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Post by hmssophia on Jun 2, 2019 16:51:53 GMT -6
June 1903. We have begun to lose merchant shipping to damned Russian raiders. I'd call the tactics underhand but we have our own out there ready for action should they find a Russian flag. Perhaps we'll find out where these Russian cruisers are sailing from and bring them to battle as well. One can but hope. I have received word that the 11th Cruisers engaged in a rather one sided battle with three Russian armoured cruisers while sailing in the Baltic. Apparently one of them was left burning, while the outnumbered Drake and Cressy returned home with magazines empty and some very satisfied sailors aboard.We have them under blockade. A battle squadron, currently the 4th, will be sailing off the Baltic ports every day until this war is done. We are controlling the gap 'twixt Greenland and Iceland with First Class Cruisers and at no point do I see this war going any way but that which we choose. The Russians, as much as their raiders are abroad, are as good as done for.Diary of the Admiral, June 1903"We figured their was nothing in the area, no big ships or anything that could challenge us, so we went in broad daylight. A thousand men in little boats bobbing their way up to the shore. We marched into Dairen with nary a whisper of resistance, and it wasn't until we were pushing out the other side of the capital that we met any of the Russian's boys at all. This 'war' is going to be a piece of ****."Diary of Sergeant Arthur Jackrum, July 1903"The Russians appear to have attempted a breakout at dawn, trying to cut blockade lines while I only had my own Repule and the two old Ramillies on station with me. Fortunately, I also had all three Drakes and enough screens to ward off the small Russian fleet led by one of their damned Evstafi's which are just a touch too fast to bring to battle satisfactorialy. They ran for Hango before we could do anything useful with them. I wish for nothing more than a decisive battle with the Russians, but thus far it is simply not to be.Diary of Rear Admiral Harrison, July 1903News reports from Italy have stated that the Russian raider Gromoboi has been interned without fuel to continue its Mediterranean adventures. Meanwhile, land forces have been pushed back to Fengtian and the Liaotung peninsula is now under British control. On the 26th of August 1903, the British battle line assembled off of the island of Hiiu. Ten battleships of the Home Fleet sailed into the Baltic with massive numbers of supporting ships. The first shots in anger were fired at 1400 as a group of Russian armoured cruisers came into range. While the battle continued in earnest, every eye watched the horizon for the thus far unseen Russian battle fleet. Sadly it remained unseen and the battle was entirely indecisive. Vityaz was the third Russian raider to be interned without fuel, highlighting the utility of Britain's huge number of coaling stations worldwide. Meanwhile, in the baltic, torpedo boats caught a Russian submarine on the surface and sank her with shell fire. As the year closed, the 11th cruiser squadron was caught out of position by a Russian squadron in the North Sea. The engagement was marked by the first British combat loss, as HMS Boyne exploded after an enemy shell caught her magazines. The boyne, a torpedo destroyer, was all of 400 tons. In return, the Cressy and the Drake caught and set about a Polkan class cruiser, a 7800 ton ship. She burned in the night, a torch in the darkness. As the sun rose, she continued to burn until she finally slipped below the waves. The crewmen aboard the Drake watched grim faced as their Russian counterparts sank. The year closed in the bright light of a burning warship. Perhaps it was a sign for the coming months. With Russia under close blockade, an armoured cruiser lying beneath the waves and the budget through the roof, the Royal Navy has not been in a stronger position. With eight more cruisers on the slips, six of them over 14,000 tons, they are only going from strength to strength. In February, the army was stood too for an invasion of the Russian homeland. With plans to push up and secure the port of Vladivostok from the Liaotung peninsula, they required additional funding to be taken from the Navy to support it. The Admiralty agreed with barely a backward glance at the funds. March was a time of great celebration and great loss. Finally, it was realised that the next stage in battleships design would include main gun turrets on the wings rather than just fore and aft. Plans were afoot an just in time. HMS Rodney and two hundred men were lost after the grand battleship hit a mine in the North Sea. But there was something new to come. A future. This war was nothing really. Pick a ship design for the future of the Royal Navy:[ ] Dreadnought, 20,000 tons with 8 x 12" rifles, 21 knots (Balanced) [ ] Juggernaut, 21,500 tons with 8 x 14" rifles, 18 knots (Heavy) [ ] Invincible, 19,000 tons with 8 x 12" rifles, 24 knots (Fast)
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Post by rob06waves2018 on Jun 2, 2019 17:47:02 GMT -6
Dear Sir,
It is the wish expressed in the Cabinet that our imperial forces be better equipped to respond to colonial crises at very short notice. This resolution is in response to the analysis of the situation in the Far East. It is therefore requested that a new battleship class of no less than 22 knts with 12" guns be ordered outfitted for service on colonial stations. The successful design ought to also be capable of forming a battle line if required, with particular interest in matching the strength of the current American menace in a possible future defence of our Canadian holdings.
