Sins of the Father - A French Succession AAR

[cogsandspigots]

Turn 1- Jan 1900-Dec 1904

    France finds itself in a difficult situation at the turn of the century. Inconsistent naval policies, rapidly changing schools of thought, and questionable design practices have left France with an eclectic collection of ships of uncertain tactical usefulness. The bulk of French naval firepower is made up of numerous battleships built hastily upon the end of the “Jeune Ecole” domination of French naval thought. A handful of armored cruisers make up the rest of the French capital ships, though these are far from able to stand on the line of battle. Besides some regular protected cruisers, a previous French naval minister was fascinated with the idea of supplementing France's fledgling battleship line with some light cruisers with battleship grade firepower. These “Matsushima types”, so named for the Matsushima class light cruisers built for Japan in French yards, are a significant departure with tradition. Finally, a large number of torpedo boat destroyers and torpedo boats, a product of Jeune Ecole, make up the final pieces of the French navy. The first order of business is to modernize the battleship fleet with modern ships with exceptional firepower, and to add to the rather lacking light cruiser flotilla. And, of course, to keep tabs with the movements of Perfidious Albion.

A Typical French Battleship Pre-1900


New Generation French Battleship Under Construction 1900


Experimental "Battleship" Light Cruiser

1900 passed without major incident. Additional ships of the Amiral Cecille entered service in the navy, and in turn a new class of incrementally improved armored cruisers began construction. Multiple political incidents occurred in the Balkans region, generally raising world tensions, but failing to elicita response from any important nation. 1901 saw a new, even more power class of battleship begin construction, with a heavy secondary battery of 8” allowing for more firepower to be brought on target at a greater distance. Light coastal batteries were placed on important colonial assets to resist a potential invasion. Finally, a new, enlarged class of torpedo boat destroyers with enhanced firepower were laid down. By September, tensions with Italy force France to seek alliance with Austria-Hungary for mutual defense. However, these talks fail to bear fruit, and France is forced to relocate the majority of her navy to the Mediterranean to curtail Italian aggression. By early 1902, tensions with Italy were reaching a breaking point and war could be set off on a hair trigger. Fortunately, the éminence grise of France negotiated a technology sharing pact with the USA, a great boon to naval insights. Meddling from the political offices forced the construction of even more torpedo boat destroyers, bloating an already great number. Tensions with Italy cooled slightly by the beginning of 1903, but still remained quite dangerous. However, several minor incidents in September reversed this. The rest of the year concluded without any major undertakings. By May 1904, tensions reached a breaking point.

WAR

    On paper, France and Italy are evenly matched in major surface combatants, but France far outstrips Italy in terms of light warships. The first month of war was relatively uneventful, with Italy failing to contest French raids on Italian convoys. An Italian attack on a French convoy was discontinued after a brief dusk skirmish, as neither side wished a chaotic night engagement. Inconclusive skirmishes continued through mid 1904, however, the tide of war would soon change due to developments on the homefront. Ships that had been brought off the frontline to receive new fire control equipment were returning to the Mediterranean. In addition, a joint American-French research team concluded that fire control technology was improving rapidly and could only be expected to accelerate, as such, a ship with a mass of great, long range guns could destroy a traditional battleship long before it could come within secondary range. As such, plans were drawn up for the “Devastation”, a revolutionary new battleship that concentrated all firepower into guns with maximum range. While the Devastation will take quite some time to come to fruition, the effects of increased French numbers in the Mediterranean are telling. Italian convoys are being intercepted with increasing regularity, and unrest is beginning to take hold in Italy.

The Revolutionary "Devastation"

    This period of relative quiet was suddenly broken in November by a furious and chaotic nighttime brawl near La Spezia. A French coastal raid, lead by a trio of armored cruisers and intending to sink merchant ships, encountered an equal squadron of Italian armored cruisers. Though the confusing melee included collisions and ships mere feet from each other, relatively minor casualties were sustained. Abysmal torpedo performance on both sides precluded the loss of any major warship. After the conclusion of the carnage, Italian losses were one small light cruiser, and two torpedo boat destroyers. French losses were just a single torpedo boat. This battle was dubbed "The Battle of the Ligurian Sea".

