Thursday, April 1

1889: The Tyrell Water Ray

The Royal Navy was extremely concerned at the philosophy of the 'Jeune Ecole' and the French Navy's increased investment in aquanef as a means of reducing the odds against Britain's mighty surface fleet, fortunately British inventor Wilfred Wallace Tyrell invented a ray that allowed surface viewers to see underwater as clearly as a searchlight cuts through the air.

Tyrell's father, Sir Wilfred Tyrell, was one of the Junior Lords of the Admiralty and arranged for a prototype to be fitted to H.M.S. Scorcher for a series of trials on the Solent. Fortunately the Scorcher was on station when the French aquanef Le Vengeur attacked H.M.S. Phyliss in an unprovoked terror attack in 1889 and managed to hunt down and force the rogue French attacker to the surface, capturing the piratical crew and aquanef (which was subsequently fitted with an underwater version of the ray and served in the Royal Navy against the French in the Great War of 1890-91).

1 comment:

  1. Eh... I am waiting for aquanef rules for so long. I hope we will see massive battles between subs and surface ships. By the wat, I love the VSF world you created! Well done!

    ReplyDelete

Distinguished Gentlemen