Domestic News:
August 1939:
- The Grand Council cuts the naval budget back to peacetime levels. To reduce expenses, the Navy suspends work on the
Fu Po class light cruisers
Tse Hai and
Fu Ching, as well as on most of the submarines currently under construction, and reduces the priority of work on the battleship
Pan Chao. The battlecruiser
Kai Chi is also reduced to reserves, and the formerly-British battleship
Chung Hua is taken in hand for an expensive reconstruction.
October 1939:
- Rumors of a regional war in Southeast Asia. The Chinese armaments industry wants to sell weapons to potential combatants, but the Minister of the Navy advises the government against stoking the fires of war so soon after a major conflict.
January 1940:
- The battleship
Pan Chao commissions.
February 1940:
- Work on the
Fu Po-class light cruisers
Tse Hai and
Fu Ching is resumed while work on their sisters
Yang Wu and
Chen Hang is suspended after it is suggested that it might be better to delay work on the ships nearer to completion to prevent the less-complete vessels from tying up funds long after the first ships of the class commission.
March 1940:
- Shortly after a scientific advisory commission reports to the Ministry of the Navy that the only things China's domestic industry has yet to develop are 18" guns and better 11", 13", 14", and 17" guns, the locks on the doors of the Office of Naval Research are mysteriously changed overnight and those who worked there find themselves reassigned to other duties or without jobs. The Minister of the Navy disclaims any knowledge of this, and the Ministry of Education and Public Information orders that the papers not carry 'so obviously false' a story.
- Work on the
Fu Po-class light cruisers
Yang Wu and
Chen Hang resumes as funds became available for the work with the commissioning of several submarines.
April 1940:
- Reconstruction work on the battleship
Chung Hua is completed.
- The
Cheng Kung-class battleship
Pan Chao finishes working up.
August 1940:
- The
Fu Po-class light cruiser
Yu Yuan becomes the first of her class to commission, and is found to be somewhat overweight.
September 1940:
- The light cruiser
Fu Po commissions.
October 1940:
- 5" coastal batteries for the defense of the harbors in Hong Kong and Singapore are completed.
- The Chinese armaments industry unveils a 13" gun of an improved model.
November 1940:
- The
Fu Po-class light cruisers
Yang Wu and
Chen Hang commission.
-
Yu Yuan finishes working up and joins the Beiyang Fleet in Weihaiwei.
December 1940:
-
Fu Po finishes working up and joins the Nanyang Fleet in Shanghai.
- 8" batteries for the harbor defenses of Hong Kong and Singapore are completed.
February 1941:
-
Chen Hang and
Yang Wu finish working up, and are both assigned to the Beiyang Fleet in Weihaiwei.
March 1941:
- A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Office implies that the aging Kaiser Wilhelm II's recent state visit to Greece may be related to current trouble in the Balkans, commenting on the Kaiser's bellicose past.
April 1941:
- The Minister of the Navy approves ¥7.11M for the purchase of a license and construction of a factory for domestic production of an 18" gun of British design.
June 1941:
- The Minister of the Navy announces a design competition for a replacement for the battlecruiser
Kai Chi.
Foreign News:
1939:
- Taking advantage of Britain's weakened state, a rebellion breaks out in the Falklands Islands, and Siam pursues a return of territorial concessions and almost provokes a war. Finding no support in war-weary China, Siam backs down in the face of united Anglo-French opposition.
1940:
- Oil is discovered in the Caroline Islands.
- Great Britain decides that holding the Falklands Islands is not worth the trouble, and withdraws. The rebels declare a Falklands Republic, which is promptly invaded by Argentina. The new republic's pleas for British aid fall upon deaf ears, and Argentina soon annexes the island republic.
- The American president Franklin Roosevelt is sworn in to an unprecedented third term in office.
1941:
- The aged Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany makes a state visit to Greece. Shortly afterwards, troubles erupt in the Balkans and it looks as though a new Balkan War will break out, but a joint French, Italian, Russian, German, and Ottoman offer of mediation bring the disputants to the table.
- The Kaisar is dead, long live the Kaisar - Wilhelm II died on June 4 at the age of 82 while sailing on his aged yacht
Meteor in the Baltic, en route to St Petersburg for a state visit. The Kaiser's son, Wilhelm III, announces that his father's funeral, 'Operation Barbarossa,' will be held June 22 and begins planning for an assemblage of European royalty such as has not been seen since the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901. To convey China's respect for the German monarch, the battlecruiser
Kai Chi - China's most decorated capital ship - is reactivated for one last mission and dispatched to Northern Europe carrying the representatives of the Xuantong Emperor and the Dowager Empress. While
Kai Chi will not arrive in time for the funeral, it will be present for the official coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm III, and is expected to make goodwill stops in France and Great Britain, before proceeding to the Caribbean and making the passage of the Panama canal on the return voyage.
Design Competition 15: Ersatz Kai Chi
Despite its long and successful service, the Imperial Chinese Navy believes that the time has come for
Kai Chi to be withdrawn from service. As such, I would like to see proposals for a 27kn battlecruiser with at least 16" belt armor, 4" deck armor, 18" turret face armor, 5" turret roof armor, and six or seven 15" or heavier guns. A secondary battery of at least twelve 4" to 6" guns should also be included. I would prefer for the total cost of the ship to be less than 150 million, but, this being somewhat likely to be the last capital ship design competition of the game, I'll accept some, shall we say, extravagance, if the designers so desire.
Shipyards everywhere but Germany can participate; those of you who have German shipyards, if you want to submit a proposal through some other power's shipyards, you may do so.
Save.
Is Sunday, 29 April at 1700 GMT enough time for everyone?
Political Advisors:
What do you feel should be done with
Kai Chi after it returns from its last voyage?
Shall it be scrapped, like the old predreadnought battleships, or - it being by far China's most decorated capital ship, with 26 battle stars, and the hero-ship of the Sino-Japanese War of 1913-1918 - should it be preserved as a museum ship? Something else?
A quick breakdown of the battle stars earned by Chinese dreadnoughts, superdreadnoughts, and fast battleships: