Alicorn

Alicorn (SAC-900)
Manufacturer	Union of Yuktobanian Republics
Function	Submersible aircraft carrier Underwater missile cruiser Ballistic missile launch platform Amphibious assault ship (proposed)
Creation	~2000-2015
Operators	Erusea Matias Torres (independently)
Deployment	Lighthouse War
Destruction	September 14, 2019 Operation Fisherman

"Heed my words! This boat has the means to end this hideous war, in a definitive and elegant manner."

― Captain Matias Torres

The Alicorn, Erusean hull number SAC-900, was a large nuclear submarine and the only known member of the Alicorn class of submersible aviation cruisers. Originally built by Yuktobania under "Project Alicorn" as the successor to the Scinfaxi-class submarines, the Alicorn featured both UAV launch bays and a runway to support squadrons of manned fighter aircraft. It carried a vast arsenal of advanced weaponry and defensive systems, including a massive rail cannon that could fire shells equipped with nuclear warheads.

During its only combat voyage, the Alicorn was commanded by Captain Matias Torres, a radical and extremist member of the Erusean Navy who went rogue on September 4, 2019. Torres wished to use the Alicorn's nuclear projection capabilities to kill millions of civilians in Oured, under the pretenses of horrifying both sides into ending the Lighthouse War. However, despite his passionate rhetoric regarding the "salvation of ten million," his real goal was simply to kill millions of people from beyond the horizon in order to satisfy his own twisted desires. Trigger destroyed the Alicorn during Operation Fisherman, a fierce battle in the Spring Sea. The submarine exploded from the inside after Trigger destroyed its main cannon's internal systems, ending the threat to Oured.

The Alicorn and its captain serve as the main antagonists in the downloadable SP Missions for Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown.

Etymology

The Alicorn breaching

"Alicorn" is a Latin term originally meaning "unicorn's horn," and in modern times often refers to winged unicorns. The submarine's auxiliary hulls on the side are the "wings" of the Alicorn, while the "horn" is the hidden rail cannon. Due to a lack of knowledge regarding the Alicorn's rail cannon, FRONT LINE's writers believed the "horn" was the flight deck. Kazutoki Kono initially called the submarine the Narwhal, but this working name was rejected by narrative director Kosuke Itomi.

Torres refers to the Alicorn as a "submarine aircraft cruiser" in English; it is also designated as a "submersible aviation cruiser" according to multiple sources, including DLC creative director Hisaharu Tago, the SP mission briefings, and the cutscene before Ten Million Relief Plan. Aviation cruisers are a class of warship that combines the offensive power of a cruiser and the aircraft-launching capability of an aircraft carrier. Of particular note is that modern Russian (formerly Soviet) aircraft carriers are often designated as aviation cruisers in order to exploit a loophole in international law. Aside from being an aircraft carrier with the power to overwhelm entire fleets, the Alicorn's designation as a submersible aviation cruiser may be a reference its Yuktobanian origin, as Yuktobania takes heavy influence and inspiration from the Soviet Union.

Design

Vessel

The design schematics of the Alicorn

The propulsion specifications of the Alicorn

"The sub's force projection capabilities are equivalent to a carrier strike group."

― David North

The Alicorn was a much larger and more ambitious design than the Scinfaxi and Hrimfaxi before it, measuring 495 m (1,624 ft) in length, in contrast to the Scinfaxi-class's reported lengths of around 300 m (980 ft). It inherited automation technology from the Hrimfaxi, allowing its crew to be heavily reduced as compared to a conventional warship of its size. The Alicorn was a trimaran design—amidships, the vessel divided into three separate stern sections; these being its central hull and two large auxiliary hulls that contained its powerful arsenal of weaponry, plus its massive pump jets. The Alicorn carried two medium-sized liquid-metal cooled nuclear reactors within its central hull that provided power to the entire vessel. Its hull and pump jets were designed to make the Alicorn faster while submerged than it was while it was surfaced, leading to a submerged speed that was several knots quicker than its surfaced speed.

The Alicorn (like most modern submarines) featured the ability to generate its own oxygen while submerged, allowing crew members to survive long-term while underwater, even in the case of an accident. The submarine's hull featured sixteen large bays used for launching multiple types of UAVs, while a large runway tunneling through the sail allowed for the operation of heavily armed carrier aircraft. The Alicorn additionally featured a small radome atop the sail used to produce electronic jamming signals.

