Ghost November class submarine (K-235):

Suddenly there was the loud sound of propellers. Sonar Technician third class Betty Steward was almost deafened by the sound. Her submarine, the USS Seal, a New Navy Swordfish class submarine, was probing what looked like an old Pre-Rifts Earth submarine wreck under the polar ice when it came alive. The New Navy was always on the lookout for Pre-Rifts salvage.

She thought was well acquainted with every submarine class in service but nothing like this. It was twin screwed for one thing. Few submarines were twin screwed. The computer though knew what the submarine was within a few moments. It came back with 'Soviet November' class submarine. There was also the sound of mangled steel, as if parts of the boat were loose and flowing in the water. "Captain," she called. Even though it was little more than a whisper, it sounded like she was yelling to the rest of the crew.

Putting down his cup of hydroponically grown coffee, Captain Abram Pauling looked up at his own display which mirrored her own. He looked at it perplexed. While he had been captain of the Seal for several years, he had never seen anything like this before. He had never heard of a 'November' class submarine. Bringing up the files on the other submarine; an ancient Russian design, the last had been decommissioned even before even the end of the Twentieth Century.

After a moment, he took a deep breath. Should be no threat. As noisy as this thing was, he could track it for hundreds of nautical miles. In addition, the specifications on the sonar of the other boat indicated that he could be within spitting distance of the other submarine and be unable to be detected.

Still, he was curious. How had somebody gotten such an old submarine operational. "Bring us to general quarters," he requested. "Helm, bring us in slowly." The Seal slowly crept up towards the November class submarine. Just in case, the Seal had her own tubes loaded for bear. Any hostility would be met with hostility in return.

Sometimes the old November class submarine seemed to twitch as if the boat thought that somebody was behind them. An alarm went off on the Seal. Looking at the display, the captain saw that intense radiation was being detected. It was not the Seal so it had to be the other boat. He had never seen that much radiation, the radiation would quickly kill the crew of it. He had trouble believing that they had not known just how bad their boat's reactors must be leaking radiation.

"Petty Officer, send a message letting them know that they are leaking radiation badly and then need to abandon their boat." After a moment, the message was sent through underwater communication. Instead of the boat going to the surface to break though the ice, it turned and they was the sound of the tubes being flooded rapidly.

He was not going to risk his own boat. The crew would probably already be dying from the amount of radiation he was detecting. Sunk under the ice, at least it would be at worst a minor hazard. "Four torpedoes. Low speed setting."

After a just a moment, the torpedoman, in this case another woman, responded, "Ready to fire, sir." About half the crew of the Seal were women.

Almost an echo, Becky responded "Have good lock on target, sir."

The captain breathed out the breath he was holding, "Fire one, two, three, and four." Four torpedoes swam from the tubes, almost silently. The fire computer started a count down to when the torpedoes would hit the other submarine. "Reload with interceptor torpedoes."

Suddenly, the other submarine seemed to pick up the torpedoes. Should have been a another minute or so minutes before it detected the torpedoes. It began accelerating towards the Seal. At the same time, it began lashing the water in front of it with its powerful if extremely obsolete active sonar. It was almost impossible that it would actually be able to detect the Seal.

There was the loud rush of air as the other submarine fired eight torpedoes back at the New Navy submarine. There was something abnormal about the torpedoes. Beyond their noise being extremely unusual, they just did not feel right to him. They raced towards the Seal at sixty knots. Slower than his own torpedoes but still faster than his boat. The November class submarine was also up to over twenty knots. According to the file, the submarine could reach thirty or so knots. He could at least outrun the other submarines. In addition, he coudl outdive the boat although the water here was too shallow.

A calm fell over the captain. It was not the first time he had been in battle. "Target the incoming torpedoes. Fire four interceptor at them. Then bring us around and bring us up to flank." At flank, even the Seal would be extremely noisy compared to how quiet she normal was. Still, escape seemed the better part of valor. At forty-five knots, the torpedoes could only catch the New Navy submarine slowly.

