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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 12, 2017 0:54:35 GMT -6
Chapter 12.
Alexsandr's first move was to freeze construction of the last Wilno and order 6 more Wicher class destroyers for coastal defense. The existing 16 Wicher and the 3 Burza were then quickly taken out of mothballs and thrown into coastal patrol. The main fleet was stationed at Riga, the most protected anchorage available.
In Early September word was passed of a German destroyer sweep passing into the Gulf of Riga, and 6 Monsun class were dispatched from Lipawa, which then found and sank 4 of the German ships to no loss, thanks to tenacious action by the gun-boats. Then in October German submarines claimed their first tallies, sinking four merchants to the loss of 1 sub. There were no merchant losses yet to raiders, but Minister Kleeburg had passed news about numerous AMCs building in Germany, and Alex needed to get his ACs out on station to prevent the rampant sinkings which had so caused alarm in the war with Austria. Alexsandr crafted a plan by which 3 Wilno class cruisers would run the German blockade and then show themselves off the Holland coast, and while the Germans rushed to intercept them the 4 Mazowsze would break out and head to their designated colonial stations. The plan worked like a charm, and the Wilno received their baptism of fire by sinking the light cruiser Berlin along with a destroyer while taking only minor damage to one ship. The Berlin, slowed to a crawl by numerous 8-inch hits, was simultaneously struck by a torpedo and a shell- which truly finished her we are unlikely to ever know.
The 3 Wilnos then successfully returned to the Baltic, capping a text-book execution of the plan.
In November the English scored a great coup, sinking the BC Goeben on a sweep of Helgoland Bight, in addition to the Germans losing another destroyer off Riga to Monsun action. Remarkably, this prompted the Germans to send a peace mission to Warsaw, and while Alexsandr refused to consider negotiating at this time it was a welcome sign to have the negotiators "on hand", as it were. It spoke to the strain of Germany's trials that only 3 months of action with the Two Commonwealths could prompt the exploration, as the war on two fronts (really 3) caused remarkable drain upon her man-power. Also at this time, with 2 more CLs off the books, Alexsandr investigated ordering a new type of warship.
The Wlodzimierz Wielki would be a "great-cruiser", a design to take advantage of several factors. Firstly, they would build faster than battle-cruisers, and if in England, so even faster yet. Secondly, they would take advantage of England's high quality 10.1" mounting, and be able to handle anything that could catch them and flee anything they couldn't, being a full 3 knots faster than any German battle-cruiser. The one point that gave Alex pause was the price tag, 5.55m per month. They would be able to afford only one at a time, and then only when the 21 submarines finished construction. Though he favored the build, the design was for the moment shelved as simply too expensive.
In December the Navy suffered their first loss, as the Wilno class Lipawa was sunk by a German submarine in the Gulf of Riga. The month was hard on the U-Boats though, as stepped up patrols sank 3, and for the 2nd month in a row no Polish merchantmen were sunk.
Then on Christmas Eve a sweep was made of the near German coast by Kirholm and Praga, with the 3 Batorys and 3 Kazimierz Weilki sailing as back-up. It was the largest deployment to sea yet by the navy. With 4 hours to go before nightfall, the force turned to the coast and then proceeded towards friendly waters, disappointingly sinking only a coastal patrol boat and encountering no fleet units. That night as Alexsandr was reading reports on fuel used and the general performance at sea of the fleet, the man in the White Hat appeared, silently leaving a single sheet of paper on his desk. After reading it, Alexsandr would not sleep that night. If the battle-cruiser force had held on West for only 30 minutes more, they would have encountered German heavy forces- but only 4. 2 DNs, & 2 BCs.
The Navy had missed a chance to engage the Germans, unbelievably, with a tonnage Advantage.
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Post by Airy W on Mar 12, 2017 8:00:28 GMT -6
That cruiser concept is cool and outside the box but are you worried about the fact that a battlecruiser or dreadnought will have a firing range advantage? Especially if they are being made in Britain...
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 12, 2017 9:56:38 GMT -6
Actually, I Am worried, and you will see why after the next post! This is the first time that direct action experience has totally changed how I was leaning on a major purchasing decision. The "great cruiser" may get built but- even above its performance- I can't buy one ship that can't "stand in the line" when I can build 2 that can. Would've been a cool ship for 1918 though..
