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Post by boomboomf22 on Mar 5, 2021 11:24:11 GMT -6
Hopefully you've actually got an alliance with the French, otherwise this may end very badly
Edit: Posted this not realizing there was another update. Ooof on the French abandoning you and no hope of a German alliance.
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Post by janxol on Mar 6, 2021 14:15:56 GMT -6
I am actually thinking about doing some sort of delve into the strategic analysis of ship matchups.
For example, Russian armored cruisers are... well, somewhat alrge. The SMALLEST armored cruiser of the Batlic Fleet is the Vityaz and it is still comparable in size to the LARGEST british armored cruiser, can almsot match it in firepower, has similar armor and can outrun it. The Bayans are still as mighty as they were when constructed, and now theres the Latnik, which comforatbly outgun AND outruns any British armored cruisers.
The numbers are not in my favor though.
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Post by janxol on Mar 9, 2021 5:52:38 GMT -6
Before the storm
Mikhail walked forward through the darkness. He walked only forward, as that was the path through the bushes, bushes pressing down on him like walls of this long garden corridor he walked. Then he saw Katya, emerging from the foliage and smiling at him, before continuing to walk the path in front of him, onwards through this corridor between the hedges. Her dress bright green, much brighter than the plants around them and in the darkness of the garden seemingly glowing with light. Grass beneath her bare feet flashed with bioluminescence with her each step, like lights in the ship's wake sometimes seen at night. Mikhail walked behind her, slightly accelerating his step to catch up, but the distance to his sister didn't seem to change. "Commander.", he heard a voice calling to him from behind. He twitched, automatically wanting to turn towards the source of the voice, but also unwilling to let his eyes of Katya. The distance between them increased and he became worried. Worried that he'll lose her. Forcing himself to ignore the voice, he focused again on his sister and increased his pace. "Commander!" This time the voice was even more insistent. It was urgent. Mikhail felt the need turn around, to investigate. They were calling for him, they needed him... Katya was very far now, he could barely see her in the darkness, only the trail of light behind her steps still made her visible. Mikhail's worry became fear. He was losing her. He accelerated again, but something was slowing him down. Water. There was water around him, he was wading in it up to his knees. It was cold, slowing him down, draining his strength. The garden was flooding. "The bulkhead has failed", Mikhail thought immediately, though couldn't quite rationalize what bulkhead he meant. "Commander! Orders, commander?!" He was torn. He had to keep moving. Duty called to him, it called to him to turn around. Without him, they'd be lost. But he couldn't turn around. If he did, he'd lose her. "Commander!" He twitched again, barely resisting the urge to glance behind him, to check on the situation. And in the moment he turned his head forward, Katya was no longer there. His fear became panic. He lost her...
In May 1906 Tula Armory procured a design for a 127mm gun from a Japanese manufacturer. Based on those designs they have developed their own 125mm naval cannon offering improved performance over previous Russian models. Work also continued on designs for a new battleship, but as new engineering problems were encountered the designs had to be reworked once again. Mikhail was worried that this iterative improvement, while possibly leading to a better ship, will inevitably delay the construction. June saw an overall increase in productivity, somewhat surprising considering the looming threat of war. At the same time, recruitment drive was far more successful as people volunteered to defend their country in face of this possible threat. Mikhail was also asked to speak at the Navy League gathering. While many uncomfortable questions were asked with regards to Great Britain, Mikhail answered only that Russia will be prepared to defend its interest against any threat. He was also sure to say it in such a way that would make clear that "any" threat includes also Great Britain and that Russian Navy doesn't fear to face this adversary on the waves - regardless of how true that would be. In July the navy has laid down a new battleship named Gangut. Specifics of the design were kept a secret, but it was to be larger than any Russian battleship to date and meant to combat the new battleships of Great Britain and USA, who at this point weren't the only ones constructing these large warships. Other nations were catching on to the idea of a dreadnought battleship and that soon everyone would be building them.[CLASSIFIED]
Unlikely she will be ready before the war, but neither should the British dreadnoughts.
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Post by thefleetofoceans on Mar 9, 2021 16:10:22 GMT -6
I have one question, twin 12's or Triples?
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Post by janxol on Mar 11, 2021 10:49:24 GMT -6
We dare
In August of 1906 commanders of the Submarine Flotilla have under kontr-admiral Golubov's re-formulated the technical and doctrinal requirements of the submarines, thus defining the term of a "coastal submarine". All current submarines, while not exactly matching all of the new requirements, were re-classified as coastal submarines and a new design was presented for a coastal submarine of Makrel-class. The navy ordered 10 submarines of the Makrel-class just a week later. It was also in August that new quality control measures were introduced for armor manufacturing, which would hopefully result in increase of armor quality. September began in a rather uneventful manner, with 10 first destroyers of the Vnimatelni and Storozhevoi-classes being commissioned and not much else going on through the remainder of the month, leaving Mikhail to struggle against reality, as he always did in this particular month...
Armored cruiser Rossiya (Pamyat Azova-class)
19:30, September 19th, 1906, Formosa, Kilung harbor, Armored cruiser Rossiya Admiral Andrei Yablokov made his way outside, onto Rossiya's observation platform aft of the bridge wings. He nodded slightly in response to sailors and officers saluting him in the passing and glanced out onto the water of Kilung's military harbor. It was still undergoing expansion, both in terms of waterfront facilities and logistics. There wasn't much pier space available, which meant that with arrival of Rossiya, which brought admiral Yablokov for a visit, and Flora, which accompanied Rossiya, ships had to rearrange themselves. As such, Rossiya was moored to the pier on the starboard side, with a coal barge moored to its port side. Additionally a seagoing minesweeper Novgorod was moored alongside on the other side of the coal barge, while Flora was anchored in the middle of the bay, with no access to shore other than through ship's boats. All the reasons to properly expand the Formosa bases, if the fleet was ever to use them. Hopefully the expansion of Takao harbor on the southern side of the island was going according to schedule. Investigating progress was indeed the main reason of Yablokov's visit and while he wasn't entirely pleased with results, it was going about as fast as he could reasonably expect it to. He took a sip from the mug of coffee in his hands before glancing at the coal barge and sailors working on restocking coal aboard Rossiya. Then his eyes drifted onto the Novgorod and a set of naval mines positioned on her stern. With the threat from Great Britain, she would soon be placing them near the harbor entrance, a move that would otherwise be delayed not to impede construction. "Admiral. We're proceeding according to the schedule.", reported the ship's captain, approaching Andrei. "Good. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can go back to Port Arthur.", responded Andrei, taking another sip. And then there was light. And a rather loud noise. As Andrei was thrown to the ground, his head smashing against the floor, he felt Rossiya roll to starboard and hit the pier. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears, before crawling over to the railing and lifting himself up. Through the ringing he now heard the ship's alarm bell and screams, and the picture before his eyes instantly made him understand why. The Novgorod was gone, her stern literally blown off by the apparent explosion of the mines stored on-board and her bow rapidly sinking. The coal barge and its cargo was on fire, and so was the minority of the crew that managed to survive the explosion. The barge itself was also going under, with a large portion of its port side missing. Due to the ongoing loading process and thus portion of the coal aboard Rossiya being stored outside of her coal bunkers, the fire has also spread to the cruiser, with crew hard at work to contain the fire. Out on the water, Flora enabled her searchlights and started sweeping them across the harbor, evidently looking for a submarine. They were also signaling towards Rossiya asking for status. "Report!", ordered Andrei, dashing towards the bridge. "Damage?" "Appears to be minor, we've lost a few men, however. The Novgorod and the barge are sunk.", answered the captain. "I'm still gathering news." "Are we immobilized?" "No, sir." "Then raise steam as soon as you can. Have men on the searchlights, tell them to look for a periscope.", ordered Yablokov. "Yes, sir.", responded the captain, turning away to give orders. After a moment he turned back towards the admiral, with an unsure look on his face. "Do you believe it to be a submarine attack, admiral?" "To be honest... Not really. But we can't use the searchlights to look for foreign agents...", responded Andrei. It didn't take long to establish that the detonation was not an accident, nor a torpedo attack. It was a bomb, set to detonate the naval mines in an attempt to damage nearby Rossiya. An operation that was clearly planned very carefully. And as Russian counterintelligence searched for the perpetrators, the public boiled with rage. While the Rossiya remained mostly undamaged, the 600-ton minesweeper Novgorod was lost in the explosion. Between the crew of Novgorod, none of whom survived, people on the coal barge and unfortunate members of Rossiya's crew, the explosion took 95 lives. It took Russian intelligence only a few days to lead the trail of suspicious activities to a group of Formosan natives who were acting against the Russian "oppressors" since the peace treaty in which Japan ceded Formosa. At least that's what it seems like at first, but going deeper into the issue there were very strong indications that they were working in collaboration with British agents. Somehow, that news made it to the press, brewing yet another storm. With general public outrage and conservative press calling for war, it seemed the spark was lit. And indeed, on September 29th 1906, Russia declared war on Great Britain. And the world was still somewhat surprised by this development. 12:00, October 5th, 1906, St. Petersburg, General-admiral's office Mikhail opened another envelope, this one sent from the intelligence bureau. As soon as he started reading he became very interested in the contents, which made it somewhat difficult to remain focused on what Artem was saying. "We have started the armed merchant cruiser conversions, though it has become apparent that ship owners lied about the specifications of several of the ships.", continued the lieutenant-colonel. "Particularly ships converted to the Kazan-pattern have proved problematic as they lack the strengthened deck sections, which makes it rather difficult to mount guns. In the end, I fear only six guns could be fitted, which is rather abysmal for ships of such sizes. On the other hand, the cargo holds were repurposed into additional coal stores, which means the ships will have long range and good endurance. They are also... incredibly fast, even considering they were classified as "fast freighters". Merchant cruisers being converted to the Yaik-pattern are much smaller, but easier to work with, as they actually have a deck strong enough to support 152mm guns. It should even be possible to add submerged torpedo tubes without difficulty. And we are also converting small vessels around 200 tons for patrol purposes." "That's good. Any news on the battleship design?", asked Mikhail. "Work on the Gangut is continuing, and we are continuing the design work on the next iteration, Project 155. Actually, admiral Yevtushenkov became interested in the design. Also shared his opinion on the Gangut and suggestions for Project 155. Mikhail raised an eyebrow. "Well, he's going to have his hands full with the war now.", he said. "He knows enough about battleships that you should consider his remarks. Also make sure the work on Gangut continues with minimal delays, if possible. At least as long as we don't need the budget elsewhere. If there's nothing else, you're dismissed." "Of course, general-admiral.", Artem headed for the door, but before leaving pointed at one of the cupboards. "I didn't know you play chess, general-admiral." Mikhail looked at the chessboard, with all pieces set in starting positions. Chessboard he neither owned nor placed there. "I used to...", he murmured, furrowing his eyebrows. As Artem left, Mikhail once again re-read the contents of the letter from intelligence, just in time before Dmtri entered the room. "I've dispatched orders.", he said. "The raiders will move out as early as possible. The British are surprised we were the ones to declare on them, and we must capitalize. They will move to establish a blockade and I want as many ships past Skagerrak before that happens. Supply ships are also departing. Also coordinated with Golubov to have the submarines towed out into the North Sea, gain them some extra range." "Good to hear. I assume this is yours?", Mikhail pointed at the chessboard. "Well, I was hoping we could play a game. Not now, as we have much on our heads, but at some point." "You know I don't play chess. I... I dislike the sensation...", said slowly Mikhail, realizing he's feeling slight embarassment about the fact. Sensation, yes. It was difficult to describe it otherwise. Chess were a game that could train the mind, but Mikhail's... He wasn't a fan of the experience, even though there was a time he didn't mind it. Dmitri definitely caught that something was amiss, his eyes narrowing slightly, but decided not to pry. "You do remember that chess is how we met?", he asked. "Met? We'd met long before that.", answered Mikhail, leaning back in his chair, his memories going back to the naval academy. "Maybe, but I didn't even pay attention to your name before the game. You could say it was a start to our friendship.", said Dmitri. "If beating you in chess gains your friendship, you should have a lot more friends...", chuckled Mikhail. "Well, before we get too far into reminiscing, let's get back to the British. They will establish a blockade... And as it happens we know that they will also establish a radio post to establish a better command net for the blockading ships. And we happen to know the exact location." Mikhail passed the letter from intelligence to Dmitri, who read it carefully. "That's an easy target... Close to the shore. They were clearly expecting it to stay hidden.", he said slowly. "Indeed. I want to bombard it.", replied Mikhail. "You will not get a battleship squadron this close to the British shore without response." "It's a completely unfortified target. We don't need battleships..."
