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Post by janxol on Nov 4, 2020 8:55:39 GMT -6
It might have been worthwhile building (or rebuilding in the future) the coastal battleships with their secondaries in shielded (2" armor single turrets) mounts to increase their effectiveness in rough seaways. I think there were a couple coastal ships that did that? Anyway I believe that does increase the chance they will be operable in rough seas, but I have no proof of it. You are correct that casemates are more affected by sea state. Additionally the Navarins have a low freeboard, which makes things significantly worse, as in rough seas deck and deck-mounted guns also tend to get wet. Moving the guns to shielded mounts could improve usability, while trading away protection, though wouldnt entirely prevent them from getting flooded, and fully enclosed turrets might be preffered to shield the gun-crews from elements*. Alternatively (if other coastal battleship designs were to be made) the height of casemates above water could be increased by raising the freeboard.
*Speaking from an RP standpoint, as while shielded vs enclosed has effect on splinter protection, I'm not sure it interacts differently with weather.
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Post by boomboomf22 on Nov 4, 2020 9:37:50 GMT -6
It might have been worthwhile building (or rebuilding in the future) the coastal battleships with their secondaries in shielded (2" armor single turrets) mounts to increase their effectiveness in rough seaways. I think there were a couple coastal ships that did that? Anyway I believe that does increase the chance they will be operable in rough seas, but I have no proof of it. I'm not sure its worth it to rebuild coastal battleships, I mean , they are already half obsolete. Personally I would rebuild some of the better pre dreads and send them in the far east or reserve them in foreign stations when the dreadnoughts become hot ****. Taking the secondaries into single turrets is not that expensive and as their armor is not awful it might be a worthwhile rebuild, esp just for far east coastal defense. Plus going down to 2" secbat armor would allow for more secondaries. It is a cost choice. Quick, cheap rebuild following this war, and it being 1902 that might make them more combat useful in the 2-3 years before dreads become a thing. At the very least there is probably gonna be a fire control rebuild between in universe now and then. The thing with Russia (in my experience) is that your far east fleet is really a secondary station, so you want ships that are just not **** enough to last the 6 months it takes for reinforcements to arrive, while being as cheap as possible. Hell, I've had good use of building 1 turret monitor style ships during the dreadnought era for that purpose. A First Class Battleship is just a little too maintenance heavy for that role in my opinion.
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Post by janxol on Nov 6, 2020 10:25:42 GMT -6
Fury of the humble-home
7:00, March 16th, 1902, Indian Ocean, Armored cruiser Bogatyr Mikhail sighed, looking over the map portraying in detail the area around Sakhalin and Hokkaido. His thoughts slowly drifted away from the Japanese invasion, as it was harder and harder for him to focus. As the ship pitched up, climbing a wave, he grabbed a pencil threatening to fall off the table, noting that the pitch was actually quite significant. "General-admiral. The latest messages from St. Petersburg have been decoded, sir.", reported Eugeni, as he entered the flag room. The communications wasn't ideal. Through the use of wired and wireless telegraphy most important encrypted messages reached the fleet, but Mikhail couldn't wait until reaching Port Arthur. Though even then, telegraphy couldn't substitute for direct interaction with the admiralty or Engineering Committee he had back at St. Petersburg. It was nature of communications of the time, that he had to give up some of his strategic control to gain more direct involvement in the war. "Thank you, lieutenant. I will take a look at them in a moment. I think I need some fresh air.", responded Mikhail. As he exited the flag room and entered the bridge, he immediately changed his mind, however, noting that the fresh air outside was equally air and water, with thick rain pouring down from the skies. He was surprised to realize that he was unconsciously blocking the undeniable noise of water and wind hitting the ship's superstructure, as she made her way through quite massive waves. That would also explain why the ship's pitch seemed so great before. "Good morning, admiral. Flag Lieutenant.", said the ship's captain, turning towards Mikhail and Eugeni. "Wonderful weather we're having today." The man seemed to be roughly Mikhail's age, with a marvelous moustache and a polite smile on his face. He was drinking coffee from a rather sizeable mug, taking his time to drink when the ship was climbing a wave, and then securely holding the mug in both hands as it was descending, somehow maintaining his balance using nothing but his own legs. Mikhail looked through the windows, watching as the sea raged around. A massive plume of water coming over the ship's bow and washing over the foredeck. And yet despite all this Mikhail felt peaceful. On land, his mind raced, often straying into directions Mikhail would rather not go, but being at sea calmed him down, even if the sea itself was far from calm. And then Mikhail remembered there's an entire fleet with many smaller ships around them, and turned towards the captain, somewhat alarmed. "Are the destroyers doing fine in this weather?", he asked. "Well... Fine, as in they're not really in danger of capsizing. They're far from being dry though. The crews are definitely enjoying the weather, so to speak..." Mikhail nodded. "Well, since I'm not getting fresh air, I might as well read those reports now..."
The reports were a mixture of good news, and not-good news. Engineering Committee reported a breakthrough in machinery development with a new safety valve. There were also minor delays with ship construction as steel industries struggled to supply steel for both the navy and the army for their increased wartime needs. Another report from the Engineering Committee stating that navies of Germany and USA were experimenting with various types of submersible torpedo boats. Mikhail of course knew about the concept of the submarine, and he has sanctioned Engineering Committee to conduct their own tests of a submersible boat equipped with a pressure hull, performed in an enclosed basin. He simply thought that it would be years before technology would be made available for these boats to be of any real use. Apparently he was wrong. One report was particularly concerning. Germany has apparently decided the time has come to develop their own navy and started a construction program with no less than NINE new battleships, each of 14 000 tons. Nothing else was known about the ships. This attempt to rival the Royal Navy was definitely a concern to Russia, as it was also calling for further expansion of the battlefleet to account for the new German capital ships. This was problematic, not least because of lack of funds, but also lack of slipways. In theory, with increased wartime funding the navy should be able to afford another pair of battleships similar to the Pobeda-class, if there was a slipway large enough for it. It could take as much as 10 months for the slipways to become available, which left one option, one that made Mikhail's blood freeze in his veins - French shipbuilders. In any case, without being in St. Petersburg Mikhail would have a fairly limited say in development of this design. One was certain - it would have to be a "traditional" battleship. Configuration of the Poltava-class and its intermediate battery was to be kept a secret from foreign navies for as long as was possible, and as such any ship that would follow its philosophy was not to be ordered from foreign yards.
6:23, March 29th, 1902, Yellow Sea, Armored cruiser Rossiya Andrei was looking up at the clear sky, just as a thunder rolled over. The thinder didn't come from the sky, however, but from the sea, and it was the sound of 12-inch guns firing their ranging shots. The admiral turned his gaze to the east, towards Japanese warships, to admire Russian inaccuracy, before turning to the ship's captain. "We should be almost seeing the shore, right? "Yes, admiral. " Well then, the Japanese were really insistent to put the Russian battleships out of service. So insistent that they've tried again what failed the first time, and chose to meet their opponents at the shore of Liatoung Peninsula, right at the doorstep of Port Arthur. Tri Svyatitelya was leading the line of six warships, followed by Tsesarevitch, Pervenets, Retvizan and Navarin and with Rossiya trailing behind the battleships. The fleet scout, Flora, was sailing even further behind, exchanging fire with a Japanese protected cruiser. The main force of the Japanese consisted of at least five armored cruisers and five battleships. As both fleets were moving north-west towards Port Arthur, Andrei run through the plans he laid in advance, picking the ones that seemed viable in current situation. And he did spend a lot of time preparing for another Japanese attack. Where they failed once, he was now prepared to make them fail again. Importantly, weather was at his side. The skies were clear and there was absolutely no wind, with the sea surface almost as flat as a mirror, making lives a lot easier for the gunners and for crews of low-freeboard coastal ships. With Russian ships moving at 16 knots, the Japanese were gradually catching up, and more and more shells were flying through the air as range decreased. Now at 6 000 yards, the Japanese battleline was running parallel with the Russian warships. Andrei looked at them and thought something was off, though he couldn't quite realize what. Several hits were scored on Japanese warships, several hits were received by the Russians, as gunners on both sides found their range. And while this all was going on, Andrei was leading the Japanese to the Port Arthur coastal batteries. But as they approached Laopian Island, the Japanese battleships turned away, refusing to follow. And Andrei could respect that, they wouldn't be ambushed twice by the same - immobile - battery. Realizing that this plan went out the window, Yablokov ordered his ships to turn north-east and move along the coast matching the direction of Japanese battleline. And hits were being scored in surprising abundance, as calm sea made aiming significantly easier. As the battlelines closed distance, destroyers from both sides moved forward into space between them, exchanged shots and turned back again, failing to find an opening for an attack. A similar event happened shortly after, but this time the Japanese destroyers got closer and by Andrei's order all ships turned together, moving away from them to give their own screening destroyers time to push them back before reforming the line. Andrei spotted a few shells hitting Tri Svyatitelya and bouncing off due to the sheer absurdity of the angle at which the hull rose from the water. Due to lack of wind smoke from ship funnels and guns wasn't being cleared and the battlefield was soon engulfed, reducing the visibility. At this moment Andrei ordered a very specific set of signals: Destroyers, smoke, charge. It was one of the plans he made in advance, and talked it over with ship commanders. At this command, the destroyers moved away, hiding behind the battleships as they made their way to the front of the formation, largely obscured by battleship's funnel smoke in addition to smoke that was lingering in the area. And then they turned towards the Japanese, rapidly closing the distance. Before the Japanese destroyers could spot what's happening, the Russians were ditching torpedoes into the water. The Japanese battleships turned away to avoid, but still one torpedo found its mark and an underwater explosion shook the second battleship of the line. It was certainly good news, but now the destroyers were taking heavy fire from secondary and tertiary batteries in addition to Japanese destroyers, as they made their way back. At this point Andrei was contemplating ordering the battleline to turn towards the enemy, hoping to both assist the destroyer escape and to try to inflict further damage to the torpedoed battleship. Ultimately he ruled against it, taking into account proximity to enemy destroyers and the fact that the battleship in question seemed to largely ignore the torpedo hit, barely even slowing down. An unlucky hit. Andrei then turned his gaze to the Japanese armored cruisers, following about 4 000 yards behind the battleships. "Less than half ammo, admiral", reported the ship's captain. As he analyzed the situation a hit on Rossiya's hull prompted him to turn his gaze towards the battleships to try to assess their damage status. And that's when multiple things happened in rapid succession. The first one was Pervenets, which began to rapidly loose speed, eventually turning away from the battleline and signaling machinery damage. What actually