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Post by boomboomf22 on Mar 6, 2017 8:48:06 GMT -6
It's the Nassau template, which the AI loves for some reason. By default it is 11" 18kt ship tho I have seen faster variants and ones with up to 14" guns. Interestingly it will often be used even when the building country has the means to build better ones
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Post by cv10 on Mar 6, 2017 22:52:07 GMT -6
Speed, missing 3rd centerline turret and and extra turret on each side, that British ship is remarkably similar to the actual HMS Dreadnought design
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 7, 2017 2:02:59 GMT -6
Chapter 7.
A welcome peace persisted throughout 1907. The United States was very stoutly proclaiming its Monroe Doctrine, and chaffed at even the Commonwealth's tiny colony of Trinidad in the Caribbean, but in other regards Europe recovered from continental war and the PLC slowly grew in prosperity despite its people's niggling protestations against high naval spending. In May the Navy finally had its shooting competition, and with little surprise it was Commodore Fieldorf's Litwa which took home the honors.
The first jarring misfortune which interrupted the slow growth of Europe's economies and fleets was again from the Balkans, where the Prince Nikola I of Montenegro- a strong voice for independence and against union with Serbia - was killed by Serbian anarchists. This was a sore blow to the proud Montenegrans, who had steadfastly fought off rule by the ever more numerous and well equipped Turks. Alexsandr actually expended a great deal of personal effort in an attempt to prevent hostilities from escalating out of control, sending messages and intermediaries to the aggrieved parties on all sides. As a result tensions only rose slightly, and as the year drew to a close peace was still the prevailing mood across the continent.
Unfortunately in December there was a sharp crisis between England and the US over her numerous Caribbean colonies and the forces she stationed there. England actually again wrote asking if she would have the Commonwealth's support in backing the ultimatum she intended to issue. The King conferred, and as no-one could fathom matters would actually evolve to hostilities, the PLC affirmed she would honor the Alliance in extremis. Tensions spiked over Christmas, so much so that with 3 months yet to go on the delivery of Kirholm Alexsandr ordered her sister Praga be laid down, accepting the short term deficit to get her building underway.
As predicted however, 1908 saw tensions fall with America, though unexpectedly rise with the Germanic bloc again. When Kirholm was launched in March Germany responded by increasing her budget. Kirholm in fact could not meet her design speed on trials, however developments from a the Navy Technical School enabled at last practical oil firing to be in the Navy's future plans. In July there was a revolution in Morocco, though this time to curb the violence the Commonwealth joined with France to form an international squadron, a move which did not please Germany, the sole nation to refrain from representation. However, by year's end tensions throughout Europe were once again moderate, and in no particular area any real concern. Alexsandr actually gave a speech at the Navy League's New Years Ball in which he commented that the threat from Imperial Russia in the Baltic was actually the greatest threat to the Commonwealth's prosperity. Unrest at Naval Spending and spartan domestic conditions remained moderate.
Beginning the very next day however 1909 was shown to be a far more volatile year. Reports of soaring economic production drove unrest higher as the people wondered when they would see some of this new wealth returned to them. In February the Prime Minister called for the Navy to lay down two new battleships, which when accepted for July keel-laying by Alexsandr raised tensions with all the PLC's west European continental neighbors. In April specific steps were taken to reduce tensions with France, though the budget suffered as a result. In May England allowed the Commonwealth Alliance to lapse without offering to renew it, a blow to the confidence of the government that brought a socialist agenda to the Sejm which insisted on reducing spending. Then in July a Disarmament conference was called for again in Geneva. Seeing as Praga was still 10 months away from completion and almost assuredly would be scrapped by any agreement, Admiral Kosciuszko put forth most vehemently that the Commonwealth should not attend. Tensions rose to threatening levels for the first time in 3 years. The Polish People still wroth over the unbalanced distribution of wealth, now again had to consider possible hostilities with her neighbors.
It was against this backdrop that the Commonwealth finally took the bold step to order its first domestic-built battleships.
