DLC, an Italy AAR

[garrisonchisholm]

Ducis Ludovici Classis

("Luigi, Leader of the Fleet")

((yes, I'm rather proud I was able to work that out))

This will be my DLC-beta-based AAR, starting in late 1924, 35 years into my play-through.  I am going to make it protagonist oriented simply from a constitutional incapability to write reasonably otherwise.   And as opposed to other on-going AARs, the graphics will be limited to screen shots; because me.

As I mentioned in the German Empire thread I did not intend to start an AAR, let alone a non-German one, for a while yet, but there is so much interesting at this point (unreasonable success combined with desperate construction needs) in this test game that I felt I would be hard pressed to write anything more interesting.  Succinctly, I think this game has demanded it be written.

As I am playing this in Beta, I need to offer a Huge caveat up front that I cannot guarantee something wonky or terminal might not happen along the way.  However I am reasonably confident enough to commence the enterprise, so we can at least take comfort in that.  The game was started in b68 and I have since moved it to b69 with apparent success.

I am not going to write this as "personally" as my PLC AAR (see original forum thread), as I intend to offer side-bar explanations whenever an aspect of the game touches on something new as compared to the extant public release.  Additionally I plan to be Patient, and not trample exchange of commentary with a manic posting pace.  Promise. ...mostly.

So when I begin Chapter 1 later this week I will offer a history of the game so far, as well as a few changes to Luigi's history, and then introduce the first scene, the Conference of Naples, at which the past, present, and future of the Regia Marina will be brought forth for open debate.

Salute!

[pastur]

Interesting, looking forward to seeing some of the influence of the DLC on the campaign during this timeframe.

I'll allow myself a pedantic Latin note, which is that the Latinized version of 'Luigi' is 'Ludovicus' if you want to retain the L from the abbreviation.

[vonfriedman]

Putting the robes of the Roman centurion in Monty Python's "Brian of Nazareth"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lczHvB3Y9s

I must correct you: Ducis Ludovici Classis

AAR expectamus legere tuum.

[garrisonchisholm]

Oct 27, 2021 4:39:35 GMT -6 vonfriedman said:

Putting the robes of the Roman centurion in Monty Python's "Brian of Nazareth"

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lczHvB3Y9s

I must correct you: Ducis Ludovici Classis

AAR expectamus legere tuum.

(Gosh I loved that skit.)  Correction accepted.

[garrisonchisholm]

House Rules

I am going to edit Sicily to be a 9 point territory so it may be invaded.

I am going to use my supplemental flavor-text aircraft stats rules to flesh out relevant aircraft (outlined in the pre-authoring thread).  I was going to do it for all aircraft but the data entry would slow me down too much, and I will already be suffering at the pace of play.

I am not going to say 'I am' again in the House Rules thread.

In a similar admission to my PLC AAR, I will not be able to account for Italian mannerisms and colloquialisms, and undoubtedly would offend anyone were I to attempt it.  This story is going to look like a bunch of Anglo-saxon summer-guild actors performing a script about Italians written by an Anglo-saxon.  I will try to be true to names and ranks, but otherwise will simply hope to craft an interesting story.

I don't make side-views for my ships anymore, as with 6 draw lines the top down views can usually be interesting enough.  I am (darn it) also going to (mostly) use the drawing technique pioneered by teammate JWSmith26, and elongate my hulls with my first draw line, and attempt to leave the edges of the stock hull as simply a "waterline stripe".  I'm (cheating?) not great at it yet, but I like the look enough to continue to evolve it.  I will shortly have better source material to improve on Italian plan-views even more.

My PLC AAR was essentially a blow-by-blow recounting of my game.  I suspect this one will involve less detail in peace time but more detail in crisis, but my tale-spinning technique will also evolve I'm sure.

I only play on Admiral level, so any ships that wander out of line or destroyers that pass up golden opportunities will simply be an Act of God and accepted.

Now, we're at last ready for our alt-history fix, likely in 2 or 3 days.

[oldpop2000]

Just be careful mates, my grandmother was born in Bari, Italy and my grandfather in Palermo, Sicily. I am a little sensitive to Italy.

[oldpop2000]

The ships will be give the prefix of AMB.... Atsa Ma Boat......

Suggestions for ship names.... AMB Rigoletto, AMB Rossini, AMB Puccini, AMB Corelli, AMB Morricone, and AMB Paganini.

More names below

www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=famous+italian+composers

[garrisonchisholm]

Oct 27, 2021 14:06:46 GMT -6 oldpop2000 said:

The ships will be give the prefix of AMB.... Atsa Ma Boat......

Suggestions for ship names.... AMB Rigoletto, AMB Rossini, AMB Puccini, AMB Corelli, AMB Morricone, and AMB Paganini.

