|
Post by blarglol on Jun 11, 2023 12:57:11 GMT -6
So this is my attempt at making an AAR, which is really just an attempt at making myself stick to a given game for more than 10-15 years. Usually I just restart because I get lazy and throw away a big battle with dumb moves and impatient, ill-advised maneuvering.
This way maybe I will stay my hand and actually pay attention and fight intelligently if I remember I need to for the AAR. I will say right off the bat I am not a visual artist or an in-depth researcher. Do not expect any graphics or exhaustive use of historical naval terminology and references to many actual figures. Also I never seem to be able to successfully link Imgur images here (forum just doesn't display them), so visual content will be minimal and limited to direct attachments.
Expect more of a sort of Gibbon's, Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, 10,000 ft view, as opposed to intricate characters' POV accounts, grand admiral excluded. While I could do that extensively and create more characters, I doubt I will find the time. Perhaps some will emerge organically though. We will see! At times, individual ship captains and maybe divisional commanders will be referenced.
What will follow are the naval shenanigans of Grande ammiraglio Coglione, which if anyone is familiar with Italian will elicit a chuckle.
The admiral had a problem. Coglione didn't like problems. He wanted everything to be easy. Alas such was not the lot in life of one having to navigate Italian bureaucracy and corruption - especially Italian naval bureaucracy and corruption. Such things were bad enough on their own, but when coupled with myriad, competing strategic possibilities for the nascent Italian state, the results were scattered and widely-diverging. People forgot that his country had only been one piece for 25 years, all of it actually less than that given the whole Papal affair. That wasn't a lot of time to figure out a coherent naval policy and integrate it successfully with Italy's view of the world, to say nothing of proper coordination with the Regio Esercito.
Coglione's problem was that the damnable Frenchman had more ships. It was to be expected after all. They had been "unified" for a hell of a lot longer, if unified meant at least under a *somewhat* stable central government. France had it's own internal problems to be sure - fractious minorities, many regional linguistic differences (not too different from Italy actually), socialist insurgents, anarchist revolutionaries, the works...but their navy was still larger. Better...perhaps, perhaps not, but quantity was it's own quality. Just look at the British...
If they allied with the Austrians against him, numbers would not be on his side. At the very least, what he did have to work with was not outdated. He silently thanked whatever higher power watched over grand admirals, because his predecessor had scrapped all of the old en echelon-style battleships before retiring. Coglione had commanded several of those clanking contraptions as Vice ammirgalio and he wasn't sorry to see them go. Slow and belching much smoke, their guns ended up doing more damage to their decks than the enemy, such was the blast-effect of the short, wide-bore artillery.
So what did he have? The state of the Regia Marina under good King Umberto was as thus, starting with the battleline: three battleships, two building, six armored cruisers, one building, seven protected cruisers, two building, and a single colonial corvette meant to guard their only overseas colonial base in Eritrea.
The three active battleships were of the 11,000 ton Ruggiero di Lauria-class, with a fourth under construction. The fifth vessel was a decidedly different design of the Italia-class. The former had a 13" main armament in two turrets fore and aft, as was quickly becoming the norm in modern naval architecture. This was backed-up by eight 6" open-mount guns divided by side, three on each, the last two mounted bow-facing to take an enemy under fire while closing. Double the number of 2" anti-torpedo-boat guns rounded out their armament.
Armor however was a bit lacking if things got close-in, which given the horrible fire-control of such times was almost certain. 6" protected the belt, which could be penetrated by 12 or 13" guns under 2,000 yards. No one was flash-firing the main-battery turrets however, with a solid 13" on each. It was little wonder the damnable contraptions jammed so much...2.5" on the deck, 2" on the secondaries, and 11" on the conning tower finished the class' protection.
A different philosophy was being tried with the Italia-class however. Everything gun-wise about them was lighter. 400 tons less overall displacement fielded 10" guns in place of 13s, ten 5" guns as opposed to eight 6s, and only half the number of 2" anti-torpedo boat armaments. Where all of these weight savings went was into the belt armor. 11" protected Italia as opposed to her predecessors' 6". The same 2.5" was used on the deck, but only 6" on the main-battery guns, inverse. While Coglione felt that the 13" on the Ruggerios was a bit excessive, he would prefer at least 7" to keep the guns safe under close battle conditions, given that most of his expected foes fielded larger-caliber weapons.
4" protected the secondary battery, and 12" on the conning tower, both more than the preceding class. Altogether, Coglione would consider building more, or at least variants. He needed some quantity, and if he mounted 12 or 13" guns on new battleships, the Austrian and French vessels all had anywhere from 9-13" on their belt if naval intelligence could be believed (which he doubted - but what else did he have?). Expecting penetrating belt hits on them with the main-battery was beyond expectation even if they could be landed at all (which was also dubious). He anticipated needing to batter them with superstructure fire and close for torpedoes in order to actually sink these thick-skinned beasts.
Arrayed against him in detail were France's six Brennus-class ships: also 11,000 tons for 18 kts. There the similarities ended. Coglione had always found French ship design to be a bit...French. They had 12" main guns, but only two, fore and aft in single-turrets. However these rifles were supplemented by a heavy intermediary-battery of 10" guns on the amidships wings, also singles. Four, lonely 5" guns in individual turrets finished off the gun armament...vulnerable to closing torpedo craft perhaps? An ostensibly 11" belt circled these odd contraptions, so the same as Italia.
Supplementing these was Charlemagne, a lonely battleship with single 13" guns, the same intermediary style as the Brennus' except with 11" guns in place of 10s, and 3x the amount of tertiary 5" guns. She would be much harder for small cruisers to close with...At 10,000 tons however, 1,000 less than her predecessors, something had to go. It wasn't in armor, Coglione could read that she reportedly had 13", the same as his Ruggerios. The Achilles heel was in her speed, 16 kt. Powerfully-armed and armored, she was slow.
There were also two large 13,300 ton battleships of the brand new Saint Louis-class under construction. Those were worrying, but the admiral had no details on them whatsoever. He would deal with whatever they turned out to be later when he knew more about what he could expect to face in combat.
The Austrians, those annoying not-Germans whom had lorded over his nation for quite a long time and stung them humiliatingly at Lissa, could field four battleships of the Kaiser-class, with the new Radetzky being built. However, they were...outdated. Coglione didn't know what these mongrel imperialists were thinking. Maybe the Italians living in Istria and Dalmazia, the ones actually familiar with the sea and naval affairs, were deliberately misleading their continental overlords. God knows he would if he had the misfortune of being in their position.