Gdansk had just increased their yard capacity to 16,000 tons, and despite the fact that such tonnages were barely adequate for a dreadnought type battleship, the decision was made that it was time for Poland to prove that they had mastered the arts taught to them by England. The ship would be oil-fired using the new turbines just developed, and also incorporate cross-deck fire. A 10-gun broadside would be called for, and as well the Central Firing stations currently only in Kirholm. With all the novel weight savings that could be contrived, the armor fitted was only just adequate. Alexsandr finally had to abandon the Gallery battery concept, as there simply wasn't the displacement to play with in this vessel. Two ships were ordered from Gdansk, Stefan Batory and, somewhat to his embarrassment, the public insisted upon the second ship being called Tadeusz Kosciuszko. He would have preferred the Navy wait until after his passing to name a vessel after his hero forefather, but so be it.
The 2nd Batory had swiftly to be placed on hold until Praga was delivered, yet the very next month in September Puck once again approached Wladyslawowo for a piece of the action, promising to deliver under cost and in less time the same design- despite not yet having the yard size required. Alexsandr accepted the contract anyway, as he somehow knew that Puck would do whatever it took to deliver before her rival.
The other significant event of September however was a very pro-military shift in the Sejm, a counter-action to the socialist movement of May, and a new Prime Minister who loudly called for increased arms expenditures to meet the German threat. Alexsandr would definitely welcome the extra funding, but in his first meeting with the new minister he cautioned that diplomacy should always be the first edge of the sword. None-the-less tensions rose with Germany and Austria again, and now Alexsandr had to very much consider how he could match their western neighbors in a future conflict.
In October a crisis moment arose, as German forces sailing from the Bismarck Archipelago in the Pacific sought to take advantage of a moment of local unrest to occupy Borneo. Alexsandr met with Minister Duch and Prime Minister Kukiel late into the night, but ultimately advocated that they should not challenge the Germans over the matter. He now had 3 battleships building and Praga near completion, and fighting Germany with only a single battle-cruiser did not seem a winning proposition.
As the year drew to a close, it now seemed once again that war would come at a time not of their choosing.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 7, 2017 8:23:03 GMT -6
A brief note on the above chart. I did not think that this data could be affected by the state of intelligence, however the German 'B' building caught my eye. When checking German ships building to investigate this curiosity, I could not find a 'B' listed, and their last 'B' delivered had been in 1905. So, my conclusion is that this data is not "perfect" game-data as I thought, but rather what the player's state knows about the rest of the world.
If anyone has any experience to confirm or deny this (which therefore would indicate it is a bug), I would love to hear it. - next post in ~10 hours.
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Post by director on Mar 7, 2017 10:49:05 GMT -6
The work is terrific - if I'm not commenting more it is because the pace of updates has left me a bit short of breath.
Poland's situation is like that of most of the smaller nations of the game - major power needs and ambitions but lacking major power funding. The old song "My Champagne Taste and Your Beer Bottle Pocket" comes to mind (try the Eartha Kitt version). As you know, the winning strategy in this situation is to innovate. The AI is conservative, uses cookbook designs and does not optimize its use of tonnage - if it did it might be unbeatable. So I understand that you have to wring the most from your available tonnage... I just am concerned that the Batorys are both a little slow and a little light on armor and I'm hoping the design works out better than, say, the Espana 'pocket dreadnoughts'.
The loss of the British alliance is a serious blow, especially after you have loyally supported them against their rivals.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 7, 2017 21:00:44 GMT -6
director Heh. Well, I definitely feel driven. I figure I should push on when the enthusiasm is high, to benefit the energy of the tale, though I don't want to over-saturate either- especially when there are other excellent AARs out there. Thank you for the kind words however! Yes, I'd have to say things look dark for the PLC. Even 2000 extra tons would have been huge on those first DNs, but it took until June of 4 for the first increase to pop naturally. 40 turns is an Awful long time without a dock-size increase. Ah well! We'll have to see how things go. When I make the next post, there's one screen-grab that will make every harbor-master in Europe pull their hair out. theexecuter Thank you, much obliged!
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Post by theexecuter on Mar 7, 2017 21:41:49 GMT -6
Just popping in to say this is excellent and I'm checking daily for updates.
Keep it up!