happened was one of the hits causing salt water to enter feed tanks. And just a few second later the ship directly ahead of Rossiya, the Navarin, was hit in the aft superstructure, which started a decently sized fire on the deck. As this ship too chose to turn away due to battle damage, the Japanese warships turned to close distance, smelling blood, realizing the Russian destroyers expended most of their torpedoes and clearly intending to capitalize on the situation. Meanwhile, aboard the Tri Svyatitelya - which was doing rather well as far as damage was concerned - the captain decided it's time to make his own choices. As the two damaged ships turned away from the Japanese, the humble-home turned directly towards the enemy. "Hard to starboard, ahead flank! Signal form line on me!", ordered Andrei as he realized what's about to happen. Captain of the Tri Svyatitelya decided to buy time for the damaged vessels and formations of both friendly and enemy ships were about to become chaos. Andrei would very much prefer for his chaos to be slightly better organized than the enemy's. And with that order Rossiya also turned towards the Japanese battleships. Other Russian ships had every right to be confused and indeed they were. Ultimately, however, the two remaining battleships realized what the orders are and turned to follow Rossiya, which now slowed down to 18 knots to allow slower ships to maintain distance. Even Navarin, having made a 270-degree turn decided to follow, despite still being on fire - that was apparently ruled a secondary issue. Meanwhile, the Japanese battleships have realized that Tri Svyatitelya is - in fact - not continuing to turn and instead heading straight for them. Somewhat baffled by this realization they elected to turn - and each ship turned in a different direction, and so the chaos has ensued. As Rossiya turned enough that the Japanese battleships were now to port rather than starboard, the turrets were ordered to traverse. "Belay that! Fire on the cruisers!", ordered Andrei, pointing at the ships visible to starboard. The Japanese cruisers were still moving in a formation, while the battleships were for the time being turning in circles as they were approached by the humble-home. This meant that for the time being Andrei elected to focus on the cruisers to prevent them from coming to aid the battleships. The destroyers from both sides were now joining in, making things even more messy. Meanwhile, Pervenets was making its way towards nearby Dalny at a speed of about 8 knots - the fight was over for her. Tri Svyatitelya found itself in a peculiar position where she had Japanese battleships on port, starboard and in front of her, which the captain commented with a "Good, now they cannot escape us.". As such, the ship was capable of firing the secondary battery on both sides with a chance of hitting the enemy, and it was doing so. The Japanese retaliated in kind, focusing the firepower of their 10-inch and 7-inch guns on the humble-home. And yet, despite the close range the ship - covered bow to stern by 9-inch thick belt - was largely unconvinced by these arguments. She didn't turn, she didn't slow down, she didn't stop firing. There was only the thundering of her heavy casemates, rolling over the sea like a laughter borne of the cursed union of Russian spirit and French engineering: хон хон хон. And as the Tri Svyatitelya continued her rampage, the rest of the fleet - with Navarin still on fire - shelled the Japanese cruisers, scoring several hits and forcing them to turn away, while the Russian destroyers engaged their Japanese counterparts. While neither ships were particularly good firing platform, the Russian destroyers had an advantage in firepower. Andrei then ordered a turn to put Japanese battleships at starboard again, which not only enabled the ships to fire upon them without traversing the main battery, it also put the fleet on a good course to easily disengage and head for Port Arthur. The humble-home was now paying the price for its charge. The aft turret was jammed - that didn't matter. The forward turret was also jammed - that also didn't matter, as the ship's 13-inch battery was yet to score a single hit in this war and clearly this wasn't the day. The effective portion of ship's firepower lied in the ship's 7-inch casemates, and as long as they were functioning, the 13-inch guns didn't matter. At this point the Tri Svyatitelya was developing a significant list to port, as while the armor was thick and covered the entire length, the belt was also narrow and the ship received several hits below belt edge. And even then, at the current range - which was about 500 yards, even armor this thick and even combined with the ridiculous angle of the hull couldn't stop the shells. At this knife-fighting range both the Tri Svyatitelya and the Japanese ships were launching torpedoes, but failed to score any hits. Realizing that his vessel is slowly being gutted and that the ships he was trying to save with this charge are safe, the captain of the humble home ordered a retreat. Andrei watched the Tri Svyatitelya turned away from Japanese warships, and as she did so she developed a roll so ridiculous the admiral was sure she was capsizing. She didn't, but still it was clear that there is flooding aboard. Seeing how the term "reserve buoyancy" was foreign to whomever designed the hull of the bloody thing, a "bad" flooding had a high potential of becoming "disastrous". The Japanese were regrouping, heading east and clearly intending to disengage. With his own ships in less than pristine condition and ammo almost depleted, Andrei was happy to let them do so and focus on getting back to port. They were not out of the woods yet. Tri Svyatitelya was listing heavily and she was definitely lower in the water than the design intended her to be. Navarin's fire was still burning, though it appeared that the crew have it under control at this point. Pervenets was no longer within sight, but Andrei hoped they got to Dalny without much issue. As the ships were approaching Port Arthur, the fire on Navarin was finally extinguished. Turning into the harbor, Tri Svyatitelya rolled by at least 20 degrees to port. Faced with a situation in which the ship threatened to roll over like a dog expecting belly rubs at the slightest touch of the helm, the crew of the humble-home opted for the simplest solution - not touch the helm at all. Rather than even attempt to maneuver towards the wharf, the ship headed straight for the shore, promptly beaching itself on the shallows. It was a decision Andrei could understand, as sitting on solid ground most definitely prevented sinking any deeper. Andrei looked at the beached humble-home with a somewhat puzzled and amused look, as the ship raised a set of signaling flags. "Minor damage".
One Russian destroyer, Zavidni, failed to return to port. It was severely damaged by the fire of Japanese secondary batteries and sunk despite the best attempts from the crew. Russian ships managed to rescue all survivors shortly after the battle. The Japanese also lost one destroyer, which fell prey to Russian defensive fire during an attempted torpedo run. 41 Japanese sailors were rescued by Russian warships and taken into custody. Destroyer Gremyashchi was credited with the torpedo hit on Japanese battleship. Unfortunately all Japanese capital ships managed to remain afloat through tremendous efforts of their crews.
Well that... Could've been better. Could've been worse too.
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Post by garrisonchisholm on Nov 6, 2020 10:36:56 GMT -6
I love the thought that as the ship pushed itself whale-like onto the shoals its captain had had someone standing by with a flag hoist.
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Post by janxol on Nov 6, 2020 15:39:48 GMT -6
I love the thought that as the ship pushed itself whale-like onto the shoals its captain had had someone standing by with a flag hoist. Aaaaaand now I'm imagining the ship making whale noises. I thought it can't get anymore derpy at this point, but clearly it still has hidden potential.
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Post by boomboomf22 on Nov 7, 2020 0:02:21 GMT -6
Didn't technically sink, so only minor damage. You got really unlucky on that torpedo hit, as often one will suffice to sink a predread.
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Post by akosjaccik on Nov 11, 2020 9:39:07 GMT -6
See, I always said she's much more of a rumble-home than a fumble-home! Surrounding one's self with enemies in nigh every directions in order to increase hit rate is a very neat trick however, I'll need to make a note of that.
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Post by janxol on Nov 14, 2020 7:25:33 GMT -6
Bayans in the night
April saw little action in the North-East Asia. Despite two of his battleships undergoing repair, Andrei did his best to be a thorn in Japanese side and waste as much of their time as possible. And the Japanese did feel that they're running out of time. Still, due to a combination of bad weather and darkness falling shortly after contact, no real engagement took place. On Sakhalin Japanese did their best to break Russian defensive lines, with little success. News from St. Petersburg involved an introduction of a new 2-meter rangefinder and gaining access to blueprints of the American-built armored cruiser Charlotte of the Memphis-class currently under construction. None of these news had immediate impact on war with Japan, and no impact on the balance of power. Then everything changed, when the Baltic Fleet arrived in May.
15:00, May 3rd, 1902, Port Arthur, Admiral Yablokov's office Mikhail entered the office, followed closely by Dmitri. "Hello, Andrei. That's an awfully ugly whale that got beached at your shore...", he said. "What took you so long? Decided to find the longest naval route from Europe to Asia? What kept you? Got lost in a storm? Had to swing by Hawaii to visit the females? Re-discovered America? As much as circumnavigating the world is a personal achievement, I would advise not doing it in wartime!", responded Andrei, barely looking up from a report he was reading. "And that whale was the only "warship" you were kind enough to send me before the war started. We need to have a good talk about the composition of the Pacific Squadron." "It's good to see you too, Andrei.", said Mikhail, smirking. "Yeah, yeah. Hello Dmitri, how are your new cruisers? Can I borrow one?" All three of them smiled, then Andrei put down the report, got up and shook their hands. "What's the plan now, general-admiral?", he asked. "We have the advantage, we can probably blockade most Japanese ports. I would say the first order of business should be severing the supply lines between Sakhalin and Hokkaido, force the surrender of the invasion force. Oh, also... I'm afraid I have to commend the beached whale and its captain for their performance. So unless you can schedule a large engagement and find an even more heroic crew, I'm afraid you will have to stare at the ugly duckling as it flies the flag of honors when the war is over." "We'll do the briefing on the strategic objectives in about two hours, admiral. Yevtushenkov is eager to set fire to Hokkaido as soon as he can get coal onto the ships, so we'll be setting off relatively soon as well. If the Japanese won't meet us in battle we'll blockade them, cut their supply for the invasion force and establish our own supply line directly to Korsakov, the route should be safe if the ships are under escort. I also wish to catch the Japanese cruisers raiding our lines. If the blockade can prevent them from going back home when their endurance ends, we may not even need to fight them." "Very well. There's a matter demanding my personal attention before that briefing of yours, so I will take my leave now.", said Andrei. "Of course. Dmitri, would you stay for a moment, I have to talk to you in private.", responded Mikhail. As Andrei left, Dmitri raised an eyebrow and closed the door, leaving only the two of them in the room. "I have relayed to you certain messages from St. Petersburg. I would appreciate your input on the matters involved. Unfortunately being boarded on separate vessels meant I couldn't discuss these matters with you until now.", said Mikhail. Dmitri nodded, looking at him attentively. "Of course. I will take a look at them as soon as I can... But I doubt that's why you wanted to talk in private..." "There is one other thing.", started Mikhail. "As general-admiral of the fleet... I am the senior officer and ultimately command in battle falls to me... And as you may probably realize, having been promoted from captain and skipping several ranks I have also skipped vital experience and skills... I have never commanded more than my own ship, that being a protected cruiser. I do not feel confidence to lead so many souls in face of my lack of knowledge, my... Lack of experience... As such I would appreciate any advice on tactical level..." Dmitri chuckled. "You need not worry, Mikhail. I can tell you with confidence that you have every skill required to command a fleet. As for experience... There is only one way to gain it..."
