I meant counter-intuitive from the perspective of a RTW Let's Player, going in with the bias of "Secondary guns are for telling DDs to fuck off, and making them bigger than 5 inches is just begging for an ammo detonation".
Granted, this will become entirely true later on, but until he gets multiple centerline turrets, upsizing the secondary battery and delegating anti DD work to the tertiary guns is really his best option.
I've seen mention that one can use main gun sized forward wing turrets at this point, and they don't count against the number of centerline guns you have. Could you draw up a variant on B which uses these instead of part of that secondary battery?
I've seen mention that one can use main gun sized forward wing turrets at this point, and they don't count against the number of centerline guns you have. Could you draw up a variant on B which uses these instead of part of that secondary battery?
With the outbreak of war the need for minesweepers and patrol vessels became acute. An emergency order was placed with Danubius and other small shipbuilders, many of whom have never had naval contracts before. Spreading out the construction of small minesweepers was expected to avoid delays from overburdening the already stretched facilities at Trieste and Pola while also providing employment for workers whose civilian contracts were cancelled by the war.
At the end of November the SMS Zenta, on the way back from a goodwill visit to Barcelona, ran across the path of one of the Italian cruisers already making to prey on Austrian shipping. With less than two hours before sunset the captain of Zenta elected to engage the CA briefly for the honor of the flag.
Splinters from a salvo of the Marco Polo class cruiser's 10" guns showered the ship, leading to flooding in the forward compartments. The Zenta slowed down to facilitate damage control, and maneuvered to throw off the gunners on the Italian ship and to bring its own 12.8cm rapid-fire guns into action. The ship's pumps soon righted the situation, and just in time as the seas began whipping up into a storm. Using cover of the storm and with sunset rapidly approaching following an inconclusive exchange of fire the Zenta went to flank speed and pulled away from its adversary. It would head to Malta for a brief stopover and repairs before returning to the Adriatic in early December.
Overall honors in the exchange went to the Italians, though damage to the Zenta was minor. The shot that led to the flooding was something of a fluke of chance. The confrontation did confirm that accurate shooting in a naval battle was more difficult than anticipated and added to a growing body of concern within the Imperial and Royal Navy that its crews were not superior enough to the Italians to make up the difference in gun power between the Austrian and Italian battle fleets.
The beginning of December brought good news and bad. The blockade of Italy, now joined by a British squadron at Malta, was more effective than ever. There was little doubt among Admiral Montecuccoli's staff that the war would inevitably be won. And yet the strains of war were beginning to show already as expenditures increased. The Hungarians were grumbling about the costs of the war and the loyalties of ethnic Italian populations in Trieste and the Trentino were a (perhaps unfairly) open question. A proposal to force STT to rename itself in German was thwarted by the intervention of the Marinekommandant, but it was a demonstration of how the prospect of an inevitable Italian offensive in the spring was manifesting in ethnic disunity. The strain of relations with St. Petersburg added another dimension to that unease, though facing war with Great Britain was a major deterrent against any attempt by the Russians to exploit the situation.
The return of SMS Maria Theresia and SMS Ferdinand III to the fleet was balanced by the loss of SMS Pressburg to the yards for repairs to the ships' engines. A decision was made to refit the Pressburg with the latest optics and plotting equipment and to retrain for the new central firing technique, when it was determined that would keep the ship in dock for only a month longer. That in turn forced the hand of the Marinekommandant, who decided to see through the refit of all the battleships and to wait for the commissioning of SMS Kaiser Karl VI before seeking a decisive battle with the Italian fleet.
As feared, news of commercial vessels being sunk by Italian cruisers began coming in by mid-December. As the new year rolled around celebrations were decidedly somber, in accordance with the Kaiser's example of pious entreaty for success in the war and as a reflection of the general mood of apprehension at the battles ahead. And yet there was also an undercurrent of relieved excitement among the Imperial and Royal Navy, which was finally fulfilling its intended purpose. And soon after the start of 1905 it would be given a chance to show its teeth.