The Alicorn's specifications were as follows:

• Length (submerged): 495 m (1,624 ft)
• Beam (submerged): 116 m (381 ft)
• Height (submerged): 54 m (177 ft)
• Displacement
  • Submerged: 810,000 tonnes (800,000 long tons; 890,000 short tons)
  • Surfaced: 650,000 tonnes (640,000 long tons; 720,000 short tons)
• Propulsion: Two nuclear geared turbines/turbo-electric mixed flow pump jets with conductive internal flow magnetohydrodynamics units
  • Power: 300,000 horsepower (220,000 kilowatts) per jet
  • Engine: Two liquid metal-cooled nuclear reactors
  • Propellers: Seven forward-skewed propellers (estimated)
  • Speed
    • Submerged: 42 knots (78 km/h; 48 mph)
    • Surfaced: 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
• Crew: 270–350
  • Company: 150
  • Air wing: 120–200 (20–30 aircraft)
• Maximum operating depth: 600 m (2,000 ft)

Weaponry

The Alicorn's two railguns in the deployed position

The Alicorn was intended from the keel up to operate not as a traditional strategic missile submarine, but instead as a "submersible aviation cruiser"—an underwater missile cruiser with the ability to conduct aircraft carrier operations. As such, it mainly relied on guns, missiles, and its aircraft, rather than the ballistic missiles and torpedoes of more conventional submarines.

The Alicorn carried heavy anti-air armaments along the length of the boat, including CIWS emplacements, AA guns, and surface-to-air missile launchers that were deployed from hatches within the hull. Upon submerging, these weapons retracted into the hull, followed by the hatch closing up.

24 VLS tubes were placed within both auxiliary hulls, for a total of 48 launchers. They supported various short-range anti-air and anti-ship missiles, along with long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles. At one point, it was reported by the public media that the Alicorn was a "doomsday ship" with 256 SLBM tubes, each capable of launching missiles equipped with 200 kt nuclear warheads, but this was ultimately proven to be false reporting.

The Alicorn featured two gun bays, one on each auxillary hull, ahead of the VLS launchers. FRONT LINE's article in April 2012 assumed these bays carried conventional naval rifles, but an OIA report written 12 years prior indicated that based on the materials taken to its construction site, the Alicorn likely "[carried] railguns as its main guns". At the time of the Lighthouse War, each gun bay carried one large railgun turret, each with the ability to fire up to 80 rounds per minute. The sabot in each railgun was 200 mm with a barrel length of 6.5 m (33 caliber) and the capacity to support 155 mm projectiles, guided by GPS/INS. The projectiles ranged from Armor-Piercing Composite Rigid (APCR) shells to High-Explosive Anti-Ship (HEAS) shells. The turrets could rotate a full 360 degrees and pivot upward, allowing for them to target aircraft.

The rail cannon aboard the Alicorn

In addition to its main guns, the Alicorn was also fitted with a far more powerful SRC-03a strategic rail cannon, which—when in the stowed position—was hidden as part of the boat's flight deck. This 128-caliber weapon boasted a barrel length of 76.5 metres (251 ft) and a bore diameter of 600 millimetres (24 in). Its primary purpose was long-range strategic bombardment of both land and air targets. When the gun fired at minimum-energy trajectory, its effective range exceeded 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi), though its total range remains unknown, since the cannon's listed specifications and its actual performance differed greatly following a refit conducted by GR Marine and Ships. The cannon's projectiles could change their flight paths using active aeroelastic wings in conjunction with terminal guidance provided by an unmanned aerial vehicle. However, should the UAV be destroyed, a failsafe forced the projectiles to immediately self-destruct. Additionally, the terminal guidance transmission could be jammed, thereby making the cannon less accurate.

As built by the Yuktobanians, the SRC-03a utilized rocket-assisted shells similar to the Mark 51 Advanced Gun System (AGS) that used GPS/INS for guidance. However, in its later Erusean configuration, it could load discarding sabots armed with armor piercing anti-structure shells, high-explosive polynitrous anti-aircraft rounds, and most devastatingly, NAR-01b-S nuclear shells. These 1 kiloton-yield projectiles were capable of killing anyone within a 400 metres (1,300 ft) radius around the impact site instantaneously, while dealing minimal structural damage to surrounding areas.

Unlike most submarines, the Alicorn did not feature torpedoes. This was a choice made by the designers to maximize internal space, and the empty space was occupied by aircraft, crew quarters, munitions, and supercapacitors.

