How to spawn:
Go to mission enditor
Select add vehicle
Select Onward from libary and place in appropriate location
Start up:
Head to the boiler room
Light BOTH boilers
Head to bridge and open steam valves (On back wall)
Use telograph to change propeller pitch
How to sink:
Hatch covers are not water proof so just take the ship into deep water in high waves and that should put it under, once it starts sinking it will drop FAST.
Background:
During the Mid/Late 1920s the South Point Steamship Company (SPSC) commissioned the Great Southern Heavy Engineering Company to build an enlarged version of the previous "N" class bulk freighters as there design proved to be well laid out but to small to be profitable.
Design:
Length: 79m
Beam: 12.5m
Drought: 4m
Displacement: 5,000 tons
Cargo Capacity: 12,000 tons iron ore
Cargo holds: 6
Hatch covers: Canvas
Crew: 33
Machinery:
2 Benette & Co. Watertube boilers
8 Highland Works double geared steam turbines
2 Standard Electrical Works 1 ton generators
1 Great Southern Shipping Co. 3.5m Variable pitch propeller
Speed: 17.5 Knots
Service:
Onward laid down in 1926 as the forth O class ship, she was launched on June 3rd 1928 and was commissioned on the 1st Febuary 1929, entering service on the Olsen Bay to Port Uran transporting Iron Ore, Taconite, Limestone and Grain. Under the Command of Captain Peter Ferdinand (Age 53) who would become the ship's first and as it would turn out, only master.
The ship had a quiet life for the vast majority of its short career and would win an award from SPSC for going 1000 days without a major incident on the 26th of June 1934.
Among coast gaurd inspectors the ship became a perfect example of what a well run and maintained bulk vessel should be with her preforming acceptionally during emergancy drills and ensuring her machinery was always in working order.
In 1935 new series of coast guard recommendations required all ships with a freeboard of less than 2 meters to have steel hatch covers over cargo hold, these recommendations didn't apply to Onward as it's full load freeboard hovered between 2.5-3m and she was permitted to continue using canvas hatch covers (though in light of later events it was determind that steel hatch covers would of saved the ship).
"We did everything right?"
On the 19th of November 1938 Onward docked at Olsen Bay to recieve 6,000 tons of taconite pellets for its final run of the shiping season down to Port Uran, after that the ship would anchor in the Sid Mead Sea with a skeleton crew aboard until Febuary 1939.
By 10 am the ship was fully loaded and departed port heading west around donkk Island and then swinging south towards the North Mier coast by Midnight on the 20th.
At this time the ship was expirencing waves of roughly 2.5 meters and light snow with winds of around 15knots from the south.
By 5 am the weather had worsed to 4 meter waves, blinding snow, heavy freezing spary and winds of up to 40 knots. At 7am on the 20th Captain Ferdinand sent a message to company headquarters in Holt Town.
"Due to ice build up on the upper decks Captain Ferdinand optted to take his ship to the lee of Mount Trappdoor, here he inteneded to break ice and wait for conditions to improve to resume the voyage."- Company head chairman Henry Jan
By 4pm on the 20th Onward had been joined by the smaller 1000 ton package freighter Coventry Bay (Captain Edward Doe) in taking shelter from the weather.
By 8pm that night the weather had dropped off to waves of 1.5 meters, light snow, and winds of 8 knots, so Captain Ferdinand decided to leave the lee of Mount Trappdoor to resume his voyage (followed closely by Coventry Bay as they were also bound for Port Uran).
They had no way of knowing that they had just abandon the only safe waters in the area and were now in the path of the most destructive storm of the 20th century.
"At about ten that night we were hit by a wall of snow, my barometer dropped so fast i though it was broken, Onward would of probably been about 5km off my port bow at this time but it was really hard to tell cause the moment that sonow hit visability become non existant"-Captain E. Doe transcript taken from coast guard investigation.
Winds increased to roughly 50 knots from the south west with waves of over 5 meters, heavy snow basically blinded the two vessels.
At 11;14pm Onward contacted Coventry Bay Reporting that they were going to hove too as the number 1 hatch cover had come loose and that men needed to be sent out on deck to refasten it. Coventry Bay acknowlaged asking if Onward required assistance but was turned down.
"We are taking water green over the bow,and theres just ice everywhere." -Onward
"I'm having the same issues here, you got your pumps running"-Coventry Bay
"My aft pumps are running but my guys cant get into the forecastle to start the forward pumps, I'm gonna try and turn and run with it for a while to take the pressure off my forward hatches"-Onward
"Do you require assistance"-Coventry Bay
"No I think she'll pull through but stay with me just in case"-Onward
At 11:20 pm Onward attempted to turnabout to secure its forward hatches and start its foreward pumps.
At the same time the men on Coventy Bay's bridge saw the ships lights (she was now only about 1km away) abruptly vanish.
Coventry Bay attempted repeatedly to hail Onward on the radio but failing to get incontact with them they notified the coast guard.
The coast guard not having any assets in the imediate area ordered all merchants in the area to search for Onward if they were able to, and they also dispatched the Corvette "Grey" to the area (wouldnt arrive for 10 hours).
At 3 am Coventry Bay spotted a large oil slick and debris in the water. By 5 am the weather hd calmed slightly and they were able to retrieve Onward's #1 lifeboat which would later be determind to have been ripped off the ship not launched.
By 6pm on the 22nd the search was called off as no one could of lasted that long in the water, Onward was declared lost with all hands.
Aftermath:
A court of inqury was held on the 29th of march 1939 where it was determind the sinking to be no fault by the ships crew or company onwers, she was well maintained and the captain had acted reasonably in the situation it was felt.
It is theorised that water seaping into the ships cargo holds had mixed with the taconite forming a mud like mixture that shifted when the ship went broadside to the waves. Studies by the National Sawyers University in the 1970s determind that the ships was most likely pinned over at an angle of 30 degrees by the cargo shifting due to liquidification from water ingress, then repeated waves collapesed the canvas hatch covers, the ship likely sank in less that 2 minutes.
The wreck of the Onward was discovered on June 4th 1964 at a depth of 700m 15km south east of Mount Trappdoor, she is lying on her port side facing north east, her bow (apart from the forecastle) and stern have almost completely collapssed but her midships and engineering sections are still mainly intact.
On the 17th of September 1942 a bronze plark would be erected on a bolder over looking the sea at Olsen Bay it reads: Onward: Captain Peter Ferdinand 62, First Officer Jame Nul 45, Second Officer Chen Hao 31, Helmsmen Gary White 30, Chief Engineer Roy Kaine 51, 1st AE Richard Black 39, 2nd AE Ray Brown 30, Junior Engineer Harry Edsall Jr 24, Junior Engineer Imo Woods 22, AB Jan Thomas 34, AB George Smith 36, AB Roy Andersdale 33, AB Ethan Bennete 33, Bosun Dean Keys 42, DH Peter Brown 21, DH John Troy Jr 20, DH Ben Radford 23, DH William Ford 21, DH Troy Omar 18, DH Ray Harpper 23, DH Gary Samar 24, DH Joe Pary 19, RO Peter Fran 35, RO Thomas Blake 29, Cook Ivan Istvan 45, Steward Ethan Brown 31, Steward Harry Powers 32
AE assitant engineer, AB ABle Seaman, DH Deck Hand, RO Radio Operato