With Japanese Navy doing their best to avoid engaging the Baltic Fleet, the Russian vessels moved to blockade major Japanese ports and cut off supply lines between Hokkaido and Sakhalin. Simultaneously, a shipping line was established between Vladivostok and Korsakov on Sakhalin. While demanding an escort, the ships were delivering vital supplies to the defending Russian forces, which were greatly improving their ability to fight the Japanese troops. Russian warships were also chasing Japanese raiders and preventing them from both attacking cargo ships and from going back to port due to the blockade. As a result of these actions armored cruisers Nisshin and Azumo were forced to scuttle, while armored cruiser Furutaka entered the German port of Tsingtau and was interned. Mikhail exchanged more messages with Artem in St. Petersburg. At the Lieutenant-Colonel's request he approved the procurement of four submersible torpedo boats from an American shipbuilder for evaluation. Due to the novelty of these vessels, their sale wasn't explicitly limited by American weapons trade laws, which in current situation prevented the sale of warships to both Russia and Japan to maintain American neutrality. Another good news received from St. Petersburg was that due to expansion of the admiralty shipyard and private investment in shipbuilding industry, there were actually two slipways available that were large enough to accommodate a rather sizeable battleship. In fact, they could potentially be larger than the Poltava-class if the dimensions are chosen appropriately. Thinking of the best way to use this knowledge Mikhail realized that there is no way to match the German battleship program in quantity. As such, after much talk with Dmitri, he decided the only other option is to build fewer, larger battleships, and to enable them to fight several opponents at once, they would have to follow the philosophy of a heavy intermediate battery. And so, despite the idea being untested in practice, Mikhail opted to trust the theorists and his own logic, which was largely in agreement with said theorists, and order Artem to come up with preliminary designs of a warship based on the Poltava configuration. Unfortunately being in Port Arthur he wouldn't get the chance to actually take a look at said designs and choose one, and so this will have to be a decision of the admiralty members who remained in St. Petersburg and Artem. As such Mikhail opted to do his best to specify very precise design requirements which could still be "safely" relayed via an encrypted telegraph message. On May 15th a message reached Mikhail that a plan was conceived to divert funding from the navy towards the army to ensure that the Japanese invasion force is dealt with swiftly and that the Tsar was asking for his advice on this matter. Mikhail strongly advocated against it, arguing that only the navy can win this war and that surrender of the Japanese invasion force is only a matter of time due to lack of supply. His advice was heeded and navy coffers were spared. Mikhail was also right and on May 26th the Sakhalin invasion force surrendered to the Russians, finally giving in after a lengthy bombardment from land and sea. As the month passed Mikhail had to admit this war was substantially more boring than the last one he was in. Admittedly he had a lot more to deal with now, but as far as action was concerned, there was almost no action. Several times Russian intelligence discovered a Japanese plan to break a blockade and each time Mikhail sailed to meet his foe. And each time the enemy declined to meet him in battle. Admittedly Japan couldn't hope to match the Baltic Fleet, at least as far as numbers were concerned, so their decision was founded. Even so, the only engagements seemed to be between raiders and Russian cruisers escorting cargo ships. The Japanese were hurriedly arming merchant ships to hope to overcome this setback, but still the war was going very much in favor of Russia. Eventually, the Japanese decided they couldn't sit idly under the blockade and with Yevtushenkov occasionally bombarding one of the naval bases. Russian intelligence alerted the fleet to a Japanese task force that was meant to attack shipping in the vicinity of Vladivostok.
18:50, July 9th, 1902, Sea of Japan - Zaliv Petra Velikogo, Armored cruiser Bogatyr "There you are...", muttered Mikhail as he looked through the binoculars at the Japanese vessel visible in the distance. "Battlestations, captain. Let's not let them get away. Show me this legendary speed of the Bayans." "Yes, sir.", answered captain Cherkashin, stroking his beard. During the last few months on the Bogatyr Mikhail got to know the captain, Iosif Leonidovitch Cherkashin, and came to trust in his tactical skill. Surprisingly, the captain was only twenty-eight, but his glorious beard made him look older and indeed it sparked in Mikhail an idea to develop his own facial hair in an attempt to look the age appropriate for someone of his position. Additionally, Mikhail respected Iosif's knowledge of the ship, as he was the first officer on the Bayan, and he was later promoted to take command of Bogatyr upon ship's completion. Mikhail looked towards the stern of the ship, hoping to see the rest of the formation, but unfortunately Bayan was not currently visible from the flying bridge, obscured by the ship itself. Ultimately it didn't matter, as Mikhail knew very well where all of his ships are. Bogatyr was followed by her sister ships, Bayan and Oleg, escorted by protected cruisers Diana, Avrora and Pallada of the Avrora-class and twelve destroyers. Additionally Mikhail had at his disposal protected cruisers Varyag, Vladimir and Velikii Knyaz Konstantin of the larger Varyag-class, acting as fleet scouts, each accompanied by two destroyers. As the entire formation was advancing at 23 knots, the Japanese turned in an attempt to run. But they couldn't outrun the Russian vessels and they would soon realize they are facing the Bayans - ships that they can neither outgun nor outrun. The one concern was ending daylight. The Japanese planned it well, to strike while they still have some light and escape under cover of darkness. But getting intercepted like this forced a change of plans. Mikhail doubted they would run once the night falls. They would seek to sink merchant ships in the darkness, having been unable to do so before nightfall. The Japanese now realized they cannot outrun the Russian vessels and their formation turned to the west, forming up for battle. Mikhail immediately ordered a slight change in course, using the superior speed of the Bayans to force them towards a slightly more south-western direction. This would not only drive the Japanese further from Russian shipping, but also make sure that Russian funnel smoke would be blown clear. Soon the Bogatyr fired the first shots from her forward turret and - as was traditional of Russian gunnery - they landed nowhere near the intended target. "That was just a warning shot, sir. I swear...", muttered Cherkashin, causing Mikhail to smirk. As the range closed the amount of shells flying through the air increased as smaller caliber guns came to life. Mikhail glanced over the Japanese force, coming to the conclusion that of the six ships he could see, four were armored cruisers and two were protected cruisers. Interestingly he could only see two Japanese destroyers which brought a question to his mind. Did they sortie with only two destroyers or did they send them somewhere else? As the engagement continued Mikhail decided in absence of Japanese destroyers to close the distance in hopes of scoring some meaningful hits before the sun sets. And at this point it was already getting dark and it was clear that the Japanese are preparing to disengage as soon as darkness falls. And despite a few 10-inch hits scored by the Bayan no significant damage was made and the Japanese force soon slipped into the night. Mikhail pursued but after a few moments it was clear that contact was lost. "Order, sir?", asked Cherkashin after a few long moments of silence. "Are we heading back?" "No.", responded Mikhail. "They won't go home so soon. We're going to hunt them through the night... Give me maximum sustainable speed, and be very careful to avoid friendly fire in the dark." As Eugeni - acting as flag lieutenant aboard - started relaying the flag signals, the captain ordered a speed of 20 knots and turned towards Mikhail. They exchanged gazes, both aware of particular flaw of the Bayans that played to their disadvantage here. The ships were famous for their high speed, but there was one more thing about nobody would ever mention aloud, not when boasting about their prized ship - the Bayans had a turning radius half the size of Siberia. The crews have somewhat managed to work around the issue, as long as the ships weren't at top speed, by applying uneven power to port and starboard shafts. Unfortunately the triple expansion engine of that size had immense amounts of inertia, which made such a maneuver somewhat problematic in combat. In the darkness, with visibility of 3 000 yards at best, the turning radius became a more important factor than it usually would be. "Advice on maneuvering, Iosif?", he asked the captain. "As long as we remain at 20 knots we can assist the turn by going flank on one side and then accelerating all four shafts post-turn. If we go to flank before the turn, there's nothing that can be done by the shafts, too much inertia to slow the screws in time.", he said. "If torpedoes are a concern, I recommend maintaining 20 knots and accelerating after a turn, and slowing down to 20 knots if combat allows." "Make it so. Are the crews of Bayan and Oleg familiar with the procedure?" "It's not formally a procedure, sir. It's just something the crew came up with after almost ramming a friendly cruiser at sea trials. As such the Bayan's captain is very much aware, as he pioneered the maneuver. I believe Oleg's captain is also familiar with the ship's quirks, but I cannot guarantee it.", said Cherkashin. "If it works, it should be a procedure... We'll need to look into that...", responded Mikhail. The ships continued moving through the darkness, but it wasn't until about twenty minutes later that a ship was spotted. The guns were traversed, but no order to fire was given, as everyone struggled to identify the faintly visible silhouette. Ultimately it turned out it was the Varyag, and luckily a friendly fire incident could be avoided. As Varyag was joining her Avrora-class brethren in formation, Mikhail went inside the superstructure, to the navigator's station to take a look at the maps. After a brief talk with the navigator about their position with respect to Vladivostok, Mikhail ordered a change in course and went back to bridge wing. The ships were now heading north-west. Finding anything in the night was not an easy task, especially Japanese warships actively trying to hide. And yet, Mikhail was determined not to let them get away. "Sir, we've received wireless message from patrol ship Kamchatka. They report they've spotted Japanese torpedo boats.", reported the radioman assistant, coming onto the bridge wing. Mikhail turned to look at him. "Are they sure?", he asked. "No, sir." "Fair enough. Captain, plot an intercept course to Kamchatka's position." The ships turned once again. And soon, another ship was spotted off to port. Mikhail looked at the silhouette in the darkness, remembering that there are still two protected cruisers, four destroyers and at least one patrol boat unaccounted for, and he would very much prefer to avoid friendly fire incidents. But the more he was looking at the ship, the more it appeared to be a small cruiser, not even similar to the Varyag-class. With this conclusion, Bogatyr opened fire. The Japanese ships soon responded, and with it another one, until now invisible in the darkness. As the muzzle flashes illuminated the water, it became clear that the entire Japanese cruiser force has been found. That didn't mean, however, that all Japanese ships are visible, and as in the darkness maintaining formation could prove difficult, this fight could quickly turn very chaotic. Especially at this range both sides were conducting random changes in course to avoid being hit by torpedoes. Several times contact was briefly lost, only to be reestablished several minutes later at a slightly different angle. "Destroyer, ahead!", yelled the lookout, immediately prompting Mikhail to look towards the bow. And there it was, merely six hundred yards away, a Japanese destroyer emerging from the darkness, and crossing starboard to port just in front of Bogatyr. "Ahead flank, rudder amidships! Brace for collision!", ordered Cherkashin. The Japanese were too surprised by this sudden meeting in the dark to fire torpedoes in time. In a collision between a 15 000 ton armored cruiser and a 500 ton glorified canoe there could be only one victor, and indeed even the impact was significantly less than what Mikhail came to expect by his experiences on the Avrora. At the same time, Bogatyr was almost three times larger. As the ship smashed into the destroyer's rear section, the Japanese ship was literally torn in two, and as the wreckage was being passed it received several hits by Bogatyr's and Bayan's 3-inch guns, just in case. Not that the crew would be able to fire off any torpedoes with how quickly the ship was sinking. "Torpedoes ahead!" Mikhail once again turned towards the bow. He saw the stern of the second Japanese destroyer, running away into the darkness, and two white trails visible on the water, both coming towards Bogatyr. Even if the ship had a respectable turn radius, it was far too late to maneuver. The first torpedo missed, passing just in front of the bow and swimming off to port. The second torpedo hit the starboard side of the hull, about six meters from the bow. The explosion rocked the ship, though it wasn't particularly violent due to small size of the torpedo and large size of the ship. The flooding, however, was a concern regardless. "Hard to starboard! Full stop on starboard shafts, get me damage control on it!", commanded the captain, before turning towards Mikhail. "Admiral, for the safety of the ship I must focus on damage control. Due to risk of progressive flooding I do not recommend remaining in the line of battle." "Acknowledged. Signal the Bayan to take the lead, update me on the damage situation.", responded Mikhail.