Protected cruiser Pamyat Merkuriya (Rynda-class)
7:30, October 14th, 1906, North Sea - 45 nautical miles north-east of Harwich, Protected cruiser Pamyat Merkuriya Captain Mizenov took his eyes away from the British coastline visible ahead and directed his eyes to starboard. In the distance he could see funnel smoke and while hoping it was a merchant ship, he couldn't assume such a thing. He was given very specific orders and very detailed intel before setting off. He knew there were at least four British cruisers operating nearby - two protected cruisers and two armored cruisers. He also knew the location of his target on the coast, a target that he hopefully moving towards - an installation visible directly ahead. Mizenov glanced again at the distant smoke, then his eyes moved across the horizon before setting on the second Russian cruiser - Pamyat Merkuriya's sister-ship, Rynda, following closely behind. To their port travelled two destroyers, Chestni and Zavidni of the Zavetni-class. A third destroyer, Likhoi, unfortunately of the older and slower Veseli-class was moving behind them, slowly catching up after lingering for a moment around a British cargo vessel, now seen in the distance as it dipped below the waves. To say that the captain wasn't nervous would be a lie. He was literally within eyesight of the British coast, and the proximity was making him very concerned. Regardless, he had a mission and he intended to fulfill it. "Captain, that's a coastal battery!", reported one of the lookouts, looking through binoculars at what was until now believed to be the British communication post. "Damn it. Turn to port and make turns for 20 knots. They must've seen us.", said Mizenov. "Navigator?" "Target should be further south, captain. I have marked the approximate position of the coastal battery.", came a response from the map station. The captain wanted to get this over with quickly. Destroy the target and get out before British ships arrive, ideally. And indeed around 8:00 the British communications post was found, Mizenov gave the orders and both Russian cruisers started bombarding the target with 152mm shells. While the target was largely unfortified, it would still take a while before the post could be considered destroyed. "Ship spotted!", yelled one of the lookouts. "Warship, closing!" And indeed, in the distance the captain could see the silhouette of a ship, approaching from the south, almost exactly bow-on and heading straight for them. Taking a look at the bombardment target and deciding that the post and majority of its surroundings, including barracks, storages and other buildings, were very much demolished, Mizenov decided it was time to go. "Helm, take us east-by-north-east. Once turn is complete ring all ahead flank. Identify that ship.", he ordered. The ships turned and started steaming away from the shore, but the British were much closer than originally estimated. Also, there were two identical ships rather than one. Mizenov knew he didn't have to fight unless forced to, his objective was complete. At the same time, he felt confident that two most modern protected cruisers of the Russian navy could take on two British cruisers in an equal fight. The longer he looked, the more he realized this wasn't the case here... As Russians moved, the British maneuvered to intercept. At the same time, smoke was spotted to the north, which made Mizenov realize the British were trying to box him in. He could either continue on course at the danger of getting closer to ships approaching from the south, or adjust direction north and risk encounter with the second group. Still unsure about enemy type and speed, he chose the first option. As the ships converged, gunners were getting ready for the fight. And then, at range of about 12 000 yards, well beyond range of Russian 152mm guns, a single shot was fired from the fore turret of each British ships. The fire was not accurate, but it clearly showed the presence of heavier guns. "Ten-inch guns. Has to be Bacchante-class, both of them. I don't think either is the Europa.", noted the officer of the watch, passing the identification chart to the captain. Now knowing he's dealing with armored cruisers, Mizenov knew he couldn't hope to fight, but he also knew he could outrun them. "Keep on course and keep a look out for those ships to the north.", he ordered. What followed was several hours of chase, in which the British cruisers continued their inaccurate fire, hoping to hit the Russians at range. While originally the distance was decreasing, the two Russian cruisers passed the attempted intercept point and started opening range, heading onwards towards Jutland. Despite the fouling grates and exhausted stokers, Russian ships managed to outrun the British, the chase eventually being called off after almost 6 hours, around 16:50. With approaching darkness, all five ships headed for Skagerrak, having received absolutely no damage. The press called this a victory, and a major one, though that was very much an exaggeration. What it was is that the Russians dared to attack a target on British soil, on their home island - and they managed to escape with impunity having succeeded in doing so. While not wanting to overstate this success, Mikhail was willing to take it for what it was - a boost to general morale. And it felt good to be praised by the press, for once. On October 18th the submarine Beluga became the first submarine in the world to successfully sink an enemy vessel in wartime, her success repeated shortly after by Schchuka and Peskar. Surface raiders were also relatively successful, with seven ships sunk and no damage sustained. Regardless, despite the difficulties caused by Russian raid, the British would establish the naval blockade by the end of the month, a unfavorable situation, but one that couldn't have been avoided.
Well, there's the war....
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Post by akosjaccik on Mar 15, 2021 17:55:14 GMT -6
Speaking of the Gangut, I was never really warmed up to the A-Q-Y layout, but that's one good-looking ship, especially for the time. These sort of engagements do invoke some PTSD in myself though (I had no real answer to hostile CAs, fortunately the AI decided that they are best being squandered as raiders), it will be very interesting to witness how the russian armored cruisers will fare (esp. the Latnik) once the RN first class cruisers decide to bully something in their own weight class.
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Post by janxol on Mar 16, 2021 7:07:39 GMT -6
Close Encounters
Smetlivi (1906) Ships in class: 10 With the outbreak of the war the ongoing - and almost complete - destroyer program was expanded to include further 10 vessels. As such a design was created for a ship intended to be produced domestically and incorporating the positive features of the Vnimatelni-class and the Storozhevoi-class. Displacing 700 tons, they were first Russian ships built with steam turbine propulsion. 10 500 horsepower was meant to enable them to reach a speed of 30 knots, like the experimental Zavetnis. Smetlivi-class lacked a whaleback bow, instead featuring a raised forecastle for better seakeeping and their bow would be reinforced for ramming submarines. Their torpedo armament was identical to that of Vnimatelni-class, but they also adopted the forward wing torpedo tubes of the German-built Storozhevoi-class. With 6 tubes total, two were located on either side of the bridge, two on the sides of the third funnel and the remaining two on the centerline - one between the funnels and one in the aft section of the hull. This arrangement meant a broadside of four torpedoes. The ships would be armed with three 76mm guns, one forward on the forecastle, one aft and one placed just aft of the third funnel. Ten ships were laid down in November 1906, and the admiralty didn't rule out the possibility of ordering another batch. November itself was relatively uneventful. Despite the British blockade, raiders continued their operations, for a combined 16 merchant ships sunk in the month. Unfortunately one of the submarines failed to return from her voyage and was deemed lost at sea. It was unclear whether this was a result of a malfunction or enemy action. Also, another battleship was laid down, the Borodino. It was meant to address some of the concerns related to the Gangut, but in face of being unable to fully resolve certain engineering problems they were more of a stop-gap measure and the battleship was laid down out of necessity and peer pressure, with Germany and France laying down their first dreadnoughts. As such, the Borodino would be equipped with a 250mm battery to augment her heavy gun firepower.
Comparison between Gangut (top) and Borodino (bottom)
December saw continuation of raiding operations, with Russian ships being rather successful in breaking out into the North Sea. In fact, the British were annoyed enough by this fact that they staged an operation to strike at the naval stores located near Hango that were used to store fuel, coal, ammunition and torpedoes and as base for loading supply ships. Russian intelligence got news of this fact in advance, and on December 21st 1906 a Russian force would be prepared to meet British ships in the northern Baltic.
