In Progress Let's Succeed at Ruling the Waves 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Andnjord]

Fist, why we have CAs around.

Because ValeVelKal built them.

Second, why we have Bs around.

Because I was keeping them for Foreign Station duties in case we got some. I guess you could convert them to CVL, but they'd be shit at that role. Might as well scrap them at this point

Yet, why the fuck half of our fleet is Travellers

Because there just isn't enough money yet to replace them. That being said if you were to focus on building BB (fast ones please) we should be able to get to the point of sending them the way of the dodo. And as you said they're not that bad yet. But true, they're reaching the end of their shelf life.

Also, before trying an update I have to add that we're reaching the point of the game where my knowledge gets limited (haven't played many RTW2 games to completion, now I'm toying with an Italy game that's half larping and half "let's see what happens if") thus I may do horrible decisions.

Can't get too wrong if you follow what navies did historically. Bar Washington Treaty true, that puts a spanner into things. Speaking of which, another CV related book recommendation that I recently finished:

Spoiler

 

[baud]

I can't really help, but good luck and godspeed, men

 

[Dayyālu]

JANUARY 1925

Spoiler

Back to the saddle. Let's see what the hell those accursed lowlives have left us.

We're at war with Russia, allied with Britain and our fleet is sort of a mess. I mean, Imperial Russia has a fleet that theoretically can match ours in sheer numbers (bar the fact we have SEVENTY TWO DESTROYERS) but the quality is far inferior and we have Britain on our side. In roughly ten months the new Admiral class BB will be ready giving us another edge on the Russkies, but..... well, let's consider war strategy later. Overall strategy, nau.

There's very little to choose now, maybe we can request . I do some limited changes on research, deprioritizing Lighter Than Air (sooner or later I'll decommission the Airship bases in favour of more recon planes) and maybe better quality 18 inches guns? Do we truly need bigger guns for BBs? They will be useless in a few years anyway.

Our fleet training needs some months to get up to basic standard. Maybe we can send some CL to raid the Russian commerce vessels.

Our main CL, the Remison Class, is apparently short ranged. AWESOME NO RAIDING WITH THOSE AND LIMITED STRATEGIC MOVEMENT. We send our three Long Range Light Cruisers to raid and let's hope they are fast enuff to avoid enemy Battlecruisers. Or maybe I could send our battle cruisers to hunt enemy battlecruisers....

Yes, that will do. Russian battlecruisers are essentially inferior to our designs and with a bit of luck and pluck we'll push through. FOR THE HONOUR OF THE SOUTH

Our scientists manage to conjure "Daihatsu barges".

From a quick reading, a Japanese invention first developed in the mid-20ies, used in China during the 30ies, and copied by the Americans in the 40ies. And then they say the Japs copied everything!

Flying rats with teeth.

THANKS A LOT OUR LIGHT CRUISERS ARE ALREADY FEW AND SHITTY GODDAMN. Well it's one of the Jemisons, so a mediocre one with short range. Little loss.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECHIIIIING

FIFTYSIX ENEMY SUBMARINES WHAT THE HELL

SIXTYTWO ENEMY SUBS

Truth be told, when we will reach good aerotech enemy subs will be annihilated (like in Real Life) but before they can be one hell of a nuisance.Nothing relevant happens in the followig months, bar the Russian Wolf Pack wreaking havoc on our merchant fleet and the Russian fleet completely avoiding battle. New scout plane, new flying boat.... updating is essential.

Ok, this is completely unexpected. My BC force gets three British BBs as support and the Russian fleet accepts the battle. Two British BBs are almost adequate (16/15 inches guns and decent armour), but I seriously didn't want to fight a battle so soon and without my main fleet. And with BCs, to boot.

The enemy fleet is inferior. The point is to win the battle without losses on our side. The British are expendable.

I'm not risking lucky torpedo hits. Their battleline is completely inferior, we use the British BBs as a shield and our BCs add some long range fire. The British ships do not appear to need help after all, the Russian guns are shittier and their armour inferior.

Fuck. From the smoke, a new squadron of Russian BBs, emerge. It's all their goddamn fleet. The first Russian BBs got savaged, tho. Maybe we can push through this and win the war here and now.