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 8, 2017 0:26:48 GMT -6
Chapter 8.In the new year fighting again broke out in the Balkans. Austrian infantry skirmished with Montenegrin rangers on the borders, and Ottoman forces again encroached from the East, being none too eager for a Christian nation to gain if Montenegro were to lose. England held her tiny outpost at Bar, hoping to eventually gain the port and - if practical - prop up the tiny staggering nation as a buffer against Austria & the Turks both. Relations worsened with Austria.
On March the 8th of 1910 an uprising in Sierra Leon demanded the Navy's attention, and quite cautiously an armed merchantman was dispatched to evacuate Commonwealth nationals. Despite the effort to avoid provocations of any kind, relations worsened with Germany, England, and France.
Feeling the pace of events beginning to slip from mortal control, Alexsandr considered what he could do to most immediately add to the Navy. The first of the Monsun class TBDs to have reached service were beginning to show their age, so a design study was taken up to determine how expensive would be their re-fitting. Given the funds still remaining from the battleship drive, Alex approved the result- the engines were pulled and oil-fired turbines installed, with more shaft horsepower for another knot of speed, more ammunition, and the originally intended cross-deck firing was actually enabled. The refits would take 10 months, which Alex hoped he had.
In April the Praga was delivered, and both Germany and Austria countered this development by increasing their naval budgets. The next month the Commonwealth Party successfully passed a new funding bill to counter the threat of Austrian and German militarism. In alignment with this bill Minister Duch scheduled a meeting with Alexsandr in July, once the funds had started rolling in. Duch questioned Alex about the ability of the Commonwealth to control the zones along its coasts, and Alexsandr had to reply honestly that it would be in doubt should Germany take up arms against her. There simply weren't enough cruisers, especially considering that - given how destructive the merchant losses had been in the war - in the event of hostilities it had been decided to dispatch the 4 ACs to stations in the Caribbean and Indian Oceans. Duch responded that if the Navy could commit to 8 additional cruisers he would be able to secure more funds. Alexsandr could scarcely fathom what he was hearing, but sure enough by day's end he had agreed to order 8 additional cruisers by December.
After Duch left Alexsandr began to wonder where exactly he would find yard space for a building navy that was Almost larger than the floating one.
August saw the US occupy Haiti, though given the lawlessness there it was difficult to cry that some great atrocity had occurred. The Navy said nothing, only giving orders to Trinidad to not have any ships cross the American's lines of communication during their movements.
Finally, in December, Alexsandr considered the Cruiser question. His first choice would be to have them be Wilnos, so he had a design drawn up which was an improvement upon the original 1903 design. The coal plant was removed and replaced with oil fired turbines, which allowed additional armor and ammo to be mounted, for a cost of 1.1 million for the refit. Poznan was so designated to be refit, and then 8 more of the refit-type were ordered.
The Baltic Coast became a veritable comedy show of naval construction.
The two largest yards in Gdansk held two incomplete hulls of the Batorys, both halted so-as to afford the Monsun program. The Poznan refit had been explored in their 3rd dock and was now under way. Puck's Batory, Bialy Orzel, was actually still underway as it had been the cheapest to produce, but given Puck did not have a yard big enough to even begin the project a cofferdam had been created in the local waterway from urban building rubble and the ship was actually being constructed in the river. Now on top of this, 8 *additional* yards had to be found to lay 8 additional keels- and this is still not including the 17 Monsuns, who all had to be completed by the only yard that had experience with them, the Naval Technical School in Wladyslawowo! The Chief was beside himself, as when each of the 6 (5 more than he wanted) yard-docks had completed an engine installation, their occupants were actually dragged onto the nearby beaches for completion by hand and light equipment so the next boat could be flooded into the dock for overhaul.
Alexsandr was fairly certain his friends in England were blowing gales of laughter at his expense.
As it was, 4 of the new cruisers were found birth-yards in Riga, 2 in Reval, and for the remaining 2, well, "creative measures" were undertaken; ...they were subcontracted out to Goteborg, in Sweden.
And immediately after the first checks rolled in for January's assessments, Alexsandr promptly put all 8 Wilnos on hold until the Batorys were out.