These designs were not competitive. The Kaisers were smaller than many cruisers, 5,100 tons of ship sporting a trio of 12" rifles, two fore and one aft in open barbette-mounts. Hit right, those would go up like candles. Coglione smiled at that thought. Six 6" weapons in turrets were divided per side, and the same for ten 2" guns. 9" of armor was proof against big guns of the current times, but like the French beast Charlemagne she could make only 16 kt.
Radetzky wasn't expected to be much more capable at only 5,700 tons, but as she was still under construction he had no intelligence on her arms or armor as of yet. Still, a ship was a ship and anything could happen. To counter a potential Franco-Austrian joint offensive, he needed more hulls. The French in total, built and building, had nine battleships to his five, and the Austrians another five.
He did currently have more armored cruisers than his expected enemies, six active and one in the works, but that would soon change. France didn't like having less, and their five would be supplemented by three. The Austrians would be able to furnish four more in total, when the last finished construction.
Protected cruisers stood in an inverse situation, the Italians playing catch-up, seven active with two building trying to match France's nine. The Austrians only had a pair, but these were odd vessels with a main-battery of single 10" rifles fore and aft...Only time would tell if that was an effective gun choice.
Together, that would amount to 14 Bs to 5, 12 CAs to 7, and 11 CLs to 9. Obviously they had more KEs than his one, but he considered them of little consequence. He wasn't planning on doddering around the world attacking French colonies anytime soon.
Coglione needed to plan a way to get more vessels in play. To get Dalmazia and Corsica back into the fold where they rightly belonged, he would have to best both of these old imperial enemies on the high seas...as well as pray the British stayed away. Perhaps, someday long far in the future, he might dream of challenging the Royal Navy and evicting them from Malta. But now was not that time. Now he had to take stock of defenses, resources, officers, and the status of his crews' training.
He sighed, checking the clock. It was going to be a long night. Not easy...not easy at all. Heavy is the head that wears the crown...and the crown wasn't even really his. The King had formally appointed him, yes, but had to deal with idiots, fools, and bureaucracy without any God-given authority to fire-and-hire as he wished. But still they must be identified first, so not an immediate roadblock. Now...where were those incompetents in the ranks...
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jun 16, 2023 20:01:00 GMT -6
Sept. 1891 - War has broken out in the Mediterranean!
The armored cruiser Varese mysteriously exploded at anchor in Cagliari. In the ensuing pandemonium, French saboteurs were allegedly sighted slinking away towards a small craft that surreptitiously exited the harbor and headed north towards Corsica. Public opinion demanded blood, and any investigation into the matter was to be truncated and short.
With the loss of Varese, the balance of available forces stood at:
| Italy
| France | Battleships
| 5
| 9
| Armored Cruisers
| 6 | 8
| Protected Cruisers
| 9 | 9 | Corvettes | 1 | 5
|
The war's first battle was fought off Capo Vaticano north of Messina on the evening of the 23rd. A French raiding force sailed to attack Italian shipping in the area as twilight fell, and both groups involved in the action searched for enemies in the gathering darkness.
Around 2100, gunfire was heard over the horizon as the Italian formation of four armored cruisers of the Amerigo Vespucci-class (the lost Varese's sisters) and two protected cruisers of the Tripoli-class, moved ENE. They knew that a support force of a trio of protected cruisers was also operational in the area. Perhaps they had found the enemy? Perhaps the enemy had found some hapless transport?
At 2129 an unknown vessel was spotted 2,500 yards ahead by the foremost protected cruiser, Tripoli. The ship was cutting across the front of the Italian formation heading SSE in the general direction of Messina. This was relayed to the flagship, Amerigo Vespucci, and an immediate turn to course 090 was ordered to investigate the sighting. However the mystery ship was moving much faster than the Italians, and it slipped away. A further turn to 124 was ordered, and speed was to be raised from 12 to 16 knots.
Suddenly a pair of vessels appeared to the fore under 3,400 yards. Then a second. Then a third. All seemed to swing towards the oncoming Italians. Shots rang out, and one of the vessels was identified as a French armored cruiser. Tripoli, being closest, launched a torpedo to port at 2035 hours. As she turned to starboard and passed between the stately line of her CAs to seek refuge, Vespucci had a clear shot at a vessel trying to cut in front of her and launched a torpedo of her own. At this point, some enemies were only 500 yards away.
A turn to 86 degrees was made, and the line swung to port, with French vessels in sight, two to port, and two to starboard. Much fire was exchanged, but in the darkness, no hits were scored. The lowermost French CL was identified as a Tage-class vessel, and the Italian line turned to follow the ostensibly fleeing CA, leaving the CL to be dealt with later. Then - a hit, Vespucci's 6" secondary battery scored on the dark CA, still unidentified as of yet. The French vessels turned south at this, trying to open up the range. Another hit was scored with the 6" guns as the Italian line maintained it's heading, but a turn was needed to 175 degrees as the enemy gained distance.
Thus they were now chasing the Tage, the apparent CAs off to starboard, and what was assumed to be another French CL trailing northwesterly, sighted intermittently by Dogali, the second Italian protected cruiser, which with her sister, followed the heavier cruisers. Turning to 262 degrees, the chased the foe as they danced in and out of darkness. The time was almost 2200 hours when a French CL tried to slip by the Italians at only 600 yards, perhaps attempting a torpedo attack. Two hits were scored on her by the second Italian CA in the line, Vettor Pisani, one apiece by the secondary 6" battery and 3" tertiaries as she also launched a torpedo to port. It missed as Carlo Alberto, the third ship in line, also landed a 3" hit on the offending French vessel.
Then a blast shook Vespucci as a French shell finally hit. Luckily, it was only a 3" round from one of the armored cruisers, and didn't penetrate the belt. Carlo Alberto landed an additional 6" hit on the lower CL, as it's ostensible sister to the north likewise closed on the Italian battleline. She too took a 6" hit, this one from the Vespucci, who also lobbed a torpedo to starboard, as the foe was under 700 yards distant and closing fast. Additional 6 and 3" hits were landed to both vessels as Tripoli found herself north of the main line and chasing her French counterpart.
Her main 4" guns blasted away at the enemy, hitting her once, as did Vespucci with a 3" shell. So far, no one had landed any main battery hits, and the French only a single hit at all. Vespucci and Pisani kept up the tertiary fire on the French CL to the north as the line steamed on, still heading 262. Additional hits were made, and the decision was taken to focus on this vessel alone, the other three Frenchmen slipping off southwards. But then she turned away to the north, and the situation changed.
Out of the blackness dead ahead of the Italians loomed the wayward Patrol Boat #10, its single 2" cannon and two machine guns vastly outgunned in the fight. To screen the wandering corvette from heavy enemies, the line turned to 198. Seeing none, they came to 093, the northward Frenchman disappearing. Then...four vessels to the fore! There must be at least five French warships in the vicinity then, new news to the Italians. Two 6" shells hit Vespucci, one on the secondary battery, non-penetrating, and the other penetrating the extended belt at under 700 yards. Tripoli's superstructure was also hit, as Vespucci's tertiary battery successfully returned fire on what was tentatively IDed as a French battleship!