HAH! Lucky us! It's not a BB squadron, they are the Russian battlecruisers. The British BBs send them packing after some exchanges, their armour is too thin to withstand 16 inches shots. The Russian BBs start to lose coherency and between the smoke and the hits, it's utter chaos. Our battleline is ordered and disciplined, and not a single hit on our BCs for now. Please no torpedoes please no torpedoes please NO torpedoes

AAAND THE FUCKING RUSSIAN DDs GO FOR A SUICIDE RUN AND THEY GET TORPEDO IN

But I don't care. It's not mine. It's not mine. Right? Plus, apparently British tech is fairly advanced and the Repulse tanks the hit without even slowing down, quickly reducing flooding and keeping up the fire.

Gotta respect the Brits.

The enemy Battlecruisers escape the field, leaving the enemy BB squadron alone. The Russian DDs go on suicidal torpedo runs against the British BBs, managing to score some lucky hits, but they are essentially meaningless. Their capital ships burn.

The enemy BB squadron gets annihilated. Let's see if we can catch their BCs....

We manage to hit and damage heavily one of their BCs, but we are running out of ammo and night is closing in. AAND RANDOM TORPEDOES FROM NOWHERE HIT OUR BATTLECRUISERS GODDAMN

Let's go home and hope we don't get more random torps.

Our beautiful, perfect victory has been ruined by some late torpedo hits (causing heavy damage to one of our BCs and one of the British BBs) but the majority of the Russian fleet lies in the sea now. It's a great victory. A two prestige victory! Neat.

The Russian fleet is pretty much useless now, if it wasn't already. Great job, Brits. It helps that we got the best BBs Britain could field.

See? It's the quality of the crew, not the number of subs! Like, France has almost 80 subs. EIGHTY. I choose to send the majority of our fleet to help the Russian blockade, and our BCs back into the Caribbean to hunt for a running Russian BC.

That can be useful. Also, one of our CV ends its recontruction, maybe we need to check.

Uh. This needs a bit of work. But I'll end the update here, because I am lazy. To the next time!

 

[Comte]

I like it. The Louisiana clique who takes power in CSA, just like the USA was a Virginian thing until the middle of the 19th century.

I am ready to lead the Louisiana clique if needed.

 

[Andnjord]

Jolly good show everyone. I hope you all learnt a thing or two from the professionals!

Good job on the battle boy, shame the game pulled the trigger a bit too early on you and we didn't get to see our nascent naval air force trounce the Russians.

And yeah, the Roger-Mils will never be as good as other historical battle-cruiser conversions. If you look at the design characteristics of the USS Lexington-class they were much bigger with more guns and less armored than our Roger-Mils, so more displacement available once you took those guns out. Going with 5'' or even 4'' guns to replace the 8'' should free up space for a few more planes though.

Sure we have a ton of DD but at least half of them are our ASW boys, so we don't have thaaaat many ready for actual combat. Don't forget to give them K-guns once we get them. And if we ever get into a protracted war against a serious opponent the Rat-Packers II will die like flies in the inevitable small engagements we will have.

Speaking of ASW, I am quite impressed by our ASW value of 143, that's no joke to get by 1925. How many subs have the Russians lost so far?

EDIT: Just noticed on our save: Japan already has Dive Bombers. That's reason enough to sign an alliance with them if only to buy the dive bomber off of them if you have the occasion.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Guess that fleet of destroyers proved useful after all .

Beautiful victory. Can you screencap what is left of the Russian fleet ?

 

[Andnjord]

Meanwhile, in an alternate reality/split time line:

Spoiler

1943, CSA vs USA are at it again

Incoming air attack from four out of the six 40 000 ton, 90 aircraft capacity Fredericksburg class CV (and successors) about to smash the US battle-line. Multi-carrier Coordinated strikes totaling more than 100 aircraft at a time (with about 50 more from the two other CV to come shortly) are absolutely terrifying to behold.

Moments later:

Enemy Airstrike against the CSN Chancellorsville. Only one torpedo hit while the CAP absolutely murders the ever living hell out of the aggressors.

