FortunesFaded
Spiffy
Scrawl BandittaThe World as We Know It
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December, 1900
[All IC player posts following this post will take place between January 1st and January 31st.]
The Seljuk Problem
The Kingdom of Zengid, considered by the other Continental nations was a nebulous backwater, a gateway between the Seljuks and the civilized. The antics of Suman Pasha, the heavy handed Seljuki nationalist who lurked in the wastelands of Northeast between Asena and the Seljuk territories. King Akbayar Bahar convened a meeting of the Zengid National Army and was met with two discerning opinions.
Kingdom of Zengid, circa 1899
General of the Zengid Army, Iskender Ilgaz proposed that the border must be reinforced with soldiers and that Suman Pasha would have to be burned out like a rat, and only then would the considerations of his actions to the Zengid people be met. Ilgaz believed that the Seljuk Empire was a decadent nation and that the reinforcing of the Seljuki-Zengid border would go without changes. By sending forces however, Zengid recognizes Suman as a domestic terrorist, perhaps even a covert rebellion. If General Ilgaz was wrong about Seljuk, they could see the deployment of soldiers as an act of aggression and use it as an excuse to go to war.
Zengid General Iskender Ilgaz, 1889
Marshal Akinci Colak of the Zengid Reserve had a different motive. He believed that Pasha was playing the long game. Instead, he believed that deploying soldiers was exactly what Suman Pasha wanted: military action. Colak instead wanted mediation with the Seljuks and only if that failed then utilize the locals to help hunt Pasha down, but not before attempting to understand the resolve of the Seljuks. General Ilgaz was opposed to this, saying it would be akin to admitting that King Bahar was incapable of maintaining the security of his own kingdom and required the aid of foreign nations to solve it's own problems.
The Tsar Recovers
On December 26th, the Tsar of Radena Pyotr II emerged from his state room for the first time in over a month. The Tsar, thought well on his way out of this world beamed, walking upright and without fever. He hugged first his son Olev, and then immediately brought in local reporters so that the news of his recovery could be spread across the Continent. The return of the Tsar set asides concerns that the future of Radena might be left to either a child or a traitor, and in his return Pyotr was elated to known that another 160 kilometers of rail on the Continental Railroad between Sloboda and Sloslia had been completed. The single rail was nearly 700 kilometers long now.
The Imperial Navy Expands
In the Imperium of Hiron, two of three battleships of the Taizen-class were finished after labor surpluses allowed additional workers to be temporarily allowed onto the job. The design of Taizen was a modified version of the Formidable-class battleships of the Serene Navy with two additional 6-inch (152 mm) guns. Taizen had an overall length of 432 feet, a beam of 76 feet, and a normal draught of 27 feet 2 inches. She displaced 14,560 long tons (15,380 t) at normal load. The crew numbered about 830 officers and enlisted men.
The ship was powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller, using steam generated by 25 Morris boilers. The engines were rated at 15,000 indicated horsepower (11,000 kW), using forced draught, and designed to reach a top speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) although the Taizen proved to be faster during her sea trials in December 1900. The ship reached a top speed of 18.45 knots (34.17 km/h; 21.23 mph) using 16,341 indicated horsepower (12,185 kW). She carried a maximum of 2,000 tonnes (2,000 long tons) of coal which allowed her to steam for 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km; 10,000 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
The Taizen's main battery consisted of the same four Taran designed HG-11 Company 40-calibre ten-inch guns used in all of the preceding Hironese battleships. They were mounted in twin-gun barbettes fore and aft of the superstructure that had armoured hoods to protect the guns and were usually called gun turrets. The hydraulically powered mountings could be loaded at all angles of traverse while the guns were loaded at a fixed angle of +13.5 degrees. They fired 850-pound (386 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,400 ft/s (730 m/s).
