So a while ago I said that I will explain the military and naval stuff used in this novel, so here we go.
There's a lot of things to cover, but I guess the first one should be the Engine Order Telegraph (E.O.T.) or sometimes also referred as Chadburn.
It's a communications device used on a ship for the pilot (in the navy this position is called helmsman) on the bridge to order engineers in the engine room to power the vessel at a certain desired speed.
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| A standardized E.O.T. should look like this |
As you can see, the standard E.O.T. only has 4 speed category, Full, Half, Slow, and Dead Slow. It's a bit different for warships in the United States Navy in the WW2, since Dead Slow usually is called 1/3 while Slow is called 2/3, and two additional category, Emergency for astern (back) and Flank for ahead (forward).
That was fine and all, but then here's the problem. The Japanese Navy has their own distinct E.O.T. for their warships. Take a look at this.
The literal translation would be something like this:
Ahead
Full (Maximum)
Maximum Battle Speed
Fifth Battle Speed
Fourth Battle Speed
Third Battle Speed
Second Battle Speed
First Battle Speed
Strong Speed
Original/Primary/Main Speed
Half Speed
Slow Speed
Slowest Speed
Stop or Halt
Astern
Slowest Speed
Slow Speed
Half Speed
Original/Primary/Main Speed
Full (Maximum)
See the problem? I can't use the standardized E.O.T. for the speed. Full (Japanese Navy) is probably equivalent to Flank (US Navy), since both is used only on emergency situation because it will put a great burden and having the risk to damage the engine itself, but what about the other? Full (US Navy) could mean anything between Main Speed to Maximum Battle Speed in the Japanese Navy.
Though the US Navy Dead Slow and Slow might be a bit similar to the Japanese Navy Slowest Speed and Slow Speed, that means the only US Navy speed category left to describe the other Japanese Navy speed category would be Standard, but that would be weird.
So when I translated those stuff, I used Cruising Speed for the Main Speed. The one above it become Full Cruising Speed, while the one below it become Half Cruising Speed.
'Why?' You'd ask? Because since it's called Main Speed, and I imagine that it's a speed which most ships maintained to travel at a long distance, hence Cruising Speed. 'How fast are these speeds?' I don't know sadly, the numbers I've found stated that Main Speed is around 12 knots, and each category has somewhere around 2-3 knots differences. So Full Cruising Speed is probably like 15 knots while Half Cruising Speed is 9 knots.
Then we have Battle Speeds, using the numbers from before we have 18 knots to 30 knots, then Maximum Battle Speed with 33 knots, and finally Full or Maximum with 36 knots. Those numbers are probably taken from more modern and faster vessels though, since destroyer in WW2 barely could go faster than 33 knots, excluding some of the fastest like Le Fantasque-class with 47 knots or Tashkent-class with 45 knots or even Shimakaze with 40 knots.
In the US Navy, usually the order or the command given by the Captain of the ship is "All Ahead/Astern [Speed Category]" (Which I just learned yesterday, by the way)
My previous translation used "Both sides advance" or "Both engines forward" then followed by the speed category since using the original command would sound weird, I mean, "All ahead, cruising speed" doesn't sound good at all.
But if you want me to use the standard command, then I guess I can modify it like "All ahead standard, make turns for cruising speed" or something.
I guess this is the first one, but don't worry, I'll explain the other stuff again later. I probably should make a dedicated page for these stuff.
By the way, please try watching Greyhound (2020), it's really a great movie. It's about a US Destroyer, call sign Greyhound, leading an escort group of 4 destroyers to guard an Atlantic Convoy against the U-boat packs, crossing the Atlantic Gap of no air cover for 50 hours.
The movie was based on C.S. Forester "The Good Shepherd" (USS Keeling), one of the books mentioned by the author of "Kagerou, Batsubyoushimasu!" in the first volume afterword.
I already re-watched it for the third time. You can learn some of these naval terms by watching it. It's so rare to see a movie about smaller vessels like these, not to mention how accurate the movie depicted the scene.
So give it a try!