Artist's Rendition of The Battle of the Ligurian Sea


Despite this victory, the chief naval minister, cogsandspigots, was forced to resign due to the 5 year term of service. He will be eligible to serve again in 1930. He leaves his successor in a relatively good position. Oil has become scarce in France as a result of the war, but due to the entirely coal-powered nature of the navy, this should not affect naval operations. The Italians are on the back foot, and a powerful, experimental battleship is under construction. 

[vonpanzerhosen]

Admiral Francois de Pantalonarmure has found himself unexpectedly in charge of the Marine Nationale, with the President of the Third Republic desperately looking for someone to control the risky naval war as fighting has ground to a stalemate in the mountains.  A skeptic of the leadership of Minister Cogsandspigots and previously an opponent of the Jeune Ecole doctrine, Francois assess the situation of the war.

Overall, things look fine.  An abundance of destroyers in particular leaves France well protected.  However, there has not been any definitive battle yet in the war, and this will take the battleships.  Devastation is under construction for two years, and will likely be too late to define the war with Italy.  Land combat has stalled and will not be the deciding factor.  Francois needs to think about how to win a major naval victory...  Minister de Pantalonarmure orders the admirals of the fleet to engage in any major battles they can and focus on battleship action.  Big guns make big results.

The only new vessel conscripted into the navy or ordered immediately is the seized ocean liner La Bretagne, which will be converted into a heavily armed long range raider.  While the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique may be a bit upset with this, the public supports any measure to defeat the insidious Italians.

---

   January 7th, 1905.  Three French battleships and a triplet of armored cruisers, along with their screen vessels, met up with a similar Italian force off the west coast of Sardinia.  A skirmish ensued in which one Italian cruiser was sunk, though not before torpedoeing French battleship Richelieu, who luckily was barely damaged and proudly returned to port.  Regardless of this glorious victory, protests were held throughout France and the private sector grinds to stagnation with a popular movement demanding the end of the war.  Any war will have to be won quickly, so Minister de Pantalonarmure decides to take on a new policy: if France invades and occupy Sardinia, Italy would be forced to capitulate.

Early in February, an entire Italian convoy was sunk by a handful of French destroyers.  This was an embarrassing loss for Italy and bolstered French prestige and confidence in the navy.

March 9th.  A full on fleet battle is fought just off of Corsica.  The Italians neglected to bring many screens, and the French battle fleet moves in.

The French navy, expertly managed, easily cripples two Italian battleships and a heavy cruiser.  This is a great victory for France and opens the door for a potential invasion of Sardinia.

---

The very next month, on the 28th of April, was the big day.  A few troop transports escorted by the Marine Nationale battlefleet were just off the coast of Sardinia preparing to land when the Italian battlefleet, down three heavy ships from the last battle, steamed around the corner, seeking a final showdown.  It only took about an hour.

The French were totally prepared to make a repeat of the last battle.  As the big guns blazed, Fusiliers-Marins stormed the lightly defended beaches.  The Regia Marina is now crippled beyond belief, having lost half of its battleships between the two battles.  Heavy fighting continues on Sardinia, but with France controlling the sea lanes having lost only a destroyer over the course of the war, the Battle of Sardinia should not last long.  Italy will surrender sooner or later.

---

Unexpectedly, Germany, who has been surprisingly sympathetic to France's war effort in the preceding months, has decided to actively back the French war effort!  This war should be over by Christmas!

[vonpanzerhosen]

Peace indeed was negotiated.  The October 1906 Treaty of Nice stripped Italy of its colonial holdings and even confiscated Sardinia.  According to the French negotiators, Italy was clearly unable to govern any territory it was unable to defend.  Besides, was Sardinia really so different than Corsica, which not a century earlier had been vaguely Italian but was now an integral part of France?

Map of the Mediterranean following the 1906 Treaty of Nice.  Not pictured: French control of Eritrea.