At the beginning of January intelligence reached the Naval Headquarters in Pola of an Italian convoy transferring elements of a division as well as artillery from the garrison on Sicily to the naval base at Taranto. Contacts between Italian-speaking agents and the perennially restive Sicilian population, facilitated by exceedingly poor operational security among the officers of the division being transferred, made it clear the men and material were destined for a spring offensive along the Austrian border. After some debate a general operational plan was decided, concentrating the available Austrian cruisers to attack the convoy while the British battleship squadron based at Malta provided distant support in the event the Regia Marina committed its battle-line as an escort.
The fleet's Third Division, consisting of the armored cruisers Maria Theresia and Ferdinand III, would scout ahead and provide support in the event one or both Italian armored cruisers were detailed as escorts. Konteradmiral Njegovan's First Cruiser Division, supported by a strong destroyer squadron, would drive away any light forces covering the convoy and, in the event the Italian battleships showed up, carry out high-speed attacks with torpedoes to destroy merchantmen or force superior enemy elements to turn away to buy time for Third Division to fall back on the British squadron.
SMS Maria Theresia and Ferdinand III made contact with the enemy covering force, including one Marco Polo class armored cruiser later identified as the RM Vettor Pisani, early in the morning of the 12th of January. The schedule of the convoy had been leaked multiple times to Austrian agents observing matters in Sicily, making the interception relatively easy. While the two armored cruisers drew in the convoy's escort the light cruisers and destroyers accelerated to flank speed in a run on the convoy.
Led by the flagship Aspern, the First Cruiser Division cut across and around the convoy while their destroyer escort ran loose among the merchantmen. With no sign of heavier Italian elements the defeat of the enemy light forces assumed a higher priority, with the light cruisers maneuvering to place the Vettor Pisani and its destroyer squadron under fire from two sides. In an effort to escape the Italian cruiser doubled back through the convoy merchant ships, while the Italian destroyers threatened the First Division with torpedo attacks. Admiral Njegovan ordered his cruisers to follow the enemy, turning to engage the enemy cruiser closely in a chaotic melee amid burning merchant ships. As the Vettor Pisani attempted to withdraw to the north it turned into a torpedo attack by the destroyer Leopard and suffered two hits in rapid succession.
The Italian escort force abandoned the convoy at that point and turned to escape to the straits of Messina; that clearly signaled they expected no help from Taranto. The Third Division shadowed the fleeting force from the north while Njegovan's cruisers finished off the convoy's stragglers and reformed. Having slowed to 10 knots, and then fallen behind, the Vettor Pisani was easily overtaken by the entire Austrian force. Rapid fire shelling by the First Cruiser Division shattered the ship's upper works and slowed it to a crawl, which allowed the Austrian destroyers to swarm the ship with torpedo attacks. The Vettor Pisani broke in half under the shock of two more torpedo hits and sank rapidly to the bottom. Controversially Konteradmiral Njegovan elected to continue his pursuit of the Italian destroyers after a very cursory search turned up no survivors from the armored cruiser; the failure to detach a few of the destroyers or Third Division could be defended on grounds of military necessity, and the rapid sinking of the Italian cruiser left little hope for survivors, but a number of duels of honor were fought among the officers of the squadrons involved in later months.
As it was the time bought by the destruction of the Vettor Pisani allowed the Italian destroyers to race for the safety of the heavy coastal batteries guarding the straits of Messina. The destroyer Artigliere, having already taken a number of shell hits from the 14.9cm guns of the Austrian light cruisers, fell behind and was sunk. A number of survivors were rescued, and after a sweep of the Sicilian coast and shipping lanes near Syracuse turned up only one more Italian freighter and no more warships Konteradmiral Njegovan elected to return to the Adriatic by way of a refueling stop at Malta.
The overall battle was a resounding success, despite the controversy surrounding the possible abandonment of survivors from the RM Vettor Pisani. The loss of one of the two available enemy armored cruisers substantially strengthened the blockade and reduced the prospects of a successful raiding campaign in the Mediterranean. The details of that controversy were, in any case, suppressed by press censorship. The public had an unqualified naval victory to celebrate in the winter months ahead of the inevitable Italian offensives in the spring. And the Imperial and Royal Navy had a boost in confidence from once again the display of superiority over its hereditary enemy.
