History Characters / Destroyermen

* EvilIsSterile: Of a sort. Since their conquest of the Mediterranean was largely unopposed due to their technological superiority, most League capital ships are in a state of disrepair due to lack of maintenance, and they've made little attempt to build more.

* Enemy Mine: [[spoiler:With Kurokawa dead, he realizes he can't serve the Grik anymore, as they are likely to get rid of him when he's no longer necessary to their "Great Hunt". He opts to try to contact the Alliance and offer his services (and his bombers) to them.]]

* RedeemingReplacement: She has a much keener grasp of military matters, develops a sense of loyalty towards he people and is even willing to make peace with the humans and their allies and halt the hunting swarms.

* RedeemingReplacement: She has a much keener grasp of military matters, develops a sense of loyalty and is even willing to make peace with the humans and their allies and halt the hunting swarms.

* AFatherToHisMen: He manages to form some connections with lesser Grik under him and is reluctant to throw away their lives. [[spoiler:When Esshk's soldiers

* ConflictingLoyalty: Between [[spoiler:Ign and the Celestial Mother]] in the final book. [[spoiler:He chooses the Celestial Mother.]]

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler: Laney starts to realize in ''River of Bones'' that maybe being a consummate {{Jerkass}} isn't the best way to spend his life, and resolves to square up, "quit bitching" as he says, and simply do his best to take care of his "baby", ''Santy Cat''...and possibly earn the affection of the one person he'd 'like'' to be able to call his baby, one Kathy [=McCoy=].]]

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Gives one in ''Storm Surge''.
-->'''Silva:''' "This war, what I do - in spite of how I do it - is the best thing I ever did. I expect to burn in hell for ''how'', but good folks, folks like you, will maybe have a chance. To make sure o' that, an' to make sure all the folks I care about have the same chance, I'm in this war to the bitter end, an' I don't see that comin' anytime soon."

* NoodleIncident: In ''Storm Surge'' it's mentioned that there is a rumor that Silva and Laney had once been friends, but there's no word on what initially caused their mutual antagonism.

* OddFriendship: He hits it off pretty well with Lt. Tohru Miyata while the two of them are recovering on ''Amerika'' after the events of ''Deadly Shores''.

* SchizoTech: Two WWI-era ''Wickes''-class destroyers, a WWI-era S-class submarine, an old tramp freighter converted into a warship, and WWII-vintage airplanes, plus a fleet of wooden sailing ships armed with muzzle-loading cannons, with multiple all-wood aircraft carriers. All of those wooden sailing ships have radios, active sonar, and depth charges. Most of them also have oil-fired engines. Many carry a spotter plane. They've recently added some PT boats. Later on, [[spoiler:they start churning out more ''Wickes''-class destroyers and even produce a light cruiser (basically, a scaled-up version of the ''Walker'')]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Laney is promoted to Chief Machinist's Mate after the [[HeroicSacrifice death]] of [[spoiler: Chief Donaghey]]. He (usually) means well, but his leadership skills are nonexistent, so he mostly acts like an asshole. Lemurian Sailors consider it a punishment to be assigned to Laney's division. He gets better in ''River of Bones'', after realizing that [[spoiler:his "baby" ''Santa Catalina'' is likely never coming back from the raid on the Zambezi. Not only does he start treating people better, but he nearly dies staying behind, keeping the boilers running, as the ship is filling with water. He survives, and Russ asks him to join him on the ''Savoie'' to run the battleship's engines]].

* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Gilbert is killed in the final book when a shell from the ''Leopardo'' wrecks the ''Walker''[='s=] engine room. Both Isak and Tabby are devastated.]]

* VehicularTurnabout: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Winds of Wrath'', she was seized by the Allies. The New United States lay claim to her, but Reddy knows they don't push the issue since they can't actually fix or maintain her, so she's likely to end up in the hands of the Alliance.]]

* VehicularTurnabout: [[spoiler:Her captain stays out of the fight at Martinique after being convinced to switch sides by the commander of U-112, an old friend of his. The ''Hessen'' still sustains damage when the U-112 torpedoes the League's arsenal ships. The cruiser's captain is not pleased.]]