11:30, December 21st, 1906, Baltic Sea - 20 nautical miles south of Hango, Armored cruiser Latnik Dmitri tapped his hands on the railing, looking at the Finnish coast visible to starboard. He felt somewhat weird, going into battle on a ship that wasn't the Bayan. He came to like the ship and its crew. Admittedly many of the crew from Bayan were transferred to Latnik to ensure the new cruiser would have properly experienced crew, but still, it wasn't the same ship. That wasn't to say the ship was bad, it was Dmitri's concept after all. Slightly larger than the Bayan, with more firepower and better maneuverability. What Dmitri didn't like was the ship's position at the present moment. The Latnik was leading the armored cruiser division consisting of herself, as well as Vityaz and Voin, the two Vityaz-class cruisers. That itself was fine, but the cruisers were set to follow the battleship division, which Dmitri did not agree with. The four battleships in front were Imperatritsa Mariya, Imperator Aleksandr III and Knyaz Potemkin, with Dvenadtsat Apostolov following the three semi-dreadnoughts. The ships were accompanied by several destroyers and screened by three protected cruisers, with further three protected cruisers keeping in front as lookouts. Dmitri looked at Yevtushenkov's admiral flag flying on the Imperatritsa in mild annoyance. Mikhail put Yevtushenkov in charge, as he was of higher rank, and Yevtushenkov ordered Dmitri to follow the battleships in battle line. Dmitri complied, but he didn't agree. With advancements in gun capabilities over last 6 years it was questionable whether the armored cruiser could still hold up in line of battle. Their speed and maneuverability was their advantage and Dmitri would rather have them operate independently from the battleships. He did share his opinion with Yevtushenkov, but the older admiral didn't budge.
15:00, Battleship Imperatritsa Mariya Captain Trufanov entered the bridge, glancing at admiral Yevtushenkov. Admiral's presence made him feel uneasy, but it was an effect Yevtushenkov often had on his subordinates. The admiral was completely motionless, as if he was fixed to the deck. In fact, he was in the exact same spot and posture as the captain had seen him an hour ago. He wouldn't talk, he wouldn't move. He was just standing there, menacingly. Trufanov kept going about his business on the bridge, doing his best not to appear nervous in admiral's presence. And then Yevtushenkov moved, to the captain's great surprise. The admiral reached into the pocket of his uniform and took out a pocket watch. He opened the lid, took a look at the time, closed the lid and put the watch back into his pocket. And then he stopped moving again. The captain kept looking, somewhat baffled, but that was it. "Captain, we're approaching the mark.", reported the navigator. Trufanov nodded and looked to Yevtushenkov, but the admiral clearly felt no need to act or acknowledge. "Helm, prepare to reverse course. Hoist the flag signals.", ordered Trufanov. Like several times before the Russian ships would turn around, continuing the patrol along the Finnish coast. As Trufanov looked at Yevtushenkov, he almost felt the urge to ask him a question. At the same time, he didn't quite feel daring enough. For the next half an hour the captain continued to covertly cast glances at the immobile admiral, who appeared to even refuse to compensate for the ship's motion on the waves, as if he was truly fixed to the deck. The motion was, to be fair, quite minimal, as the ship was large, the waves were gentle and the weather was clear. "Communication from the Varyag. Smoke spotted to the south.", came a report. The captain once again looked to the admiral. "We have about thirty more minutes. Prepare the ship for battle. Head south.", he said calmly. While slightly confused, the captain started giving out appropriate orders, making a mental note that the ship lacks a forward torpedo room. 15:45, Armored cruiser Latnik Despite the hour, it was almost nighttime at this time of year and latitude, with sunlight vanishing rather rapidly. As Russian ships headed towards the expected enemy, they were also tightening their formation to stay within visual range in the coming darkness. By 16:00 it was completely dark. Dmitri stood on the wing of Latnik's bridge, peeling his eyes into the darkness, but visibility was terrible. And then out of nowhere, a series of very close muzzle flashes illuminated the night, and thundering sound of gunfire filled the night. The British, clearly better prepared for night actions, had the first salvo and due to short distance they managed to score several hits on the Russian warships, mostly the battleships. With sudden emergence of the enemy from the darkness Dmitri needed a few moments to get his bearings and asses the relative courses of the two forces, a few moments of confusion which could cost dearly. He knew that Imperatritsa Mariya raised a set of flags, judging by the speed of response pre-planned by Yevtushenkov - "Flotilla attack" and "Turn together, turn to starboard". As the ships began to turn, Dmitri didn't need to give more orders. Latnik and the two cruisers following it would follow the lead of battleships until commanded otherwise and now, in the darkness of the night, Dmitri thought it better to stick to the battleships rather than operate independently. And so he found himself agreeing with a decision Yevtushenkov made hours ago, despite his earlier reservations. Again. Russian ships immediately returned fire and Russian destroyers dashed forward through the gaps between turning vessels towards the enemy, with British destroyers rushing to meet them. One could only guess, and be rightfully terrified, of how many torpedoes were now being launched. And in the light of muzzle flashes Dmitri realized something important - the British ships were armored cruisers, not battleships. "Get a firing solution on the third vessel.", ordered Dmitri. He had a feeling Yevtushenkov has also realized the absence of enemy battleships in sight, though he also knew that both of them were aware that British battleships were reported to be part of the force and so they were likely out there somewhere. Imperatritsa was once again signaling, this time to reform line ahead on her. Immediately afterwards Yevtushenkov's flagship turned to port, towards the British vessels. Dmitri soon realized that there were more british ships, likely lighter cruiser on the other side of turning battleships, as starboard 250mm guns of the Imperatritsa fired, while port guns were the ones pointing towards the armored cruisers. Soon after followed a magnificent view of "Knyaz Potemkin's Revenge" firing all of her 32 casemated guns simultaneously. With this many torpedoes in the water it was almost miraculous that no ships have been hit. Alas, this "peace" couldn't last for long. One of the British cruisers was first to be hit by a torpedo, but soon after one of the Russian destroyers was equally unlucky. With the small size, the Russian ship was doomed. As the engagement continued at the edge of nighttime range of vision - which wasn't much - ships of both sides made occasional maneuvers to avoid torpedo attacks, with destroyers mingling between the larger vessels. More torpedo hits on both sides happened, though it was hard to judge their severity in the darkness. Protected cruiser Varyag Lost. Again. In the darkness the Varyag became separated from the rest of the force and was now heading towards the muzzle flashes visible far in the distance. The captain felt somewhat worried, a feeling not helped by getting flashbacks from the Russo-Japanese war in which the exact same thing happened to Varyag. Back then, they had a very close call with a Japanese torpedo. And as soon as the captain fully visualized that encounter in his mind, a ship appeared in the darkness, a ship he immediately recognized. "Hard to port! Ready torpedoes!", he ordered, realizing he's staring down a barrel of a British 14-inch gun. As the Varyag was part of the scouting element, she did technically accomplish the task of locating enemy battleships, though the time to do so wasn't the most opportune. The battleship's casemates fired upon the Varyag, and the protected cruiser optimsitically returned fire with full array of its 152mm, 76mm and even 57mm guns. In vain. Then the British battleship fired the main guns, and in that first and only salvo a 14-inch shell tore its way through the ship, detonating in the magazine. And in that instant the Varyag and her crew were snapped out of existence. Boom. Armored cruiser Latnik Latnik's guns roared, scoring several hits on a British armored cruiser. The firepower of the Russian vessel was indeed showing, and admittedly Dmitri did feel some sort of satisfaction due to that fact. A large ball of light suddenly appeared in the distance, drawing the vice-admiral's attention. The source of light proved to be an exploding cruiser, and in that short moment once could spot the silhouettes of British battleships. Imperatritsa decided to turn, as Yevtushenkov was clearly intending to disengage the armored cruisers and chase after British battleships. The weather, however, had other plans. It was getting worse, much worse. Rain was now pouring down from the skies and the wind was picking up speed. In the end, the Russian battleships would fail to make contact with their British counterparts. However, through combination of Russian action and changing weather British vessels never got into bombardment range of their intended target. It wouldn't be until morning, however, that the full outcome of the engagement would be known. 23:45, Battleship Imperatritsa Mariya Yevtushenkov once again looked at his watch, before closing the lid and sliding it back into his pocket. "If no contact is reported within fifteen minutes, head back to St. Petersburg.", he said. "Yes, admiral. May I ask a question?", said Trufanov, regretting his words even before they came out of his mouth. Yevtushenkov turned to face him, his cold gaze directed at the captain's face. "You may.", he said, though it sounded far from encouragement. "How did you know when the British would attack, sir?" "You tell me." The captain did his best not to fidget. He felt as if taking an exam at the academy again. Determined to prove to both the admiral and to himself that he possesses a certain degree of tactical intelligence, he forced himself to think. "We knew the approximate size of the British force...", he said slowly, though feeling like he's not making much sense. "And... They wouldn't risk that force this close to our homeport..." There was no change in Yevtushenkov's expression. Think, Trufanov. And then something clicked. "One of the briefings mentioned that the British are extensively training for night warfare. They'd believe to have an advantage in the night engagement.", he said. "But how were you sure?" "I wasn't. That's why we were burning coal out here and not waiting for the night in harbor.", said Yevtushenkov before turning away. The outcome of the battle - which would also come to be known as Battle of the Gulf of Finland, despite not actually taking place in the gulf - was... Disputed. Both sides claimed victory, as the Russians prevented the British from bombarding their intended target and a British armored cruiser was sunk. However, the Russians also sustained losses. As the Varyag's magazine detonated, only a few people survived the explosion, and those who did couldn't be rescued before the cold water claimed their lives. Thus, the death toll was higher on the Russian side, with not a single survivor from the Varyag and more killed and wounded from other ships. As the British battleships never made contact with Russian line, they also remained undamaged, while all Russian battleships were reached by British gunnery. Admittedly the damage was minimal and mostly limited to superstructure, as the cruiser guns failed to pierce the thick belts. Additionally 2 of 4 Zavetni-class destroyers were lost in the engagement. January of 1907 continued primarily with the commerce warfare and ongoing blockade. Unfortunately it also came with losses for Russia. Protected cruiser Novik of the Svetlana-class operating on South-East Asia was ambushed by British vessels, and while it had managed to escape, the crew ultimately had no choice but to scuttle the ship due to lack of sufficient coal reserve to make port. It was also in January that the British have substantially increased their focus on protecting merchant shipping, making it more difficult for Russian raiders and submarines to operate. On the technological front, gyroscopes were introduced into new torpedo designs to improve their capabilities, as the weapon itself was gaining more attention as it was becoming increasingly dangerous, its effective range almost double of what it was five years ago. Many claimed that more focus should be made on light forces, as they may be the best option against Britain's larger and more advanced navy.
