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Post by vasious on Jun 1, 2019 17:02:02 GMT -6
Note: this is the AAR thread for the succession game found here nws-online.proboards.com/thread/2151/ultimate-legacy-fleets-succession-game
Admiral Rene de Vasious Chief of Navy Jan 1900 to Dec 1904 Having previously commanded the French Battleship Magenta , de Vasious took command of the French fleet during the Great battleship race between Great Brittan, Germany and France, though that would not be his focus. The French fleet at the Turn of the century comprised of Four Magenta Class battleships; Magenta, Trident, Solfernio and Sufren Well armoured ships, noted for the four 12" guns, fore aft and in wing turrets ready for close in combat And a Single Redoubtable Class Battleship; Redoubtable, with the Friedland and Richelieu under construction Armoured like the Magenta, the Redoubtable sported her 12" guns in a pair of twin turrets, an attempt to focus on the broad side, and hope the battle line stays intact and not degenerate into a melee Also under construction was the Battleship Marengo Whilst she had larger 13" guns also in twin turrets, they were old Brown Powder guns, so were of shorter range than the new 12" guns and offered less armour penetration than originally hoped. France was short on Armoured Cruisers, despite pioneering the concept. The Two Gueydon Class Cruisers, the Gueydon & Dupetit-Thouars, were fast and well armed, but the previous Admiral seems to favour a cheaper, light armed and armoured Lalande Class as a pair those, the Lalande and Montcalm, were in the dockyard, thought perhaps given the overseas deployment of the Armoured Cruisers they would be a win in the area of Logistics. The Protected Cruisers of the French navy seems to embody three schools The Sfax Class rivalled the Lalande Class armoured Cruisers and were the Fleets Scouts The Coetlogon was half the size and a Destroyer screen & the Surcouf though newer, and intended to replace both, did both jobs worse than either Finally the Torpedo boat Destroyers rounded out the fleet The First Focus of Admiral Rene de Vasious was the protection of Frances many overseas interests, especially in South East Asia Whilst France had deployed Armoured Cruiser sand a Battleship Squadron to show the flag, de Vasious felt there was a more hands on approach was needed, and commissioned the design of the Bourbaki class Colonial Gunboat. Lightly armoured and armoured and carrying a Detachment of Marines, these numerous little ships could protect Frances interests from Algeria, to Indochina at the drop of a hat, and there would never be one or two far away, to put an end to pirates, brigands or other threats to French maritime trade.
Bourbaki class was being developed and laid down, In July 1900 a crisis arose in Norway, and the Government was toppled. The Kaiser moved to install his nephew to the Norwegian throne, making Norway a German protectorate. An International Task force was assembled to prevent such a move, Germany ignored this protest and Installed the Prince. Rumours have it that de Vasious used French ships to supply arms to Norwegian rebels but by July 1901, a year after, the rebellion was crushed. Apart from the usual Balkans troubles, it was a quiet few years until there was an upheaval in Borneo in August of 1902 de Vasious capitalised on the numerous Bourbaki class gunboats in South east Asia, and used them to bring Borneo to heel as a new protectorate of the French Republic. This lead to de Vasious commissioning the Cosmao class of protected cruiser. Long Range and with the most reliable triple expansion engines France could build, this class of ships was designed to be able to patrol the shipping lanes where there were not French colonies or coaling stations, and engage in convoy raiding. She was armed & armour enough to fight off destroyers, and yet be fast enough to evade other Cruisers, four ships of the class were laid down. Meanwhile the French navy carried out gunnery practice and competitions, but the budget would not allow for a full fleet exercise. Finally as the end of 1904 came about, relationships with great Brittan took an unexpected turn for the worse, though no one was sure the cause. Was it the French expansion in the Pacific? Was it the building of commerce raiders? Was it what the French Premier said about English food following a summit in London? Who can say, but the situation was dire. The British fleet, with the two fleet philosophy, had a massive tonnage advantage over France, and there was no ally to even that up. Thus before his retirement, which was due at the end of the year, de Vasious had his design board come up with the Battleship Duquesne. She had sufficient armour to take on the British 12' Gun battleships, but had the speed advantage to set the terms of the engagement, as wall as a heavy secondary battery of 10" guns, the goals, was to avoid a battle line, and instead pick targets of opportunity, and win one on one engagements. At least until a few more could be built.
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Post by skyblazer on Jun 2, 2019 22:23:57 GMT -6
(All the pictures are hosted on my drop box and if you click the links they'll show up in the post like they should but haven't done so.)
Good Evening Gentlemen, Admiral Sky speaking. I’ve taken command of the fleet as of January 1st 1905. Current forces comprise of 8 Dreadnoughts, 4 Armored Cruisers, 11 Protected Cruisers, 17 Destroyers, and 36 Colonial Gunboats. 1 Dreadnought, and 4 Protect Cruisers currently under construction. I’ve reviewed the fleet and have decided that our current Dreadnought fleet is not up to the task of going to war with a major nation. With outdated guns and fire control systems unable to be upgraded I’m considering putting in orders for the construction of 2 new ships to begin replacing these old warships. The cruiser fleet is only somewhat in better shape, the 7in guns I've discovered are of subpar quality and some of the ships have entered service over weight and thus unable to be modernised. These ships are slated to be phased out over time with replacement. The state of the budget has been left to me in good order however there isn’t a lot of room for adding these replacement ships. Not to mention our own nation guns have fallen behind that of others. The British have somehow gotten their hands on 14” size guns from what I have heard from our spies but they may have done so through the Americans. Appone review, I’ve been informed that American shipwrights are somewhat more advanced than our own nations and thus I am reluctant to place a order of 2 Ocean Class Dreadnoughts, Sunrise and Sunset.
These new ships are armed with capable of 22knots and armed with 6 14in Guns all placed on the center line. This new ship type should prove to be quite the deadly force out on the waves. The Protected Class Cruisers I’ve placed on order are all locally built and armed with 8 6in Guns and are capable of 25knots making these ships the fastest in the fleet outside of destroyers.
Over the next few years relations with other nations dipped and climbed, with the British changing their minds on how they stand with us and then the Italians thinking they might try to pick a fight with us only to back down. The Dreadnought Duquesne entered service, one of the ships my predecessor approved for construction. Its certainly an improvement over our other Dreadnoughts and a welcome addition. With just under a year left of my command relations with Germany have grown considerably worse. I am uncertain as to what happened but we are now in a state of war with the German Empire. Sadly for the first few months not a lot has happened, we had 1 brief large engagement with both sides bringing out their fleets but not commiting to the fight, later a few smaller engagements however nothing of any real note. A lot of the fleet Destroyers are currently held up in trade protection so months before my time as Admiral of the fleet is over, I’ve put in a order for 6 new Destroyers, at 700tons, 4 3in guns, and 5 torpedo tubes mounted in the center line. These ships should be a welcome addition to the fleet. The 2 new Dreadnoughts are set to be ready for deployment mid 1909 and should be a real turning point in this war for us.
March 1909, one of our fleets were on patrol in the French(Not English, bleh) Channel. 3 German Dreadnoughts came into view in the afternoon light with large escort moving around them like bees. Our Fleet moved at full flank speed to engage while the German fleet turned to try and run back to their home waters however our French ships were a tiny bit faster and caught up right before night fall. Many 13in,12in, and 10in shells landed home damaging the engines on the last German Dreadnought in the line, a Elsassa Class. After shelling this poor Dreadnought for a hour it was decided to head back to port to rearm. This small engagement saw us loss 1 Destroyer for 1 German Dreadnought and 1 German Destroyer. August 1909, Night Fleet encounter. The French fleet encountered the German Navy at night sinking nearly half a dozen enemy Destroyer attempting to make torpedo runs on our Dreadnought line. The Magenta was hit twice and ordered to come about and drop speed to 8 knots. Sadly as the fleet was making its way back to port the Magenta was lost with crew recovered. The recovered sailors will go on to crewing the Sunrise and Sunset as they are nearly finished working up.
