Azur Lane: The Siren War and the Hymn of Steel Beasts

I - III : Full Speed Ahead, & Sisters

“Sighted Sub, Sank Same.” —

Message sent by an enlisted pilot, AMM 1/c Donald Francis Mason, on 28 January 1942. Mason believed that he had sunk a German U-boat off Argentia, Newfoundland.

[Blair, Clay. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters 1939-1942. (New York: Random House, 1996): 482.]

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[ USS Autumn - Atlantic Ocean ]

With a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and a clipboard in the other, Captain Thomas Halifax walked easily onto the bridge. The familiar sounds of the command and control center drifted into his ears, he chanced upon the crew manning their respective posts and looked out towards the high seas as waves kept the ship rocking slightly. It felt odd for him to be in command of an escort convoy but NAVCOM specifically asked for him as the most experienced officer within the navy, there isn't much room for him to reject the task if it helps training the rookies under his wing currently.

Halifax's eyes met with Lieutenant Commander Patterson, the Executive Officer for the ship. "Captain on deck!" he acknowledged, snapping to attention and raising a crisp salute while the rest of the officers did the same. The Captain touched the clipboard to his temple and gave an easy smile. "As you were."

He settled into his command chair and took a swig of his coffee. Navy coffee was always his damned favorite, the rich, flavorful and warming taste often lifted his spirits during any long trips that needed his absolute attention on the bridge twenty four seven.

Halifax rested the drink down on an armrest before flipping through the pages of the clipboard, detailing supplies of ammunition, fuel, particularly the amount of depth charges the ship had left from the screening duty yesterday.

Although the Autumn didn't score any kill the escorts managed to deter submarine attacks from the transport ships. Cooper and Kidd were doing their best as well, the former having utilized her PBY-5A Catalina complement to scout for possible wakes and periscope peeking out from underneath the surface. Kidd on the other hand worked like the shepherd that she is, having carried a surplus of depth charges of all variants to further increase their effectiveness in Anti-Submarine Warfare.

The fourth and last escort ship was the USS Arrow, both the Autumn and Arrow belonged to the same class of the USMF's newest escort vessels; the Spirit-class corvettes. They lacked the necessary firepower against surface warships in favor of an increase towards ASW, particularly taking up escort duties in the Atlantic where Siren and sometimes Iron Blood submarines lingered to raid supply routes.

Both armed with dual-purpose 127mm gun mounts forward and aft of the ship, 76mm Mk. 22 in twin mounts along the starboard and port side, DARDO twin 40mm point defense mounts along with 20mm Mk. 15 Phalanx CIWS both situated forward and aft of the corvettes. As for ASW purposes, traditional ways were still being utilized to roll or shoot off the charges from the ship's stern or both port and starboard for a wide coverage. However, that was different when observed forward of the ship in the form of 213mm caliber Soviet anti-submarine rocket launcher, similar to the principle of the Royal Navy Hedgehog system during the Second World War. The Autumn and Arrow received two platforms of these weaponry near their bow for convenience, while one mount reloads, the other would lay out carpets of payload in rapid succession.

Halifax had no doubt that these warships were capable in defending themselves to a certain extent, though when it comes to actual combat then that entirely depended on Eagle Union, the USMF could only do so much as a self-defense branch and the small amount of warships they had in service. The Army on the other hand… the Captain was pulled back from his thoughts as a loud ping registered to the ship sensors, he turned his head towards the operators manning sonar and radar.