long tons (standard)

Length: 312 m
Beam: 24 m
Draft: 14 m

Propulsion:

• 2 x Empire Nucleonics, ICC “Fluoride Chowder” high-temperature circulating molten salt reactor, driving
• 4 x Blackstone Industries, ICC Brayton-cycle gas turbogenerators, powering
• 4 x Ambríël Electric Boat Manufactory, ICC magnetohydrodynamic impulsors
• Bow and stern magnetohydrodynamic maneuvering thrusters
• Bow and stern navigational X-planes

Speed: 36 knots
Range: Unlimited (6 year refueling interval)

Maximum Depth: 1,000 m

Complement: 232 officers and men (including small craft and flag)

Sensors:

• Hydrodyne Group Mk. 58/1 passive area-awareness conformal sonar
• Hydrodyne Group Mk. 58/3 active seeking sonar
• GenTech Alaercíma Prickleback Mk. 4 lateral-line electrodynamic sensor stripes
• 8 x GenTech Alaercíma Minnow-class reconnaissance/maintenance UUVs
• Artifice Armaments, ICC CSR-62 combined search radar
• Imperial Navy Mk. 55 gun director with combined fire control radar
• Scorched Earth Infosystems Variant 92 electronic warfare suite
• Optronic periscope incorporating laser satcom and local-area radio
• GenTech Alaercíma Intersub Communications System (milspec)
• 4 x low-profile deployment buoy,
  for 12 x Clockwork Souls, ICC NL-R132 Overseer reconnaissance drones

Armament (Primary):

• 360 x VLS cells for Artifice Armaments, ICC MS-96 Naginata long-range multipurpose missiles
  (4×72 and 2×36 strips of cells)
• 9 x torpedo tube for Artifice Armaments Mk. 62 Blowfish heavy supercavitating torpedoes
  (6 forward tubes, 3 stern tubes)

Armament (Secondary):

• 3 x 384mm superheavy mass driver in single triple turret (usable only when surfaced)
• 8 x Artifice Armaments, ICC Peacebringer rapid-firing point-defense laser (usable only when surfaced)
• Eye-in-the-Flame Arms, ICC Wub-Wub sonic implosion system, 6 transducers
  (replaces 6 x Artifice Armaments, ICC supercavitating anti-torpedo microtorpedo launchers used on first four boats)
• 4 x Steelfist Armored Security and Escorts, ICC Thresher-class squidfighters
• 4 x sonar decoy launchers

Armor:

• 4″ spinmetal-composite layered outer hull
• Cosmic Defensive Technologies, ICC internal kinetic barrier hull reinforcement system
• Multilayered torpedo defense system placing subdivided tanks and batteries behind outer hull
• Biomimetic internal shock-absorption framework
• Anechoic tiling

Other:

• 4 x Serannis Escape Systems, ICC Su60/200 60-man escape capsules
• 2 x GenTech Alaercíma Pike-class militarized transport minisub
• Flexible payload/diver deployment module

The design of the Kaiju-class (and indeed the submarine battleship concept overall) was a product of a convergence in designs following the Fifth Oceanic Dominance. It did not escape maritime architects of the era that designs for the first post-Fifth generation of surface battleships had adopted a missile-dominant loadout and a flattened profile which brought them increasingly close to the guided-missile submarine in overall design. An experimental design project, designated RAGING DOLPHIN, was initiated to consider merging the next generation’s BB(X) and SSS(X) designs into the type that would become the BS(X). The Kaiju-class submarine battleship represents the first evolution from that prototype.

As large as any surface battleship, the Kaiju-class hull follows the general flattened ovoid shape common to large submarines. As is the usual case in submarines of its era, the Kaiju lacks a sail, but does have a slight turtleback at the bow, making it resemble a whale in overall shape. This hump houses the scanning periscope, communications and radar masts, for’ard entry hatch and navigation bridge, and at its foremost extent, the retractable fairing concealing the Kaiju‘s single mass driver turret. Its aftward extent houses two of the four emergency escape capsules.

Unlike smaller submarines with a single pressure hull occupying the centerline of the fairwater hull, the Kaiju has six connected pressure hulls. The two largest run down the midline of the submarine, the smaller crew facilities hull (since it is flanked on either side by the forward VLS cells, 2 x 36) stacked directly above the larger, triple-decked, auxiliary machinery/storage hull, which continues both aft (below the aft VLS cells, 4×72) and forward beyond the former to the for’ard torpedo room. Directly behind the for’ard torpedo room, the auxiliary machinery hull encompasses a flexible payload/diver deployment module, whose lower section can be pressurized to make use of a moon pool behind a retractable flush cover. Four of the eight reconnaissance UUVs are stored here.

At the aft extent of the crew facilities hull are the other two emergency escape capsules, immediately preceding twin hatches for the deployment of the drone buoys and a cargo loading hatch giving direct access from the deck to the storage space located in the auxiliary machinery hull.

Above the auxiliary machinery hull at the bow, beneath the turtleback, is the command center hull, containing the Kaiju’s control room, flag bridge, and computer center.

At the stern, a fourth pressure hull serves as the hangar, containing berthing for the minisubs, the squidfighters, and the remaining four recon UUVs, along with the aft torpedo room below, while slightly forward of this are the dedicated port and starboard drive hulls, each containing one of the boat’s reactors, the associated turbogenerators, and machinery associated with the magnetohydrodynamic impulsors, along with (duplicated) maneuvering rooms, either of which can control all power and propulsion-related systems. Both the hangar and the drive hulls share a common access to the aft entry hatch.

Boats of the Kaiju-class are named after legendary sea monsters.

Footnotes:

1. Best-fit translation.