By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2)
Hello, and good day to you, young Inventor.
Our using the Inventor’s Vade Mecum today will work a miracle of modern industrial science.
No, we will not recreate the alchemist’s dream of turning base metal into gold.
Instead, we will transform paper into iron: turning your machine shop’s paper plans, mechanical drawings, work orders and invoices into the iron hull, intricate mechanisms and potent weaponry of your undersea Wonder of the Age.
Before you begin work on your fishboat, you must answer two important questions.
What is the overall length of your submersible to be?
What kind of weapon will serve as your submersible’s “stinger?”
Both of these questions are based on what you, as the Inventor/entrepreneur see as your mechanical marvel’s mission.
That mission, in large part, will determine the length of your fishboat, and how it will be fitted and customized.
Having an idea of the length and internal fittings of the fishboat will tell you the budget needed to see your fishboat project to completion, and also just how time-sensitive your recruiting of Investor partners is.
The fishboat’s length has a bearing on hiring practices, choosing the number of Mechanics and Journeymen while paying close attention to each new-hire’s engineering expertise.
You will know what type of propulsion system will be required, and also what its maximum speed will be.
Your fishboat’s length can affect the security of your project.
A bigger boat requires more employees to meet its launch date on time. This increases the chance for a security breach, and the enemy’s growing interest in what you are building.
As for its “stinger,’ from the start you must focus on the kind of mission your fishboat will pursue. The prey your boat hunts in large part determines what its primary weapon will be.
Said weapon will generally be one that gives your fishboat’s crew but a single opportunity to use it, and strike a blow for their country.
It falls to you to make that blow a good and powerful one.
With the above in mind, let’s head out back to your machine shop’s warehouse and take a look at the building materials and mechanisms that your project team will turn into your Wonder of the Age.
You as Boatwright – Building in the Basics
(Author’s Note: The following image refers to the ensuing text.)
Standard Bulkhead – Before you pick up a hand tool, you must decide ahead of time how many bulkheads you are going to need.
Each standard bulkhead boat tile is a necessary part of your fishboat. It is the one tile that will contain the majority of the mechanisms that will ensure the survival of your crew.
Suggested cost per standard bulkhead is $3, though that price may change due to outside events found in your Fortunes of War Gazetteer.
The least number of standard bulkheads for your fishboat is a meager two; just enough to accommodate the four mechanisms (installed at two per bulkhead) that your vessel requires. Bear in mind that, if your fishboat is muscle-powered, in this configuration one of the bulkhead’s occupants will be operating either of the mechanisms, and therefore will not be powering the boat. With both bulkheads in this state, two crewmen will not be part of the “power plant” for most of the mission.
Which means you might consider budgeting for more than two standard bulkheads.
Stern Bulkhead -The stern bulkhead is the most important section of your fishboat’s construction. It contains the aft ballast tank, the rudder and screw propeller as standard equipment. Though priced at $12, four times the cost of a standard bulkhead, its high cost is offset by the concentration of three key functions of the fishboat in one bulkhead. For an extra $3 you can add a shroud to surround your propeller, keeping it from fouling on flotsam or, (much worse), your captive mine’s tow rope. The aft ballast tank’s location in the stern offsets the stern bulkhead’s added weight from the equipment positioned here, “trimming” the fishboat to keep it level.
Prow Bulkhead: Standard -The prow bulkhead changes the shape of your fishboat from the cylindrical, tapering it to a vertical wedge-shape similar to the blade of an axe. This streamlines your fishboat, reducing drag and cavitation (turbulence) as it moves through the water. The prow contains the forward ballast tank; it is used along with the aft ballast tank in trimming your fishboat. The standard prow bulkhead has the external mounting point for either the long or short spar torpedo weapon.
Mechanisms – Installing the Where and How Your Fishboat Moves
Ballast Pump – The ballast pump is a necessary mechanism on any fishboat. Operated and serviced by a crewman with Engineering Expertise, the ballast pump is used to submerge the boat, normally from Surface elevation to Awash, after which the dive planes will take over the vertical movement of the submarine. The ballast pump can also raise the boat one level, by pumping the water from the two ballast tanks. Operating the ballast pump is a task assigned to a single crewman, who cannot perform any other duty while engaged in it.
Dive Planes – Two moveable metal fins set one on each side of the fishboat’s hull, operated and serviced by a crewman with Engineering Expertise, the dive planes cause the craft’s forward motion to dive or surface along its vertical axis, after the fishboat is submerged using its ballast tank. Once the desired depth is reached, the dive planes are levelled out or trimmed horizontally fore and aft to keep the fishboat on an even keel. Operating the dive planes is considered a task assigned to one crewman, who cannot perform any other duty while engaged in it.
Being mechanical, dive planes can be prone to jamming. Getting them stuck in the raised position may cause an unintentional surfacing of your fishboat. If stuck in the lowered position, your fishboat will make a sudden and steep dive towards the sea or riverbed, hence the need for keeping a Mechanic nearby for such an occurrence.
Snorkel – The snorkel is another necessary mechanism to have inside your fishboat, a hand bellows that exchanges air through two long tubes that project outside the hull of your underwater craft. Extended to their full height, the snorkel’s tubes can continue their air exchange function while the submersible is at Awash depth. When Surfaced or at Below depth, the snorkel is retracted and stowed by the operating crewman. This is considered a task assigned to a crewman, who cannot perform any other duty while engaged in it.
Steering Linkage – The steering linkage mechanism translates the boat captain’s movements of the tiller into the movement of the boat’s rudder, allowing the fishboat to turn right and left on the horizontal plane. Acting in concert with the dive planes, both mechanisms allow your fishboat to move in three dimensions. The steering linkage is usually placed in the same bulkhead as the captain or helmsman, a crewman who has engineering expertise. It is a good idea to have the dive planes and a hatch near to the steering linkage to give the captain or helmsman more responsive control over the fishboat.
Hatch – Hatches are a necessity for your fishboat. One hatch must be installed to allow your crew access to the boat. It will also serve as a protected observation platform for the captain to steer the boat and plot its course from.
A good rule of thumb is that the number of hatches installed should equal the number of standard bulkheads, minus one or two. This means that a fishboat built from four standard bulkheads can be fitted with two or three hatches. It is always best to err on the side of caution and have more hatches than needed. This guideline is especially valid if your fishboat is muscle-powered; if there is an emergency, you want to afford all the crew the chance to abandon ship without having to wait their turn at the “escape” hatch.
Keel Weights – While we are speaking of emergencies, yes, outfitting your undersea marvel with keel weights is an extra expense. In an emergency the boat’s keel weights can be jettisoned, elevating your fishboat towards the surface (and survival) by one level.
Of course, you and your crew may never have to face an emergency situation.
The phrase, “It is better to have and not need…” applies here.
At this point, you have given your underwater marvel form and movement.
That should be enough information for you to handle over the next seven days.
Next time, young Inventor, we will see about outfitting your waterborne wonder with that “stinger” we talked about earlier.
See you then.
(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in The Inventor’s Vade Mecum are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form. All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)
Previous Articles:
Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare — Setting the Stage
Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) – Part 1: Where Do I Start?
Author: Edward Ostermeyer
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