As the interceptor torpedoes reached the incoming torpedoes, two connected while the other two missed the wildly dodging incoming torpedoes. Since the Seal was made from high strong composites and alloys, it might be able to survive one hit but probably not all six. "Launch a drone and prepare to target any torpedoes that go after us with the rear laser."

The four torpedoes fired from the Seal had continued to home in on the November class submarine, now up to a full thirty knots. Explosions deafened the sonar on the USS Seal as all four struck home on the November class submarine. The bow was completely mangled but the submarine remained in pursuit. Captain Pauling did not want to take the time to fire four more torpedoes at it however.

As the drone peeled away from the Seal, two of the pursuing torpedoes decided to chase it instead of the New Navy submarine. The pulse laser opened fire back at the remaining four torpedoes as they got closer. It took several blasts but three were destroyed before they got to the Seal.

The last one would hit. The captain yelled "Brace for impact." Still, the helmsman managed to dodge the Seal in time. Then, the remaining torpedo swung around and struck the New Navy submarine on the side. It did not explode but instead hit like a sledgehammer. The torpedo then hauled off and then struck the USS Seal yet again. The hull was beginning to crack where the torpedo had hit twice. It did not do as much damage as if it had exploded but just seemed to be relentless. The gunners of both the front and rear lasers opened up and managed to destroy it finally.

The captain ordered, "Bring us back to fifteen knots." The Seal was almost as quiet at fifteen as she was at five knots. While he toyed with the idea of engaging the November, the best idea seemed to be to sneak way while they still could. Unfortunately, the water was too shallow here to still out dive the submarine. Still, once the Seal reached deeper water, she should be able to.

There is a radioactive ghost wandering around the oceans. It has been detected and engaged many times. It has even been sunk several times. It is known to have been sunk by both the New Navy, whom after the engagement with the USS Seal put a sink on sight order, and the New German Republic Navy. Still, it always seem to come back. It seems to appear at random, often rising from the sea floor after being dormant. Sometimes it will leave you alone while other times it will attack. There seems to be no special vessels that it is more or less likely to attack although it is generally more likely to attack other submarines and warships than merchant ships. It is as likely to attack a ex-New Soviet submarine as an ex-American submarine. Even if it does not attack you, the radiation it leaks can be deadly. Now, if it is attacked, it will attack back.

First Soviet nuclear submarine design, the Soviet Union built the Project 627 (NATO designation November) class submarines in the late Nineteen-Fifties and early Nineteen-Sixties. Around fifteen of these submarines were built in total. Compared to later Soviet boats and contemporary United States boats, they were quite noisy. Thoroughly obsolete, it was not until the early Nineteen-Nineties, all had been decommissioned. Many of these boats had reactor incidents of various types. In some cases, the reactors were cut out and the compartments were just towed out to sea and sunk.

One or more of these submarines were also lost, something the Soviet Union (and Russia afterwards) kept extremely quiet about. When their boats did sink, they tried to blame them on other nations such as the United States. The Ghost November class submarine is believed to be one of these lost submarines, quite probably lost with all hands. A surprising number of Soviet submarine were lost during the first Cold War and the location of all of the lost boats was never make clear. At least one or two others are also believed to have been lost while under tow for scrapping.

If one can get close enough to the submarine, there is a large crack in the side of the submarine where reactor compartment is located. One might expect that to be why the submarine leaks so much radiation but the entire inside of the submarine is just as radioactive. Anybody aboard, and there are rumors of captive being taken, would quickly get radiation poisoning. Most likely situation is the submarine sinking a surface vessel and surfacing to 'rescue' people on the surface.

If one was able to get aboard and survive the radiation for a length of time, the ship would appear to have a crew of ghostly spirits. These spirits seem unaffected by the radiation. In appearance, these spirits are dressed in navy uniforms from the old Soviet Union before it fell. Generally, they seem to go through duties around the ship as if they are the original crew. They mostly likely are echoes of the original crew but hard to know for sure.

