D'oh, I forgot one!

VF-1U Sea Valkyrie

The Sea Valkyrie was not, as its name might seem to imply, a version of the VF-1 designed for carrier duty. After all, all Valkyries are built for carrier duty, not only in space but on the water, and the WDF routinely conducted flight operations at sea when dealing with situations on planets with oceans. No, the Sea Valkyrie, developed as part of Stonewell Bellcom's Valkyrie Mark XXXII project in 2129, was something else altogether... something much weirder. The Sea Valkyrie was a submersible VF-1.

Yes, you read that right. The VF-1U was designed and built to operate, in all three modes, underwater. Its superstructure was reinforced to handle ocean pressures. All its systems were specially sealed and treated to resist salt water corrosion. Its sensor package was augmented with powerful active and passive sonar systems. Its engines were configured with a special "cool impeller" mode, enabling the pilot to convert them with the flick of a switch from air-breathing fusion turbines to low-noise hydrojets. Even the weapons systems were adapted for undersea combat; Stonewell Bellcom engineers developed an underwater version of the GU-11 gun pod, as well as short- and medium-range torpedoes that could attach to and launch from the VF-1's standard munitions rails.

The idea was a fairly bold one. Engineers envisioned a scenario in which VF-1s being used in a wet conflict could carry out their standard airborne functions, and then - in pursuit of, say, an enemy submarine or submersible attack craft - dive into the sea and continue the fight. At the battle's end, the Sea Valkyries could then leap from the waves, like sporting porpoises, switch their engines back to flight mode, and wing their way back to their base carrier.

As it happens, this idea is not as far-fetched as it seems. Some commonly known mecha - Zentraedi battle pods, for instance - can fight underwater, and at least one of the enemies the WDF faced during the early Golden Age actually had flying attack submarines that could and did engage WDF forces in both mediums. The Sea Valkyrie, developed as a counter to exactly the kind of force, distinguished itself as an effective, if bizarre, weapons system.

The VF-1U wasn't perfect. For one thing, it couldn't operate in space; the modifications to the engines that enabled the underwater mode required the removal of the systems that make the regular Valkyrie's engines work in a vacuum. For another, it had a maximum depth (about 500 feet) below which it ran the risk of losing hull integrity - posing the danger of leaks admitting seawater into delicate systems, possible cockpit flooding, even complete implosion if the vehicle went too deep. The torpedoes, especially the medium-range Mark 14 that replaced the regular Valkyrie's heavy antiair missiles, had some guidance and detonator problems, and were never as reliable as WDF pilots would have liked. And the mental adjustment involved in switching from aerial to undersea combat wasn't something all the pilots who tried it could really get their heads around.

Still, under certain conditions, the 30 VF-1Us produced proved their worth. They were a combat vehicle with a distinctly quirky niche, but they filled that niche very well, and on the rare occasions when the Golden Age WDF dusted them off and put them to use for special tasks, they acquitted themselves well. The few surviving veteran pilots who have the right to wear the Golden Trident (as the Sea Valkyrie pilot qualification badge was informally known) may do so with pride. They took one of the WDF's weirdest weapons to war and made it back alive - if not necessarily dry.