Armored cruiser Bayan "Sir, Bogatyr was hit by a torpedo. She's turning away, signaling for us to take over" Dmitri glanced towards the ship in front, before turning his gaze back to the Japanese. "Signal form line on me. Change course twenty degrees to port.", he ordered. "Where did the torpedoes come from? Did the sinking boat fire them?" "Unlikely. There had to be a second one in front.", responded the ship's captain. Bayan turned slightly towards the Japanese, followed by the rest of the ships. Meanwhile Bogatyr turned away, escorted by Avrora, and started moving parallel to the rest of the fleet at reduced speed. At this point both the Russian and Japanese ships were firing as rapidly as possible, though one could argue if it was increasing the amount of hits that much. The contact was lost, regained, lost, then regained again, and each time the guns thundered on both sides.
Protected cruiser Varyag They lost sight of the formation. Brilliant. The captain could only continue straight on and wait to see the muzzle flashes that would show him where the rest of the force is. And indeed in a few minutes he saw the majestic fire of the 10-inch barrels of the Bayans. And in their faint light he saw something else - a Japanese cruiser directly in front of him, and heading straight for them. "Fire forward torpedo, hard to starboard!", he ordered immediately, hoping to avoid a collision. The Japanese captain was clearly equally surprised by this meeting, and the Japanese ship also started turning to avoid the Russian cruiser. As they did so, Varyag fired both of her port tubes, and similarly, the Japanese fired their port tube. Three white trails were visible in the water. And all three looked like they were on target. Varyag's captain looked at the approaching torpedo, his face completely pale. It was going to be close! Armored cruiser Bogatyr Mikhail watched as Bayan and Oleg exchanged fire with the Japanese. Bogatyr was following on parallel course, but it was quickly falling behind due to reduced speed. The captain was focused on damage control, which meant he was inside the superstructure, yelling into the voice pipes on the bridge. And then a massive ball of light illuminated the battlefield, an incredibly loud noise striking at Mikhail's eardrums. And about six thousend yards away he saw a massive ball of fire, and in it a protected cruiser, raised from the water by the force of the explosion. "Theirs or ours?!", asked Mikhail, feeling somewhat blinded by this sudden flash in the middle of the night. "Looks like theirs!", responded one of the officers. Mikhail was hoping that was the case. He thought for a second he could see the Varyag illuminated by the flash of that detonation and hurriedly sailing towards the rest of the formation. "Admiral, the flooding is under control. Damage proved to be minor, the ship is battle-ready. Be advised that extended high-speed steaming may compromise the integrity of the bulkhead.", reported Cherkashin, coming back onto the bridge wing. "Good. Rejoin the formation." Bogatyr rejoined the rest of the armored cruisers and at an opportune moment in the engagement the line reversed direction so that Bogatyr is once again put in the lead. This dance with the Japanese continued for many hours - contact lost, contact gained. Until at one point contact was not regained. As the sun started to raise in the east and cast its light onto the Russian ships and their damage, no Japanese vessel was in sight. The engagement was clearly over, and Mikhail ordered a return to port.
That took me a while to write. Seems the tide of the war has turned immediately.
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Post by janxol on Nov 16, 2020 16:25:04 GMT -6
Koshkin's war - part 1
He hated these parties. As Mikhail wandered through the garden, he took exceptional care to navigate between guests. Smiling at everyone like a polite idiot, he suffered. He craved intellectual stimulation. He craved a meaningful conversation, which he knew he would not find here. Not with these people, focused on their lineages, distant relatives and family histories. Time and again, Mikhail ventured into the garden in search of anything even mildly interesting to hear about, to talk about... But no. He was surrounded by snobs, half of them living fossils to boot. And so once again, he found himself by the stairs leading up to terrace overlooking the garden. "Why do we exist? Just to suffer?", he said, taking a sip of champagne from the glass he was carrying with him all the time. "Oh, you're back so soon, Misha?", responded a feminine voice. "Your ventures seem to be growing shorter each time." "That's because each time I meet a new group of people who I then know to avoid in the next attempt. And so I find myself back here. Congratulations, Katya. Once more you prove to be the least un-interesting person in the immediate vicinity.", he said with a smirk, turning to his interlocutor. She was standing next to the stairs, on the opposite side from Mikhail. Her chestnut hair waving in the passing gust of wind, her smile, her green eyes, he had missed all of it. "Well, I happen to be quite interesting, I'm told. Though admittedly I am now under strict orders to behave like a normal person, so I am not nearly as interesting as I'm capable of being.", she said, smiling. "My experience tells me you are extremely unlikely to fulfill that order. And in fact you do appear to be almost as dissatisfied with our presence here as I am.", responded Mikhail. "Well yes, I am indeed very unhappy, for exact same reasons as you are. The difference between us is that my outfit is extremely uncomfortable, while yours at least let you breathe and move. Though I do suppose it was meant for use on ships." Mikhail was wearing his dress uniform, reveling in the "prestige" of being the only naval officer at the party, and one of only three people wearing military uniforms. Meanwhile, Katya was wearing... Something Mikhail was unable to accurately describe. They were certainly woman's clothes, certainly meant for extravagant parties and certainly sacrificing any comfort or practicality in the name of "fashion". "I assure we do not normally operate ships dressed this well. This is a dress uniform, my dear.", said Mikhail, straightening his jacket before looking back at Katya. "As for you, your sacrifice is well worth it. You look magnificent." Mikhail was of course perfectly aware of Katya's rather strong opinions on being forced to "look nice" and he was perfectly aware that his words were the kind of hit that could set off a magazine. "Magnificent?", she repeated. "You can write that on my grave when I suffocate because of that damn corset. You can also repeat that to me when they amputate my legs, since I am already losing all feeling in them!" She stuck forward her leg, presenting her footwear. Once again, Mikhail lacked the expertise to even attempt to describe this - undoubtedly fashionable - piece of wardrobe. It was a woman's shoe. It was also clearly built for looks rather than comfort and Mikhail could certainly see how it could be considered painful. "Look at these! A human foot was not meant to be held in a position that this kind of shoe demands!", continued Katya's rant. "I hate such things. Fashion my ass, what's the point if I can't function in this crap? I so want to get rid of them right now... In fact, I actually might go barefoot, screw it." "While doing so is exactly the kind of thing I expected of you, I must remind you of the order you mentioned just a moment ago. I fear ditching your footwear at a formal party is one of those things that qualify as breaking said order.", noted Mikhail, doing his best to look serious. "Also, I can see your favorite uncle is heading this way. If you wish to avoid this meeting I suggest evasive maneuvers, which is what I am going to commence now." Katya's grumpy face immediately turned to expression of shock and terror and she followed Mikhail, walking on his right side as they escaped away from the terrace. "And that's your favorite aunt. Hard to starboard!", said Mikhail, spotting another elderly relative. "That means right, you landlubber." "Aye, aye, captain", she said as they turned into a side alley, where foliage would provide some protection from party guests. "I'm not a captain. I'm a commander.", he corrected her. "Which one's higher?" "Captain." "Then it shouldn't offend you. Besides, you'll be an admiral in no time.", she smiled. "I assure you that I am in absolutely no danger of becoming an admiral. And that's a good thing, I wouldn't want to be miserable like Dmitri. The job sucks.", Mikhail chuckled. "Do you know when you leave again?", she asked. "I heard there could be a war with the Netherlands...Do you think it's likely?" "We leave when we are commanded to. As for war... I do think it will come to it, yes, though not yet. I would be very surprised if the war happened this year, but the next... I think it's likely for things to escalate until then.", responded Mikhail. "I am bored when you're at sea, Misha. There's nobody around to talk to. Sometimes I'm thinking I should join the navy as well, just to be able to come with you." Mikhail chuckled. "Disregarding the notion of women in the navy, which I do not believe is a common phenomenon, if it even happens at all... I was always under the impression that you're not particularly interested in anything related to ships, let alone warfare...", he said. "Well it's not that I don't like ships. I like the sea, I simply prefer to be in it rather than on it.", she said with a smile. "I'm sorry to say you wouldn't fit in then, as the reverse is true in the navy. Being in the water is commonly an indicator of things having gone horribly wrong..." "Speaking of horribly wrong... Did I mention how much I hate these shoes I'm wearing?" "As a matter of a fact, yes, you did." "Whoever designed them should burn in hell. On top of everything I said earlier, do you have any idea how slow I need to walk in them not to trip over? Or how annoying they were to put on?", said Katya, visibly annoyed by the pain caused by her clothing. "I'd say 2 knots.", said Mikhail. "I don't even know how many knots they have but they are painful to wear." Mikhail grimaced, somewhat disappointed that the joke sailed past her. "No, I can't go on like this. Screw fashion, I'm going barefoot.", decided Katya, stopping abruptly and leaning on Mikhail's shoulder for support as she started to fight with her footwear. "I have already reminded you of your orders, though I shall do so again in case you've forgotten. Though as I also know you well enough to be aware that it shan't stop you, I wish to only proclaim that I've warned you, and that the wrath of her-who-gave-you-the-order that you may bring upon yourself is only your doing.", said Mikhail, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, come on. Nobody will even notice. My dress almost reaches the ground." "As you said: almost." "It will be fine. People tend to look at your face rather than at the ground." "That may be true. But