Aircraft

The runway on the Alicorn with two jet blast deflectors raised

The Alicorn's aircraft operation model was a blend of the Scinfaxi's manned aircraft and the Hrimfaxi's UAV operations. Unlike the Scinfaxi, which featured a V/STOL configuration, the Alicorn featured a large carrier deck that allowed for CATOBAR operations. Additionally, eight large launch bays for SLUAVs and barrier drones were located on each side of the submarine's sail. These bays could be used even while submerged. The boat's catapults were originally steam-powered, but these were later swapped out for electromagnetic catapults that permitted increased efficiency and stealth, while simultaneously fixing a fatal issue that precluded the Alicorn's deployment during the Circum-Pacific War. Carrier-capable multirole aircraft also reduced the amount of aircraft needed aboard the sub, which in turn reduced the number of air crew required to maintain them. The sail had a large hoist near the rear that could be used to reposition landing aircraft, which were stored inside the submarine's hangar using two large elevators. While conducting simultaneous launch and retrieval operations, the Alicorn's forward elevator was used to deploy aircraft, while the rear one stored landing aircraft.

The Alicorn could carry between 20 and 30 manned aircraft, depending on the type of aircraft and the number of crew required to maintain them. It supported at least four distinct aircraft configurations:

• 20 Su-33 Flanker-Ds
• 22 F/A-18F Super Hornets
• 24 MiG-29Ks
• 30 Rafale Ms

History

Development

Following the completion of the Scinfaxi-class submersible carriers, Yuktobania initiated "Проект Аликорн" ("Project Alicorn") in 1998 to create a third, larger submarine—dubbed unofficially by the Osean Intelligence Agency as a "Super Scinfaxi-class" submarine—that combined the capabilities of the Scinfaxi and Hrimfaxi into one package. The OIA's Advanced Weapons Analysis division observed sand carriers actively excavating underneath Okchabursk in 1999. The subterranean construction sites—collectively referred to by the OIA as "closed city BSC-1"—already housed two 400-metre (1,300 ft) docks to repair and maintain the Scinfaxi-class boats, but it was noted that sand carriers were still excavating an estimated 1,000 cubic metres of sand every day.

The OIA suspected that, within a year, Yuktobania completed construction of a new 600–700-metre dock for the new submarine, internally referred to by the Yuktobanians as District B4. The OIA observed steel and weapons being delivered to Okchabursk and used them to estimate the Alicorn's capabilities. The Advanced Weapons Analysis division completed its report on the new submarine on March 27, 2000. At one point, the Alicorn and its long-range armaments were reported as a potential violation of the START2 treaty.

The Alicorn's actual construction period is unknown, nor is it confirmed if Yuktobania ever fully finished it. It did not take part in the Circum-Pacific War in 2010 due to a myriad of problems involving its steam-powered catapult valves, and at no point in the conflict did Osean forces approach Okchabursk to threaten it. By 2012, Yuktobania had completed most of the boat's hull.

FRONTLINE's issue on the Alicorn

Following the Circum-Pacific War, the Alicorn was sold for scrapping by Yuktobania to the Usean conglomerate General Resource Limited, as a symbol of strategic disarmament post-war. GR towed the submarine to Port Edwards, but instead of scrapping it, the Alicorn was refurbished and refitted into the world's largest nuclear submarine. The steam catapults that had prevented its use during the Circum-Pacific War were replaced with electromagnetic catapults, many of its systems become automated to reduce crew load, and the resulting free space was occupied by large lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors that were used to provide the power needed for its railguns' rapid-fire capabilities. Its SLBM launch ports were additionally retrofitted to be used for anti-air and anti-ship tactical weapons.

On April 4, 2012, military magazine FRONT LINE published an issue on the Alicorn, detailing the vessel's history and potential future, stating that Leasath, Estovakia and Erusea were all likely destinations for the submarine. The author stated that despite Leasath's desire to develop its naval capabilities, the Estovakian Eastern Faction was most likely to purchase the boat, citing the faction's stagnating development of its "Aerial Fleet Initiative", and Osea's increased restriction on Belkan weapon sales to Estovakia. However, on December 20, GAZE reported that the Kingdom of Erusea ultimately purchased the Alicorn via a subsidiary of General Resource, GR Trading, and noted that the submarine was seen two days earlier being towed.

Launching and grounding

Erusea did not officially launch the Alicorn until January 1, 2015. Captain Matias Torres was eventually assigned as the submarine's commanding officer; on December 2, 2015, he was assigned as the head of the submarine's pre-commissioning crew. Sometime after, the boat underwent outfitting.

