House Noljas submarine Zvien

Even though the recent efforts by Infrastructure have been the most successful the idea of a Submarine is hardly a new one. Over the last few hundred years there have been numerous attempts by various inventors to build a submersible boat. Some of them have been modestly successful and there have been a couple of instances (done either by the Dwarves or the Venoans) in which they have been been employed successfully against enemy warships. Even so the expense and failure rate of such craft has kept most navies from considering them more than fancy death traps which might occasionally score a lucky kill. The arrival of Infrastructural technology has recently reinvigorated interest in the field as it makes building the necessary components much easier and opens new doors which were previously not viable. Several groups have been looking into this, but among the most notable is that of Galthirith's House Noljas. Inspired by Infrastructural Shchukas, several of their engineers and ironmasters have begun work on this project. The Zvien (Hake) was their first sucessful mobile semi submersible launched in 36 IA.

Small and squat at just under 7 meters long and weighing in at 3 tonnes, the cast iron Zvien is not a true submarine as it could not fully submerge. A top cupola would remain above water level for navigation by a helmsman. Power is to be provided by a team of sailors turning a crank by hand to drive the propeller. Her top speed is 6.5 km/h. Due to the risks inherent with this craft's design, all four crewmen on this ship were slaves. More unusually still two of these slaves (the helmsman and one cranksman) were Janissaries due to fear of panic or desertion among unsupervised slaves in the cramped seacraft. Leaving aside the Janissaries' short-swords the ship's sole armament is a long wooden spar onto which is affixed a harpoon and a modified petard. In a combat situation she was to use that to ram a ship, set off the petard and blast a hole through it's hull. The spar is made to break off to allow the Zvien to get to safety afterwards and make it's way back. Even so in the eyes of it's creators the loss of a four slaves and a small cast iron boat for the destruction of an fully supplied and provisioned enemy warship and possibly hundreds of sailors is a more than adequate exchange.

As of the winter of 37 IA the Zvien has yet to see combat and has spent her career puttering around the coastline while being examined. So far she has only sunk once and has yet to kill any of her crew, which makes her markedly superior to house Noljas's previous two submarine designs or those of any other Drow State so far. Future designs with improved systems are in various stages of development. Even so she is ready for service if the need arises.