---

The rest of de Pantalonarmure's tenure as head of the Marine Nationale went largely quietly, despite a war with Austria-Hungary from April 1907 to mid 1909.

A list of Austrian ships sunk in the war.  There was one major battle in which both SMS Kaiser and SMS Zrinyi were sunk by French heavy gunfire after being split off from the battleline.

Several major warships were designed.  The success of the Devastation, which during trials had a top practical speed of 21kn, faster than expected, inspired a new class of ship entirely: the 'battle cruiser,' with battleship grade armament but the speed of cruisers.




A breakdown of every major new design under de Pantalonarmure.  Kleber was launched in 1908; Dusquesne and Corsica were both launched in early 1909; the Terrible-class are still under construction, slated to be launched in 1912.

Though the cruiser forces were somewhat neglected, battlecruisers make old cruiser types obsolete, at least in the eyes of de Pantalonarmure.

At the end of 1905, de Pantalonarmure decided after winning two naval wars for France, he deserved retirement.  At the ripe old age of 64, he has moved to a chateau in the South of France and will live out the rest of his days in peace.  His third son, about 30 years his junior, is currently a captain in the Marine Nationale and may later rise to power, however...

[maxnacemit]

Admiral de Pouissoner was appointed to lead the Marine Nationale after Minister Pantalonarmure's retirement. He served in the engineering department before and found its funding grossly insufficient, so the first thing he did was increasing the share of budget allocated to research. Pouissoner decided to focus the research efforts on procuring better guns, improving machinery and designing procedures for improving survivability of French ships. In March, the Terrible-class superdreadnougts were nearing completion, and Pouissoner dcided to use the funding to modernise the Marine Nationale's cruiser force. Armoured cruisers were obsoleted by battlecruisers, so the design was a "light armoured cruiser" meant to replace the slower protected cruisers currently in service.

The ships carried eight 127-mm guns in shielded mounts. Four mounts were on the centerline, and the other four were two pairs of wing turrets. Steam turbines allowed the ships to reach 25 knots, and the armor protection was much better that what the protected cruisers had because of the sloped armoured deck complementing the belt. The vessels were intended primarily to screen the battlefleet from enemy destroyers, which enabled the choice of 127-mm guns as the main weapons. Four ships were ordered.

In September, the Engineering Department presented the first airships suitable for military - but not yet naval, unfortunately - use, which led to another increase in its funding. 1911 brought about a revolution in Ephiopia and Devastation bombarded the capital until all French nationals captured for ransom by the revolutionaries were released and rescued from the country. Italy released a note condemning French imperialistic ambitions, but tensions between the countries seemed manageable until the destroyer Epieu was blown up by saboteurs from Italy. Calls to "teach the Italians another lesson" were heard, and France declared war. The only major battle was the Battle of Isle du Levant, which was an Italian attempt to use the fact that the French decided that they didn't need the most modern ships to defeat the Italian fleet.

The battle started near a French warehouse located near the coast. Observers aboard Duquesne saw the Italian fleet ahead and accelerated to flank speed. The Italian battlefleet, consisting mostly of pre-dreadnoughts, also moved towards the Italians, which seemed focused on that particular warehouse. Only when the Italians almost moved into gun range of it did they realize that they're under fire from the French ships and turn away from the coast. Unfortunately for them, the French ships were fast enough to cross their T.

The Italian ships unlucky enough to be between the French and the coast were then pounded into burning wrecks. Some Italian battleships, however, didn't approach the coast and turned away as the odds were clearly againist them.

The French pursuit of these ships wasn't successful, however. Night fell, and Republique was hit by a torpedo from an Italian battleship. Damage control efforts were successful, but when the French fleet was returning to port, it was hit by a torpedo from a submarine and sank. However, the battle was still a success for the Marine Nationale, and Italians quickly agreed to pay hefty reparations to France.