The War had been raging for 19 months now with the Army making good headway into Germany itself and the Navy having Blockading the German forces in for 12 months now. Reports of unrest in Germany had been growing constantly from food shortages. Our fleet have met in combat on about 8 different occasions however it had been a bit of a stalemate out at sea. Both sides had lost 1 Dreadnought each but Germany had lost more Auxiliary ships, and Destroyers compared to France. Also our two newest ships had just come into service which no German ship could match. Sadly though I am to go into retirement to care for my sick wife for her remaining time with us. My replacement will have to see the end of this war through for me.
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Post by ninjapacman on Jun 5, 2019 1:21:23 GMT -6
(I'm going to be making more than one post. I have a lot of writing, and a lot of pictures.) From the diary of Amiral Jeàn Pàcmen, Jan 5th, 1910 The light is gone from my life. I have long been critical of the high Admiralty, and long have I wished to never become one of them. Now that I have been appointed, I think I shall kidnap the daughter of the prime minister, and ship her to Madagascar, if only so they will demote me. One ship and one crew has always been enough for me. When I commanded the torpedo boat Lance, when I commanded the armored cruiser Bienville, that was enough for me. I despised the ludicrous pompous pride of the Admirals, and prayed to god that I may never become one of them, that I may lose my sight of the realm of the possible. They call me a coward, an uncouth barbarian for speaking out against them, and as well for cutting Amiral Marquis de Avignon’s flag from Bienville. He deserved it for the order he gave. Now they expect me to sit in France, away from the sea, and tell captains to use resources they do not have to fight enemies they can not fight, all while my country shuns the sea, as it has not been kind to them. My great great grandfather commanded Algésiras, and he told my great grandfather the sea was no place for the French. My great grandfather joined the army, and told my grandfather that the sea was no place for the French. He told my father, and my father told me. I hated my father, and so joined the navy. I see now that he was right, and for that I continue in this profession if only to spite him. Worst of all, our fleets have found themselves in a war with the Germans. France does not expect this paltry amalgamation of steel and steam to win, and have thus put all of their money into our Grand Armee. Now what do I have? A couple dozen rotting old ships, and not a single ship larger than a protected cruiser to safeguard our great world-spanning empire. This is the ungrateful France I have been put in charge of. These thankless, demanding worms shall learn what it means to be truly French. I shall win, to show them they are wrong. I shall reclaim the seas for France. First, I must stress my situation. This navy is in great need of reform. The country thinks we do not need to be seaborne, so they have given us canoes to fight. I shall be rid of these silly corvettes. I shall then use their steel to build real fighting ships. Not the timid torpedo boats such as Lance. I never liked that ship anyways. Always saltwater in my face, and never the chance to use a woefully inadequate weapon. The only things that make any noise in these unforgiving seas are the guns of a great battle fleet, which I shall build. Second, our resources are horrifically mismanaged. Perhaps in the interest of Chivalry my predecessors have neglected to send spies to our foes. I am certain that the other powers of Europe have been stealing what little technology France does have greater than them. If they do not think a fight should be fair, why should we allow them this advantage? There may be no pride in cheating, but there is also no pride in being made a fool. Third, our industry has determined that they do not need to work. Our scientists believe it better to sleep with their wives, maybe with each other’s, rather than to advance our navy. If we do not put effort in to catch up, we shall be left behind. I shall issue orders that should put our navy on a course to at least keep up with our foes, if not surpass them in design. Any who do not comply shall be immediately replaced. Fourth, from my recollections of our naval exercises and training, I recall that the gunners on our greatest ships, with the most accurate of our guns, were unable to even hit a barge painted the most garish shade of red. You would think they would have the decency to destroy it, if only so we had to look upon it no longer. I shall implement a thorough training regime, and captains are instructed to drill their men weekly. Ships which are not up to required standards shall parade amongst the fleet, with the captain lashed naked to the mainmast. These reforms shall be implemented immediately. I shall gut the navy if I must to bring it back to even marginal strength. I have yet to see it, and I already despise what the future holds.
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Post by ninjapacman on Jun 5, 2019 1:56:54 GMT -6
1910Feb 6th
The Prime Minister has personally requested I abandon two of the three pieces of rotting cheese he has given me as a naval budget so that the people of France may have something to put on their bread. I have told the Prime Minister that I shall be keeping the cheese, and that if he wishes me to accomplish anything, he will send me some of their bread as well. March 14th
I’ve been told that there have recently been rallies outside my naval bases asking that my sailors join some sort of new political movement. I have let the base commanders deal with it, and instructed that any sailor who wants to leave may do so, on the condition that he give any pay he has earned over the past few months, and any pension he expects to earn back to the navy, so we may use it for better than feeding the ungrateful. June 5th
The french people wanted to continue the fight. The army was ready to push to the Capital. However, with how typically French the people are, they were only ready to fight themselves, and the army was marching to the wrong Capital. The Germans interrupted our revolution, rude as they always are, and offered us some of their empire. The Prime Minister, seeing his army marching the wrong way, agreed. I was told the treaty had us gaining some minor territories. I was not told that minor territories included a place in the pacific called “Sandy Island.” I have sent one of our many canoes to establish our presence there. Addendum; June 5th
The canoe has informed me that the island does not exist. It is just as well, as I have now saved the minuscule funds required to maroon the captain of that corvette on “Sandy Island.” I will settle for sending a rather strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister telling him to acquire more sand for the island. He knows very well where on his person he can carry that sand. September 25th
There has been a rather tumultuous affair in Cuba. It has been some time since we had increased our presence in the Carribbean, and the United States appeared to want nothing to do with the godforsaken island. Therefore, I have ordered a force there to restore order. The force successfully did so, and the Cuban people are quite grateful. Far more grateful than the French, who have slept through the fact that anything at all has happened. Addendum; September 25th
The United States has taken notice of my actions in Cuba, and rather than congratulating me for it, has threatened to impound the Battleship Ocean, currently being built in the USA. Rather than see her fall into the hands of the obscenely rude Americans, I have sent some men to scuttle her in the night. October 1st
It appears to the United States that the dockyard Ocean was in caught fire. A great conflagration burned throughout the shipyard, and the partially completed hull of the Battleship Ocean was irreparably damaged by the fire. They have told me in great detail how apologetic they are, and in no uncertain terms how little they actually care for the disaster. I responded that it is a great shame that french ships will no longer be built in their now-useless shipyard. November 8th
I have been overseeing the scrapping of the Canoe fleet for some time, and I have put in a design request. No less than two new battlecruisers will be built to replace Ocean, and at no small cost to the French public. Maybe the emptiness of their wallets shall wake them up. 1911 March 8th
The first of the new Battlecruisers has been laid down. I went under the Prime Minister’s nose with this, and approved the plans on my own. He thinks he has approved funds for the Ocean to be built once more. The Austerlitz shall surprise him greatly when it is completed. June 16th