the one person you don't want noticing your lack of footwear is the person well accustomed to your antics." "It will be fine.", she said. Now barefoot and visibly happy at the solution of her problem, Katya wondered what to do with the shoes she's just gotten rid of. After a short moment, she decide to hide them in the nearest bush, where they shouldn't be discovered and raise questions. "Now I can walk, let's go before some aunt or uncle find us.", she said. As she and Mikhail resumed walking, Katya reached for some weird package she had hidden in her sleeve. Mikhail was already intrigued and terrified by whatever she had smuggled with her, but said nothing. "I have a present for you.", she said, presenting him with the contents of package. On her hands laid a silver locket, with a flower engraved on its cover. "A present?", he said curiously, reaching for the trinket. As his hand touched it, he felt something weird. Like a sense of déjà vu. He opened the lid, revealing Katya's photo inside. "You're often away at sea, Misha... So I wanted to give you this, so you can remember me.", she said, smiling and doing her best to mimic her look on the photo. Remember me... This weird feeling grasped at him again. Like a snake, coiling around his insides. And yet he couldn't understand or remember why it felt so wrong... Mikhail smiled, his gaze drifting between the photo and Katya's face. "I appreciate the gift and the thought, Katya. But I have a feeling you're not giving enough credit to my memory. It would take more than a short boat-trip for me to forget how ugly you are.", he said. They both laughed, as they walked between the bushes. Mikhail closed the locket and hid it securely in his pocket. And the weird feeling vanished. And then Mikhail spotted an elderly relative, approaching him an Katya. And as Mikhail's head was visible to him, it was clear there's no escape for him. "Run. I will delay the enemy.", he whispered to Katya, as she also realized they're being approached. He couldn't turn to look at her, as it would reveal her position to the approaching guest, but the sound of bare feet on grass was a sufficiently strong indicator that she has made her escape. All that was left to Mikhail was to smile like a very polite idiot and suffer. And suffer he did. As he smiled and nodded and his ears were flooded by stories about distant family he's never heard of, time seemed to lose meaning. It lasted long enough for Mikhail to beg for the sweet release of death, but short enough that the end of the party was still painfully distant. But at last, he was saved, by another elderly relative of all things. And as the two elders started conversing, the still-functioning hemisphere of Mikhail's brain kicked the engine order telegraph into "Ahead flank", and Mikhail vanished between the bushes as quickly as it was humanly possible. He didn't even have a second to revel in his regained freedom, as he noticed Katya, arguing with the party's host - the same woman who was responsible for the order of "behaving like a normal person". As the fact that Katya was barefoot was definitely not unnoticed, it seemed that Mikhail could only watch events unfold and hope for the best. He did warn her after all. His hand rested on the nearby bush, but he quickly pulled it back as the foliage is wet because of dew. Huh. For some reason his brain went into high gear, having already recovered from the "conversation" Mikhail had just a moment ago. He knelt down and found Katya's shoes underneath the plant. Wet, as expected. He grabbed them and walked towards the arguing women, straightening his back and doing his best to look respectable, glancing at a nearby pond. "Mother, please. It's not her fault.", he chimed in, standing next to them. She looked at him immediately, Milda Koshkin, a dangerous spark in her eye. Katya, equally surprised, looked at Mikhail and the shoes in his hands. "Well, technically it is her fault, but not in the way you think, mother... I can explain. Katya tripped and stepped into the pond. She had to leave these to dry.", he said, presenting the boots as "evidence". Milda eyed them suspiciously. "You fell into the pond? Why isn't your dress wet?" "Because it's a dress. It dries faster than leather...", said Katya, catching up on Mikhail's story. "Why didn't you get another pair from the house? "I wouldn't know which, and the party would have probably ended before I got them sorted. Besides, what's the point? I am comfortable barefoot." Milda sighed, massaging her temples. "Katya, all of our relatives and family friends are here... I don't really care what shoes you're wearing or not wearing in general, but please don't embarrass me with your eccentricity in fron of literally everyone. Go to the house, get another pair.", she said. This time it was Katya's eye that had that dangerous spark in it. "Fine. But you said it yourself and HE heard you.", she said, pointing at Mikhail. "So you can be sure that after this party I'll be going barefoot whenever I damn please!" And with that she turned on her heel and walked towards the house. As Mikhail watched her whisper a voiceless "Thanks", his mother groaned behind his back. "Why must she always play on my nerves?", she muttered. "She's a free spirit... Untamed...", said Mikhail. "That she is, yes. And you need to stop covering for her." Mikhail smiled to himself. "Who will cover for her if not me? I'm her older brother..." Milda sighed again, as she started walking away. "Why must all of my children be failures...?", she muttered to herself. Wait, what? Mikhail raised his eyebrows and glanced at her with an incredibly hurt look on his face, only to see his mother smirking at him. They both chuckled, before Milda went back towards the rest of the guests.
Fun fact: Mikhail was correct in estimating the speed. An average human walks naturally at about 2 knots, though most can walk at 4 knots, especially short distances. Faster than that one naturally transitions to jog or run.
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Post by janxol on Nov 21, 2020 7:26:03 GMT -6
Japanese are getting desperate
10:00, September 8th, 1902, Port Arthur, Admiral Koshkin's shore office When Dmitri entered the room he was somewhat surprised to see Mikhail sitting at his desk and furiously shuffling a deck of tarot cards. Being the perceptive man that he is, he immediately noticed other things that could be considered out of the ordinary - one of them being a bottle of vodka, seemingly unopened, the other being an open silver locket lying on the desk. This wasn't the first time Dmitri saw the trinket or the photo within, but immediately he was overtaken by an eerie feeling. A worry. After a short calculation in his head, he realized that today is indeed September 8th - which only made him more uneasy. Mikhail himself was looking rather out of touch with his surroundings and deep in thought, as his hands shuffled the deck of cards. "I never took you for a superstitious man, Mikhail.", said Dmitri after a short moment. "I'm surprised." "I am indeed not a superstitious man... What makes you think that?", asked Mikhail. "Well you are playing with tarot cards, for a start." "You told me to get a hobby. So now I am shuffling cards, I guess." "Shuffling cards is your idea of a hobby? The point was to prevent your mind from overthinking things. I'd argue that having a deck of "fortune-telling" cards can accomplish quite the opposite. Why did you even get these?" "Well, for a start, they cost me only one ruble, and the drawings on these are incredibly well-made.", said Mikhail, as he stopped shuffling to look at one of the cards. Nine of swords. "And apart from that, I really don't believe the cards to have any supernatural properties. Much like I don't believe in any form of fortune-telling at all. Though I would be inclined to agree that these cards could serve as a psychological tool of... Self-discovery or self-realization... If we were to assume the cards and their meanings refer to the past or present, and with the card meanings being rather broad and vague, each person would select the one that best responds to their experiences or character." "So what are you doing with the cards then?", asked Dmitri. "I'm shuffling them and occasionally looking at pictures on them. You've literally been watching me shuffle the deck this entire conversation. And then I just go...", he drew three cards from the top of the deck, throwing them onto the desk, next to the locket with Katya's photo. The lovers. The moon. Death. "Well then... What is it supposed to mean?", slowly asked Dmitri, looking at the cards. Mikhail raised both eyebrows. "I have no idea. The cards didn't come with a manual, which could be the reason why they were so cheap.", he admitted, resuming shuffling of the deck, with the three cards still on the desk. "Regardless, I assume you've been reading all the recent reports you've been getting, so please, tell me about the one I'd find most interesting." Dmitri looked at him surprised, not even remotely sure what he means. "Which one?" "You tell me. That's the entire point." "Well... The blockade continues... Gromoboi intercepted and sunk a Japanese cruiser about a week ago...", he started, still unsure. "In St. Petersburg design work is being done on Project 153 battleships, since the admiralty decided on one of the preliminary designs..." At that Mikhail grimaced slightly, but gestured at Dmitri to continue, still shuffling the cards. "Reportedly a new model of 230mm gun was introduced... And, uh... I am really not sure what you mean.", admitted Dmitri. "Right. Have you by any chance noticed that Evstafi, Yevtushenkov's flagship, is currently in dry dock with a decently-sized hole in its bow?", asked Mikhail. "No. What happened?" "Well, that answers my question. And my question was whether Yevtushenkov is generally not feeling the need to report his actions, or whether he's just not feeling like reporting them to me. And what happened, as far as I know, is that Yevtushenkov, being unable to force an engagement, decided to attempt to shell the naval base in Yokosuka. That in turn led to his ship running into a mine. The thing is that in his quest to maintain a blockade and try to engage Japanese battleships he wasn't supposed to be anywhere near Yokosuka...", said Mikhail. "Did you... Talk to him about that?" "Oh yes, I did. He didn't like it one bit. Argued with me that as commanding officer of his force he is allowed operative freedom within the confines of his objective. And that I didn't forbid him from approaching any specific parts of Japanese coast. And while I would generally agree with that statement, he has pushed the notion of operative freedom to the absolute extreme, which makes me quite annoyed...", ranted Mikhail, accelerating his shuffling. "Meanwhile the blockade doesn't have that much effect on the Japanese... Which means that somehow they're getting through it... Which most likely means foreign interference or false banners, which means we're going to Tsushima and boarding every Korean ship in sight...