Naval Secretary, Whitehall
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Post by Awesome on Jun 2, 2019 18:01:42 GMT -6
We must construct a vessel capable of crushing the enemy completely even if some speed is sacrificed
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Post by ramjb on Jun 3, 2019 1:17:20 GMT -6
...and now we receive news from the DNC about that turtle-like monstrosity that will struggle to catch an ailing merchant. Did we learn nothing from the ongoing war?. Russians fleeing everywhere, delaying the inevitable, prolonging a war that should be already by all rights over, denying us the glory of a proper victory. We struggle to engage in combat against faster enemies, and the Design Naval Commitee puts forward such a travesty?. Unfathomable!
You know as best as any other, my friend, that it's my firm belief that in naval combat speed is everything. The faster vessel dictates wether if a fight is having place at all, and can force the fight against an unwilling enemy. Nothing triumphs over the ability to deny or impose a fight. The future will be dominated by he who possesses the strongest, yet fastest, vessels. So, even at the cost of armor, we must push our designs to be as fast as possible while carrying a strong punch. What is armor good for if the enemy can't catch you in the first place?. Armor, I say, and the future will prove me right; Armor, I insist, is only needed to protect our ships against light cruisers, which should be the only ones faster ships than our capital ships. Beyond that, there's no better protection than speed...Speed is all the armor we need.
What we need is a battleship able to stay away from the fight when the numbers are against us, if that's even possible, and able to force the battle upon slower enemies when we have the advantage. Protected with armor against cruiser gunfire, for cruisers will be the only ships able to be as fast, and armed with battleship guns to massacre both enemy cruisers and the enemy battleline. A ship with battleship guns yet with cruiser speed. A battlecruiser!(Passage from a letter from Adm. John Fisher to the First Sea Lord) ...yet we know about external criticism to our design work, adressed to the Right Honorable First Sea Lord, that push for extremes that our conscience can't help but warn about. The idea that speed is an useful trait for a battleship we all concur with, but when it comes at the cost of sacrifizing real protection, it leads to dire consequences. Battleships should fight battleships. And what good is speed for when a battleship shell lodges itself into the machinery areas of the so-called "battlecruiser" because it lacks armor to deflect it?. What happens after that?. Were will be the so much praised speed after the ship's boilers are destroyed?.
Speed is not protection. Speed is speed.
Our three proposals, put forward last week, display the possible avenues for our fleet. The Right Honorable Lord Fisher might call our work "inept" for putting forward a ship slower than what he thinks is desirable - yet he forgets we also put forward a design for a ship so fast not even enemy armored cruisers will be able to get out of it's way. We take no decisions, we take no sides - we just put forward plausible designs and let the Sea Lords decide for themselves...(Speech of the DNC head, found in the minutes of one of the design meeting with the First Sea Lord) ...So, it's our estimation that emphasis should be put in the importance that our battleships deal as much damage as they shrug. Yet we cannot forget that dealing damage is only possible against enemies that engage in battle, so speed to engage and keep the engagement going is also key. As such, the idea of a slow ship with enormous guns but unable to keep anything within their range is as little attractive as that of a fast ship with big guns but that will get torn to pieces under heavy fire.