Tensions remained high through the winter, and in March at last the Monsuns returned to service. At the same time, Alexsandr's counterpart in Germany, the greatly esteemed Admiral Tirpitz, elected to invite a Commonwealth team to their annual sailing competition, no-doubt hoping to demonstrate their superiority. Alexsandr knew there might be an opportunity to lower tensions buried in this somewhere, but he also knew the citizens of the PLC were not happy and would likely welcome a victory if it could be had.
Alexsandr instructed his hand-picked team to embarrass the Germans. This was done and the trophy bitterly won- however, inexplicably, public unrest Increased in the Commonwealth. Alex had the distinct sensation he just couldn't win for losing. Tensions were nearly as dangerous now as at the height of the war with Austria, and in fact over the next 5 months there would be numerous construction delays due to strikes, labor unrest, and civic protests. Despite all this, Alex opted for a much cheaper rebuild of his 19 coast-defense destroyers, the 16 Wichers and 3 Burzas, hoping to have them out in just 3 months time more capably suited to counter the emerging submarine threat. It happened that some additional torpedo tubes could be cheaply added, so this also was done.
As the Autumn of 1911 swiftly approached, Minister Kleeberg provided Alex with some amazingly detailed intelligence on the latest battle-cruisers being built in Germany and Austria. Looking at the results, Alexsandr was brought face to face with the stark reality that, quite possibly, the Commonwealth Navy was completely over-matched.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 9, 2017 0:25:22 GMT -6
Chapter 9.
As Alexsandr considered what the next construction move should be, and how long it might be before he could make it, word came of a disarmament conference begin held in The Hague. To be held on September 10th, the 1911 conference was Holland's best effort to continue the work of the '09 Geneva Conference, which in 2 rounds had failed to produce results. As a nation sitting directly astride the borders of two potential belligerents, they had a very vested interest in ensuring peace persisted.
This conference invitation came at an awkward time. With 3 battleships building, the Commonwealth had a lot to lose if strict restrictions were agreed, and tensions were high. However, they had 3 ships building- if they refused to attend, they might bring about hostilities when their yards were littered with ships in various stages of completion. The matter was debated, and it was pointed out by those in favor of disarmament that it was entirely possible that a 16,000 ton, 11-inch armed ship would not be restricted. In the end, despite the risk of losing the ships, it was deemed that refusing to attend and spiking tensions still further was the greater peril. A delegation was assembled, and given instructions to not agree to anything that would eliminate the Batorys unless the whole world was against them. As it happened, nothing was agreed upon, though gratefully public discontent fell with news at the efforts for peace.
The year waxed into December, and at last the first Batory, Bialy Orzel, was delivered. Puck would have crowed at their victory over Gdansk, but there was just too much work to be done and they had a roadstead to restore. Prime Minister Kukiel approached Alex at this time to ask his opinion upon making certain compromises with Germany to lower tensions. Reviewing the intelligence estimates forwarded by Minister Kleeberg, Alex could plainly see that the Navy could risk no miss-step here. He advised that so long as it was not damaging to the Commonwealth, he could see no argument against reducing tensions. Representatives shortly met in Copenhagen, and indeed matters eased for the time being.
1912 came and swiftly passed through winter and spring to a sweltering summer matched in intensity by the Commonwealth's relations with both Germany, Austria, France *and* her own people. The people's unrest had increased again, and in July the King expressed his renewed concern over war tensions. At a conference in Warsaw many options were discussed, but ultimately it was decided that the measure which might be of most benefit to the nation and her people would be to approach England about renewing their lapsed alliance. There was some concern the attempt would not succeed as tensions were not completely amicable between the two nations, however Kukiel and Kleeberg succeeded and brought home the bounty, and Alexsandr was able to restore the various memoranda of inter-service cooperation. Unfortunately, Germany, Austria, & France all saw this move as undesirable for their own various reasons, and tensions rose again.
August saw strikes and protests in Gdansk and elsewhere, however as fall at last failed a new government took office in Germany, and as the holidays approached Alexsandr wondered if his cautious optimism might be justified.