In the same day I have been surprised both to the best of my moods and the worst. To the best when I was presented that the people’s wallets have awakened, and they have gathered together 50,000,000 Francs to build me a new battleship. I shall gleefully oblige them. To the worst when immediately afterwards a blithering idiot who has spent exactly 3 seconds at a beach before deciding water was too wet has put upon my desk a request from the high admiralty to build no less than 8 more cruisers. If it were not for the generosity of the People (whom I suspect have been mislead, as this is highly uncharacteristic) I would have marched to this man’s desk to place this request where he knows it belongs. As it is, I shall agree to build them on the condition that they are sent to the colonies, and far away from my sight. November 11th
It has taken me quite a long time to do this, and several hundred drinks. After several months of negotiation, I’ve managed to convince the British to meet for talks. With both the Germans and the Americans grasping at our great French Empire, I have convinced the Filthy Englishmen that the Germans are lustfully looking at their territories as well, and that the Americans are rather interested in another war with their old man. With any luck, I shall achieve what no other French Amiral has ever done. I shall make the Royal Navy fight for me. I shall need a lot of luck, and quite a few drinks before I ever meet with them. My brain needs to be quite addled before I can speak with an Englishman on even terms. Addendum; November 11th
The talks were successful. Despite having drank a slight amount too much before the talks, the British have agreed to a naval alliance to ward off the aggressive hands of America and Germany. The only thing I believe I could have done better would be to have puked on the Royal Carpet more than just the once. 1912 September 21st
It has been over a year since those ridiculous cruisers were thrust upon me to be built. As always I deeply regret interaction I’ve had with the High Admiralty. Their absurd cruisers have long delayed the construction of Austerlitz and Eckmuhl. I fear that the pair will not be completed before my tenure is up. In a great blessing, the aggressive actions of America have convinced the government to actually increase my funding to a reasonable level, and with this at least, my two hopes for the french navy might see fruition. 1913January 6th
It has come to my attention that several of France’s military planners have found themselves anticipating war in the colonies. I must say that I actually agree with them. The high admiralty believes any engagement will be between high fleets in Europe, once again revealing that their thought processes are almost as speedy as Escargot is. In order to expand the French Empire to the glory it deserves, I shall be inquiring further into the concept of a war amongst islands. May 7th
It has come to my attention that several of the naval research teams have come into contact with the same man offering to sell them something regarding torpedoes. I have long considered those weapons amongst the most useless ever devised, and as I continue to do so, I have instructed none of our research teams to give a single Franc to this lunatic. May 20th
On the same day the last of the despicable cruisers was finally commissioned, I received even more good news. Our research teams developed a way to fit no less than four guns into one turret. I have a feeling this will be extraordinarily powerful when combined with our recently developed 15-in rifles. France shall emerge onto the world stage with a magnificent fury, and all shall witness and know what she is capable of. 1914 January 1st
It is the start of a new year, and as much as has not changed, I have finally approved the design and construction of a new class of battleships, utilizing our most recent technological advances. Our shipyards in Brest informed me that despite being our largest, they were unable to build a ship to my specifications of twelve 15-in guns. I then asked them to build me the largest ship they could, and they have come through well. Despite significantly less armament than I would prefer, these battleships are sure to be fearsome. Better still, to compensate me for their inability to build a larger ship, they have offered a rather large discount on a second ship of the class. I will keep a sharp eye on them to be certain they do not cut corners. January 19th
I have received a rather surprising letter. The Japanese appear to have a vested interest in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Rather than being aggressive, these weird eastern folk have deigned to negotiate with me about their plans. I gave them terms that no European would accept, and yet they agreed wholeheartedly. For that I pity them, and I shall at least do them the benefit of not getting in the way of their ambitions. March 3rd
I have been told that other countries have been testing out the feasibility of launching aircraft from naval ships. I even visited a demonstration in Britain once. The idea is laudable, but I believe these men are insane, incompetent, or both. They believe wooden kites can improve their naval power, and worse yet, are planning to put vital resources into building ships exclusively to house and launch these kites. I don’t know if they even plan to include guns on these ships. The thought that one day France might follow them horrifies me, and I shall put great effort into delaying this unwelcome future. June 14th
I have been approached by one of these aviation companies, not with an aircraft that flies from a ship, but with an aircraft that is a ship itself. This “Flying boat” might just be the first aircraft adopted into the French Navy. It does not take many men to crew, and the company has sung its praises for use in the reconnaissance role. I do not like the idea of allocating resources to this, but if we may see the foe before they see us, that is one more advantage to have. I will put this vehicle into trials, and see what comes of it. August 16th
A newspaper caught my eye today. My intelligence agents failed to inform me before the paper did, and for that at least one person shall be strung up. The United States have opened the canal they have been building in Panama, and it can take any ship from the Pacific to the Atlantic without worry of Cape horn, shaving weeks, if not months off of the trip. For any nation intending war with America, this could be quite the worry. August 25th
I have received word that in this period of reduced tension, the government wants to reduce spending on the Navy, and thinks I will accept that as long as they also reduce spending on the Army. Apparently they were surprised when I appeared in the middle of their session to tell them exactly what I think of those stuck-up, lazy, pompous, licentious, abhorrent mongrels. I’ve spent four years making those bastards bend to my will, and I’m not about to give them a turn at the helm. October 16th
Today, God’s light once more shines upon the French. November 8th
It would seem I have made a grave misjudgment. In all of my efforts to build a French Navy worth having, I had failed to notice the displeasure of the ever jealous English. In their jealousy, they told me to stop building better ships than them in not so many words. They did not appear to like my response, and have since started to take offense to my showing up to every meeting with more than a few drinks downed. I have just received word that the alliance between us has been called off. The only thing I regret is not having vomited a third time on the Royal Carpet. January 1st, 1915It seems that the Prime Minister finally noticed his daughter took a vacation to Madagascar in the early months of my tenure. I expected this to come out a lot sooner, but she’s only just managed to inform him. The incredible buffoon has only just realized that she had been gone at all. A rather short investigation ending in my immediate admittance of guilt has created a sort of scandal, and I am being asked to resign. I have done what I could for France in the most miserable and tedious years of my life. It is up to her now to actually make something of herself. Vive la France. I have only the hope that the High Admiralty all die at once, at a great explosion during a party in Buckingham Palace. (That's my tenure done! I had a lot of fun writing this up. Yes that war ended without even giving me the choose territories screen. It was effectively a white peace. I would have pushed for more, but I didn't want to end my tenure in 1910 due to revolutions. I literally have no idea how people manage to get those. I've never had it this bad in wars where I've fought against two foes for 15+ years, and I started with the threat of revolution in a war that had been going on for less than a year and a half. Anyways, my biggest mistake was losing the alliance with Britain, but I simply didn't get any events to lower tension. The amount of political murders and accidents that happen in Europe is absolutely insane. Tension went up way fast with everyone.)
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Post by fifrein on Jun 5, 2019 19:44:08 GMT -6
(As with Ninja, I'll have to split this in two. The last couple years were relatively uneventful, but many interesting things happened right at the beginning. Also of note, only I would build a brand spanking new heavy cruiser and forget to draw a superstructure!)
From the personal notes of Amiral Franc De Rhin during his tenure as Amiral de france; January 20, 1915 to December 23, 191920 JAN 1915What a terribly exciting pair of weeks. France has lost its third Naval Commanding Officer in but fifteen short years. He resigned over quite the scandal, as well. My friends in the Admiralty are beginning to suspect there is some sort of curse on the position. I suppose they may be right, as somehow I have been appointed. The office almost feels smaller than my old one, but perhaps that is because I am used to the freedom of glider flight. Perhaps, instead, it is the oppressive scent of alcohol and cigarettes which coats the room. My predecessor certainly made no attempt to hide his habits. He has left me with far more than an old office to worry about, however. The fleet does not fare much better than its admiralty, full of outdated ships and with hardly the money to repair them. Building more is nearly out of the question. We have far fewer Armoured Cruisers than our competitors, which does not bode well for our foreign interests. In addition, our construction potential is the smallest of all nations. Even the Austrians, with their iota of a budget, have managed to build larger shipyards. This will be the first thing I must fix. That is not the worst of it. With our decaying and undermanned fleet, we have been left in perilously poor relations with our contemporaries. France is, Heaven forgive me, not what she used to be. My predecessor's 'aggressive' foreign policies may come to bite me in the rear. Hopefully there is something I can do to save what we have left. 03 MAR 1915To increase our control over our home territories, I have ordered the construction of 4 airbases scattered around la Méditerranée. If nothing else, these new 'Airships' allow a good view of the oceans on a clear day to calm my mind. 08 JUN 1915
I have taken the first large step on the path to improving our cruiser fleet. I have ordered the construction of a modern class of Armoured Cruiser, armed with 10 in guns and able to outrun or bounce the shells of all her contemporaries. She and her sisters may cost a prettier penny than I have in my pocket, but slowly I am convincing parliament that the money is well spent. Curiously, the design on paper looks more like an old monitor. The designer said she will get an extra two knots from the reduction of air resistance. I will not question the engineers. So long as she performs her designed duties, I could not care what she looks like. 02 JUL 1915A very determined junior officer fought his way through my secretaries today to hand me a proposal. Perhaps it is not bad luck that I am in this position after all, my friend Amiral Rocherre would have likely fired him on the spot. I took a look at his hypothesis, and it quite caught my interest. Imagine the concept of a ship filled with seaplanes! They can take off and land as they please, always near their hanger for refueling! It is a novel idea! If only I could convince the parliament it was worth as much as the battleships the planes would be supporting... 23 AUG 1915A curse upon the drunkard who preceded me! The Americans could not be convinced that a new Amiral was enough to change the administration, and when our small ally on the far side of the world made a diplomatic incident, the States called the last straw. War! So soon into my career, this office must be cursed. It is not my job to complain however, only to fight. We are far and away outgunned. Perhaps letting the Americans cross an ocean to assault us will cool their animosity. 27 SEP 1915I was correct in my assumption. The American public, isolationist as they are, have fought their government every step against a foreign war. They are afraid to send their ships in our direction and for now we have held superiority of forces near our colonies. Every battle we have fought has resulted in the Americans running from our fleets. I cannot remember them being this afraid when they fought the British. More good news follows. One of my accursed predecessor's pet projects has finally come to fruition, and could not have come at a better time. the modern Battlecruiser Eckmuhl has been commissioned, and will move to strengthen the forces defending our colony in Cuba. And even further, the ministry has reported that several prototype seaplanes are being developed to fit such a ship as I learned of so many months ago. 10 OCT 1915More good news from the Pacific. it appears our Oriental allies are capable of more than just aggravating the great powers. Though, I suppose this news does exactly that! In a heated battle, the Japanese have managed to sink a modern American battlecruiser! How they managed this, i have yet to learn, but to be able to double or triple the feat would give us quite the edge in this war. 18 JAN 1916Yet more good news. After an engagement near Cuba which brought our newest ships into direct confrontation without noteworthy result, the Americans realized what I had tried to tell them from the beginning. Words over a table are not worth losing your children and colonies over. Our pointless little war ended without border changes less than half a year after it had begun.
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Post by fifrein on Jun 5, 2019 20:43:08 GMT -6
From the Diaries of Amiral Franc De Rhin, cont'd03 SEPT 1916 The Naval Academie has expressed interest in sending cadets to experience the colonies and life at sea. Sadly, I cannot spare our line warships for a frivolous venture like this. Not that any but our newest class of battlecruiser are in any shape to be called such. Perhaps this will finally convince parliament that a strong navy can not be neglected. We only just had a war that could have ended our nation as a whole, and they've taken the opportunity to slash my funds nearly in two! Forget building modern ships, I cannot spare the funds to repair what we have! A cursed position, indeed. 12 FEB 1917The most interesting proposal was on my desk this morning. It was sent by a rising American Admiral who had read reports of the battle off of Cuba. He noted some glaring faults with the guns and gunnery of both nations, citing that in a direct engagement well within range for all the line ships, neither side suffered more than a single destroyer's loss! I was pleasantly surprised when the letter continued by stating he had already gathered approval from his superiors to send some of his scientists to France, that we may both more quickly learn to circumvent the problems. I immediately wrote a letter of agreement. Who could pass up an opportunity such as this? The Americans have a research budget that dwarfs ours, this is certainly in our favor! Besides, it does not hurt to keep one's enemies close, especially if they are willing to freely give their secrets. 15 APR 1917Last week saw a great opportunity for France to gain yet another new colony. The island of Samoa suffered a revolution amongst the populace! What a chance! Of course, only today do I learn that our forces made utter fools of themselves upon arrival. A wasted opportunity, and disgrace on the world stage! In lighter news, our agreement with the Americans has finally begun to bear its fruit. And what a boon it is! our scientists have reported leaps and bounds in hull and machinery designs! Hopefully this may continue for some time. 05 JUL 1918I have said many cruel things about my predecessor, but the man did have effective ideas to restore France's naval strength. Another of his projects was commissioned today, the Dreadnought Louis Napoleon. A fitting name for the pride of our fleet. Finally, France has a ship in her arsenal which can defend itself from the 14-inch guns of our foes. She does not lack in her own ability to deliver a harrowing broadside, either. 10 DEC 1918The election results are in, and the newspaper this morning brought a smile to my face. Perhaps now I can have my ships, and pay for them too. 06 FEB 1919The Austrians are getting ambitious in la Méditerranée. They have tried to take advantage of a recent revolution in Greece. I've done everything I can short of begging parliament to declare war. thankfully, nothing came of it, but I don't believe the Austrians see me in a favorable light. Perhaps our skirmish with the Americans was foreshadowing of another conflict. 09 FEB 1919Austria-Hungary's aggression cannot be ignored. It is not up to us to put them in their place just yet, but we should prepare for what I'm beginning to see as inevitable. I have ordered the construction of a modern destroyer class to replace our old Horizons. More torpedoes, bigger guns, and a significantly improved top speed. These "Pertusianes" may serve us well for years to come. 15 MAY 1919In an effort both to modernize our oldest cruisers, and to kill a second bird, it was decided that one of the old Sfax class cruisers would be a testbed for a new type of ship. Similar to the Seaplane Carriers I have ruminated on in the past, this new class will carry several aircraft at once, but instead of taking off from and landing on the water, they're to use the ship as a form of mobile runway. The first group of aircraft to join the ship could not have come at a better time, being offered to me personally by the executives of the Nieuport company. I've had the engineers design a torpedo light enough to fit on these planes. Hopefully that will convince parliament that this system can be used as a weapon. Of course, for now it will only serve the purposes of reconnaissance, but perhaps this idea will bear fruit in the future. 06 JUN 1919Japan has offered a renewal of our friendship. Considering their contributions to the last war, and with another looming, I did not hesitate to agree. Perhaps they may be a competent power in their own right, after all. 23 DEC 1919The next Amiral to take this office should not repeat my mistakes. The very first thing he ought to do is hire an exorcist. The curse has finally caught up to me in a way I never imagined. My frequent correspondence with the American admiralty regarding our lucrative agreement has caught the attention of my peers, some of whom very much wish to have my job. I do not know if one of them began the rumor, but the military police have arrived at my building apparently throwing around absurd accusations of spying! Could you imagine? Myself, a spy for the Americans! The thought makes me laugh more than anything at the moment, and yet they are here. Perhaps I will see the guillotine. Regardless, I doubt my career will take this blow with much grace. Cursed, indeed. (Well, this was certainly an interesting playthrough to do! The french navy is definitely better off than when I got it, and has a pretty solid chance of beating her next rival barring exceptionally bad luck. We even have the budget to build 5 ships at once! imagine that! I'll leave a little After-After action as a p.s. here to let my successor know more or less where he's starting off.) (good luck, Yemo!)