On September 17th a cruiser force consisting of three Bayans and several protected cruisers headed for Tsushima. The crews have boarded four Korean merchant ships, finding three of them to be Japanese vessels flying a Korean flag and one of them being full of ammunition. The three ships were scuttled, but clearly not before they relayed their position. The Japanese cruiser force appeared soon after, but after a short exchange of fire they chose to flee, realizing they're dealing with the Bayans. The Russians gave chase, but very quickly the Bayan suffered a propulsion failure which cost her one of her four shafts and significantly reduced her speed. With that and approaching darkness admiral Koshkin made the decision to break pursuit and the force headed back to Port Arthur. Russian protected cruisers would return the next morning to continue checking cargo ships and enforce the blockade of Japan. Meanwhile, Mikhail proceeded to ridicule Dmitri for the poor maintenance of Bayan's propulsion. At admiral's Koshkin advice political pressure would also be put on Korea to make sure that they wouldn't try to smuggle cargo to Japan. In fact, the blockade was starting to take effect, as Russian spies reported that food shortage was now one of main Japanese concerns. Another good news was the internment of Japanese armored cruiser Yakumo. The ammunition that was secured on one of the smuggling ships was investigated, but nothing of value was learned, as it wasn't any more advanced than Russian shells. Meanwhile the Engineering Committee made advancements in armor manufacturing technology, heavily "inspired" by Germany's accomplishment in that field, and introduced face hardening, which would increase the strength of ship armor. In Asia, the blockade of Japan continued...
Armored cruiser Bogatyr
7:48, October 25th, 1902, Sea of Japan - Zaliv Petra Velikogo, Armored cruiser Bogatyr "What on Earth are they doing?", mused Mikhail, as his force rushed east, towards the Japanese warships exchanging fire with Velikii Knyaz Konstantin. The Russian protected cruiser was commencing evasive maneuvers, doing his best to return fire, while herself under hail of fire from guns ranging from 6 to 10 inches in caliber. By her side were two Russian destroyer, doing whatever they could accomplish with their puny guns. The protected cruiser was engaged by what looked to be three armored cruisers, one protected cruisers and a single torpedo boat destroyers. A force that definitely threatened the Russian cruiser, but couldn't hope to match the strength of Mikhail's formation, rushing towards them at 23 knots. The Bogatyr was leading the line, followed by Bayan and Oleg. Protected cruisers Vladimir and Varyag were accompanying them on either side of the line, and the cruisers were also escorted by eleven torpedo boat destroyers. And if that wasn't enough, two more protected cruisers were alerted to Japanese presence. Diana was approaching from the west, trailing behind the Bayans, while Flora was approaching from the north, from Vladivostok, accompanied by four more destroyers. "This is desperation... They cannot win this. Why fight? Why attack?", said Mikhail. "They ARE desperate... They are losing this war.", responded Cherkashin. Mikhail didn't respond. Not least because he was focused on the enemy ships, but also because he didn't want to casually discuss his strategic concerns at the start of a battle. The thing was that the war was very much in Russia's favor. With Baltic Fleet present, the Japanese navy is outnumbered and outmatched, it's only a matter of time - though not necessarily a short one - before they sue for peace. And that was a problem. Mikhail didn't want peace before a portion of Japanese fleet is sunk. Otherwise after the war the Baltic Fleet returns to Europe, Japanese cruisers return from internment and balance of power in the region is essentially back to what it was before the war, demanding Russia to reinforce Pacific Squadron at the cost of Baltic Fleet. And Mikhail was certain that even when this war is won, another will likely follow a few years later. It wasn't in Japanese spirit to let go such grudges. Bogatyr's forward turret fired, bringing Mikhail's thoughts to the present. Japanese ships almost immediately turned south-east, attempting to run. But they couldn't run and they had to realize it by now. There was no victory and no escape for them today. They were doomed. With a speed advantage the Bayans were catching up, more and more shells flying through the air as range was found. Mikhail just looked at the Japanese ships, now mere 4 000 yards away. Between the short range, improved rangefinders and some actual battle experience the Russian crews were actually able to score hits. As the Bayans were now almost overtaking the Japanese line, the rear turrets were now also able to fire. The one-sided exchange of fire was continuing, with Mikhail deep in thought. Why did they come here? They sunk two merchant ships before Russian warships were able to respond and with overwhelming force. Did they not know about Russian armored cruisers in the area? There could be no other explanation for this mistake. And Mikhail knew that his captain also made it once... The ship is yours... Remember me... And even then not on this scale. How could they miss the presence of three largest Russian warships in service? This was just throwing away lives and ships, nothing else. Desperation. Desperation indeed... The rear Japanese cruiser, an armored cruiser of the Asama-class, was losing speed, taking the brunt of Russian fire. It was listing and slowing down, and soon after a fire started on her superstructure. Mikhail looked to the remaining ships, to see whether they would attempt to save the crippled vessel, but no. The cruiser was doomed, and as such they elected to leave it behind. The chase continued, with the Bayans overtaking the damaged ship and putting more shells into it, causing an explosion of her forward turret. The magazine didn't detonate, but it did cause another fire on deck. The ship was most definitely out of combat and Mikhail gave the order to continue pursuit of the remaining Japanese vessels. The chase continued for as long as the state of grates and stamina of stokers allowed, but finally Mikhail was forced to give the order to break pursuit and let the damaged Japanese ships to escape. As his force they turned back, they headed again for the fiery flare on the horizon - the Japanese armored cruiser they left behind. As they reached it, it became clear that the crew was in the process of abandoning the ship, as the vessel was slowly dipping beneath the waves, with most of its deck ablaze. Russian ships slowed down, boats were deployed and efforts begun to save the many survivors from the cruiser. Mikhail watched the flaming wreck in silence, people still jumping into the water, many covered in flames. There were no lifeboats, as the wooden hulls got decimated by shellfire, there were only people in the water, and lots of them, most with cork-filled floatation vests, others without any survival gear. All at the mercy of the elements, and the Russians. The rescue attempts continued until all survivors boarded the Russian vessels and the Japanese cruiser finally sunk, having taken over 65 hits from Russian medium-caliber shells.
Bonus points to those who read the tarot, I guess.
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Post by dallan007 on Nov 21, 2020 19:05:49 GMT -6
janxol I've been reading your AAR and I'm very impressed with your writing. You've given me inspiration to start my own narrative AAR as well. I wanted to ask how you got the template for the wikipedia-style battle graphics. They're pretty cool.
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Post by janxol on Nov 23, 2020 12:05:48 GMT -6
Glad you enjoy it. I'm using the wikipedia military box editor for the battle thingies.
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Post by janxol on Nov 23, 2020 12:11:22 GMT -6
Koshkin's war - part 2
When Mikhail entered the hall of the mansion he was almost immediately greeted by the majordomo, encouraging him to leave his suitcase by the entrance and that it will be delivered to his room shortly. Mikhail barely had the time to greet and thank him before he heard a scream of happiness from above. "Misha! You're back!" He looked up to see Katya leaning over the railing of the upper floor to look down onto the ground floor of the hall. She was wearing a bright yellow dress, one which definitely didn't make her suffer in the name of fashion, and one which their mother would never allow on a formal occasion, even though Katya arguably looked better in casual clothes than in any she was forced to wear - not least because she looked better when she was happy, or at least not grumpy. Katya began running down the stairs to meet Mikhail. Relative lack of noise led to Mikhail correctl guessing that she was barefoot, which meant she was likely true to the words she said at the last party, which raised certain concerns for their mother mental state. Mikhail watched as she run down the stairs, skipping steps and seemingly defying gravity, half-expecting her to plow face-first into the floor when she reaches the bottom. She didn't however, and as she rushed towards Mikhail, he braced for impact. "It's good to see you too, Katya.", he said, as she squeezed him in a hug. "How are you?" "I was just about to get on with painting when you arrived." "Are you painting or getting painted today?", asked Mikhail, knowing that Katya did both of these things. "Painting. The new set of paint has arrived and it has this really vibrant blue color in it that gave me an idea.", said Katya, letting go of him and taking a step back. "So I'm going to paint the sea, a shoreline... And something else, but I don't know what yet." "Do you even know how the sea looks?" "Hey, I know how the sea looks! I'm not five!" "Sometimes you behave like it.", laughed Mikhail. They started slowly walking up the stairs, still continuing the conversation. "Well... I am who I am, and I'd not rather be anyone else.", said Katya with a smile. "Speaking of you being you... It seems like you're true to the words you said about footwear at the party and I must ask how our poor mother is taking to that..." "Oh. Pretty good, I think! It was twenty one days since the party and I've been barefoot every day since. Indoors, outdoors... Everywhere. And our mother was only annoyed by that for the first week!", she said, with a humorous glint of pride in her voice. "I expected nothing less. And I am sure our mother continues to be annoyed internally...", said Mikhail. "I don't think you'll change and I'm not saying that you should stop being yourself, but have you given some thought to going easy on her? "I have... And when we have guests or there's another pompous occasion, I will wear boots. And all the other stuff I hate. And even behave properly, as long as I can..." "How long is that, if I may ask?" "Well... Maybe not as long as mother would hope. I just get annoyed by pointless rules, or expectations. I get that she cares about the family reputation and I get that I'm basically a walking trophy at those formal gatherings. But why does it matter to her what I'm wearing on other days? If I'm comfortable being barefoot, for example, what should be stopping me? She says I look like a peasant girl, but even if I do, why is that a bad thing?", said Katya, getting more and more annoyed. "If I want to wear peasant clothes at home, why not? Or pants? And I'm not even arguing about going out yet!" She was very close to unleashing a full-blown rant, which Mikhail would rather avoid to spare his ears. As they reached the door of Mikhail's bedroom, he turned to face her. "Katya, there's no reason to get agitated, especially since I'm not the person with whom to discuss social norms. All I can say is that mother cares about you. It's not just family honor that she's trying to protect.", he said. "Wait. Did you say pants? Do they actually make pants for women?" "Well no, they don't. That's the problem. The ones I have are technically men's pants." "Where did you even get those?" "They're yours, actually. I rescued some of them when you threw them out. Too small for you, but fine for me. Mother doesn't approve though..." "I expected she might...", he said. "I suggest you get back to painting before your ideas evaporate. There's something I have to do, we'll talk later." "You still have to tell me everything that happened when you were gone. You won't escape so easily!", announced Katya. "Everything? Are you sure you're not a German spy?", responded Mikhail, chuckling. "Nein, I am not!"