Is so that we strongly favor a balanced design that brings the three important keys to the fight: Guns to destroy enemies, speed to engage them and keep them engaged, and armor to deflect any incoming shells.(Taken from a letter from the Strategic Assessment Office to the Navy Board) (Out of character: My vote goes to balanced design ,without a doubt. There'll be time to evolve the battlecruiser, but the first dreadnoughts should form the core of the battleline, battlecruisers are their support. And 18 knots is just woeful for a battleship, so, nah, not that one ).
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 3, 2019 5:44:02 GMT -6
The Centurion design of 1902, a heavy battery battleship with four 12" guns and eight 10" guns was seen for a period of two years as the future of the Royal Navy. A development of the standard design which had large main guns and a numerous secondary battery, it was considered that wing turrets of similarly large calibre would be more effective. The design board had other opinions, however, suggesting that Britain's current superiority in battleships was enough and that more cruisers were needed - this led to the Good Hope class of first class cruisers, each armed with six 9" guns. This 'unified' main battery was considered the new standard for cruiser design. But it wasn't until the early days of 1904, a year into war with Russia, that a battleship designed to the same standard was considered. A call for new battleship designs came after the sinking of the Rodney by a mine. While they were fine warships, the Majestic class was aging fast and nowhere was it more apparent than in their engines. Able to make just 16 knots, the five remaining vessels of the class delayed the entire battle line and had thus far made bringing the Russians to combat impossible. The request for designs thus asked for three things - A unified main battery, armour proof against their own guns and at least 18 knots of speed so that these new ships could operate alongside the rest of the fleet. These three categories still allowed for major variation amongst the designs and this was clearly seen when the three most likely submissions were assessed. The Dreadnought, the Juggernaut and the Invincible were analysed by the SAO in March 1904. Each embodied a different aspect of the Centurion's design philosophy and took it almost to an extreme with the most modern of technology. Invincible was a so called 'cruiser-battleship', with a belt thick enough to turn any cruisers guns and enough boilers to make a staggering twenty-four knots. But she would struggle to stand in the line of battle and her speed would make her unwieldy when operating alongside other, older ships. The Juggernaut was the opposite - slow at the minimum eighteen knots she carried enough armour to turn her own massive 14" guns and eight of those rifles would have been the most powerful guns at sea were she built. But she was also the largest and likely the most expensive, both things that would limit her numbers and make it difficult for her to fully replace the six Majestics. So all eyes fell upon the Dreadnought. 19,800 tons at full load, twenty-one knots at full speed and carrying eight 12" rifles in a diamond pattern, she would make a worthy successor to the smaller battleships. She would also be the largest warship ever built when she launched, should schedules be kept to. A full design workup was ordered, and the admiralty waited with baited breath for the work to be completed. "I have seen the documents for this new 'all-big-gun' battleship the boys from Derwent have been playing with. I'll admit that she is pretty, but how many men have been misled by a pretty face? She has but six guns on the broadside and nothing to reinforce her main battery. What if she is caught in close? For sure, she has her anti-torpedo boat guns but how is she supposed to adequately hunt cruisers with only the twelve inch guns? If this is the future, I am concerned as to what the future will look like. But I will acceed to the determination of my experts. My own expertise is in the thick of it, after all."Diary of the Admiral, April 1904 How many of these should we build? [ ] This is a proof of concept, not yet able to replace the battleship. Build one. [ ] A squadron's worth, perhaps three With enough budget spare for cruisers. [ ] Begin replacing battleships with Dreadnoughts - as many as we can build
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Post by rob06waves2018 on Jun 3, 2019 5:51:35 GMT -6
I'd build 2. One for the home fleet and one for an expeditionary fleet. Enough to prove its use but not enough to exhaust our budget on very early technology. Wait for superfiring and a larger tonnage to build a large class.
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Post by warspite1995 on Jun 3, 2019 6:05:57 GMT -6
A Single squadron should be enough to prove their worth!
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Post by ramjb on Jun 3, 2019 6:08:27 GMT -6
In a hurry now so for today no "insight into letters or speeches" XD
Build one. If I had the time to do one of the writeups I've been doing until now I'd focus on the misgivings and worries about the new ship. Those concerns are actually valid ,it's a lot of a ship for just a 50% increase in broadside weight over the old predreds, and it has too light of a secondary battery, which can be a serious headache against enemy destroyers (cruisers are no concern, 12'' are perfectly valid to deal with those). Dreadnought shut many a mouth after she was built (there were many who opposed her design), but she had twice the broadside of a predreadnought. This design is less powerful and those voices would still be heard within the Admiralty.