The intelligence digest for the rest of January contained some disquieting news. The French and Italians have adopted the new Central Firing techniques and are applying them to their older ships. The Italians have also increased the naval budget substantially; a review of Italian and neutral press reports shows they have begun construction on two more, larger battleships as well as their own large armored cruisers to match the Maria Theresia class. The pace of construction reported is very heavy, and focused on capital units which could tilt the balance of power substantially in Italy's favor. The Marinekommandant took a measure of solace in continued reports of the success of the naval blockade and the hope that it would bring an end to the war before the new Italian ships could be completed.
The British also made public their own plans to build a 20,400 ton Super Cruiser with greater gunpower than any battleship afloat. For the time being the Imperial and Royal Navy could do little but watch along with the rest of the world and wonder where the expansion in cruiser power would stop. Some naval theorists went even further, suggesting that the Super Cruiser's blend of speed, firepower, and adequate armoring had rendered the battleship obsolete. Quite a few such theorists hoped that a confrontation between the Italian and Austrian fleets would prove the point one way or another.
The expansion of the docks at Trieste and the addition of SMS Prag to the fleet, as well as the return of the SMS Wien, allowed the final Austrian battleship to be taken into yards for refitting. All proceeded well until the end of the month, when a naval conscript with links to dubious Pan-German associations was caught passing information on fleet movements to the naval attache from Berlin. The enlisted man was quietly imprisoned and the German attache ordered out of the country, though the matter was suppressed by censorship so as to avoid another diplomatic row at a delicate time.
February saw the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Squadron being a sweep of the Ligurian coast to tighten the blockade of Italy. Most Italian merchant ships had long been confined to port, but the British cruisers and battleships shot up a number of cargo lighters and disrupted the Italian fishing fleet.
The SMS Maria Theresia finally caught up with the Italian raider RM Nino Bixio off the Spanish coast and sank the lighter cruiser, bringing an end to Italian attacks on Austrian and British commerce in the Mediterranean. Two more Italian cruisers remained active in the Atlantic but were subject to the enormous pressure of the Royal Navy's worldwide presence, and were not expected to be very effective.
Further expansion of the main docks at STT's Trieste yards was authorized with war funding. The 18,000 ton limitation was viewed as too constraining if a Super Cruiser of the new British pattern was desired, and even the planned Radetzky class was an uncomfortably tight fit. The bid authorization for the new battleship class was delayed due to the outlays but was expected to follow next month.
The announcement of the construction of the Formidable class battleship neatly upset that expectation. Contacts between Graf Montecuccoli and the First Sea Lord, Admiral Fisher, gave him an appreciation for just how ambitious the Royal Navy's project was. By launching Formidable they were seeking to render every battleship completely obsolete, in a far more obvious manner than with the Illustrious class Super Cruisers. The Radetzky class, conceived of as the most powerful battleships to enter service, would be eclipsed even before the first keel was laid down. Debate raged about whether or not to proceed with ordering the ships as the most refined and capable design the Imperial and Royal Navy could afford at the moment or to instead use the stockpiled steel and construction materials to leap ahead of long-lead necessities for a new class of all-big-gun battleship or for a Super Cruiser. The limitations of the docks at STT were an obstacle to production of a Formidable type battleship or a Super Cruiser, though there were proposals already being floated around to force it to work.
Technical developments had at least made the idea of a battleship with three centerline turrets possible. Furthermore, a delegation from the Navy had been invited to inspect a new long-range cruiser built on speculation by Cramp & Sons at their Philadelphia shipyard; though no deal was reached due to the Royal Navy keeping the Italian raiders in check, the delegation brought back valuable insight on American subdivision practice to the Seearsenal that was subsequently shared with STT and Danubius.
Operations enforcing the blockade continued, and continued to bore the crews of Imperial warships. Occasional sightings of Italian destroyers and blockade runners led to the odd chase, but the Regia Marina had elected to remain in port and conserve its strength. British operations along the western coast continued to enjoy modest success, however. The blockade was certainly working, but next month the Italian spring offensive was expected to begin and the war would enter a new phase. The Army would be bearing the brunt of the struggle, at least until the battleline had finished its reconstruction and SMS Josef II was available.
