Eva's Hammer

"Hey, Captain? You hijacked the Eva's Hammer. The mightiest U-boat in the whole gosh darn Nazi fleet. Best of all, I tell you what. There is a nuclear cannon on this vessel. A darned nuclear cannon."

―Probst Wyatt III speaking to Blazkowicz about the Eva's Hammer^[src]

Eva's Hammer is the largest U-boat in the Kriegsmarine and the world. It is seen in the 2014 game Wolfenstein: The New Order, as well in the 2017 sequel Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Initially seized by the Kreisau Circle to access the Da'at Yichud safe-keep below the Atlantic Ocean, following the raid of the Kreisau Circle's base under the Monuments of Truth by Nazi forces, the Eva's Hammer became the HQ of the organization during the Second American Revolution.

History[]

Prior to the events of Wolfenstein: The New Order, the Eva's Hammer was created by the Kriegsmarine to solidify Nazi control over the vital Atlantic Ocean against potential Resistance forces. Amongst its many armaments, the Eva's Hammer was specially equipped with a nuclear cannon, allowing Nazi forces to annihilate unruly resistance holdouts should GNR forces become ill-equipped to handle the threats.

Named after Hitler's late wife Eva Braun, the Eva's Hammer was captained by Anton Krieger until 1960.

Wolfenstein: The New Order[]

Nukecannon — The nuclear cannon being used to fire a Spindly Torque at Deathshead's Compound.

Upon the rescue of Da'at Yichud member Set Roth, the Kreisau Circle sought his organization's secrets to gain an upper hand against the Nazi forces. Although most major Da'at Yichud safe-keeps across continental Europe had been compromised, Roth reluctantly agreed to divulge the location of the last uncompromised safe keeps to the resistance group. Located in the Atlantic Ocean, the team was forced to seize a Nazi U-Boat in order to gain access to the safe-keep. Leveraging his contacts, former Nazi Klaus Kreutz was able to smuggle B.J. Blazkowicz abroad the Eva's Hammer.

Following his infiltration of the vessel, Blazkowicz quickly seized the vessel from crew, and eliminated Krieger. Upon rendezvousing with the Kriesau Circle, the retrieval team quickly made their way to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and accessed the safe-keep. The discovery of the submarine's nuclear cannon proved vital in ensuring the Kreisau Circle maintained an edge over Nazi forces, although the resistance group was unable to utilize it, owing to its remote deactivation by the Nazis on the Lunar Base. In response, the Kreisau Circle launched a daring operation onto the Nazi Lunar Base. The operation was a resounding success, as the Nazis suffered a two-prong defeat. Their supply lines to the African front suffered major setbacks following the destruction of the Gibraltar Bridge, and the near entirety of the elite Lunar garrison was virtually eliminated by Blazkowicz.

Following Blazkowciz's return from London, the Kriesau Circle was forced to evacuate to the Eva's Hammer as their headquarters came under assault from Nazi forces under the command of General Irene Engel. Despite heavy Nazi resistance, the combined efforts of Blazkowicz and the newly-empowered Caroline Becker allowed most of the Resistance forces to evacuate to the U-Boat, although resistance member Klaus was killed by Nazi forces during the evacuation attempt and several major members were captured.

As the Kreisau Circle attempted to reorganize itself, at the urging of Blazkowicz, the resistance group mounted a desperate rescue attempt for its captured members. Utilising the U-Boat's nuclear cannon, Blazkowicz fired a Spindly Torque against entrenched Nazi forces at Deathshead's Compound. Although the majority of the captured prisoners were recovered, Blazkowicz was grievously wounded in his final confrontation with Deathshead. Before passing out, Blazkowicz ordered Kreisau Circle forces to fire the nuclear cannon upon his position.

Wolfenstein: The New Colossus[]

"This is a good home for us, Caroline. You always made the right call."

―B.J. internally to Caroline after her death.^[src]

6487a006ab90565317e106766408e19e — The Eva's Hammer under attack by the Ausmerzer.