Part of the enemies CV are found by a random wandering destroyer (previous readers of my SAI LP will know that randomly wandering lost DD are not even a running gag, they are the best scouts imaginable). Four deckloads of airstrikes have managed to make contact (the last two stumbled upon a sinking BB and wanted to make damn sure the thing would go down)

Inevitably...Hornet eats SEVEN bombs within minutes while Yorktown and Langley each take a couple of torpedoes in the face. The crippled carriers will be finished off by the next deckload strike.

And the final result:

Yes, that is almost one hundred aircraft shot down by the CSA CAP. While the AA didn't kill all that much it ensured the (numerous) enemy airstrikes that got through the CAP almost never found their mark.

So, a couple of things about the game from playing ahead.

The Admiral Class BB even though they are 20 years old at this point are still not obsolete. Sure, more modern ones are better, but only marginally so. By focusing almost exclusively on BB construction for the next ten years, I managed to put to sea 8 modern fast battleships the last of which, the Braxton Bragg:

Spoiler

is still unmatched to this day. The very same battle-line you saw in the previous battle was the one that took out the entire US fleet ten years prior, before Aircraft were able to significantly influence battles. So from your starting point I'd say BB still have a good 15 years of ruling the seas Dayyalu, and even more of screening/being an indispensable support for the CV forces. Light forces did have to suffer a bit, but when dedicated CV construction appeared in 1934 (I don't know if that's late and I got unlucky or if that's just normal dates for the game. I guess USS Yorktown, the first dedicated US CV wasn't laid down until 1934 as well) I was able to slowly fill those gaps with newly researched triple turreted and later on double turreted dual purpose 6'' guns 'light' (the latest class displaces 9200 tons) cruisers and double turreted dual purpose 5'' destroyers. What I'm saying is that you could start pumping out soon to be obsolete cruisers and destroyers now but you would miss the last window of opportunity where BB tech is mature and they still have a happy long life ahead of them. Sure, the 1934 war against the US was a bit rough in all but the fleet battles, but the fact that we have Iceland (keep upgrading the base) should allow us to force a fleet battle against everyone bar Japan where our superior BB can win the war for us in one stroke.

About Aircraft Carriers doctrine. I don't know if it's ideal ingame, but I somewhat followed the Japanes doctrine coupled with the US large airgroups with almost unarmored carriers. This meant always building CV in pairs, sending out Coordinated Airstrikes comprising of half DB, half TB plus a squadron of escort fighters from each CV. This will ensure that they would be able to completely overwhelm any enemy defenses. As I built 90 aircraft carrying CV, this meant that the default auto-add aircraft load-out worked quite well, allowing a full deck-load strike of 15 DB, 15 TB and 15 fighters (minus CAP) from each carrier, with the same force getting ready back on the Carrier for follow up strikes. IF you were to go the British way, armored carriers with smaller airgroups, I'd suggest opting for something like four airgroups per carrier only, so one group of 20 DB and one of 20 TP with two groups of 10 fighters for example for each carrier as opposed to the six airgroups I had. Then your airstrikes would look like 20 DB and 10 fighter form one CV, 20 TB and 10 fighters from the other, which is actually what the Japanese did. This is because smaller airgroups have a much harder time than big airgroups in scoring hits, let alone surviving long enough to do so in my experience.

By contrast in the previous battle, even though the enemy had equal numbers of aircraft they kept sending them in individual groups, ready to be massacred by the CAP and dispersed by the AA. To make matters worse the US CV were smaller but more numerous, carrying only 60 planes each, so each airgroup was only around 8-10 large. Hence the turkey shoot you saw.

Anyway, ramble over, MOAR!!!!

 

[ValeVelKal]

1.06 is out, with the really needed toggle to always have the same at max speed (instead of having to remove pause and then settle the max speed again).

Sadly, NOT guaranteed compatible with earlier versions

 

[Andnjord]

Conductor! Do we have a problem?

Dayyālu ?

 

[Dayyālu]

Conductor! Do we have a problem?

No excuses: brain not on the right place for RTW. Updatah tomorrow evening/night.

Let's make it a long one.

 

[Dayyālu]

AUGUST 1925

Spoiler

Well, fuck. My brain is seriously going places nowadays. Let's check where we were. Fuck yes, we won the war!

