U.S.S. Washington: The Steel Ghost

Chap.2 "Planning The Return Of The Washington"

Now with the year being 2002, I know that the chances of getting the Washington and her crew back or very ambitious and ambiguous. However, I do have the West Virginia in her 1944 condition, this means that I have a Colorado-Class Battleship ready for use. A problem that I have is that I have no crew of my own and going to the Navy about this plan would literally get my ass sent to a mental institution, so I decided to assemble a crew of the original veterans of similar navy ships. I plotted a course from Miami straight into of where the Washington was lasted sighted at, The coordinates that were given to me were on the left imaginary line of the triangle. To me, There had to be a way to get myself a crew who were of both non-experience and experienced enough to even man the WeeVee. If I was to voice of what the hell I was gonna do, I knew the navy police or MPs would be at my house and would confiscate the WeeVee for undetermined use. I began to look at possible alternatives as to how I can assemble a damn fleet, This became a possibility that we could have all four warships of the Iowa-Class Battleship and the two South Dakota's Alabama and Massachusetts.

However, I reviewed of how many shells that the WeeVee had, she had according to the documents that came with her was that she had a total of 900 AP and HE shells which was a great number of shells. Her 5 Inch guns had a total of 15,000 shells of both AP and HE shells and finally her Anti Air which consisted of 20MM Oerlikon's and 40MM Bofors were also came equip with 18,000 shells. The downside to West Virginia was the fact that she was a standard battleship which she could only go 21 knots which means she was a very slow ship while the Alabama and Massachusetts could go 27.5 knots much faster than the WeeVee. While I researched more about both the Bama and Big Mamie, The had the same but slightly less caliber than the West Virginia. I wasn't necessarily worried about the calibers, but for the huge beast that lurks the Triangle which is said to be as tall as the Eiffel Tower, I was thinking that we would need more ships to even put this creature out of its misery.

I wanted to build some of the biggest and most heavily armed warships but I knew that would take over several years to even build and get the ships ready for war, I had to use of what exists and that was the WeeVee, Bama, and the Big Mamie. I was contacted by most veterans and families who had family members severing on the Washington, They said they were willing to put their lives on the line to save the ill fated battleship. I told them that they could come along but I feared that they would be making a great sacrifice to see their family members, One of my late dads friends who was a Navy officer named Johnathan G. Reinhardt. When Johnathan had contacted me, I had no other choice but to tell him about my plan. I stressed to him about keeping this secret until we sail out, He told me that the New York-Class Battleship the Texas was going to be alongside the now named "Mighty Five", I told him that Texas may be a strong ship but she also can only go 21 knots just like the WeeVee. Reinhardt went further telling me that there was some Irish men who were on board with helping me recover and save the Washington. Some Alaskans who wanted to help out had got to the Alaska-Class "Large Cruiser" the Alaska which was armed with 12 Inch guns and the same dual purpose 5 Inch guns, I ultimately decided that Alaska would lead the formation. I also decided that the WeeVee would fire the first shot.

(The U.S.S. Alaska in her same 1944 condition, She was classified as a "Large Cruiser" while some referred to her as a Battlecruiser but in my opinion, She was the evolution of the Armored Cruiser, Kind of like the St. Louis-Class Of Armored Cruisers.)

The Alaska was in fact very similar to the Baltimore-Class Heavy Cruisers but in all terms it was very different than most cruisers of her time, She had the same machinery as an Essex-Class Aircraft Carrier while bearing a very striking resemblance to the North Carolina-Class, South Dakota-Class, and Iowa-Class of Battleships. However, I was not interested in the Alaska whatsoever but I hope for the best that she can be a monster against the beast. I sat back down at my desk and just kept thinking about the WeeVee, The West Virginia back then and during Pearl Harbor was considered the most damaged battleship in the Pacific Fleet. I still was looking at the map of the Triangle and decided the course was to head towards the last reported position of the Washington and to get her the hell out of there, I finally decided that June 19, 2002 would be of when we assemble the fleet and one June 20, 2002 would be the day we would get to the Triangle and rescue the Washington.