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Post by Airy W on Mar 12, 2017 11:31:54 GMT -6
On furhter reflection, I think you fell into the classic mistake of trying to make a too perfect ship. If you dont accept tradeoffs you will end up with a ship that bloats to way too big. Loading up in my current 1917 year game, that would close to 150 million to make. And it might end up getting sunk by a battleship costing 50 million. You need some tradeoffs. For one thing, why is that ship so focused on torpedo warfare? A high speed cruiser should be capable of keeping it's distance from destroyers just fine and there is no way in hell you want that thing getting in torpedo range. Just ditching the torpedoes and dropping the secondaries down to a minimum is a huge cost savings. But really I think you need to question the five turrets and the 29 knot speed. 5 turrets are an extravagance on a high speed vessel. It's job is to move quickly, not to fire broadsides. And 29 knots is pushing the limits of technology. If you settle for a slightly lower speed and only keep the guns you need, you can have a ship that is nearly as good for half the price: You could get two of these and still have enough money left over to buy a squadron of destroyers. And honestly, I think even these are overkill.
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Post by Noname117 on Mar 12, 2017 15:25:47 GMT -6
Historically 7 guns is a bit weak though, since 8 was generally considered the minimum for effective ladder shooting. So is argue that's the effective minimum broadside for heavy cruisers, battleships, and battlecruisers built a couple years past the pre-dreadnought era.
Actually not sure how well ladder shooting is modeled in the game, but I do assume it would be correct.
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Post by Airy W on Mar 12, 2017 16:21:59 GMT -6
Well 8 guns would make more sense but I'm assuming he doesn't have B turrets because he didn't use them. That would allow for four guns firing forward and wouldn't have the reliability problems associated with triple turrets.
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Post by Noname117 on Mar 12, 2017 16:28:45 GMT -6
Point 5 or 6 aft and I think you'd be OK. Just need to get them for the broadside really.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 12, 2017 17:36:38 GMT -6
Actually, the trigger for penning that design was the "eliminates triple turret reliability penalty" technology, so I wanted to see what I could do with a 10" broadside and triples. 15 guns provides for the smothering fire that begins to multiply the damage ledger in the shooter's favor. You're right about the secondary/tertiary though, that was luxury thinking. Actually, the whole design drips with a rather...obscene largess. So, in - oh, about 90 minutes, you'll see what I did instead, and why.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 12, 2017 21:09:24 GMT -6
Chapter 13.
With a blockade closing the Baltic for 4 of 5 straight months, the 'Peace' Prime Minister began agitating to open talks with the German mission about bringing an end to hostilities. The public's voice had grown in protest for 2 straight months, as casualties streamed in from the German's attempt to drive a passage to isolated Prussia. Drymerr's lines were slowly bending, but they had not broken, and despite having the best army in Europe the Germans were paying due the age-old accounting upon being on the attack without 3-1 odds. Admiral Kosciuszko spoke to every politico he had the ear of and earnestly sought to derail such thinking. The merchant tally rose in the German's favor though, with 3 sinkings to only a single U-boat destroyed, and Alexsandr was desperate to get the fleet action which he needed to provide the balance sheet redress.
In early January he put the whole fleet to sea to prevent the bombardment of Wladyslawowo, though neither a bombardment or fleet action resulted. Brief contact of screening forces occurred just as dusk fell, and while trying to secure the wind gauge it was not possible to recover the German fleet. The fleet searched well south, turning north again just 5 miles from Konigsberg, but could find nothing of the enemy's movements in the dark. It was at this time that some gross deficiencies in Commonwealth signaling practice were revealed.
As it happened, as contact with the enemy had been brief and nearly bloodless, as the fleet moved south in its search some ships remained on "Action Signaling", which involved protocols against revealing a ship's location by illumination, and others shifted to simple "Night Cruising" practice. The end result was not all ships were correctly repeating the instructions of their leaders, and in addition to the turn north very nearly causing several collisions, 4 destroyers and 3 cruisers lost the formation and wandered hither and yon before finally picking their way home. By dint of fate, one of those cruisers - the Kijow - wandered into the German battle-cruiser squadron.
There were few possibilities that could not have ended tragically for Kijow, and in fact before she could finish her turn away from the formation she was drilled by a half-dozen 12" shells which brought a remarkably swift end to her. However, she did accomplish two extraordinary things. Firing her starboard and bow tubes, 1 of the 3 torpedoes found a mark against an unseen ship in the darkness and rain. This was the Seydlitz, one of the remaining 4 Goeben class battle-cruisers.
Had she not been a mere 50 miles from safe harbor, in all likelihood she would have perished, yet the next day she was able to steam into Konigsberg under her own power and none too soon. She would be under repair and unavailable however in March, when she could have been a decisive addition.