The ship's secondary armament consisted of fourteen 40-calibre 6-inch quick-firing guns mounted in casemates. Ten of these guns were positioned on the main deck and the other four guns were placed above them at the corners of the superstructure. They fired 100-pound shells at a muzzle velocity of 2,300 ft/s . Protection against torpedo boat attacks was provided by twenty HG 12-pounder 12 cwt guns. The 12-pounders fired 3-inch (76 mm), 12.5-pound (5.7 kg) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 2,359 ft/s (719 m/s). Lighter guns consisted of eight 47-millimetre (1.9 in) three-pounder guns and eight 47-millimetre 2.5-pounder guns. The three-pounder gun fired 3.19-pound projectiles at a muzzle velocity of 1,927 ft/s (587 m/s) while the 2.5-pounder fired 2.5-pound shells at a muzzle velocity of 1,420 ft/s (430 m/s). The ship was also equipped with four submerged 18-inch torpedo tubes, two on each broadside.
Furu, Taizen-class battleship, December 1900
The waterline armour belt of the Taizen class consisted of Tsirine cemented armour that had a maximum thickness of 9 inches (229 mm) over the middle of the ship. It was only 4 inches (102 mm) thick at the ends of the ship and was surmounted by a six-inch strake of armour that ran between the barbettes. The barbettes were 14 inches (356 mm) thick, but reduced to six inches at the level of the lower deck. The armour of the barbette hoods had a thickness of 8–10 inches (203–254 mm). The casemates protecting the secondary armament were 2–6 inches thick and the deck armour was 2–3 inches (51–76 mm) in thickness. The forward conning tower was protected by 14 inches of armour, but the aft conning tower only had four inches of armour.
The Taizen, like all the other Hironese battleships of the time, was fitted with four Joyeux JS-1 coincidence rangefinders that had an effective range of 7,300 metres (8,000 yd). In addition the ships were also fitted with 24-power magnification telescopic gunsights.
Ironsides and Cannon Rejects The Emperor
In the Imperium of Hiron, requests to design a field gun exceeding or at least consistent with the standards of Continental designs was met by some backlash in the Hironese arms community. Ironsides and Cannon, founded in 1873 predominantly designing naval guns on ironclad warships, was one of the first to attempt such a design. Months after the request surface, Ironsides and Cannon promptly dropped out of the competition, citing: "..metallurgy and design standards in Hiron cannot compete with current Continental designs. It is of the most regret that we must drop out of the competition to present a new weapon for the Emperor."
Ironsides and Cannon drops out of the Field Gun Design Competition, 1900
Trouble in Radena
While Pyotr hung hopelessly to life (and news of his recovery had not yet reached the East), trouble began in Radena. The Eastern Provinces were notoriously lawless, but culturally the Radenans and Meung got along. The constabularies were not likely to come calling especially in the winter months where snowfall was 4"-6" a month.
Typical home in Eastern Radena during winter, circa 1898
The cities, like Seosong, Suyang and Tougata were bustling industrial centers where fishermen and loggers converged, their cities a mish-mash of Meung and Radenan cultures. The first riot started, allegedly, in Suyang, along the coast, where Meung workers there--displeased with the forfeiture of Wenshou Islands to the Radenans had become a direct stain on their culture. The first protest was 300 strong, but the next day there were nearly 400 Meung workers and a nearby fishery had to be shut down for lack of workers. Two weeks later, the dust had settled--until another protest started again. A dispute between a Radenan--unidentified--and two Meung workers erupted when the Radenan pulled out a revolver and shot one of the men. The crowd rushed him.
Later that day, that same fishery was burned to the ground and a fist fight in a bar between Meung and Radenans turned into a mass brawl with 16 arrested and 4 badly injured. On December 28th, the body of six Meung workers were found floating in the Tougata Basin, chains having been wrapped around their neck and attached to blocks thrown in the water. Only the fact that the chains were nearly 100 years old and eventually snapped free did the bodies have a chance to float back to the surface.
On December 31st during a New Years Festival in Suyang, a shoot out called six, two Radenan and four Meung, over a dispute about "who owned the Northern Side of the Road." Constables, many of whom operate unarmed, have requested help from Glavnya.
The Suchkov M1900
During the Zello-Osladian War of 1899-1900, Radenan troops armed mostly with Kirov single-shot rifles suffered heavy casualties against Osladian troops equipped with Otto.88 repeating rifles, particularly at the bloody Battle of Vorl. This showed Radenan commanders the need to modernize the general infantry weapon of the army.