The thing that I'm fearing most is coming at us, inevitably. The build-up planned by my predecessor is ending, and we have to choose what the fuck to do with our Naval Budget.

I have no idea.

We aren't in a terrible situation, truth be told. Some pieces of our overall fleet are outdated or simply bonkers, like the Bs and the CAs, but we can still work with some of them....

I guess the priority is to estabilish a proper and working BB fleet that will support us for the future. BCs are already obsolete. I'll consider it when the Light Carriers are ready.

The second BBs is commissioned, the Admiral get torpedoed by the endless swarms of Russian subs... we blockade Russia and they have no way to inconvenience us. This will be a breeze.

Ohh, our CAs get some action in a convoy defense mission. Let's see what the Russkies are sending to die against us.... it's two destroyers. We sink both of them and a lucky torpedo sinks one of ours.

MAJOR VICTORY ONE PRESTIGE

Srs, game

And the last of our Light Carriers is done. Time to plan for what to build.

The russkies have enough. It's a complete victory. Let's see what we get.

We get nothing and the Brits get Sakhalin. Awesome, guys, awesome.

The "Sorrel" class. Should work fine.

I choose to cheap out and the our new class of BBs will be a rehash of the Admiral class, but the advancements will let us push the speed to 28 knots. We need something that can trash enemy BCs (still a shitton of them) and evade the future of endless air strikes. Ahh, also Improved Director!

Our venerable Bs get retired, it was goddamn time.

Excellent. Our DD fleet is almost offensive, being a shitton of crappy vessels with a frankly insane design. Only a rodent or a Frenchman could have built such a combine of stuff.

Welcome to the Greenhow class, completely unremarkable. Built to work, built to last.

And named in honour of a Confederate Spy!

Truly a....southern beauty. There is even such a thing as a Southern Beauty?

We start rebuilding on our Roger Mills and we get six DDs. Now I'm wondering if it's better to get a couple extra CVLs or update our CLs....

Two extra CVLs. They will always be useful.

Six new destroyers, a new BB, and two extra CVLs. Plus a rebuild. Off screen I'm trying to keep our air fleet as updated as they go, without ordering planes. I will consider to fill up our airbases as war approaches, considering the INSANE expenses involved in mantaining an air fleet. I didn't update the game, the new 1,06 lets you put aircrafts in reserve, helping with this.

Most of our fleet isn't worth of a rebuild, truth be told. Better to waste our money in a new class of CLs. A couple will help for raiding, and if we get a BC encounter....we're dead in any case.

Quiet months of building and development follow. We get the new plans of the Communist Battlecruisers..... I don't like them, but the bastards are richer than us.

In several months the only thing worthy of mention is that the Commies sell us the projects for K-guns.

Pretty.

Completely unexpected! With the rise of dangerous Communist nations and with the older nations of Europe bent on inefficient aristocratic systems, I guess even France understood that the future lies with the Confederacy and Britain, to defend the rights of Man, of property and liberty.

This is INSANITY. The Russian fleet is in complete shambles AND they are antagonizing THREE nations at once. Maybe this will be worthy of a laugh.

And with this, I'm out. Let's see if the next time we can laugh more at the Russkies....

 

[Dayyālu]

OCTOBER 1927

Spoiler

Where were we. Right. The Russkies are coming. Again.

WE FIGHT THE COMMUNIST INFILTRATORS

Kk, the Russkies are disappointing us and they are completely failing to get this war starting. Well, I guess I can use the extra funding to develop some complete memery of a BB. But I'll need to wait some months for the end of our expansion.

Spiffy! Parasite aircraft.

Parasite aircraft are one of those ideas that kept floating around for decades, and both the British and the Germans ran quite a lot of experiments on the subject before petering out in the late 30ies: the concept of parasite airplanes from airships was completely functional, but several accidents and the lack of interest killed the project. Parasite fighters from bombers were another thing, and even had limited military use on the Eastern Front (in 1941 from the side of the Soviets and in 1945 for the Hitlerites). The Japs went for the design with this

And that worked as well as you all know. The tech here gives parasite fighters to Airships, something I've never seen in action in-game.

Also, in another universe, parasite fighters created one of the best games of all time.

