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Post by revillag on Sept 4, 2019 18:37:50 GMT -6
October 1902 Dearest Cousin, The French Parliament has refused to ratify the treaty! Mixed reports are coming out of France over why they refused the treaty, but my sources are generally agreed that the French who voted against the treaty did so out of a hatred for Germany. Resentment for the loss of the Franco-Prussian war still runs deep in parts of France. The refusal of the German negotiators to even discuss Alsace-Lorraine may have played a part in it as well. Although the security treaty has fallen apart, the negotiations have lowered tensions between us and France, though not between Germany and France. We have made out reasonably well, politically, as the French papers are blaming Germany for the failed treaty. Uncle has in fact been praised as a peace maker by the paper Le Temps of Paris. This is not to say that all is well, but I am tempted to believe that war is no longer inevitable, at least with France. In light of the failed treaty we have seen a modest increase in our budget, though not nearly enough to restart work in the SMS Triestino. England reacts to the news as it reacts to everything, by increasing the naval budget and laying down a battleship. Intelligence reports that Russia is finally building a ship in her own yards. It is not a battleship, but it out classes our own Kaiser battleships except in armor. It has four 9” guns in twin turrets, fourteen 6” guns and twelve 3” guns, presumable in casemates (the report did not say) and two underwater torpedo tubes. It has 5” of armor on the belt and turrets, a 2” deck, 31/2” armor on the secondary battery, and 7” of armor on the central tower. She weighs 13,100 tons (which is more than our battleships) and has a design speed of 21 knots. She is a repeat of a design originally made in 1900. If ships like her become standard in the navies of the world, we may have to reclass the Kaisers as heavy cruisers.
December 1902 Dearest Cousin, I received a package from cousin Dimitri the other day. I must admit that I was still vexed at him for the French West Africa incident, but now much, but not all, is forgiven. I had let the package sit for a while until I finally got around to opening it. I thought it was going to be another request for me to hold on to something for a while, but I couldn’t have bee more wrong. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to get a set of blueprints for the HMS Revenge! The plans were sufficiently detailed for us determine how the English built the Cockburn Safety Valve. I am told that this innovation will allow a small, but significant weight reduction on all new machinery. Unfortunately, it is too late to retro-fit it onto our battleships currently building. The Revenge herself is an Abukir class battleship of 11,600 tons. About a year ago, we had received reports stating that the ships would have 6 ½” of belt armor and 21 knots. The British shipyards were unable to make these goals as the blueprints state that she has only a 6” belt and can make 20 knots. She also has 2 10” guns in single turrets. While 10” guns have a much higher rate of fire than 12” guns, they throw a much smaller shell. British designers have appeared to accept the fact that even the heaviest guns have a hard time penetrating the belt armor on a battleship. A higher rate of fire would allow for more hits on the lesser armored parts of a ship and, theoretically at least, could cripple a battleship to the point where it is unable to defend itself against a torpedo attack. She does carry an impressive sixteen 6” guns in the secondary battery with twelve 3” in the tertiary. That is more than enough to give any torpedo boat captain second thoughts about getting close enough to launching an attack, which I suppose is the point. She mounts a pair of machine guns, but for what point, I don’t know. Perhaps for protection while docked at a colonial station? She is reasonable well armored with a 6” belt, 2” deck, 6” turrets, 3 ½” on the secondary with a whopping 12” protecting the central tower! I must draw this letter to a close. I need to work on my remarks for the SMS Wien’s commissioning ceremony speech. It is difficult to try to strike the right note. I wish to be inspiring without being threatening. I have no desire to stir up tensions now with the failure of the triple alliance treaty.
P.S. What a fool I have been! I managed to convince myself that the specter of war had passed by, but it remains ever present. There were riots in Alsace-Lorraine with both sides accusing the other of clandestinely supporting the protesters. The war of words between the Kaiser and the French prime minister has boiled over. This war of words has spilled over and countries are starting to take sides. Uncle was forced to issue a statement supporting the German claim on the territory or risk losing German support and possibly causing an irreparable diplomatic breach that could cause the dissolution of our treaty. I reluctantly gave support to the official letter. I have no intention of allowing our enemies to perceive any sort of internal dissent. I care not who controls Alsace-Lorraine, but I do care that Germany has a large fleet and we do not. The fiasco has at least had the effect of restoring much of our budget, though it is still less than it was this time a year ago.