It was the way in those days to think of a reliable and easily reloadable repeating rifle as the best solution for the problem. So, in the following years, many systems were acquired and tested by GAU of the Ministry of Defence of Radenan Tsardom, and in 1899 the Vinnault-99 has been obtained through semi-official channels from Violette. It came along with the model of cartridge and bullet, but without a primer and the smokeless powder. Those problems have been solved by Radenan scientists and engineers (the smokeless powder, for instance, has been produced by Sergei Rostov himself).
In 1899, three rifles were submitted for evaluation: Captain Sergei Ivanovich Suchkov of the imperial army submitted his "3-line" caliber (.30 cal, 7.62mm) rifle; Kalpian designer Mostif Leon submitted a "3.5-line" (.35 caliber, 9mm) design; and a Captain Mendelov submitted another "3-line" design (1 "line" = 1/10 inch or 2.54 mm, thus 3 lines= 7.62 mm).
When trials concluded in December 1900, the evaluators were split in their assessment. The main disadvantages of Mostif's rifle were a more complicated mechanism and a long and tiresome procedure of disassembling (which required special instruments — it was necessary to unscrew two fasteners). Suchkov's rifle was mainly criticized for its lower quality of manufacture and materials, due to "artisan pre-production" of his 300 rifles. The commission initially voted 14 to 10 to approve Mostif's rifle. At this point the decision was made to rename the existing commission and call it Commission for creation of the small-bore rifle (Комиссия для выработки образца малокалиберного ружья), and to put on paper the final requirements for such a rifle. The inventors obliged by delivering their final designs. Head of the commission, General Petrov, ordered subsequent tests held under the commission's supervision, after which the bolt-action of Suchkov's design was ordered to production under the name of 3-line rifle M1900 (трёхлинейная винтовка образца 1900 года).
Like the 1899 Mawker rifle, the 1900 Suchkov uses two front-locking lugs to lock up the action. However, the Suchkov's lugs lock in the horizontal position, whereas the Mawka locks vertically. The Suchkov bolt body is multi-piece whereas the Mawka is one piece. The Suchkov uses interchangeable bolt heads like the Taran Baker Mk I. Unlike the Mawka, which uses a "controlled feed" bolt head in which the cartridge base snaps up under the fixed extractor as the cartridge is fed from the magazine, the Suchkov has a "push feed" recessed bolt head in which the spring-loaded extractor snaps over the cartridge base as the bolt is finally closed similar to the Kalpia KR.99 and Itheraen Model 99 or modern sporting rifles. Like the Mawka, the Suchkov uses a blade ejector mounted in the receiver. The Suchkov bolt is removed by simply pulling it fully to the rear of the receiver and squeezing the trigger, while the Mawka has a bolt stop lever separate from the trigger.
Suchkov M1900 blueprints
Like the Mawka, the bolt lift arc on the Suchkov is 90 degrees, versus 60 degrees on the Baker Mk. The Suchkov bolt handle is at the rear of the bolt body and locks behind the solid rear receiver ring. The Suchkov bolt handle is similar to the KR.99: It is attached to a protrusion on the middle of the bolt body, which serves as a bolt guide, and it locks protruding out of the ejection/loading port in front of a split rear receiver ring, also serving a similar function to Mawka's "third" or "safety" lug.
The rifling of the Suchkov barrel is right turning (clockwise looking down the rifle) 4-groove with a twist of 1:9.5" or 1:10". The 5-round fixed metallic magazine can either be loaded by inserting the cartridges singly, or more often in military service, by the use of 5-round stripper clips.
In test trials, the Suchkov was effective at 750 yards, easy to use and only moderately more expensive to produce at $28 a rifle versus standard Continental rifles at approximately $24. It outshined the Mawka, the Kalpian KR.99, Otto.88 and Vinnault-99 at 650, 700 and 750 yards respectively.
Veletian Front
Like the Itheraen Front, the Gabrelle Mountains were a non-combative zone in the month of December. Casualties were lesser than the Itheraen Front given the altitude and the measured blizzard that came down, stifling Veletian and Tyrian hearts alike. December 1st to the end of the saw more men killed by frostbite than by combat.