Borodino - what would you even call it? A semi-semi-dreadnought?
Shame about the Varyag, as it was the largest a heaviest protected cruiser of Russian fleet (along with 3 sisters, who are luckily still around). At the same time, I didn't expect no losses.
akosjaccik I actually feel like I'm making superstructures too large for the period, but at least they look decently.
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Post by prophetinreverse on Mar 17, 2021 5:46:18 GMT -6
Well, it would appear that Yevtushenkov is both maddening to be around but also maddeningly competent. Russia needs all the help it can get, I suppose!
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Post by janxol on Mar 18, 2021 15:58:42 GMT -6
Annoying the British for a living
14:00, February 8th, 1907, St. Petersburg, General-admiral's office Mikhail raised his head from his desk hearing the door open. Dmitri walked in, clear traces of snow still present on his coat. For a few seconds they looked at each other in silence, with Mikhail slowly raising an eyebrow. "Well, you're back quick. How did it go?", he asked. Dmitri grimaced and waves his hand. "I can confirm that the British blockade is still in place.", he said sarcastically. "Barely got out of Skagerrak, already had three armored cruisers on me. I was willing to fight, we shot off a few salvos. Then seven more cruisers showed up. I have full confidence in Latnik and Bayan, but ten against two wasn't the odds I was willing to accept." "Understandable. The blockade is indeed an unfortunate thing, but I'm not sure we have a realistic option of getting rid of it...", mused Mikhail. "I'm still disappointed France was of absolutely no help." "Well, such is the fate of democracies. They are utterly unpredictable and unreliable. With autocracies, you can trust the country to follow the leader's agenda. In democracies each change of leadership can make the country spin around in any possible direction.", responded Mikhail. "We're on our own. But I was never optimistic enough to count on France. Or Germany. Though admittedly Germany is surprisingly cooperative in their blissful ignorance of our supply ships operating in their waters. While unwilling to engage against Great Britain with the mess in the Balkans that they have involved themselves with, it is rather clear that they would rather see us win than lose in our war. Their ignorance of our operations near their coastline is all the help I would count on, however. Meanwhile, the British are actually annoyed by our raiding. Intelligence tells me they have set up a communications post, dedicated to assisting their trade protection ships... And they have placed it rather close to a position we managed to bombard last time. Clearly they do not expect us to succeed in doing the same thing twice." "Indeed. Do you have a plan regarding that post?" "I do.", said Mikhail. "We're going to do the exact same thing twice."
Rynda-class protected cruiser And so, Pamyat Merkuriya and her sister, Rynda, were once again sent to perform bombardment of a coastal target located on the British Isles. Having successfully broken out into the North Sea, the two cruisers would engage the mission target on February 15th. Encouraged by the last success, they did not only destroy the bombardment target, but also sunk a British merchant ship and a patrolling gunboat and got into a firefigt with a pair of British protected cruisers, inflicting moderate damage before being forced to retreat by arriving armored cruisers. The two ships would escape back into the Baltic with minimal damage and the morale of the Russian sailors would be bolstered by their achievements. British, on the other hand, were furious. The month of February would be a relatively successful one, despite the loss of another submarine. The blockade was still a problem, and not a small one, but the raiding operations were proving to be a thorn in British side. The Engineering Committe has also introduced several advancements. One of them was a new 2.74m rangefinder. The size was completely arbitrary and had absolutely no connection with the 9ft rangefinder employed by the Americans. Additionally mechanical shell handling system were introduced to improve rate of fire and the shells themselves received an improved AP cap for increased penetration, followed by improved explosive filler packing in early March. March would be less lucky, however, as the British appeared incredibly competent during that month and managed to prevent majority of raider attacks on their shipping. Russian protected cruiser Almaz was intercepted near the Irish coast, and while the little vessel put up a brave fight, heavily damaging a British protected cruiser, but an arrival of enemy armored cruiser sealed her fate. Almaz was sunk and majority of her crew were picked up by the British as prisoners of war.
Protected cruiser Almaz, lost on March 4th near Ireland
In April the first Russian armed merchant cruisers were sent out as raiders. While the crews didn't have the opportunity to fully work up, they were deemed ready for the tasks at hand and - more importantly - they were deemed needed. The crews would come to prove their worth, sinking many British merchants during the month and managing to avoid enemy patrols through combination of speed and disguise. Work continued on further armed merchant cruiser conversions and to some it would seem that the great Russian plan involved weaponizing every merchant vessel in Russian harbors. And judging by performance of the AMC raiders so far, it could as well work.
4:30, May 28th, 1907, North Sea - approximately 80 nautical miles west of Skagerrak, Armed merchant cruiser Volga The sea was calm, there was almost no wind. The sun was rising behind the ship as it gently sailed through the mist. This mist gave some sense of security, but it could not fully calm down captain Alogrin. The peace was an illusion and no matter how serene the scene was looking, it was nerve-racking for the captain and his crew. There he was, standing on the bridge of his first command, yet not the kind of ship he envisioned. A converted liner, armed merchant cruiser of the Yaik-pattern. Not the command he wanted but he saw it as an opportunity. An opportunity to prove himself, his skills, to eventually rise up through ranks, to real warships. But despite his ambition, his focus was here and now, on his ship attempting to run the blockade, to get out into North Sea and the Atlantic to raid British shipping. "Ship spotted! Port-side!" A call he was most worried about. He dashed to the port-side windows of the bridge to take a look for himself - and there it was. Definitely a warship, lingering at the edge of vision, a silhouette in the mist. "Be ready, but do not open the gun-hatches. He may not realize who we are...", ordered Alogrin, turning to his first officer for a moment. "Just smile and wave, smile and wave..." For a few nerve-racking minutes, he stared at the British cruiser, presenting a near perfect broadside. They weren't firing, clearly uncertain of the identity of the Russian vessel. But just as Alogrin was getting optimistic, the British fired upon them, 6-inch shells landing around them. "Open the gun pits, return fire! Ahead flank, forty degrees to port!", he ordered immediately. Volga revealed its armament of 152mm and 76mm guns and started firing upon the British cruiser. Alogrin knew that he could neither outrun nor outgun the enemy cruiser. Situation was bad. And as he thought of that, the third salvo of Russian 152mm managed to land a single hit on the British cruiser, which immediately caused a rather sizeable explosion. Barely did Alogrin realized that was probably detonation of the ready-rack of one of the guns, another - much larger - explosion occurred, tearing the ship apart and causing it very rapidly vanish below the waves. Alogrin was looking in shock at the place the British cruiser used to be for a few long seconds, before realizing everyone on the bridge is looking at him. "Stow the guns.", he ordered, putting on his most professional and confident face. "Gentlemen, we just bagged ourselves a Royal Navy warship." As the crew cheered loudly and work to again conceal the ships armament, Alogrin once again glanced at the last position of the cruiser. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Armed merchant cruiser Volga (top) and the British cruiser Pique (bottom) she encountered on May 28th, 1907
And so, a hopeless encounter was turned into a small victory and a morale booster for the Russian navy. The British, on the other hand, were furious....
The Tsar wants YOU! Join the Imperial Russian Navy - annoy the British for a living! Currently seeking brave men for crews of highly sophisticated AMC-type cruisers! And if you happen to own a merchant vessel, the Navy would be interested to learn more about it!
I suppose its going about as well as it can, considering the force disparity. The blockade is the issue.
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Post by akosjaccik on Mar 19, 2021 11:40:40 GMT -6
I do respect your patience highly, I have to say, there is a chance that in my case that engagement would've been an "AMC Volga got sunk by british cruiser Pique" auto-resolve pop-up. Some frightening occurences of detonations however, RtW giveth and RtW taketh away it seems. It also came to my mind that commerce warfare with AMCs is indeed probably the best idea in this situation as far as I am concerned, but then I thought it's not like I'd have pretty much any other idea. One tiny bit of good(?) thing in this mess is that men of the likes of Golubov and Alogrin can find the opportunities and challenges they so desire. Or rather, they are being fed with these challanges by an industrial-grade, hydraulically operated spoon.
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Post by janxol on Mar 20, 2021 13:36:18 GMT -6
The fiery fury of Russian armored cruisers
In June of 1907 the British fleet showed some activity in the Far East. A cruiser engagement took place near Formosa involving a Russian protected cruiser Svetlana. The vessel was heavily damaged, but managed to make port. Her sister ship, Vesta, also operating in the South-East Asia was less fortunate. Having a run-in with British armored cruiser she was damaged and forced to enter the American port of Manila. The USA allowed the ship to enter port, but the cruiser was interned to maintain American neutrality. Admiral Andrei Yablokov has also sent messages to St. Petersburg informing of his suspicions that the British are intending to invade Port Arthur and that the Pacific Squadron will focus its operations to prevent it. June also saw the introduction of improved rolled shipbuilding steel, which could allow for construction of lighter hulls.