That would change things, but the Italians were undeterred and held course. A pair of 6" shells found the French ship, as what was assumed was the earlier Tage-class tried to cross the Italian T. At only 300 yards, the third CA, Carlo Alberto, launched a torpedo. Chaos ensued as the she passed astern of the heavier Italian ship, only to collide in the dark with the oncoming Dogali!
The two protected cruisers sideswiped each other, unsuccessfully trading fire. Damage to Dogali was light. At this, the Italian line turned north to course 014, then northwest 310 degrees, accelerating to 18 knots in an attempt to chase the Frenchmen down. It then became apparent that the Tage-class CL involved in the collision had damaged her rudder, and was locked in a damnable circle to port. The Italian line turned again to position themselves for a raking run by the trapped foe. Several hits were scored as another Frenchman loomed suddenly ahead. The others had come about to help their friend.
They were warded off by the sheer volume off incoming fire, as Vespucci launched another torpedo at the rudder-stricken enemy to port. However...the foe had other plans.
Suddenly Vettor Pisani was hit by a torp from the CL's stern tubes, immediately being detached from the line and ordered to set engines to ALL STOP. Many hits were made on the trapped Frenchman, as engineers worked to halt the flooding. Rudder fixed, the enemy straightened out and tried to escape. As the remaining three undamaged CAs vengefully accelerated in pursuit. Curiously, both Tripoli and Dogali had wandered off south for no apparent reason. They moved quickly to screen the sitting duck that was Pisani as the wayward patrol boat meandered back onto the scene. Flooding expertly-controlled by the superb efforts of her captain, Cappellini, Vettor Pisani worked her way slowly up to 8 knots and made for Messina, only about 4.5 nautical miles distant, shepherded by the protected cruisers.
Meanwhile, the trio of operational CAs were hammering the Tage, taking little fire in return. That is - until at 2308, a medium-caliber shell from a different Frenchmen penetrated Amerigo Vespucci's upper belt and started a fire. This was quickly extinguished however, welcome news given their high speed. Multiple hits were traded on both sides, as the Italian line turned to course 358, the Alberto lining up an excellent starboard torpedo solution on the troublesome Tage. Vengeance was sweet indeed as a geyser erupted on the vessel's side, but not before she put a 6" round in the secondary battery of the last ship of the three, Giuseppe Garibaldi, interestingly as another careened in unseen from what was assumed to be one of the French CAs, penetrating the extended belt.
Speed was reduced to 18 knots as the line swung to starboard aiming to follow the wounded French CL. It was then that rainstorm developed, and visibility dropped even further, good news for the Frenchmen. Contact was reestablished at 2338, the Italians heading northwesterly, four French ships now in view. It was then that something notable again happened.
There were indeed five enemy warships active in the area, as this last and most recent appearance cut madly in front of the charging Vespucci. The latter launched and successfully made a torpedo strike from her bow tubes, was unable to avoid the crazy Frenchman, ramming her broadside at 2340 hours. Immediately the line slowed to negligible speed as they attempted to create separation. Multiple hits were made on the wounded French CA, as Vespucci put another torpedo into her. Flooding heavily from the strike, she aimed her stern at the disabled enemy and put one last torp into her out of the spite.
With their former leader detached for flood control, Carlo Alberto and Giuseppe Garibaldi continued on at 12 knots, taking the fight to multiple French vessels. Both ships sent a torpedo apiece into the stricken French armored cruiser, trying to finally put her down for good. One hit while the other was dud.
Meanwhile Vespucci went dead in the water to increase her capability to pump out water. The machinery was repaired, but stopping the immense amount of seawater coming in proved futile. The bones of the hull were buckled and wrent in many places, such was the force of the collision. Both her and the foolish French armored cruiser that had caused the accident began to slip beneath the waves.
Having successfully shepherded the wounded Pisani back to Messina, the long-absent pair of Italian protected cruisers made flank speed towards the sinking flagship to try and render aid, the two remaining CAs standing sadly nearby as guards. Interestingly, for the first time the Italian squadron sighted it's supposed support force in the form of one of the protected cruisers, Rhodia, rocketing by without even stopping to help on course 042. However the Frenchmen made recovery impossible, as a reported corvette closed on the site of the sinkings, firing at the Italians.
The two armored cruisers took off in thunderous pursuit of this impudent swine, the CLs remaining behind to look for survivors from both the lost Italian and French CAs. Multiple hits were scored on both sides as the chase took the trio towards the Aeolian archipelago. It was then that French scheme was made clear. Lying in wait ahead were the other three warships, now outnumbering the Italians 2-1. However, quick action and expert shooting quickly saw several shells and torpedoes hit on one of the French armored cruisers. Her comrades turned off towards the southwest in utter confusion, their trap not just escaped, but ripped apart.
Dawn at 0538 saw the Frenchman sinking as the Italian protected cruisers continued recovery operations. It was then that oddly, it was discovered that at least one of the remaining French warships, a CA of the now-identifiable in the light Latouche-Treville-class, had slipped by the Italians and back towards Messina. She was promptly engaged by multiple 4" Italian shore batteries of coastal guns and temporarily-emplaced howitzers. Accelerating at flank speed, the four remaining Italians identified two more French vessels, one of the hell-blasted Tage-class, and intriguingly, a corvette of Ville de Bayonne-class.
Operating independently, the Italians armored and protected cruisers aimed to box the French ships between themselves and the shore guns. This had the unfortunate but necessary side effect of also pushing the Frenchmen towards a pair of merchantmen fleeing towards the safety of Messina's harbor, good old Patrol Boat #10 bravely charging the foe. She was helped however by the timely arrival of Partenope, a protected cruiser of the same class as her name, steaming out from Messina to further hem in the foolish Frenchmen, having been nearby on trade protection duties.
Quickly, the enemy realized they should have simply cut their losses and headed for home in the night. Tripoli took two hits from the French CA's secondaries while closing, but remained undetered. At this point the three French vessels were getting separated, the corvette to the north being chased by the Italian CLs, the Tage-class to the east with Partenope on her heels, and the armored cruiser to the northwest, being pursued by her Italian counterparts.
The engagement thus devolved into three, separate, miniature fights. The slippery and accursed Tage-class protected cruiser decided to brave the potential mines of in the Straight of Messina, and rounded the coast, heading south, constantly and heavily engaged by Partenope. This took the Frenchman right under the barrels of Battery #20, adding to her woes. The corvette was rapidly picked apart by the Italian CLs, as the armored cruisers pursued their French adversary, putting shells into her and taking some in return. To the west, a lucky round hit the uptakes of the Carlo Alberto, and her top speed was reduced to 16 knots. The French armored cruiser was damaged as well however, and could only make 15. Still, this made effective pursuit much tougher.