The chief naval architect of the Seearsenal, at the request of the Marinekommandant, submitted two design studies for consideration at the end of the month. Both could take advantage of the stockpiles and preparations completed for the Radetzky class, should it be decided to cancel those ships. A Super Cruiser and a Formidable-type Battleship were both under consideration, though the dockyard limits were painfully obvious from the studies that Popper and his staff submitted. The inability to mount more than six 12" guns or to incorporate a heavy secondary battery raised questions about just how valuable either type would be in Austrian service; and yet either option was clearly superior to older style battleships and potentially to the Radetzky class.
(Alright, well. I'm leaning toward the Battlecruiser since an early BC is likely to be useful for longer than an early BB, though frankly going ahead and building the Radetzky class might be the best option; a semidreadnought like that will be obsoleted by better AP shells, but so would a six-gun battleship or an early dreadnought. Also there's a chance I might get triple turrets any day now. On the other hand it'll be a year before my dock expansion finishes and I can reach a limit of 20,000 tons. It's a harsh, harsh world of limits when playing Austria-Hungary.
I'm also open to arguments that consider the broader picture. What should I be laying down now? Maybe a few more minesweepers since having lots of those is useful and a war is a good time to lay them down. Maybe another pair of cruisers would be useful for the cruiser game if any capital ships I lay down now will be too worthless to bother with soon?)
I think this may be the best bet - you aren't going to overtake Italy in the battleship count from here, and a half-measure will probably be the worst of all worlds. So stick with cruisers for fighting the bread and butter of your war.
I would avoid going for a BB before getting wing turrets, but the BC is a reasonable choice (On the other hand, it might be better to wait for a dock extension to lay it down).
You need to get something to beat the Italians' new battleships, and I'm not sure building cruisers would be the best for that. Though alternatively, sinking their existing B before the next ones are available would be another solution.
If you think you can do without another capital ship for some time, I would say build other things for now (I like building CL in those situation since they age better than other ships). Otherwise, either the BC or the semidread.
Say, @Cavalier, have you considered building your first iteration of Battlecruisers in British shipyards? (And I most strongly counsel towards early battlecruisers - even a 3*2 gun battlecruiser will vastly shift the balance of power in the all-important cruiser game in your favour)
Yes, I know it's not ideal since you don't get the yard experience (i.e. longer native build times) and their Hidden Flaws, but on the other hand, their docks vastly outsize your own. Also man, an alliance with britain and three centerline turrets in 1905 :/ Lucky you.
Well, as I noted, last playthrough I had to buy AON in 1922, so there's plenty of time for the RNG to fuck me over.
As far as foreign construction I haven't and won't consider it. Austria-Hungary has pretensions of being a Great Power and the requisite pride that sows. Japan needs to catch up but the Dual Monarchy is already on the level of the likes of France and Russia. Domestic politics would also prohibit that given the need to bribe the Hungarians and to keep STT in constant business to maintain a native work force.
Also, uh, well, early my last Japan game the Brits seized two super cruisers when war with Russia broke out. They wouldn't do that while in alliance, mind, but it makes me leery of ever using the foreign option unless absolutely necessary.
In any case I think the 6 gun BB is out of consideration. I think the semidreadnought is actually more powerful on the whole and likely to remain useful just as long as the early dreadnought. The semidread also makes sense building against France and Italy since leaping ahead with build numbers isn't feasible; individual unit (and institutional) superiority is the name of the game.
The BC design isn't as well armored as I'd like but that's the main complaint right now; it's still armored to predreadnought standards though unlike Invincible. It'd benefit from another 2000 tons of displacement to work with, but the perfect is the enemy of the good. For an early BC design it's probably better than whatever the French or Italians or Russians will produce even a year or two later, I expect. It doesn't directly reinforce the battle line, though.
Actually maybe leaning toward the Radetzky class now. The battle line badly needs a new design to remain relevent, and innate naval establishment conservatism favors continuing the existing plans. Austria can afford to wait for the Super Cruiser and the Formidable-type to mature, I think. Also people wanted to see a semidreadnought and I wouldn't want to disappoint...
I am also giving consideration, regardless of anything else, to cancelling the fourth Maria Theresia to free funds for a second ship of the BC or B design to be laid down now. It's 17 months out right now and arguably already obsolete.