12:00, June 20th, 1907, St. Petersburg, Admiralty building Mikhail entered the room, casting a quick glance at everyone present. Dmitri, Yevtushenkov, Artem and Golubov. "Gentlemen.", he greeted them. "There has been a development." Approaching the table, Koshkin put down a set of drawings, sent to him by the Russian intelligence.
"She was commissioned four days ago.", he said. "Her two sisters are expected to join her withn the next three months. It seems our friends in London decided to expedite the construction in face of the war. Artem Ivanovitch, when can the completion of Gangut and Borodino be expected?" Artem shook his head, clearly focused on the schematics of British vessel. "Assuming no delays, which I cannot guarantee... About two years. More for Borodino.", he answered. "Which means that we have two issues to ponder today. One of them, whether our planned dreadnoughts can fight her and expect success. And second, how can we do so without said dreadnoughts. Admiral Yevtushenkov, I welcome your expertise on battleship combat." That last sentence admittedly had some difficulty passing through Mikhail's windpipe, but despite his personal issues with the admiral, he wasn't going to dismiss his skills. That's why he chose to suffer his presence in the first place, after all. Yevtushenkov was of similar mindset, as despite his personal issues with Mikhail, success of the navy was in his interest. Very slowly he reached out for the schematic and dragged it towards himself, looking at it for long few minutes. "Twelve heavy guns on a relatively small displacement. They made sacrifices to fit them there.", he said eventually. "The ship will lack either speed or armor. Still, for the reason of firepower alone it is a considerable threat to our battleships. As for the planned dreadnoughts, unknown." "The barbettes of the wing turrets are likely limiting the volume available for machinery.", said Artem. "Being so close to the edge of the hull they also require additional armoring and support structures, which was one of the reasons we didn't originally consider wing turrets for the Gangut and Borodino. There is a possibility they would be a weakness." "Possibility and nothing more. The ship has firepower and limited displacement. If she has speed, she lacks armor. If she has armor, she lacks speed. Nothing more can be said with information we have.", responded Yevtushenkov. "Kontr-admiral Golubov, when you send out the submarines do not forget to mention that she's a priority target.", said Mikhail. "If I understand correctly, the new submarines will be completed soon?" "Yes, general-admiral. I must say, however, that I cannot guarantee or even expect that any of our submarines will have the oportunity to take a shot at British warships. It's risky and in fact the Flotilla had few successes these past months. The British have learned, there are more and more escorts present and they are using explosive sweeps to engage our submarines.", said Golubov. "That's smart on their part. In fact, we could do the same thing?", Mikhail looked at Artem, who nodded in agreement. A few more topics of discussion came up, all regarding the blockade and the need to get past it, and by the time the meeting has ended it was well past 15:00. Mikhail and Dmitri were left alone in the room, with Koshkin letting out a tired groan. "I had enough of being stuck in the office.", he admitted. "I need to get on a warship." "One would think that fighting a war in Europe, as opposed to the Far East would be a convenience." "Far from it. One more thing, before we go. Our friends in intelligence have reported that the British have constructed a certain facility near the English shore that would prove a prove a worthy target for another bombardment..." Dmitri raised an eyebrow. "Are we going to do the exact same thing thrice?" "Not quite. This one is supposedly better fortified and the British are patrolling this section of the shore better. It's as if they are learning. So we are going to do the same thing thrice, but this time slightly different..."
15:30, July 16th, 1907, North Sea, near English coast, Armored cruiser Latnik Dmitri took one last glance at the destroyed installation being the target of the shore bombardment before ordering to turn away from the shore. Latnik turned east, with Bayan following close behind and surrounding destroyers readjusting their position around the two ships as the formation moved through the mist. "I was told there would be British warships...", mused Dmitri. "And... I think there they are." In the mist of to port he could see the two silhouettes. As the ships came closer to each other, more, smaller silhouettes appeared, likely escorting destroyers. As it became apparent that the British ships are a pair of armored cruisers, Dmitri weighed his options. He stopped leaning over the railing of bridge wing and looked up, to check the funnel smoke in order to determine wind speed and direction. The wind was not in their favor if the ships met at the current course, but still Dmitri felt comfortable. He had Latnik and Bayan, which with a comfortable margin outsized and outgunned all of British armored cruisers, as well as support of protected cruisers Boyarin and Velikii Knyaz Konstantin following behind them at a distance and checking for pursuit. As such, he was intending to take the fight and as the crew managed to identify both enemy warships, his confidence grew. One of the cruisers was the Andromeda, the only remaining Niobe-class armored cruiser after Battle of Hango, where her sister, the Niobe, was sunk. The other was a Bacchante-class armored cruiser. That meant that Latnik alone could bring more guns to bear on the enemy than both of them combined. Dmitri liked his chances and so he gave orders in preparation for the engagement. As they moved away from the shore and time passed, the mist was clearing and soon the first shots were fired.
British armored cruisers encountered by Latnik and Bayan
After a few missed salvos the British were the first to score a hit, with a ten-inch shell hitting Bayan right above the waterline, it seemed that it did not penetrate, however. Despite the added difficulty of funnel smoke interfering with gunnery, the Russian cruisers soon scored hits of their own. And after a few more salvoes, something must've happened. Something was hit, that the British would rather not see hit, as the Bacchante-class cruiser turned away and made a near 270-degree turn, heading south-west. The Andromeda soon followed suit, but it was clear the cruisers slowed down. Bacchante was losing engine power. As Dmitri watched it unfold, two choices were laid out before him - pursue the British ships back towards England or move to Skagerrak and return to port. With the British cruiser damaged, blood was in the air and so the order was given to turn west and follow the British. The firefight continued, with Andromeda doing her best to attempt to draw fire away from her companion, and inadvertently having her wish granted, with Latnik shifting the fire of her 250mm guns. As the range was found and all seven of Latnik's guns that could be brought to bear went to rapid fire, the Andromeda's crew came to regret their decision. Even more so when one of Latnik's shells found its way inside Andromeda's rear turret, causing a detonation blowing the turret roof sky high. The ship remained afloat, now carrying fire and smoke where her turret used to be. Despite this damage and the now completely obvious fire superiority of Russian cruisers, the British vessels proved incredibly stubborn and their armor resilient enough. Taking a moment to take a look at the map, Dmitri realized that they are making a run for the port of Harwich and in fact they were now incredibly close. Still, the Bacchante-class cruiser was falling behind, now capable of less than ten knots. The Andromeda has abandoned all hope of trying to help her, deciding to save herself from the Russian vessels and abandon the crippled warship. As the distance between two British cruisers increased, the British destroyers also had to make a choice, opting to stay with Andromeda. With that, Dmitri gave the order to his own destroyers, which promptly moved in on the crippled cruiser and hit her twice with torpedoes, sealing her fate. The Russian cruisers themselves were still focusing fire on the Andromeda, as Dmitri was determined to not let the cruiser get away. Firing off one more desperate salvo of her 7-inch secondaries, she hit Latnik three times on the superstructure, starting not one but two fires in the aft section. And then the destroyer Stroini, positioned forward and to port of Latnik, happened to explode spontaneously and violently, causing Dmitri to turn his eyes towards her. Realizing that no shells were fired towards the destroyer, conclusion was rather obvious. They were too close to Harwich. "Hard to starboard.", he ordered. "We have mines on port perimeter." The Russian cruisers started to turn away, heading back north-east. Dmitri got one last glance at the Andromeda, listing heavily but getting away, before turning his full attention to the fire raging onboard. And indeed the fire proved to a major concern at the moment, as despite the best efforts of damage control teams, it was quite clearly spreading, with majority of the deck and superstructure from the aft turret to the forward wing turrets engulfed. "Vice-admiral Vedernikov, the fire is out of control!", reported the captain. "Then get it under control!", snapped back Dmitri. One fight was over, but another continued. As Russian vessels moved towards Jutland, fire still raged untamed on the Latnik. Even as night fell, the flames still cast a light brighter than the sun, now with majority of the ship covered with fire. Dmitri could feel the immense heat, but even as Bayan and Boyarin came closer and signalled readiness to take up Latnik's crew, he refused to give up. "Admiral! With all due respect, we must abandon the ship!", yelled the captain, approaching him once again. Dmitri respected him. He respected his skills and his courage to stand up to him for the good of his crew. But in this case, he just couldn't agree. "Negative, captain!", he raised his voice. "We are NOT losing the ship because a desperate Brit happened to throw a matchstick at us! Your men know how to fight fire, they CAN get this under control and they WILL get this under control. There is no other option, captain, no capacity for failure!" As the captain grudgingly left to give command to his men, Dmitri turned toward the helmsman. "What's our current speed?" "Sixteen knots, sir! But we're starting to lose boiler pressure, sir, the stokers are leaving their stations due to fire.", responded the helmsman. "Full stop on the engines!", ordered Dmitri. The helmsman looked at him confused. "Full stop. The wind is fanning the flames, we need to slow down.", repeated Dmitri. As the order telegraph rang a full stop, the firefighting continued... At long last, after a night that seemed to last an eternity, the first rays of morning sun started to shine on a drifting armored cruiser. Its deck and superstructure was charred from the fire that consumed it, but now the fires were gone, having consumed merely 90% of the ship's surface. The ship's captain, clearly tired from the ordeal, entered the ruined bridge and approached Dmitri, who was looking around assessing the damage. "Vice-admiral, I... I wish to apologize if I stepped out if line earlier...", said the captain, standing at attention in front of Dmitri. He could now see that the captain has several burn marks on his hands and forehead, and his eyes revealed exhaustion that was even greater than Dmitri's own. "No need, captain.", he responded. "You acted with best interests of ship and crew in mind. Are we seaworthy?" "Barely... We're raising steam but it will take a while. And the damage to propulsion is still being assessed." Dmitri nodded. "Get Bayan to tow us until we can get our own power. Make sure the wounded are tended to, we can try moving them to other ships if our facilities are... No longer functional. Let's get back to port and laugh at the British."
