Oregon II (Ship)

This article is about the ship that stars in 'the Oregon'' Files'. For the ship that appears in Flood Tide, see Oregon I.''

The Oregon is the The Corporation's main base of operations. To the untrained eye, she appears as a 560-foot-long, badly rusted tramp steamer with a beam of 75 feet and a gross tonnage of 11,000 (which equates to 1,100,000 cubic feet of internal space). She has a single funnel and 5 derricks, two behind the funnel and superstructure and three on the forward decks. She has six holds with twelve hatches and usually flies an Iranian flag. Before she was appropriated by the Corporation and massively overhauled at Odessa, the Oregon worked as a lumber hauler.

Exterior Camouflage
In reality, the derelict appearance of the ship is all camouflage designed to make boarders want to get off as soon as possible and pay the ship no special attention. All of the exterior rust is actually special paint, and the pilothouse wheel is dead, though it can send signals to the ship's computer, which is advanced enough to run to ship by itself. Other camouflage systems include special ballast tanks that can simulate a load of cargo, mechanically generated engine vibrations, and a smoke generator in the fake funnel. A secret button on a deck handrail activates the elevator to the command center belowdecks.

Interior Appearance
When the Corporation overhauled the Oregon, two decks were added to her interior, making three internal decks altogether. The lowest level houses the engines, physical plants, machine shop, armory, storage rooms, and moon pool, which houses all the Oregon 's underwater equipment including diving gear, manned and unmanned submersibles, and an array of underwater sensors. It also features a thickly carpeted room at the base of the stairs that showcases the plaques and medals given to the Oregon and her crew by various nations and clients. The second level, which is accessible by the mahogany-paneled, sconce-lit stairway or a single heavy-lift elevator amidships, houses communications, weapons systems, a variety of shops and offices, a large library, a computer room, and a map room. The third level houses the dining room, recreation rooms, a full gym, crew cabins, and meeting and boardrooms. There is also a two-lane running track that runs around the upper level. Due to the large sums of money that the Corporation makes on its jobs, the crew cabins are as plush as a five-star hotel and each one is designed by its owner. The meeting room on the third floor has a large mahogany table and one wall is covered with floor-to-ceiling computer monitors.

Command Center
In Golden Buddha, Cussler describes the Command Center as "a vast brightly lit room filled with computers, automated controls and several large consoles containing communications and weapons-firing systems. The deck...[is] richly carpeted, the walls were paneled in exotic woods and the furniture looked as if it had come straight from a designer's showroom." The room also features a large window on the forward bulkhead which is protected by armored panels. The Command Center is the true heart of the Oregon, and is manned by a crew up to 6 at a time (usually there are fewer than that since so much of the ship's operation is automated).

Magic Shop
Main article: Magic Shop The Magic Shop, which is located on the second level, looks like a Hollywood costume and set shop and smells of grease, vinyl, and wax. It contains a metal-framed, wood-topped workbench with a ring of hand tools around the perimeter and a three-legged stool in front of it. The Magic Shop is where the Corporation's various disguises and props are constructed.

Engines
The Oregon is powered by four state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic engines. They operate by drawing electricity out of salt water through magnetic cores kept at absolute zero using liquid helium, which produce enough energy to power pumps which thrust the water out the stern, propelling the ship forward. They are whisper-quiet and produce none of the vibrations produced by traditional diesel engines. They are also extremely powerful, capable of pushing the Oregon to speeds of up to 62 knots, fast enough to sail from Puerto Rico to the Cape of Good Hope in just six days. Only three other ships in the world use these engines.

Weapons
The Oregon has many weapons systems which it can use to defend itself from enemy attack. The bow of ship features hidden batteries of Harpoon missiles.

Other Craft
The Oregon also houses several smaller craft, including:
 * 2 U.S. Submarines submersibles, the Nomad 1000 and the Discovery 1000
 * A Wellcraft Scarab hidden on deck in a box of rusting plates
 * 2 olive-green Zodiac RIBs kept on the lower deck

Movements
The following is a list of all known movements of the Oregon as recorded by Clive Cussler:

Golden Buddha:
 * Santiago Harbor, Cuba (rescuing prisoners from Santa Ursula)
 * San Juan, Puerto Rico (dropping off rescued prisoners)
 * Rounds the Cape of Good Hope
 * Passes the Paracel Islands
 * Coloane, Macau (heist of the Golden Buddha statue)
 * Passes Hainan Island in international waters
 * Ho Chi Minh City (transferring operatives for the coup in Tibet)
 * Passes Singapore
 * Travels through the Straight of Malacca
 * Turns north towards the Bay of Bengal off Bangladesh