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The Yangtze-31 (Chinese: 揚子-三十一) is a Yangtze-class Chinese nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine commanded by Captain Zao.[1] When first discovered by the Sole Survivor in 2287, she is lodged in the shallow waters off the coast of the Commonwealth south of Boston Airport and northeast of the Four Leaf fishpacking plant. The submarine is not marked on the map until the Sole Survivor swims out to her. Upon discovery, the quest Here There Be Monsters will automatically be started if it hasn't been received already from Donny Kowalski near the Shamrock Taphouse.

Background

Sometime before the Great War, the Yangtze-31 was sent on patrol along the U.S. Atlantic coast with a payload of six strategic nuclear SLBMs and an unknown number of tactical nuclear missiles and torpedoes. When the Great War began, the Yangtze's captain obeyed his orders to fire the submarine's strategic nuclear weapons at their targets. All but one of the missiles were successfully launched.[2]

Shortly after firing its strategic missiles, the Yangtze-31 struck a mine that severely damaged her reactor and forced her to seek shelter in the Boston Harbor. The damage caused a reactor leak that immobilized the sub and ultimately killed or ghoulified the crew of around approximately two dozen men, of which only Zao retained his sanity.[3][1]

Layout

The Yangtze is a unique design for a ballistic missile submarine. She has three large propellers located on either side and under the reactor control room, as well as a smaller propeller at the rear of the sub with the rudder. The sub's design is unique, as all of the facilities and machinery are located fore of the conning tower, which sits halfway on the sub, with only a small propeller and the rudder being behind the conning tower.

The first room the Sole Survivor comes to when entering the submarine is the control room/bridge where Zao is located. Down the stairs is the reactor control room with a radio room on the port side (left when facing forward). There are two doors on either side of this room that go to a small room with a cage wall and a large machine behind which is presumably the propeller drive shaft.

Behind the reactor room and under the bridge is a room with the machinery and instrument panels. On the port side of the room is Captain Zao's quarters and on the starboard side is the officer's mess. Forward of the reactor control room is the upper reactor level and contains the reactor access hatch and a stairway, on the port side, leading to the lower level. The lower level contains reactor machinery and two doorways, at the rear, leading to the engine room for the lowest of the large propellers.

Past the reactor room on the upper floor is a small room that contains two decontamination showers and a locked door with a stairway to the lower deck. There is also a science lab on the port side of the room. Forward of that room (still on the upper level) is the sub's mess room, galley, and food storage (the room opposite the galley). Forward of the mess is the crew quarters, containing 80 beds (configured in 8 stacks of three and 14 stacks of four), the sub's lavatories, and a laundry room (port side), as well as the ships med-bay/infirmary (starboard side).

At the front of the quarters are two doorways that lead into each other at the front of the sub, then lead into a room on the lower deck that contains machinery with a workshop on the starboard side and a storage room on the port side. The next room contains a doorway on the starboard side leading to the sub's armory and a hallway at the end leading to the silo room. The silo room contains the six missile silos with three along each side. Each silo has an access hatch that allows the crew to access the SLBM inside. All are closed except the one with the missile that failed to launch. The next room is a small room before the reactor room which contains a locked door to the upper level.

Unlike the only other Chinese submarine the player character can personally encounter in the series, SSN-37-1A, the Yangtze is in fact a full-scale combat vessel with extensive crew amenities and visible missile and torpedo tubes.

Notable loot

  • Submariner uniform and submariner hat - Worn by Captain Zao.
  • Two fusion cores - One inside an open footlocker in the crew quarters, another found in a box underwater near the generator on the lowest level when going down the steep stairs past a skeleton lying on a barrel.
  • Nuka-Cola Quantum - Next to the bunk of dead crew member holding a Nuka-Cola truck, in the crew quarters.
  • Chinese officer sword - Lying on a desk in the captain's quarters, a room underneath the bridge.
  • Submariner hat - Worn by the first mate, now a glowing one (room has higher radiation levels).
  • Warhead - Found in the same room as the first mate, by looting the capsule on a nearby wall.
  • Stealth Boy - In a locked supply closet controlled by a Master locked terminal.
  • Vault-Tec lunchbox - In the galley on the table in the southeast corner.
  • First mate's password - Found on the first mate.
  • Hazmat suit - In a locker that can be opened, located in the room with the glowing first mate, south entryway.
  • Zao's sword - Only obtainable if all Speech checks are passed when asking for a larger reward.