The Alicorn sailed out for a sea trial on October 9, 2016, during which tests to determine the new operational limits of the SRC-03a rail cannon were conducted. It accidentally ran aground while submerged on November 10, just one month after leaving port. On November 17, following accusations from Osean media outlets, officials from the Erusean Royal Navy confirmed that the submarine had indeed gone missing a week prior, insisting that they "[had] found no evidence of an explosion, [had] not determined the submarine to be sunk," and that "no radioactive materials [were] released in the Spring Sea... maritime traffic safety [was not] compromised." The next day, GAZE published an article reporting that the submarine had disappeared in the Spring Sea 1,300 km (810 mi) south-southeast from the Twinkle Islands, citing the official Erusean statement. Due to the high complexity of the underwater terrain, the submarine was not discovered until two years later, on October 9, 2018. It had remained on the seafloor for 698 days in total, while at a fifteen degree tilt. Miraculously, 330 of the boat's 356 crewmembers survived the incident.

Lighthouse War

Following its discovery and the rescue of the crew, the Alicorn was transferred to the Erusean Navy's reserve fleet on November 3, 2018; the same day, Torres was again reassigned as the head of the pre-commissioning crew. At some point, it was assigned to the reserve fleet's Special Combat Ship Unit due to its radically different methods of operation than a conventional warship and was given the hull number SAC-900 (for Submersible Aviation Cruiser). Despite this, it never officially entered service in the Erusean Navy. Thirty of the Alicorn's crew members left the boat's roster following the accident, but they continued to operate as agents for the Alicorn and its captain by sabotaging both Osean and Erusean military forces.

Despite the outbreak of the Lighthouse War the following May, the Alicorn remained dormant in an unknown location since it was both uncommissioned and was not part of Erusea's battle doctrine. In the meantime, the submarine's agents stole railgun-compatible nuclear shells for the Alicorn, to be used in Captain Torres' plan to take a million lives. Despite the initial hesitance to deploy the Alicorn in combat, the destruction of the Njord Fleet on August 10, 2019 during an Osean raid was a devastating blow that led to Erusea formally commissioning the boat into active duty, hoping that its force projection capabilities would make up for their newfound deficit in naval power.

Escaping port

The Alicorn firing anti-ship missiles at an incoming Osean Maritime Defense Force landing force during the climax of Operation Sighthound

SACS launching from the runway aboard the Alicorn as it leaves Artiglio Port

Main article: Operation Sighthound

On September 4, the Alicorn was docked in Artiglio Port, the area surrounding which was under Osean control at the time. OIA analyst David North contacted the Long Range Strategic Strike Group to explain the situation. Operating under intel provided by Brigadier General Howard Clemens (which was in fact false intelligence given to him by Alicorn agent Edgar Saxon), Osea launched Operation Sighthound and sent Strider Squadron, Drake Squadron, a formation of electronic warfare aircraft, and a detachment of OMDF warships to capture the Alicorn in port, believing it had WMDs on board. The Erusean Air Force sent wave after wave of fighters, strike aircraft, and even their own electronic warfare aircraft to defend the sub, but the Oseans managed to break through the defensive perimeter established around the harbor. As the battle reached its climax, Erusea's high ranking officials ordered Torres to scuttle the sub to prevent it from falling into Osean hands, but Torres refused the order.

Declared by its captain to no longer be under the jurisdiction of the Erusean military, the Alicorn left port and opened fire on the OMDF fleet with its railguns, crippling the landing ship OFS Puffin and sinking several other warships that had taken defensive positions, destroying the rest of the fleet with its missiles. A detachment of aircraft from the sub's air wing took off from the sub with a cruise missile in tow, attempting to flee the airspace and acting as a distraction to allow the Alicorn to submerge and escape. Trigger shot down all four aircraft, but by then, the Alicorn had fled the area, already underway to meet with its agents in Anchorhead.

Obtaining nuclear shells

Main article: Operation Domino

On September 10, the Alicorn attempted to cause chaos over Anchorhead Bay, firing anti-air shells from its rail cannon while located a few hundred kilometers north of Tyler Island, operating concurrently with Strider Squadron's raid on the port. The first attack managed to damage Húxiān's aircraft, forcing her to retreat. The attacks continued even while Trigger was engaging Mimic Squadron, but did not severely harm Trigger or any other units. The bombardment, coupled with Strider's devastating assault, was successful in chasing Erusean forces away from the port. Five hours after Strider Squadron left the airspace, the Alicorn entered the bay without facing any resistance. The submarine met with its agents in Anchorhead to resupply and load the shells before leaving, all in less than ten minutes. The OIA confirmed Edgar Saxon as Brigadier General Clemens' source of intelligence and arrested Clemens on charges of treason.