10:00, July 30th, 1907, St. Petersburg, General-admiral's office "How are you, Dmitri? Still feeling crispy?", asked Mikhail, entering the office. "Look what the intelligence mailed me. A newspaper from London." Mikhail smirked and threw the paper onto the coffee table. Dmitri, who was sitting on the sofa next to it, grabbed it with interest. There he saw an article with a big bold title saying "Ghost ships of the North Sea" and below a photograph of Latnik and Bayan, clearly taken from the British shore several minutes before they began the bombardment. Dmitri allowed himself to smirk before delving into the article, written about the elusive Russian warships that keep sneaking past the blockade and attacking the British shore, and not sparing critique of the Royal Navy's efforts to prevent it. The British must be truly furious.
I admit I would rather not lose the Latnik. Still, having oversized armored cruisers appears to be to Russian advantage this time.
akosjaccik The thing is that I need to fight the small and medium battles and avoid the big ones, not the other way around. As this battle soemwaht shows, I should have the cruiser advantage as long as I'm not severely outnumbered. Forcing the Brits to post their cruisers to TP to deal with my horde of AMCs also helps in that regard.
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Post by prophetinreverse on Mar 22, 2021 5:58:15 GMT -6
Lady Luck it seems is currently dating the Russians.
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Post by janxol on Mar 24, 2021 14:51:46 GMT -6
Big game, bigger ambitions
In August of 1907 the Engineering Committe aquired blueprints for small tube boilers and approved them for use in warships. It also brought the loss of destroyer Vinoslivi (Vnimatelni-class) torpedoes by a British submarine near Skagerrak. Russia also sent out more armed merchant raiders, doing so as soon as conversions were completed and the crew reached minimal acceptable proficiency in operating the ship - time was of the essence and more raiders were needed to be out there. This approach inevitably brought another case of a Russian armed merchant cruiser dueling a British warship. Armed merchant cruiser Narova, an Onega-pattern converted freighter, encountered British protected cruiser Pallas when attempting to run the blockade on August 22nd. The Russian ship was greatly outmatched and rather quickly succumbed to the power of British guns, but not before managing to launch a torpedo at Pallas and scoring a lucky hit. This resulted in both ships being sunk in the engagement.
Russian navy has also reported a loss of another submarine. With Russian raiding operations clearly having an impact on British morale, if anything else, the British navy has once again opted to strike into the Baltic to strike at the supply base near Hango, Finland - the same base they failed to destroy last time. One more player was involved in this decision - the Russian intelligence, receiving additional funding from the navy's coffers and providing invaluable information to the Russians and equally invaluable misinformation to the British. And so, while the British didn't expect it to be as easy as originally envisioned, they weren't counting on the Russians knowing the exact date of the attack.
Mikhail sat down on the bench, taking off his captain's hat and placing it next to him. Before him he had an excellent view over the harbor and pretty good view at not-so-distant Kronstadt and warships moored to some of its piers. "Do you think I can take a nap before you finish?", he asked. He heard footsteps behind him, just barely. Katya, being barefoot and walking on grass, barely made a noise. Sometimes Mikhail could swear that she was sneaking up to him on purpose, but at the same time he couldn't be quite sure. As she passed next to the bench an came into Mikhail's view, he could see that she was quite amused. "How long do you think painting takes?", she asks. "You'll have enough time for ten naps, maybe more if you still have trouble sleeping." She smiled, playing idly with a painting brush she held in her hands before approaching an easel with blank canvas that was set up on the grass short distance from the bench occupied by Mikhail. "Why do you think I have trouble sleeping?", he asked, smiling though somewhat surprised. "Because I have more empathy than an average carrot and because I am neither blind nor deaf.", she answered. "You're often tired. You keep waking up and taking naps during the day. And you speak in your sleep. It's been happening for some time now. I think it started about four, maybe five months since you returned from the war." For a few moments there was silence, as Mikhail processed this information. "Hope I'm not too loud. Am I at least saying anything sensible?", he asked shaking his head and letting out a chuckle. "I don't think so. You just murmur and repeat certain phrases.", she said, looking at him attentively, her smile fading somewhat. "Sometimes you say *Remember me*..." The ship is yours... Remember me... "... or you keep repeating *commander*." Commander! Orders, commander?! Mikhail shifted somewhat on the bench. For a few long seconds he and Katya looked at each other in silence. "If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. But clearly something happened.", said Katya. "Such is war.", he answered. "I'll get over it. I suggest you get to painting unless you want to camp the night here." Katya looked out over the water, preparing the paint colors she deemed necessary. "Which one is your ship?", she asked. Mikhail raised an eyebrow. Avrora could indeed be seen from here, moored alongside Flora and Diana, though they were far enough that it would be impossible to tell which is which. Mikhail was acquainted with the ships, however, and - more importantly - he remembered where he parked the damn thing. "Over there.", he pointed. "Third protected cruiser from the left." "Third what?" "How am I supposed to explain it to you? There are three of them that look the same. Not the big one, that's an armored cruiser. Third one of the ones that look the same." "The ones with four chimneys?" "Those are FUNNELS, but yes. And make sure the water matches the color this time. You're painting Kronstadt, not Cuba." "And you're sure I won't get arrested for painting a landscape that includes warships?", chuckled Katya. "No. We're in a publicly accessible area and I've checked if there any rules about taking pictures or painting military assets. None of them apply here.", said Mikhail. Katya fell silent as she started painting, focused on the brush and canvas. Mikhail watched her work for a few minutes, his thoughts gradually drifting away. "Admiral.", he heard a sharp voice next to him. For some reason he felt as if it was directed at him, but it didn't seem right. He wasn't an admiral. "General-admiral, sir!" Mikhail opened his eyes, inhaling sharply and raising his head from the cot. His took in the room, an officer's cabin on a ship. Eugeni, his aide and flag lieutenant, took a step back, clearly after having shaken Mikhail's shoulder. "My apologies, general-admiral, but you instructed me to wake you up quarter from six.", he reported, standing at attention. "I did indeed. Thank you, Eugeni.", answered Mikhail, casting a glance at the porthole. It was still dark outside.
6:00, October 1st, 1907, Baltic Sea - 25 nautical miles south-west of Hango, Battleship Imperatritsa Mariya Mikhail entered the bridge, taking a good look around before heading for the wing. The bridge of the ship was undoubtedly larger than what he was used to. Much larger than Avrora's and noticeably wider that on the Bogatyr. At the same time, this was a battleship, not a cruiser, so he rightfully expected things to be more "chunky". "Admiral.", greeted him captain Trufanov. "At ease, captain.", he responded, once again getting a weird feeling that Trufanov is relieved to not house Yevtushenkov on his vessel. Mikhail was of course keeping to himself that it was technically his first time commanding a battleship squadron in combat conditions. Yevtushenkov himself was somewhere else, as the Russian forces had to adapt to the danger of the British forces conducting a raid near the Latvian shore. As such, Yevtushenkov boarded the Imperator Aleksandr III and taking with him two remaining semi-dreadnoughts departed for Latvia. This left Mikhail in command of the second force, consisting of one semi-dreadnought, the Imperatritsa Mariya, and two Pobeda-class battleships, Pobeda and Petropavlovsk. He would've had a fourth battleship, but shortly before departure Dvenadtsat Apostolov suffered from a rather severe boiler failure, which would likely take about three months to repair. The malfunction was strangely coincidental with expiration of warranty for the French-built boilers installed in the ship. Apart from the three battleships, force under Koshkin's command also consisted of three armored cruisers - Latnik, Oleg and Vityaz, with vice-admiral Vedernikov commanding the Latnik - and four protected cruisers, the two Rynda-class vessels, Rynda and Pamyat Merkuriya, and two Varyag-class ships, Boyarin and Vladimir. And of course there were numerous destroyers acting as escorts. The sun was slowly rising and its light revealed a concerning sight - ship silhouettes moving north, towards the Finnish shore. "Battlestations.", ordered the captain, and rightfully so. British vessels were by the virtue of approaching in darkness much closer than they would've been able to approach in daylight, but still just beyond the range of heavy guns. As more and more sunlight shone upon the gentle waves, Mikhail was glued to the binoculars, evaluating the force he has to deal with. Clearly battleships. Three, four... "Admiral, sir. I believe that's the..." "Yes, I see her.", interrupted calmly Mikhail. There she was, leading the line of five other battleships. There could be no mistake, the silhouette was far too recognizable.