As Mikhail finished tidying up his desk, he looked out his bedroom's window, into the dark of night. Very little lights were visible, bu there were also no stars, as the sky was covered by clouds. In the dim light cast out the windows below him he could see the trees in the garden, swaying in the wind. After a short moment in thought, he focused again on the papers he had in his hands, sitting down at his desk. One by one, he sorted them into piles. Letters he had read, out-of-date memos, warship sketches he had done in the past... He was interrupted by an insistent knocking on his window. Very slowly, he raised his eyes, only to see Katya. She was in her nightgown, standing on the cornice outside the window and knocking on the glass to be let inside. While most would be shocked, Mikhail's expression was rather that of disappointed acceptance, as it wasn't the first time his sister had done it, nor the first time he told her not to. "That's one large pigeon.", he said, looking at her through the glass. As much as he wanted to keep her outside for an extended period of time, he was also aware that she was standing on a piece of elevation barely wide enough to set foot on it, and clearly he was much more concerned for her falling than she was. As he opened the window, Katya jumped into the room, and turned to him with a smile like this whole activity was completely normal. "Have you ever thought of using the door?", asked Mikhail. "I have. The issue is that mother locked me in my bedroom, like she sometimes does.", she responded gleefully. "She wants me to sleep rather than keep painting in the middle of the night, apparently." "In that case I must assume you are perfectly aware that locking your door meant you were supposed to stay inside, and not go out through the window.", noted Mikhail. "And I can't help but remember all those times you had gone out the window in the past. And each time I told you not to do that, because you can fall and get hurt." "I haven't fallen so far!" "So far.", he emphasized. "Regardless of this warning that you're going to ignore, what bring you here?" "Two things. One, I wanted to borrow another book. I finished the previous one and forgot to ask you earlier. And also, you were supposed to tell me all the things that happened while you were gone." "One, which book do you want? Two, we can talk tomorrow.", said Mikhail, approaching the bookcase. "Do you have any more of Verne?" "Yes. There's 'Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon' or 'The adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa'..." "That second one sound hilarious. I'll take it. Now tell me a bedtime story, what happened at sea?" "We can talk about that in the morning.", said Mikhail, handing her the book. "Not that much happened. We sailed, we ended up in a storm, three people got wounded. Good times. Pretty boring though." "That does sound like something happened though..." "Then we can talk about that in the morning. Get out." "Is it true that navy people are so accustomed to being on a ship that you can't walk straight on land?", she asked suddenly. "What? No. Not really. Maybe for a few seconds after disembarking. We are definitely used to being on a ship though, and in time you learn how to properly move on it." "Well it can't be that difficult then. "I'd like to see you try then. I guarantee you wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line unless it's perfectly calm.", he chuckled. "Deal. You need to get me on a ship when I visit you in St. Petersburg then.", she said. Wait. "Get you on a ship? Visit me? Woah there. I can't let you aboard a warship." "Well, that's your problem to figure out. You need to have a ship ready when I visit you soon. I will even grant you the luxury of knowing when I arrive, but I won't change my mind!", said Katya, laughing. "A luxury, she said!" At this point both of them looked at the window, hearing the sound of rain hitting the glass. The rain, which rapidly turned into a real downpour. "Oh no. How will you get back to your room?", said Mikhail sarcastically. Katya was visibly distraught, but she forced herself to smile. "That's okay. I'm not afraid of getting a bit wet..." She started walking towards the window, but Mikhail grabbed her by the arm. "No, you idiot. It's not about getting wet, it's about slipping on wet stone and falling. You'll ruin the book too. Wait here and I'll get the key and let you back into your room.", he said. "Mother can't know I snuck out!" Well, there's some "remorse" at least... "She won't. But you really are impossible sometimes..."
11:00, November 20th, 1902, Port Arthur, Admiral Koshkin's shore office As Mikhail shuffled the tarot deck, he looked out the window to see a heavily damaged Svetlana-class cruiser entering port. Whatever they were doing, they got pretty battered out there... He came back to his desk and sat on the chair, contemplating recent events. Japanese approached the Russian diplomats with an offer of peace, signaling the willingness to negotiate. Mikhail immediately insisted not to accept anything less than absolute surrender. As obviously the Japanese wouldn't agree to that, this effectively meant the peace negotiations ended before they even started. And that was a good thing. Mikhail was certain by this point that the war was won, but for the greater strategic implications he didn't want it to end just yet. He needed to make sure the post-war position of Pacific Squadron is stronger than before the war. Which meant he wanted to meet the Japanese in a decisive battle. And that was obviously something the Japanese didn't want, knowing they were outmatched... He glanced at the report from St. Petersburg laying on his desk. Artem reported that two ships were laid down to the battleship design chosen by the admiralty, named Imperator Akelsandr III and Imperatritsa Mariya. However, until returning to St. Petersburg Mikhail wouldn't know much about the ships themselves, other than they were supposed to be battleships with an intermediate battery. Part of him was terrified of what the admiralty has selected in his absence, but at least it wasn't being built in France, which meant he remained hopeful. "Enter.", he said, hearing a knock on the door. In came Dmitri, followed by Andrei and Yevtushenkov. "Ah, welcome, gentlemen. We have some things to discuss. Admiral Yevtushenkov, as I understand you've been unsuccessful in engaging the enemy battleship force, despite your attempts to enter the harbor of Yokosuka..." "The Japanese are unwilling to meet us in open battle, general-admiral.", said Yevtushenkov, looking very much displeased with his presence here. "They know they can't win it." "They do, yes. At the same time they cannot just sit in port... First and foremost we have to maintain the blockade, but we must also lure out their fleet. Give them something to bite, an illusion of possible victory. As such, the battleships of the Pacific Squadron are going to be returning under command of admiral Yablokov. Additionally, admiral Yevtushenkov, I want you to select one of your remaining eight battleships, which will also pass under admiral Yablokov. I want admiral Yablokov's force to focus on the blockade, while Yevtushenkov's force will continue to attempt to engage the Japanese. If we spread misinformation that some of our battleships are out of supplies, in repair or otherwise inoperable, then seeing the smaller battleship force the Japanese might be willing to stand and fight. Admiral Yevtushenkov, would you agree that with seven battleships under your command you should be able to engage and defeat the Japanese battleship force?" "Yes.", he said only, after a moment of silence. "Very well then. We have to make some progress, gentlemen. The Japanese are beginning to starve, but their fleet isn't any smaller than it used to."
Meanwhile, some of the ships of 1901 program are nearing completion.
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Post by janxol on Nov 29, 2020 4:16:12 GMT -6
Japanese Mistake
7:30, January 9th, 1903, Yellow Sea, Armored cruiser Bogatyr "Report.", ordered Mikhail. "Moskva is under attack and calling for help, we're on our way to their position. The protected cruisers are too far to be of assistance.", said Cherkashin. They were all there was then. Three Bayans and six torpedo boat destroyers. Mikhail couldn't count on any other vessels in the battle to come. The Moskva itself was one of the seagoing minesweepers, and if it survives to see the battle it will be a good outcome for her. Mikhail wouldn't consider her a real combatant. The Japanese actions were interesting. They were certain the entirety of Russian Fleet was currently at sea and operating in the vicinity of Sakhalin. They were wrong, their intelligence must've mistaken admiral Yablkov's battleship force for the Russian cruiser force, while in reality all of the Bayans were still at Port Arthur. As such, the Japanese decided to conduct a risky operation - a coastal raid, most likely targeting naval coal stores in the eastern part of the Liaotung Peninsula. They certainly took the Russians by surprise, but still the three armored cruisers sortied to meet the enemy. Even without the presence of smaller vessel, save for a token destroyer escort, Mikhail was confident. He doubted a major force would be committed to this operation, rather one that would be difficult to spot and had enough endurance to run the blockade and linger at sea if necessary. Most likely cruisers and likely without destroyer escort. The wind was calm and there was a layer of fog present above the sea, fair enough conditions to fight in, especially so close to friendly port. About 15 minutes later, contact was made and Mikhail saw a tiny ship, the Moskva zigzagging as it headed west, trying to get away from Japanese warships. Mikhail counted four of those, three armored cruisers and a single torpedo boat destroyer. He focused his eyes on the cruisers, each of a different class. The largest cruiser which was leading the line was undoubtedly of the Yakumo-class, clearly distinguished by her three funnels. A class of four, only two ships were still in active service, the remaining having been interned or scuttled. As such, this was either the Izumo or the Kasuga. Her firepower was not to be underestimated, but her armor was weak when compared to the Bayans.
The second cruiser was smaller, of the Furutaka-class. The Japanese were building multiple ships of this class in great hurry, as if hoping they could turn the tides of war. There was a high chance that the crew of this ship was entirely green, but Mikhail couldn't count on that.
The last cruiser was the Asama. Mikhail knew that immediately, as only two ships of her class were built and the image of burning and sinking Tokiwa - her sister ship - was still fresh in his memory, leaving Asama as the sole vessel of her type.
The Japanese force was very late to spot the approaching Russian ships, and as Mikhail gave course adjustments to cut off their escape, they found themselves under rather inaccurate fire from Bogatyr's main battery. Having the Japanese warships almost directly in front and slightly to port, Mikhail watched them turn. They headed north-east, along the coastline, and Mikhail ordered a turn to match their heading, which also allowed the rear turrets to fire. The Japanese had many bad choices they could've taken, but this particular one sealed their fate. In Mikhail's mind, they were already doomed. They couldn't outrun the Bayans. And by heading north-east along the coastline not only were they at disadvantage due to direction of wind, but also the shape of the coast itself. Mikhail could faintly see it in the fog behind them and calculating the ships position in his mind he was certain that the coastline is about to come closer south, forcing the Japanese towards the Russians. As the Russian and Japanese lines were exchanging fire at a distance of about 5000 yards, Mikhail waited for the Bayans to start overtaking the Japanese, before ordering a decrease in speed to 21 knots, matching the enemy force. If Cherkashin was surprised, he said nothing. And maybe he wasn't surprised at all, maybe he knew the shape of the coast as well. "Ready torpedoes. This is about to get interesting. It will be ugly, glorious or both...", said Mikhail, when he spotted a faint silhouette of the coast ahead of them. The Japanese now realized. And while they delayed as long as they could, they eventually had to turn, going into knife-fighting distance with the Russian ships. All three Russian cruiser launched port torpedo tubes when the time was right and all guns on all ships were hammering away at their targets with maximum fire rate they could sustain. Slightly concerned for the Bayan, which was taking the bulk of enemy fire, Mikhail regardless wanted to hope for a hit by the torpedo. And there was not one, but two and on two different vessels. First an underwater explosion shook the hull of Asama, and three seconds later the leading Yakumo-class cruiser was hit amidships despite her evasive maneuvers. They were doomed. Already standing by with the signals, Eugeni raised a set of flags, prompting the escorting destroyers to charge. Torpedoes in the water, gunfire, countless shells flying through the air. And less than one hour later, all of Japanese warships were sinking...