May you have better luck than I have, I just ragequit out of an austria-hungary game where I tried making no battlecruisers at all (After losing a bajillion BCs to torpedoes in my last game). That part of the plan was modestly successful, even if it meant that any enemy BC had to be handled with extreme care.
No, the part that enraged me was when the AI controlled my battleships as a support force, and decided to run away from an equal force of French BBs like cowards, leaving behind one of my most advanced battleships to get chewed up. Unacceptable horseshit.
Austria-Hungary has the Cautious trait by default, along with Italy and Germany. God knows the Italians will flee pretty readily so it might have something to do with that?
April 1905
The approach of Spring saw an unusually quick melt of the ice in the Alps, which swelled the rivers and streams of the Italian borderlands into floods and made mountaineering conditions exceptionally dangerous. The Comando Supremo elected to postpone the start of offensive operations against Austria in light of the unfavorable conditions; a certain degree of disorganization and incompetence in the planning was alleged by the nationalist faction in the Italian Parliament, which the Socialist newspapers took up and corroborated with damning detail until finally shuttered by the imposition of stricter censorship measures.
Under the circumstances the King had authorized his government to make clandestine feelers for peace negotiations to the Austrian embassy in Switzerland. The under the table approach left the Austro-Hungarian government suspicious, and in any case the Austrian Reichsrat was firmly in favor of crushing Italy once and for all. The Hungarian Diet was more sympathetic to the Italians, but the military services weighed in decisively against exploring peace; both the Marinekommandant and the head of the Armee Oberkommando, Archduke Friedrich, were of the opinion that the war was being won and that there was no need to explore peace unless the Italian government was willing to make an open approach. The chance to finally discredit Italian irredentism once and for all was simply too valuable.
A major war bonds drive supplied the Navy with a surplus of funds for once, facilitating a few longer-term decisions. STT received the contract for the lead ship of the Radetzky class, while the Seearsenal placed down a sister-ship named for Graf Leopold Daun. The now-obsolescent armored cruiser SMS Josef II was cancelled and scrapped in place at Danubius, and the Hungarians placated with a tender for a third battleship of the Radetzky class; this one was named for Feldmarschal Schwarzenberg. The trio of famous Austrian commanders was chosen as a positive example for the navy. Finally, a few more minesweepers were ordered to keep smaller yards in service and to counter the increasing reliance of the Italians on mine-warfare.
There were a few other developments of note including further improvements to torpedoes and the development of a superior 28cm gun by Skoda, the M.05; originally destined for export, a number of the guns were mounted on carriages for the use of the Army. The internment of the last protected cruiser in operational service with the Italian Navy was a further relief to the shipping magnates of the Dual Monarchy. But soon enough a new problem arose for the Imperial and Royal Navy.
Efforts to lure the Italian battle-fleet out of port in Taranto by another raid on Bari failed. The city was duly bombarded with no answer by the Regia Marina. Coal shortages from the blockade had been rumored to be affecting the Italian Navy; it seemed there was a great deal of truth to them. Unfortunately that meant the Imperial and Royal Navy might very well be denied the opportunity for a decisive battle to clip Italian naval strength before the inevitable peace.
A daring raid on shipping in the Gulf of Taranto was authorized; the protected cruiser Aspern and a destroyer screen would shoot up vessels on the very doorstep of the Italian battle fleet, daring it to sortie while the Austrian battle line and a British squadron waited nearby. The sudden descent of a thick fog rendered the operation impractical, though the Aspern did manage to find and sink a pair of Italian transports. It was a disappointing result for the effort expended.
At the end of the month the British announced the laying-down of a sister ship for HMS Formidable. Thus far no other powers had a Formidable-type battleship planned; but the announcement was a clear signal that Britain intended to remain ahead of any potential rival.
May 1905
The grand Italian offensive along the Austrian border began in mid-month after flooding had finally subsided, and crashed headlong into the teeth of well-prepared defenses established over the previous months. The absolute lack of surprise was fatal to Italian hopes for quick gains. Most military observers came to the conclusion that the conflict would be a grinding affair with no real hope for the Italian military; French commentators in particular commented on a very clear lack of elan and poor morale except among the elite specialist units of the Italian infantry. The Italian Army sadly lacked the motivation and commitment necessary to force its way through the border defenses by strength of bayonets.