Itheraen Front
The Winter of 1901 was abysmal. December, especially the end of the month, was so worrisome that soldiers themselves deserted on both sides, hoping for the warmth of anywhere but a Tyrian position or an Itheraen trench. No offensives of either kind were held, but the Itheraens continued to bombard Tyrians positions, even as their own men froze on the battlements. The bright gleam of the snow off the beaming sun did little to stir the men to fight. In the first two weeks of December, three inches of snow fell over the Itheraen Front. Men did little but keep themselves warm, the thunder of incoming artillery barely enough to rouse him into action.
Itheraen position in the Winter of 1900 in a 'death slit"
The front was unnervingly quiet, save for the rhythmic cacophony of Itheraen I-DF artillery guns. Even the Tyrians were too cold to worry themselves with return fire. The commanders ordered their men to stay warm and stay alive. In a time so cold, little else seemed important.
The Inner Sea
The Battle of the Inner Sea was the second naval battle of the Tyro-Itheraen War, fought on 28 December 1900, between the Empire of Violette and Tyro-Redanian Empire. The battle took place in the south-eastern Inner Sea when the Tyro-Redanians attacked the Veletian escort off the south-west Veletian coast.
The Tyro-Redanian Royal & Imperial Fleet remained largely in safe harbors on the Serranthian coast while the Veletian Marine Natione remained in the northern North Sea. Tyro-Redanian defense of the north coast was non-existent, leading to the Invasion of Eisenstadt months prior. Similarly, the Veletian Marine Nationale command apparently feared for the loss of it's fleet and in response maintained to keep it together no matter the cost. Heavily damaged in November and fleeing to , the VX Paix Éternel was called back forthwith in December to return to the 1st Imperiale Fleet from Zanzan, Cotê d'Or, where it was being repaired. Unassisted and unescorted, she barely managed 9 knots.
In 1977, Kalpian military historian Hebert Freyer would ask in his book: Leashed Wolves, "why did the Tyro-Redanians attach submarines to their surface fleets?" A fair question in retrospect, but at a time when these new and experimental ships had no genuine purpose or guidance in this era. It was no one's fault, Freyer argued, that the Tyrians simply ordered their submarines to fall in line behind the battle fleet. The Battle of the Inner Sea they say was a Tyrian victory before the first guns fired and a Veletian victory immediately following the first salvo.
The 1st Squadron of the Royal Cross at the Battle of the Inner Sea, Painting by Frederick von Hutzer, 1921
The Tyrian Royal & Imperial Fleet was in position to cross the Veletian T, with Commodore von Trapp's Royal Squadron of 3 armored cruisers [i]SMS Novara, SMS Minerva[i/] andSMS Diana and his flagship the coastal battleship SMS Bellona, the Veletians were slow to turn because they were on the front flank of a merchant fleet of 35 troopships steaming through the Inner Sea. Heavily damaged and listing to port, the VX Paix Eternel crept along at 9 knots an hour, slowing the rest of the fleet so that they might keep pace with her. Smoke billowed inordinately from her stacks and it was this ship that the Novara, Diana and Bellona targeted with their first salvos.
Timeline of the Battle of the Inner Sea, 1900
The sinking of the VX Paix Eternel, a measly eleven minutes before her aft magazines blew and cascaded the sea with white hot shrapnel, was forgettable. The Battle of the Inner Sea was the largest modern sea battle in the history of the world with warships in a post-ironclad age. Following the complete dissolution of the Eternel, the remnants of her crew now each in an individual battle to stay afloat while the battleline floated past her, the battle properly began.
The VX Hildrik and VX Jubilé turned their guns on the armored cruisers of the Royal Cross Squadron. The battleline of nearly 85,000 tons of warships -- and Violette loses the entire war.