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Post by klavohunter on Jun 6, 2019 11:53:02 GMT -6
Most of your picture links are broken, fifrein.
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Post by yemo on Jun 6, 2019 12:14:26 GMT -6
Off topic: skyblazer fifrein A good site to host images is imgur. Then use the direct link to the image (adress ending in .png or .jpg) to embed the screenshot in the forum post.
It will take me a while to continue with the AAR from 1920. Since 1920 is also a starting point for a new game and the auto generated legacy fleet with that option is not optimal, I decided to outsource the discussion about what to do next to the general forum.
The savegame from January 1920 (without pictures or autosave, but with corrected Kärnten class filename) is provided there as well.
I will then properly continue with the AAR here after I played my 5 years, based on the feedback and recommendations in that discussion about the state of the navy in 1920. One thing is certain, it is a great challenge and fantastic experience to step outside of the AI made situation, which is familiar since RTW1. This succession game is great!
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Post by yemo on Jun 8, 2019 15:00:21 GMT -6
A more detailed discussion of the state of this french navy at that point can be read here:
Including advise from other admirals what to do in this situation, which makes for an interesting read, especially if you want to start a new 1920 legacy game for yourself. Thanky you for all the feedback in this thread!
Januay 1920, Paris
After a lengthy and in depth investigation into the previous Chief of the Navy and his connections to the Americans, and some conveniently leaked (perhaps a bit exaggerated) information at the right time, I was finally promoted to Chief of the Navy! Unfortunately the investigation took a great deal of time and focus, so I kind of forgot about the French fleet...
Had I known in what a disastrous condition the French navy really is, I would have reconsidered. Even an easy victory against the much smaller austrian navy would have secured my name in the annals of french naval history. Now I m not sure anymore, if we could even win against them. And one thing is certain, I would be the one being blamed for such a defeat. Just because it happened during my tenure.
Britain unsurprisingly has the highest naval budget, with the USA in second place. Our old arch enemy Germany is about tied with us for third place. Austria, Japan and Italy are trailing behind.
The battleship numbers seem to be in line with this.
Most surprisingly, we have none of those new battlecruisers every other navy seems to be building en masse. No, those two entries are just some weird dreadnoughts, relabled to hide the state of our navy from the public. I ll come back to them in a moment.
What we have in spades, are old or even ancient pre-dreanoughts (we are the only nation still having those, hurray! ), CAs, CLs, DDs and KEs.You know, all the snacks the enemy battlecruisers were designed to eat for breakfast. In fact, not even our newest destroyers in service are fast enough to reliably run away from those new foreign BCs. We are even building a new CA in addition to the one working up right now, of course just slow enough that it can not run away from a battlecruiser.
We do not have any submarines or a single one of those new aircraft. But we seem to have an abundance of airships. Hopefully their spotting will give our fleet enough of a head start to run away from approaching battlecruisers...
Here we can see the full extent of the problem. Oh and those two fake BCs mentioned above (seriously, why can't I simply reclassify them?), they have cramped accomodations and their 4x2x10'' secondaries have 4'' of turret armor. In bad weather a 6'' cruiser shell could detonate their magazines...
For comparison, this is the austrian navy. Not a good navy either, but their battlecruisers give them the initiative (no, the 18 knot speed entries are just incompetence in our book keeping department, most go 27-28 knots). And there is nothing we can do about it. They can catch every one of our ships at their leisure.
This is what is currently under construction. The BB Napoleon was probably designed over 6 years ago and is not even half finished... I do not know what to do with the 25knot CA Amiral Charner class, since the other navies have retired their own CAs and most of the older CLs. Thus there is no prey for it, but it is slow enough to be the prey for the numerous enemy BCs. To be honest, I did not think that all the foreign navies would dispose of so many of their cruisers so quickly and hop on the BC train so eagerly. But they did, and we have to react to that, despite our own preferences.
There are also some good news. We are converting an old CL to a CVL. Essentially a carrier ship for those new aircraft. We even have an aircraft model which is intended to use torpedoes against other ships. This might be a way to counter the enemy BCs. Everyone is exited and I hope we are not grasping at straws with that concept. Though there has been some critique that 8 aircraft are not enough.
And finally 3 DDs which seem to be able to meet foreign DDs on roughly equal terms (and those are even faster than the newest rumoured foreign BCs!).
With such a navy and those high tensions with Austria, I asked other admirals and naval warfare experts for advise (see thread linked above). There have been many interesting ideas, but all of them had one aspect in common: That it is necessary to scrap a good portion of the existing fleet as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, details from those deliberations were leaked to the press, and all hell broke loose. It seems as if the last Chief of the Navy still has some support among the inner circle...
Now everyone took an interest and had to comment on it. French shipyards were enraged that many proposals wanted to build or refit in the US. Sailors feared that the loss of so many ships would result in a reduction of the required navy personnel.
The previous Chiefs of the Navy wrote letters, which somehow found their way to the press as well, shifting the blame around while defending their own decisions. And all the politicians had to add their opinion as well, promoting their own little interests, supporting this or that group. Reports from previously rather reluctant Vienna describe euphoric chants of "We can beat them" and sketches depicting the gallic rooster being cooked in a rusty bucket... Then there is the french public. And everyone knows that there is nothing more concerning than the french public for someone in a position of power in France...
It was a mess. We have to act now or I will be carried out of the office in a fortnight.
First we blame someone else of course.
The evil Turks try to make us look weak to goad the Austrians into war with us and thus keep them away from the Balkans.
Second, we need to draw some influential players to our side, preferably with someone else paying for that.
We thus make a deal with some american shipyards to invest money in french shipyards (and their owners ) and share some minor technology. We will have to give some construction to French shipyards as well, but the new builds go to the americans to compensate for a quick transfer of money to some key opinion leaders without attracting attention.
Third, we assure the continued pay for all navy personnel. We always planned to give them more holidays (the acting government surely is in favor of this, uniting behind the navy leadership to further social reforms - and takes over the holiday pay...).
Fourth, we announce sweeping reforms and make great promises for the future (which will probably be forgotton during wartime).
Next post: The plan to reform the french navy.
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Post by yemo on Jun 9, 2019 9:11:46 GMT -6
With the emboldened Austrians, war seems to be unavoidable. The problem is, that we can not leave the Mediterranean to Austria, since that would open the door for them to threaten our numerous possessions there. Thus we have to keep a credible deterrence there, but we also need to show the flag in the North Sea, otherwise Germany might see us as easy prey. We can only hope that the threat that our ally Japan poses to their colonies in the far east will deter them enough to keep out of this war. Also, if we scrap too many of our ancient ships, we might even risk being blockaded by Austria!