While the submarine is just as noisy as one would expect from an old November class submarine, one should remember that it is far from slow, able to reach speeds slightly in excess of thirty knots. The boat seems to never run out of energy and simply be able to cruise forever. One advantage when dealing with the submarine is that it never seems to dive deeper than just under one thousand feet. This would have been the submarine’s never exceed depth originally. If being chased by the submarine, one can dive below this depth to escape.

Even though its sonar is extremely short ranged and not real sensitive, the boat seems to have the ability to almost feel targets something akin to sixth sense often returning fire against opponents which the boat should be unable to detect at all. Still, the return fires almost seem random without any real targeting. Unlike most later Soviet submarines, the November class did not mount a towed array sonar which further limits sensor ranges.

In engagements, it has taken hits from multiple heavy torpedoes and not been sunk. It appears incredible just how much damage it seems able to take. It is actually quite a bit tougher than a conventional high tech submarine of the same size if built of high strength composites and alloys. Seems to fit, many designs built by the old Soviet Union were extremely tough. Any damage it takes will be regenerated although the submarine seems to retain the crack next to the reactor compartment. Most likely, this damage was inflicted when the submarine was lost the first time..

Having eight twenty-one inch torpedo tubes, the submarine is able to fire off torpedoes although the old November class submarine should have long ago run out of torpedoes. They are not the original torpedoes of the November class submarine either. They seem malevolent and able to strike repeatedly. In addition, the act like smart torpedoes and are able to dodge attacks against them. The only way to stop the torpedoes is destroy them although in some cases they can be tricked as well. One needs to be well away from the torpedoes when they figure out they have been tricked. The submarine appears to carry twenty of these malign torpedoes and if all twenty are fired, no more will be fired for several hours.

[Author Note: This November class submarine is not based on a specific member of class submarine although some aspects are based on other submarines from her class.]

Model Type: Leninskiy Komsomol / November class Submarine (Project 627A)
Vehicle Type: Ocean, Ghost Submarine
Crew: 110 (Haunting Entities)
Troops: None
Horror Factor: 17

M.D.C. by Location:

	533 mm / 21 inch Torpedo Tubes (8 - Bow of submarine):	150 each
	Main Sail	900
	[1] Bow Planes (2):	450 each
	[2] Propellers (2):	300 each
	[3] Main Body:	3,800

Notes:
[1] Destroying the submarine’s bow planes will reduce the submarine’s ability to change depths but will not eliminate it. It also makes it difficult for the submarine’s crew to control the submarine giving a penalty of -25% to all underwater piloting rolls.
[2] Loss of one of the propellers will reduce submarine’s speed by half and give a -10% to piloting rolls. Destroying both of the submarine’s propellers causes serious problem. The submarine will no longer be able to use forward momentum and the bow planes to keep the submarine level.
[3] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body destroys the submarine’s structural integrity, causing it to sink. The entity crew appears to be unaffected by water pressures and it is unlikely that they will be killed by the sinking.
Note: The November class submarine will regenerate at 20% of the hit locations M.D.C. per day, meaning all damage will be restored within 5 days of being damaged.

Speed:
Surface: 17.49 mph (15.2 knots/28.15 kph.)
Underwater: 24.75 mph (30.2 knots /55.93 kph.)
Maximum Depth: 980 feet (298.7 meters) - Theoretically, the submarine can probably dive deeper than this but has never dove deeper than this even in pursuit of another submarine.
Range: Effectively Unlimited, the engines appears to need no refueling and seems to run on magical energy. The boat's crew does not appear to require provisions.