1912 brought results from the Engineering Department, as airships reliable enough to be used over the sea were developed there. Airship bases were built in France, on Sardinia and in French holdings in South-East Asia to make reconnaisance there easier. Pouissoner started seriously preparing for the war with Great Britain as he was confident that France could wrest control of the seas from the British. 24 submarines were ordered, and, when a French agent was caught in the British naval ministry, he was made a national hero, to British discontent. Despite that, war wasn't anywhere close, so Pouissoner pushed his pet battleship project through the design bureaus.

The ship was built on the idea that firepower of the ship is much more important than its armor. The armor was enough merely to hold 12'' guns at 10000 yards even when the ships were laid down, their speed was merely 21 knots, but their armament was impressive and consisted of four triple 15'' turrets arranged in a line without superfiring guns. The ship was also the first vessel to make use of fire-control directors, which seemed to be very important for successful long-range gunnery. Three ships were ordered initially.

1913 was very calm - neither the British nor the Italians bothered the French to any degree. The only outstanding event was the development of planes capable of taking off and landing on water surface. Pouissoner was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't get into a war with the British and destroy them, but the only thing he could do was wait for the completion of the Courbet class and look out for opportunities to disappoint other nations. The ideal opportunity did present itself when the Italians suddenly declared war on France. Pouissoner ordered the submariners to sink every single ship headed for Italy, but the submarine campaign wasn't the decisive factor of the war. Nor was the blockade. It was a fleet battle near Corsica, where the Italians lost their newest dreadnought, two battleships and three armoured cruisers. The French lost a destroyer, so the Italians avoided large battles with French forces after this battle. In August of 1914 the naval ministry started a popular campaign to get funding for a new battleship with the title "Justice for Italians". The campaign succeeded, so a fourth Courbet-class battleship was ordered, named "Justice". In October, Italian battlecruisers raided shipping near Corsica when the French fleet appeared. The Italian battlecruisers did escape, but the French sunk two armoured cruisers and a protected cruiser, suffering no losses. So in December the Italians decided the war is hopeless and agreed to pay even more reparations to France.

The term of the prime minister came to an end, and so Pouissoner was dismissed as the naval minister, but he kept his position in the Engineering Department. He was already planning his return to service - which was completely possible, given his relatively young age of 45 - but it would probably take a long time...

[anoniemuis]

With the new prime minister came the new head of the Marine Nationale, Marais Souris. He is of the same opinion as Admiral de Pouissoner that research must be well-funded

but not on where it should be spent. He therefore cut the budget for aviation, lighter than air and reduced the spending on machinery, armour and ship design.

With the budget for research rearanged he then took a look at the ships he had at his disposal. With the new Courbet class of superdreadnoughts almost being finished he

decided that the old predreadnoughts should be disposed of. The prime minister had other ideas and ordered him to keep atleast 4 battleships. Admiras Souris was not happy

with that but complied by keeping the 2 most modern of the B's till atleast 3 of the Courbet's where build.



With another war with Italy looming the decision was made to shore up the destroyer screen by building 10 new DD's of the Escopette class. These DD's are designed to lay down

a torpedo screen in front of the enemy capital ships to make them disengage or be destroyed when the situation calls for it.

The war with Italy is a slow and grueling one where Italy keeps on declining battles and running away.





The Biggest success in the war is when a lone Italian BC is cornered and finished off by the Courbets.





Admiral Souris is annoyed with the lack of any decisive battle and orders the construction of 2 new BC's and 2 new CA's to force any future opponent to engage.



The new BC's are to be as powerful as possible to make them futere-proof and be able to handle any ship it comes across.





The new CA's are designed with the same idea but to be cheaper and only be able to handle any cruisers.





Because Italy declined all engagements, it was forced to sign a peace treaty. With this peace treaty France takes over Greece from the Italians as light compensation.





After the war Admiral Souris reevaluated how wars would be fought. He came to the conclusion that the fleet lacked spotting as well as speed. The airships built by his

predicesor were useful for spotting but too slow to make a difference. He decided that ships and airships would never be able to attain high enough speeds to scout large swaths

of sea and decided that the future is airplanes. with this he started building airbases on every territory he could and started converting 2 CA's to light carriers to gain air experience

with aircraft on ships.





