In the 1960s, with the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union heating up, submarine warfare and developments became an important area of conflict for both countries. The United Nations, concerned about this situation and about the possibility of supervillain activity in the undersea realm, assigned the newly-formed UNTIL to look into it and come up with a solution.
UNTIL’s solution was to launch its own sub-marine, one advanced and powerful enough to rule the seas. Making use of technology available only to UNTIL, Dr. Arthur Banner and UNTIL’s team of marine engineers built the Njord, the biggest, most powerful submarine the world had ever seen.
Powered by a highly efficient nuclear reactor, it was capable of extended underwater missions. In part because of the existence of the Njord, the undersea competition between the United States and the Soviet Union never became a shooting war. The Njord also contributed to mankind’s knowledge of the underwater world and led to many scientific discoveries and advances.
Equally as important in UNTIL’s eyes, the Njord served as an effective deterrent to underwa-ter supercrime. The few times surface supercrimi-nals attempted to establish oceanic bases or engage in piratic crimes, the Njord was able to put a stop to them, actively taking on villains like Typhoon in 1966 and helping Sea King defeat Electric Eel and his band of pirates in 1971.
The Njord’s proud record came to an end in 1977. In that year, the fiendish master villain Dr.
Destroyer decided to construct an underwater base in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the Soviet Union. Despite his attempt to conceal his activities from the world, UNTIL discovered what was going on and sent in the Njord. In the ensuing conflict, Destroyer’s base was destroyed — but so was the Njord, which was so badly damaged by the attacks of Destroyer’s automated defense systems and agents that it exploded. Fortunately, only fifteen UNTIL agents died in the blast; the rest escaped the disaster and were rescued by a contingent of OAD agents.
Since the Njord was so successful, UNTIL was unwilling to simply let the project die. Secretary-Marshall Martinez instructed the TC to come up with plans for a bigger, even more advanced sub-marine. Utilizing the latest in design techniques and submarine technology, the TC created the Aegir, completing construction in 1984. Like its predecessor, the Aegir was, and remains, one of the most advanced submarine vessels in existence.
UNTIL has periodically retrofitted and partially rebuilt it to take advantage of technological devel-opments.
The Aegir has proven its worth to UNTIL on many occasions. For example, in 1991 it res-cued the stranded crew of an underwater mining facility near the Great Barrier Reef, and in 1994 retrieved the crew and weapons of a damaged Rus-sian nuclear sub before the band of terrorists that caused the sinking could get there.
DESCRIPTION
The Aegir is enormous — it’s approximately 160 meters long, 24 meters wide, and 25 deep, making it the largest submarine vessel ever constructed. It displaces approximately 8,000 tons when submerged.
The hull itself is made of 3.5-foot thick Kendrium over a steel skeleton and is shaped like a tube.
Propulsion And Power
The Aegir is powered primarily by a highly effi-cient nuclear reactor. The reactor is shielded not by lead, but by special chemically-treated plastics, thus lightening the boat and making it faster. The purity of the fuel used in the reactor is extremely close to that used to make nuclear explosives; if a supervillain captured the sub and removed the fuel, he could refine it and have the makings of several nukes. The sub also has a diesel engine as a “backup” in the event the reac-tor malfunctions or is damaged.
The Aegir uses an MHD (magneto-hydro-dynamic) propulsion system (as compared to other nuclear submarines, which use propellers or pumpjet propulsion). In other words, the sub propels itself by using magnetic energy to force water through the MHD tubes — something like an
“underwater jet engine.” The MHD system allows the Aegir to attain speeds of approximately 45 knots, or about 52 miles per hour.
MHD is extremely silent, virtually undetect-able by modern sonar systems. This gives the Aegir an important edge in any conflicts with other submarines. UNTIL has taken several other steps to make sure the sub remains as silent as pos-sible. First, the outside of the sub is covered with an anechoic coating — tiles designed to silence the ship and defeat an enemy’s sonar. Second, all machinery and other noise-causing objects inside the hull are acoustically isolated by mounting them on special vibration-dampening platforms. The final result is that the Aegir is so silent that it’s less likely to show up on sonar than a school of fish!
The Aegir can dive to depths of up to 520 meters without undue strain. Beyond that it risks hull collapse due to pressure. Beyond 650 meters it would be completely crushed by the pressure of the water above it.
Communications And Sensors
The Aegir contains a sophisticated array of communications and sensory equipment. It uses powerful active and passive sonars, including a spherical array in the bow, a conformal array mounted around the bow, and several types of towed sonar arrays built into tubular shrouds on the hull. The sonar and other sensors tie directly into its MUNIN II computer.
The Aegir’s communications equipment covers the entire spectrum of frequencies, from ultra-high frequency (UHF) to extremely low fre-quency (ELF). It all has advanced cryptographic and scrambling systems to prevent enemies from understanding the broadcasts. However, commu-nicating from extreme depths is often difficult or impossible; for this reason, the sub runs close to the surface and raises one of its communication masts when it wants to send or receive, if possible.
Weapons
Although it almost never has to use them, the Aegir carries several types of weapons. First and foremost is the Sea Dragon torpedo, a free-launched or fiber optic-guided torpedo with an 800 pound warhead. The sub carries 32 Sea Drag-ons that it launches from four torpedo tubes near the bow of the ship. For targets on the surface or above the sub, Aegir carries eight vertical-launched Broadsword missiles, also with 800 pound war-heads.
Aegir also has two “indirect” weapons. The first is the Swordfish mobile underwater mine.