Rebellion in Dreamland.

No war with the Russkies. I choose to waste money on the Gettysburg class, named for the Great Confederate Victory (in this timeline, at least). It's essentially another rehash of the previous Fast Battleship class, just with more guns, better tech, better AA and more armour.

Where the HELL is New Caledonia, by the way?

Ahh, in the middle of the Pacific. Still France nowadays.

SOUTHERN PLUCK

ALWAYS MANAGES TO GET THROUGH

Well, they blame us but they don't have proof. Our men did well! No prestige loss. And one less Russian BB.

They declare war nonetheless. Oh, the horror. France, Britain and the CSA against Russia! HOW we are going to manage? HOW? The horror!

We'll need to equip our Light Carriers with some airplanes now and cover our colonies and holdings. The russians have no resources, it should be easy. To make things clear, our alliance has more BBs than Russia has DDs. Our costs immediately raise a lot just by equipping two CVLs with squadrons, Air is expensive as fuck.

Dumb, dumb Tsar. If only we could have helped the Communists take power in Russ...Ughgmgh. You didn't hear a thing, right.

And the Sorrel is in. A beautiful ship. I mean, it could probably take all the Russian fleet alone and win at this point. Dumb, dumb Tsar.

WEEEEEEEEEEEE. This is a nice set-up! We have two of our Fast Battleships, a British Battlecruiser (a somewhat up to date design, even!) and our first taste of Carrier-based operations! Holy shit this means I have to explain how carriers and air works. Fuck.

First, it ain't similar to land-based Air. Land based air is automated. Carriers are under our direct control, even if I prefer to leave the direct maneuvers under the AI. Carriers should not approach enemy ships in any case, after all.

First of all, we can manage scouting and CAP. In this case, even if our pilots are absolute dogshit (remember most of them were recruited like, two months ago). CAP is the protection for our fleet, and in the endgame the only flimsly hope that enemy bombers can be stopped. That and AA, but I prefer CAP.

I'd love to show you the Air tab but the climate isn't cooperating. Better for us, no russkie planes around.

Weather improved. Here we have our air tab. Honestly, it's very easy to use: ready the planes and then send them around in the hope they get something. Of course, arming and readying planes carries risks (just ask the Japs) BUT if you aren't a fuckup you should not have problems. The biggest thing is to get the torpedo bombers near the targets at the correct time and the correct place, with enough planes to punch through AA and enemy CAP.

We then enjoy the torpedoing.

AAaand the battle ends when the lonely Russian BC escapes into port. Fuck. No fun.

Annnd another go. Our BBs, British BBs, our Carriers.... I'm happy to report that our battleline has still the glorious Traveller in its ranks.

WHAT THE FUCK GUYS ITS A COMPLETE LIABILITY BY NOW I MEAN 11 INCHES ARMOUR YOU fucks

And here we get the Russian Fleet. It's a sorry sight, most of the ships are inferior to our Traveller class, even recent ones. Only a single BB is somewhat adequate.

BUUUT

TIME TO ORDER OUR TORPEDO BOMBERS INTO THE SKIES! GO AND STRIKE!

When one of the British BBs gets a torpedo I realize we got a bugged battle. Like, see, our ships and the British ships are so friendly with each other that they are literally on the top of each other. DOUBLE BBs. That makes them BBBBs, I guess. Fisher would be so proud.

SCREAAAAAAAAAMING FLYIIIING RAAAATS

A Russian BBs eats a dozen of torpedoes from our planes (it was already rather slow) and the Russian line collapses and they flee everywhere. Let's see what we can catch.

FUCK

NO

FUCK


We get hit by a smattering of torpedoes, no heavy damage I hope. Time to disengage, fuck land based aviation. FUCK land based aviation. I'm not risking my ships and we already did a lot of damage.

A TON of damage. The Russian fleet, what was left of it, is no more. Bye, you died as you lived. Outdated.

As you notice, aviation has become a scourge BOTH for us and our opponents. I fear the Getty class will be a tad useless, but it's the last swan song.

The last russian BB tries to ambush a convoy for Iceland.

It ends....poorly.

Good. My successor will have a lot of work to do for refits.