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Post by revillag on Sept 13, 2019 19:34:04 GMT -6
February 1903Dearest Cousin, It is once again time to take stock of the state of the world’s navies. It is no surprise that Great Britain still has the world’s most powerful fleet, but I am surprised that Italy is still building more battleships. She is the second most powerful navy in terms of capital ships, but she is also the second smallest in terms of budget. I have recently found out that Italy only spends 8% of her budget on research, while we are spending 12%. I believe that this is where her extra build money is coming from, but she must be nearing the limits in terms of how many ships she can support. Two more things are worthy of note, first we have fallen significantly behind other nations in terms of dry dock size. Since the SMS Trieste will be commissioned in less than a year, we need to plan for the next generation of battleship. I am hoping that our gunsmiths will have developed 12” guns by then. Some foreign battleships now have 13” guns and are in excess of 15,000 tons. Our 11” gun armed ships will be at a serious disadvantage against those ships, so I would like our next ships to have at least 12” guns. Larger guns, of course means a larger ship. While it is likely that we can build one to fit our current docks, I want the option to build larger if necessary. Once I have made my decision, I just need to wait for Her Muller to make one of his many not so subtle hints that we need to invest more in the dockyards. I, then “reluctantly” allow myself to be talked into making the investment. I make a great show of lamenting the expense to keep Her Muller’s more grandiose ideas in check! It is all I can do not to break out grinning before he leaves my office. The second item of note is that most foreign navies are experimenting with a new type of ship, the so-called subsurface ship, or undersea boat, or U-boat. Sub-lieutenant von Trapp is quite excited by these new ships. I have learned that he is married to Agatha Whitehead, a granddaughter of Robert Whitehead who invented the modern torpedo and as the torpedo is the primary weapon of the U-boat one could say that he comes about his interest naturally. He insists that they have the capability to change modern warfare. I have my doubts, but in my next message to Uncle, I will ask him to ask his diplomats to make inquiries into purchasing one or two for experimental purposes. The news papers are also reporting that the Americans are refitting their protected cruisers with heavier guns. I have looked into something similar for the 4” guns on the Admiral Spaun class, but I don’t see it worth the cost. As I plan to use these ships as raiders, I don’t expect them to get into fights with heavy ships. The Seven Great Navies in January 1903
| AH | GB | F | I | R | Gr | USA | B | 8 (2) | 12 (4) | 8 (3) | 11 (3) | 9 (5) | 9 (5) | 8 (1) | CA | 6 | 11 (2) | 8 (3) | 5 (3) | 6 (1) | 8 (1) | 7 (6) | CL | 4 | 16 | 5 | 3 (1) | 4 | 18 | 13 | DD | 20 | 35 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 31 | 18 (4) | SS | 0 | (3) | (2) | 0 | (3) | 0 | (2) | Budget | 102,000 | 272,200 | 210,300 | 139,650 | 178,250 | 186,450 | 183,350 | Dock | 13,000 | 18,000 | 18,000 | 17,000 | 17,000 | 18,000 | 17,500
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Post by revillag on Sept 17, 2019 6:55:23 GMT -6
April 1903 Dearest Cousin, Uncle’s diplomats have come through! The ambassador to the United States of American has managed to persuade the American government to allow us to purchase a U-boat from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, as well as plans and technical drawings of the boat. The boat purchased, designated U-1, is unarmed but will serve as a training boat and a technical demonstrator. We have contracted the shipyard at Pola to produce two U-boars capable of combat. My aid, Sub-lieutenant Von Trapp is quite excited by the prospect of these new boats and has expressed interest in transferring to this new branch of the navy. I have convinced him to stay on my staff for now as I don’t want his talents waisted if these new boats fail to live up to their promises. We have also managed to get a hold of the technical plans for the new British ship HMS Royal Oak. She is a true monster of a ship. She is of the Howe class and weighs 16,700 tons. Her design speed is 18 knots and she carries four 13” guns in two turrets as well as a secondary armament of sixteen 8” guns in casemates. She is well armored with 8 1/2” of belt armor and a 2” deck. She also has 10 1/2 “of armor on her turrets and an additional 6” protecting the casemates with 10” for the central tower. We have nothing that can match her and are not likely to in the near future. I have ordered our researchers to concentrate on designing 12” guns of our own. Our ties to Germany mean that we are not entirely the masters of our own destiny, but although outwardly I continue to project confidence, in private I urge Uncle to try to repair relations with England.
June 1903 Dearest Cousin, Assassins have struck again! Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga are assassinated in Belgrade, by an organization calling themselves Crna Ruka or the Black Hand. Little is known about this group, except that it appears to have ties with the Serbian military, though the assassination does not seem to be part of a military coupe. King Obrenović has died childless, so the succession of his crown is in doubt. Uncle and most of the other Great Powers have condemned the assassination. Peter Karađorđević has been proclaimed as the new King of Serbia, and it does not look like any of the other claimants are challenging him. Surprisingly, Great Brittan has cut off all ties to the country in response to the murders. Much of our ethnic Serbians are in an uproar, but opinions seem split as to what the best course of action should be. There have been some calls for Uncle to annex Serbia and some calls for parts of the Empire to split off and join Serbia. The war hawks in the Landstreitkräfte were pushing to invade to “restore order”. Fortunately, the situation stabilized before they could begin to mobilize the army. Although some see our future in the Balkans, I see no benefit from adding more ethnicities to our already volatile mix. I have written a speech and had orders to have it read on all ships and at all bases. I will spare you the speech, but it is a call to unity. The Kriegsmarine must represent all the people of the Dual Monarchy. We are unique in that we are divided into two countries and countless ethnicities, yet we are all one nation. Out loyalty must be to a united nation.
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Post by mycophobia on Sept 17, 2019 15:13:54 GMT -6
Good writing as always it does seem the international situation have became more volatile in the last few months, will be interesting to see how the correspondence change in tone as the possibility of war against one nation become more and more certain.
