Cold All the Way Through, But Warming

The Leave Taking

Will's tour of the Unicorn started early the next morning. After breakfast Tyne sent the other officers to their posts while he escorted Will and Nettles. Will kept quiet mostly, only asking a question every now and then. But he observed everything, even things that Tyne probably didn't notice. He kept notes mentally of things that needed to be attended to, from ways to store supplies in the pantries to better methods for transporting the coal in the engine rooms.

It was in the magazine of the first turret they visited that he spoke up. "What is this dust?"

Tyne scuffed the white dust with his shoe, "Comes off the cordite, sir. But it's all perfectly safe, no chance of it lighting itself on fire like powder would."

"It's still dust from an explosive substance." Will sniffed, "Is it anywhere else onboard?"

"Anywhere we use the cordite, sir. Magazines, turrets, and the gunners probably track some with them when they leave."

Will frowned. "I'll be having the ship cleaned from stem to stern after this, but first all of this cordite dust will be removed. Have the gun crews attend to it immediately."

The gunnery officer, Ives, who had joined them for this section, pursed his lips. "Sir, surely it's better for us to be ready at a moment's notice than worried about keeping things spit shined?"

"If you get into the habit of cleaning, then it hardly takes any time at all." Will sighed, "Blame it on my sailing liners if you like, but I keep a clean ship. Have your men clean this magazine, the turrets, anywhere the cordite dust might be and dispose of it." Seeing that Ives was still a bit miffed over it, Will tried a joke to lighten the mood. "It's not as if I'll be having the engineers scrub the coal clean before it's burned, and I'll help sweep it up if needed."

Ives chuckled and relaxed a bit, "I think my men can handle it sir. We'll have it finished by the time you come back from seeing the Admiral."

Will nodded, following Tyne as he moved on to the upper portion of the turret. If there was any place that Will didn't want to be during combat, it was the magazine. Trapped underneath all those decks, surrounded by explosives, it was enough to make him shiver. The sailors who were down there, as well as the Marines that Tyne had mentioned crewed an entire aft turret themselves, were braver than he was.

Tyne offered to have the men run a drill for him, to show how the turret's charges and shells were hoisted up and loaded, but Will shook his head. He knew how the guns functioned, and the men would be running drills soon enough. They would have plenty of exercise. Tyne was surprised when Will asked to walk through the sailor's quarters, their mess, their kitchen, and then back to the Marines quarters. While Will didn't turn out every sailor's hammock, he did look a great deal.

The Unicorn's crew had grown rather lax over their time without a captain. Will wasn't going to crack the whip and start flogging men for having their belongings not properly stowed, but he would insist on things being clean and orderly. It not only would make it easier during combat to know where everything was, and he had found men worked better when they had a clean environment. Some of the men grumbled about it, but no one actively fought against his orders to begin cleaning and he left the ship to Nettles while he went to present his plan to Admiral Huntington for his approval.

The Admiral was back behind his desk, although he stood when Will entered. "And how do you find your ship, Captain?"

"In need of some cleaning, but I feel good about her." Will chuckled, "I'll have her shaped up in no time."

"And I take it you have a plan for that." Huntington sat, gesturing for Will to do the same. "Would you care to share it?"

Will nodded after he had sat, "I want to take her out for a week's cruise, along with some of the destroyers here. I'll have the men act as if we were headed to battle the entire time, and the destroyers will tow targets for the guns. Target practice every day, drill, allowing the engines to run, I think it would be good for not only the ship but the crew to be exposed to what's expected of them for an extended time."