The battle was deemed a great and decisive success of admiral Koshkin and Russian war propaganda would produce extensive coverage of this "Battle of Yalu", resulting in complete annihilation of the Japanese squadron. Sinking of three armored cruisers was certainly something and only one ship was lost in the process - destroyer Zavetni of the Veseli-class. Additionally the Bayan sustained damage that meant she'd have to by dry-docked for repairs, while the damage to her sisters was fairly minor. Between the improved rangefinders, good weather and actual battle experience of the crews, the Russians also noted uncharacteristically high accuracy in this engagement.
February brought developments in St. Petersburg. Introduction of high tensile steel meant that hull weight can be reduced without compromising integrity of future-built warships. Additionally, the Tula armory presented a new gun model of 330mm caliber, larger than any naval gun manufactured in Russia so far. It boasted a similar shell weight to the infamous 13-inch guns of the French and British, such as the ones located on the Tri Svyatitelya, but featured a longer barrel, better rifling and breech mechanisms, which meant that it was in all regard better than the glorified carronade evaluated on the Humble-home. On 16th of February the first ship of the 1901 Fleet Expansion Program was commissioned - the protected cruiser Almaz of the Almaz-class, followed a few days later by her sister ship, the Oprichnik. Almaz (1901) Ships in class: 4 Almaz, Voevoda, Oprichnik, Griden The small protected cruisers of the 1901 Program were small vessels indeed, displacing mere 2500 tons. The armored deck was 1" thick in the horizontal portion, increasing to 2" in the sloped section. The ships' machinery produced 10 100 horsepower, and due to focus on reliability in both selection of components and machinery layout, it had a lower horsepower-per-ton ratio than could otherwise be achieved. In turn, however, it was less prone to failure and could maintain high revolutions for an extended period. The changed layout also offered limited redundancy in case of engine room hit. The ships were originally planned for three shafts, but due to their small size only two shafts were fitted. This was likely one of the reasons why the vessels - designed for 22 knots - only managed to reach 21 knots in sea trials. Engineers investigated the problem, but unfortunately the solution was deemed too costly for a ship of this size. The ship was armed with six 125mm guns in unarmored deck mounts, three front and three aft, with one centerline and two wing mounts in each set. Additionally the ship was armed with four torpedo tubes - one bow and stern and one on each side. While originally conceived as raiders and scouting cruisers, low speed may prove to be a deadly detriment to these ships.
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Post by janxol on Dec 5, 2020 4:16:01 GMT -6
Koshkin's war - part 3
"Yes, mother. I've made the necessary preparations. I will be leaving for St. Petersburg in two days.", said Mikhail, looking at Milda Koshkin, who was sitting in an armchair in a large living room in their manor. "Good, good...", she responded. "I have heard from Katya that you agreed to... Let her visit you?" "In a way, yes... We've come to an agreement that she can visit me in St. Petersburg under certain conditions... The primary condition being that I must approve of the time of her visit.", said Mikhail. "I don't suppose that one of the conditions was that she'd have to dress and behave appropriately for a woman of her stature?" "No, mother. And I fear I would be unable to enforce that demand if I tried..." She laughed. "Of course you wouldn't. I doubt anyone could, to be honest. She's still refusing to wear footwear as an act of this 'rebellion' of hers after all. I swear, it's like she's still a teenager! And at the same time it's as if she's still five!". There was no anger in Milda's voice, but she did seem somewhat amused by her own words. "She is a free spirit...", admitted Mikhail. "Though I assure you, mother, that we do not plan to be attending any formal gatherings where we could negatively impact the reputation of our family, if that is what worries you." Milda laughed again. "Over there, she's your problem, Mikhail. And over there, it's your reputation, not mine or the family's. It's your fellow officers that may encounter her, not family friends or distant relatives." "What are you suggesting, mother?" They looked at each other for a couple seconds. "Nothing, Mikhail. I would simply hate to see her unintentionally compromise your reputation in the navy. All I'm saying is that you're both adults and that you need to work this out between yourselves." "You worry too much, mother. I assure you I'm perfectly capable of ruining my reputation on my own.", said Mikhail, smiling at her.
Avrora crested the wave and dropped down, water splashing all over the bow. Bow which Mikhail could barely see through the bridge window due to copious amounts of rain hitting the glass. Wind howled, as the ship battled waves over ten meters tall. As the sky was torn apart by lightning, Mikhail turned to face captain Zavragin. "Wind velocity in excess of fifty knots, captain. That's two storms for two voyages. One might think we're looking for them.", he said. "It's not as bad as last time. She can take it.", responded the captain. "Bad conditions are always a chance to test the new crewmembers." "People got wounded last time..." "Accidents do happen, commander. It's much safer than a firefight, though, I can assure you of that.", said Zavragin calmly. "And since we have new crewmembers aboard, it's a good opportunity to see how they perform." Mikhail took a look at the helmsman, one of the fresh crewmembers of the ship, completely pale as he did his best to keep the ship's bow pointed against the waves. One thing that everyone knew about Zavragin's style of command was that he never held anyone's hand. He believed in experience above all else, keen to throw his subordinates into deep water. He gave orders and expected results, he pushed his crew to discover their own limits and push them, but at the same time he never let them break. Not everyone was fit to serve under him, that's for sure, but the captain - while sometimes harsh and usually direct - was never brutal. And as far as limits of his crew and ship were concerned, he was very rarely wrong about either. To Mikhail, he was a mentor. Not really a teacher, but a mentor, giving Mikhail some guidance but otherwise letting him learn on his own. An almost complete opposite from the Officer Academy, which Mikhail found somewhat boring at times. Mikhail approved of Zavragin's hands-off approach, he appreciated the trust he put in his crew and their skill. He appreciated not being treated like a cadet, even when he first boarded. Sometimes he was inclined to doubt the captain's judgment, communicating it to him when appropriate. And Zavragin was very much glad about it, always happy to see his subordinates use their own brain rather than only listening for orders. As such, even though he was concerned in the current situation, he trusted in Zavragin's judgment, he knew he wanted to test the mettle of new crewmembers. "Anything else you wish to report, commander?", asked Zavragin, looking at him. "No, captain. Nothing to report.", responded Mikhail, taking another glance at the pale helmsman. "Very well... How's your family, Mikhail?" A drop of rank, a change to unofficial tone and casual conversation. Not the first time Mikhail was somewhat caught off-guard by it, particularly since Zavragin had a tendency to do it in the least expected moments, like in a gunnery exercise. "They're doing well. And at least this time there was no family gathering, which meant everyone was happier. Though it seems like my sister has raised her flag in rebellion yet again.", he said. "Again? What is that, sixth one this year?", chuckled Zavragin. "Depending on the point of view, one might say it's just one very long rebellion. I was also tricked into letting her visit me in St. Petersburg and taking her for a sailing trip, which I still need to figure out the details of." "I didn't expect she'd be into sailing. Be careful, she might try to sneakily join the navy to spend more time with you." "Well, she's not that much into sailing. She said she'd rather be in the water than on it." "Well, I'm afraid she wouldn't fit in then.", said Zavragin. "Exactly what I told her.", laughed Mikhail. "In any case her being in St. Petersburg means also that my mother will have a moment of peace." "Ah, yes. Poor woman your mother is. Having to deal with not only you but also her. And then there's your brother..." For a few seconds there was silence. "Nobody talks about my brother anymore. He has already been forgotten.", said Mikhail finally. Zavragin raised his eyebrows. "You told me about your brother...", he said. "Which means you haven't really forgotten him... Doesn't it?" For a few moments they looked at each other in silence, a certain feeling of unease creeping into Mikhail under Zavragin's soul-penetrating gaze. Remember me...
March of 1903 was rather uneventful. A group of Russian protected cruisers attacked shipping of Japanese coast, but were forced to withdraw when they encountered the Japanese armored cruiser Kasuga, the last large armored cruiser of the Japanese navy and the last of the Yakumo-class. That same cruiser proved to be a nuisance as of late, putting tremendous effort into disrupting Russian operations whenever the Bayans weren't involved. In St. Petersburg the engineering committee reported introduction of side drums, which would allow for an increase in power and efficiency of machinery, as well as reliable pendulum mechanisms, which would improve the capabilities of Russian torpedoes. In early April the issue of Kasuga would be resolved, when the armored cruiser Bayan, moving from Port Arthur to rejoin her squadron in vicinity of Vladivostok after her repairs, encountered a Japanese cruiser attempting to run a blockade. That cruiser turned out to be Kasuga and kontr-admiral Dmitri Vedernikov in command of the Bayan made the decision to engage. After a rather one-sided duel, the Japanese cruiser was sunk, and thus only the smaller Furutaka-class vessels remained active in the Japanese navy. On April 9th protected cruisers Griden and Voevoda of the Almaz-class were commissioned. A few days later, on April 15th the first protected cruiser of the Rynda-class was commissioned - the Pamyat Merkuriya. The Rynda, lead ship of the class, was unfortunately delayed due to issues with steel delivery. Rynda (1901) Ships in class: 2 Rynda, Pamyat Merkuriya Rynda-class were designed as the medium cruiser of the 1901 Fleet Expansion Program. The design work was considerably shortened by basing the design on the Avrora-class. This was possible as the ships were to have identical displacement and similar speed characterisitcs, but at the same time the design also bears some visual resemblance to the larger Varyag-class. The ships have a sloped deck that is 1" thick, increasing to 2" in the sloped portion. Similarly to the Almaz-class, emphasis was put on reliability when designing the machinery, which influenced the layout and weight of the components. The triple expansion steam engines mounted in the ship produce over 22 200 horsepower, driving three shafts for a top speed of 23 knots. Similarly to the Avrora-class and Varyag-class, these ships had the ability to cruise using only the middle shaft to conserve fuel. The ships armament consisted of ten 152mm (6") guns mounted in shielded deck mounts. Three were located on the forecastle, two on each side on the freeboard deck in front of the aft hull-rise, two on the hull-rise in front of the quarterdeck and one on the quarterdeck itself. Additionally the ships were armed with four 76mm (3") guns and six torpedo tubes - one bow and stern and two on each side. Reaching promising results in the sea trials, the design seems to be a natural improvement over the Avroras.
Sadly it's getting harder to find time to work on the AAR, as much as I want to. Joys of work and studying.
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