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Post by revillag on Sept 19, 2019 18:31:48 GMT -6
August 1903 Dearest Cousin, SMS Budapest has been commissioned! We now have two main battleships. They are not first-rate battleships, though they are a significant achievement over the previous class. No, if compared to other nations, they are clearly second rate, especially in light of the British navy’s HMS Howe that was also commissioned this month. You will recall, back in April we managed to get a hold of plans for her sister ship HMS Royal Oak. They are more than one and a half the displacement of the Wein class with 13” guns compared to our 11”. Although I am proud of what we have achieved, I fear that we may be left behind the other great powers. I would love to order one of the Howe class from England. Between the 13” guns and the new central fire control system that the ship has, our researchers could learn a lot from such a ship. I tried to make the pitch to Uncle, but he would not hear of it. For political reasons, all military funds must be spent in the Empire. He also brought up a complaint that he received from some of the Hungarians in court. They are upset that the bulk of the naval spending is going to Austrian firms. I tried to explain that Hungary had no coastline and therefore it only made sense that the navy was concentrated away from Hungary at the coast. Logic and politics rarely agree however, and Uncle ordered me to look into how increase spending at Hungarian firms.
October 1903 Dearest Cousin, The last two months have been taken up by what is perhaps the least glamorous part of the Kriegsmarine, harbor defense. In a recent trial, U-1 managed to sneak into Rijeka and put a simulated torpedo into the side of SMS Wein. Although Von Trapp was excited about this, as he had designed the trial, it has given me no end of anxiety. Although U-boats are short ranged, it does not take much imagination to see one sneaking across the Adriatic from Italy and sinking our battlefleet at harbor. The Marinetechnisches Kommittee came up with many solutions. Most of them were manpower intensive. We can not afford to have as many spotters as we would need to keep a continuous watch over our ports as their first plan required. Their second plan required an extensive series of coastal batteries. Although foreign battleships can out-range our best guns, the enemy fleet would have to either stay at long range with the associated lower hit rate, or close to within range of the fort for better accuracy. If they chose to fight at long range, it would give our fleet time to go and meet them, while if they attacked at shorter range, the guns of the fort could sink them. At least this was the plan. When I asked how they planned to use the forts to prevent U-boat attacks, they informed me that the forts could fire on the U-boats like any other ship. This pronouncement was met with a snort of laughter from von Trapp before he could control himself. What we settled on was a layered system of mines moored to the sea floor and connected to the shore by electric detonators. These mines would be built to detonate if a U-boat or other ship ran into them, or en masse from a shore control station if a U-boat was suspected to be in the field. Many in the Marinetechnisches Kommittee did not like that solution as there was a risk that the mines would break free of their moorings and threaten friendly ships. None the less, it was the solution chosen. To mitigate the threat posed by rogue mines, it was agreed that minesweepers were required. What the minesweepers should look like took up far more time than it should have. It was eventually decided that they would be 800 tons and capable of sustained operations in the open seas and in bad weather. They carried two 4” guns, one each fore and aft and one 3” gun on each side. It took the opportunity to order them from the Danubius Ship Building company in Hungary. Hopefully that will placate some of Uncle’s Hungarian critics. Due to the Danubius’ inexperience with high speed sea-going ships, the design speed was set at 24 knots. Five ships of this new Archduca Frencesco Carlo class were ordered.
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Post by antonin on Sept 19, 2019 19:01:06 GMT -6
This AAR has been a fascinating and entertaining read.
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Post by revillag on Sept 23, 2019 4:41:23 GMT -6
This AAR has been a fascinating and entertaining read. Thanks! I have been doing my best to mix historical events with what the game gives me.