Maybe working on a semi-sister with 6'' secondaries, if the weight can be spared in the design, and get a full squadron going. A war is going on after all and funds are no worry. Also it would make sense from an historical context, as a logical follow up. If no 6'' secondaries can be included within the design budget (a slight increase of tonnage to accomodate for them would should easily allow for that, and cost very little in terms of redesign, I guess), then this ship should remain a single unit proof of concept.
Other than that, until 8 gun broadsides can be achieved (Without going the "hexagonal diamond turret" way, which I think is a massive waste), be it through centerlines, be it through superimposed+wing turrets, be it through en echelon+crossdeck fire, more than that would be hard to justify.
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 3, 2019 9:13:55 GMT -6
"Battle Joined Against Russians Stop Hood Ramillies Badly Holed Stop Resolution Demasted Stop Two Russian Cruisers Burning Stop Four Survivors Captured Stop Awaiting Further Orders Stop"The Harrison Telegram, declaring the end of the battle of Osel
"The propensity of the Russian cruiser to burn was of significant advantage to the Royal Navy during the Anglo-Russian war of '04. The Oleg and the Pamyat Azova were both abandoned to sink after fires started by the twelve inch shells of the British battleships consumed the upper decks of both ships. This would mark an ongoing issue for the Russian ships which the Royal Navy was quick to use at every opportunity."History of 20th Century warfare, published 1984"British troops who had conducted a wildly successful amphibious assault at Darshin pushed North and East, reinforced my Indian, Australian and South-East Asian regiments in their campaign. By May of 1904, Vladivostok was under siege and the Far-Eastern Russian port was not only under threat - it was no longer receiving any coal which did not come by sea. This siege would last for the rest of the war between Britain and Russia, starving hundreds within the city with many more suffering from disease as conditions steadily worsened."The 8th infantry Regiment (Blue Jacks) official history"I have engaged the Russian ships in countless breakout attempts now, but even I had not considered such boldness as to try and break through the Denmark Straits as the sun rose. A small squadron of Russian cruisers pushed our blockade, the 11th holding a rearwards line. I do not know how they slipped past the battleships, but slip by they did and it fell to me to control them where they were.My Drake took hits but she rode them out without complaint. Meanwhile, the Russian cruisers burned as easily as ever. We returned to port with just 19 shells for the main guns aboard. I wonder how many of them made it home."Diary of Captain Burnside, HMS DrakeTwo of the new 'Dreadnought' class were laid down in July of 1904, keels emplaced in Northern shipyards just as soon as the design work was complete. They would be followed by a third the next month as soon as a 20,000 ton slip was available. It was a bold statement, a £200,000 experiment in scrying the future that only time would reveal the pay-off of. They would be the first ships of their type in the world. It would be a glorious future. "I thought we had finally brought them to battle, and we did. But as much as we made them suffer, they gave it in return as well. Empress of India suffered from extensive flooding after a shell took one of her torpedo rooms. They made port in Libau before we could truly do for them, and though i'm glad we took nought but the barest of casualties, I am nonetheless disappointed. I cannot for the life of me decide whether I would rather the Russians meet us properly or if they should just give up what is already a foregone conclusion anyway."
Diary of Rear Admiral Harrison, August 1904Intelligence has delivered two vital reports which may change the balance of power. The Russians, despite our constant blockading and isolating of their forces, despite the starvation their people are suffering, they have 'discovered' the wing turret design that has enabled us to design the Dreadnought. More importantly, the Germans have suggested placing three turrets along the centreline. If we could capture the plans for that, well, that would change things significantly.
We were planning on waiting until war's end but war doesn't seem to be ending - How should we upgrade our ships to central firing? [ ] One at a time until all battleships are equipped. [ ] In batches to speed up the process. [ ] Only upgrade the newest battleships - the Canopus class. [ ] Don't upgrade any of the mixed battery battleships.