Related quests

Notes

  • After using console command tmm 1 to reveal all locations on the map, Yangtze's location is not revealed.
  • While Yangtze is a Chinese submarine and manned by a Chinese crew, her interior bears no Chinese characters (漢字) (Hanzi). Warning signs are written in English, and the on-board terminals all use the RobCo Industries Unified Operating System. Furthermore, all other items present aboard seem to be of American origin, similar to the FMS Northern Star which is of Norwegian origin.
  • There are various American items on the vessel, such as a Stealth Boy, bottles of Nuka-Cola on the ship, including a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum.
  • In the infirmary, a skeleton of an American serviceman can be seen on the bed with handcuffs and a bone cutter and surgical scalpel on a table next to his bunk.
  • It is difficult to get to the Yangtze while wearing power armor unless one uses the jetpack modification. To reach the submarine, one must swim without power armor from the shore or spawn at the fast travel point, which is on a nearby scrap barge. As it is impossible to swim in power armor, one must either sprint jump to get onto the Yangtze from the scrap barge that the fast travel marker spawns on or use the jetpack to reach the submarine.
  • There are four torpedo tubes on the front of the submarine but a torpedo room, if one exists, is not accessible.
  • After completing the quest Here There Be Monsters, Travis reports that people have seen a Chinese submarine going out to sea, however, the Yangtze doesn't leave or move.
  • The periscope/sensor mast of the Yangtze (confused for the eye of a monster by Donny Kowalski) is raised at times by Zao so he can observe what's happening nearby.
  • Settlers of the Commonwealth can be heard talking about a "ghoul whale" in the harbor. It's possible that they are referring to the Yangtze due to its shape being similar to that of the sperm whale.
  • When visiting with Curie, she will note that humans are capable of wonderful things when they aren't trying to kill each other.
  • Items can be saved in the ship after the quest involving the ship is completed, meaning the ship can be used as a base.
  • The Yangtze can be destroyed during Here There Be Monsters when the Sole Survivor is tasked to replace the dampening coils and put a warhead in the reactor. However, the explosion will kill the Sole Survivor and Zao, even if they manage to get out of the submarine before the explosion.
  • Approximately 30 former crew members can be found, both alive and dead, throughout the submarine. Some are skeletons strewn throughout the ship, and some have been transformed into feral ghouls.
  • The doors inside the submarine are incorrectly called "bulkheads."
  • On page 507 in the Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide the class of the submarine is mistakenly described as "Liao-Class Type 113"[1] when it is actually a Yangtze-class.[4]

Companion comments

  • When at this location companions make comments, which are activated at three locations: the bridge, the engine room, and after placing the warhead in the reactor.
Location comments
Character Specific location Comment
Cait Bridge "Nothin' I'd rather do than spend my life underwater in a giant metal coffin."
Engine room "If you start tamperin' with that engine, I'm gettin' out of here."
After placing warhead "*Sigh* I hope you know what you're doin'."
Codsworth Bridge "Hmph. I suppose the red bastards deserve some credit for the state of this submarine."
Engine room "An impressive bit of machinery... for communist wankers."
After placing warhead "Sir/Mum, I do hope you know what you're doing helping this... captain."
Curie Bridge "The submarine, it is still working. Somewhat."
Engine room "I am no engineer, but the engines could be fixed, I think."
After placing warhead "Ah, look. It is working."
Danse Bridge "I'm only going to say this once. Don't touch anything. You turn the wrong valve, you could flood the entire vessel."
Engine room "I'm astounded that this vessel's nuclear power plant is still viable."
After placing warhead "I'm amazed you were able to get the engine to activate. Now all we have to do is hope that it remains stable."
Deacon Bridge "I can't believe it's still working."
Engine room "God, you Pre War types could do some amazing things."
After placing warhead "Woah. Hey, it's working. Damn."
Hancock Bridge "I'd love to not have to swim out of here, so maybe don't touch anything."
Engine room "That is some serious hardware."
After placing warhead "Damn. And folks lived down here listening to that?"
MacCready Bridge "This is great... I've always wanted to ride on one of these."
Engine room "Damn, that's a lot louder than I thought it would be."
After placing warhead "Unless you want to start glowing, you might want to hang back."
Nick Valentine Bridge "Well, it's certainly in better shape than I expected... thank god."
Engine room "Almost makes Diamond City's reactor look quaint."
After placing warhead "Imagine having to hear this all day long."
Piper Bridge "Oh, you've got to be kidding me. "Just one second. Need to get this all down.""
Engine room "Don't get to wander around an active submarine everyday."
After placing warhead "You know, it's kind of soothing once you go a little deaf."
Preston Garvey Bridge "I can't believe we're walking around inside a Chinese sub."
Engine room "I'd rather not get any closer to that than I have to. Just in case I want to have children one day."
After placing warhead "Well, what do you know. It actually worked."
X6-88 Bridge "This craft is remarkably well-preserved."
Engine room "If we ever need to disable this vessel, this is the place to do it."
After placing warhead "I admit it, I didn't think this would actually work."

Appearances

The Yangtze appears only in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes

  • The Yangtze-class is an unique, retrofuturistic shape not similar to any real-world submarine, unlike the SSN-37-1A, which bears a very conventional (albeit small) design. Its shape would give it a very conspicuous sonar profile.
  • The Yangtze is the longest river in both Asia and China. However, in real life, the term Yangtze(揚子) is relatively unused in modern Chinese, apart from the river. Chinese speakers would likely use the much more popular term Changjiang(長江), while westerners use Yangtze. In addition, Yangtze would also have been spelled Yangzi in modern pinyin, since Yangtze is the romanized spelling.

Gallery

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 507: "[17.04] YANGTZE
    Easily mistaken for a strange aquatic monster, this Chinese nuclear submarine (Liao-Class Type 113) is hidden among the wrecks of other ships in the Boston Harbor. It is commanded by Captain Zao. Should you wish to access the terminal (Master) on the lower level, find the first mate’s password from the fellow lurking down in these parts."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)
  2. The Sole Survivor: "Where are you going to get that?"
    Zao: "Ah... Now that is the right question to ask. 200 years ago, I launched all of Yangtze's high-yield nuclear missiles. As ordered. For 200 years, I have lived with that guilt. That shame. So much fire Such bei. But one missile failed to launch. You must go down. Remove the warhead. Then bring it to me."
    (Zao's dialogue)
  3. The Sole Survivor: "Have you been here for 200 years?"
    Zao: "Wa! It has been that long? Shi de. Yes. I suppose it has. Long ago. Just after the fire. Yangtze struck a mine. My qianting barely made it here into harbor. City already ruins by then. Few noticed us. Fewer cared. Too much tong ku. Your arrival is good xingyun for me. I need help, you see. Yangtze is not... ahh... Seaworthy. You will help me fix her?"
    (Zao's dialogue)
  4. Yangtze-31 terminal entries; reactor terminal
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