Nautilus, Sword of the Ocean

[Ozymandias]

My apologies for the bump, although this is a very good unit by Wyrmshadow.

I have always wondered where The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen came up with the design of the Nautilus that they used, as it is much different from that of Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas. The movie Nautilus is optimized for surface travel, while Verne's Nautilus was optimized for submerged operation.

I was going through Norm Friedman's US Submarines Through 1945-A Design History, when I got to page 105. There was the movie Nautilus, based on a sketch design for a World War 1 fleet submarine, optimized for surface performance. The book was published in 1993, so it would have been available to the movie special effects people.

Side Note: I was working with Norm on something else at the time, when we met at the National Archives in D.C. while he was also researching the book. I mentioned to him some work that I had been doing on Japanese WW2 ASW, and as a result, I am mentioned in one of Norm's foot notes. Nice to have that.

Any chance of posting a photo?

Cheers,
Oz

 

[timerover51]

Any chance of posting a photo?

Cheers,
Oz

What are the forum rules on posting copyright images?

 

[Ozymandias]

What are the forum rules on posting copyright images?

I can only imagine that it falls under the legal rubric of, "Fair Use" (indeed, this question has come up a number of times, over the years, here at CFC) -

"In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an illegal infringement."

- http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

Cheers,
Oz

 

[timerover51]

I can only imagine that it falls under the legal rubric of, "Fair Use" (indeed, this question has come up a number of times, over the years, here at CFC) -

"In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an illegal infringement."

- http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

Cheers,
Oz

This probably would constitute fair use. I will try to get it up, but will be away this weekend. Might not be until early next week.

 

[Kirejara]

If I remember correctly from the DVD Commentary and "Making of" the makers of the League movie did not want their Nautilus to resemble the one from Disneys "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", that is fairly close to Jule Vernes discription (also this would certainly started a lawsuit with Disney if they would done so).

And they did not like the Nautilus from the League comic, so they made their own design (or took the design Timerover discovered ).

And I must admit that I also favor the movie Sword of the Ocean over the squid design in the comic.

http://lxg.wikia.com/wiki/Nautilus

 

[timerover51]

If I remember correctly from the DVD Commentary and "Making of" the makers of the League movie did not want their Nautilus to resemble the one from Disneys "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", that is fairly close to Jule Vernes discription (also this would certainly started a lawsuit with Disney if they would done so).

And they did not like the Nautilus from the League comic, so they made their own design (or took the design Timerover discovered ).

And I must admit that I also favor the movie Sword of the Ocean over the squid design in the comic.

http://lxg.wikia.com/wiki/Nautilus

After looking at the picture of the comic book one, I would heartily agree with you. The Sword of the Ocean Nautilus makes sense as a high-speed surface ship, that comic book on makes no sense at all from a naval architect viewpoint. Verne's Nautilus is actually quite a good design from the standpoint of the hull.

 

[Balthasar]

I agree with you too, Kirejara. The LXG "Sword of the Ocean" Nautilus is a beauty, and, thanks to Wyrmshadow, looks great in-game. Credits for the design go to LXG's Production Designer Carol Speier, who is best known professionally as director David Cronenberg's go-to production designer. In an interview I saw, she described LXG as a big studio operation into which she came late. Most of the design, she implied, was already on storyboards when she got there. So I suppose the person we should be thanking is an anonymous illustrator who once worked for 20th Century Fox. And thank goodness that illustrator abandoned the squid design from the graphic novel! In that case, I think artist Kevin O'Neill took a little to seriously the suggestion in Verne's text that folks thought the Nautilis was a Sea Monster.

Interestingly, we know* where Verne got his inspiration: from a scale model he saw in an exhibit at the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris, of the French Navy submarine, the Plongeur. Looking at the low-slung grey-brown colored Model that he saw, the idea that it could look like a sea monster to observers who'd probably never seen a submarine before is credible. Three years later, Verne described in his book a sub scaled up considerably from the Plongeur, which was only 148 ft. (45m) long and certainly didn't have room for Nemo's enormous staterooms. Verne's vessel was powered by electricity produced by sodium/mercury batteries, the sodium provided by sea water. Also, Verne's Nautilus couldn't produce its own air, so it had to surface from time to time like a whale, lending further credibility to the 'sea monster' impression.

The Plongeur, by comparison, was powered by compressed air, which meant that a support ship, the Cachalot, had to follow it around to supply it with compressed air (so much for the element of surprise..). It did have one feature though, that Verne neglected to give to Nemo's ship: it also had an electrically-fired spar torpedo, fixed at the end of a pole. Ultimately, the Plongeur suffered from engine and stability problems, and was decommissioned just a few years later, in 1872, ultimately finishing its career as an automotive water tanker, re-equipped with a steam engine. Hard to imagine the Nautilus ending up like that.

All that by way of saying that Wyrmshadow also made a unit called 'Jules Verne Nautilus' that looks very much like the submarine depicted in the original edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:

I, too, look forward to seeing the image you described, Timerover.

*i.e., wikipedia says

 

[Blue Monkey]

Thanks to Wyrmshadow we have the LXG, Disney, Verne & even the Fulton Nautilusseses. If someone can't find something suitably steampunk in all that then they're just not looking.

 

[Ozymandias]

I humbly submit you folks check out HERE. Many illustrations.

-z

 

[Blue Monkey]

I humbly submit you folks check out HERE. Many illustrations.

-z

That led me to track down a lot of other info. A unit of this ship would be great! & for armament ...

Winans did not invent the steam-powered centrifugal gun that bears his name, but his Baltimore factory worked on it. "Baltimore Gun Club" rings a bell.

Thanks, Ozymandias! If nothing else, you've pointed out some civilopedia source material!

 

[Ozymandias]

Thanks, Ozymandias! If nothing else, you've pointed out some civilopedia source material!

My pleasure, as always!