At the end of his tenure Admiral Souris starts to get disillusioned with the government which is trying to hamper his handling of the fleet and decides to supress all socialism.

With his stance on the government he will be replaced at the end of 1919.

[cogsandspigots]

Turn 2 1920-1924



Due to a sudden change in the French constitution, Admiral cogsandspigots was allowed to return to office before the mandatory waiting period had completed. Immediately, a mess was on his hands. A large collection of battleships were presented, and while immensely powerful, were completely lacking in survivability. A refit program was started to enhance the fire control and torpedo protection of the Courbet class. Unfortunately only one ship completed refit, the Courbet herself, before disaster struck.



Germany delivered an ultimatum to France to give up even more of the Alsace region! This intolerable demand was to be met with steel! The entire Marine Nationale was mobilized, and left port to the setting sun. An engagement at dawn should surely humiliate Germany at sea. Unbeknownst to our high command, the devious Hun had cracked our codes! The battleship fleet was ambushed in the night by the entire Hochseeflotte! In such chaotic close quarters battle, death was an inevitability. Long has time of indecisive nighttime engagements has passed. In the maelstrom, 4 of our battleships were struck down by torpedoes, and the Terrible suffered a magazine flash fire from the extreme close quarters battleship shells. With only two German capital ships to show for the appalling bloodshed, the Battle of Vlieland will forever be the blackest day in the history of the Marine Nationale.

Official Record of the Battle of Vlieland

The aftermath was felt immediately. With only three battleships left, the war situation was grim. Germany could blockade France with impunity. If unchecked, it would spell certain doom for our proud nation. A plan was drawn up to replace the sunk Courbet-class battleships with a new battleship of immense size, firepower, and armor. In honor of the lost ships of Vlieland, these two ships will be named after Solferino and Justice. A small measure of revenge was taken at the follow up battle of Horns Reef, where a squadron of French contre torpilleurs ambushed a German battlecruiser in the dead of night and sent her to the bottom of the North Sea.

New Generation Battleship

While sinking German capital ships are good for morale, it is not the way to win this war with such long odds. Despite protests from the members of the Assemblée nationale that such tactics are “immoral” and “crimes against humanity”, unrestricted submarine warfare was declared against the Hun. If the body of the enemy cannot be broken, then his spirit must be attacked. Along with this new strategy, the surface navy was relegated to defense alone, simply to prevent incursion into home waters.



Immediately, results began to show, as the German people began to sour to the war, and oil shortages limited German operations. After several months of submarine action, the Germans were angered and pushed to the point of a desperate action. A massive raid was conducted along the entire British Channel. Our brave sailors repulsed this assault and inflicted viscous wounds on the German navy. In a glorious display, the contre torpilleur Commandant Bory rushed in to extreme close range to the German battleship Westfallen, and unleashed a full spread of torpedoes. Commandant Bory was fatally struck and began sinking, but simultaneously, two torpedoes struck Wastfallen. She instantly dissipated in a column of smoke. No debris, survivors, or any sign of the mighty battleship could be seen on the water. For this valiant effort, many of Commandant Bory's crew were posthumously awarded the Legion of Honor for their brave sacrifice.

Remains of the "Westfallen"


Last Stand of the Valiant "Commandant Bory"

With the war both on land and sea becoming bloody stalemates, another bold and risky move was undertaken. Karl Liebknecht, a prominent anti-war German national, was currently hiding out in France to escape German authorities. The decision was made to secretly give him passage to his homeland to fan the flames of revolution. The plan was a resounding success, while not starting a full-on revolution, the unrest he caused forced the German government to the negotiation table. All German colonies in the Pacific were handed over to French administration.



A post war depression forced all naval construction projects to proceed at half speed. This unfortunate setback has kept the French navy weak. Just before 1925, light cruiser Surcouf was destroyed by international saboteurs of unknown origin. The conservative press and naval league demanded war with Germany. But such action would be rash, and the French navy and people are weary of war. A full investigation was ordered. Before the results of the investigation could come back, Admiral cogsandspigots was forced out of office by the irate naval league, who believed him cowardly and weak. Hopefully his successor can skillfully maneuver through the fallout of this incident.