Mikhail let out a displeased grunt. Three battleships against six, including the world's first dreadnought. Not the fight he would've liked, but at this point he didn't have much choice. The good news was that he could only see a few cruisers, likely a side effect of pressuring the British into posting most of them on trade protection. Suddenly, two of the British battleships fired their guns, shells flew over the Russian ships and landed in the water on the far side, making Mikhail realize that the two forces are much closer than it originally seemed. And so the fight has begun, with Russians promptly returning fire. Signal was sent to Yevtushenkov's force, but there could be guarantee that it was received or that Yevtushenkov could get here in time. The situation was certainly less than ideal, but Mikhail found himself incredibly calm in face of these odds. He found himself focused. Hits were scored on both sides, with battleships hitting one another, yet little damage was inflicted. Russian were moving north-east with British moving north and closing the distance. The wind was also in favor of the British and the rising sun was about to make it even more difficult to aim. And that was Mikhail's chance, and idea brought forward by keen observation that the British line was moving slower than the Russians. And looking at the HMS Ocean and its singular funnel spewing forth clouds of smoke, Mikhail thought of the limited space between the four barbettes, space into which the British had to fit the machinery. Ocean, leading the line, was slow. At the present moment making even less than 18 knots. "Gently to starboard, head due east and maintain speed.", ordered Mikhail. The Russians turned, and the change of course meant that the distance between the two forces will decrease even faster. And then, before the British commander realized what's happening, the Russian ships crossed the British T at a distance of about 5000 yards. The British turned to port, with Russian turning south after the crossing. With that maneuver not only did the Russian fire off a few salvoes in the beneficial position, but also managed to claim both the advantage of wind and position themselves such that the glare of the rising sun would interfere with British gunnery. Still, three battleships against six were difficult odds to overcome. "Maintain this distance.", ordered Mikhail, just as a shell struck Imperatritsa's forward turret, disabling it. At the same time, one of the British battleships was on fire, and both sides were suffering from at least one jammed turret. Regardless, the engagement continued, the pace of battleship combat being rather... sluggish. Mikhail didn't want to use the words "battle of attrition" as this would likely mean the Russians would lose. He had a very slight advantage of speed, he had to force the British to maneuver. And with that in mind, he signaled the Latnik. The armored cruisers were until now following the battleships. In low light condition both Latnik and Oleg were large enough to pass as battleships, but the merit of such a ruse diminished as sun was rising and engagement continued. But now the flag signals were hoisted on the Imperatritsa, letting the cruisers loose to prey on the weak. Or at least they would, if not for a second set of signals, conveying more specific orders. At Dmitri's order the armored cruisers fell out of line, accelerating past the Russian battleline and moving to take the lead. Their goal was to cross the British T and while the armored cruisers were not match for battleships, they couldn't be ignored either, and so their objective was to force the British line to maneuver. The British realized that, however, with their own armored cruisers dashing forward to prevent the Russian maneuver. And Mikhail could see that a mistake was made. Either by an error of command or misunderstanding of a signal, almost all British destroyers followed the cruisers. And with the distance growing between enemy battleships and the rest of their ships, Mikhail sensed an opportunity, ordering a destroyer charge. Russian destroyers dashed forward towards British battleships. Admittedly, the battleships started maneuvering well in advance and the British destroyers made haste to protect them, but the earlier mistake put them in a hard position regardless. The torpedoes were launched, shots were exchanged. Two torpedo hits could be seen, on two different battleships. It was a good outcome, even now as the Russian destroyers came to pay for their charge, some returning greatly damaged and one not returning at all. But it could've been much greater, it felt like the British mistake wasn't fully utilized. Now Mikhail just waited, looking over the battlefield covered in smoke. Waiting for a development, for opportunity, for danger. Well, danger other than shells, which were filling the air in abundance. He was also eying the battleships that were torpedoed, making a mental note of the fact that one of them is listing quite significantly and appeared to be losing speed. The Russian vessels also suffered. Imperatritsa was unlucky, as a large caliber shell hit her waterline on the bow, penetrating the thinner section of the belt and causing flooding. Forward turret still jammed, a small fire carried on the forecastle and the rear cage mast damaged enough to threaten collapse. Still, she was holding up, leading the line, armor holding up even as at least three British battleships were firing upon her, including the Ocean. The dreadnought itself proved incredibly resilient. Yevtushenkov was right - she lacked speed, but she had both firepower and armor. At least of the four turrets that could be brought to bear, only three were firing. And then Pobeda was hit, with the offending shell causing a detonation of her aft turret. The ship survived, but the damage was significant and fire was spreading, causing her to drop out of the line. With Petropavlovsk listing and unable to catch up, it left Imperatristsa to take the brunt of the British fire. But one of the British battleships was missing. Indeed the one that got torpedoed has fallen behind, trying to escape the fight. Mikhail weighed his options. He didn't want this fight to continue. The British were now moving south, away from the Finnish shore, and if they continued, Mikhail was willing to disengage. "Ship spotted!", reported one of the lookouts. Seeing how he was pointing in a direction that was rather opposite of the battle, it worried Mikhail, prompting him to take a look for himself. There, on the horizon, he saw a column of smoke and a silhouette of a ship beneath it. A silhouette that should seem familiar, as it was the sister ship of Imperatritsa. Yevtushenkov's force was approaching from the south-east. Knowing this, Mikhail made the choice to let go of the fight and turn back north, with the actual procedure of disengagement going rather smoothly. By uniting with Yevtushenkov's force the Russians could perhaps overwhelm the British, but with the damage suffered it presented rather substantial risks, risks Mikhail had chosen to avoid. There was only one more matter. A lone British battleship trying to limp to safety. It wouldn't be allowed to do so. Mikhail respected the fact that the ship in question opened fire on them, attempting to fight. But one more torpedo from a passing destroyer sealed her fate, leaving Mikhail to watch in silence as Russian ships were taking up survivors and an enemy battleship was slowly vanishing below the waves.
HMS Victorious, a Magnificent-class battleship sunk by the Russians
Yevtushenkov's force never made actual contact with the enemy. They were chasing the British across majority of the Baltic, but never got close enough to be within gun range, and so Yevtushenkov ordered to abandon pursuit. This battle was over. While clearly a Russian victory, the truth was that even with the loss of a battleship the Royal Navy maintained a comfortable advantage, especially with heavy damage inflicted to Russian battleships and necessary repairs. Still, Russian have proven once again that they are adept at exploiting British mistakes.
13:00, October 3rd, St. Petersburg, Winter palace "... and so it seems that an opportunity has presented itself to end the war. The British diplomats were clear in indicating their willingness to have a conversation on the matter to see if things could be resolved, though they refused to further elaborate and didn't officially reach out to initiate peace talks. They are testing the waters and our receptiveness.", finished the minister of foreign affairs. With that, he bowed and made a step back and Mikhail shifted his eyes from him to the only person in the room whose opinion ultimately mattered. Imperator Nikolai II was sitting in an ornate chair at his desk, pondering the minister's words for a moment. Then he turned to Mikhail, who almost flinched under his soul-piercing gaze. "General-admiral, the navy is on the frontline of this war. What would you say about this development?", he asked. Mikhail spent a few seconds gathering his thoughts before speaking. "I think they are getting scared, my emperor.", he said. "They are the greatest naval power in the world... And yet they can't beat us. For every mistake they made, we made them pay. Peace is an option, but I am beginning to see there's opportunity for more. And I think so do the British, which is why this proposition of theirs comes now." The entire time the Tsar's gaze was fixed on Mikhail. "If I may, my emperor...", started the minister, continuing only after getting approval from the Tsar. "The British blockade is still in place. And the war is starting to take its toll on the people. I fear that certain groups are already trying to exploit it. The longer the war goes on, the longer they can use it to stir unrest." Once again the Tsar looked to Mikhail, awaiting his response. "I can only speak from the standpoint of the navy, my emperor. And if I may be so bold... You told me, when you appointed me as general-admiral, that you want Russia to "Rule the Waves". The Tsar smirked a little under his moustache hearing how Mikhail said the phrase. "Great Britain rules the waves, my emperor. And if we want this to ourselves, to be the mighty naval power, then there is no one else to take it from than them. And there is an opportunity now that may not repeat later." There was silence for a few seconds and Mikhail could swear that the emperor allowed himself to smile for a moment. "Minister, if the British decide to go forward with the peace conference, do accept this request. Get them to tell us exactly what they want and make sure they are told exactly why it cannot be. They wanted to start the war. They will make concessions to end it." 20:00, October 3rd, St. Petersburg. General-admiral's office Dmitri put down the empty cup, nodding. "Well then... I guess we better win this.", he said. "I fear your head may be on the line." "Always has been.", murmured Mikhail, getting up from behind his desk. "I think we can go now, it's getting late." "Well, are you sure about that? With such a bold claim you've just made to the Tsar you may want to check everything three times instead of barely once." "Excuse me, vice-admiral Vedernikov. Are you accusing me of negligence?", asked Mikhail, sounding comically offended. "I would never dare, general-admiral.", he chuckled. "What are those?" He pointed at a stack of envelopes lying on Mikhail's desk. "Nothing important, I'm sure." "Are you? Seeing how you made some pretty big claims to the..." Mikhail sighed, grabbing the envelopes and scattering them across the desk. "Well look... None of these are labeled as urgent. I think the navy won't sink if I don't read them today.", he said. "And I'm sure they won't be laying on your desk for two weeks or more, until *I* will be forced to read them.", chuckled Dmitri. "Well I need your help for *something*, don't I?", smiled Mikhail, as both of them left the room. Leaving the building Mikhail took a deep breath, feeling the autumn chill of the night. They walked along the pier in silence, with Mikhail looking out to his left, past the moored ships and onto the water illuminated by moonlight. Glancing up at the moon itself he noted it looked very similar to the picture on his tarot cards, almost at full moon. Then his mind started wandering as they walked, some tendril of his thought pulling him back to dark places he'd rather not visit right now. What suddenly brought him back to the present was the closing of two soldiers, approaching from ahead. He was surprised to see they didn't have any intention of stepping out of the way to let through the pair of admirals, as would be expected. And then there was a glimmer of metal and sharp pain, as the soldier in front of him drew a knife and plunged it into his abdomen, right below his ribcage on the left side. Understandably, Mikhail's surprise at getting stabbed was much greater than at not being let through as indeed the fact itself was a much bigger issue. He gazed into the eyes of the man before him, determined, angry, but also fearful. As he tried to pull out the knife, with a clear intent to stab again, Mikhail's hand grasped the weapon, holding it in place inside the wound against his opponent's pull. And overtaken by anger, Mikhail grabbed the soldier by the shoulder and pulled him down, knee-kicking him in the stomach. Now, in hindsight, that wasn't the smartest or least painful of movements he could've performed cosnidering the placement of the knife, but he powered through the pain, pushing against his opponent with his weight and causing both of them to fall to the ground. That too wasn't the least painful move, considering the placement of the knife. As his opponent still held onto the knife, he was forced to use his left hand to keep it as still inside the wound as possible, despite the agressor constantly trying to pull and jerk it, knowing that once it was out of the wound, nothing would be slowing the bleeding. And gradually the pain subsided, drowned by adrenaline. They struggled on the ground, with Mikhail focused on keeping the knife in place and his opponent surprised by the fight he was putting up. As the soldier attempted to throw Mikhail off of himself, Koshkin grabbed his forehead, smashing the back of his head against the pavement. As his opponent retaliated with a punch to the face, Mikhail grasped with his right hand and happened to find his throat. And so he grabbed onto it, squeezing his fingers around his larynx and pushing down against the pavement, restricting the airflow. The soldier immediately attempted to get his hand off, but the admiral's grip was like iron. Meanwhile, Dmitri didn't have much time to be shocked by what was occurring or attempt to assist, as the second soldier sliced at his throat. Dmitri managed to grab his hand, stopping the strike, and swung a fist at his opponents face, connecting and making him drop the knife. Dmitri's next instinct was to reach for the gun, but so was his opponents, who clearly realized this assassination attempt can't succeed quietly. As Dmitri realized he'd never be ready to fire before his enemy, he charged him with his shoulder and they locked briefly in melee, exchanging a few punches. Mikhail could feel his opponent weaken, struggling to take breath. And Mikhail kept squeezing his throat, he kept doing so as the assassin's struggle became weaker and weaker, until he completely stopped moving. Dmitri kept exchanging blows with his opponent, until at some point enough distance was put between them that both once more attempted to reach for the weapon. A gunshot pierced the silence of the night and another body fell to the ground. Dmitri took a deep breath, realization reaching him that he was neither the shooter nor the one being shot. He turned towards the source of the noise, only to see Artem Sapalyov, face completely pale and a smoking gun in his hand. "Admiral, are you alright?", he asked, approaching. Mikhail groaned, feeling the sensation of pain starting to set back in. He rolled off his deceased opponent into what he realized was a growing puddle of his own blood. The knife may have still been in the wound, but it moved quite a lot during the struggle and so the bleeding was getting worse. "We have to get him to a surgeon, Artem Ivanovitch!", he heard Dmitri's voice. "There should've been guards here!" Indeed there should've. This whole ordeal was quite a peculiar one, though with the blood seeping from his wound and the darkness of night seeming to close in on him, he was far too tired now to give it more thought. It was an eerie kind of tiredness, with the cold pavement and the chilly night air seeming more and more distant...