It has been suggested that, although British crews are excellent they could benefit from additional training: [ ] Gunnery [ ] Night Fighting [ ] Torpedo School [ ] None
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 4, 2019 7:48:38 GMT -6
"We have opened a new gunnery training school at Dartmouth. The Princess of Wales came to open it. It was all pageantry and fete but there were a few of us standing off to one side who couldn't bring ourselves to get involved. We knew what we would be doing here - turning boys into men who would go off to kill other boys. And we were going to make them better at it. Despicable."
Diary of Commander JohnsonOctober 1904 - The war came to an end. After 18 months of vicious fighting and brutal gunnery engagements at sea, diplomats finally managed to come to a series of agreements that would see the conflict brought to a close. While British troops marched South from Vladivostok and returned the city to Russian control, the Liatung peninsula and the islands of Sakhalin were brought under colonial management as a check on Russian Pacific ambitions. Significant reparations were also demanded with a frighteningly harsh schedule of payments that some observers decried as overly detrimental to the people of Russia. But those who had started the war had to pay for it, or so it was said. It did not stop them though, somehow. Their naval budget, while significantly reduced, did allow for the new construction of two ships. Both were rumoured to be almost as large as the Dreadnoughts and they were immediately of great concern to naval planners. Russia would have to be kept under watch lest they decide they would bring a second challenge to the might of the Royal Navy. The 11th Cruiser Squadron (Drake, Aboukir, Cressy and Good Hope) were detached from the Home Fleet and deployed to the Mediterranean but not before they sailed in review at Portsmouth. Each of these massive armoured cruisers has served in combat multiple times throughout the war and had been instrumental in blockading the Baltic an they received a Royal commendation before making steam for warmer climes. The rest of the fleet was reorganised, with newly built cruisers dispatched to foreign stations now that they were no longer needed to hold the Russians at bay. Home Fleet
- 1st Battle Squadron -- HMS Canopus (Flag) -- HMS Repulse -- HMS Empress of India - 4th Battle Squadron -- HMS Resolution (Flag) -- HMS Anson -- HMS Royal Oak - 5th Battle Squadron -- HMS Formidable (Flag) -- HMS Barfleur -- HMS Hood - Reserve Battle Squadron -- HMS Ramillies -- HMS Redoubtable - 9th Cruiser Squadron -- HMS Latoma -- HMS Philomel -- HMS Naiad -- HMS Pique - 10th Cruiser Squadron -- HMS Topaze -- HMS Sirius -- HMS Terpsichore -- HMS Tribune - 14th Cruiser Squadron -- HMS Bacchante -- HMS Euryalis -- HMS King Alfred -2nd Torpedo Squadron -- 7 Destroyers - 5th Torpedo Squadron -- 8 Destroyers - 6th Torpedo Squadron -- 8 Destroyers - Additional Forces -- 3 Minesweepers Mediterranean Fleet
- 3rd Battle Squadron -- HMS Renown (Flag) -- HMS Collingwood -- HMS Benbow -- HMS Howe - 8th Cruiser Squadron -- HMS Phoebe -- HMS Persian -- HMS Pearly - 11th Cruiser Squadron -- HMS Drake -- HMS Aboukir -- HMS Cressy -- HMS Good Hope -1st Torpedo Squadron -- 7 Destroyers - Additional Forces -- 3 Minesweepers Africa Station
- 6th Cruiser Squadron (West Africa) -- HMS Carysfort -- HMS Conquest -- HMS Sutlej - 1st Cruiser Squadron (South Africa) -- HMS Diadem -- HMS Peleus -- HMS Curacoa -- HMS Calypso Indian Station
- 1st Indian Squadron -- HMS Pandora -- HMS Constance -- HMS Leander - 2nd Indian Squadron -- HMS Psyche -- HMS Canada -- HMS Pelorus Far East Station
- 2nd Battle Squadron -- HMS Majestic (Flag) -- HMS Royal Sovereign -- HMS Revenge - 4th Cruiser Squadron (Weihaiwei) -- HMS Amiphitrite -- HMS Europa -- HMS Ariadne - 3rd Cruiser Squadron (Australia) -- HMS Amphion -- HMS Calliope -- HMS Melampus - 7th Cruiser Squadron (Weihaiwei) -- HMS Phaeton -- HMS Cordelia -- HMS Apollo - 4th Torpedo Squadron -- 6 Destroyers America Station