As she was hemmed in towards the coast, seemingly hugging it for cover, suddenly the lost support force appeared! Protected cruisers Giovanni Bausan and Clio, with Rhodia following, charged the French ship, aiming to pin her down between themselves and her pursuers. The sounds of distant gunfire meanwhile still echoed from the east, as the main force's protected cruisers finally finished off the plucky corvette with some additional shells and a pair of torpedoes. This done, they moved to recover more survivors from the old, unlucky Vespucci, and the first French CA sunk, as well as of course men leaving the stricken corvette. The lifeboats still bobbing around in the waves, they went about their duty gamely, taking in anyone who was in the water.
Further still, battle was raging continuously in the Strait, as Battery #20 and Partenope continued to duel the thrice-damned and accursed Tage-class, which was still trying to engage fleeing Italian merchant traffic scattering from the channel approaches.
Back on the opposite side of the battlefield, the support cruisers closed and engaged, but their seamanship was less than ideal, creating a gap the Frenchmen could get through in what should have been an inescapable trap. The Alberto and Garibaldi kept at it however, nipping at her heels as she hugged the coast, all the way to Trapani. There, she was engaged by the 4" Battery 18 and traded blows with the shore gunners, taking and giving out a pair of hits each.
Ultimately however, the clever captain rounded the city and fled for Tunisia as night approached. The damaged uptakes of the lead Italian CA did not allow optimal pursuit, and she successfully evaded in this second darkness. Later, she was discovered to be the Montcalm, narrowly avoiding trouble from a penetrating and flood-inducing hit courtesy of the shore gunners.
For it's part, the damnable Tage-class also escaped, somehow getting away from Partenope, which only managed to land 3"-caliber hits on her, while taking 6" shells in return. However, Battery #20 had more success, 4" AP shells penetrating and critically damaging her engines (further making the failure of Partenope to overcome and destroy her more profound). In addition, she suffered flooding, notable superstructure damage, and lost the forward, 6" dual, main turret to well placed shore shells. Splinters damaged the hull in several places, and a number of additional 4" hits were only prevented from doing even greater damage due to the coal bunkers absorbing the bulk of the blast.
Thus it was that the 1st Battle of Capo Vaticano came to a close. Italy had lost an armored cruiser, but sunk a French one to even the score, as well sinking a protected cruiser and one of their large, well-armed and armored colonial corvettes. Of interesting note after the battle were three things:
First that shore-based guns delivered sixteen hits to enemy vessels while only taking three in return, proving once again the stability of landed guns. Building many batteries would be in the works soon, to help defend the long Sicilian coast.
Second, the plucky Patrol Boat #10 barely but finally made it to safe harbor with heavy damage, flooding from a couple 3" waterline hits courtesy of the slippery Montcalm. Her tenacity in remaining in the field and trying to guard the vulnerable merchant traffic against far, far larger enemies meant that her lieutenant was fast-tracked for command of a proper warship.
Third and joyfully, on one of the last recovered lifeboats at the scene of the first sinkings, Tripoli found none other than Cpt. Biscia, the commanding officer of the lost flagship, Amerigo Vespucci. He was promptly landed in Messina to the happy adulation of the rest of the sunken ships crew, glad to have their captain returned to them, and crediting him with saving many lives in the prompt and proper abandonment which otherwise could have devolved into utter confusion in the darkness. RAdm. Morra also survived the engagement and placed his flag on the wounded Vettor Pisani, continuing to command the 1st Cruiser Division from ashore.
In the end, France's raid had been foiled and they lost more than they gained. Score 1 for the Regia Marina against the Marine Nationale
And yet the game screwed me. Pics will follow but some kind of bug miscounted the Pisani was 32 vessels and the patrol boat as 8....
So they got a "major victory," double my VP, and I lost one prestige...*sigh*...
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jun 16, 2023 20:22:13 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jun 16, 2023 21:40:21 GMT -6
A little save editing cleared up the VP and prestige issues. It seems France had issues projecting power. They had less ships in the field than I thought they could manage, and kept declining battle. We had one more engagement of the war after several months where three protected cruisers ambushed one of their Tage-class snooping around Taranto. One torp later and she is sinking Then they put out peace feelers and the stupid politicians agreed to it, no changes or reparations. I wanted to keep going
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jun 17, 2023 19:14:49 GMT -6
Jun 1900 - A New Millennium; How Nice Coglione hadn't made a hash of it at all. Granted, they had to only actually use the fleet twice in the last decade (once against the lying, sneaky, dirty Frenchmen, the other against the perfidious and arrogant Austrians), but still losing only one ship to actual enemy fire was fairly impressive. He could live with that. Varese had been the work of saboteurs, the poor Amerigo Vespucci due to ramming that idiotic Frenchman who cut in her way, and the little Fulmine to a "battleship's" (Austrian barge more like) secondaries as she closed for a torpedo attack. Granted, she had been their first ever destroyer and the class leader for almost twenty-odd vessels that came after her, but a glorious death in battle was more noble than a scrapyard. There was always an issue however. Coglione had another problem to chew over - the politicians. Both times his fleet had done their duty well. Capo Vaticano had been a solid victory, despite what the press had said about the loss of the Vespucci. A French taskforce had been chewed apart, losing the majority of their number, and utterly failing in their mission - to destroy merchant shipping plying the coasts. This could have been turned into the basis for an even larger encounter, the Italian sailors bolstered by their excellent showing and prepared to take on greater challenges. But no... What did they do? They made peace. Peace? Peace? With the swine whom had without honor blown up Varese at anchor? Coglione had only had time to sink another French protected cruiser before the parliamentarians decided honor had been avenged enough, and discretion was the better part of valor in the face of greater numbers. Short-sighted fools...the foe would be back, and in greater numbers. They should have taken the chance while they had it to press the attack.
If they had sought the French Mediterranean fleet in battle, Coglione knew he could have taken them. More battleships? Yes, but he liked his designs better. He had seen those clanking castles they fielded with his own eyes. Hotels, more like. Alas, that opportunity faded like the setting sun. His sailors had little but their pride to show for their efforts on the seas.
Then had come the Austrians, emboldened perhaps by their greater numbers of "battleships" the same. Open-mount contraptions no bigger than his mid-size cruisers, they had been hopelessly outmatched. Like the French war, he had had his men fight like lions, the greater number of Austrians meaning little in the end. The battle of Capo Rizutto saw them trying to own the Strait of Otranto, pushing out arrogantly off his fleet base at Taranto.