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Post by revillag on Sept 23, 2019 4:53:31 GMT -6
December 1903Dearest Cousin, We had the joy of hosting a squadron if the Kaiserliche Marine. Publicly we downplayed the capabilities of their ships and celebrated the common ties between our two peoples. In private I can admit to you I was impressed with their ships and crew. Perhaps it should not be, but it was remarkable to me how easy it was for the officers to be able to give orders as all of the crew were native German speakers. Although German is the official language of the Kriegsmarine, some of our officers speak more Hungarian than German and most of the crews come from the coastal towns and grew up speaking Croat, a language unknown to most of our officers and some of our recruits speak neither of these three languages and must be taught by hand gestures until they can pick up enough of the below decks pidgin to get by. Add to that the ethnic tensions and you have a mix where I am sometimes amazed that the Kriegsmarine functions as well as it does. I was able to show off the SMS Budapest which had just completed her working up cruise. Kaiserliche Marine officers weren’t overly impressed, but they were polite about it. Still, all in all it was a good visit and there was a general sense of comradery among the officers of both empires that bodes well for the future. The SMS Triste was completed after the Kaiserliche Marine visit. We now have three modern battleships. I was hoping that we would be able to lay down a new class of battleships when the SMS Triste finished, but the news from the Skoa Works was disappointing. The were able to develop an 8” gun that has slightly shorter range, but better penetration than our 9” guns, but still have not managed to develop an acceptable 12” gun. Although we could order a repeat of the existing design, perhaps with a few improvements, I have decided to hold off for now and refill our war chest as the SMS Triste consumed over half of our war reserve. On a more personal note, I received a postcard from Cousin Demetri. He stated that he is taking a tour of North Africa. He said that he is spending Christmas in Cairo and is planning to travel along the coast to Casablanca. P.S. It appears as some one in Germany has stolen my idea of buying a ship from the English as the Vickers shipyard announces that they have accepted a contract to build a battleship for Germany. I hope they can be convinced to share its secrets when it is delivered. February 1904Dearest Cousin, Cousin Dimitri has been busy. He made some new friends in his travels through North Africa. He never made it to Casablanca but stoped for a hunting expedition in Tunisia where he was captured by local tribesman. They originally thought he was French and wanted to kill him, but he set them straight and made friends after he promised to support them in their revolution against French colonial rule. SMS Admiral Spaun was once again pressed into clandestine service and provided arms to the tribesman whereby they promptly attacked the local French garrison. Several agents were dispatched along with the weapons to instruct the tribesman and see if they can gather any valuable intelligence. The SMS Admiral Spaun escaped without incident bringing Cousin Dimitri back home. Cousin Dimitri does not believe that the revolt has much chance for long term success as the tribesmen are disorganized and as likely to turn the new guns on each other as the French. I agree, but any diversion of French resources is a good one. I have authorized the intelligence department to increase activity against France. Our expansion of the STS dockyard is complete, but without 12” guns, I believe that it is inadvisable to build a new battleship. The Marinetechnisches Kommittee advocated building a ship with an enlarged turret ring that would be able to accommodate a 12” double turret when it became available. Although tempting, it is too great a risk. Although we can guess at the size of a turret we would need based on foreign ships, it would be a risk that we would guess wrong and have to install 11” guns, with all of the added costs and delays involved. To me it is not worth it. Right now, we can afford to wait and re-build our reserves. Germany has discovered a method of controlling the firing of all the guns of a ship from a single central location. Our intelligence is unsure if this was copied from the British of if this is their own design. We have asked that they share this technology with us, but they have refused. Our agents at the German dockyards have informed us that this central fire control system requires a significant rebuild of conning tower of a ship. To this end, the Kaiserliche Marine has filled the dockyard with ships. The work crews are working overtime to finish the upgrade as rapidly as possible. I sent a note to the Kaiserliche Marine through Kaiser’s ambassador registering my concern that they have immobilized so much of their fleet when tensions with France are running so high. They responded with a politely worded letter that said, very diplomatically, mind your own business. The Seven Great Navies in January 1904
| A H | GB | F | I | R | Gr | USA | B | 10 | 15 (3) | 10 (1) | 11 (3) | 10 (4) | 13 (3) | 8 (1) | CA | 6 | 13 (1) | 9 (4) | 6 (2) | 7 (2) | 9 (1) | 11 (4) | CL | 4 | 16 (2) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 16 (3) | 13 (1) | DD | 20 | 35 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 31 | 22 | KE | (5) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 (1) | 1 | SS | (2) | 3 (3) | 2 (2) | 0 | 2 (6) | (5) | 2 (1) | Budget | 105,000 | 290,300 | 242,200 | 141,450 | 181,650 | 193,800 | 180,350 | Docks | 15,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 19,000 | 19,000 | 18,000 | 17,500 |
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Post by revillag on Sept 26, 2019 4:51:16 GMT -6
March 1904 Dearest Cousin, Dear Lord, what have we done? The French crushed the rebellion in Tunisia and discovered that the rifles were provided by them by people who spoke German and the French accused Germany of fermenting the rebellion. The fact that we shipped them German Mausers helped convince them of Germany’s involvement. German Mausers are so common we never thought that they could be used to accuse Germany. I can only assume that the tensions between France and Germany were so high that the investigators only saw what they wanted to see. The only good thing to come of all of this is that our agents escaped capture. France demanded an apology from Germany and reparations for the losses they suffered in the rebellion. Germany refused claiming that they had nothing to do with any of it. This all would have been quite amusing if not for the anti-German riots that broke out in Alsace-Lorraine and were brutally put down by the German Army. The French press demanded vengeance and France ordered a partial mobilization that was matched a day later by a similar partial mobilization by Germany. The march to war had begun and no one wanted to stop it. Not even Uncle, who publicly declared that the Dual Monarchy would stand with the Kaiser and ordered a general mobilization. Things started to go wrong from the beginning. Although the Hungarian Honvéd mobilized upon command, the Hungarian government refused to turn it over the Gemeinsame Armee, the common army, claiming that they were needed to prevent an attack by Serbia. The Hungarian Diet has, as of the writing of this letter, also refused to pass new taxes to support the war. And remember last month when I told you the Kaiserliche Marine was mostly in port undergoing refit? Well, they are still months away from being fully refitted, this left the French Navy, la Marine Nationale, free to shift its attention to the