Statistical Data:
Length: 352.3 feet (107.4 meters)
Draft: 21.1 feet (6.4 meters)
Width: 26.1 feet (8 meters)
Displacement: 3,087 tons surfaced / 3,986 tons submerged)
Cargo: Submarine is very cramped, 22.0 tons (20 metric tons) of nonessential equipment and supplies. Each enlisted crew member has a small locker for personal items and uniforms. Ships officers have more space for personal items. Most of the ships spaces are take up by extra torpedoes, weapons, and engines.
Power System: Magic, systems seem to work as if run by magic (Originally two 70 Mega-Watt VM-A nuclear reactors.)
Black Market Cost: Not for Sale, due to the haunted and chaotic nature of the submarine (and because it is extremely radioactive) is doubtful anyone would want the boat and the November class submarine is completely independent. Several groups would likely pay huge amounts to have the submarine destroyed.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

Eight (8) “Water Wraith” 53.3 cm (21 inch) Torpedo Tubes: The submarine has eight torpedo tubes in the bow. The torpedoes glow with an unnatural green light. Some think that the torpedoes contain some sort of demon which possesses the weapon. The torpedo will chase down a fleeing target and are incredibly fast compared to the original torpedoes, about sixty knots. While quite a bit slower than most advanced torpedoes used by Post Rifts Navies, the torpedoes appear to have effectively unlimited endurance and the only way to stop the torpedo appears to be to destroy it. The torpedo will attack over and over again unless it is destroyed (50 M.D.C.) The torpedo has two attacks per round and is +3 to strike and dodge. Luckily, the submarine seems to possess only limited numbers of these malevolent weapons at any one time although they appear to regenerate slowly although no-one knows how this occurs. Some speculate that the torpedoes just reappear on the racks but it is mostly guess.
Maximum Effective Range: Effectively unlimited, Once fired, the possessed torpedo will travel and pursue the designated target until its target or the torpedo is destroyed (or the target vanished from sight or gets away by another means.)
Mega-Damage: 4D6x10 M.D. of magical energy every time the torpedo strikes
Rate of Fire: Can fire torpedoes one at a time or in volleys of two (2), three (3), four (4), or eight (8) torpedoes. Reloading takes two (2) full melee rounds.
Payload: Eight (8) Total [Has twelve (12) additional torpedoes for reloads], Regenerates at the rate of one torpedo per hour.

Sensory / Special Equipment:

RLK-101 Nakat Radar: Comparatively short range search radar. This system is mounted in the sail and is extended in a similar manner to a periscope. Radar has a range of 12 nautical miles (18.8 miles / 22.2 kilometers.)
MG-200 Arktika-M / MG-10 Feniks-M Hull Sonar System: Small sonar system mounted in the bow of the boat. Sonar system has a range of around 3 nautical miles (3.5 miles / 5.6 kilometers.) This hull sonar system has both a passive and active system built in. Sonar system can track up to 4 targets at one time. Has a -10% penalty with passive sonar.
ESM: This system is mounted in the sail and is extended in a similar manner to a periscope. The antenna is very hard to detect both visually and by radar. Includes ability to detect radar guided weapons. The system can detect another radar system at around 125% of the range of the transmitting radar, subject to radar horizon. Has a -10% penalty to detect modern sensor systems.
Propulsion Penalty: Unlike modern submarines, the November class submarine is surprisingly noisy. Lacks most of the noise reduction features fitted into modern submarines. The vessel is +10% to be detected when traveling greater than five knots. At less than five knots, there are no penalties or bonuses to be detected.