[thefleetofoceans]

Just a quick question, how are you making this succession game work. Me and friends are trying to do a similar experience but can't seem to get it right.

[maxnacemit]

We're just sending each other the save file and loading it up.

[prophetinreverse]

A rather intriguing and cacophonous coterie of admirals! I do enjoy reading how distinct the styles of each person are. How did you organize this?

[vonpanzerhosen]

Paris, January 1925
Admiral de Pantalonarmure Jr., once a captain of the battlecruiser Corse and son of the late de Pantalonarmure Sr., has now been once again put in charge of a navy in desperate need of leadership.  A disastrous war with Germany has led to a hasty armistice, and the battle fleet lays in ruins.  This peacetime period will be used for rebuilding and refitting the fleet, putting down powerful new aircraft carriers to really project French airpower over the waves...  Or will it?

---

April 1925: WAR BREAKS OUT IN EUROPE!
A surprise German attack pushes back French lines once again!  Germany has broken the armistice after talks disintegrated regarding the future of the Alsace and Nancy departments of France.  Germany demands what France is not willing to give...  so the Jerry is at it again!  Worse, the Japanese have joined as Germany's ally!  Only France's minor ally of Austria-Hungary stands with France; the United States and United Kingdom report that they have no interest in a European war right now...

---

From a naval perspective, this will be a defensive war.  Admiral de Pantalonarmure Jr. knows the Marine Nationale cannot handle any serious one-on-one battles.  With only a handful of decent capital ships (basically the Solfineros and Dunkerque classes), this war will be fought with submarines and raiders and aircraft.

For years, the war ground on.  De Pantalonarmure Jr. mostly focused on small forces and keeping preexistent ships relevant and refitted, but laid down a handful of powerful warships:

Lille, a one-off battlecruiser.  Launched early 1929.

Bearn-class.  Class of two.  Armed with a powerful 8" cruiser-grade main battery due to demands of the design board.  To be launched 1930/'31.

There was also an interesting emergency wartime refit of a ship de Pantalonarmure Sr. had built, the one-off armored cruiser Kleber, into a carrier:

Unfortunately, the cruiser force was largely ignored due to budgetary constraints from how much of the budget was being spent on aircraft.

The war was largely inconsequential other than a few hundred thousand dead and a few small ships sunk, as well as the outdated Duquesne (see de Pantalonarmure Sr's time for the original design) in exchange for a pair of German battlecruisers in late 1929(the only major battle of the war).  This battle and the long grind of war convinced the Germans to finally agree to a white peace with France after nearly a decade of on-again off-again warfare.  Both countries stand devastated, though the German fleet is still in decent shape unfortunately.  Hopefully France can avoid another major naval war...

At the end of the war, de Pantalonarmure Jr. resigns, the longest five years of his life resulting in gray hair and a desire to retire to the family chateau in the south of France.

[vonpanzerhosen]

Sept 27, 2021 23:23:32 GMT -6 prophetinreverse said:

How did you organize this?

On the RtW Discord.  One could organize on the forums as well though, I'm sure.  Just make sure everyone has a vanilla install of the game.  5 years is a good timespan for a turn.  We picked France because we agreed it would lend itself to... interesting designs (I might've gone too far once or twice though lol) and fun stories.

[prophetinreverse]

Sept 30, 2021 13:14:10 GMT -6 vonpanzerhosen said:

Sept 27, 2021 23:23:32 GMT -6 prophetinreverse said:

How did you organize this?

On the RtW Discord.  One could organize on the forums as well though, I'm sure.  Just make sure everyone has a vanilla install of the game.  5 years is a good timespan for a turn.  We picked France because we agreed it would lend itself to... interesting designs (I might've gone too far once or twice though lol) and fun stories.

Wait there’s a discord?