Mediterranean unconcerned by the threat of a blockade by Germany. Our cruisers on patrol spotted smoke on the horizon and quickly returned to port to summon the fleet. As we had not been prepared for war to break our so suddenly, not all of our ships were ready and a fleet of three Kaiser class battleships, four heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and fourteen destroyers commanded by Admiral von Höhnel sail out to meet the French. Arrayed against us were three French battleships, two heavy cruisers, six light cruisers and fifteen destroyers. Although our forces may appear relatively even, remember that our Kaisers have only 9” guns to the French 12” guns. On March 16, at 16:36 the first shots of the war are fired by a ship of the la Marine Nationale against the battleships of the Kriegsmarine. Our ships were under fire for four minutes until the range closed to eight kilometers and they were able to return fire. Due to reasons that I am still seeking a satisfactory explanation for, the heavy cruiser squadron did not arrive until 17:30 when they took the rear of the French line under fire. A Megenta class French battleship, later identified as the Solferind, fell behind the rest of the French battle line. It must have taken a hit to one of its funnels. Our destroyers launch an ineffective torpedo attack, but in the confusion of the turn-a-way, the Solferind became separated from the rest of the French Fleet. Our line splits with the cruisers concentrating on the Solferind while the battleships continue to fire upon the remaining two French battleships. Night fell at 18:27, and the two fleets disengage. Our fleet formed up and slowed down to allow damage control parties to a chance to conduct repairs. At 22:55, the fleets scouts spot flashed and hear gunfire from the direction of Cattaro. The French are bombarding the port! Despite the dangers inherent in a night action and the damage already sustained by the fleet, Admiral von Höhnel orders the fleet to full speed. Almost exactly at midnight the two fleets engage. The battle quickly becomes chaotic. At 00:21 the battleship SMS Zrina is hit by a torpedo and disappears in a massive explosion. At 00:27 the destroyer SMS Python rams the French battleship Solferind. SMS Python sinks but one of the other destroyers manages to land a torpedo on Solferind. The French fleet breaks off leaving the Solferind behind where she is shelled for over an hour before sinking. At the end of the battle, we lost one battleship, the SMS Zrina and three destroyers while the French lost the battleship Solferind and two destroyers. Personally, I consider this a win, but Uncle and his court only see that we have lost more ships than the French and wanted to censure von Höhnel. I defended him of course. I may have lost some prestige in the eyes of the court, but we have a duty to defend the people of Dual Monarchy. Despite the general prohibition against capital ships taking part in a night action, von Höhnel was right to prevent the shelling of the port. Despite the reluctance of the Hungarian Diet to approve funding for the army, our budget is raised. I like to think that we did not have the problems that the army is having because we are seen as serving all of the Dual Monarchy equally, but who can tell with politicians? With the increased budget, we have ordered replacements for the ships we lost, with the new battleship being a modified Wien which shall be named the SMS Salzburg. Due to the advances our engineers have made, and the experience with the other three ships, she has better crew accommodations. I have also ordered two more submarines. P.S. With the added demands of the war, I don’t know when I will be able to next write you.
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Post by revillag on Sept 28, 2019 6:14:17 GMT -6
June 1904 Dearest Cousin, Things have calmed down somewhat and I have found the time to write to you. Despite what the papers say, things are not going well. Although we are winning the merchant war, having sink eleven French merchantmen for a loss of only two, Germany has been unable to maintain a blockade of the French ports. Without the blockade, the merchants we sink in the Mediterranean represent an insignificant amount of French merchant traffic. There have been no more major fleet battles. I suspect that la Marine Nationale had hoped to catch us in port and tried to knock us out of the war early, but fortunately it did not happen, though with the ineffective German blockade, the French have been able to maintain enough ships in the Mediterranean to keep us in check. In May we sortied destroyers to interrupt French military convoys bringing colonial troops from their African possessions to Europe. Finding enemy ships at sea has been a problem, even something as large as a convoy. On May seventh, we intercepted such a convoy with three destroyers. Unfortunately, the convoy was defended by one light cruiser and five destroyers. Perhaps our destroyers should have broken off as they were outmatched, but instead they attacked. Two of the three destroyers were lost with the last heavily damaged. They managed to sink three transports and damage five others. The report from the surviving captain stated that he emptied the magazine into the side of a large transport, but it would not sink. The 2” guns of the destroyers are just too small to be effective even on an unarmored target. I have ordered the Marinetechnisches Kommittee to look into the problem, but both of our destroyer classes are already overweight. We can not afford to replace the lost destroyers with new construction, but trade is much less than originally predicted. If you recall, our original estimates called for fifteen destroyers on trade protection duty. As it is, we only need nine. In addition to the destroyers, I have ordered two of our heavy cruisers to trade protection duty. Their 9” guns should be more than enough to chase off a French raider. As the German ships have completed their fire control upgrade and have been added to the blockade fleet, the French have been transferring more ships out of the Mediterranean. We have reports that they have begun to arm civilian ships to counter our raiding Light Cruisers. I received a letter from cousin Ferdinand. You will be happy to know that he is safe and well, though truth be told he is not in good spirits. As you may know from the papers, the land war has been limited to Alsace-Lorraine with both sides respecting the neutrality of Switzerland and the low countries. This means that the battlefield is quite limited as neither side can flank the other. This leaves only frontal attacks. The slaughter on both sides has been horrific. We are fortunate in the land war in two respects. The first is that Uncle has rescinded the general mobilization. This is important because there was no provision in the original order to exempt people from critical industries such as ship building or ammunition production. The second is that the Germans have refused to allow our army onto the battlefield until it has been re-equipped and retrained. Our divisions have half as many artillery pieces as those of the French and Germans and the ones they do have are obsolete. This is a massive national embarrassment, but in my unpopular opinion, a necessary one. Had our men gone into battle in their tight packed formations with their ancient cannons, I doubt that any would have made it home. P.S. The Americans have announced that, despite the war in Europe, they will hold the third Olympic games in St. Luis as planned. Publicly, we and the other waring nations are invited in the spirit of peace and cooperation, but privately, we have all been advised that they do not want us there, so all three nations have declined to participate.