- 2nd Cruiser Squadron (Newfoundland) -- HMS Niobe -- HMS Andromeda -- HMS Pallas - 6th Torpedo Squadron -- 8 Destroyers - Additional Forces -- 4 Minesweepers - 5th Cruiser Squadron (Columbia) -- HMS Spartiate -- HMS Champion -- HMS Comus - Caribbean Squadron -- HMS Argonaute -- HMS Arethusa -- HMS Cleopatra - 3rd Torpedo Squadron -- 7 Destroyers 1905 dawned with peace, a confidently equipped Royal Navy, and technological discoveries coming apace. The most important of the new year was the creation of the first reliable steam turbines which seem likely to improve our ships engines significantly. The only decision now is where to utilise them. We currently do not have the budget for additional construction - what should we do?[ ] Place many ships into reserve [ ] Place some of the older ships in reserve [ ] Delay construction of some of our newest ships
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 5, 2019 3:06:57 GMT -6
Even with many ships placed into reserve, including the entire Home Fleet (barring the scouts and patrol ships), we still had to shut down construction on several ships for a handful of months. The Centurion, a dreadnought and Monmouth, a first class cruiser, will be delayed in their construction. Hogue was commissioned in June of 1905, and, given the difficult financial straits of a peacetime Royal Navy, there was still no money for continued construction. Murmurs began to be heard that Centurion and Monmouth should be scrapped on the slips. This all came to a head in July when, seeing the torpedo fleet as aging, the Minister for War made a visit to the Admiralty and demanded the construction of 21 additional destroyers. Attempts to haggle him down to a more reasonable number were unsuccessful and the demand was placed. With great shame, the Admiral announced the cancellation of the construction of Centurion and Monmouth, and the selling of the Ramillies class for scrap. As much as these old boats had served with great honour during the war with Russia, they were significantly outdated now and the money made could be put to much better use. Five of the newest class of submarine, the C-class, joined the fleet in August and began working up in the channel. They would eventually be deployed to Scotland to protect against raiding ships and harass merchant shipping in case of war. A disarmament conference is called in September. It is immediately sabotaged by British diplomats who know that, once the Royal navy sorts its finances out, it will return to being Queen of the Seas and there is no reason to submit to the whims of other nations. "The Intelligence services have presented me with a set of plans that I don't understand. She is almost as large as our Dreadnoughts, carries the same armament in the same layout (so similar in fact that I wonder how tight our security is) but makes 24 knots and has an armoured belt of just five and a half inches. It is madness, a ship that large with a cruisers armour. The first time she meets our battle line she will vanish under our shell fire. But will she choose to meet them? The Russians continue to vex me and I wonder if we haven't made less able choices."
Diary of the Admiral, October 1905The new year came and went with only minor increases in tensions between us and the Germans. What did happen, however, was the collection by the public of £50,000 to finance a new battleship. Some argued for a new Dreadnought, one finally named Centurion. Others pushed for a new class to take advantage of the technology that had been discovered in the year and a half since the dreadnought was first laid down. The 'Super-Dreadnought' or Redoubtable would take advantage of larger dock sizes to produce a battleship with a new 14" gun, experimental torpedo defences, cross-deck fire to allow for an eight gun broadside and all in a package just 3200 tons larger. Of course, she's also £20,000 more expensive. Some call for a simple upgrade to the 'Dreadnought' design to utilise this new technology instead to maintain a regular line of battle. What should we build?[ ] A Dreadnought [ ] A Super Dreadnought [ ] A Dreadnought+
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Post by cuirasspolisher on Jun 5, 2019 9:42:09 GMT -6
The Redoubtable is almost as great an advance over the Dreadnought as Dreadnought was over older battleships (pre-dreadnoughts, they ought to be called). Other nations are already building battleships to counter the Dreadnought class, and not all will be as woeful as the Kinburn. We must move forward once again or be surpassed. Build the Redoubtable, I say!