The other extraordinary thing was one of the two salvo gotten off from Kijow's forward battery upon the battle-cruiser Lutzow, another Goeben.
One of her shells struck Lutzow's K turret, and even though the barbette was armored to resist high-caliber gunnery at range, at 1100 yards even an 8-inch gun can muster decent penetration. The shell penetrated to the handling room, and a flash-fire made a pyre of all her chambers. Only the self-sacrifice of her turret officer saved the ship, as in his dying gasp he ordered the magazines flooded while a column of greasy yellow flame burned angrily up into the night. This ship too would therefore be tied up in dock when the ides of March were nigh.
Remarkably the loss of the Kijow could be counted a victory, as Germany lost the services of 1/3 her battle-cruiser force for at least 3 months. The news of the two ships being laid up was well received, along with word that Germany had to halt construction on its newest battle-cruiser due to financial difficulties.
February saw the delivery of the first 3 Commonwealth submarines, which immediately paid dividends by sinking a German merchantman (matching Polish losses for February) near Kiel, though they were only acting as fleet scouts at the time. Alexsandr again had the fleet at sea to ward off a German blow against the coast, but though German forces were unexpectedly near on the 15th, once again the scouting forces only exchanged light damage. This time it was not darkness however that made keeping contact difficult, but rather the Force 9 gale which had blown up. Alexsandr was glad to simply return all the TBDs to port without having a keel broken. The real news of February however was Hetman Drymerr's call for all the materiel he could muster to hold back the German Heer, which were pushing quite hard and putting Gdansk in peril. Budgets were adjusted accordingly, and the Commonwealth held its breath.
As the wars on the fronts heated up with the first thaw, so too did things in the North Sea. The English went to sea in force, conducting a sweep near Helgoland, and called on her ally for a coordinated movement of forces. With the Kaiserliche Marine putting to sea to strike at the English, Alexsandr sent the Fleet through the Skagerrak, descending upon the Holland coast March 22nd. When the fleet had set out however Kirholm had had to turn back with condenser troubles, so it was with only 4 dreadnoughts and 5 battleships that the fleet approached German waters that dawn. In the murky dusk the day before the English had lost the poorly deployed pre-dreadnought Camperdown, but today the sky was clear with a light breeze so nature would provide neither shield or cover for friend or foe.
Rear Admiral Arend Wolnosc sighted the enemy's first scouts shortly after first light, and instructed Praga to close and maintain contact while the fleet turned north to obtain a better position on the wind. Praga soon exchanged fire with 4 old armored cruisers, and then turned north to attempt to lead them onto the guns of the fleet. What arrived upon the guns of the fleet however, was the entire German fleet that could put to sea, 7 dreadnoughts and a similar 5 battleships.
[/center] The ensuing afternoon's battery proved a sore trial for the Commonwealth fleet. What would seem to be a favorable position- concentrated upon the head of the German line- rapidly deteriorated. Bialy Orzel had her belt penetrated early and had to reduce speed, and fearing that if she fell out of line or took her own way she would fall victim to the more numerous foe, Wolnosc reduced fleet speed to 10 knots. The German's pace then swiftly caused their line to overtake Wolnosc's, and the blows seemed far more telling upon the Poles. Just as Wolnosc was wondering how he could disengage when the time came, the Germans own pace bought his release- the lead German dreadnought had so outpaced her second in line that just as they might have forced the Commonwealth to double back on their rear, she turned away south to collect her fellows. The result was an opportunity Wolnosc took, and the fleet carried on to the northeast while the Germans disappeared to the south. Praga turned south to reconnoiter, to see if perhaps a straggler could be found and brought to bear, but the German fleet appeared to double back en mass to cover their rear, so she withdrew. The fleet made haste to reach the shadow of Swedish waters by the next dawn. No ships on either side were lost in this first fleet encounter, but some very telling lessons were taught. 57 Heavy caliber hits were scored on the Germans, but they seemed to weather them far more easily than the 24 hits they scored in return. In particular, it was noted that of the 11 of the 24 hits that were scored on the Batory's belts, 7 of them penetrated, and none of the ships could there-after maintain cruising speed, a result which nearly cast the darkest of consequences upon a fleet which could not maintain order at speed. Alexsandr credited Wolnosc for bringing home every ship he set out with, but half of them would need a month or two in the yards. It was not an embarrassment, but the result was certainly a setback. Alex considered for the following week the implications of the battle, and realized that the "great-cruiser" he had conceived of was not the answer he currently needed. For the price of a ship that would need to avoid "standing in the line", he could have built two which could. Orders were placed swiftly, and Riga accepted her first two major construction contracts, in fact the largest ships yet laid down in the Commonwealth.