1913 at first saw slightly moderating tensions, yet with the first dry week of Spring war broke afresh in the Balkans with Serbia, Greece, and the Ottomans sparring with each other over the rights to gave their noses bloodied by the Montenegrans, and Alex knew his optimism had been false. England beseeched the Commonwealth to help support her tiny client, and despite knowing tensions would rise the Krakow Works shipped 250 of their superior 101mm field guns to Bar, passage assured by the Royal Navy. It was under this backdrop that Stefan Batory was launched at Gdansk, but instead of a parade she was welcomed with protests and vandalism. Overshadowed by this demonstration was the Technical School's development of an 1100 ton TBD capability, though Alexsandr saw no immediate means for him to take advantage of it.
On May the 5th a crisis again seized the Commonwealth. Germany threatened to ship arms overland to the Balkans belligerents if the Royal Navy persisted in providing arms to Montenegro. England saw this as a nigh unconscionable challenge, and for a 3rd time approached the Commonwealth seeking assurances that the alliance would be upheld, and for a 3rd time such assurances were unflinching as the people rallied behind their King. A War Warning was issued, but over the summer almost miraculously hostilities were avoided, though both sides in the Balkans conflict assuredly received military support from the opposing parties with the Ottoman's as Germany's proxy. A month after the Cessation of Arms challenge, for the second time in 2 years New Zealand erupted in rebellion against the British Crown. Considering the size of the German commitment to South East Asia, none doubted who was behind the troubles.
As Fall faded to Winter the English saw fit to offer for sale to the Commonwealth a new gunnery technology, Director Firing, though -again - Alexsandr could take no immediate steps to implement it.
With Germanic tensions remaining high, noteworthy news again broke on the arrival of spring. On April 1st 1914 the colonial government of New Zealand fell, the preponderance of the Royal Navy's command of the seas not withstanding. This stunning blow to British prestige, their first colonial loss since the American Revolution, seemed to embolden Germany's brazen diplomacy. About this time Navy Minister Duch brought concerns again over commanding the coasts, and convinced Alex to commit to building 21 new destroyers, which he agreed to start by December. The boats, however, would never be started.
On June 2nd a conference for naval disarmament was again called at The Hague. The last Batory was now just 2 months away from launching, but Kleeberg's latest intelligence showed that Germany had a 30,000 ton dreadnought of a new type nearing completion- in such a case, losing the Kosciuszko would not be a terrible exchange. However, despite the delegation's best efforts at steering negotiations towards that result, Germany would not budge from an unacceptable stance, and the conference failed to produce results. The delegations said their farewells, with greater or lesser enthusiasm, and departed for their homes.
Having just returned to Sarajevo the day before, on June 28th delegate Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed by elements of a Serbian secret society seeking to unify the splintered territories in the Balkans and resist Western intrusion. Within a week, Austria had issued demands to Serbia to provide redress which a sovereign state could never accept. Honoring their alliances, Russia mobilized her army for deployment to the Balkans to support Serbia, and Germany issued demands to France and the Commonwealth that those states proclaim their neutrality as she prepared to support Austria.
The July Crisis seemed to illustrate both the best and worst of European security, as Germany's confidence in her Army brought her to an arrogance which fed the belief that there was no problem which could not be solved by the threat of such force. Thanks to the writings of Clausewitz and Mahan there was a regiment for nearly every borough and hamlet, and the ready-made deployment of soldiers and sailors alike for the service of the state. France for her part announced that she was in Alliance with Imperial Russia and would bend to no German demands as her armies flocked to the borders. Prime Minister Kukiel for the Commonwealth however, in alliance with neither party, proclaimed they were not a belligerent but would stand by their ally England should she be threatened, while England warned that the neutrality of both the Commonwealth and Belgium (her ancient Flanders) must be respected for her to maintain her neutrality.
