|
Post by revillag on Aug 14, 2019 19:31:00 GMT -6
It took a while, but I see what you did with "Uncle" and "Cousin Ferdinand". I'm not sure who Dimitry, or the author or recipient of the letter is supposed to be (if they aren't entirely fictional). I am having fun mixing fact with fiction. Cousin Dimitry is fictional and was never indented to be more than a one-off joke in the first episode, but when the historic fire in Buckingham Palace happened so close to the in-game event of a diplomatic problem with Russia, I knew the two events were related and Dimitry seemed like a likely culprit.
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 14, 2019 19:32:58 GMT -6
April 1901 Dearest Cousin I may have made a bit of a hash of things. I am still getting use to how political my appointment is. You see, in March, the Imperial Council and Hungarian Diet voted to reduce naval spending by nearly five and a half million korne per year. This while Italy, Great Britan, and Germany all commission new heavy cruisers and France increasing her naval spending. Well, earlier this month I was interviewed by a reporter from Wiener Zeitung. He asked me if I agreed with the government about the likelihood of war, given the recent cuts to the naval budget. I must admit that I did not hold back. The picture I painted was rather bleak. I pointed out the qualitative inferiority of our battleships relative to the rest of the world, and that without modern ships it would be exceptionally difficult to protect the maritime interests and trade of the Dual Monarchy. After the article was published, the Imperial Council and Hungarian Diet voted to restore the funding, as well as more, but Uncle received diplomatic notes from England, France and Russia complaining of the belligerent tone of the article. The additional funding allowed me to order Herr Muller to lay down the SMS Budapest. She will be a sister ship to the SMS Wien, but if things do not calm down internationally, we may need her before she is ready. The papers announce that the Czar has ordered a battleship from English yards. The English have the largest and most advanced battleships in the world, so it is understandable why he would want English ships, but I can’t imagine his court is very happy sending all of that money to England, especially after he ordered one from the Americans earlier in the year. Germany has sold us the plans for hydraulic recoil for our guns. It was expensive, but we need all the technological help that we can get. I do not want you to think that I am maligning our researchers. They are going good work, but they are coming from behind. Still, they are making progress. Just this month they informed me that they figured out how to replicate the Krupp method for hardening armor. I must cut this letter short as I am needed at the commissioning of the SMS Arpad. She is an attempt to build a more economical version of the Kiser class. It appears that all they succeeded in doing is to reduce her speed from 19 knots to 18 knots. A slower ship must therefore slow down the entire squadron. Although she is the same speed as the Wiens, she carries the older 9” guns. If she is placed in a squadron with them, she may have to absorb long range fire without the ability to respond. I am not sure what role she will play, but I can’t afford to be choosy, and must make the best out of what we have.
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 16, 2019 17:55:32 GMT -6
June 1901 Dearest Cousin May was a quiet month, but June has made up for it. France continued to fortify her possessions in the Mediterranean, and both Germany and Italy commissioned new battleships, while we contented ourselves with planning for the upcoming June fleet exercises. Italy too, is increasing their Mediterranean fortifications, and interestingly, they are all on their west coast. It appears that Italy considers France their greatest threat. I have to say I agree with them. France has been acting like the Mediterranean is their private lake. I fear conflict in inevitable, but I hope it will hold off until our new battleships are ready. You have no doubt heard of the internal problems in Norway. What you may not know is that elements of Uncle’s court wanted to intervene. They apparently believed that they could get Norway to become a dependency of the empire. I strongly recommended against taking action. To support Norway, we would have to sail through the home waters of literally every other navy in Europe. I can’t imagine that the Russians, who are still on edge from the Dimitry Incident, would have taken kindly to us meddling in their backyard. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed, and our involvement was limited to diplomats. As I mentioned, we held a major fleet exercises in June. I ordered the fleet split roughly in half between the red fleet and the blue fleet. The blue fleet had an extra battleship in the SMS Arpad, but she was still working up, and her crew was still inexperienced, so I did not see it as unbalancing. An early destroyer attack by the red fleet forced the blue forces out of formation. The aggressive attack by red’s light forces forced blue’s battle line to conduct a hard turn away from the red’s light ships. The attacking destroyers scored no hits with torpedoes, but the attack caused the blue battleships to lose formation and become separated into two pairs of ships. This allowed red to concentrate its fire on half of blue’s battleship force while the light forces kept the other half at bay. Red’s torpedo attack was hampered by the extremely short range of the torpedoes and the destroyers suffered hits from the battleship’s light guns, but I can only describe it as a success. The three red battleships, and two blue battleships pounded each other until they were out of ammunition. In the end, red lost three destroyers while blue lost 2 battleships and 1 destroyer. The ability of the destroyers to force the blue line to split was decisive. One battleship was lost to fire and flooding from the gun hits, the other was immobilized by guns and finished off by torpedoes from the light forces. The battleship SMS Hapsburg scored as the most accurate ship with 4.72% hit rate. Most ships had a much lower hit rate. Overall, I consider the exercise a huge success. It was costly, at 4 million korne, but it did point out the need to improve our light forces. It also led our researchers to an improved fire control system and generally improve the quality of the crews. I have ordered our scientists to concentrate their research on improving the light forces the torpedoes. This is something that I probably should have done a while ago, but we are so far behind in all areas of research that I hated to reduce the funding for the other research areas. I considered reducing the budget from specific areas to localize the damage, as it where, but nothing is unimportant. I would also like to increase regular gunnery practice, but between the cost of the ammunition and the cost of coal, we cannot afford to do so at this time.