More names below

www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=famous+italian+composers

Great ideas, though I could never name a ship Puccini, unless I could immediately make it a museum ship.  Puccini must be eternal.  <3

[garrisonchisholm]

17 March, 1861

The coronation of Victor Emmanuel II, Padre della Patria, King of a unified Italy

The unification of Italy did not come without price, amongst those most noisome being the still lingering Roman Question, as the Papal States had to be helped into embracing the surrender of Rome.  Winning a throne while earning the enmity of the Church and loyal Catholics world wide caused icy relations between the House of Savoy and the rest of Europe's royal families, being as a rule Catholic.  This should have perhaps directed that England might be Italy's first and firm ally, but Victor and his son Umberto I had dreams of restoring to Italy the empire of Rome, and England had quite dedicatedly staked out its own Mediterranean territory.

In fact Italy's first war unrelated to her unification came with England.  From May of 1895 to January of 1902 a brutally damaging war was fought between 4 powers, as Italy Russia and Germany took up arms to finally say 'no' to English imperialism.  Though Germany signed a separate peace and twice Italy resorted to sending revolutionaries to undermine the Commonwealth government, at last the moribund giant collapsed.  Seldom in history has the greatest power in the world so mismanaged such an expensive conflict.

With England unable to come by a unified strategy, waffling at responding to one disaster after another, suffering losses unheard of for the foremost naval power in the world, changing leadership as frequently as seasons, still Italy was in such dire straits that her government twice wanted to request terms (unrest at 15.  Yes, 15).  Yet Navy leadership could see the unprecedented damage they were inflicting on Britain, so despite the travails of blockade the Patria held on, and ultimately reaped an unprecedented reward.  Coupled with a two-act war with France which won them Tunisia and Algiers, Italy achieved a wondrous result worth all her suffering.

This has been a broad-brush history.  I could provide more detail in many regards, but this at least gets us on our footing.

Next to follow in a few days will be a summary of the fleet at the present moment.

[prophetinreverse]

How did you get Ceylon and Singapore but not Malta and Gibraltar?

[garrisonchisholm]

Oct 31, 2021 8:25:31 GMT -6 prophetinreverse said:

How did you get Ceylon and Singapore but not Malta and Gibraltar?

Ceylon was a fluke- there was an early local rebellion that won out, and then I got the colonial grab chance and it actually worked.  I believe that happened even before the war with England, and was part of the fuel for pointing the empire "that way".  In story it was no doubt a sore point in Italian/English relations as well.

As for Singapore, the final decision was between Malta and Singapore.  Malta would be a thorn under foot, but also it would be terribly easy to isolate.  If England wanted to try to raise trouble in the future from Malta it wouldn't be for long.  I almost wanted Malaya over Singapore for more of a sense of a contiguous investment, but Singapore is such a feather in the cap, & also I wanted its harbor.

Gibraltar would have been nice, especially coupled with Morocco, but I felt the cause of "empire" would be more interestingly advanced by vesting those 5 (5?) points easterly.

I wish I had kept better notes, but at the point of the war with England I was more of the mind of "this is playtest game number 4,892, better get to the missile age fast to test the latest additions", so even screen captures are sparse.  Notes are just non-existent, except where the game maintains them.

[maxnacemit]

I hope you tell us about the additons here when they come up in your game

[garrisonchisholm]

At the 1890 Fleet Review it was determined that any attempt at a balanced fleet procurement strategy would need to be secondary to the primary need, that of battleships to at least match British deployments to the Mediterranean theatre.  The earliest battleships still in service were the 5 ships of the Italia class.

An echelon deployment of main batteries was in vogue in the early 80s, and though the 17" guns used historically by the Italian navy are not represented these vessels mount 13"/L18 breech-loading howitzers.  They are not suited to fire cross-deck, though the common barbbette does afford some commonality of protection scheme.  The open log shows the service end of the ship, which being slow and at the end of the line of battle found it difficult to be within gunnery range for a reasonable period of time.  All 5 ships survived the war with England, and were scrapped in compliance with the global disarmament treaty of May 1 1905.

The remainder of the legacy pre-dreadnought classes, being newer, were relatively similar to those of other nations, but Italy needed more than 5 Italias, 3 Romas, and the stand-alone Andrea Doria.  Though towards the end of the conflict the allied Iwami was confiscated and completed as Scipio Africanus, the mainstay of the Italian fleet were the da Vincis, 2 of which were sunk in action and so appear on the Stricken list.