* VehicularTurnabout: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Winds of Wrath'', she was seized by the Allies and handed over to the New United States despite the latter not able to maintain her due to being more technologically advanced.]]

* VehicleTurnabout: [[spoiler:Her captain stays out of the fight at Martinique after being convinced to switch sides by the commander of U-112, an old friend of his. The ''Hessen'' still sustains damage when the U-112 torpedoes the League's arsenal ships. The cruiser's captain is not pleased.]]

* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Killed by Blood Drinkers in the Dom Pope's inner sanctum.]]

* RedeemingReplacement: [[spoiler:The second Celestial Mother has a much keener grasp of military matters, develops a sense of loyalty and is even willing to make peace with the humans and their allies and halt the hunting swarms]].

* RedeemingReplacement: See above.

A recently hatched fighter who, through survival skills and ingenuity rises through their ranks in the final books.

* EatenAlive: How they prefer to eat their captives.

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: They believe that their gods once ruled the world before vanishing, and will return once the world has been cleansed of all Worthy Prey.

* BringHelpBack: After Kaufman's mutiny aboard the ''Mahan'', he, Mallory and Signalman Palmer take off in the floatplane to tell Reedy.

* RankUp: He's alater promoted to captain of his own ship.
* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:In ''Winds of Wrath'' the bridge of his current ship is devastated by a direct hit and ROnson Rodriguez feels a cold certainty that no one could have survived, but it's never 100% confirmed that it did kill him in the aftermath of the battle]].
* YouAreInCommandNow: He was the highest survivor of the Mahan's original crew, although he soon turned over command to Jim Ellis.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: Their ''modus operandi''. They aren't (yet) willing to actually fight the Alliance or the Grik, so they instead conspire to ensure the war between them is mutually destructive.

* DiabolicalMastermind: Also the The Strategist: Actually, he is clearly more competent strategist than his opponents, and his plans rarely fail because of his mistakes. [[spoiler:All his most crushing defeats are caused by lack of correct information about the enemy capabilities.]]
* EvilGenius: Very much of this, considering how much he was able to accomplish in short time with very limited resources.

* WorthyOpponent: He start to grudgingly respect Reddy as time goes on, eventually prompting a brief HeelRealization in ''Devil's Due''.

[[folder: Grik Empire]]
Raptor-like saurians covered in down-like fur and picnofibres. Grik, or Gharrichk'k, are intelligent (if properly educated), but also naturally very aggressive.

* TheDreaded: They've been the Lemuriens' boogeymen for generations, and it isn't until ''Walker'' starts teaching them how to fight that this changes.

* WarForFunAndProfit: When not engaged in genocidal expansionist invasions, or "hunts," Grik regencies will often fight eachother to satisfy their Uul's aggression and as a means of population control. These "wars of sport" are [[DeliberateValuesDissonance considered friendly affairs]] and are arranged by the Regent-Consorts of the involved regencies.

* AntiVillain: In ''Blood In the Water'', [[spoiler: Halik not only starts a civil war to save his veteran army from traditionalist Grik leaders who believe they must have “turned prey,” but cuts ties with Kurokawa and Esshk in the hope that he, his army, and the Grik refugees with them can create a new, more advanced, more ''civilized'' society.]]

* AdiposeRex: She's so fat she can't leave her throne.

A general who works with Esshk in the later half of the series.
* AFatherToHisMen: He manages to form some connections with lesser Grik under him and is reluctant to throw away their lives.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: An ambiguous example. [[spoiler:He dies protecting the new Celestial Mother from assassins but its unclear if this was still self-serving]].

* ConflictingLoyalty: Between [[spoiler:Ign and the Celestial Mother]] in the final book.

* TokenHeroicOrc: Like Halik he is willing to adapt his lien of thinking and develop feeling of loyalty towards other Grik soldiers, while gradually finding it harder to hate the humans.