Alexsandr, upon hearing this, was incandescent. On July 25th he gave a speech before the Navy League where-in he outlined how German imperialist ambitions were a threat to not just European, but Global peace. Alexsandr deplored the moral frailty which would propose to leave the Commonwealth un-involved in this trial and trust to her neighbors to arrange the circumstances upon which her borders would in the future be secured. Tensions peaked with Germany, who could not then have been any closer to adding Poland to the general war which was about to erupt, but Alexsandr could not know the effects of his words, which would be seized upon by the opposition party as a no-confidence vote and used to bring about the election of a peace government later that year. As it was, the War Warnings could not have been more strident at the end of July, before the guns of August roared, wholly eclipsing the launch of the Tadeusz Kosciuszko.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 9, 2017 0:29:42 GMT -6
Editorial; My apologies for the length and dryness of this post, but having decided to have WWI "start" even without the PLC's immediate involvement, it would be a tragic injustice to not treat it properly. Were I to press on to my originally intended stopping point tonight, I fear the suffocation of any reader by the doleful lack of ship action, which - obviously - is after all the point.
Tomorrow (or 4 hours from now if I cannot sleep) we will see the start of the Great War, and how fate treats Alexsandr and the Commonwealth.
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Post by Airy W on Mar 9, 2017 8:25:31 GMT -6
Poor Ferdie, he dies in every universe.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 9, 2017 20:46:46 GMT -6
Airy W The burden of history! He won't die in my next AAR (if i ever consider such a thing again).
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Post by Airy W on Mar 9, 2017 21:22:43 GMT -6
If you have an AAR where you war Austria into revolution you could say that they become a constitutional monarchy under Ferdie.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 9, 2017 23:20:06 GMT -6
Chapter 10.
On the 12th of August an Austrian Army crossed the frontier into Serbia after a hasty 2 week deployment, while 3 armies took up positions screening the Commonwealth's southern frontier, Austria's eastern frontier with Russia, and attempting to drive to the Black Sea through Romania. At the same time Ottoman forces drove westward along the Aegean coast into Greece and also north into Bulgaria. About all that can be said for these 4 bold attacks violating 3 neutral's sovereignty was that they went stunningly poorly. Whether suffering from organizational dysfunction from a decade of unsuccessful conflict or else from a populace that just did not have their heart in the business, what evolved was the wholly unexpected result of Serbia and Montenegro holding their own and 2 Austrian armies getting immediately tied down by Russian forces that pressed their own first attacks across the border with fervor.
On the Western Front Germany attacked in strength across the French border, utilizing a move also violating Luxembourg's neutrality but respecting the other Low Countries for the time being. From Alsace to the Meuse a swift advance progressed but 40 miles before becoming bogged down in layered fortifications. Had the government been but willing to engage a British Expeditionary Army in Belgium, Germany may have had the opportunity to turn the French flank even more than they had. However, if they brought war with Britain, then they would need to accept a second front as the Commonwealth's recently successful armies to the east would have been a dire threat to Prussia. As it was, Germany found herself needing to progressively shift forces East and South over the coming year to bolster Austria's lack-luster performance.
As war of a scale here-to-fore unknown erupted across Europe, Navy Minister Duch came to speak with Alexsandr. Firstly to deliver an admonishment from the Prime Minister that his public speaking should not run in opposition to government policy direction, and secondly, that the Commission of Royal Ships had advised that in fact destroyers were not the most vital need, but rather now wanted to be certain the Navy had at least a semblance of a submarine arm. Alexsandr accepted both statements but did not apologize in response to the former. He agreed to order 21 submarines by January, in accordance with the Commission's direction.
War wages across Europe, but in the Commonwealth the war is political and in the streets. Unrest rises as elections are forced upon the sitting government in September, though through careful use of emergency stockpiling bylaws Alexsandr is able to encourage the economy to grow. In October in a near-run and divisive election a peace-government is elected which immediately passes social reforms, which though hurting the navy budget do act to reduce tensions. In November, in an address before the new government, Alexsandr directly asserts that Germany will be the Commonwealth's next foe, and she had best prepare for her. Minister Duch simply stared at his Admiral of the Fleets, fully aware that Alexsandr was doing the exact same thing he had told him not to 2 months ago, and also that he now desperately needed him to keep on doing so.