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 20, 2019 4:35:31 GMT -6
August 1901 Dearest Cousin, Things were quite busy here in July. SMS Arpad finished her working up as did the two new torpedo-boat destroyers. While I was at the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards discussing the results of the working up with Arpad’s captain, he commented that it did not appear that the new Chilean battleship had any new work done on it while he was on his working-up cruise. Indeed, he was right. The keel had been laid, but there were no workers working on her. As I was leaving, I spoke to Herr Muller and asked about the lack of work in the Chilean battleship as it was taking up considerable space in a naval slip. Not that I was planning any new ships lately you understand. It is just that such a large ship takes years to complete and I was concerned that the shipyards would not have the yard space free should we decide to expand the navy. Herr Muller told me that he had received word from Chile that they were likely to cancel the order and to stop all production. He stated that Chile and Argentina are negotiating through Great Brittan an end to their naval arms race and had failed to make the most recent payments on the ship and he doubted that they would continue the contract. He told me that the ship was about ten percent complete and breaking up what was completed would cost as much as the scrap value he would get for the materials. He then offered to allow the Kriegsmarine to take over the contract. After due consideration, I accepted. I had not planned for a third ship of the Wein class, but the offer was too good to pass up. We will have to tap into our strategic reserve to pay for it, and even then, we may have to stop work after a few months until the SMS Wein is completed. If we do not have to slow its production, we will get it in two years, at the same time as SMS Budapest. We may come to need this battleship as tensions are rising with France and they just commissioned a powerful new battleship. It has four 12” guns in two twin turrets, sixteen 6” guns, a 9” belt, but to get all of this, my intelligence agents report that she can make only 16 knots. Despite her slow speed, her guns and armor make her formidable. I had an exchange of letters with Uncle about France. He does not share my view that war with France is inevitable. He has sent out some diplomatic feelers to see if the causes of the tensions can be reduced. His diplomatic staff wants to open negotiations by making some symbolic concessions to the French. I warned that this was a bad idea and that any concessions to the French would make us look weak and give them cause to demand more concessions. I told him that should it come to war, the Kriegsmarine would be able to dominate the French in the Mediterranean. He must have accepted my advice as I have heard no word on concessions to the French as I am sure that the French press would loudly be hailing such a turn of events. Bolstering this belief in our abilities was word that a new model of torpedo is about to enter production. This model has a greater range and speed than our previous one. This new torpedo can travel at up to 25 knots, though the attacking ship would have to get to within 800 meters of its target to launch at this speed. At 15 knots it can travel 2,000 meters, though the target ship would have to be going quite slow to be unable to dodge it at this range. Still, this is promising news.
|
|
|
Post by mycophobia on Aug 20, 2019 11:15:14 GMT -6
I have to say that's a very interesting way to explain the "another ship with 10%" discount" event Seeing how every AAR explains the various turn to turn events that comes up in RTW is great fund and you have certainly done a great job so far Keep it up!