A version of the United States founded by three US Navy ships sailing to Mexico City in 1847 during the Mexican-American War. Known as "Los Diablos del Norte" by the Holy Dominion for invading and capturing their original capital in Mexico, the ships sailed to North America and settled along its Gulf Coast. They have since occupied what would be Texas up to the Rio Grande River, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, parts of Mississippi state and have since captured Cuba from the Dominion. Their ships are wooden steam-sail hybrids like the Empire of New Britain except they use screw propellers, their ships are fuelled by oil and are armed with muzzle-loading rifled cannons.

An NUS officer and expert spymaster who is legendary within the NUS military. He is the one who saved Fred and Kairi from Dominion captivity and has been their close contact and friend ever since.

* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: ''Amagi'' was a battlecruiser that was still under construction when the Washington Naval Treaty rendered her illegal. While her more famous sister ''Akagi'' was rebuilt as an aircraft carrier, ''Amagi'' was badly damaged in an earthquake and later sunk as a target. InUniverse, she was completed as planned, but had her main battery downgraded from the original battleship-caliber 15-inch guns to intermediate-level 10-inchers (still much bigger and more powerful than any cruiser's guns) to exploit a loophole in the treaty.

* NeverFoundTheBody: ''Amagi'' was nowhere to be seen after the first encounter, and the destroyermen assumed she'd either sank or returned to her task force. Turns out she was swept through the Squall right behind them, and ended up joining the Grik after limping to Singapore for repairs and discovering what had happened to them.
* VehicularTurnabout: [[spoiler:Not exactly, but close enough. With the ship sunk in the shallow waters of Baalkpan Bay at the end of ''Maelstrom'', the lemurians decide there’s no good reason to let all that good steel (35,000 tons of it) and ordnance go to waste. A salvage operation is immediately set up, and every functional radio, gun mount, fire control director, or other usable device is removed and put on an Allied vessel (''Walker'' herself gets a pair of 25mm antiaircraft mounts). With that done, the wreck is broken up and the steel recycled into new guns and new ships to carry them.]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: ''Hidoiame'' is decribed as the twentieth ship of her class. In the real world, only nineteen ships of the type were ever built. Three additional ''Kagero'''s were authorized on the books in 1939-40, but they were only a bureaucratic ruse to hide funding for the ''Yamato''-class superbattleships then under construction.
* IAmAHumanitarian: Her crew were willing to eat the prisoners on ''Mizuki Maru'' after discovering they'd been swept to the other world. Fortunately, Okada prevented that from happening.

* TheDreadedDreadnought: A literal example. A superdreadnought to be precise

!!USS ''Fitzhugh Gray'', CL-1
A light cruiser, and first of her class, built by the Allies in late 1944. Named for Chief Bosun's Mate Fitzhugh Gray, who died at the First Battle of Grik City.
* AwesomeButImpractical: ''Gray'' is certainly more powerful than anything the Grik or Dominion possesses, but against the might of the League she's already obsolete, and Henry Stokes grumbles that they might have been better off building four more ''Walker''-class destroyers, which are flimsier but more versatile, instead.
* FlawedPrototype: Her shakedown cruise goes badly: while testing her engines at full astern, her steering gear is damaged and her rudder shaft torn out of alignment, forcing a month-long retrofit at a time the Allies ''really'' can't afford it.

* BadassMustache

* AcePilot

* SmugSnake

* EvilCannotComprehendGood

* FauxAffablyEvil

A version of the United States founded by three US Navy ships sailing to Mexico City in 1847 during the Mexican-American War. Known as "Los Diablos del Norte" by the Holy Dominion for invading and capturing their original capital in Mexico, the ships sailed to North America and settled along its Gulf Coast. They have since occupied what would be Texas up to the Rio Grande River, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, parts of Mississippi state and have since captured Cuba from them, and have been enemies of the Holy Dominion ever since. Their ships are wooden steam-sail hybrids like the Empire of New Britain except they use screw propellers and their ships are powered by oil and their cannons are muzzle-loading rifled cannons.

An officer of the NUS and an expert spymaster. He is the one who saved Fred and Kairi from Dominion captivity and has been their close contact.
* TheSpymaster: His main job, apparently.

A society of humans and lemurians who thrive in the bitter cold of South Africa, where the climate keeps the Grik at bay.