Capital Ships - BBs, BCs and BsBB Louis Napoleon is imho the only ship which is truly in fighting condition. Her sister BB Napoleon will be finished in 18 months. The Austerlitz class "BCs" need an emergency refit to reduce the chance of secondary flash fires. Those lightly armored 10'' gun turrets have to go. 5'' guns will be mounted instead. The Ocean class BBs need modern fire control. While we are at it, we will also replace the 7'' secondaries in casemates with a battery of modern 5'' guns to repel DDs even in bad weather. Since B Duquesne can maintain 22 knots and having only 5 capital ships is a bit risky against the Austrian 6, we will refit her as well. The other pre dreadnoughts will be kept in the med until the refits are complete and the dreadnoughts are on station again. After that the pre dreads are scheduled to be scrapped.We plan to announce a joint fleet maneuver together with the Americans to confuse Austria and have a pretext for those 5 ships leaving for the US. There we will refit all five of them with the modern american 5'' guns and director fire control. We were surprised that there seems to be a worldwide union agreement/conspiracy, that adding deck armor has to take 12! months. We would have really liked to simply bolt on an inch of deck armor! This poses another problem, as without the deck armor increase, we do not know how to keep the belt armor of B Duquesne far enough in the water to be effective, once we replace her 10'' guns with 5'' ones. The designers refuse to simply dump some rocks to keep her waterline where it should be! Thus we have to keep 4 of her 10'' guns and replace the tertiary battery to provide defense against DDs. 4 opportunities for flash fires are less than 8 opportunities for flash fires. Why can they not just dump rocks into it?What a mess! Why can't they just bolt another inch of deck armor on? Why? It makes no sense! They can change the main guns in less time!
BB Napoleon
BC Austerlitz and BC Eckmuhl - before refit
BC Austerlitz and BC Eckmuhl - after refit => Why does it take 12 months to bolt on some deck armor?
Ocean class, BB Sunrise and BB Sunset - before refit
Ocean class, BB Sunrise and BB Sunset - after refit => Why does it take 12 months to bolt on some deck armor?
B Duquesne - before refit
B Duquesne - after refit => Why does it take 12 months to bolt on some deck armor? Why can they not just dump stones into the hull after removing the 10'' guns?
Cruisers - CAs and CLsThe two Gueydon class CAs will be converted to CVLs, in french shipyards. Each should then be able to carry 15 planes and hopefully provide a new offensive weapon against the foreign BCs. We hope that the conversion of Amiral Cecille goes without incident, so that we can use her for early concept tests. CA Amiral Charner's sistership still under construction is scrapped immediately. We see her as a liability in the modern battlecruiser environment. It is politically impossible to scrap Amiral Charner herself, as she was just finished and is still working up. Can't scrap a brand new ship so close to war! Nearly all of the Chasseloup Laubat class CLs will be assigned to foreign stations to show the flag there, the rest will be kept around France. Every other cruiser will be scrapped immediately.
Smaller vessels - DDs and KEsThe 500 and 700 ton DDs will receive a paint over in French shipyards. Since they are all overweight and have somewhat crowded centerlines, each will lose a torpedo mount. They will be relegated to ASW duty anyway, no need for torps. The 3 new DDs under construction About 1/3 of the 1000 ton minesweepers will be scrapped, the rest will be recalled to the med and the French Atlantic coast to be ready for minesweeping duties when war breaks out. New constructionWe need less maintenance intensive minesweepers. A design study to that effect will be provided by American shipyards. KE Ondite, 600tons, 24knots, cost effective coal firing. A workhorse.
While we were contemplating building more Pertusiane class DDs locally, the Americans proposed a new DD class. With their fantastic 5'' guns to overmatch the Austrian 5'' armed DDs. Our naval planners fantasies ran wild and the designs grew in size and capability. Up to 9 centerline torpedoes! More speed! The latest version had 4x5'' centerline guns and 6x3'' secondaries in addition to 2x3 torpedo mounts. It seems that some saw this as an opportunity to get new, fast cruisers in all but name (and armor)... We could not afford to let this discussion drag on forever, so we settled on the latest DD design, but left the 6x3'' secondaries (or more torpedoes, or minesweeping gear or any other fantasy for a future refit). Not very cost effective, but we will have very capable DDs in 14 months. DD Javeline, 1300tons, 33knots, 4x5'' guns, 2x3x18'' torps.
Last but not least, we finally need battlecruisers capable to match the speed of foreign designs! Unfortunately those would take 3 years and thus would most likey come too late to effect the imminent war with Austria. It would probably be better to order more super destroyers. But we can hardly scrap half our captital ships in 4 months (once the other half had their refits) without being able to present something new to the public (and politicians). The Americans have some new armor concept and have been so helpful in channeling funds to keep the unrest at bay. They are awarded a contract to finish a design study of a new battlecruiser, based on the concept of someone called dorn . BC Tourville, 43,500 tons, 3x3x15'' guns, good armor layout and 29knots top speed.
Four airship bases had to be scrapped, the airships were just too expensive.
We would have liked to keep all the bases with 2 airships each, but some influential idiot would not allow us to change their number per base to something other than 8. The intelligence budget has been shifted around a bit to focus more on those nations we cann acquire tech from. Of course the public would not allow us to withdraw everything from Austria with tensions this high. The research funds have been reallocated! While advisors recommended very different foci, eg to allow better DD construction, we will instead concentrate on areas which allow better capital ship construction. The reasoning behind that is, that smaller vessels take less time to build and thus it is less risky to build them in foreign yards. Capital ships take 3 years and it would be a serious blow to lose one of them to rising tensions, which could easily happen during 3 years in the current climate. The BC Tourville project is a great risk! Also, there are only two foreign nations capable of producing desireable capital ships. While about everyone including ourselves can provide us with acceptable DDs. Machinery - m - used on evey ship, but only limited tonnage on capital ships Armour - h - the most weight intensive part of capital ship construction Hull - h - used for every ship, heavier than machinery on capital ships Fire control - h - crucial for naval warfare Subdivision - h - the difference between a damaged ship and a lost ship Turrets - h - we need turrets on smaller than capital ships Ship design - h - we need to understand that new american armor concept AP projectiles - l - perhaps most surprising, but we are fine in this area, will be increased to m again Light forces - h - DDs grew a lot recently and a new cruiser design is needed as well Torpedoes - m - our torps are outdated, we will need something better for our new DDs Submarines - l - we are well behind, so it would take a lot to catch up, might as well skip it ASW - m - but we have to at least keep the enemy subs at bay Explosive shells - l - the era of HE spamming enemy superstructures is over Fleet tactics - m - we should keep up to date AAA - l - we seem to be the only one capable of bringing aircraft to naval battles so far Naval aviation, light - l - those airships are expensive, we just scrapped most of them Naval aviation, heavy - l - we need some operational experience before deciding on a course Shipboard aircraft ops - m - same as above Amphibious ops - l - we would have to work with the army on this. They might even get our funds! Naval guns - l - decision purely based on game mechanics, see below. If naval gun development worked like requesting fighters, we could specify what we want.As it is, it seems to randomly select if we get a bigger gun (which we do not need), or an improved existing gun caliber, also randomly selected. And we do not need most of those. I would want better 4,5,6 inch guns, or better 14,15,16 inch guns. But all those in between, no! So it is a gamble if we get improved guns, instead of bigger ones, and then it is another gamble if we get those calibers improved that would actuall help us!
Nah, every other research area provides at least some benefit for each researched level. I'd rather invest the money there and still have the chance to be offered better guns by other nations...
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Post by yemo on Jun 9, 2019 9:33:13 GMT -6
1920-01 Research agreement with the USA ends.1920-01 KE Ondite design study finished, 12 layed down, 600tons, 24knots, 2x4'' guns, minesweeping equipment 1920-01 DD Javeline design study finished, 10 layed down, 1300 tons, 33knots, 4x5'' guns, 2x3x18'' torps, 1920-02 The converted cruiser CVL Amiral Cecille enters service, we will provide it with 2 squadrons of 4 torpedo bombers each.1920-03 Some kerfuffle in the Balkans. And then some miscommunication. Germany, Britain and Austria are not amused. We are at the brink of war. 1920-03 Destroyer construction/refits trickle back to the fleet, those old 400 ton DDs with cramped accomodations can finally be retired. 1920-04 Amiral Charner is ordered to the Med to at least have something going 25 knots there. 1920-04 Our capital ship refits are completed and the modernized fleet returns to France.1920-04 With tensions this high and war imminent, the government finally allocates more funds to the navy. 1920-04 An American shipyard offers to build another Javeline class DD at 10% reduced price, we take the offer. 1920-04 The BC Tourville design study is finished. We first want to see if anything can be improved (It can't) and thus defer the build order.1920-04 Austria declares War!1920-04 Battle report!