Although Kreisau Circle forces were ordered by Blazkowicz to fire on his position, the order was delayed by Caroline Becker. With assistance from the core resistance group, they successfully evacuated the badly-wounded Blazkowicz from the compound. Following their evacuation, Deathshead's Compound was annihilated in the nuclear blast. The destruction of the Compound and the subsequent technological setback suffered by the Nazis resulted in the Eva's Hammer becoming a top-priority target for the Nazis to recapture or destroy.

Owing to the U-Boat's size, in the chaos of the fighting and the lack of manpower, the Resistance failed to properly sweep the U-Boat for Nazi stragglers. The survivors of the Eva's Hammer raid led by Nazi Commander Fischer fled and hid in the secret Section F compartment. With the Kreisau Circle's operations in Europe defunct, Caroline Becker opted to shift the resistance group's efforts towards supporting American Resistance cells. As the Eva's Hammer traversed through the Atlantic Ocean, Nazi forces under Engel regularly tracked the U-Boat's location via transmission signals from Fischer.

Nearly five months after Blazkowicz entered into a coma, Nazi forces initiated a raid against the Eva's Hammer. Despite the best efforts of the Kreisau Circle forces, Nazi forces were able to infiltrate the U-Boat and inflicted significant casualties amongst the defenders. Awakened by the gunfire, the badly-weakened Blazkowicz traversed throughout the U-Boat as he rendezvoused with other survivors. During the fighting, Becker and the 1946 Compound Survivor was captured by Nazi forces. Under the threat of their execution, Blazkowicz reluctantly surrendered to Nazi forces. After a brief interrogation culminating in the beheading of Becker, Blazkowicz and the 1946 survivor escaped with assistance from the defecting Sigrun Engel.

Trivia[]

The U-boat is most likely named after Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's lover, and wife. Alternatively, it might be named after the biblical Eve ("Eva" in German).
The Eva's Hammer has at least dozens of nuclear warheads stored in Section F of the ship. The stockpile was originally protected from intruders by Drones and Super Soldiers until B.J. disposed of all of them, allowing the other Resistance members to access these.
The crew members that hide in Section F are all armed with 1961 weapons like other soldiers, and commanders wear the 1961 uniform, likely for gameplay and development reasons (though alternatively, it may be a last-minute bug that got overlooked). Due to hiding since B.J. took over in 1960, they should still wear 1960 uniforms and use 1960 weapons, and commanders weren't able to call for reinforcements. Also, all Super Soldiers and Drones hidden in Section F sport their 1961 designs instead of their 1960 designs. Furthermore, it is unknown why the Nazis in hiding didn't join the assault when Engel attacked the U-Boat.
Eva's Hammer is based on the real-world plans for the Kriegsmarine's Cruiser Class U-boats. These vessels would have been twice as large as the standard U-boat of the German Navy and would have been capable of carrying the Arado Ar-231 scout seaplane as well as the Flettner Fl-282 helicopter.
It appears that the Eva's Hammer is also an aircraft carrier submarine, as numerous retro-futuristic Ho-229 can be seen docked through the glass at the staircase in Wolfenstein: The New Order.
In the German version of the game, the U-boat is called "Hammerfaust" (German for "Hammerfist").
In the third DLC, The Amazing Deeds of Captain Wilkins, Captain Gerald Wilkins steals a U-boat, that looks like Eva's Hammer, possibly meaning that several submarines of this type were built.
There is actually a real submarine carrier known as the I-400-class submarine built by Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War in which 18 of this class were ordered to be built in 1942 but was scaled down to 5 in 1943 and were to carry up to three Aichi M6A Seiran Floatplanes but only 3 (I-400 at Kure, and I-401 and I-402 at Sasebo) out of the 5 were completed.
The nuclear cannon on the U-boat is possibly based on the American M65 atomic cannon.
Approximate size characteristics of U965t (Unterseebot 965 t) "Eve's Hammer": Length - 261 m Height - 117 m Width - 87 m

Ballistic missile submarines appear not to have been developed in this timeline, at least as of the 1960s, probably primarily due to a lack of peer enemies to counter with them. By scaling the features of the Eva's Hammer and comparing various screenshots of it and the Ausmerzer, the length of the submarine can be estimated to be between 230 and 300 meters.