Ghost USS Arizona:

Long she rusted, a memorial to a forgotten war and a forgotten age. The superstructure had been removed long before and only her rusted hull remained. Only one turret remained intact. The old ship sat completely underwater except for a few small areas on the ship which just barely poked out of the water. The battleship Arizona slept. Her hull was completely mangled by the explosion which had destroyed her in 1941 and time had steadily eroded what remained. She had been forgotten and almost abandoned. The White platform which had been erected above her only echoed with only the sporadic sounds of human feet. Most people in the latter part of the Twenty-First Century just seemed to want to forget about the past. Maybe that is what doomed them. Stories were told that the ship was haunted and it was true that many had died within her hulls. The last body had been laid to rest almost a hundred years previously. One day, storm clouds appeared and witch fire came from the sky. The Rifts had come and the world would never be the same. Lightning hit the rusted hulk over and over. The hull was wrapped in blue fire crackling with blinding intensity. Something woke up.

After over a century and a half, the hull pulled itself from the deep mud. The white platform above the old ship shattered and sunk to the bottom. As the rusted hull slowly pulled itself to the surface, water poured from hundreds of cracks. A loud creaking could be heard as the hull straightened out and the hull became whole for the first time in over a century and a half. Cracks became whole and years of rust seemed to simply fade. Black smoke exhaust came from where once the battleship's funnel sat. The acrid smoke wrapped itself around the deck of the old battleship like a lover. The smoke seemed to take a like of its own and appeared to form turrets where the ship's turrets had sat before the Arizona's death. The dark smoke seemed to form the superstructure and stack of the old battleship. If anybody had been observing, they might have remarked at the illusion of the smoke. The smoke slowly darkened until it appears to be solid steel again. The Arizona was whole again.

A ghost like figure appeared on the bridge of the old battleship. He was dressed in the uniform of a naval Captain from the time which the old battleship had been lost. The Captain had come back to take command. A second figure appeared next to the captain. This ghost figure was dressed in the uniform of a rear admiral. He pased the deck as if he was looking for something he dropped. More and more shadowy figures appeared. The music from a band could be heard coming from inside of the ship. Two ghost crew member mopped the deck while the bosun yelled at them. Vibration could be felt from deep within the hull. On the mast, a flag with thirteen stripes in red and white with a dark blue rectangle with forty eight stars. The Arizona was alive once again.

Since the coming of the Rifts, there have been stories of ghost ships sailing the oceans of the world. One of the most famous of these ghost ships is the USS Arizona and numerous sighting of the ship have occurred over the years. There have been several Coalition reports of an unidentified old battleship haunting the seas including rescuing the Coalition destroyer Sabre, which is an old refitted Burke class destroyer, when it was attacked by a monster from Atlantis. There are also several encounters by the New Navy which looking through their archives discovered that it was a Pennsylvania class battleship with them assuming that it is the USS Arizona. The ship has also been known to attack supernatural creatures on sight and is believed to have sunk a demon black ship.

No one really knows the motivation behind the ship but it has come to the rescue of multiple ships when they are attacked. The ship seems to be alive just like it is a person. It seems to mostly come to the aid of ships which were crewed by humans and seems to often chase down supernatural creatures. Unlike some ghost of haunted vehicles, the battleship appears to be completely independent.

Descriptions of the ship from close range indicate that while the ship is completely intact, rust can be seen around the hull and superstructure. The wood deck appears to be very worn and stories tell that the whole ship feels ice cold. On occasion, rescued sailors have found themselves onboard and all of them talk about it feeling extremely uncomfortable onboard. Whenever the ship is closely approached, an aura of fear and doom can be felt from the ship. Stories tell that it has been badly mauled in several battles and that the ship seems to heal whenever it is damaged. The cannons fire a glowing blue shell and the shells seem to both do normal damage to what they are fired against and seem to usually directly effect the crew of an enemy vessel. With its main cannons firing, virtually no vessel can withstand the pummeling for very long. Other stories tell of the ghost crew fighting enemies who attempt to board the ship and that they are virtually unstoppable. No one seems to know how many ghosts haunt the old battleship. Stories do not tell of the ship being all that fast although it appears to be able to simply disappear.

