The W.N.S Atlantic is an aircraft carrier and the World Navy's flagship battle cruiser.
The largest seaborne fighting vessel ever built, it featured prominently in Atlantic Inferno, and made cameos in The Impostors and the feature film Thunderbirds Are Go.
Design[]
The ship can carry in excess of 150 aircraft, maintenance on which can be carried out in workshops in the bow and stern. Also situated in the former part of the ship are crew quarters, a gymnasium, a junior rates crew mess, water and fuel supplies, a hangar deck (for aircraft storage), and some changing rooms.
In the middle of the ship is a submarine servicing dry dock capable of accommodating W.N.S. Reaper. The submarine is held in place by docking clamps combined with support stanchions which, in rough weather, ensure the craft. Located at the stern behind the dry dock is another hangar deck, next to which is an aircraft maintenance bay. Lifts operated by hydraulic rams take aircraft from their hangars up to the deck for launching.
To the right of the submarine servicing dry dock are senior rates quarters, a helijet hangar, a senior rates dining area, an officers' wardroom, a lecture theatre, and some offices.
Besides the bridge, above the deck around the centre of the battleship is a flying control centre, a navigation radar, a wind speed and direction anemometer, main engine and gas uptakes, a VHF (very high frequency) antenna, and a long-range radar shroud.
Technical Data[]
- Aircraft carrying capacity: in excess of 150
- Beam: 240 feet
- Displacement: 62,000 tons-80,000 tonnes (sources vary)
- Length: 920 feet
- Power source: sea-water-cooled atomic fusion reactors
- Range: 7,000 nautical miles
- Top speed: 70-120 knots (sources vary)
Armaments[]
- A standard 12-inch naval gun in front of the bridge
- Several missile launchers situated behind the bridge
Appearances[]
The Impostors[]
The Atlantic was one of ships tasked with finding the International Rescue headquarters after International Rescue was believed to have faked a rescue in order to steal several top secret United States Military documents. International Rescue were considered Criminals by the US Army and General Lambert ordered his men to find International Rescue's base and bring them to justice, even if it meant covering every inch on Earth. This search was called off following the discovery of the two International Rescue impostors.
Atlantic Inferno[]
The Atlantic, along with several ships, witnessed the testing of gyropedoes by the atomic submarine W.N.S. Reaper, which ended badly when the second gyropedo malfunctioned and impacted into the seabed, causing a gas field beneath the ocean to explode. Consequently a massive fire broke out on the Atlantic Ocean. International Rescue soon arrived on the scene and launched Thunderbird 4 with a sealing device which was planted on top of the blowhole in order to stop the fire.
Later, several other fires on the ocean, large powerful waves and the fires were heading for the oil rig Seascape. Two men went into a diving bell to check the damage on Seascape when pieces of debris landed on the diving bell, trapping it and the two men on the sea bed. The Atlantic sent in helijets to evacuate Seascape until International Rescue arrived and Thunderbird 4 got the diving bell away from Seascape which collapsed after catching fire.
Crew of the W.N.S Atlantic[]
Thunderbirds Are Go[]
In the movie Thunderbirds Are Go
W.N.S. Atlantic was also responsible for picking up the crew of Zero X I in the escape capsule after its control system was accidentally jammed by the Hood.
Cutaway Drawings[]
- Main article: History of the Cutaway Drawings (Classic Thunderbirds)
To date, at least two cross-sections have been produced of W.N.S. Atlantic. One featured in a 1992 Fleetway Thunderbirds comic; the other appeared in the 2017 Captain Scarlet Spectrum Agents' Manual.
Fleetway edition
Trivia[]
- The footage of the Atlantic in Thunderbirds Are Go is reused from The Impostors.
- As is the case with the Reaper, it is unknown what the W.N.S. in its name stands for. Presumably World Navy Ship?
- Oddly, the Fleetway cutaway drawing shows an RTL 2 taking off from its deck, instead of the much smaller Arrowhead jet that was seen in The Impostors.