Special Abilities as a Haunted Vehicle:

Ghost Crew: The boat is crewed by haunting spirits. There are 110 haunting entities aboard. If one is destroyed, within a few days another haunting entity will take their place. The assumption is that the haunting entities have taken the personalities of the crew of the vessel but hard to know for sure. There have been a handful of cases where the crew has tried to kidnap others. They will, of course, also defend the boat if boarded. Haunting entities have three attacks per melee and an average of 70 M.D.C. each. About a dozen of the crew will be armed with AK-47 rifles with unlimited ammunition (Effectively fire balefire) - have a range of 2000 feet (609 meters) and inflict 1D6 M.D.C. per round (2D6 for short burst and 6D6 for long bursts)
Inexhaustible Propulsive Force: Range and fuel are not a problem; the craft seems able to go on forever, powered by a magical power source. The boat seems to also produce electricity to run all of the boat's systems.
Natural P.P.E.: 300, The boat virtually fairly humw with magical energy. The energy regenerates at the rate of 50 P.P.E. per hour. Double P.P.E. and regeneration on ley lines and triple P.P.E. and regeneration at a Ley Line Nexus. Magical energy can be used by the boat's ghost crew for powering psionics.
Psychic Senses: The boat has a number of psychic senses similar to more conventional abilities but are generally longer ranged and do not require I.S.P. to use.
Regenerates Damage: The boat will regenerate at 20% of the hit locations M.D.C. per day, meaning all damage will be restored within 5 days of being damaged. Even if a hit location is completely destroyed, it will slowly regenerate until completely restored.
Super Tough: Extremely tough for its size, tougher than most submarines of around equal size. Can withstand an incredible amount of damage before being destroyed.
Will of Its Own: The boat has a will of its own (or it could be the ghost crew) and operates completely independently. No one seems to be able to make sense of the course of the ship and the boat's motivations. The guns on the ship can fire at the usual rate of fire and boat can make course changes on its own. It operates in a very random pattern that is hard to understand. Sometimes it will leave ships alone and in other cases, it will attack. In general, there is no vessels that it is more or less likely to attack although it is generally more likely to attack other submarines and warships than merchant ships. If it is attacked, it will attack back. It is hard to really give the vessel an alignment. Sometimes, if people are seen on the surface, it may try to rescue them. Of course, the inside of the submarine is just as deadly as been adrift in the ocean.

Quirks:

Radioactive: The submarine is quite radioactive and emits radiation. The inside of the submarine is more radioactive than the inside with the reactor compartment being the worst. Exposure in the reactor compartment is at least 1000 RADs / REMs Inside the rest of the submarine, an individual received 50 RADs / REMs per hour and right on the hull of the submarine, an individual will receive 25 RADs / REMs per hour. If an individual is exposed to the radiation for anything beyond a brief period, they will quickly become sick and die. See the writeup of nuclear weapons for details on effects.
Rejects Modern Components: The boat will not accept the addition of modern components and components will seem to fail within a few days. This probably does not matter because the boat has no crew beyond that of ghosts.

[ Altarain TM, Bandito Arms TM, Brodkil TM, Chipwell Armaments TM, Coalition States TM, Cyber-Knight TM, Federation of Magic TM, Free Quebec TM, Golden Age Weaponsmiths TM, Horune TM, Iron Heart Armaments TM, Kankoran TM, Kittani TM, Kydian TM, Larsen’s Brigade TM, M.D.C. TM, Mechanoids TM, Mega-Damage TM, Megaversal Legion TM, Millennium Tree TM, Mutants in Orbit TM, Naruni Enterprises TM, Naut’Yll, New Navy TM, New Sovietskiy TM, NGR TM, Nog Heng TM, Northern Gun TM, Phase World TM, Psyscape TM, Rifter TM, SAMAS TM, S.D.C. TM, Shemarrian TM, Splugorth TM, Stormspire TM, Sunaj TM, Tolkeen TM, Triax TM, Wellington Industries TM, Wilk’s Laser Technologies TM, Xiticix TM, and Zaayr TM are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

[ Beyond the Supernatural®, Heroes Unlimited®, Nightbane®, Ninjas & Superspies®, Palladium Fantasy®, and Rifts® are registered trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]

Special Credit to Talis D. Merrill (taalismn@pop.tiac.net) for many of the concepts and enchantments / powers for Ghost / Haunted vehicles.

Writeup by Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Return