Naval developments were less dramatic. Technical improvements in turret design were incorporated into the building of the Radetzky class battleships, with the aim of increasing Rate of Fire. The emergence of the RM Marco Polo off the West African coast as a raider was a cause for some concern, but it failed to make much of an impact. And operations continued to disappoint.
On the morning of 5 May the cruiser Aspern, patrolling the Adriatic as part of blockade enforcement operations, caught a pair of Italian destroyers steaming northeast toward Cattaro on a mine-laying mission. After a lengthy chase a few hits from the cruiser's 12cm guns stopped one of the destroyers in the water. This action was just another example of the attritional operations slowly tilting the naval balance in favor of the Imperial and Royal Navy; and also an example of the new kind of war of light forces being developed in the narrow confines of the Adriatic.
In important international developments the laying down of the USS South Carolina announced the beginning of a challenge to the dominance of the Royal Navy. The Americans were flush with cash and largely devoid of the far-flung responsibilities of the British Empire; if they resolved to overtake the Royal Navy it could pose a serious threat to British naval superiority in the coming decade. Relations between the English-speaking powers had been largely cordial so no immediate concern was expressed from London. It was also obvious that Austria-Hungary would not be all that useful an ally in the event of war between Britain and America, which began raising concern in Vienna about the direction that British policy could take.
Nothing like a Bayonett-charge and being home before the leaves have fallen to show up the navy. Can you keep your prestige up against such overwhelming tactics from the army?
Also, seems they Italy is truly down the drain, if the first offer already includes colonies and contested zones.
12. Italian Battleships Sighted! And it's a disappointment
As the battles along the Italian border continued to rage, sucking up men and material in a maelstrom of combat, naval operations also ticked up. The Italian armored cruiser Marco Polo, having sortied out into the Atlantic the previous month, slipped through the British blockade at Gibraltar under the cover of night and with the use of a French naval ensign. Once free in the western Mediterranean she made for the major hub-port of Barcelona where most Austrian trade with Spain was handled. In the span of two weeks she took five prizes and eluded a British patrol hastily dispatched to hunt her down.
Perhaps emboldened by the success of the Marco Polo, elements of the Italian battle fleet finally sortied at the end of the month to intercept a convoy transporting the First and Second Bosnian regiments from Cattaro to Trieste. Italian foreknowledge of the convoy sparked dark rumors of a spy in the Navy Headquarters, though later investigations tracked the leak to a Serbian revolutionary organization in Sarajevo. The Second Battle Division consisting of SMS Prag and Wien, providing distant cover for the operation, was forced into a desperate race south to directly intervene when two Roma class battleships were sighted by the convoy's light escort force.
By straining their boilers beyond safety margins the Wien and Prag were able to interpose themselves between the troop transports and the Italian battleships. Their run south at 20 knots surprised the Italian commander so much that he broke off the attempt to break through to the convoy and steamed south for twenty minutes before regrouping to press the action.
The Italians steamed into the broadsides of the Austrian battleships and turned due west to unmask their own full batteries. Over an hour and half of constant fire saw few hits or losses on either side.
With the Second Battle Division still firmly between them and the convoy, and Austrian reinforcements steaming south from Pola, the Italians finally elected to withdraw. The Austrian commander, Konteradmiral Anton Haus, declined to pursue in case lighter Italian forces took advantage of his absence to strike the convoy. No such second force emerged, and the battle was a very inconclusive and unsatisfying draw. The safe arrival of the Bosnian regiments would have repercussions for the fighting on land, though, as the fez-wearing "Turks" soon earned a reputation for ferocity in hand to hand combat.
Finally, a review of foreign press covering the war from Trieste exposed a French agent trying to bribe clerks at STT for details on the construction of the Radetzky class. The fake reporter was unceremoniously bundled off to the German frontier and forbidden to return.
July 1905
As July wore on the focus of the land battles shifted to the town of Caporetto in response to an Italian attempt to flank the established front lines along the coastal plain of the Isonzo. The battle drew in more and more resources and distracted attention away from naval operations for both sides. The Regia Marina returned to husbanding its battleships and coal and relying on light forces to harass Austrian convoys in the Adriatic, with little for either side to show for the effort.