After all that critique about the usability of the Amiral Charner in a modern war and the scrapping of her unfinished sister ship, Amiral Charner's captain sails straight to the Austrian coast after recieving news about the declaration of War... The Austrians were not expecting such a quick response, as until a week ago we only had BB Louis Napoleon and the ancient Dreadnoughts in the Med. Amiral Charner sank a freighter between Cattaro and Spalato, but had to keep her distance from the coast after spotting a 10inch battery. Continuing towards Spalato, another freighter was sunk. Having proven his point, Amiral Charner's captain gave the order to turn around before an enemy BC could ruin this day. At that very moment a lookout shouted "Contact! Enemy pre-Dreadnought sighted to the northwest!" What? Intelligence was certain that Austria does not have any Bs anymore. So it had to be a misidentification. Did we squander away this ship and crew for a foolish raid? Two freighters are a lousy trade, just to be helplessly blown away by an Austrian battlecruiser! A moment later, the lookout provided more information: "Heading due east towards Spalato, short hull!" Short hull? Of course, it has to be the BB Szent Istvan. With only 18000 tons, 20 knots and 2x2x11'' guns she is as much a dreadnought as our battlecruisers are battlecruisers. But wait, there is another ship with a rather short hull in the Austrian navy, the 7500 ton armored cruiser Donau... If it is the "BB" Szent Istvan, we can outrun her, if it is the CA Donau, we can certainly sink her. And why is she turning towards the port? She surely got the report about the sinking freighters and the spotting by the coastal battery with our description. The captain ordered flank speed due north, to get between them and Spalato, and to prepare for an emergency turn about! Three minutes later, another report from the lookout: "Enemy ship is altering course, now heading northeast." Northeast? They are running away and are trying to get into the minefield reported to be to the northwest of Spalato. It has to be the CA Donau! The captain's hunting instinct took over. Even coming under fire by another 10'' coastal battery right besides the intercept course could not stop the pursuit. A ferocious duel between our 10'' guns and the coastal 10'' guns ensued, with each scoring hits on the other while the Amiral Charner passed them at ~5000yards. The A turret then switched to the CA Donau, which was now properly identified and returned fire as well. At last Amiral Charner went out of range of the 10'' coastal guns. We were landing hits on the CA Donau, but we would not be able to catch her! We needed to slow her down! She made it into the suspected minefield and while the captain was eager to follow, the first officer drew the line. Thus Amiral Charner stayed out of the minefield, but turned and reduced speed to bring her full broadside into effect. "She slows down!" 3000 yards into the suspected minefield, CA Donau slowed to a crawl. We got her engines! Burning and now listing, she made it about another 1000 yards into the minefield before coming to a full stop, relentlessly being shot to pieces by Amiral Charner. As the sun was setting, the only Austrian cruiser slipped beneath the waves. Avoiding all further contact with the enemy, the lightly damaged Amiral Charner returned home to a heroes welcome! Austria declared war on us, but we struck the first blow. 1788 vs 194 VP gained, +1 prestige for us
It is May 1920, we are at war and once again difficult decisions have to be made. Do we scrap the old pre dreadnoughts as planned, now that our dreadnoughts are back in service?We could use them to blockade the Austrians, but would risk losing them in a battle if Austria decides to challenge us. We could keep them in the North Sea instead. B Duquesne could keep up with our battleline, but her short range does not allow her to reach the Med anymore, as she returned from the US too late to do so before the war. Anyway, the old pre-dreads cost a lot of upkeep. Austria has 89 fleet strength in the Med after losing CA Donau, and will complete another BB in 1921. We have to prevent them from invading our possessions in the Med, but we have to show the flag in the North Sea as well. And any partial deployments to the Med run the risk of being caught and overwhelmed by the faster Austrian BCs. And finally, what do we build?5817 monthly balance, another ~1900 if we scrap the old pre dreads as planned. Some construction finished in 8-10 months (CVLs, KEs, DDs). Laying down the BC Tourville would cost ~5100 per month. Perhaps plus some more super DDs? Or do we build masses of 1300ton super destroyers?3 of those + 1 new minesweeper could even satisfy foreign station requirements for less money than an existing 4800 ton CL. And they would not be inferior.
Under construction
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Post by dorn on Jun 9, 2019 11:33:31 GMT -6
I would scrap all pre-dreadnoughts you do not need to blockade A-H. You can mothball 1 or 2 as reserve in case your actual dreadnoughts need any repairs. And if you sink some of enemy ship I will consider to scrap some of your old pre-dreadnoughts.
I would consider actual destroyers under construction as reasonable number for this war. And as they are built quite quickly it is usual enough to start build them several months before war.
I would consider new battlecruiser as quite important as it will take several years to be ready. I expect you can with war with A-H relatively quick. New fleet cruiser could be built after war as you can have it ready in about 2 years.
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Post by aeson on Jun 9, 2019 12:48:08 GMT -6
I generally agree with dorn - scrap any of the predreadnoughts that are surplus to requirements (probably including Duquesne, even though you just rebuilt it, since its short range has trapped it in the Atlantic and you don't really need a heavy ship there), and get started on one or maybe two battlecruisers (though if you go for two I'd delay the second and let funds accumulate in the reserve for a while). Maybe put surplus funds towards a cheap destroyer escort or ASW corvette, or if you only lay down one battlecruiser towards a fast CL to operate with it.
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Post by yemo on Jun 9, 2019 17:39:05 GMT -6
1920-05 All pre dreadnoughts scrapped as our refitted fleet takes over their Med station. 1920-05 BC Tourville laid down in the US
1920-05 Remaining fleet gets their orders for war deployment. 1920-05 Battle Report! Reports of enemy ships around West Africa, 2 CLs investigate in the evening twilight, no contact
1920-05 Reports confirm the Austrian 25knot BC Tirol around West Africa, this allows us to blockade Austria in the Med 1920-06 Battle Report! Interception near Albania. Enemy DD intercepted by 3 of our Horizon class DDs The enemy fled, we pursued. Their 2 knot speed advantage and 3x5'' guns were far superior. We got shot to pieces despite landing some hits. Our undamaged DD shielded the retreat of our two heavily damaged DDs. A single enemy hit could wreck half of our DD, while our 3'' hits seemed to have no effect. We also had only broadside armament (2x3'' per side) in favor of centerline torpedo mounts. The press called it a victory because they fled, but if they had a second DD to our 3, none of our ships would have survived.
1920-06 Enemy task force around BC Tirol (with 3 DDs) spotted at Cape of Good Hope - targetting our eastern colonies or even our ally Japan? 1920-07 Our CL Bugeaud is damaged and was interned in a neutral port 1920-07 ASW Technology - Depth charges researched1920-07 Battle Report! Dalmation shore bombardment Our 3BBs, 2BCs, 1CA, 1CVL, accompanied by 2 of our modern 1100ton DDs, went on a shore bombardment mission near Cattaro. The 8 torpedo bombers from our CVL were overly zealous and launched a search pattern. Their reports indicated enemy forces as well as smaller vessels to the north. While our main fleet headed due north, the CA was sent out to blow up some KEs in the vicinity. We would have launched a strike against the single enemy capital ship, but unfortunately our torpedo bombers were still playing scouts... Thus the enemy managed to get into port at Cattaro before we could effectively engage them. Some idiot arranged for us to reach our bombardment target at dusk, so we waited out the night. During that time CA Amiral Charner and one of our DDs struck mines. Amiral Charner limped towards home, but the DD was lost. At dawn, we managed to destroy the bombardment target and then headed home as well, somehow avoiding and then sinking an enemy submarine.
