All Guns Forward! (BB-55 SI)

Chapter 2: Fittings, Trials and a Sharpshooter

"The date is June 13, 1940. Today is a day of celebration and joy! As of today this proud Battleship before me will be launched thanks to the diligence of her workers who work day after day with their blood and sweat to complete her!"

Said, workers cheered loudly alongside their families who came to view my launching and christening ceremony. I mean, to be honest, I would cheer loudly, too, if I helped work on the construction of an engineering marvel like a battleship.

"And today she will swear an oath! An oath that no matter what happens, she will uphold and defend the freedom, liberty, and ideals of the United States of America! That she will protect her crew against all odds! Against the wrath sea itself! Against overwhelming enemy fire! She will protect her crew and the coasts of America with her state-of-the-art armor system! And that she will smite the enemy before her that dares to destroy our nation under her mighty guns! And today! Today I proudly give her the name North Carolina! Battleship number fifty-five! The first and lead ship of her class! May she proudly serve the United States Navy alongside her brave crew and face every challenge with unwavering determination!"

I felt the shattering champagne bottle against my bow, followed by a jolt, and then I could feel I was moving out of the slipway. I felt excitement bubbling up my chest. Being cooped up in the confines of my ship for more than two years became quite boring my only entertainment was watching the workers work, staring at New York City, and chatting with the occasionally passing merchant ships and their ship spirits much to my relief that I'm not alone in this position of being a ship spirit and it also followed by a lot of questions that I can't answer like why smaller vessels don't have ship spirit the smallest ship with a ship spirit the merchant ships encountered are a large armed tug boats and the Royal Navy Flower Class Corvette.

I vanished my previous thoughts from my mind and looked around. And by the looks of it, I'm not the only one excited. I can see the workers shaking and patting each other's backs for a job well done with the Navy musical band playing the National Anthem. I can even see some people cheering for another person who's pouring two bottles of liquor into his mouth much to the joy of the people around him. The Navy officials, on the other hand, are much more reserved. They are clapping their hands and have smiles on their faces some of them are talking to each other even though I can't hear them due to the distance and the noise of the people around me. They are probably talking about tactics to be used and the most likely candidate to captain and command the first American Fast Battleship.

Then I felt my stern hit the waters of New York. This made me jump a little and immediately run toward the starboard side of my hull to view the water. I watched as my hull slowly transitioned from land into the sea. Once I was on the open waters the tugs began maneuvering to their designated positions to guide me to the nearest dock for fitting out. Waiting for my hull to lose momentum from sliding down from the slipway. Once the momentum of my moving hull finally slowed down the tugs approached my hull and did their magic. I knew tugs from my previous life thanks to some videos from YouTube, yet seeing first-hand the things they designed to do amazed me that such a tiny vessel like a tug boat could push and pull vessels larger than them like it was nothing.

The tugs took a few hours of careful maneuvering to reach the nearby dock for my fittings. Once I was in position and securely moored in the dock, the tugs slowly vacated the area, heading off somewhere and doing what tugs do best. Just like that, the excitement is over and probably another boring part of my life begins. As months passed cranes and the dock workers tirelessly worked to complete my superstructure and my floatplane hangar. I balked at my completed fore superstructure that looked nearly identical to the Queen Anne's Mansion superstructure of the Royal Navy Battleships. Why would the designers copy, modify, and use the British superstructure? I have no idea. Weird superstructure and design choices aside, I checked and admired one of my shiny and newly painted ten twin-five-inch dual-purpose guns, five on my port and the other five on the starboard that would be typically found on American Fast Battleships. Yet my full attention was on the fore of my hull. There lie the three turrets that will house my main guns of nine sixteen-inch naval guns. The turrets themselves are not yet complete. They are just currently gun housings with no armor plating, and without my main guns, it will take some time for them to be completed.