The Naval Headquarters observed developments in submarine design with some interest, and there was renewed speculation about the prospects for building a small flotilla to penetrate the port of Taranto and attack the Italian battle line. Most of the construction funds were tied up in the Radetzky class, however, and no readily built submarines were available for immediate purchase. In the end the idea was declined though the need for a submarine fleet eventually was conceded by the Marinekommandant.
Operations by the allied Royal Navy were only marginally more successful. The transfer of designs for a new AP shell was welcomed, though, as providing a much needed edge over the Regia Marina. But with the Americans laying down another Formidable-type Battleship and the British matching one-for-one, the attention of the Royal Navy was being drawn away from the blockade of Italy and out toward the west. The Austro-Hungarians could expect to fight their war as the senior partner and with only modest aid from the British Empire.
There's a bunch of ethnic Serbian revolutionary conspiracies running around in Bosnia. Most of them a lot less serious than the Black Hand, which in any case was busy subverting the Serbian military and intelligence services at the time. Some anti-Habsburg Serbian students seeing the Bosniaks heading off to port just told an Italian agent operating out of nearby Montenegro.
And yeah, tensions with Russia were a tad high but I wasn't worried about it much because the British would slap down a blockade on them pretty much immediately. As it happened though the tension lever lowered itself next month.
Technical drawings of the new Italian cruisers of the Carlo Alberto class were made available to the Navy by the Evidenzbureau at the beginning of August. The Italian armored cruisers laid down at the start of the war had been a matter of some concern to Admiral Montecuccoli, as they were larger and more modern than the Maria Theresia class. Examination of the specifications showed few obvious defects, though the use of a large number of 180mm turreted guns in lieu of a more powerful 20cm or 24cm main battery limited the useful of the cruiser against modern battleships. The Carlo Alberto class seemed designed for commerce raiding and overpowering protected cruisers rather than as a supplement to the battle line, though their existence made a compelling argument for a Super Cruiser to follow the Radetzky class.
Research produced mixed results; efforts to compile more accurate range calculators culminated in the introduction of a new model, but the attempt to apply lessons from the new British AP ammunition to the M.02 were a costly failure.
The Regia Marina continued to hide in Taranto harbor as the fighting around Caporetto reached a peak. Efforts to bait the Italian battleships into action continued to fail. Most notably the action of 29 August, where the First Cruiser Division encountered, chased, and lost a pair of destroyers out on coastal patrol stands emblematic of the frustration of the Imperial and Royal Navy. Having failed to sink any Italian ships the cruisers engaged light Italian Army coastal batteries off the Calabrian coast and silenced the guns for minimal damage.
The launch of the first tranche of wartime emergency minesweepers at least alleviated some of the pressures the Navy was faced with in the struggle to keep the Adriatic coastal traffic safe.
Somewhat less promisingly, reports confirmed that the Russians had begun an upgrade program of their capital ships to match the fire control standards already established by Austria, Italy, and France. The news that Krupp was now offering 30.5cm guns of a similar performance to the Skoda M.02 30.5cm naval rifle was another not entirely welcome development if only because the latter had been a measure of pride for the Imperial and Royal Navy by way of comparison to their Prussian cousins.
September 1905
The massive battles around Caporetto finally flickered to an end in mid-September. Conditions at the front had become intolerable and casualties were appalling on both sides. The Italians came off the worse, with their efforts since May having only taken a few dozen square kilometers of Austrian soil while racking up heavy casualties. Further large-scale operations were curtailed in anticipation of bad weather and challenging local conditions. The front lines stabilized around trench-networks anchored on pre-existing concrete border fortifications with smaller battles fought for possession of high ground and mountain passes in the brief window remaining before winter.
It was in September that the first major disturbances were noted in Italian cities. Milan and Turin, long noted as important industrial centers, had become bastions of the Italian Socialist Party due to their large populations of industrial workers. They had been split between nationalists favoring war with the "reactionary" Habsburg Empire and dedicated socialists holding to pacific principles, but the rigors of the blockade had brought most of the belligerent socialists crawling back under the umbrella of the Socialist leadership. The announcement of a new wave of draft notices put the industrial workers on edge; that it was followed the day after by news of reduced bread rations due to the blockade spurred them to active strikes.