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 23, 2019 16:01:31 GMT -6
October 1901 My Dearest Cousin, Although things have been relatively quite here, the papers are reporting plenty of news from America. The New York Times are claiming that the first powered flight has been made, by German-born American aviator Gustave Whitehead, in his Number 21, in the American state of Connecticut. I have my doubts that such a thing is possible. My aid, Sub-lieutenant von Trapp, you remember him, the one who has your French postcard? Anyway, he assures me that powered flight is possible, but he doubts the American’s claims. He stated that it is simply impossible to generate the power to weight ratio necessary to lift a plain into the air. The article was light on details about the craft that Mr. Whitehead supposedly flew, nonetheless, I have asked my staff to keep a weather eye out for any more information on flying craft. The other news out of the United States of America is far more tragic. An anarchist assassinated U.S. President William McKinley. Anarchists are striking all over the world. First Italy than an attempt on the German Kiser and now the American president. I fear for Uncle’s safety. When I expressed to him about it in a letter, he responded that he, and all of the nobility, must take the risks associated with being in public. How could we govern if we are seen as hiding from the people? I have taken his words to heart, but I still worry. On the naval front, France and the Americans both laid down Heavy Cruisers while both Great Brittan and Italy laid down new battleships. I received word from my contacts in the Kiserliche Marine that Germany has ordered a battleship from the English yards. I must say that I am surprised by this. If I were I my German counterpart, I would be worried that relations would sour before the ship is completed and delivered. I have received word that due to the experience building the Boas, one crew has been working faster than expected and he plans to deliver one of the ships a month ahead of schedule. The Naval Technical Committee, the Marinetechnisches Kommittee or MTK, has also informed me that they have solved the problems they had building larger 600-ton destroyers. The admiral in command of the destroyer flotillas immediately requested that we begin laying down a new class of destroyers (as we have now come to call the torpedo-boar destroyers). The larger ships would solve many of the sea-keeping problems on the Tigers and relieve the cramped accommodations on both classes of destroyers. I was forced to disappoint the admiral. Although the design sketches show that they would more conferrable ships, they would not gain any combat advantages. They would carry the same number of guns and torpedoes. I reminded him that the Kriegsmarine is the second son of the military and we must do the best with what we have. [Authors Note] Please forgive the artistic license. Historically, Gregory von Trapp was on his cadet cruise at the end of 1901. I chose to make him a little bit older and further along in his career for reasons that (hopefully) will be made clear later]
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 23, 2019 16:02:21 GMT -6
December 1901 My Dearest Cousin, It will be lovely seeing you at Uncle’s over Christmas. I hope cousin Ferdinand is there and that Uncle won’t force us to ostracize him over his wedding to Sofia. She seemed to be such a nice lady when they visited earlier this year. I have been so busy with my duties here that I have not had time to keep up with all the goings on of the family, so I am looking forwards to a chance to catch up. October was quiet, despite the amount of paperwork I completed. Sometimes I think that we spend more on paper and ink than we do on coal for our ships. Every form, letter and memorandum must be written twice, once in German and again in Hungarian. The translations much be checked by two other persons and then corrections made. After that two copies must be made in both languages, the original being kept here, and one copy sent to Wein and the other sent to Budapest. It is a wonder we get anything done. Still, we go get things done. We commissioned another Boa destroyer and out Intelligence service is quite efficient. They have recently provided me with a draft copy of the English Royal Naval Budget as well as details of one of their battleships under commission. The Royal Navy again asks for an increase in its budget for the HMS Howe, and I have no doubt that it will be granted. The HMS Howe is an Aboukir class battleship. Its displacement is expected to be 11,600 tons, be capable of 21 knots with a 6 ½ inch belt. We don’t know what size her guns are, but I suspect that they are 12”. She has sacrificed a lot of armor to achieve the speed on 21 knots as our own SMS Wien carries 8” armor in the belt. It appears that the Royal Navy’s policy is to build ships that can run away from anything that it can’t out fight. Its speed would also theoretically allow it to dictate the range of an engagement. As armor penetration falls off as range increases, they may well be planning to exchange fire at long range where the ship’s light armor is not a detriment. The chances of scoring a hit at long range are quite small, however as the ships would likely be unable to use their secondary battery. Perhaps the English are planning make up for this by overwhelming their enemy by sheer number of ships.
|
|
|
Post by rimbecano on Aug 23, 2019 17:31:00 GMT -6
First Italy than an attempt on the German Kiser K aiser and now the American president. Sorry to submit unsolicited proofreading, but this keeps bugging me.
|
|
|
Post by mycophobia on Aug 23, 2019 17:34:25 GMT -6
First Italy than an attempt on the German Kiser K aiser and now the American president. Sorry to submit unsolicited proofreading, but this keeps bugging me. To be fair, this is much better than the proofreading mess that is my AAR xD
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 24, 2019 16:09:55 GMT -6
First Italy than an attempt on the German Kiser K aiser and now the American president. Sorry to submit unsolicited proofreading, but this keeps bugging me. Thanks, I try to proof read, but sometimes I just miss things. At least I didn't spell it Ki sser!
