Big Shell

The Big Shell was a large marine decontamination facility established approximately 30 kilometers offshore from Manhattan, New York. The facility was comprised of two hexagonal structures, Shell 1 and Shell 2, connected end-on-end, north to south. each structure was consisted of a central "core" surrounded by six struts.

History
According to the United States Government, the sinking of the U.S.S. Discovery in New York Harbor in 2007 caused a large quantity of crude oil to be discharged into the sea. The government immediately responded with the construction of an oil fence. Using chlorine derivatives, they sterilized the entire zone of polluted sea and constructed a huge marine decontamination facility. Biological reactors managed in "nodes" were installed inside the Big Shell, and it became a symbol of environmental protection. Also, the Big Shell utilized a genetically altered form of sea lice that had its DNA altered with that of the bacterium pseudomonas to give it the ability to decompose crude oil through an enzyme in its body. They were used to a great extent in order to reduce costs and the number of spill maintenance workers. The sea lice are benign and harmless, but they do have ravenous appetites, making them a pest as well.

In 2009, a terrorist group calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty" led by Solidus Snake, a.k.a. former President George Sears, had attacked the Big Shell while a government sponsored tour was being held. President James Johnson and the rest of the political party were captured and taken hostage. They demanded a ransom of $30,000,000,000. They also stated that if the government was unable to meet their demands, they would blow the Big Shell out of the water, which would result in the ignition of the remaining crude oil in Manhattan Harbor that would create an inferno. The chlorides used to decontaminate the harbor would be ignited as well, releasing clouds of toxins containing catastrophic levels of dioxins, totally destroying the Hudson Bay ecosystem with naught but a toxic soup remaining for centuries to come.

In reality, the Big Shell was merely a cover story, disguising the construction of Arsenal Gear. The oil was intentionally spilt later by a duplicate tanker sent by the Patriots and was then sunken in the same area. The original tanker contained no crude oil at all. Rather, it was being used to house Metal Gear RAY.

The Big Shell also was revealed later on that it was not even cleaning the environment at all. Although it had several facilities that were utilized to clean up the oil spill, they weren't running at full capacity, as Snake discovered while sneaking around the facility. Otacon also speculated later on that they may have brought in more amounts of crude oil to spill into the harbor to replace any oil that was cleaned out of the bay, and deduced that the "toxic gas" theory sounded too dodgey to even be considered remotely true.

The decontamination effort that followed was staged in order to complete tests on Arsenal Gear and the AI, GW, as part of the S3 Plan. It was because of this that the Big Shell was chosen for the location of Raiden's engineered mission.

During the Big Shell Incident, the structure was severely damaged by various battles fought there. It was destroyed altogether when Arsenal Gear was activated.

Layout and functions
The Big Shell was composed of two "shells," each containing six struts around the core of the shell. Oil fences were also erected in order to contain the crude oil. The facility was also almost completely automated, which meant that there were few human personnel required at the Big Shell. The steeple-like structures dotting the facility were piles installed to draw up the polluted seawater, which is then stored in a sediment pool (see Strut D), and then travels to Shell 2 for the oil to be removed from the sea water and eventually travelled to Strut L for it to be completely sterilized before flushed out.

The two shells were connected by a bridge. The Big Shell balanced itself by attaching shell struts to the shell core. If both shell cores were to be destroyed at the same time, the entire facility would collapse. Most of the functions and layout were given out in a brochure.

Shell 1
The Shell 1 Core was one of the more important facilities, and it was the center of the Big Shell: Its first basement floor contained a meeting hall that was used for the receptions for the President as well as the environmental protection inspection team. Because of it being used by high-ranking officials, it also contains biometrics scanning equipment at the door to the meeting hall. A break-room is also situated nearby. The second floor basement contained a computer room that was used to monitor the flow of polluted water and the status of filtration, as well as where all tasks of the Big Shell are carried out. Presumably, the computer room also was the location where GW was being programmed, which made security in this area very tight. The second floor basement also contained a large door that led straight into Arsenal Gear.