My rage is endless. Really. REALLY. SIX MONTHS TO RETIREMENT. I start developing a substitute at once.

The only Russian BB under construction. I am....not impressed.

More bullying, this time with French allies. Free for all on nubile Russian botesluts, it seems.

Nothing happens in the last months, and I retire. I leave a crippling debt, weirdo designs, and a war already war.

Be careful about the commie US, tho. They are....dangerous.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xcFnRlM827sEsh5vHqYtt0jtIez9IHyD

I am sorry for being so late, but I am lazy and very tired lately. Plus overworking, studying for thingies, and a DnD campaign. Sorry guys. Still love you all.

Have fun.

 

[Andnjord]

mah Latin Brother

Feels like we're beating on the wimpy retarded kid at school for his lunch money with this new Russian war, I heartily approve.

On the other hand I'm not sure I completely approve of the Gettysburg Class, not enough Deck armor, not enough 5'' secondaries for future AA and no spare tonnage left for Dual Purposing the 5'', extra medium AA or future Radar sets. But that 12 guns 16'' broadside will be scary to behold. And at 57 000 tons this thing will be able to take on hell of a beating before going down.

As you notice, aviation has become a scourge BOTH for us and our opponents. I fear the Getty class will be a tad useless, but it's the last swan song.

It should still have a good 10-15 years of being more than useful, provided it gets CAP and ridiculous amounts of fleet-wide AA (so everyone from the humble DD to the BB are covered in 5'' or 6'' dual purpose guns). Just look at the 1943 battle I posted above where the 600 odd US aircraft completely failed to cause any serious damage to the battle-line.

Comte , are you able to pick up the turn in the next one to two weeks? Otherwise oscar or ValeVelKal can pick it up already if they so desire.

 

[Comte]

mah Latin Brother

Feels like we're beating on the wimpy retarded kid at school for his lunch money with this new Russian war, I heartily approve.

On the other hand I'm not sure I completely approve of the Gettysburg Class, not enough Deck armor, not enough 5'' secondaries for future AA and no spare tonnage left for Dual Purposing the 5'', extra medium AA or future Radar sets. But that 12 guns 16'' broadside will be scary to behold. And at 57 000 tons this thing will be able to take on hell of a beating before going down.

As you notice, aviation has become a scourge BOTH for us and our opponents. I fear the Getty class will be a tad useless, but it's the last swan song.

It should still have a good 10-15 years of being more than useful, provided it gets CAP and ridiculous amounts of fleet-wide AA (so everyone from the humble DD to the BB are covered in 5'' or 6'' dual purpose guns). Just look at the 1943 battle I posted above where the 600 odd US aircraft completely failed to cause any serious damage to the battle-line.

Comte , are you able to pick up the turn in the next one to two weeks? Otherwise oscar or ValeVelKal can pick it up already if they so desire.

I can pick up it up again. The Louisiana clique is ready!

 

[ValeVelKal]

I guess our Confederate money has been embezzled again !

 

[Dayyālu]

MEANWHILE SOMEONE DID A VIDEO ON OUR RIFLE



Also what the fuck Comte

 

[Comte]

Sorry guys I won't be able to run this turn this week can somone else do this week? Then I will do the follow up turn. My estate is running low on funds so I need someone else to build up alot of cash so I can embezzle it later.

 

[Andnjord]

I'm in the US of A until the beginning of September, so I'll have to pass. But don't worry, I'll bring back pictures of USS Iowa's 16" guns as compensation.

 

[ValeVelKal]

I can take it, if you send the save.

 

[Azira]

Flying rats again?!

 

[Andnjord]

I can take it, if you send the save.

You should be able to grab it off Dayya last update

 

[ValeVelKal]

Secretary of the Navy ValeVelKal, part 1 - Intro

Well, liegend-Oberleutnant der Marine des Bundesstaates ValeVelKal, you must wonder why I summoned you ?

No-not at all ! Me Se-secretary of Navy now ! Been there-re ! Do-Do-ne that. Always wh-when su-summoned by-by President and not Se-secretary, I become Se-secretary. And when-when Se-secretary, suummoned when-when President not happy !