The Automobile Industry in Kalpia and Violette
While the war in the Gabrelle Mountains had effectively ruined Parnand's first fiscal year and requiring potential subsidization from the Veletian government, the Kalpian automotive industry of 1900 was measuring an unseen competitiveness. The Kalpian government, approving a mass purchase of cars not even manufactured yet effectively turned the automobile from a "civilian purchase" into a military weapon. Only 22 of the Yenson 31 HP's were purchased by wealthy Kalpian elites before the Kalpian government stepped in. With both prominent industries pulled back--one from war and one from government interference, demand in other markets had just started to creep up.
While the Radenan Tsardom had fostered interest, with a Radenan railroad tycoon seeking an alternative answer to transportation and purchasing a Parnand Simple to show off on the streets of Glavnya, it was the far and away Imperium of Hiron that generated the most interest in an automobile market. The Senryu Automobile Display and Exhibit from December 19th to December 21st was not dissimilar to the Kalpian display the month before: present was a Yenson 31 HP (it's serial numbers indicating it had been smuggled illegally out of the country in parts then reassembled), a Parnand Simple and a Jostwagen.
- [Imperium of Hiron receives Demand, Wealthy, 3%.]
The Treaty of Sutra (1900)
For the first three months of the Tyro-Itheraen War, neither the illustrious smooth talking ministers of the Empire of Violette nor the steely eyed diplomats of the Tyro-Redanian Empire made overtures to the nation stuck promptly in the middle. The Kingdom of Thecia owed a minor section of it's own population in Veletian land and had a nearly non-existent relationship with either nation besides that.
King Methaxas, in a private meeting with the Thecian Parliament on October 14th announced: "It is the duty of your King, representing the People and Parliament, to announce the official neutrality of the Thecian Kingdom, the Thecian Army and the Thecian Navy. It cannot be but the undoing of all the nation has worked for to choose sides in a tasteless conflict over issues that no Thecian yet has lost sleep over." The request of Count Phillip von Meyer at Sutra was met and on December 14th he met with Foreign Minister Peleus Demetrios as well as several minor commanders of the Thecian Army. The meeting lasted only two days, where it became self evident in the words of Minister Demetrios: "..that the Tyro-Redanians were looking for their own Itheraen Republic," alluding to the idea that it was the Itheraens and not the Veletians doing all the fighting.
Before Count Phillip von Meyer left via road back toward Holtzer, he was given an additional, confidential meeting with King Methaxas and allegedly given a single, singular provision based on a pair of promises. This would not be a signed treaty, but a promise from one man to another.
The World's Newest Battleship, the Majestic
n 1891, Zellonian Admiral James Maguire, then the Chief of the Royal Navy, issued a request for a new battleship design based on the Zellonian Victory-class, but that incorporated a recently designed 12 in (305 mm) gun and Tsirine armour, which was significantly stronger than compound armour (designed by a literal nephew of the Veletian Empress in 1896). The Director of Naval Construction, Archibald Black, prepared a preliminary design for a 12,500-tonne (12,300-long-ton) ship armed with four of the 12 in guns and protected with an armour belt that was 9 inches (229 mm) thick. White submitted the design on 27 January 1892 to the Board. Due to the greater resilience that Tsirine armour provided, less of it could be used for the same level of protection, allowing for significant weight reduction. As a result, the protection scheme was made stronger and more comprehensive than in the Victories, while minimizing increased displacement. This included the fitting of fully enclosed armored gun shields for the main battery guns.
The Board approved the design and intended to lay down three ships under the 1892 programme, but work on the 12 in gun was taking longer than predicted, and so construction was delayed to the 1893 programme. By that time, the third ship of what was to be the Majestic class was redesigned as a second-class battleship, Zellonian Victory, leaving only two ships to be laid down under the 1893 estimates. By August 1893, however, the public perceived the strength of the Royal Navy to have fallen relative to its traditional rivals, the Veletian and Radenan navies. Malcolm Hartwell, the Commander of the Zellonian Fleet at the time, proposed a large naval expansion plan referred to as the Hartwell Programme that included a Majestic-class battleships to soothe public opinion.
