Yup. A K-class subgirl. Obviously not-American.
You did ask if we’re going to do more than U.S. subgirls. The answer is yes. Silent Service’s main focus is on the Silent Service, but we do want to push the boundaries of Pacific’s world-building as well. It’s a book about subgirls after all.
Currently we are at 11/12 with about half the girls illustrated with expressions and everything else. Everyone is going to be new, so progress is good. We’re still going to come out before the vol. 3 Midway book though.
Oh. If Surcouf asks, just say I’m out on a mission. Anyways I’m going to hand this over to the other girls now. See you next time!
…Actually. Maybe I should just point out that at least she’s not stuck in lore-limbo like the Royal Navy girls are…hmph…
How’s your day been?
Normal! Thank you for asking.
…So what did you do?
Today was a fun day! I ended up placing right behind Narwhal in the cruiser submarine division in training. I’m always impressed with Narwhal – She can do things I didn’t even know were possible for cruiser subs like us, so I’m pretty excited that I finally placed right behind her. Pantera always told me that things don’t get better without a struggle first. I guess I’ll have to keep working hard and I’ll someday be able to beat Narwhal!
I finally was able to venture outside of the submarine district of Avalon and I was able to meet some new people. I didn’t know Tasha was here too! It’s good to see an old friend. She introduced me to Maury, who seems like a very friendly person. They invited me to go on a quick run together, but I figured I might not have been able to keep up. Training was very tiring after all. Dolphin pushes us hard!
I got into another fight with Dracha too. Well, it wasn’t really a fight. More of an argument? Maybe that’s too strong of a word too. We disagreed like we usually do, this time over proper attack patterns. I’d like to get to know her better, and I’m sure she does too, but every time we talk, we always end up arguing…
You know, Katya…
Yes Commander?
I always pegged you as the quiet type, but now that I got to know you a bit, you’re surprisingly talkative.
Well, I speak when I need to speak.
No, uh, I mean. You’re a lot friendlier then you come across…
Is it wrong to be friendly? I don’t have an issue talking with people. I just don’t feel the need to start conversation for the sake of conversation.
You know, there’s a stereotype about us “Russians” being cold and unfriendly and unhappy in the west. I think I understand where that is from, though. Our home is a tough, cold land and our people are too. We are as a whole I would say very practically minded and straightforward. So culturally it is very different – no different than, for instance, we think many westerners are superficially friendly, too.
W-wait, are you saying –
You’re off the hook commander. You’re very honest so of course you aren’t superficial. *giggles*
Though I do have to say, some of you have an unhealthy fascination with “beauteous bikini-clad slavic babes.” You know, your science officer, the one that is like Chester but slightly less annoying.
Who, Andrea?
Yes. He and I had a little personal communication just earlier.
…uh oh.
Relax, commander. I do not punch very hard.
Right. *sigh* This is part of the reason why I don’t let him work in Avalon anymore. He’s got no concept of social etiquette and at this rate he’s out on medical leave more often than he’s actually here working.
What is the name of the long black-haired one, who wears golden leaves in her hair and wears that pretty nearly-see-through pinkish-cream dress?
Helena?
Well I was about to say, I did not punch Andrea. She threw him out the window before I could react. It seems to be a game the two plays.
…Katya I don’t think that’s a ga – nevermind. Thank you. Shouldn’t you head to dinner now? I’ll see to Helena.
Okay! Thanks for checking on me commander! До свида́ния!
Da svidaniya to you too, Katya!
Hello, Katya here. K9 and Morgane thought it would be good for me to get a little note section like the other girls.
I think you may be first thinking. Why a Soviet/Russian submarine? Well, for starters, many of the team is very interested in the USSR, historical or otherwise. One of our historical researchers have familiar that learned Russian and lives in a Chinese city very close to the Russian border, Zero is very interested in of course all matters communist, K9 is actually studying Russian (thanks to him we’ll get to tap into a lot more Russian things) in college, and all the team is highly appreciative of the role the USSR played in the Great Patriotic War.
So when we were talking about ideas for other foreign girls, K9 said to Morgane, “Morgane, we should have a Soviet subgirl to highlight some additional differences between the ways the Allies used submarines.”
Morgane said okay, you go do some work, and let’s make it happen and I came into being. Russian sources are always difficult to go through, so I hope you would find some of the stuff we’re about to tell you interesting.
Then, of course, they figured out a way to work me into the story. Those two read a lot, and told Sima a lot about how they wanted me to look like. Then well, here I am! You’ll start to see the historical stuff that inspired my creation very soon.
Take my name, for instance. “Katya” was the nickname that K9 gave me after reading the memoirs of a particular Soviet submarine commander. He referred to the K-class submarines as the “Katyushas”, so K9 shortened it to “Katya”. Morgane liked it a lot, and now I have a cute girl’s name.
Oh. Originally I was going to have a much more conservative swimsuit, but when Sune got wind of everything, she said to Sima, “a Russian girl should be sexy and so you should put her in the tiniest bikini possible.”
And so I ended up wearing what I wear today. I’m not complaining, but you know, I’m glad the rest of the team keep that crazy Japanese girl’s antics in check.
Anyways. I’ll probably talk a little about the Red Navy during WW2, but more importantly, use that as an example to contrast what the U.S. Navy does. You’ll see that the training and the approach to using submarines (again) is quite different. It’s what we want to do to add depth to our book, after all.
To summarize, the Soviet submarine force did not achieve the insane kill ratios of the U.S. Silent Service or our U-boat opponents, but our performance was largely middle of the road. Generally we were worse than the U.S., Germany, and U.K, but outperformed the other countries by a fair margin. Of course, this is Silent Service. So I’m sure K9 or Morgane’ll have Tautog talk about Cold War-era submarines sometimes. Then, as I am sure you know, the USSR submarine force was much more capable.
Anyways. I’ve said a lot, so I think I’m going to call it a night here. спокойной ночи!