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Post by archelaos on Mar 13, 2017 3:16:02 GMT -6
When you was building those 21kts protected cruisers, I was't sure, as I prefer mine to be faster than enemy ships, forcing me to build large "fighting" cruisers and small "scouts" (plus tiny "rider" cruisers: 2100t, as fast as reasonably possible almost no armor and light guns). Your "standard" Kijow has really shown itself! Do you still have only have 11 inchers available in 1917? Or you just chose that calibre to maximize number of barrels? I do not really like late game CAs, though I usually build few for colonial fighting, but the idea is to keep them around 2:1 cost ratio to my first line BCs For example: I built pair of first type (finished '17) and pair of the other ('18) after French kept trying to engage my colonial CLs. They had not seen much fighting, just raider chasing and showing the flag, but helped Marines capture Djibuti
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 13, 2017 7:37:57 GMT -6
I do have 12" available, and much better in England, but there are 3 30,000 ton DNs building in Germany so I feel most keenly the need to be as economical as possible. The "great cruiser" was a fancy, a curiosity I worked on because I wanted to build something to actually help the war and therefore be built in only 2 years. Clearly, it was too expensive to be realistic at this time, a fact I successfully identified. I had to "settle" for a DN that could not help me for 30 months, likely too late. A "heavy CA" which would have been built in ~22 months and armored like a DN would have been the 'cheat' I needed, but CAs cannot function "in the line," I have tried. When following DNs/Bs as "core", when the line starts exchanging fire they steer away, on the "weak" side, where I am sure their contribution is minimal. So, CAs that are not Super Cheap (Wilno) must be fast enough to avoid action, and therefore become heavy. - I am indeed very pleased so-far with the Wilno. The one point I am rather perplexed by is the PLC's unrest, which I can't seem to get a break from in peace or war. I am at very real risk of being dragged out into the street and hanged it seems! I'm not sure I actually know what happens if that occurs, will my game end?
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 13, 2017 22:36:48 GMT -6
Chapter 14.
Hard fighting drew close to Gdansk, and protests filled the streets against the death and deprivation. Such was the discord voiced that funding was diverted from the navy budget with Alexsandr's consent to import food through Sweden. The Army budget was maintained fully, as every measure was undertaken to hold the lines.
On April 25th 6 Monsuns on patrol in the Gulf ran into a German light cruiser leading 3 destroyers. The optimistically named Danzig class were relatively new, 5400 tons with 8 6" mounts and making 26 knots, and the Monsuns made her a wreck within 30 minutes. A destroyer was also sunk, and the 2 Monsuns which had paid the highest price for their fierce attack both made it back, Monsun herself surviving 4 near-miss 6" shells and 4 hits. Her fey Captain however would assuredly be back, as more even than his penchant for demanding the proper paperwork from any vessel passing through his patrol zones no man was daft enough to attempt to separate him from the navy and incur his wrath.
In May the Government again pushed for peace talks and Alexsandr roared furiously that the Commonwealth must fight on. The volunteer brigades defending Wladyslawowo were evacuated by destroyer, and the Admiralty became a Field Marshall's headquarters as the Germans reached the Gdansk suburbs. Alexsandr dispatched a strong force of cruisers to provide near-shore bombardment, and the German Navy declined to engage- a first hint that perhaps all things were not ideal in der Kaiserreich. North of Trinidad however Mazowsze and Wielkopolska intercepted a German cruiser attempting to attack a convoy. Again a Danzig, she was grossly outmatched and barely able to maintain enough speed after numerous hits to escape. Gdansk hurried to launch its last two building destroyers before the yards could come under artillery fire.
June though broke fast and glorious upon the Commonwealth, as Drymerr released his counter-stroke. Mustered from Poznan's surrounds the largest cavalry army since Eylau crashed into the extended German flank, lead by the Royal Winged Hussars. So overwhelmed were the German lines that no measures could stop the in-flooding divisions that followed, and in 5 days they had reached the sea. Half the German front was now encircled, as Gdansk turned from prize to doom. Swiftly perceiving the cataclysm that would follow should the army not survive, a convoy of supplies was dispatched in haste, and such was its import that it was escorted by the entire German fleet. Alexsandr, however, already had Rear Admiral Wolnosc at sea.