The Majestic was to be a benchmark for all successor pre-dreadnoughts. While the preceding Victory-class battleships had revolutionized and stabilized Zellonian battleship design by introducing the high-freeboard battleship with four main-battery guns in twin mountings in barbettes fore and aft, it was the Majestic that settled on the 12 in main battery and began the practice of mounting armored gun houses over the barbettes; these gunhouses, although very different from the old-style, heavy, circular gun turrets that preceded them, would themselves become known as "turrets" and became the standard on warships worldwide.The Majestic class, the largest class of battleship ever built, would be one of the most successful battleships of its time time.
The new Zellonian pre-dreadnought Majestic-class, 1900
The Majestic would be 390 feet long between perpendiculars and 421 feet long overall. It had a beam of 75 ft and a draught of 27 ft. It would displace up to 16,060 t (15,810 long tons; 17,700 short tons) at full combat load. The ships had a freeboard of 25 ft forward, 17 ft 3 in amidships, and 18 ft 6 in aft. Its hulls were divided into numerous watertight compartments, with 72 compartments inside the armored citadel and 78 outside it. A double bottom extended for much of the length of the hull. It was fitted with two pole masts, each with two fighting tops.
The Majestic was considered a good seaboat, in large part due to its high freeboard, with an easy roll and good steamers, although it suffered from high fuel consumption. It would nevertheless be very manoeuvrable. The ship had a crew of 672–794 officers and enlisted men, and this number varied between seasons and over the course of their careers. It would carry a variety of smaller boats, usually including three steam pinnaces, one 42-foot steam launch, two 34 ft cutters, two 27 ft whalers, three gigs of between 24 to 32 ft , one 16 ft skiff dinghy, and one 13 ft 6 in raft. The ship was equipped with six 24-inch (610 mm) searchlights, with four on the bridge and one on each mast.
Majestic was to be armed with four ZL.1 12-inch 35-calibre guns in twin turrets, one forward and one aft. This caliber would become the standard for all future Zellonian battleship classes. This would be the first new Zellonian battleship to mount a 12-inch main battery. The new gun was a significant improvement on the 13.5-inch (343 mm) gun which had been fitted on the King James and Victory classes that preceded the Majestic, in terms of ballistics and strength of the gun itself, and it was significantly lighter. The 12 in gun had a muzzle velocity of 2,500 feet per second (760 m/s)—a significant increase over the 13.5 in gun owing to the use of smokeless propellant—and it could fire a 850-pound (390 kg) shell with a range of 13,900 yards (12,700 m).
G.A. Gevär m/01
The Zellonian fledgling arms industry Guntherson Arms fulfilled it's first design request, submitting for army approval the G.A. Gevär m/01 rifle. Called the "Zellonian Mawka," the Gevär m/01 was the first of a potential family of bolt-action rifles based on an improved variant of Mawka's earlier Model 1893, but using the 6.5×55mm cartridge, and incorporating unique design elements as requested by Zellonia.
All Zellonian Mawkas were chambered for the 6.5×55mm cartridge, and all Zellonian-made actions were proof-tested with a single 6.5×55mm proof round developing approximately 455 MPa (65,992 psi) piezo pressure (55,000 CUP). Zellonian Mawkas were prototyped by Waffenfabrik Mawka AG in Aetoria, a/N in Kalpia and in Zellonia by Carl Guntherson stads Gevärsfaktori and Husqvarna Vapenfabriks Aktiebolag in Vorl, Zellonia. All Zellonian Mawkas, whether built in Kalpia or Zellonia, were fabricated using a Zellonian-supplied high grade tool steel alloyed with nickel, copper, and vanadium, a product than noted for its strength and corrosion resistance.
Gevär m/01 blueprints, December 1900
These rifles, like other pre-M 98 system Mawka rifles, lack the third safety locking lug at the rear of the bolt and feature "cock-on-closing" (similar to the contemporary Vinnault-99 rifle) instead of the "cock-on-opening" style found on the Kalpia KR.99 and most subsequent bolt-action rifles. The rear sight was graduated for 6.5×55mm service cartridges from 300 to 2,000 m (328 to 2,187 yd) in 100 m (109 yd) increments. The Royal Zellonian Bureau for Arms Procurement could order the Gevär m/01 into service or order the designers to attempt to improve it, but it was by all accounts, a decent rifle.