Errrrrr, yes. I decided to appoint you in command of our Navy. You see, I believe the future of the Navy is the aircraft carrier, and what do I see from current Secretary Dayyalu ? I see we let our Aircraft Carriers unescorted and sunk by submarines ! I see research carried on a lighter than air vehicle, which can now carry ONE (1) fighter, when our ship carriers have douzains. And more critically, I see we carry on building new super-dreadnought - which cost us EVERY MONTH one quarter of our total budget.

Secretary Dayyalu probably won the last war of what will be known as the golden age of battleships, I will give him that ! But he is not the man of the future. We need someone young, like you, someone born in

[check files]

1787 ? WHAT ? How comes ?

Go-good genetics !

And I see here in your file an endless list of instances where you found death in battle or in accident, only to be present yourself on your commanding officer a few hours later...

Ve-very lucky. Also genetics.... Fa-father was very lucky too. Fell in fro-frozen Delaware while fo-foraging, swam to ground. F-found plenty d-drunk Germans. S-stabbed twenty-twenty two of them. Captured o-others. Back. Army joined two hours later. Got Badge of Merit from Wa-washington.

I am checking the two last such accidents. The first one in 1923, while personally testing a French plane, you bounce on an house and end up in power line. Your body was found dead - trauma and electrocution - and brought to the local morgue. And the following day you present at the Admiralty !

Doc-tors BAD ! Know NOTHING rat bo-body. Can't say d-dead from bruised.

The second one is you personally trying to land a plane on a carrier. The plane catch fire and fall overboard. Full disappearance of both the ship and body. Your death is kept secret for obvious reasons. 2 weeks later, and I should note, one day after your death was officially announced, you present yourself thousands and thousands of miles from where you "died" in Richmond.

Swam all the way !! Rat-thing ! Swimming away from s-ship. Old rat tra-tradition !

I will investigate further on this. Meanwhile, take command, and make of our fleet Rule the Air !

 

[ValeVelKal]

Secretary of the Navy ValeVelKal, part 2 - 1930 Situation

As Secretary of the Navy ValeVelKal took control of the situation in January 1930, the situation was …

… good. Excellent even. I don't think any earlier Secretary of the Navy landed in such a situation.



The Navy was solid wiith :

- 9 Battleships (though 4 of them were of the venerable "Traveller" class had been so useful but which by then was almost obsolete despite the refits),
- 2 Battlecruisers (underarmored, but still very capable offensively),
- 2 lackluster heavy cruisers
- 10 light cruisers (5 of them were of the totally obsolete Jemison-class),
- More than 70 destroyers of all ages and size, from the 1899 500-tons "Duncan Ingraham"-class to the 1929 2000-tons "Greenhow II"

Finally, the Confederate Fleet had one Aircraft Carrier (the Roger Mills, a former Battlecruiser) and four modern Light Carriers, which could together transport close to 200 planes...

… even though at the moment, no planes had been allocated to the Roger Mills, a situation quickly corrected.

Against this naval power, to which should be added the power of the French, Russia could oppose …
… one Battlecruiser, 2 heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and a douzains of destroyers.

The only political leverage in the Russian sleeves was the dizains and dizains of submarine it fielded, prompting Secretary ValeVelKal to immediately modernize some destroyers with new ASW weapons.

Military, the situation was therefore splendid, with only a few ships to trim down immediately : the Jemison-class was made at a time where the CSA was a regional power of the Carribeans, lacking any modern ship, and on budget. They had become useless to a world power deployed worldwide.

Spoiler

The sinking of the Richard Kirkland by a Russian submarine in February sealed thee Jemison-class fate, and the 4 remaining ones were immediately decommissioned.

Financially, the situation was almost as good, with a small budget surplus and a war treasure of 40 millions. Two new ships were in production, one CVL and the very, very costly Gettysburg-class, responsible for the sacking of Dayyalu. It could not be cancelled - the public would not accept it - but it would be the only one of its class.

 

[Dayyālu]

ITS A WONDERFUL BEAUTIFUL UNIQUE SHIP

(also no planes becaus every little use for them, particularly for land based aviation. The things are crazy expensive so they had to be kept under control).

 

[Andnjord]

Gotta love the vignette with the President, great one!