Last stand

Main article: Operation Fisherman

By September 14, the Alicorn arrived in the Spring Sea near the Azalea Seamount. The plan was to fire on Oured on the 19th—the 14-year anniversary of the end of the Usean Continental War—in order to maximize casualties. The sub launched its aircraft as a precaution before heading for the Peony Trench, an abyss where it could feasibly reach its max operating depth of 600 m (2,000 ft), far too deep for any enemy attacks to be capable reaching it. However, before it could reach the trench, Osea initiated an operation to destroy the Alicorn once and for all.

The sub's air group engaged Strider Squadron and Osean patrol aircraft but were unable to stop them from dropping sonobuoys around the area. A small Osean naval task force of three destroyers and one cruiser located the Alicorn underwater with the help of the sonobuoys and a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD) mounted on Trigger's aircraft, with each ship launching a single VL-ASROC anti-submarine missile, in order to prevent underwater noise from the explosions from clouding the Alicorn's position. The attack damaged the submarine's main ballast tanks and forced it to surface. Since the attack had impaired its ability to dive for long periods of time and its ability to generate oxygen, the Alicorn was forced to engage Strider and Cyclops Squadrons. The sub used every available armament to defend itself, firing its railguns and missiles at the assaulting aircraft and sinking half the Osean fleet, while crippling the remaining two vessels. Despite this, the Oseans continued to fight, critically damaging the Alicorn's ballast tanks and completely removing its ability to dive after a fierce battle. During this skirmish, the OADF initiated barrage jamming over Oured, inhibiting the submarine's terminal guidance capabilities.

Realizing the severity of his situation, Torres faked the surrender of himself and his crew, causing the Oseans to disengage. Despite the LRSSG's protests, AWACS Long Caster forbade the Osean forces from continuing to attack, due such an action being a breach of international law. Subsequently, David North contacted Torres to inform him that his terminal guidance was now useless and that any shot he took would miss. Torres was undeterred and responded by deploying the Alicorn's rail cannon, intending to hit his target manually by overcharging the rail cannon to increase its firing range. Disobeying orders from Long Caster, Trigger wove through a swarm of barrier drones and fired on the cannon; the impact reduced the barrel's elevation slightly, but enough to cause the first shell to land in the ocean, missing its target.

The bisected Alicorn sinks beneath the waves

With his ruse having failed, Torres engaged the boat's remaining defenses and ordered the loading of the remaining shell. Due to the Alicorn's fire control systems being damaged by the previous hit, the barrel of the rail cannon was unable to be adjusted from its current elevation. As a result, Torres ordered the flooding of the aft trim tanks to elevate the barrel to the necessary angle; this caused the Alicorn to begin listing heavily from the stern.

Before it could fire again, however, Trigger destroyed the vulnerable base of the rail cannon, causing an explosive chain reaction to rip through the submarine. As large detonations went off throughout the lithium-ion batteries and the magazines of the onboard weapons, Torres was reduced to laughing maniacally at the ruination of his plan. As he laughed, however, the Alicorn was suddenly obliterated amidships by a massive explosion at the base of the rail cannon. The submarine's bisected halves sank beneath the waves before detonating underwater in a second massive explosion, leaving no survivors and only scattered pieces of debris floating in the waves.

Aftermath

Around eight hours after the sinking of the Alicorn, the Osean Broadcasting Corporation released an article reporting on the submarine's destruction. In the days after Operation Fisherman, David drafted his own report for the Osean president to read, and used Trigger's heroism in sinking the Alicorn and his tendency to keep those who followed him alive as an argument against terminating the Osean ace.

Spies

After the Alicorn was recovered from the bottom of the sea, 30 members of its crew left the submarine and began to work as agents for Captain Torres. They worked to sabotage both the Erusean and Osean militaries to further the Alicorn's plot. These 30 crew members are as follows:

• Lieutenant Colonel Alexandra Randall
• Major Volfango Zaccarini
• Captain Jean-Paul Bellecourt
• First Lieutenant Nikolai Smirnov
• First Lieutenant Friedrich Rudel
• Second Lieutenant Roland Lindbergh
• Second Lieutenant Janssen Willems
• Second Lieutenant Falco Zaccarini
• Second Lieutenant Edgar Saxon
• Midshipman Harry Talbot
• Midshipman Hermut Schmidt
• Midshipman Heinrich Altmann
• Midshipman Matteo Ferrari
• Warrant Officer Lorenzo Bruno
• Warrant Officer Sean Higgins
• Warrant Officer Claude du Pont
• Warrant Officer Badavi Ismayilov
• Warrant Officer Jose Beltran
• Chief Petty Officer Mor Haddad
• Chief Petty Officer Nguyen Tan Vinh
• Petty Officer First Class Gustav Raiffeisen
• Petty Officer First Class Bradley Robinson
• Petty Officer Second Class Aziz Jalal
• Petty Officer Second Class Theodore Winchester
• Petty Officer Second Class Allan Ken Onizuka
• Petty Officer Third Class Georgy Borodin
• Petty Officer Third Class Carlos Vázquez
• Marine Rodrigo Marques
• Marine Mika Vatanen
• Marine Jan Olsen

Gallery

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  Nuclear propulsion diagram

• 

  Equipment diagram

• 

  The Alicorn alongside the Erusean Royal Navy

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  Wide shot

• 

  Wide shot

• 

  SACS aircraft taking off

• 

  The Alicorn docked in Artiglio

• 

  The Alicorn during Operation Sighthound

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  SACS on the Alicorn's runway

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  The Alicorn and Trigger depicted as chess pieces

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  The Alicorn firing its railguns immediately after departing from its dock

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  A schematic of the Alicorn's railgun projectiles with details on the neutron bomb warhead

• 

  The Alicorn during Operation Fisherman

• 
• 

  The Alicorn attacking the OMDF fleet, destroying Seagull and Canary

• 

  The Alicorn firing its rail cannon, though off the mark due to a missile impact from Trigger's plane

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  Trigger flying near the Alicorn following the destruction of its rail cannon

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  The Alicorn's rail cannon exploding

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  Trigger flies past the Alicorn as it is split in half by a gigantic explosion

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  The bisected wreckage of the Alicorn sinking

• 

  The OFS Puffin with the Alicorn

Trivia

• The length of the Alicorn's rail cannon is 76.5 meters, a reference to the Goroawase pronounciation of the number 765 ("na-mu-ko") being identical to the pronunciation of Namco.
• The Alicorn's various agents' codenames are a reference to The Legend of Valkyrie, a Namco role-playing action-adventure arcade game:
  • Torres himself has the codename of "Valkyrie," the game's protagonist.
  • Edgar Saxon has the codename "Zul," a reference to the bandit character Zuul, who joins up with the heroes' party.
  • An unnamed agent has the codename of "Quarkman," a mistranslation of "Koakuman." The name refers both to a pseudonymous game designer who was a principal designer for The Legend of Valkyrie, as well as a fictional tribe within the game's setting.
  • An unnamed agent—who was mentioned in a line of dialogue that ultimately did not make it into the final version of "Anchorhead Raid"—had the codename of "Xandra," a reference to deuteragonist Kurino Xandra.
• The Alicorn's CIWS and AA guns are modeled after the Russian AK-630M-2 CIWS, while its SAMs are modeled after the American RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile.
• Various aspects of the Alicorn and its development allude to real-life military history:
  • The sale of the Alicorn to Erusea may have been inspired by Ukraine's sale of the unfinished Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag to China. The sale was ostensibly to convert the Varyag into a floating casino; instead, it was finished as the first Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning.
  • The Alicorn's ability to launch SLUAVs underwater, and not always being at the same location as the SLUAV launch point in "Ten Million Relief Plan", references the concept for the Lockheed Martin Cormorant, the basis for the SLUAV's visual design. Cormorants were designed to be deployed underwater from missile tubes on Ohio-class submarines; they would have floated to the surface before launching to give the submarine time to slip away and not reveal its position.
  • Torres' last-resort tactic of flooding the Alicorn's aft-trim tanks to gain more elevation for the rail cannon may have been inspired by the USS Texas (BB-35). During the 1944 Normandy landings, Allied troops had advanced further inland than the Texas could fire, so the ship's starboard anti-torpedo blister was flooded with water to provide a controlled two-degree list to give the main guns more elevation.
  • The Alicorn's original working name of Narwhal, while presumably only meant to reference the rail cannon as the submarine's metaphorical "horn," would have led to the submarine sharing its name with three real-life submarines operated by the United States Navy:
    • USS Narwhal (SS-17; later renamed USS D-1), the lead ship of the D-class submarines.
    • USS Narwhal (SS-167; formerly known as USS V-5), the lead ship of the V-5 class submarines.
    • USS Narwhal (SSN-671), a unique submarine of her own class.