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Post by revillag on Sept 29, 2019 17:13:15 GMT -6
August 1904 Dearest Cousin, Despite the promises by the politicians, this war will not be over by Christmas. The papers have tried to hide it, but the July offensive was a disaster. Thousands killed and wounded for little gain. By now, most of France’s colonial troops are in Europe waiting their turn in the meat grinder that is Alsace-Lorraine. Our raiders have managed to sink only nine merchant ships in the past two months. We suspect that most of the French Mediterranean traffic is now docking in Spain and moving their cargo overland into France. Under the Rules of War, we can only seize the cargo if we can prove that the final destination is France, and it is easy enough for French companies to create a Spanish subsidiary to ship the goods to with out needing to state what the receiving company will do with the goods. Still, it is far easier to move goods by sea than it is to move them by land and with the Germans intermittently blockading the French and the French unable to do the same to Germany, the cost of many goods has been rising in France. With the bulk of la Marine Nationale in the North Sea fighting the Kaiserliche Marine, we have only had a few minor actions of note. On July tenth, two of our heavy cruisers, the SMS Donau and the SMS k.u.k. Maria Theresa, drove off a French light cruiser that was raiding our coast. Despite the significant advantage in firepower our ships enjoyed, the French ship was able to escape due to its superior speed and the slow rate of fire of our guns. Perhaps I should say, our gun. Our heavy cruisers only carry a single 9” gun in the fore and aft turrets, and in the chase, only the front turret of the lead ship was able to fire consistently. It is now a matter of ongoing debate as to whether it is better to have one or a few heavy guns or a multitude of light guns. P.S. With even more reports that France is now arming her merchant ships with surplus naval guns, it has become far too risky to send our destroyers after French convoys like we did in May. This settles it, the 2” gun has to go. I have ordered the Marinetechnisches Kommittee to come up with a new destroyer design and plans to rebuild the remaining Tigers.
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Post by revillag on Oct 2, 2019 5:01:19 GMT -6
October 1904 Dearest Cousin, I wish I could give you news that would cheer your heart, but the war is not going well. The press can no longer hide the losses at the front, and I am sure you have heard of the infighting as every side blames the other as why our army was so ill prepared for a modern war. The Kriegsmarine has received more than our fair share of the blame. The merchants are yelling about how few ships are sailing, but that is because the shipping companies are refusing to sail, not due to losses. In fact, in the last two months, no Austrian or Hungarian merchant ships were lost while we sank ten French merchantmen. We did lose one destroyer on a raid of French shipping and two more in a battle between cruisers. That is a total of one battleship, nine destroyers and two merchants lost since the start of the war and the French have lost one battleship, two destroyers and twenty merchants. La Marine Nationale has refused to fight us on anything like even terms. When ever the Kriegsmarine is out in force, the la Marine Nationale turns away and our ships, especially the battleships, do not have the speed to catch them. Our losses in destroyers are somewhat made for as four of the five new minesweepers have been commissioned. There were some delays on the fifth and it is expected to be commissioned next month and the three tigers laid out at the start of the war should be ready for commissioning in December. It usually takes a few months after the ship is commissioned to be ready for combat, so we have not yet made good our losses, but despite what the press is saying, we are a long way from being out of the fight. Add to that I have approved the new class of 600-ton destroyers whose class is named after SMS Spalato which was lost while protecting a merchant transport. She was outgunned by the attaching French light cruiser, but rather than run, she harried the cruiser as the merchants escaped, an action which cost the lives of most of the crew as she was destroyed by a French torpedo while placing herself between the French cruiser and the escaping merchantmen. The new Spalato class is 600 tons, caries two 3” guns, has two torpedo tubes and has a design speed of 28 knots. She is roomier than the Tiger or Boa destroyers. The Tigers and Boas were originally designed to escort the battle line and therefore it was assumed that they would not spend much time at sea. In the current war, they have spent far more time at sea escorting merchants and cruisers than was ever expected and the cramped conditions of the existing destroyers has been bad for crew efficiency. Rebuilding the Tigers will have to wait. With our current losses, we have too few destroyers to handle all of our needs as it is and can’t afford to take any out of service for the three months or so it would take to refit them with a new armament. On the diplomatic front, France has asked Uncle to make a separate peace knowing that the Kaiser would be forced to end the war without our support. They have offered us nothing except an end to the war. I have recommended to Uncle to refuse. It is an insult. They wish us to betray our allies and offer us nothing in return! They must be hoping that out losses are too much to take, but we are stronger than they know. P.S. Uncle rejected their peace attempt. It looks like they were under public pressure. French papers are now reporting food shortages across France. There are no reports of starvation, and our intelligence service estimates that they have sufficient food stocks to survive the winter even if the Germans manage to reinstate the blockade.