While he didn't have the weather or conditions to catch most of them when they realized they were beat and fled back to Cattaro like scared children, he did manage to isolate and destroy their only two protected cruisers, Zenta, and Aspern. Again as in the French war, this had been aided most welcomely by the shore batteries. What was it about his foes that made them get so close to shore? Coglione didn't know.
What he did know however was that the Austrians had been frustrated after that. Numerous further engagements had been fought, mostly ending indecisively, the sides respectively breaking off. Some saw his ships chasing the Austrians all the way back to port. Never did they have the initiative. After losing their battleship (barge) in the action where Fulmine was lost, they became even more cautious. A cruiser lost on raiding here, one in a coastal brawl there. Coglione had been ready once again to ramp up the action, Momentum had been on his side.
And once again, what did they do? Make peace out of nowhere...this time instigated and brokered by the French on Austria-Hungary's behalf. Of course they did. They would not want Italy to gain Austria's Dalmatian holdings. Having to keep strong forces on both fronts only made France's life easier and kept Italy divided in focus. The sickening thing was that once again his own politicians had allowed this to happen. Coglione really didn't like them...
And now he was here, with more and more and more ships to deal with and keep track of and refit and rearm and....and more of everything. It was tiring work. The oldest hulls were starting to show their age, slower than they used to be. For most, he didn't think machinery rebuilds would be worth the time or cost. That meant they needed replacing...
He checked another stack of intelligence reports and sighed. Always more potential enemies being built. Where did these nations find the budget? While he could review them all again. He was too tired now. Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning he would do it. After all, it's not like the paperwork was going anywhere.
|
|
|
Post by ewaldvonkleist on Jul 10, 2023 18:46:32 GMT -6
Good AAR, pls keep going!
|
|
|
Post by cabalamat on Jul 23, 2023 9:07:47 GMT -6
It would have been worth it had you actually got 31 extra armoured cruisers!
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jul 29, 2023 16:13:14 GMT -6
November 1900 -
War has broken out in Northern Europe. Britain and Germany have finally gone at it, after months of increasing tensions. Both fleets sortied for a mutual engagement in the North Sea, but the outcome saw the Germans come away the better, losing only a hopelessly outdated battleship, Brandenburg, the very first they ever made. She was only 7,100 tons, made 14 kts, and possessed a main battery of two 10in guns in a single turret forward. In contrast, the British lost the HMS Revenge and HMS Illustrious.
The former was a "proper" battleship of 1893: four 10in rifles in dual turrets, a dozen 6in guns, and a large smattering of 2in weapons, 12.5in on the belt, making 18 kts at 11,400 tons. The latter was an odd-duck, a peculiar design centered around a trio of 13in guns, two forward in a dual turret, and the third aft by itself. 7- and 2in guns made up the rest of the battery, and though a bit less than her older cousin, still possessed 10.5in of armor on the belt. However, at 11,000 tons, she could only make 17kts. Still, it was clear that both ships were far superior to Brandenburg. They had made a bad trade, and lost a poor destroyer as well.
Meanwhile - decisions had to be made at the Italian admiralty. Too many ships were aging. The stoic warriors of the 1890s were getting long in the tooth, and proper replacements were needed. With the destroyer craze finally dying down somewhat (sure to burst onto the scene again in the not-so-distant future), funds were being freed up for the constructions of new armored and protected cruisers, as well as battleships. Indeed, four battleships had already been laid down. At 12,700 tons, the Re Umberto-class were the largest vessels yet built by Italy. With 12in main battery guns, 6in secondaries, and 4 tubes, the sisters were built to fight. Their 8in of Krupp belt armor was sufficient to protect her against her own guns, even at point-blank range. However, newer 12in rifles of an improved design could penetrate at such distances. Thankfully, they wouldn't be fighting at that range anytime soon if the admirals had any say in the matter.
These ships were needed to fill the place of the four, old Ruggiero di Lauria-class ships. They had thin armor of only 6in, and their short-barreled 13in main guns were not accurate. Not to mention the ships were getting slow. The sooner the Umberto-s came off the slipways, the better.
In regards to armored cruisers, a similar situation was unfolding. The two ships of the Marco Polo-class, along with the three surviving Amerigo Vespucci-class were all built in 1889. The hulls were losing speed, and the latter were very small for modern armored cruisers, only 4,600 tons. All five vessels sported 7in guns, smaller than the predominantly 8in-sporting vessels of contemporaries. Italy herself had gone to 8in gunned armored cruisers starting with the Ancona-class, and continuing on with the Castelfidardo- and Varese-classes respectively. These last two classes were 8,000 tons, and made 20 kts. The admiralty felt that armored cruisers were now needed that could make 21 kts at flank. Thus, a very similar ship was designed, at 8,800 tons, Stromboli. The extra displacement accounted for greater engines to give her that one extra kt. The issue now was paying for two or three of the vessels, let alone five.
There was a lot of construction going on as well as finishing - A pair of new 1,600 ton colonial corvettes had just come off the slipways to take up station in the Indian Ocean. They were needed to patrol off of Eritrea as well as the new colony in Mozambique, spirited away from rebellious locals. In addition to the aforementioned battleships and armored cruiser, three new destroyers of a 500-ton design were being worked on. Other nations had 400-ton ships in service, but as of yet none fielded 500s. Perhaps Italy could be the first, though intelligence indicated other navies were close behind. Which brings us to the really thorny issue of the Regia Marina: protected cruisers. Currently, fifteen were in service, of varying classes and designs. The troublesome dilemma was how to replace such a wide variety of vessels and the roles they filled. Multiple design studies were done to determine which ships would be needed, and the results were thus:
The Piemonte-class was needed to have a 22kt standard ship with a uniform main battery of eight 5in guns. They were modeled on the earlier Partenope-class, but smaller and with less deck armor. These would take over duties from their progenitors, as well as the small Aretusa-class ships, which sported only a pair of 5in guns for their main weapons.
The Umbria-class could also make 22kt, but was smaller and more lightly armed. Ten 4in guns, and a square of four 3in weapons meant she was deadly against enemy destroyers and any small cruisers that got too close. These ships were meant to take the place of the the spiritually-similar Tripoli-class in a scouting role.
The Gaeta-class was unusual among Italian protected cruisers, in that it's main armament was 6in. These were meant to have the range to fight comparably with the mass of Tage- and Cosmao-class ships that the French fielded. With eight guns spread across the hull, making 21kts, and with 3in on the belt, she was fine design for only 4,600 tons.
The question now was - could the admiralty actually pay for numbers of these vessels in any kind of timely manner?