Of the 8 torpedo bombers playing scout, 4 were lost mostly due to operational issues. We need more reliable planes with better trained pilots. Somehow that was worth 1 prestige and some VP. Now we only have 2 modern DDs left. At least the engagement provided ample crew training so that all cruisers and above surface ships in the Med have "good" crews again, after their refits.
1920-08 Dual purpose mounting of single 3 and 4 inch guns researched.1920-08 Battle Report! Cruiser action near Corsica - corrected enemy BC classes BC Eckmuhl and BC Austerlitz, accompanied by our CA, CVL, 2 modern DDs and one old Horizon class DD were on a routine patrol. At 0600, shortly before dawn, two enemy vessels were spotted about 2000 yards dead ahead to the south west! We immediately gave orders to turn away at flank speed, ordered a flotilla attack and readied the torpedo bombers. At 0609 the morning sun illuminated half a dozen enemy ships now about 5000 yards to the south! One 10x11'' gun (8x11'' gun broadside) Arpad class and one 2x3x11'' gun Kärnten class. Blows were traded and BC Eckmuhl recieved a heavy damaging hit to the hull from 10k yards. At 0623 our 8 torpedo bombers on CVL Amiral Cecille were instructed to strike against the enemy fleet. 0654, the gun duel between our two 2x3x14'' Austerlitz class BCs and the two enemy BCs rages on, while finally our first wave of 4 torpedo bombers takes off. 0655, a bright explosion followed by a massive shockwave errupts, as a turret was penetrated at around 16000 yards where there was an Arpad class battlecruiser a second before.
0947, after chasing the remaining enemy Kärnten class BC heading northeast for 3 hours, our detached CA finally identifies the large lone vessel which appeared to the southeast half an hour ago The enemy pseudo BB Szent Istvan! Her 2x2x11'' guns are not much to fear from a distance, but her 14'' belt armor is impenetrable to our CAs 10'' guns. And even our 14'' guns have a tough time against so much armor!
We can not catch up to the faster BC Kärnten, but we can certainly catch this pseudo dreadnought!
1410, the BB Szent Istvan has maneuvered herself into a corner at Corsica and has been shelled for well over 4 hours by our two BCs. She has finally come to a stop. 1417, for the first time in history, an escadrille of 3 torpedo bombers from our converted CVL Amiral Cecille scored a torpedo hit against the stationary BB Szent Istvan. 1434, a second strike escadrille scored another torpedo hit, also in clear weather conditions. 1445, the Austrian BB Szent Istvan sinks, her survivors are picked up by her escorting DD, which helped to prevent an earlier demise by screening her against our surface forces.
With only a merchant lost on our side and two enemy capital ships sunk, this has been a glorious victory! We did not even lose an aircraft! And some vindication for the criticised design choice of those 180 shell 14'' magazines aboard the Austerlitz class BCs, by former Chief of the Navy ninjapacman . BC Austerlitz fired 901 shells from her 2x3x14'' guns, BC Eckmuhl fired 858 shells, both their forward turrets were emptied. The glorious battle of Corsica yielded 6091 vs 409 VP, +2 prestige and two sunk enemy capital ships for us.
edit: Corrected the battle report. BC Kärnten is not an Arpad class, but is her own class. The Arpad class has 2x3 centerline guns + 2x2 wing turret 11'' guns, while Kärnten has only 2x3x11'' centerline turrets.
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Post by yemo on Jun 10, 2019 11:45:14 GMT -6
We somehow have naval guns 17/-1 available, I must have missed that. 1920-09 Hull construction - Slender hull girders researched 1920-09 Submarines - Improved Diving Gear researched1920-09 Austrian Navy declines battle near Albania 1920-09 Battle Report! Our cruiser force is again surprised at night by an enemy force west of Corsica. After a short exchange of gun fire, contact is lost as the enemy flees into the darkness. 1920-10 Battle Report! Enemy convoy raid around Malta. No contact was made and our convoy was unharmed. 1920-10 Our unrest level drops to one. 1920-11 Our new minesweepers ordered in the US give us valuable insight into US machinery development technology 1920-11 Study of enemy designs benefit our ship design research 1920-11 Battle Report! Enemy coastal raid near La Rochelle Two of our CLs made long range contact with an unidentified enemy BC and came under ineffective fire. Undamaged, they returned to port. The long winter night obscured further targets, only one merchant was unaccounted for. Although the damage has been minimal, the press called for a better protection of the French Atlantic coast.
1920-12 BB Louis Napoleon is ordered to protect the French Atlantic coast, as one Austrian BC is still in South East Asia, we hope Japan will deal with that. 1920-12 Nearly all of the 12 ordered 600ton minesweepers are delivered and are working up. 1920-12 The converted 12300ton CVL Gueydon is completed, she can now carry 15 aircraft. 1920-12 Machinery research complete - Reduction gears 1920-12 Subdivision and amage control research complete - High capacity pumps II 1920-12 Explosive shells research breakthrough - Base Fuzes 1920-12 Naval gun research - Improved 5 inch guns (5/+1)1920-12 Battle Report! Dalmatian coastal raid Our battlefleet conducted a coastal raid, but failed to make contact with enemy naval forces. Two enemy corvettes and one merchant were sunk. We could have achieved more if we would not have picked the evening and night for this raid, despite having superior forces!
1920-12 Intelligence reports that Austria is building even more 10'' gun batteries on their shores. 1920-12 One intelligence officer reports that they do not build any capital ships at the moment. Another intelligence officer reports that they still build BB Kaiser and BC Lissa. 1921-01 Light forces and torpedo warfare research breakthrough - Superimposed guns on DDs 1921-01 Torpedo technology research breakthrough - Wet heater engine1921-01 Battle Report! Some retard ordered our cruisers (1BC, 1CA, 2CVL) to sortie in the Adriatic Sea, while we know that the enemy still has 3 battlecruisers operational. Overcast weather prevented launching aircraft to at least spot what was most likey waiting for our fleet. When the Admiral woke up and realized the situation he was in, he ordered an immediate turn around at flank speed. Luckily that retard also arranged for us to approach the coast at nightfall, so the fleet was able to slip away without making contact. When the fleet felt safe enough and reduced speed, they spotted 3 large silhouettes behind them! Panic gripped the crews of our CVLs, evasive maneuvers were conducted and flotilla attacks were ordered. Lights flashed up on the pursuing large vessels. For a brief moment everyone expected incoming heavy gunfire. Those were signaling lights! And the 3 large vessels were our own dreadnoughts! They were asking why we went the wrong way, away from the enemy coast. No one had told the admiral on board our BC that our BBs would join the operation! And were even in front of the cruisers! What a colossal mess! Seriously, how am I expected to deal with that situation, especially on admirals mode? In the pre carrier RTW1 era that was ok-ish, but now? I get it, there are surprises and so on, but at least surprise me near my ports, instead of teleporting such a force close to their ports and then refuse to immediately give me control. There is no reason at all that this composition of ships should have been there, without me knowing that friendly BBs are in the vicinity, outside of my control. I could have lost every cruiser I have for reasons that do not make any sense at all. Not sure what is more devastating for the game experience, those battle compositions or the fantasy white peace deals Tortuga mentioned.
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