Submarine

Submarines are a hidden update that occurred on 27 May 2009 in which periscopes started appearing around some parts of the RuneScape coastline as part of the pre-release of the next quest in the penguin series, Hunt for Red Raktuber. The quest was not released until 2 June 2009, 6 days after the release of the submarines. At times the periscope is submerged, so players may have to wait before it appears above the surface of the water. The submerged submarine can be seen in Standard Detail, as it is shown as a dark shadow. The periscopes cannot be examined.

Spotted locations
The following locations show a periscope appearing out of the water:


 * Catherby - may be seen from Entrana
 * Port Sarim - may be seen from the island south of Draynor Village (fairy ring code: )
 * Ship Yard
 * Port Khazard

Known submarines
Currently, the only known submarine is the Red Raktuber, the key focus of the quest Hunt for Red Raktuber.

The crew of Red Raktuber consisted of:
 * Captain Marlin
 * 2 penguin engineers
 * The captured penguin

Theories
During the run-up to the release of the quest, there were several hints and theories concerning the involvement of penguins and the mention of the Red Raktuber.

Player-submitted poll
In a player-submitted poll there was a question asking "What do you think that the penguins have been up to since the Cold War quest?". One of the top-voted answers was "Building a yellow submarine." Whilst this was not a guaranteed poll, it may have had some influence on the resulting storyline.

The censored Letter
This letter was partially censored, the ###'s are representitive of the censor blocks throughout the letter. The "giant underwater ##########################" could possibly be in reference to a submarine.

Zanik's adventure


In Postbag from the Hedge 40, Zanik talks about her adventures from her visiting Entrana, then coming back from there and going around Mudskipper Point in which she sees a "Sea monster" in the water.

This was probably the submarine periscope, although a pirate thought it was a "Leviathan" and the artist's impression included in the letter resembles a Loch Ness Monster. Immediately after Zanik's letter, Postie Pete also makes a comment about the sea monster.

Note the ellipsis (...) before the text "creature", Postie Pete is unsure if it is a creature or not.

Trivia

 * A yellow submarine is a reference to the Beatles song "Yellow Submarine".
 * It is worth noting that on its, the image of Zanik and the periscope contains a hidden name/message: "zanik and pe...". For Internet Explorer and Google Chrome users, this can easily be found by hovering over the image for the "alternative text" to pop up. Mozilla Firefox users can right-click the image, select Properties, and see that the "alternative text" is "zanik and pe...". This may very well be short for "zanik and penguin submarine" or "zanik and periscope".
 * The censored letter; "Do we ever plan to move? That’s down to Staff Sergeant ... . We call it Catch Twenty-Tuna", is an reference to one of the literary works of the 20th century, "Catch 22" written by Joseph Heller. Within the book Catch 22 is never fully defined but one of the best known clauses in the words of the author himself is:
 * "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Or would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."