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Post by revillag on Oct 5, 2019 11:11:25 GMT -6
November 1904 Dearest Cousin, The French have sunk three of our merchants while we have only sunk one of theirs including one of ours sunk during a raid on our coast. The French has sent a force of three battleships and assorted cruisers and destroyers to raid our coastline and bombard one of our ports. SMS Budapest, SMS Kaiser, and SMS Hapsburg were conducting a patrol with three heavy cruisers and three destroyers in support when they came across the French fleet bombarding one of our coastal forts. This was far fewer destroyers than I would have liked, but I have told you before how hard our destroyers are being used and this is all that was available. Our battleships were badly battered in the fight but managed to drive off the French ships. La Marine Nationale did not press their advantage, perhaps because they were short on ammunition from the earlier bombardment. Our ships knew that they could not outfight the French battleships and concentrated their fire on the French cruisers. During the fight, a French heavy cruiser and a light cruiser were separated from the main French fleet and attacked by our cruisers while the main battle line kept the French battleships occupied. This was a dangerous tactic and I have had words with the admiral in command. We can not afford to lose battleships, even if we manage to sink a larger and more powerful ship. The Imperial Council and Hungarian Diet have no understanding of how outmatched our ships are, they can only see the costs of building a replacement. They condemn us as cowards if we do not fight and condemn us as incompetent if we can not defeat fleets that out-weigh us two to one. But I digress, as it all turned out for the best this time. A French heavy cruiser and a light cruiser were both damaged and slowed enough to be left behind by the main French fleet. The French heavy cruiser was able to make repairs and escape, but the fleet managed to sink the light cruiser. The French heavy cruiser managed to run across an unlucky merchantman while leaving and sunk it while our fleet was occupied with the light cruiser. At the end of the battle, we had sunk one light cruiser, but all of our battleships have suffered badly and will be in port undergoing repairs for at least two months. Now with the casualties mounting at the front and no end in sight, Uncle is starting to second guess his decision to reject the French peace plan. We are holding our own at sea and on land but that is not enough. The nation is feeling the strain. Food shortages are being felt in the cities. We have plenty of food in the countryside, but no trains to move it into the city. Much of our train lines are single track meaning that trains can only move in one direction, and that direction has been to the German border as men and supplies are moved to the army. This leads to a huge inefficiency as trains are sitting on side rails waiting for a time when the whole thing can me turned around and the trains sent back. Add to this the necessity that no train can travel faster then a train on the slowest track or it will throw off the time tables and might cause a crash and we are left with a very few trains moving food to where it is needed.
December 1904 Dearest Cousin, I hope that the Christmas season finds you well. We have had some heavy storms along the coast which is usually bad news from a sailors point of view, but the seas have been so high that accurate gunnery would have been impossible and both the la Marine Nationale and we have stayed in port for most of the month, and to make things better, the Germans have managed to renew the blockade of France!. A perfect Christmas present from the Kaiser, or so the press has announced. Personally, I am still upset that we have received so little support from the Kaiserliche Marine. While I don’t expect them to come to the Mediterranean to fight, they have been unwilling to provide us with any technical aid. Fortunately, our own scientists have not been idle. We have managed to determine how control the firing of all of the main guns from a central position, this should significantly improve our accuracy, but it does require a rebuilding of our ships. I have ordered the Weins into port for this rebuilding which should take around three or four months. It is a long time to take our main battleships out of service, but I am hoping that the winter storms will keep the French at bay long enough. We need every advantage we can get given the size and power of the French ships. The Marinetechnisches Kommittee has made an interesting proposal that has sparked much debate these winter months. They have determined an arrangement of the machine spaces on a battleship that would allow wing turrets able to carry a pair of 10” guns. The British admiral “Jackie” Fisher has been talking about the idea of an all big gun battleship for a while. He even published a paper in 1902 describing a proposed ship the HMS Untakeable, mounting no less than sixteen 10” guns in eight twin turrets. In 1903 an American naval officer publicly proposing the idea for an “all-big-gun-ship,” comprised of twelve 11-inch guns. So, you can see, this idea has been much discussed in naval circles, but it has not been practical to build until now. The Marinetechnisches Kommittee has proposed a new ship mounting two twin 11” turrets one fore, and one aft with two twin 10” turrets on both the port and starboard sides. This is a tempting design. It would let four 11” guns and four 10” guns fire on a broadside. If we can not match the enemy with the caliber of guns, we can overwhelm him with the number of shells. I am concerned, however, that a 11” shell splash would look much like a 10” splash. This would make adjusting the aim of the guns more difficult. I questioned why we could not get a uniform armament of all 10” or all 11” guns. The response was full of technical jargon and I admit that I do not understand it. It doesn’t really matter as right now, it is all just theory as we can not afford another battleship, at least until we are done rebuilding all of our ships with the improved fire control systems.