The Leonardo da Vinci was relatively inexpensive, mounting small 9" main guns, but 14 were built, and with their quite capable armor were proven excellent at staying in line of battle and allowing commanders to change the geometry of an action to secure victory.  If a battle ended with only encircling a straggler it was a win, but 3 divisions of these ships proved eminently capable of serving the admiral on the scene.  12 remain in mothballs awaiting the breakers.  It must be said that a great part of the survival of this class was due to the frequent use of the brave men in the escorting destroyers, for whether a torpedo could be launched or not a sally by a flotilla or two quite frequently was all that was needed to disrupt the enemy deployment and pass the initiative surely to the Regia Marina.

The final battleship worthy of note is the Vittorio Emmanuel.  The sole Treaty Battleship laid down after the 1905 Conference, it was more of a study in what a treaty battleship could be, however Germany so swiftly spurned and repudiated the treaty that it was clear further construction would be meaningless, and indeed dreadnoughts were again laid down almost by the time of her launching.

Vittorio, and indeed the Italian armed forces, had little to do with driving Germany to seek peace with the whole world eventually against them.  Ultimately they got their wish however, and dreadnought construction began again unfettered and briskly.

[akosjaccik]

Aaw, those Italia-class turret ships are precious (and quite the hardworking types, by looking at the logs) - and the Vittorio Emanuele "deserved" better. Then again, all kicks can't become goals, especially when done under treaty restrictions. I do look forward to experience how the earlier start will stir up the stillwater of the pre-dreads.

[garrisonchisholm]

The 6 small armored cruisers of the Marco Polo class, all completed before the end of 1890, served with distinction if desperation through 3 wars with the last surviving ship being deemed unfit for purpose in 1920.  They were barely able to screen the battleline when they were launched, and their outmoded low-velocity 7 inch guns of marginal worth.  With the Marina's stalwart focus on battleship construction there was no attempt to supplement or replace them until the turn of the century.

Laid down at the height of the war with England, the 4 cruisers of the Vettor Pisani class were the first attempt to augment the cruiser squadrons, though they were completed after hostilities ceased.  They were across-the-board a 2-1 improvement on the Polos, though by the time they saw serious action they were themselves outmoded against the French Navy in the 5 Year War (or, the War of Two Parts, or The War 1917-1922, or the Sandwich War).  2 of the class still serve.

In early 1906 an architect came to attention who advocated an armor scheme of his own devise wherein all the ship's magazines were protected by a common armored pocket*, which later caused his ships to somewhat derisively be called the pita cruisers.  The two classes designed to this plan featured incredibly compact main batteries, allegedly to improve the overall protection.  The 4 treaty cruisers of the Lombardia class were first.

With the complete collapse of the English economy at the end of the war the "Dreadnought Revolution" came inconveniently at a time when England could not, dare not, stomach a naval race, hence the origins of the Disarmament Treaty of 1905.  While Italy was itself ambivalent to an agreement, they had 2 dreadnought battleships building at the time, in the end it was likely a boon to the Navy as a further 3 years of architectural development was allowed before steel hit sea.  It did mean that the largest cruisers which could be built were 10,000 ton/8-inch vessels however, so Stephano Georgi was allowed to pen the 4 ships of the Lombardia class to meet this restriction.

He placed his "pocket" over the engines, forcing the boilers disconcertingly far forward, and placed 2 wing turrets in recessed nooks to allow the 'W' turret a free arc of fire.  The 10 gun broadside was significant, though within just a few years of their launching other states had come to a more civil layout to accomplish much the same effect.  The ships were fitted for service on foreign station, and in fact the 3 surviving Lombardias are currently based out of Singapore.

With the outbreak of the war to reprimand Germany the treaty of barely 3 years was torn up, and Georgi immediately pushed for an improved cruiser to his design ideas, thus resulting in the 2 large San Marcos.

Here the "pita" was placed in the middle of the ship, and though more balanced still did feature recessed wing turrets, a device which would not again be repeated due to the mounting harsh complaints of those turret's gunners.  San Marco herself was ignominiously doomed by a lucky torpedo hit off Sardina.  Her sister is currently stationed out of Casablanca.

Of light cruisers, according to current convention, the Regia Marina originally fielded 15, with all but 3 of them laid down in the 1880s.  The bloodiest part of the war with England for the navy was the way the small cruisers and destroyers were mercilessly worn down in screen and sally, and so desperate did their straits become that 3 2nd class cruisers to a one-off design were ordered unmodified to attempt to most swiftly meet simple screening needs.  2 remain of this class, currently tied up alongside San Marco's sibling in Casablanca, though they serve little fighting purpose.  A program was recently launched to replenish the Light Cruiser squadrons, and the ships of that class will be outlined at the forthcoming Fleet Review Conference.

*the "pita" pocket is a literary device and not a reference to AoN or Magazine Box