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 26, 2019 16:14:25 GMT -6
February 1902My Dearest Cousin, 1901 was a banner year for the shipping industry. The seven Great Navies of the world have ordered a total of 16 battleships, 9 Heavy Cruisers, 4 light Cruisers, and 15 destroyers! Our modest contribution to this total was 2 battleships and 2 destroyers (The light cruiser under construction was ordered back in 1900). We still need to order three more Boa destroyers in order to have the fifteen our estimates say we need for trade protection. I would also like to add a pair of tigers so that we have a full ten fleet destroyers, but the three battleships are eating up all of our available budget as well as some of our reserve. Although Great Britain is leading the world in number of ships, number of ships ordered, as well as the naval budget, things appear to be slowing down for the Royal Navy. Despite all the talk in the British papers about their constantly increasing budget, they have actually cut the budget the equivalent on nine and a half million korne from last year. France, on the other hand, looks ready for an expansion. Their naval budget has increased nearly the equivalent of thirty-nine million korne, nearly the cost of a battleship! The French naval budget is now nearly twice that of our own. Fortunately, if war comes, we will not have to face France on our own. This French buildup threatens not just us, but Germany as well. While visiting him over Christmas, Uncle asked me of my views towards an alliance with Germany. I was in favor of such an alliance. With the Kaiserliche Marine in the north and us in the Mediterranean, France would be forced to split their fleet. Negotiations were completed in January, but a public announcement was held off to allow for the proper ceremonies. By the time you receive this missive, it will most likely have already been announced. The Seven Great Navies in January 1902
| AH | GB | F | I | R | Gr | USA | B | 7 (3) | 12 (4) | 8 (2) | 11 (1) | 8 (2) | 8 (6) | 6 (2) | CA | 6 | 11 (2) | 8 (1) | 5 (1) | 6 (1) | 8 (1) | 7 (3) | CL | 3 (1) | 12 (4) | 5 | 3 (1) | 4 | 17 (1) | 13 | DD | 20 | 35 | 16 (10) | 19 | 15 | 31 | 18 | Budget | 104,750 | 241,200 | 197,500 | 143,700 | 183,650 | 179,400 | 176,600 |
P.S. Once again, Russia has ordered a ship from a foreign builder. First one from the Americans in February, then one from the English in April, and now a second from the English. It is almost as if the Czar is trying to sabotage his own shipbuilding industry.
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 26, 2019 16:16:35 GMT -6
April 1902 Dearest Cousin, I had the surprise of my life early in March when cousin Dimitry walked into my office with my head of Naval Intelligence and a letter from Uncle. It seems as though he isn’t the hapless fool that we have all taken him to be, but rather a ‘man of intrigue’ as he likes to call himself. The bumbling fool that we all took him as is a persona he adopted to get people to underestimate him, and I must say it worked for me. Even with the letter from Uncle and the testimony of my intelligence chief I had a hard time believing him. Still, I could not deny his credentials. He needed to borrow one or our light cruisers. There was a man he would only describe as a ‘valuable contact’ who had managed to escape from French West Africa to Liberia and needed to be picked up. He was in Liberia illegally and wanted by the French colonial government. If he tried to take passage on a civilian ship, he would be arrested and handed over to the French. Cousin Dimitry wanted to borrow the SMS Admiral Spaun under the cover of a cadet training mission and pick him up. The letter from Uncle gave me no choice but to let him proceed. I have to say, the results of this endeavor have made me rethink my belief that his bumbling fool persona was just an act. While attempting to rendezvous with his agent, the SMS Admiral Spaun ran aground. With French support, Liberia was threatening to seize the ship and arrest the crew. Strong words were had on all sides and I dispatched a heavy cruiser squadron to recover our ship which fortunately had not suffered any damage. This did not go over well diplomatically with England, France and Russia all protesting our strong response. Privately, Uncle assured me that it was worth it as the individual is invaluable to his plan, though he would not discuss the plan with me. International tensions continued to rise in April as a flurry of ships were ordered. Italy, France and Russia all order new battleships with Russia again ordering the ship from England. France and England also order new light cruisers. As much as I would have liked to add to this ship buying extravaganza, with the SMS Wien not scheduled to be launched until December, there was simply no money for it, though our scientists have improved the power rammers used in loading our guns, giving them a modest increase in the rate of fire.