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Post by revillag on Oct 7, 2019 4:53:30 GMT -6
February 1904Dearest Cousin, The war at sea is currently a stalemate. We have sunk six French merchantmen for a loss of five and there have been no significant naval battles as both sides have been able to avoid combat on unequal terms. The Germans are still blockading the northern French ports and our new minesweepers have finished their working up and have been added to the trade protection fleet, freeing up some destroyers for the battle fleet. I have ordered a second round of improvements to the drydocks of the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards. 16,000 ton battleships are now not uncommon in foreign navies and we need to be able to build to match, at least once the war is over. I still refuse to lay down a new ship if it is to be armed with 11” guns. I have received a letter form our cousin Katrina in Moscow. The Russians have officially opened up the Trans-Siberian Railway. This should greatly help Russia take advantage of her vast eastern territories. I am hoping that this will distract the Czar from his seeming preoccupation with the Serbs. Serbia has been belligerent, far beyond what a nation of their size should be. They can only get away with this because of the support of the Czar. To go to war against Serbia would be to go to war against Russia and her inexhaustible manpower reserves. The Czar also violently put down a demonstration in St. Petersburg. This has not gone over well with the people of Russia as I am told it was a peaceful protest against the Czar that was attacked without warning by Army soldiers leaving many protesters dead. The anti-monarchists here at home have been trying to use it to rally support. The Seven Great Navies in January 1904
| AH | GB | F | I | R | Gr | USA | B | 10 | 15 (3) | 10 (1) | 11 (3) | 10 (4) | 13 (3) | 8 (1) | CA | 6 | 13 (1) | 9 (4) | 6 (2) | 7 (2) | 9 (1) | 11 (4) | CL | 4 | 16 (2) | 5 | 4 | 4 | 16 (3) | 13 (1) | DD | 20 | 35 | 26 | 19 | 15 | 31 | 22 | KE | (5) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 (1) | 1 | SS | (2) | 3 (3) | 2 (2) | 0 | 2 (6) | (5) | 2 (1) | Budget | 105,000 | 290,300 | 242,200 | 141,450 | 181,650 | 193,800 | 180,350 |
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Post by revillag on Oct 11, 2019 19:33:02 GMT -6
April 1905 Dearest Cousin, Germany has finally come through with some technology, for a price. We purchased their formula for high tensile steel. This steel is roughly 1% stronger than our current version. This might not seem like much, but when you are dealing in thousands on tons of steel per ship, it adds up quickly. Our own researchers have improved their understanding of subdivision, which will aid future ships when dealing with flooding. Neither of these technologies helps us now as they can only be applied to newly designed ships and we are not planning anything new. Neither side has lost any merchants, and there was only one battle since I last wrote to you. Two of our heavy cruisers were on patrol and stumbled across two French light cruisers. The French tried to run away, but a lucky hit slowed one of them enough that our cruisers were able to catch and sink her, taking only minor damage in return. The Wiens have finished their refit and I have ordered the five Kaisers and the SMS Aprid into the yard for refitting with the new fire control system and I have ordered two more U-boats. So far, the U-boats have proven ineffective, but we only have two operational so von Trapp is correct in arguing that we can not yet make a true judgement of their capabilities. I have finally given in to him and promoted him to captain and given him command of U-5 when it becomes operational.
June 1905 Dearest Cousin, We have managed to sink seven French merchantmen for the loss of only one of our own. France has continued to arm her merchantmen. This has made our raiders life much more difficult. Under the rules of war, we much give the merchant ships a chance to surrender and be boarded for inspection. On one occasion, the French merchant ship acted like it would allow a boarding party from one of our U-boats to board and inspect. It stopped and appeared to be complying with orders, but when the U-boat moved to come along side, the merchant opened fire. The U-boat dove and escaped damage but was unable to sink the offending ship. We have threatened to sink any ship that pretends to surrender with out mercy, but it is an empty threat as even a merchant ship can out-run a submerged U-boat and the U-boat, with its single deck gun and almost no reserve flotation can not afford to get into a gun duel with an armed merchant ship. One hit will sink a U-boat while a merchant can take dozens of hits before it is in danger of sinking. Uncle has called me back to court. The Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf promised him a victory on the battlefield. When he failed to deliver, von Hötzendorf blamed lack of funds for his failures. Uncle believed him. With the Imperial Council and Hungarian Diet unwilling or unable to supply more funds, Uncle asked me if the Kriegsmarine would be willing to supply the necessary funds. Although we are strapped for money, I could not say no. I was promised that this would only be a temporary diversion of funds and the budget would be restored after the next offensive. P.S. What a fool I have been! La Marine Nationale somehow managed to sneak several battleships past the German blockade and are now blockading out coast! With our Kaisers still two months away from completing their refit, the Weins by themselves cannot hope to challenge them. With our cities already suffering from food shortages, I fear for the damage to national moral this blockade will cause.
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