Personnel file - Operational Sector Eastern Sea - West
Name: Hornissennest
Type: Carrier
Class: Bienenstock (roughly equivalent to the Yorktown-Class IRL (Enterprise, specifically), if the Yorktowns had carried jets)
Role: Strike carrier
Nation of origin: Jebslund
Year commissioned: 1947
Image or description of the ship girl/boy:
Hornissennest-hime has long, black hair, which she wears in a French braid. However, Hornissennest and her battlegroup have inhumanly green skin, despite having otherwise human-like features. Hornissennest wears an orange-and-blue Wasserarmee officer's uniform, a garment meant to visually resemble diving suits of the era, without the weights and helmet, and with rubber boots instead of metal, the soles designed to be as slip-resistant as the mid-1940's can muster. A ring around the bottom of the aluminum collar is orange, as are the bottom halves of the sleeves and legs, while the rest is a dark blue except for an orange stripe down the middle of the back which splits to join the legs.
In ship form, she looks much as she did as a ship, with the exception of an orange stripe, barely visible from more than 100 meters, under the windows of her conning tower and a black stripe above and below it, denoting a ship which has received a special commendation, and a Stug-IIIG silhouette painted next to her hull number, denoting a ship that has received the Reihenfolge der Höchsten Verdienste, StuG-IIIG-Klasse (equivalent to the Medal of Honor).
Gender: Female
Character:
Hornissennest can best be described as... Driven. The targets she's assigned to sink/destroy, she eliminates. That which is to be captured will be pursued to the ends of the earth. The patrols she's put on, she makes sure nothing escapes her sight. The Kanmusu she escorts are guarded with her very life. Her own escort is given the best support she can muster.
That's not to say obsession is all she has. Toward those she cares about, she is very sweet and caring, often acting almost motherly to those she sees as family, and is fairly intelligent. Just... Don't cross her. It's not worth it. There's a reason her name means 'Hornet's Nest'.
Special abilities:
Hornissennest-hime pain tolerance is nearly legendary, and her ability to precisely diagnose her injuries/battle damage by feel borders on preternatural.
Technical Description of the vessel:
Technical Data
Displacement:
21,000 tons standard
32,060 tons full load
Length (overall): 252.2m
Width: 34.9m
Draught: 7.9m
Propulsion: 4 × shafts; 4 × OzeanMaus geared steam turbines
Speed: 32.5 knots
Complement: 2,217
Armament:
8 × 127mm Zollstock naval guns
54 × 40mm Pompon (5×2, 11×4)
32 × 20mm Spuckballer (16×2)
Aircraft: 90
40 PHF-12S(DHF) Ausf. E Fliegendewaffel (Twin-engine heavy fighter/dive bomber comparable to a perfected version of the Vought XF5U Flying Flapjack. Designated carrier heavy fighter/dive bomber of the Jebslund Wasserarmee in 1947. Newly radar-equipped as a direct result of an exercise in 1950.)
50 JF-01S(DJEF/TB) Ausf F Maschinenteufel (Single-engine fighter comparable to the de Havilland Sea Vampire made to mount a single torpedo in place of the 500lb bombs. Designated carrier jet escort fighter/torpedo bomber of the Jebslund Wasserarmee in 1947. Newly equipped with radar in 1950 as a result of an exercise.)
Armour:
63mm–103mm belt
60lb protective decks
103mm bulkheads
103mm side and 2in top round conning tower
103mm side over steering gear
Notes:
Aviation facilities: 3 × elevators
2 × flight deck hydraulic catapults
1 × hangar deck hydraulic catapults
In 1946, a new type of fighter was developed and put into production: A near-miraculous wonder of the waning propeller era that could take off and land near-vertically, at speeds so low as to be unheard-of in any fighter aircraft before it, and yet, at top speed, could keep pace with even jet fighters. Due to its odd shape, the fighter was called the 'Flying Waffle', and it was rushed into production in 1947 as soon as the kinks had been worked out of its design, with no nevermind paid to those civillians who had seen it in flight and immediately begun ranting about UFOs and flying saucers (and with no mention of teacups! Hmmph!), despite concerns that the fact that the airframe survived initial testing meant the engines may have been underpowered for Jebslund's military leaders' tastes, due to the amazing flight characteristics.
The fighter was put into service with the navy, where its amazing takeoff run could be put to use aboard even the smallest of carriers without the need of a catapult, with the latest of the
Bienenstock-class carriers, the
Hornissennest, chosen to be the first to receive the new designated heavy fighter. For over a decade, the
Hornissennest and her crew faithfully served the Wasserarmee, proudly defending Jebslund and striking fear in the hearts of her enemies.
Until, that is, she was declared obsolete. She had known the day would come. The last five years of active service, she saw fewer and fewer veterans, and more trainees. She'd become a school ship, her once-feared fighters now relegated to training platforms. It was a decent fate, one her spirit was proud to have.
Until they moved her. They'd loaded her up with her old complement, armed her, fueled her, and, to all appearances, were sending her to battle once more. Except they weren't. They sent her to a beautiful island. Then abandoned her. Not a soul on board save the spirit of a once-mighty carrier, left to watch helplessly as radar contacts showed the incoming bomber. The first of many that would soon drive her to despise her creators as the bombs fell, the ocean swallowed her, and... And they dragged her back up. Repaired her. And sent her off to die again. A test target to evaluate new bombs.
At first, she took her new role in stride, seeing it as doing her part to keep the Kermanic war machine strong. As the tests went on, though, the agony of her repeated deaths and resurrections, all for nothing as each bomb failed in its purpose, wore all but the tiniest glimmer of good will
Hornissennest's spirit bore down until nothing remained but unbridled hatred for the monsters who refuse to just. Let. Her.
Die... The ones who had used her and thrown her away and refused to allow even that mercy. The ones who had truly abandoned her. Thrown her to the wolves in an endless nightmare. Until the day they found their perfect bomb. Their silver bullet of annihilation that reduced an entire simulated battlegroup to barely-usable scrap. It was the moment that redeemed her creators and reignited the pride she'd once felt. There was no effort made to repair her. A commendation was written into her file, she and her battlegroup credited with the success of the new bomb, and, as her corpse was melted into scrap, she received a sendoff worthy of any Jebslunder soldier.