Project HOUSEBOAT

I found a file that matches up to our mysterious Yeoman. It also gives me an idea as to where the pirates are getting their supplies – Nikola

Field Testing Summation: YMN-10-OR Refit

Producer/Site: Curtiss MilTech, Paradise

Supervising Technician: Doctor Gary Pappas

Project Start Date: 3072

Non-Production Equipment Analysis:

                Mechwarrior Aquatic Survival System

                Underwater Manoeuvring Units

                Multiple Torpedo Tubes

The Jihad was a boom time for military technologies, with many different developments going from prototypes to common mass production items during its course. However, the level of destruction unleashed during the Jihad meant that many other projects fell by the wayside or were simply destroyed, with their details often lost. Added to this, not every new technology was a success, and many were dead ends or catastrophic failures.

Project HOUSEBOAT is one such example. Evidence of its existence didn’t come to light until after the end of the Jihad, and even then all that is known about it is the result of piecing together fragmentary information from several sources. The project itself was lost with the destruction of Curtiss MilTech's factories on Paradise (along with the rest of the world) by the Principality of Regulus. Most of what exists comes from the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey's efforts to reverse-engineer the Yeoman, as well as some information included in the sale of the Wraith specs to Hellespont.

The project appears to have been initiated at the behest of the Word of Blake, who invested a considerable amount into underwater facilities and defences. The goal appears to have been twofold; to develop a dedicated aquatic fire-support platform, while also serving as a tested for a new weapons system. In both of these efforts, HOUSEBOAT appears to have been unsuccessful.

At some point in the early 3070s, the Word of Blake and Krupp began development of the Multiple Torpedo Tube (MTT), an attempt at creating an aquatic equivalent of the MML system (itself a then relatively new technology that had quickly proliferated) that would be capable of launching both long and short-range torpedoes. While much of the developmental data on the MTT has been completely lost, the goal was to offer a greater versatility to aquatic platforms, particularly small submarines.

Seeking a test platform, the Word turned to Curtiss and the Yeoman, due to the BattleMech's relatively simple design. Three YMN-10-OR units were built as dedicated test platforms, with their jump jets replaced with Underwater Movement Unit systems in order to give them a greater ability to operate in aquatic conditions. However, due to the delays with the MTT system even reaching the prototype stage, Curtiss decided to press ahead with experiments using the three platforms.

All three modified Yeomans were equipped with a variety of different weapons configurations, including LRMs, SRMs, MMLs and both long and short-range torpedoes. In addition, the platforms were equipped with a still-experimental Mechwarrior Aquatic Survival System, as much to protect the pilot inside as to aid in the recovery of test data in the advent of a catastrophic failure.

The most encouraging versions mounted four seven-tube MML systems and two five-tube long-range torpedo launchers. Rather than the aquatic fire support platform that the designers had intended, the idea evolved into HOUSEBOAT acting as an ambush unit, able to travel undetected underwater before emerging to bombard shore targets. Tests suggested that HOUSEBOAT would work well in tandem with TAG-equipped Purifier suits and semi-guided LRMs.

In the meantime, the MTT project appeared to have ground to a halt, with Krupp only managing to produce a handful of problem-prone prototypes. None the less, at least one system was shipped to paradise for testing and mounted on the third HOUSEBOAT prototype. The results were less than encouraging. During a live-fire test a torpedo jammed in the tube while switching between long and short-range munitions. An attempt to clear the jam detonated the torpedo, destroying the prototype launcher while nearly sinking HOUSEBOAT.

Following the incident, both the MTT project and HOUSEBOAT were cancelled. Prototypes one and three were retained by Curtiss for further testing, while prototype two (now converted to a shore bombardment configuration with a load of LRMs and MMLs) appears to have somehow ended up in the hands of the Sirian Lancers. It, in turn, was acquired by the RSMC following the Lancers' surrender to the Regulans at the end of the Jihad. Prototypes one and two three destroyed on Paradise, while it appears that the Regulans had no use for three and either stored or dismantled it.