* DefeatEqualsFriendship: Fomerly a junior officer on a British ship sunk by the SMS ''Amerika'' in WWI, captured by the Germans. Now a line officer of the Republic under ''Kapitan'' Von Melhausen, loyal to Kaiser Nig-Taak.

* OmnicidalManiac: Regards his crew with utter disdain, frequently calls them traitors and cowards, and considers them expendable. Detests his Grik allies and considers them disposable. Hates Americans and holds a personal grudge against ''Walker''. Hates the Lemurians because they're allied with the Americans.

A large multinational invasion force from the fascist ''Confederation Etats Souverains'' (Confederation of Sovereign States) alliance, comprised of French, Spanish, Italian, and German forces from another alternate universe. Their fleet passed through the Squall in the Mediterranean in 1939 while on their way to invade British-held Egypt. They are now the most powerful military force in this world and seek to manipulate all possible opponents to ensure that no one can ever challenge their dominance.

* FlawedPrototype: Being the first of her kind (other than ''Walker'' and ''Mahan''), the relatively inexperienced Lemurians ran into a lot of issues getting her up and running and Captain Perry Brister admits that her sister, USS ''Geran-Eras'', is probably a SuperiorSuccessor since the lessons learned building ''Ellie'' were applied to her. [[spoiler:Although that's rendered moot when ''Geran-Eras'' is sunk at Mahe just weeks after launch.]]

* DamageSpongeBoss: [[spoiler: Attacked by SMS ''Amerika'' receiving very little damage in ''Blood in the Water''. Torpedoed later on in ''Devil's Due'', damaging her rudder which completely jams it and forces her into a left turn with no way of correcting causing her to run aground, once again with minor damage more or less (from colliding with the shore line, along with one of her guns getting blasted courtesy to Horn and Lange and the deck near her stern being burned from an earlier attack) which not only renders her harmless but convinces Reddy to launch an attempt to capture her (which succeeds) and use her in the future rather than outright destroying her.]].
* TheDreadedDreadnought: A literal example. A super dreadnought to be precise
* TheJuggernaut: [[spoiler: Holds the Republic of Real People at gun point (along with USS ''Donaghey'' when she arrives to check on the Republic) to prevent them from mobilizing against the Grik with the Republic having no way of fighting back. Easily sinks SMS ''Amerika'' in ''Blood in the Water'', and completely destroys a Grik battleship (along with one of her own guns) thanks to Gunnery Sergeant Arnold Horn and ''Kapitanleutnant'' Becker Lange hijacking one of her turrets]] in ''Devil's Due''. She is easily one of the most powerful ships to appear in the series so far.
* VehicularTurnabout: After the incident mentioned above, the League turn the ship over to Kurokawa in the hopes that his and Reddy's forces will wipe each other out and leave the League's supremacy uncontested. In "Devil's Due", [[spoiler:not only does the Alliance decisively win, they manage to capture ''Savoie'' intact and plan to use her against her original masters]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: ''Gray'' is certainly more powerful than anything the Grik or Dominion possess, but against the might of the League she's already obsolete, and Henry Stokes grumbles that they might have been better off building four more ''Walker''-class destroyers, which are flimsier but more versatile, instead.

Formerly ''Walker'''s supply officer, now promoted to the rank of Commander and serving as senior logistics officer and the Alliance's Minister of Industry.
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: He marries Ensign Karen Theimer]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Letts used to be a slacker. Now he's a self-made whirlwind of productivity.

* WorthyOpponent: In Aryaal's many wars with neighboring B'mbaado, he often fought his counterpart, General Haakar-Faask. He remembers Faask fondly, saying that they gave eachother plenty of scars over the years, and was proud to fight alongside him against the Grik. Since Faask was killed, Rolak has taken his place as Queen Saafir Maraan's surrogate father figure.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Her people were at war with Aryaal when the Grik besieged the latter city. Recognizing the greater threat, she personally led her elite troops to assist her former enemy. She also wastes no time [[spoiler:evacuating her city and [[SaltTheLand burning it to the ground]] upon learning the Grik Grand Swarm is on its way]].
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Her personal guard, "The Queen's Six-Hundred," are an elite fighting force. She usually leads them personally.