The British are still furious, I'm sure.
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Post by janxol on Mar 30, 2021 5:33:47 GMT -6
Cautiously growing bolder
12:00, October 9th, 1907, St. Petersburg, Navy Corps Hospital Mikhail slowly sat down at the table, making sure to straighten himself so as not to put any strain onto the wound. He looked at the man sitting opposite of him, relatively young and dressed in military uniform, with a polite, but not very sincere smile on his face. Mikhail stared at him in silence, responding with an equally polite and insincere smile. "General-admiral. I was surprised to hear that you are up so soon after your..." "After the attempt on my life? Yes, I suppose it's rather soon. The doctors tell me the knife managed to avoid cutting into any particularly important bits of my person. I am no stranger to pain, though. And also morphine makes everything better.", said Mikhail. "Who are you?" "My apologies. I am lieutenant-commander Dionisiy Afanasevitch Dobrolyubov and I work in the navy arm of the counter-intelligence agency. I am here to ask questions regarding the recent event and perhaps attempt to answer some." "Well, I am flattered that someone actually cares about this recent event. Though I must say I'd appreciate it even more if something could be done BEFORE it took place." "Indeed. But we can still learn more, prevent it from happening again and - with some skill and luck - find those responsible.", said Dobrolyubov. "Interrogating the suspects is usually a good start. Unfortunately they're dead." "But I'm not, so I'm inclined to call it a successful outcome.", noted Mikhail. "It was. Though it's still a shame. I have also noticed that lieutenant-colonel Sapalyov was quite distraught due to, I presume, killing someone for the first time in his life. I also notice you have no such issues with killing your would-be assasin." Mikhail's smile faded slowly. "Lieutenant-colonel Sapalyov is more of an engineer than a soldier, a fact I will never hold against him. Me, on the other hand... I am no stranger to pain and I am no stranger to death, either. And instead of trying to pry for my personal feelings on the matter, why don't you start gathering some facts? Tell me, for example, why were there no guards in an area that was part of a military pier?" "We found their bodies. It appears they were killed by the infiltrators and it was done in a way that prevented them from raising an alarm.", said Dobrolyubov. "That's a problem to be rectified. If assassins could get in, so can spies, thieves and saboteurs, none of which I would have touching my navy. Something tells me the Brits won't stop at one attempt." "That's another thing, general-admiral. We're not convinced the British were behind it. Actually, so far it looks like they were part of a... Domestic element. You are surely aware that certain groups are using the war as fuel for the fire, contributing to public unrest. Well one of those groups has earned our attention in particular..." "The Bolsheviks...", said Mikhail slowly. "Yes, as well as other communist groups. The Mensheviks aren't much better, but as the name would suggest, there's not as many of them. The question remains whether they were going after the head of the navy, or wanted to kill you specifically." "Being the head of the navy, those two are the same thing.", noted Mikhail. "It doesn't matter much if it's because of my rank or they don't like my charm." "The motive matters, general-admiral, as it is often the key to uncovering everything else.", disagreed the lieutenant-colonel. "Am I correct to say that you were acquainted with the man named Vladimir Lenin?" Mikhail raised an eyebrow. "No. That would imply I knew him, while it would be more accurate to say that we've met. If you are looking to uncover a personal reason for the assassination attempt, I must disappoint you." "Every lead helps, general-admiral. Excluding things helps as well." "I will leave you to it then. I have a navy to command and still didn't give orders on how to annoy the British this month. I would also hope not to get assassinated in the near future. Or far future, for that matter. In case you have any more questions, don't hesitate to stay away from my office." "Of course, general-admiral.", Dobrolyubov smirked slightly. "But I must also advise you to be careful... And attentive. There is likely a spy working in the admiralty, likely someone working close to you.... Someone who knew where you'll be. Communist or British, it's a problem..."
Great effort was made to downplay the assassination attempt and Mikhail returning to duty so soon did help in that regard. Even if it wasn't the British behind it, he wasn't going to give them satisfaction. Or hope. He could also focus on two most important matters. One of them was analysis of the Second Battle of Hango, particularly the destroyer charge. While the Russian destroyers were in position to launch torpedoes, only two hits were scored. While faulty torpedoes could've been a contributing factor, it was largely due to poor aim of the Russian crews. As such an alteration was made to the future training regime to incorporate additional training exercises focused on torpedo warfare, to hopefully improve the skill and awareness of Russian crews during future torpedo attacks. It would, however, take time before effect of the training become visible. Second matter was the beginning of the Wartime Fleet Replenishment program. In its original form, as defined in October 1907, the program called for construction of twenty destroyers and four cruisers, which could be called somewhat ambitious considering the state of Russian shipbuilding and the fact two - soon to be three - large capital ships were under construction. Even with wartime mobilization, delays would be certain. A decision was made that destroyers will be built in two batches of ten, with the first batch scheduled to be laid down in November, being essentially a repeat of the Smetlivi-class, ships of which were also scheduled to be commissioned next month. Tula arsenal has also unveiled a new model of a 330mm guns, with improved performance over the one that was meant to be mounted on Gangut and Borodino. The guns for these two dreadnoughts were already ordered and replacing them would mean additional costs as well as the need for minor changes to the turrets and so the change was rejected, but the upcoming third dreadnought, the Sisoi Veliki, would mount the improved guns. Pamyat Merkuriya and Rynda continued their operations in the North Sea. Proficient at running the blockade and crewed by - at this point - experienced and elite crews, the two ships have become famous in the Russian Navy and infamous to the British, earning themselves the nickname of "Witches of the North Sea". At the same time an even more daring raid occurred in October, with Boyarin and Velikii Knyaz Kosntantin, two Varyag-class cruisers, going through the English Channel and attacking coastal merchant traffic around Plymouth. The Russian ships were confronted by a force of five British cruisers, but managed to sink two of them and heavily damage the third before retreating with minimal damage, once again showing that they were one of the mightiest protected cruisers afloat. In November 1907 the third and final dreadnought was laid down, the Sisoi Veliki.
Also, as per schedule, the first batch of the new destroyers were ordered.
Boevoi (1907) Ships in class: 10 (+10 planned) Boevoi-class destroyers were essentially a sub-class of the Smetlivi-class. They had the exact same hull, superstructure and armament, with the only differences hidden in the ships bowels. Boevoi had an updated machinery featuring new small-tube boilers and the internal layout was slightly altered to enlarge the magazines. Ten ships were laid down in November, with further 10 planned as part of the replenishment program. In November eight new submarines were also commissioned and further eight were immediately ordered. In December of 1907 Russia continued raiding operations, and the raids were increasingly more bold, exploiting the apparent ineffectiveness of British patrols and the blockade. Pamyat Merkuriya, one of the Witches of the North Sea, ventured as far as into the Irish sea to attack merchant ships moving between Ireland and Britain. She dueled British protected cruiser Philomel, proving victorious when a lucky hit detonated the magazine of the British ships. Once British armored cruisers arrived to deal with the Russian vessel, Pamyat escaped south and returned home through the English Channel. It was clear that the British are unable to deal with Russian cruisers, their ships needed not only to patrol the coasts and enforce the blockade but also to protect merchant convoys from raiders and submarines. Still, the British battle fleet, including its three dreadnoughts, was a major threat, one that couldn't be matched in combat by the Russian force and the main reason for the blockade still being in place. There was also the danger that the British are planning a counter-attack in Asia, as admiral Yablokov informed that a force of estimated twenty British cruisers is operating in Asian waters. Russian destroyer Svirepi of the Storozhevoi-class was also lost, having hit a mine near the Norwegian coast. The Replenishment program continued with laying down of three protected cruisers of the new Posadnik-class. A fourth one was supposed to be laid down in January, but before the end of December the ship was cancelled as a decision was made that the fourth cruiser of the program should be a larger and more powerful vessel.
At this point my horde of raiding AMCs is making about as much VP as I'm losing to blockade. Between losing VP for declining battles and managing successful cruiser actions, it's not looking terribly, as long as nobody revolts. I'm sure the Russians wouldn't do that. Right? Right?
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Post by palpatine on Mar 31, 2021 7:10:53 GMT -6
Now, that's an impressive narrative & AAR. May I ask which set of pictures are you using for your "ONI" ship pictures?
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