People who spend a period of time onboard talk about figure in the admiral's uniform constantly pacing the deck as if he is looking for something. Some historians have looked into the history of the vessel and discovered than an Admiral Kidd died onboard the Arizona. His academy ring was later recovered and they consider him to be looking for his ring. A speculation is that if the ring could be found, the possessor of the ring could command the ship. So far, no one has been able to find the ring or even knows if it survived, so the hypothesis has not been able to be tested.

Model Type: BB-39
Vehicle Type: Ocean, Ghost Battleship
Crew: Approx 1000 (Haunting Entities)
Troops: Approx 80 (Haunting Entities)
Horror Factor: 18

M.D.C. by location:
Fourteen Inch Cannon Barrels (12, 3 each turret):200 each
Fourteen Inch Cannon Turrets (4 - Triple mounts):1,250 each
Five Inch / 51 Mounts (10, Casemates):150 each
Five Inch / 25 Mounts (8, Superstructure):125 each
.50 Caliber Machine Guns (8):50 each
[1] Front Tripod Mast:800
[1] Rear Tripod Mast:800
[2] Bridge:2,500
[3] Main Body:12,500

Notes:
[1] If one tripod mast is destroyed, fired control for long range gunner is reduced and the ship has -4 to strike with 14 inch cannons at long range. If both tripods are destroyed, long range gunnery is further reduced and the ship has -8 to strike with 14 inch cannons at long range.
[2] If Control Bridge is destroyed, the ship can still be piloted from engineering but with a -15% to piloting rolls due to using emergency controls.
[3] Destroying the main body causes the ship to lose structural integrity, causing the ship to sink. There are various predictions of what would occur. Some believe that the ship would simply come out of the water after a few days once it has restored itself.
Note: The ship will regenerate at 20% of the hit locations MDC 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.

Speed:
Surface: 24.2 mph (21 knots/38.9 kph).
Maximum Effective Range: Effectively Unlimited, the engines appears to need no refueling and seems to run on magical energy. Ship's crew does not require provisions.

Statistical Data:
Length: 600 feet (182.9 meters) and 608 feet (185.3 meters) overall
Draft: 33 feet 5 inches (10.2 meters)
Width: 106 feet 3 inches (32.4 meters)
Displacement: 34,400 tons normal load and 39,224 fully loaded
Cargo: 1000 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 ship's spaces are taken up by extra ammo, armor, troops, weapons, and engines.
Power System: Magic, systems seem to work as if run by magic
Black Market Cost: Not for Sale, due to the haunted nature of the ship it is doubtful anyone would want the ship and the ship is completely independent.

WEAPON SYSTEMS:

  1. Four (4) "Balefire" Mk III Triple Barrel Fourteen Inch (356 mm) Naval Guns: Two turrets are mounted forward of the ship's superstructure and two are mounted behind the ship's rear tripod mast. Each turret can rotate about 280 degrees and can elevate up to thirty degrees. Original cannons but 'Ghost" energies cause the cannon to fire rounds constructed from magical energy instead of standard projectiles. The ghosts crewing the ship will reload the cannon from the magazines each time it is fired. When rounds are being expended, the rounds will be restored at the rate of eight rounds per minute. Rounds will effect both the target hit and any crew inside as if they are hit by the spell "Havoc." Virtually any target which finds itself under the guns of the ghost ship will find itself a wreck within just a few minutes.
    Maximum Effective Range: 22.7 miles (19.7 nautical miles / 36.5 km).
    Mega Damage: Round inflicts 1D6x100 MDC directly to the target to a blast radius of 20 ft (6.1 m). Round also inflicts 1D6 Direct to hit points per melee (Inflicts double MDC to Supernatural Creatures) to the crew and the target also needs to save vs magic or are -3 to initiative, strike, parry, and dodge. (has no sense of direction or time.) Secondary effect goes direct through power armor and vehicles. Havoc effects a 60 foot (18.3 meter) radius area. Duration of secondary effect is ten melees.
    Rate of Fire: Once every two melees or two shots per barrel per minute (Can fire up to 6 shots per turret per minute or up to 24 shots with all five turrets).
    Payload: 1200 Rounds with 100 per gun. (Regenerates at the rate of two rounds every 15 seconds)
  2. Ten (10) "Balefire" Five Inch (127 mm) / 51 Naval Deck Guns: The cannons are mounted in casemates on the main deck. All hull mounts had been removed in her refits. The guns have a limited arc of fire due to the fact that they are mounted in casemates and can only elevate up to 20 degrees. As a result, the cannons cannot be used against air targets. Like the main cannons, the cannons fire rounds constructed from magical energy instead of standard projectiles. The ghosts crewing the ship will reload the cannon from the magazines each time it is fired. When rounds are being expended, the rounds will be restored at the rate of eight rounds per minute. Rounds will effect both the target hit and any crew inside as if they are hit by the spell "Havoc."
    Maximum Effective Range: 12 miles (10.4 nm/19.3 km)
    Mega-Damage: Round inflicts 4D6x10 MDC directly to the target to a blast radius of 10 ft (3.0 m). Round also inflicts 1D6 Direct to hit points per melee (Inflicts double MDC to Supernatural Creatures) to the crew and the target also needs to save vs magic or are -3 to initiative, strike, parry, and dodge. (has no sense of direction or time.) Secondary effect goes direct through power armor and vehicles. Havoc effects a 20 foot (6.1 meter) radius area. Duration of secondary effect is ten melees.
    Rate of Fire: Maximum of two per melee per cannon.
    Payload: 2500 Round with 250 per gun (Regenerates at the rate of two rounds every 15 seconds)
  3. Eight (8) "Balefire" Five Inch (127 mm) / 25 Naval Guns: Four are mounted on either side of the superstructure. The cannons are mounted in open mounts on the superstructure and are useful against air targets as well and surface targets. Like the main cannons, the cannons fire rounds constructed from magical energy instead of standard projectiles. The ghosts crewing the ship will reload the cannon from the magazines each time it is fired. When rounds are being expended, the rounds will be restored at the rate of eight rounds per minute. Rounds will effect both the target hit and any crew inside as if they are hit by the spell "Havoc."
    Maximum Effective Range: 8 miles (6.9 nm/12.9 km)
    Mega-Damage: Round inflicts 4D6x10 MDC directly to the target to a blast radius of 10 ft (3.0 m). Round also inflicts 1D6 Direct to hit points per melee (Inflicts double MDC to Supernatural Creatures) to the crew and the target also needs to save vs magic or are -3 to initiative, strike, parry, and dodge. (has no sense of direction or time.) Secondary effect goes direct through power armor and vehicles. Havoc effects a 20 foot (6.1 meter) radius area. Duration of secondary effect is ten melees.
    Rate of Fire: Maximum of two per melee per cannon.
    Payload: 2000 rounds 250 rounds per gun (Regenerates at the rate of two rounds every 15 seconds)
  4. Eight (8) "Balefire" .50 M2 Machine-Guns: These weapons are mounted around the ship with two on each side of the funnel and two on each mast. The weapon mounts are designed for defense against attacking personnel, small boats, and against aircraft. These weapons also fire "Balefire" rounds although the rounds do not have the secondary havoc effects of the 14 inch and 5 inch rounds although payload appears to be virtually infinite.
    Maximum Effective Range: 3,000 feet (914.4 meters)
    Mega Damage: Short Burst 5D6 and Long Burst 1D6x10+10
    Rate of Fire: Equal to combined hand to hand attacks of gunner (usually three for ghosts)
    Payload: Effectively Unlimited

Special Abilities as a Haunted Vehicle:

Quirks:

[Golden Age Weaponsmiths is a trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

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

Copyright © 2004, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

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