Launched from the sub’s torpedo tubes, these mines can be programmed to detonate based on a variety of stimuli — after a certain period of time, when they reach a certain depth, or whenever another sub comes too close, for example. The sub carries 16 mines. The sub also has twelve countermeasures devices that simulate the sounds of a submarine, which it uses to decoy incoming torpedoes away from the sub.
In addition to its various weapons, the Aegir carries 16 Harrows Flying Submersibles that launch from starboard and port docking areas. These craft provide valuable support for a variety of missions, including combat.
Onboard Life
Captain James Jandebeur (New Zealand) has commanded the Aegir since 1991. A square-jawed career OAD officer, Jandebeur frequently serves as a “father figure” for his crew, most of whom are significantly younger than he. He’s known for his habit of smoking cigars on the outer deck whenever possible.
The Aegir has a crew of 175 OAD agents, which often makes for crowded conditions. How-ever, each crewman has his or her own bunk, there is no “hot bunking” rotation in which two crewmen use the same bunk. Since both men and women serve aboard the Aegir, crew quarters are segregated by gender. Berthing and mess spaces for the senior officers are also segregated from those of the junior officers and rank-and-file personnel.
The sub’s life support systems are located aft.
They include carbon dioxide “scrubbers” which remove that gas from the air, and carbon monoxide
“burners” which do the same for that gas. Another machine breaks water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, to replenish the air supply; filters, dehumidifiers, and similar equipment keep the air fresh. Lastly, there is a large water distillation facil-ity which produces all of the boat’s water. The Aegir ordinarily carries enough food and other supplies to travel for eighty days without surfacing, though the last couple of weeks would be pretty unpleas-ant; occasionally the ship is loaded with additional equipment or scientific crew, which diminishes the amount of stores carried.
Aegir’s home port is at Port Hedland, on the northwestern coast of Australia, though it regularly visits dozens of other ports in the course of duty.
The waiting list of scientists who want to use the Aegir for scientific purposes is months long.
AEGIR Movement: Swimming: 23”/138”
Abilities & Equipment
Cost Power END
Propulsion Systems
21 MHD-Driven Submarine: Swimming
+21” (23” total) 0
9 MHD System, Anechoic Coating And Equipment Mounts: Invisible To Hearing Group (+¼) for Swimming 23”, Reduced
Endurance (0 END; +½) 0
-12 Marine Vehicle: Ground Movement -6”
(0” total) Tactical Systems
45 Swordfish Underwater Mines: RKA 3d6, Armor Piercing (+½), Trigger (timer or other preprogrammed condition;
+½); OIF Bulky (-1), 16 Charges (-0) [16]
17 Torpedo Countermeasures: Hearing Group Images, -6 to PER Rolls, 12 Continuing Charges lasting 1 Minute each (+½); OIF Bulky (-1) [12]
10 Cells: +10 DEF; Partial Coverage (total
of 20 hexes; -2) 0
Operations Systems
75 Sensor Arrays: Variable Power Pool, 60 base + 30 control cost; OIF Bulky (-1), Only For Senses And Communications (-1) 0 16 U-MN12 Active Sonar Array: Active
Sonar (Hearing Group), Discriminatory, Increased Arc Of Perception (360 Degrees), Telescopic (+16 versus Range Modifier);
OIF Bulky (-1), Affected As Sight Group As Well As Hearing Group (-½) 0 12 U-MN17 Passive Sonar Array: +16 versus
Range for Hearing Group; OIF Bulky (-1) 0 6 U-MN17 Passive Sonar Array: +6 PER
with Hearing Group; OIF Bulky (-1) 0 1 U-MN17 Passive Sonar Array:
Ultrasonic Perception (Hearing Group);
OIF Bulky (-1) 0
11 Nuclear Reactor Shielding: +10 DEF, Partial Coverage (total 80 hex area; -2) plus Life Support (Safe Environment:
High Radiation); Partial Coverage
(total 80 hex area; -2) 0
27 Internal Monitors: Clairsentience (Sight And Hearing Groups), 2x Range (up to 500”), Mobile Perception Point, Multiple Perception Points (up to eight at once), Reduced Endurance (0 END; +½); OAF Immobile (-2), Perception Point Cannot Move Through Solid Objects (-0) 0
130 ■ UNTIL Technology Hero System 5thEdition Revised
Personnel Systems
13 Life Support Systems: Life Support (Self Contained Breathing, Safe Environments:
High Pressure, Intense Cold) Skills
9 Computer Programming 12-9 Cryptography
12-9 Electronics 12-9 Mechanics 12-9 Systems Operation
12-5 Weaponsmith (Missiles & Rockets) 12-40 Other laboratories (defined by GM) Total Abilities & Equipment Cost: 341 Total Vehicle Cost: 506
Value Disadvantages
25 Distinctive Features: UNTIL megasubmarine (Not Concealable, Causes Extreme Reaction [fear/respect])
Total Disadvantage Points: 25
Total Cost: 481/5 = 96
COMPUTER AND VEHICLES Cost Power
82 MUNIN Mark II Computer 116 Harrows Flying Submersible
20 Harrows Flying Submersibles: 15 more HFSs (total of 16)
20 Sea Dragon Torpedo (use Mark 48, TUV page 25 Sea Dragon Torpedoes: 31 more Torpedo 133)
Tubes (total of 32)
20 Vertical-Launched Broadsword Underwater Missile (use Mark 48, TUV page 133) 15 Vertical-Launched Broadsword Underwater
Missiles: 7 more VLBUMs (total of 8) Notes: The Aegir is built without a power plant (e.g., an Endurance Reserve); instead, all of its equipment is bought to 0 END or has Charges.