20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
THE NAUTILUS
Val CHA Cost Notes 15 Size 75 Length 32", Width 16", Area 512", Mass 3.3 kton, KB -15 85 STR 0 Lift 3.3 ktons; 17d6 HTH Damage 14 DEX 12 OCV: 5/DCV: -5 25 BODY 0 10 DEF 24 3 SPD 6 Phases: 4, 8, 12 Total Characteristics Cost: 105 Movement: Swimming: 22"/44" Cost Abilities and Equipment Power Systems 12 "Bunsen's Contrivances": Endurance Reserve (30 END, 30 REC); OIF Immobile (-1 1/2), Only Powers Electrical Devices (-1/4) Propulsion Systems 8 Propeller-Driven Vessel: Swimming +20" (22" total); Limited Maneuverability (-1/2), Side Effects, occurs automatically (only affects the environment around vehicle; propeller does KA 2d6 to anyone coming in contact with the bottom stern of the vehicle; -1/2), Costs Endurance (-1/2), 2 END Tactical Systems 3 "Armored Spur": Stretching 1", Reduced Endurance (0 END; +1/2); Only To Cause Damage With Move- Throughs (-1/2), Always Direct (-1/4), No Noncombat Stretching (-1/4), No Velocity Damage (-1/4) 22 "Electrified Stair-Rail": EB 4d6, Trigger (Zero Phase Action, resets automatically; failed Security Systems roll; +3/4), No Normal Defense (defense is having insulated rED; +1); IIF Bulky (electrified stair-rail; -3/4), No Range (-1/2), Real Weapon (-1/4), 5 END 8 "Water Pumps": EB 5d6; Does Not Work Underwater (-1), IIF Bulky (-3/4), Real Weapon (-1/4), 2 END 5 "Water Pumps": 1 more Water Pump (total of 2) Operations Systems 12 "Powerful Electric Reflector": Sight Group Images Increased Size (128" Cone Fore And Aft; +1 1/2); Only To Create Light (-1), 2 END Personnel Systems 1 Submersible: Life Support (Safe Environment: High Pressure) 6 "Watertight Bulkheads": Life Support (Self-Contained Breathing); Partial Coverage (125 hexes; -3/4) 10 "Watertight Bulkheads": 3 more Watertight Bulkheads (total of 4; each protects one-fourth of the ship) 6 Airlock: Change Environment 1" radius, Varying Effect (restore or remove normal pressure and breathing environments; +1/4), 1 END Other Vehicles 1 "The Small Boat": use Canoe, The Ultimate Vehicle page 61, but add a Sail and make it large enough for 20 people 94 Total Abilities and Equipment Cost 199 Total Vehicle Cost Value Disadvantages 25 Distinctive Features: "Giant Narwhal"/"Piratical" Submersible Craft (Not Concealable; Extreme Reaction [fear]; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses) 25 Total Disadvantage Points 37 Total Cost (186/5)
Description: Fiction's first fully-realized submarine, The Nautilus is a spindle-shaped submersible 70 meters long and 8 meters thick at the widest point. Made of riveted steel plates, it mounts a long ram with a triangular cross-section on the front, and a six-meter diameter screw on the back. Steering vanes (like ailerons on a plane) stud the rear half of the vessel. The pilot house and external lights of The Nautilus can be caused to sit flush with the surface of the submarine, allowing it to achieve 50 miles per hour at its highest speed.
The front half of the lower level of The Nautilus contains an air reservoir, a small chamber (which became Dr. Arronax's quarters, the Captain's stateroom, a huge parlor, a library of 20,000 books, and a formal dining room). At the center, a shaft with a ladder leads to the upper deck, which contains the retractable pilot house at the fore end. Also at this point is the access hatch for the Captain's dinghy, which can be entered while the ship is underwater - the dinghy is shipped watertight, though it is incapable of operating underwater itself.
The rear half of the lower level of The Nautilus is less well described. It contains the airlock, the crew's mess (which doubled as a cell for the three castaways), at least one bunkroom for the crew, another bunkroom which was used by Ned Land and Conseil, and an engine compartment which contained the generator and batteries in the front half and the machinery for the screw in the back half. It is likely that the upper level of the back half of the ship contains an access way to service the powerful retractable lamp. It is also in a side chamber near the airlock that the diving suits are stored.
Captain Nemo brags that the submarine draws power from the sea itself. Although the exact method of electrical generation is not described, it would seem from some portions of the book to use sodium. Since sodium can be extracted (in minute proportions) from seawater, yet reacts violently with water to emit extreme heat, Verne might have been on to something there. The electricity the generators develop is stored in large Bunsen cells, and from there goes to power everything aboard the vessel. Aside from the air-guns, everything aboard ship is powered by electricity, a first in the 1800s.
The Captain's dinghy (which communicates with the sub via a wire that it plays out behind it) is likely large enough to hold the entire crew. At one point Ned Land takes it for a whale hunt, at which point it comfortably housed at least eight people.
The Nautilus is crewed by twenty men of uncertain nationality, who have severed all ties with Mankind, much like their Captain. Aboard ship, they speak only Nemo's created language ("Nautilan") and are extraordinarily quiet and robot-like.
The Nautilus contains enough air for the crew for a day - two days at most, with deleterious effects on the crew's health. Every day, therefore, The Nautilus must surface and open vents to release the built-up carbon dioxide and refresh its air reservoir. Although there were methods known at the time to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Nemo doesn't use them, possibly because he still doesn't know how to create the oxygen the crew needs. Nevertheless, this only becomes an issue at one point in the story, so I decided it seemed like more of a plot point than a limitation. Aside from this limitation, The Nautilus seems to have a significant range - Nemo mentions a depth of eight to ten miles at one point, and it's possible he's gone much lower.
(Nautilus created by Jules Verne, character sheet created by Roland Volz)
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