Commodore Simonas Gucevicius had his squadron about 10 miles ahead of the main fleet, Praga and Kirholm screened by 2 Wilnos and 5 destroyers. Praga served as the flag, and Gucevicius had expected to encounter the German convoy at dawn, however when the lookouts cried out it was the dead of night. Sirens could be heard echoing across the water, and numerous vessels in the distance showed sparks in their stacks at the alarm. Gucevicius held his cool though, for he knew the great danger from encountering enemy escorts at close range at night. With masterful care he brought his force south and north across the front of the forces before him, and then the same again, periodically reducing speed and accelerating, striving ever to make a hard target for his poorly buttressed ships- only the just begun Kettlers had been designed from the keel with torpedo protection. Many ships were fired upon by his escorts, and wherever the battle-cruiser's broadsides fell destruction followed. Fires lit the night as an old armored cruiser was brought under fire and plowed to a stop.
45 minutes after contact a German battle-cruiser suddenly appeared to the south, and shortly there-after the confusing melee became a circus as fast German destroyers raced towards the squadron. The battle-cruiser was crushed under the weight of the two ship's broadside and it staggered off. A torpedo however finally found its mark, and Kirholm slowed. Gucevicius ordered the squadron to turn away, as he knew now getting Kirholm home was his first priority, yet he reduced speed to stay with his wounded stablemate and get them out together. Just as the squadron had turned onto its eastward heading however a German dreadnought appeared to the north at only 2000 yards. She turned onto their same heading just as Kirholm's captain turned away. "Torpedos!" shouted the Exec, and Praga disgorged her port tubes while the guns thundered at a ridiculous range.
The German escorts however had also launched torpedoes of their own. Seeing the danger Guecevicius called for all speed and hard starboard, and Praga's 60,000 shaft horsepower kindled the sea to froth in her utmost demand, but too late. Two torpedoes found their mark within 20 second's span. With the ship heeling hard under desperate helm, the first torpedo impacted just below the belt upon her seawall, and so spare was the protection there that the explosion flashed through to the magazines starting a fire which threatened to run out of control. The second torpedo however struck abaft engine room, shattering a bulkhead and raking a great gap in her side that was far more final. So swift and unstoppable was her flooding from these two strikes that in fact she never eased her heel, and within 2 minutes men saw that she had rolled and capsized. Sometime in the hours before dawn when the battle had moved on, she slipped into her oily grave. None were ever recovered.
At dawn Wolnosc had the fleet west of the battleground, maneuvering to cut off the Germans from retreat, with Kirholm limping home with her consorts far to the east. Wolnosc sought to circle south of the Germans, exchanging long fire with them. Though the breaking of day found the wounded cruiser Riga at their mercy, the Germans wanted no part of further action.
Long range fire did manage to - once again - slow one of the Batorys with a penetrating belt hit which ultimately allowed the German's eventual withdrawal, but the Crownlander's fire was far superior this time. Discounting the 100-odd shells which were poured into the limping Riga, the Germans managed only 16 scoring high-caliber hits. The Commonwealth answered this with 137 of their own. Though the losses were not as one sided as the weight of fire would indicate, the Battle of Gottland was a sure victory. In exchange for Praga, Riga, and the Monsun class Halny, and almost no damage to any other vessel, the Germans lost the battle-cruiser Moltke, the old battleship Braunschweig, the Danzig-class cruiser Kolberg, the old armored cruiser Hanse, 4 destroyers, and the entire relief convoy. This does not also count a further BB and BC that barely made it to Konigsberg.
It was a month of stunning results. And yet. ...the people queued for bread, merchants sank to U-boat assault, and despite the great victories at land and sea, unrest still grew. Services were held in every maritime cathedral for the lost of Halny, Riga, and Praga.
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Post by Noname117 on Mar 14, 2017 8:34:10 GMT -6
8 unrest really does not look fun.
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Post by Airy W on Mar 14, 2017 9:43:12 GMT -6
"it is my belief that the best things happen just before the thread snaps"
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Mar 14, 2017 19:46:14 GMT -6
Airy W , Noname117 ; I am not sure I am a fan of that allegory following so fast upon my musings upon our protagonist being hanged! Yes, this unrest thing is really wearing me down. I actually grow weary of writing about it, but the reminders 'in-game' are constant. There have been only 6 months since *JUNE of '04* (~12 years) that unrest has been as low as 4, and other than that it has been 5 or higher, with a total of 52 months at *7* and 36 months at 8 or higher. I am really flabbergasted at what I can do to lower it. If I don't spend, I imagine the money would simply pool up until it was so great the government would seize some, but I don't believe unrest would lower with such an event. I'm stumped! I may be faced with a story that ends quite tragically and unsatisfactorily. I am an historian though, so I will stay true to the tale.
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