[maxnacemit]

In the aftermath of the devastating Franco-German War, the navy clearly needed someone with a new vision on naval strategy. Pouissoner quickly offered himself as such an admiral and started restoring the Marine Nationale's glory. The navy was in a bad state, with just 5 modern battleships in reserve and two old ships - Courbet, the last of her class, and a 14''-armed battlecruiser - in mothballs. De Pantalonarmure Jr was as large of a carrier enthusiast as Pouissoner, though, so the navy had two large carriers in the pipeline. Pouissoner decided to convert Courbet to a third large carrier - despite the ship being rather slow, its thin armor and impressive armament allowed the vessel to be fitted with two flight decks, one above the other, and 67 aircraft. The 14''-gun-armed battlecruiser had to be scrapped as there was no role for an old, poorly armoured and slow ship in the navy. In April, the first carrier of the Bearn class was commissioned, making it the first carrier in the world. Land-based planes were present in all of France's adversaries home regions, though. There was only one country which was suitable for becoming a target for Pouissoner's carriers, and that target was Japan.

The French had relatively few bases in South-East Asia, so Pouissoner intended to keep the majority of the fleet at home in reserve to cut costs. He gambled on the carriers and the Lille-class battlecruiser to destroy the Japanese capital ships, which were slower and worse in terms of armament than the Lille. And so the admiralty started drawing war plans againist Japan, while Pouissoner advised the government againist offering any concessions to the Japanese. In November of 1931, a new naval bill was passed in the Parliament which sought to address the inadequacy of French light forces. A scandal erupted in 1932, when the Japanese accused a French officer of seducing and honeytrapping the Japanese ambassador's wife, with the French newspaper mocking the ambassador. This led to a further increase in tensions, and when the task force consisting of Lille, both Bearn-class carriers and all modern destroyers the Japanese could muster moved from Europe to Tonkin, the Japanese decided to declare war. Lille met a Japanese task force sortying from Formosa, consisting of two heavy cruisers, two seaplane tenders, a light carrier and destroyers. The resulting engagement showed that fast battleships can destroy anything they come across, as the cruisers and the seaplane tenders were sunk, and the carrier only escaped because a Japanese destroyer landed a lucky torpedo hit on Lille, slowing the vessel down to 21 knots. Over the next year, Lille kept ambushing Japanese task forces consisting of cruisers and even battleships and sinking all enemy major ships. Despite the successes in Tonkin, the Japanese managed to take Kilatchou Bay, though.

June 1933 was remarkable in the sense that the first carrier battle in history happened that month. French carriers sent recon planes out and reported a battlecruiser sighting. Lille accelerated to full speed to intercept, while more recon planes went out to look for Japanese light carriers. The enemy's planes found the French fleet first. Neither the fighters, which were all patrolling, nor the AAA could stop them all, and each of the two carriers got hit by a torpedo. When Bearn extinguished the fire caused by a Japanese light bomb, the French prepared their revenge. Sixty strike planes flew off the flight decks, as the enemy fleet was finally located. The Japanese light carriers were smaller than the French full-sized carriers, which was a two-sided coin. They could evade torpedoes with ease, but bombs from French dive bombers would make them burn like candles. It was exactly what happened, as all three enemy light carriers were sunk by bombs and torpedoes, while Lille managed to deal with her adversary and sink another Japanese battlecruiser, the third enemy capital ship over the course of the war.

After the battle, few things happened. The Japanese were reluctant to move their forces into the area as they were rightfully afraid of the Bearns, while Pouissoner decided to use the funding freed by Lyon's completion to construct a batch of new destroyers designed for anti-aircraft protection of the fleet.

Pouissoner ordered 10 ships of the class, which was the last decision he made while being the head of the Marine Nationale. Despite the ongoing war, the Parliament decided to change the naval minister as no battles were fought. And so Pouissoner left his post, hoping that either some turn of events enables him to serve again or that his son reaches a high rank in the Marine Nationale.

[anoniemuis]

temp post for the AAR it might take a while before i have time.