195 UNS Floatins Wreck (1/2)
Goblin Coast, Far Harbour
The loud wailing of a ship's horn blasted out as the UNS Floatin' Wreck left the mooring slips under her own power. Workers and staff lined the harbor watching the converted armored cruiser slowly made it way out of its dock with puffs of grey smoke coming out of its single smokestack.
Commander Ford stood inside the newly built wheelhouse and watched the small bridge crew of three, manning their stations as they slowly piloted the ship out to open waters. Ford finally released the breath he was holding in as the ship cleared the pier and was out in deep water. Most of the crew were from the original UNS Singapore crew, taking charge of the rest of the newly recruited elves and even a couple of goblins working in the boiler room.
Ford picked up an old fashioned handset and dialed to Engineering, ”Grayson, how are the engines and boilers holding?”
”Looking good so far,” came back the reply.
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UNS Floatin' Wreck, Engineering, Boiler Room
1st Lieutenant Grayson returned the handset back to the wall bracket. He was formerly in charge of Ship Operations & Maintenance onboard the UNS Singapore was recruited by Ford to be the UNS Floatin' Wreck's Executive Officer. He leaped at the chance almost immediately, preferring a command posting rather than working as the Operations Manager for the Colony.
Grayson watched the two goblins who chittered happily next to the magic heat exchange system inside the boiler room. He kept one eye on the pressure gauges and another eye on the two goblins who wore a cut down work overalls and a leather gloves and toolbelt armed with wrenches, spanners, and screwdrivers.
One of Chief Matt's underlings, a black male, grinned at the side to Grayson, ”XO, don't worry about Bone and Razor, those two are pretty cool.”
Grayson grinned back, ”Still, keep an eye on them, Eddie, doesn't hurt to be extra careful.”
Petty Officer Eddie had been assigned as the Chief Engineer onboard the Floatin' Wreck by recommendation of Chief Matt and he has been handling his duties seriously. The two goblins, Bone and Razor looked upon Eddie in awe, as Eddie's skin was dark chocolate, making the goblins yapped about him being some reincarnate of some pagan gods they worshipped and not to mention being a techie was more than icing on the cake to them.
The two goblins oversee several valves and dials while scribbling something down on a clipboard and scrambled over to report to Eddie, almost kneeling and bowing. They instead threw a salute and grinned happily, ”Pressure good! Heat good!” Plenty of steam!” Bone grinned, showing off his broken tooth, while his topknot was tied with a piece of animal bone.
Razor had a missing ear, reported next, ”Magic stones looking good! Plenty of magic, air is not too hot too!”
”Great work!” Eddie double checked their records physically, comparing the numbers they checked on the clipboard against the dials and grinned, ”Alright! Keep watch, if the steam pressure hits the red bar, remember to release some of that steam! Don't let the pressure built up too much!”
”Aye aye Chief!”
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UNS Floatin' Wreck
The dull grey hull of the Floatin' Wreck gently crested a wave and a siren blared on and off. Crewmen rushed to their action stations while division heads yelled at the men to their stations. Ford stood inside the wheelhouse and watched as the crew reacted to the drills.
Several crew members rushed up to the 3” bow gun and removed the oilskin tarps covering the weapon. A couple of them started to unlock the ready ammunition lockers next to the gun and started removing shells, while the rest started to spin the cranks, turning the gun to the floating targets dropped overboard earlier by the ship.
The gunners pried open the breech of the gun and a shell was dropped in. The rammer shoved the shell into the breech followed by a thick circular wad of bursting charge and the breech was closed and locked. ”Ready!”
The gun team stepped back, covering their ears, leaving only the gunner sighting the weapon. He raised his left hand up to signal to the Weapon's Officer that his gun was ready to fire. The Weapon's Officer stood on top of the wheelhouse, in the flying bridge, giving him a 360 degrees view all around. He turned to the back to look at Gun No. 3 and noted the raised hand.
The officer picked up the handset and spoke, ”Captain! No. 1 and No. 3 ready to fire!”
Ford looked at his watch, timing the gun crews readiness and speed. He turned to Grayson and said, ”Timing could be better, they took 6 minutes and 39 seconds to ready and lay the guns.”
”Yes, sir!” Grayson nodded back, ”Its the crew first time working onboard the ship out in the sea. They normally just drilled on a simulated popup of the ship and the guns on land. A few more drills like this, I am sure we can cut their response time by at least 50%!”
Ford nodded, ”I understand, actually it's not bad for a start.”
Grayson grinned, ”Don't worry, Sir. I am sure we got a pretty solid crew here despite most of us are land lubbers.”
Ford gave a laugh before he said, ”Tell Weapons to give me a three round rapid fire for each gun.”
”Aye! Rapid Fire, three rounds!” Grayson repeated the order and spoke into the handset. ”Guns, three rounds rapid fire!”
The Weapons Officer, receiving the information, picked up another handset and passed on the order to the guns. ”Three rounds rapid fire! Fire!”
The 3” 23 Mark I guns roared. The ship shuddered slightly from the recoil and the gun crews started to service the weapons, extracting the spent shells casing, placing a new shell and bursting charge before slamming both into the breech and locking it. The gunner laid the sights over the target and fired.
The targets were roughly 400 meters away, drifting along with the tide and waves. The shriek of the shells from No. 1 and No. 3 guns landed somewhat nearby the target, throwing meter tall water splashes.
The 2nd volley, landed closer to the floating target, made out of a few barrels and a big red painted rectangular board. The 3rd volley also missed the target, one of the shells landed close enough to sent sprays of seawater over the target.
Ford frowned as he watched the water splashes using binoculars. ”Local fire control isn't very accurate.” He commented.
”Yes, Sir,” Grayson agreed as he watched the artillery practice. ”Allow Weapons to control the firing?”