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 6, 2019 14:30:37 GMT -6
Redoubtable and Victorious, a pair of ships so far beyond the Dreadnought they may as well have been a new class unto themselves, were laid down in July of 1906. With 850 crew and eight 14" guns facing broadside, they would be the largest and most powerful ships at sea. No Navy would stand in the way of his Majesties. They would be just in time as well as only the Italians had yet to lay down their own 'Dreadnought-style' ship, as they were becoming known. Alongside them were put down four additional submarines to bring the total number in the force up to thirteen. Then, towards the end of 1906, yet another new discovery was made that would put even the Redoubtables to shame. A way of using the vast oil reserves available from British possessions in the Far East and Indian ocean to power the vast engines that drove the ships of the Royal Navy, saving many hundreds of pounds in stokers and coaling stations. Or it would when the Navy transferred over to it which would take some time. "I stood on the docks and watched twenty-thousand tons of steel slip from its birthing place into the ocean where it would remain for the rest of its days. The Dreadnought they call her, she who fears nothing. Certainly she has nothing to be afraid of 'mongst her peers, with heavy guns and armour the likes of which has never been seen before. I want to sail her - hell, I want to command her. I will. One day I will."
Diary of Peter Bickle, future RN Admiral and commander of 3rd battle Squadron including HMS DreadnoughtMagnificent was laid down in November, a construction program par excellence to maintain numbers above and beyond those of Englands natural enemies. The United States already has four 'Dreadnoughts' laid down and, while there is little knowledge forthcoming on them despite intelligence efforts, they also have a 'super-cruiser' in the slips as well. March of 1907 has come. Tensions with the Germans are boiling over for seemingly no reason but jealousy of our strength. We have as many choices as ever - to go to war or not too, to build or not too. Well? Building program 1907-09[ ] Dreadnought focus [ ] Experiment with super-cruisers [ ] Replace the aging fast cruisers
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Post by feldmeijer on Jun 6, 2019 15:03:53 GMT -6
We could focus our efforts on constructing several high-speed battlecruisers carrying very high caliber guns. We'd have to sacrifice the armour, but as we all know speed is armour!
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Post by hmssophia on Jun 7, 2019 11:10:09 GMT -6
"This new Liberal government refuses to see the necessity of the ships we have under construction. It is May now and I do not see how by December we will not be falling farther and farther behind the enemies of the state. The Thetis class is being laid down apace, and the Redoubtables are building but is that enough? No. We cannot maintain the policy of the decade, to hold ourselves above the next two enemies, with a slimmed down budget. I hope I am wrong but I fear the worst."
Diary of the Admiral, May 1907The first ship to attempt to contend the Dreadnought has arrived - the French Colbert - and she is... well, she is laughable. Though she has a heavier main battery and she is seemingly well armoured, the Colbert is slower than even our older ships of the line and will be easily outmanoeuvred and out fought by even our first class cruisers. The Good Hopes will surely be a threat to her let alone the Dreadnoughts and the Redoubtables. "It has been reported to me that the Germans have their fleet exercising at full strength in the North Sea. Despite their comparative weakness it is still a point of note, especially since the vast majority of their fleet is operation from their home ports whilst ours is spread across the world. Their colonies are, of course, essentially unprotected but do they care? Do they matter? If they can bring us to decisive battle and threaten the Home Fleet, does the Bismarck Archipelago or the Chinese city even come into consideration in what may be a coming war? I have sent a note to my opposite number, Admiral von Prittwitz und Gaffron. I hope he will see sense and confirm that these exercises are nothing but that. If my fears are confirmed, well... I will not drag England to the second war of the decade but I am prepared to defend these isles if that's what I must do."