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jul 29, 2023 16:16:29 GMT -6
How things stand in late 1900: Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Jul 29, 2023 17:19:59 GMT -6
May 1901 - the Germans lost another Brandenburg-class, and a successor Elsass-class battleship, along with a destroyer. The British lost the protected cruiser Persian
July 1901 - they clashed in the Med, and the British lost another protected cruiser, the large 9,100 ton Constance
August 1901 - a couple indecisive engagements were fought in Southeast Asian waters
Oct 1901 - Threat of war! The British have lost another protected cruiser to the Germans, Cordelia, but this is not the real news of the month. There has been upheaval in Albania, and when Italy tried to intervene, the British blocked their forces and took the territory for themselves. Such grandiose expansionism has angered the Italian populace, and many now call for war. Tension is high, and all reserve forces are being mobilized, necessitating the temporary pause of the construction of some warships.
|
|
hamjo
New Member
Posts: 24
|
Post by hamjo on Aug 1, 2023 5:45:32 GMT -6
I’m really enjoying this. Looking forward to more
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Aug 6, 2023 21:48:59 GMT -6
February 1902:
Tired...The war had barely begun and already Coglione was tired. In December of 1901 Britain and Italy had gone to war over the Albanian Crisis.
Three months had seen two battles: one that had gone his way, and one that had not. The British had to be made to know their place, but they had more ships to lose. The Italian Navy couldn't afford stupid losses.
The first engagement was a confused, mist-shrouded cruiser action with accompanying destroyers south of Sicily and west of Malta. The bulk of the Italian force was a little over 50nm equidistant from both islands, but a scout force made up of five ships of the 5th Destroyer Division was 40nm further south near Linosa, one of the Pelagie Islands. Also somewhere in the area was a support force of the protected cruisers Partenope and her sister Minerva.
The main Italian force that partook in the fight consisted of the armored cruisers Ancona and Palestro, both of the former's class. Four 8in, eight 6in, and twelve 3in guns meant they were well-rounded combatants, with 4in each on the belt and turrets. 6,700 tons overall displacement afforded them 20 kts in good weather, and they even had been updated with central rangefinders. They were accompanied by the small protected cruisers of the Tripoli-class, the Tripoli herself, and sisters Dogali and Elba, whose 4in guns would prove largely ineffective in this fight.
Against this would be the British armored cruisers HMS Berwick and HMS Good Hope. On paper...the latter was comparable to his larger ships. 6,800 tons, allegedly 19 kts, 4in on the belt, and with the same four, eight, twelve arrangement of 8,6, and 3in guns respectively to his vessels. But the Berwick, she was the real problem: 7,600 tons packed six 8in guns, the first four in double turrets, with the remaining two in single amidships wing mounts, the ship had more main battery firepower than his. Worse, though it had a lighter caliber secondary battery at 5in, it mounted fourteen of the damnable things, seven per side in casemates. The tertiary armament consisted of ten 2in guns. All of this firepower would be deadly at close range.
Though the Italian armored cruisers were on paper screened by several more destroyers than their British counterparts, their split disposition severely affected the balance of available forces. The 5th Destroyer Division was far away from the action when it commenced. Ancona sighted the enemy to their south, and quickly steamed to investigate. Though signals were wired to the 5th, even at top speed, they would arrive largely too late to materially affect the engagement.
Overall, the battle was primarily a duel between Ancona and Palestro on one hand, and Berwick and Good Hope on the other. Smaller vessels mostly just got in the way and confused things. While Coglione didn't want to read over the painful, rote details again, the battle was largely decided not by sinking, but by fire. He didn't know if the British had developed some damnable type of new, incendiary shell or filler (he had to have naval intelligence check on that...), but something was wrong with his bloody ships and their ability to fight fires.
Berwick had lobbed a terrible fusillade at Ancona early on in the first shots of the battle, and something had caught fire in armored cruiser's upper superstructure as a result of an 8in shell. While one would think this was an ideal place to have to have a fire being as it was out of the way of anything critical, Cpt. Ferroni's damage control teams could not control it at all, literally to save their lives. Steaming away from the battle at minimal speed to aid firefighting and guarded by her sister (also damaged but thankfully not aflame), she had to be shielded by the increasingly desperate defense of the destroyer screen and the protected cruisers being systematically picked apart by the heavier opposition.
The destroyer Garibaldino took a single 6in shell from Cape Hope that demolished her amidships and she rapidly heeled over at high speed, foundering and spilling men into the cold winter sea. Like the Ancona, the other destroyer Bersagliere seemly went from suffering a minor blaze to an all-encompassing inferno that went back and forth for over an hour as the valiant crew fought the flames in the totally immobilized and helpless vessel. Despite numerous torpedoes being launched by the remaining screen, no hits were landed, all being duds or misses.
Tripoli and Dogali were both damaged exchanging shells with the British cruisers, but their small caliber could do little to armor that was their equal. Elba sustained more significant damage and had to limp away from the battlespace after the retiring armored cruisers. The support force was completely useless, and Partenope and Minerva never even saw the battle, let alone engage.
Then Ancona finally gave up and had to be abandoned, the flames totally out of the control stem to stern. Cpt. Ferroni, as was proper, was the last to abandon ship, but the problem is no one ever saw him again. He wasn't picked up by the crew of Palestro. It was only later that Coglione and the admiralty learned the British had found the man in a dinghy and captured him, leaving him in a prison on Malta.
Light damage was all the British cruisers sustained despite all the shots fired in the fog, but at least the Italians had tallied something, sinking the British destroyer HMS Fawn. Firefighting protocols had to be reviewed. Neither Ancona nor Bersagliere should have burned as they did for so long, despite minimal or no speed. Ultimately, score one was for the British.
However...an intelligence coup allowed an ambush in the Adriatic. The arrogant British sailing from the source of the conflict in Albania, so close to Italian bases, were about to find out that maybe they had stretched themselves too thin. Coglione had grinned ear-to-ear when he had read the after action report.
Suffice it to say the British had made an ill-favored trade for trying to raid the Italian coast within spitting distance of the main fleet base at Bari. HMS Arethusa and HMS Pelorus may have been listed as "protected" cruisers, but the damn things were far more powerful than his armored cruisers. The former was 9,100 tons of the Diadem-class, the very same as the Germans had sunk in a battle months prior. This monster was armed with no less than fourteen 6in guns - two single closed turrets forward, a pair on each side in sponsoned casemates underneath the bridge wings, three per side in amidships casemates, another sponsoned pair beneath the aft tower, and two open mounts on the rear. A pair of 4in guns amidships was backed up by eight 2in guns. Overall, the vessel had tremendous firepower, and 4in of armor for 21 kts.