|
|
|
Post by mycophobia on Aug 26, 2019 16:25:34 GMT -6
Despite all the hype in the papers about their constantly increasing budget, they have actually cut the budget the equivalent on nine and a half million korne from last year. I have to admit this is a little immersion breaking (if no less entertaining) when I imagine an Austro-Hungarian admiral discussing the latest “hype" with his fellow advisors. xD Nevertheless, good writing as usual and im glad to see Cousin Dimitry becoming a regular cast member
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 27, 2019 18:39:46 GMT -6
Despite all the hype in the papers about their constantly increasing budget, they have actually cut the budget the equivalent on nine and a half million korne from last year. I have to admit this is a little immersion breaking (if no less entertaining) when I imagine an Austro-Hungarian admiral discussing the latest “hype" with his fellow advisors. xD Nevertheless, good writing as usual and im glad to see Cousin Dimitry becoming a regular cast member Fixed. I hate that sort of thing as well.
|
|
|
Post by revillag on Aug 28, 2019 18:16:41 GMT -6
June 1902 Dearest Cousin, You will be glad to hear that I am safe and that Triestino was spared most of the unrest that has rolled through the Dual Monarchy. I have been told that the worst rioting was in Budapest and that much of the Jewish district was damaged. There was some unrest at the shipyard and the threat of a strike, but Herr Muller was able to step in and calm things down. They have had steady work and are well paid skilled workers, unlike much of the country where unemployment is high. France, Italy, and the United States all laid down new cruisers while Great Britain has once again announced that she will increase naval spending. The international situation is still tense. Despite the tense international situation, we were forced to accept a cut of our budget of over 4 million korne as the money was urgently needed to provide for social services to calm the riots. It appears to have worked. There are no more mass demonstrations, buy there is still grumbling on the street. Not all is bleak as the Marinetechnisches Kommittee announced that they were prepared to have a new shell put into production. This shell combines an innovative German penetrator with a Lyddite bursting charge. If this shell works as advertised, it will be better able to explode after penetrating armor, thus doing more damage to the internals of the enemy ship.
August 1902 Dearest Cousin, Uncle’s plans have finally been revealed. He has negotiated a five-year security arrangement with France! It still needs to be ratified by respective governments, but I am assured that it is a done deal. The treaty coupled with a good will trip by Uncle to England for the coronation of Edward the VII has greatly calmed international tensions, though the English still are not happy with our willingness to extend our reach outside of the Adriatic. While some of the younger and more aggressive officers have expressed their disappointment, I have breathed a sigh of relief. Two of our three battleships are still a year from completion. Five years will give us time to modernize our forces. This still leaves Italy, Russia, the USA and England as potential enemies. I am not worried. We have good relations with Italy and America, while Russia has massed its fleet in the Baltic and would have to fight past both the Germans and the French to be a threat to us. This leaves only England. England will not be happy with most of Europe allied against her, but there is little she can do on her own. Her fleet is half the size of the combined fleet of the Triple Alliance. The problem is Serbia. Many loud voices within the Landstreitkräfte are calling for war with Serbia. I have not been following it too closely as Serbia is landlocked, but it appears that the Serbian minority in Hungary are clamoring to secede and join Serbia. The army is arguing that if we annex Serbia the ethnic Serbs will not want to secede. Personally, I think that if the Hungarian government treated its minorities with more respect they would now want to leave. Now with a treaty with France, war with Serbia is more likely and that might bring Russia in as they are friends with the Serbs. Of course, with peace secured through diplomacy, there is a massive cut to the military budgets. Our budget is reduced by over eleven million korne to under ninety million korne per year. Uncle has plans to reinvest this windfall into social programs that he hopes will bring both halves of the empire closer together. Cuts to naval spending will have to be made as our cash reserve is quite low. Numerous plans were proposed, from scrapping ships to placing much of the fleet on reserve status. I chose to instead order production on the SMS Triestino to halt. It will be five months until the SMS Wein is completed. Once she is completed, we can restart the SMS Triestino.
|
|