The Influence of Insanity Upon Sea Power.

[alias72]

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As of late I have been reflecting upon naval history and have increasingly found the situation leading up to, and immediately proceeding, the first world war to be one of extreme tragic irony. Allow me to expound upon this.

In one corner we have the German Empire. Blasting onto the world stage in a manner fitting her boisterous Kaiser. Swinging hard with a right fist of robust and technically competent vessels but, like their Kaiser, falling short on the left hook and ultimately failing to do anything other than make unnecessary enemies out of histories largest empire.

In another corner we have the United States Navy. Proceeding with single-minded determination to build the Mahannian death-line from hell, riding to defeat her enemies at a speed of precisely 21 knots, even as circumstances increasingly indicate the obsolescence of this idea.

Then we have the Japanese. Desperate to overcome her opponents in an arms race that she can in no way afford, facing off valiantly against the greatest enemy of all, her own creditors. And carefully weighing the prospects of abandoning every surface combatant that cannot mount at least 14 inch guns in a bid to forestall her impending bankruptcy.

And finally you have the British Empire. Forced to station vast quantities of ships in every corner of the globe; Watching in distress as every power that can attach guns to a boat abandons rationality and strategic intent in an attempt to usurp the champions title, even if they bankrupt themselves in the process; Trying to balance a fleet of modern Dreadnought battleships alongside the rusting hulks of her vast pre-dreadnought fleet while the world slowly burns down around her wondering when the madness will end.

What are your thoughts? too melodramatic, not melodramatic enough?

[snwh]

I don't know about melodrama, but it is certainly an amusing take :3 Made me smile. Sadly im not a historian, so I'll refrain from commenting further, lest I make a fool of myself lol

[ramjb]

Not bad. The left hook burn about the Kaiser got a good chuckle out of me.


Still, you're missing the italians, french and austro-hungarians, so the writeup isn't complete .

[oldpop2000]

May 21, 2019 19:24:37 GMT -6 alias72 said:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As of late I have been reflecting upon naval history and have increasingly found the situation leading up to, and immediately proceeding, the first world war to be one of extreme tragic irony. Allow me to expound upon this.

In one corner we have the German Empire. Blasting onto the world stage in a manner fitting her boisterous Kaiser. Swinging hard with a right fist of robust and technically competent vessels but, like their Kaiser, falling short on the left hook and ultimately failing to do anything other than make unnecessary enemies out of histories largest empire.

In another corner we have the United States Navy. Proceeding with single-minded determination to build the Mahannian death-line from hell, riding to defeat her enemies at a speed of precisely 21 knots, even as circumstances increasingly indicate the obsolescence of this idea.

Then we have the Japanese. Desperate to overcome her opponents in an arms race that she can in no way afford, facing off valiantly against the greatest enemy of all, her own creditors. And carefully weighing the prospects of abandoning every surface combatant that cannot mount at least 14 inch guns in a bid to forestall her impending bankruptcy.

And finally you have the British Empire. Forced to station vast quantities of ships in every corner of the globe; Watching in distress as every power that can attach guns to a boat abandons rationality and strategic intent in an attempt to usurp the champions title, even if they bankrupt themselves in the process; Trying to balance a fleet of modern Dreadnought battleships alongside the rusting hulks of her vast pre-dreadnought fleet while the world slowly burns down around her wondering when the madness will end.

What are your thoughts? too melodramatic, not melodramatic enough?

Well, you have the decline of at least three empires in the early 20th century: The Ottoman Turks, Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian. You have globalization beginning to rise in the world which is now hitting the British Empire quite hard financially. You have the rise of the upstart Americans. Rich, independent and very well endowed with natural resources plus a long way from Europe so they are hard to reach. They are also adventurous in their use of the stock market and such, plus they are beginning to have more gold than anyone in the world and will soon have even more. They are also isolationist. 

For the Imperial Japanese, they have no natural resources and have only been an industrial nation since the Meiji Restoration in the 1870's. They don't even have enough arable land to grow their favorite food; rice. They have to go to China to buy what is needed. They are samurai's but those gentlemen are at the end of the line. They are not allowed work so what do they do; they drink saki and fight amongst  themselves. The Japanese know that to become a world power, they need iron ore, nickel, rubber, copper, more coal, manganese, chromium and most of all; oil. Those natural resources are in China, Manchuria and Korea but the oil is in Borneo, Rubber and copper in Malaya and some gold in the Philippines. The oil, well they are going to get 80% of it from the US and we have to carry it for them to their islands. To cap this all off, they sit on a the edge of a subduction zone of the Pacific Plate and the Eurasian Plate which means they can get some tsunami's and earthquakes of at least 7 or higher on the Richter scale. They lost most of Tokyo or Edo in the old days, to an earthquake in 1923. Nasty place to live.

Almost all the European nations except maybe the Eastern Europeans have no access to oil. This include France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. The Ottoman Turks do, but they don't know what to do with it yet. All the nations of Europe are on the archaic gold standard and will pay a price when WW1 comes about. The only nation that has plenty of oil is the US. They have it in Pennsylvania, Texas and Oklahoma and Santa Barbara but those last two areas are not completely developed yet. The British are still having difficulties with the Irish, that is normal. The French are perturbed at losing Alsace-Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian War so they want revenge. 

The Steam engine, wire-wound guns, torpedoes have all been developed, the turbine will be displayed at the Queen Victoria Fleet Review of 1897. This will change how naval wars are fought and finally, Otto Von Bismarck and Admiral Tirpitz will develop the German High Seas Fleet which will challenge the British. Bessemer steel for steel ships and armor, Marconi wireless telegraph for better ship to ship communications, and the Kiel Canal finished in 1895 now allowed the German fleet to move between Kiel and Cuxhaven in the North Sea.

Ok, I am tired, that's enough.