Strut A contained a pump facility to supply energy for the circulation of polluted sea water into the sections of the Big Shell, although the pump facility itself was actually congregated in the southern section of Strut A. The controls for the pump facility were located in the northern section of Strut A. Strut A also contained a Deep Sea Dock that was used for deep sea submarines to investigate for damages around the Big Shell underwater.

Strut B acted as the electric generator of the entire facility, with its power substation being located on the first floor.

Strut C was the residential area of the facility, which contained a kitchen, a pantry, restrooms, and a mess hall to support the few workers it has.

Strut D contained sediment pool no. 1, which was a facility where polluted water was stored without disruption so that its large pollutants could settle and then be extracted from the water.

Strut E contained a heliport, which was used as an aerial transport hub to deliver supplies to the facility due to the oil fences surrounding the Big Shell cutting off its sea entrances from seafaring transport vessels.

Strut E also contained a conveyor system that transports supplies throughout the different areas of the facility, to which it sorts the supplies to where it needs to go via the markings of its containers.

Strut F acted as a warehouse for several of their equipment that they didn't have any immediate use for.

Shell 2
The Shell 2 Core was where the actual filtration system resided. It purified the waters via benign bacteria in the area that broke down the oil in the water via microbes decomposing microcarbons. The area below the first floor contained a vat for this purpose. As a side-effect of the microbes decomposing the oil by absorbing large amounts of oxygen in the purification chamber, the water within the chamber also had its buoyancy virtually eliminated, which meant there was virtually no chance of getting back to the surface once one falls into the vat. The first floor also contained an air purification facility that eliminated the stench from the seawater that resulted from the oil spill. However, the vat broke at some point, causing the shell to flood in areas below the first floor.

Strut G contained the Oil Processing Facility.

Strut H contained a Warehouse.

Strut I contained the Assembly Facility.

Strut J contained a Power Plant and a heliport which Snake and Otacon used to repair their Kasatka.

Strut K contained a Biochem Lab.

Strut L contained the effluent processing facility, which treated sea water that was expunged of oil was treated with chlorine and other chemicals to sterilize and disinfect the sea water so it could be made suitable for flushing back into the ocean again.

Equipment

 * JIM Suit


 * Deep Sea Submarine

Weapons

 * M9
 * M4
 * AKS-74u
 * PSG-1/PSG1-T
 * Nikita
 * RGB6 grenade launcher
 * C4
 * Firearm suppressor

Security systems

 * Surveillance cameras
 * Pressure activated security camera
 * Gun cameras
 * Electrified floor

Fauna
Wharf Roach: A crustacean of order Isopoda under the family Ligidaie that lives primarily near reefs and seashores. They have antennae and seven pairs of legs. Although their normal diet usually composes of algae and dead organisms, the variety on the Big Shells were created in a lab and genetically engineered to break down the spilled oil by splicing their genes with that of the bacterium Pseudomonas so they could absorb and eat oil. This ability is the reason why the Big Shell itself is oil-free, although they also seem to enjoy rations. In addition, they have an aversion to cold vapor, meaning that a coolant spray will drive them away.

Trivia

 * Mother Base, the base of operations for Big Boss's Militaires Sans Frontieres, bears a strong resemblance to the Big Shell.
 * The Big Shell lacked life boats, and this along with its long distance from Manhattan's shore was the reason why Snake, Raiden, and Otacon had to use the chopper to evacuate the hostages on Big Shell.


 * Big Shell bears a striking resemblance to a series of British World War 2 anti-aircraft facilities, all of which featured a central core surrounded by octagonal struts

Behind the scenes
In Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 2 Grand Game Plan, the Big Shell was originally to have been called the Big Blue Apple (a combination of "Big Blue Sea" and the "Big Apple," nicknames for the ocean and New York City, respectively). There was also to have been an aquarium for all of the aquatic wildlife in the Hudson Bay, which could be used to monitor and identify wildlife via a miniature submarine device. It is also implied that it also "drew out" gold and silver minerals from the sewers. These ultimately never made the cut. Additionally, although the Big Shell's involvement in Arsenal Gear's construction was the same, it was originally to have been constructed to raise up the U.S.S. Discovery (nicknamed the Arsenal Ship) and recover valuable data on Arsenal Gear in order to resume its development.