History Literature / Destroyermen

* WhyWontYouDie: Courtesy of Dennis Silva, to ''Amagi'' near the end of the [[spoiler:Battle of Baalkpan Bay]] in ''Maelstrom''. At this point, the battlecruiser has taken two torpedoes, a Japanese dive-bomber crashing into her third turret, a third torpedo, an improvised naval mine, a fourth torpedo, being rammed by ''Mahan'', who then had her remaining ammunition detonated, and every single shell that ''Walker'' had left to dish out.

* CoolGun: Plenty. Taylor Anderson is a professional gunsmith and includes plenty of toys for firearms enthusiasts in ''Walker'''s small arms locker. All of the officers and chiefs, as well as Sergeant Alden and several seamen, carry M1911 pistols. Gunner's Mate Dennis Silva proves that the [=M1918A2=] Browning Automatic Rifle is an excellent tool for solving interpersonal problems. After seeing what lurks beneath the surface, Coxswain Tony Scott won't go near the water without his [=M1928A1=] Tommy Gun locked and loaded. Springfield M1903 rifles are frequently used. An inventory of the small arms locker in ''Into The Storm'' even turns up several crates of obsolete [[BreakOutTheMuseumPiece M1895 Krag-Jorgenson rifles and their .30-40 ammo]], which Chief Gray figures probably came with the ship when she was new. The Krags later become popular with the Lemurian Marines, who feel that a mediocre rifle is far better than no rifle at all.
** The Baalkpan Armory eventually starts manufacturing some modern firearms, like M1911 pistols. Rather than devote too much effort on the very complex and high-quality [=M1928A1=] Tommy Gun, they come up with the Blitzer Bug: a crude blowback-operated .45 SMG that accepts Thompson magazines. It's apparently something like the bastard offspring of an M3 Grease Gun and a British Sten gun. Not pretty, but it does the job.
** Don't forget Silva's "projects," like the [[{{BFG}} "Doom Whomper"]]. He's also the one who figures out a quick and easy way to convert a muzzle-loading musket into a breech-loading rifle in the field. This proves a popular choice since it takes a lot longer to manufacture enough "normal" guns for the entire army than the conversion kits.
** The Empire of the New Britain Isles uses smoothbore percussion muskets as their standard-issue, though they also have some percussion rifles. The Doms have flintlocks. Captain Samuel Anson carries what appears to be a [[HandCannon Colt Walker .44 cap&ball revolver]]. The Republic issues single-shot bolt-action rifles derived from the Mauser Gewehr-98's used by the SMS ''Amerika'''s crew.

* WhyWontYouDie: Courtesy of Dennis Silva, to ''Amagi'' near the end of the [[spoiler:Battle of Baalkapan]] in ''Maelstrom''. At this point, the battlecruiser has taken two torpedoes, a Japanese dive-bomber crashing into her third turret, a third torpedo, an improvised naval mine, a fourth torpedo, being rammed by ''Mahan'', who then had her remaining ammunition detonated, and every single shell that ''Walker'' had left to dish out.

* FiveManBand: The command crew of the Walker comes off like this.
** TheHero: Captain Matthew Reddy.
** TheLancer: Ellis, then Dowden. [[spoiler:After Dowden's death, Spanky graduates to this.]]
** TheSmartGuy: Courtney Bradford.
** TheBigGuy: Silva.
** TheChick: Sandra Tucker. [[spoiler: After ''Walker'' is refloated, Selass.]]
** TheSixthRanger: First Mallory, then [[spoiler: when he moves on into the Catalina, Chack.]] Finally, we get [[spoiler: [[OfficerAndAGentleman Jenks]] and O'Casey.]]

** ''Winds of Wrath'', the final book in the series, gleefully drops the PlotArmor and kills off quite a few major characters -- [[spoiler:Alan Letts, Bolton Forester, Mark Leedom, Muriname, General Ign, Orrin Reddy, Sister Audrey, Sean Bates, Earl Lanier, Chief Bosun Jeek, Gilbert Yeager, Paddy Rosen, Sonny Campeti, Bernie Sandison, and Ed Palmer]] all bite the dust before it settles. [[spoiler:Tamatsu Shinya, Pete Alden, Spanky, and Matthew Reddy]] are seemingly killed, but are [[DisneyDeath revealed to have survived]] in the final chapter. [[spoiler:Perry Brister, Paul Stites, Minnie, and Capitano di Fregata Ciano are implied to have died, but [[UncertainDoom it isn't confirmed]]]].

* GiantWallOfWateryDoom: Two of them in book five. ''Walker'' encounters a rogue wave that nearly capsizes her during her voyage to New Britain, and [[spoiler:the Talaud volcano's two eruptions also cause tsunamis that wipe out Tagran and several other islands in the Pacific ocean]].

** ''Winds of Wrath'', the final book in the series, gleefully drops the PlotArmor and kills off quite a few major characters -- [[spoiler:Alan Letts, Bolton Forester, Orrin Reddy, Sister Audrey, Sean Bates, Earl Lanier, Chief Bosun Jeek, Gilbert Yeager, Paddy Rosen, Sonny Campeti, Bernie Sandison, and Ed Palmer]] all bite the dust before it settles. [[spoiler:Tamatsu Shinya, Pete Alden, Spanky, and Matthew Reddy]] are seemingly killed, but are [[DisneyDeath revealed to have survived]] in the final chapter. [[spoiler:Perry Brister, Paul Stites, Minnie, and Capitano di Fregata Ciano are implied to have died, but [[UncertainDoom it isn't confirmed]]]].