Diary of the Admiral, September 1907"They ignored our note. I have activated the reserve squadrons and prepared plans for war. I hope it will not come to that."Diary of the Admiral, September 1907In February of 1908, British Forces were deployed to Hainan to maintain peace and put down a warlord who was threatening the stability of the region. This peacekeeping operation, while well intentioned, brought troops into conflict with German ones. Shouting matches became brawls, brawls became fire fights and several men on both sides died in entirely avoidable actions. But avoided they were not and the escalation continued until ships were facing each other down in the North Sea. The Battle of Texel, February 18th 1908, saw eleven battleships led by HMS Rodney and HMS Dreadnought engage the German Hochseeflotte. HMS King Alfred sighted enemy smoke at half past six in the morning and the fleet made full speed into them before the enemy could depart. It was not the enemy battle line, however, but a fleet of armoured cruisers numbering at least ten. A squadron closed the range to under four miles of the two Dreadnoughts and were punished thoroughly for it for an hour, taking hit after hit after hit while the two battleships weathered multiple blows without penetration. Rodney and Dreadnought at TexelHowever at 0800, a nine inch shell penetrated Dreadnought below the waterline and forced the lead squadron to reduce speed. Five minutes later, the German Gneisenau split from her squadron and began to ship water as the other three armoured cruisers turned away. Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman, fearing a destroyer attack, ordered a two point turn to starboard instead of a stern chase. In the South the story was no different. Hogue, Euryalus and King Alfred engaged another German cruiser squadron, setting one ablaze and damaging the other two. Pinned in a ten mile stretch of sea between the battleship forces in the North and the cruiser forces in the South, the German ships suffered under the British guns. By nine, three ships were burning in the glow of the morning sun. A new force had been spotted on the horizon and it became a question of how far Bridgeman was willing to push his men, his ships. 0915. The British battleline turns about and begins to steam due West rather than due East. Reconnecting his forces, taking stock of his remaining ammunition and reducing speed to allow stokers the opportunity to rest, the Royal Navy prepares to face a thus far untested German line of battle. None have a gun larger than eleven inches, and even the Elsass isn't much of a danger to the Dreadnought, but the older ships of the line are threatened. It is not the British battleships that suffer in the following minutes, however: "We'd weathered two, maybe three hours of the Kaisers ships throwing everything they had at us, keeping them penned in against the big girls North of us. We finally thought we had the win, and a lossless one at that when she went up. We were abaft the Euryalus by maybe half a mile and I must have blinked because where I had seen a ship of fourteen-thousand tons now there was nothing but flotsam and waves. The smoke in the air said enough. She had blown up."
Lieutenant Pontnoy, bridge officer on HMS Hogue and witness to the loss of the EuryalusThe explosion which killed some eight-hundred men was heard as far away as the German battleships approaching the Home Fleet at speed. Later recorded as a loss due to ammunition failures, the destruction of the modern First Class Cruiser was one reason behind the later British dissatisfaction with fast ships and the disinterest in Fisher's argument that speed was armour. It was, as First Sea Lord Beatty later put it, that 'Armour is Armour and anyone saying otherwise is nothing more than a fool'.
The Home Fleet turned South, magazines almost empty, and the destroyers were ordered to screen the turn away. It was not a retreat and was not recorded as such, but a strategic re-positioning such that crews could rest and rearm with some level of success. Chelmer, a 500 ton torpedo boat, was lost at this point in the battle as a shell from a German battleship took her bows and sent her plunging below the waves without warning. With the British retiring, a savage action was fought between torpedo boats as both sides attempted to make runs with their lethal payloads.
By midday the battle had come fully to a close and the British could take stock of their losses. The Euryalus was gone, and four destroyers failed to return from their run against the Germans. Acorn, Alarm, Savage and the unfortunate Chelmer, all were lost with seemingly all hands. In return, the British had sunk three heavy armoured cruisers, heavily damaged or burned several more and the submarine E-13 had caught a battleship later identified as SMS Hessen and torpedoed (but not sunk) her. It was hailed as a victory and the Vice-Admirals decision to retire early was hailed as good strategic sense rather than the cowardice the German papers attempted to spin it as. Their spin went almost unheard, as the funerals of hundreds of young men fighting for some Chinese patch of land rang much louder.
The Anglo-German war begins. An invasion of Hainan by sea is planned. New Super Dreadnoughts are but eight months away. How do we prosecute the war? [ ] This is foolish. End it as soon as possible. [ ] We hurt them where we can, but nothing rash. [ ] We dominate the European seas. Lets remind the Germans of that.
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