Pelorus was but a cut down version of her progenitor and older cousin. The same armor and gun layout (except for the forward guns losing their armored gunhouses and being replaced with open mounts) was repeated, but on a 7,800 ton hull. What had to give was speed, and she could make just 18 kts. Still, firepower ton-for-ton was clearly on the side of the British.
But like the fires that plagued the Italians off Sicily, here it was accuracy that seemed to mysteriously bedevil the Anglos. Despite all their guns, they found themselves unable to land any decisive hits on their numerous assailants. While almost every Italian ship took a hit of some kind, nothing was severe enough to cause a sinking. A mob of protected cruisers and accompanying escorts, among them: Giovanni Bausan, Clio, Aretusa, Agordat, and Coatit, with many destroyers from several different divisions, swarmed the intruding cruisers from all angles.
The Aretusa and her class sisters engaged first, drawing the British in closer to the land south and west. There, they were joined by the Giovanni Bausan and Clio, whose not numerous but sizeable 8in main armament out-ranged the British and could penetrate their armor. Large-caliber hits were supplemented with 6, 5, and 3in shells from all sides as the Italians systematically surrounded and wore down the British, knocking out gun after gun and turning their superstructures into so much Swiss cheese.
Together, the Italian vessels shelled the large British cruisers into vulnerable hulks that were repeatedly torpedoed over and over, sometimes as many as four or five times. Both gradually rolled over, taking their whole crews with them - recovery efforts by the Italians were curtailed by a fierce gale that swept in as the engagement was nearing it's end. Altogether the British had lost over 1,000 men and two large cruisers for nothing. It made Coglione feel better to make up for the embarrassing loss of Ancona.
But he was still tired. This war was just getting started. His raiders had sunk some of their merchants so far, but the British Empire had plenty to spare. Likewise construction had had to be held up due to war-funding needs. The Re Umberto-class battleships hadn't come out of the docks so far, neither had any of the protected or armored cruisers being produced. Funding was still precarious, and decreasing month over month. He had too much battle damage to repair, mines to lay, fortifications to man and supply.
It was all so tiresome. Why couldn't the English just go home and leave Albania alone?
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Aug 8, 2023 18:43:17 GMT -6
March 1902:
For the third-time, Italy faced a mediated peace despite not being at a disadvantage in a war. This time the strategic calculus supposedly hinged on Russia. The great Eurasian bear, fearful of Germany and it's Mediterranean ally being able to do credible harm to Britain, decided to enter the war on the side of the island empire. This came as somewhat of a shock to the Italians, whom had for the better part of the previous decade, collaborated extensively with Russian firms to design better guns and ancillary technology, considering them at least good trade partners, if not friendly.
Ultimately however, realpolitik trumped trade, and the Russians were determined to keep Germany from gaining too much ground in the world vis-a-vis the other world powers. Faced with the prospect of a two-front conflict on both the Baltic and North Seas, the Germans put extreme pressure on the Italians to accede to a proclamation of status-quo-antebellum. There was much resistance to this in the latter's military circles because Russian forces would be effectively irrelevant to the wider war, being mostly bottled up far away from the sunny Mediterranean Sea.
In addition, they had just struck a localized blow against the British forces occupying Albania. An action was fought early in the month which saw four individual forces, two British, two Italian, mix it up in a somewhat chaotic fleet action in the south-central Adriatic. Numerous armored and protected cruisers, with accompanying destroyer squadrons, fought a sharp engagement that seesawed up and down the Italian coast before nightfall fell. When all was said and done, the armored cruiser HMS Suffolk had blown up after a taking a penetrating hit to it's Y turret, instantaneously causing a flash fire. Three British destroyers were also lost, against a single Italian one.
While a small victory against the tremendous numbers of British ships available overall, it marked a step of growing confidence among the Regia Marina that they could go toe-to-toe with the world's best and win, however isolated the result. Indeed, the very first Re Umberto had come off the line, and no battleship engagements had yet been fought. The war was far from over.
To preserve the appearance of being a good "ally," the Germans ultimately chose to play their trump card through their Austrian doppelganger. The Osterreich's diplomats politely informed the Italians that should they not accede to an immediate cessation of hostilities, many lucrative and vitally important German trade contracts would go to firms in their domain. Italy would be effectively cut off from German trade, and an immediate rival would only be strengthened.
With little choice, the Italian politicians ultimately accepted the mediation of Austria-Hungary. Doubtless, the latter wished to prevent Italy from gaining a foothold in the Balkans, and yet another outpost of the British Empire was of little concern to Austria, being so far behind them in military forces and technology already. Any hypothetical future confrontation between the two would only go the way of the British, so they might as well stick around and stymie Italy, or so it was supposed the Osterreich thought...
Post-war budget cuts to the navies involved would make future shipbuilding interesting, especially given the bevy of new technologies being discovered. Only time would tell what effect this sudden peace would have on the fortunes of the world's navies.
They did it again! Those bastard politicians took the scaredy-cat way out and left me hanging with nothing to show for the fighting but a few more battle honours and some slight damage to the enemy. We need Dalmazia, Albania, and Corscia, not peace...
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Aug 13, 2023 21:45:49 GMT -6
Nov 1903:
It appeared that it would be his default state. Yes, Coglione was tired. Still tired. One might say he had never stopped being tired. Doubtless there was out there some alternate version of himself that did not become head of the navy...perhaps he wasn't tired in this hypothetical place?
Alas, he was what was...and where he was. That would be in the office, his staff office, going over the plans and figures. Again. Always, always the plans and figures, graphs and charts, reports, promotion orders, disciplinary write-ups, and other sundry paperwork that was his waking nightmare. He wished he could just get on a ship and steam away from it all, if only for a little while...
Chief amongst his current concerns was the state of the navy's budget vis-a-vis the other nations of the world. All of his newest battleships, all of the newest CL designs (one each of three), and two of the new Stromboli-class armored cruisers had come off the line, and still he was losing money. Two more Stromboli's were in the works, as was the refit to Urania, one of Partenope's sisters, the last of the trio. This was the only class of protected cruiser deemed worthy of an engine rebuild, but it was costly.
The Urania would be laid up for ten months, and the price tag was well beyond that of similar protected cruisers, albeit it for half the time. In truth, the cost was closer to working on an armored cruiser, but what was he to do? Coglione had to be realistic: work with what was there without expecting much. At every conceivable opportunity thus far, the politicians and the government had stabbed him in the back. He did not anticipate some sudden boon.