With the onset of 1915, Alexsandr dutifully ordered the required 21 coastal submarines, now added to the 4 remaining Wilnos. A hard winter brought a temporary respite to the continental conflagration. In February Fleet shooting trials were held, with the 3 new Batorys eager to test their mettle against Kirholm and Praga, and the fleet's former champion Litwa. But who should chance to win the competition?...
Gdansk had been away from home for 14 Years, stationed at Diego Suarez on Madagascar with no refits. Her obsolete engines broke down Twice on the way home, where she was permitted but 3 weeks in dock before her return with another rotation of crew. Yet before they mustered off, Gdansk proved her obsolete rangefinders and rusty mountings were no hindrance for dedicated seamanship. Admiral Kosciuszko personally awarded the outgoing crew their medal, and vowed to her Captain that he would never speak ill of the class, type, city, or yard again. After the ceremonies, the new crew spent a week working up before she and those who elected to remain aboard another tour made their passage back to the Indian.
Spring and summer grew in heat real and metaphorical, as spring offensives in East and West met with the harsh reality of the machine-gun and industrial warfare. Then in late July, Minister Kleeberg delivered a secret communique intercepted from the Germans. Mustering in Luderitz in German Southwest Africa, 2 infantry regiments were planning to march north and seize Angola, with the likely then further goal of attacking the French Congo, which would create a vast colonial holding across all of the west coast of the southern continent. To support this move, an armored cruiser which had also supported the Borneo occupation was being dispatched through the Indian to round the Cape of Good Hope.
Alexsandr knew that this was exactly the brand of Imperialism which he had railed against almost exactly one year before, and likewise knew that at this time the Commonwealth must act.
Alex conferred with Minister Duch, and found agreement that a belligerent transiting a colonial theater to commit an act of war upon a neutral state (Portugal in Angola's case) would be a violation whose opposition the Prime Minister would be forced to retroactively support. Alexsandr wired orders for Diego Suarez to put to sea with an expeditionary brigade escorted by the Gdansk, with the objective of quite blatantly shadowing the German Cruiser to show the implication that a departure of force from Luderitz would then expose her to the threat of swift occupation. A carefully delivered ultimatum once the force showed off the Angolan coast would then compel Germany to back down or at last bring the Commonwealth - and England - into the war.
When the Gdansk and her convoy were just south of Cape Sainte Marie however, the spotted column of smoke to the south was rapidly closing to the north- and her early ranging shots declared her intent. Gdansk broke away from the more powerful vessel and managed to open the range, but when the German turned back towards the convoy she reversed course, engaged, and again lead the armored cruiser away into the dusk. Both convoy and cruiser safely returned to Diego Suarez, and no damage was sustained by either side, but the declaration of war which Alexsandr so earnestly felt was vital yet terrible was delivered on August 2nd, just as a German reserve army crashed into Holland and Belgium.
War was at hand.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 11, 2017 10:00:34 GMT -6
Chapter 11. Council of War.
A note upon the situation facing the Commonwealth is in order.
Due to the presence of East Prussia, several large population centers, in fact including the Commonwealth's most important sea-port (for import and construction), are within 100 miles - or much less - of German forces. Hetman Drymerr's first priority was to see that important industrial and population centers were secure, which was no mean task. The Gdansk corridor therefore contained by far the lion's share of Polish men and materiel, with the rest distributed to screen the frontiers and contain the pocket. Eventually, given favorable developments, the Prussian pocket would itself slowly be reduced.
In nautical matters, the Navy learned within 6 hours of Germany's declaration that the Baltic had been closed to her traffic. The German Navy was not large enough to eagerly challenge England for the North Sea, but they could even in hiding easily contain an opposing fleet in the Baltic. The 4 Mazowsze were even now steaming for the Skagerrak to attempt to reach their War stations abroad, but it was fully expected they would soon return, having been unable to pass the straits due to the German blockade.
Her fleet was also by gun, displacement, speed, and number, superior to the Commonwealth's.
After all these matters were hastily discussed, including plans made for the temporary relocation of the Admiralty to Riga due to Wladyslawowo's vulnerable location, the King spoke the last words of his Council. "The Fleet, gentleman, must quickly seize and deliver a decisive victory over the Kaiserliche Marine."
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