Scrapping and retirement had to be in the works before long, the question was simply when. Too soon and he wouldn't have the hulls necessary to fight a war. Too late, and he might be stuck with them in a war against far more modern vessels. There were some that might say he had already held on too long, but then, what choice did he have? Each war had come at him with little warning and embroiled his ships and sailors sooner than he would have liked. As to what his potential enemies already fielded, it was bad enough:
France had seventeen battleships to his twelve, and they had three more on the way. The Verite-class were a design that seemed lacking in something on paper, but Coglione would have to fight them to figure out exactly what it was. 1,000 tons less than his latest battleships at 11,700 tons, these vessels had a similar layout of 12in rifles (though based on the turret design he suspected of inferior manufacture), backed up a solid ten 8in guns. This was bad news should his battleline get too close. Eight 4in guns would keep away destroyers with a high rate of fire and do enough damage should a shell hit. The Verite were worrying, in that all of this could be behind 8in of plate, and only lose one kt over his ships at 17. Coglione suspected that the size of the secondary battery might very well have necessitated some weaknesses elsewhere in the design, such as their level of secondary emplacement armor (vulnerable to flash fires perhaps?), but again, this could not be determined from what information he had....
What was more concerning was that they had twenty-four armored cruisers active, twenty-one of them having their favored layout of six 8in guns. That was a lot of firepower against his already physically outnumbered armored cruiser force. Worse, though he had nothing but a name, they were constructing some kind of monstrous battleship-sized vessel at 11,700 tons, the Tourville. Only time would tell what that thing would look like, or worse if he was unlucky, fight like...
On paper the Austrians had seventeen battleships as well, but luckily only two were of "modern" overall design and standard. Just the pair of Szent Istvan-class looked like what was fielded by foreign navies. Eleven were of their old-style barbette ships, and the newest vessels were in some ways their inverse. While the oldest ships had large caliber guns on an ostensibly cruiser-sized hull, the latest battleships had cruiser-sized guns on a large-tonnage platform.
At 10,000 tons, the Prinz Eugen-class could make 18 kts and sported a pair of dual 8in turrets, fore and aft, backed up by seven 6in casemate guns per side, and six 3in mounts higher up on the superstructure. All of this was protected by 8in of armor, which, if modern, face-hardened Krupp steel, would be proof against anything up to and including 11in rifles (baring advances in gun technology which naval intelligence wasn't privy to...which was quite possible sadly). While they couldn't dish out fire to the battleline of most nations, they could sustain fire from them at range, and would be killer to anything more lightly armed or armored.
Properly supported, even those smaller-caliber battleships could be dangerous. Taken together with recent Austrian construction on armored cruisers, there was cause for concern. In addition to their older vessels, since 1900 the Austro-Hungarian Navy had commissioned four new ones, with two more being built. The Odenburg-class were somewhat dangerous: 8,300 tons mounting a pair of 9in rifles in single mounts fore and aft, with ten 6in casemates for a secondary armament. With 5.5in of armor, she was better protected than most of her contemporaries. The drawbacks to the design were a lack of tertiary battery, possibly making her vulnerable to destroyer attack, and a mediocre 20 kt top speed.
More worrying were the two Szegedin-class vessels. Naval intelligence had proven useful here and managed to snag the plans before they came off the slipways: 9,300 tons making 23 kts. with eight 8in guns, two fore and aft in double turrets, and another pair, dual wing-turrets, these sponsoned just aft of the bridge superstructure. Six 8in guns per broadside was more than his armored cruisers could bring to bear. Also notable were the ships secondary batteries of fourteen 4in guns. These would be long-ranged enough to be able to hit destroyers far away, but not so large as to be overly slow in training and bringing to bear. These were tough ships, and their speed would mean they would be devilish as raiders, and heavily-armed enough to sink whatever might be able to catch them.
And this is without even getting into what the British could bring into play. It just wasn't fair really. Their numbers, technology, and quality stood for itself. No, Coglione had to instead focus on the Russian fleet.
That sudden thorn in his plans during the last freak war due to how they spooked the Germans, the Russian Empire could field fifteen battleships, with two more being built. The good news was that the four oldest were small and slow. The bad news was that the Petropavlovsk and her four sisters in various stages of production were very powerful. At 14,900 tons they were the second largest in the world (behind the French-built but Japanese-fielded Asahi-class, a monstrous 16,200 tons), and had 10in on the belt, more than the 8in on the Re Umberto-class (and the 9in on Britain's latest, the Illustrious-class). A standard layout of 12in rifles in two turrets (but modern) was complemented by a vicious twelve-gun layout of 7in and 3in cannons respectively. The Petropavlovsk and her sisters could shred anything smaller with that arrangement, and their only drawback was their speed, slower than most at 17kts.
Like the French, the Russians also went in on the huge armored cruiser concept. Except they already fielded theirs...Five Alexander Nevski-class ships were in the water with a sixth to be completed soon. An interesting design, they had a main battery consisting of a pair of 9in rifles, with sixteen 6in guns and a dozen 3in ones in support. This ship would be deadly at close range, moreso given it's 6in armor belt, more than any other armored cruiser that was known. The Nevski's downside was as to be expected, a battleship-appropriate speed of 18 kt. She was too slow to force a fight with the majority of her contemporaries, but in the right circumstances....
It was all rather troubling. What was Coglione to do in the face of such developments? Even the Spaniards, the Spaniards, whom hadn't been known for their shipbuilding since the time of galleons, were constructing a pair of gigantic armored cruisers, seemingly swept up in this craze. Larger than everyone else's if the reports were to be believed, the Canarias-class would be bigger than his battleships, and theirs for that matter: 13,300 tons. What madness had infected European naval strategists of late?
A total of fifteen hulls in the Italian fleet had been commissioned in 1889. Coincidentally, they would very shortly be fifteen years old. While the four old battleships would be mothballed when the other powers started scrapping their oldest battlewagons, he was less certain what do with his 7in-armed armored cruisers. Not terribly slow, but certainly undergunned and small, they may just have to be scrapped to save funds and free up men and material for new vessels. God knows he could use the resources. Likewise, the oldest protected cruisers would likely have to go as well.
This presented him with another problem however: with funds as they were, he couldn't actually lay down any more of the new Gaeta-, Umbria-, or Piemonte-class ships he had had made. The Piemontes in particular he wanted, as they had outdone their design and could make 23 kts, very useful for a variety of reasons.
Soon, things would come to a head - barring another war, always possible with the idiots in charge he lamented privately. He needed more vessels, newer vessels, and only the threat of conflict could bring him the funds he needed to ensure that the Regia Marina could dominate the seas. Time to get back to that paperwork and see what could be done. The international diplomatic situation always seemed to come out of nowhere and land itself on his desk no matter what he thought anyway....
Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by blarglol on Aug 13, 2023 21:55:46 GMT -6
Pics of some the ships I was talking about, as I just figured out a way to reliably put images in my posts, so expect more in the future:
Please let me know if there is something you want to know or see. I try to make this AAR interesting but sometimes I don't quite know what to put out here.
|
|