They were encouraged by the Socialists, who were openly staging a mutiny in the Italian parliament against the government. A young Socialist agitator and journalist named Benito Mussolini ran a clandestine Socialist paper stridently denouncing the war and the monarchy, echoing the cries of the workers of Milan and Turin for "Bread and Peace." The outcry was sufficiently alarming for the Prime Minister Luigi Pelloux to request that King Victor Emmanuele declare a state of martial law. This was granted, and loyal Piedmontese regiments kept back from the fighting on the Isonzo crushed the Socialist strikes in the northern Italian cities by opening fire on the demonstrators. The action brought a measure of domestic peace from terror but the reminder of the Bava-Beccaris Massacre of workers in Milan from 1898 did Pelloux's government no favors.
Naval operations continued at a reduced pace as both sides concentrated on the land battles. The Italians declined further large scale operations and renewed their commitment to guerre de course by the continued daring of the RM Marco Polo and the launch of a number of converted vessels as auxiliary cruisers. The Imperial and Royal Navy continued its slowly strangling blockade with now-routine patrols in the Adriatic and the deployment of cruisers into the western Mediterranean in support of the British.
The directors of Ganz & Company used the construction of SMS Schwarzenberg and political contacts with the Hungarian Diet to secure private investment in the expansion of their yards. While the Marinekommandant remained skeptical of the efficiency of the Danubius yards the Hungarians had no intention of giving up a share of the KuK Kriegsmarine budget in the future.
And of final note that month was the laying down of an American Super Cruiser as the USN launched a new front in its hitherto limited naval arms race with the Royal Navy. It was only a matter of time before the Imperial and Royal Navy and the other naval powers would follow that lead; though Vienna at least was at pains to reassure the British that it would remain friendly and allied some what may.
Early in the morning on 9 October 1905 the SMS Maria Theresia, accompanied by the light cruisers Aspern and Zenta, encountered the battleship RM Italia. This was a rare training cruise by the youngest ship of the Roma class, which was unaccompanied by escorts and uncovered by the Italian battle line at Taranto. This was the sort of opportunity the Imperial and Royal Navy had been waiting for; the chance to engage an isolated unit of the Italian battle fleet to tilt the odds of a decisive battle further in its favor.
The Austrian armored cruiser maneuvered at high speed to bring its full broadside of guns to bear. Zenta and Aspern remained as a distant screen to support her in the event of more Italian ships intervening. After fourteen minutes of fire the Maria Theresia scored the first hit, a non-penetrating hit to the Italia's forward citadel. The RM Italia returned fire, scoring a hit on the Maria Theresia's belt armor just above the waterline.
Following an hour of largely ineffective continued fire by both ships the Italia broke away heading for the Calabrian coast. The wireless staff aboard the Maria Theresia had received a report from the British battleship squadron operating in the Gulf of Taranto that it had engaged a division of the Italian battle line that had sortied earlier to cover the Italia. With any further support unlikely the captain of the Maria Theresia elected to continue the pursuit with the hope of slowing the Italia by gunfire and allowing the escorting light cruisers to torpedo her.
SMS Maria Theresia continued to score hits with primary and secondary batteries as it pursued the Italia. As the pursuit drew closer to the coastline the firing drew in a lone Italian patrol boat. The Maria Theresa swept in between the two vessels, hammering the patrol boat with its secondary battery, but the Italian sailors swept in anyway. And then the lookout on the bridge of the armored cruiser mistakenly called out a torpedo in the water; Maria Theresia turned aside for a few crucial moments, allowing the Italia to put distance between itself and its pursuer.
Once the Italia entered the range of the coastal batteries guarding the approaches to Taranto the race was over. The battleship had won the day would fight again later. The Austrian cruisers turned around to steam back to Malta, unsatisfied at the outcome of the action. The Imperial and Royal Navy was also unsatisfied at the action, and blamed the result on the inadequate shooting of the Maria Theresia.
A consensus was forming among the Navy's command that the previous training regime and technical developments had been inadequate to the demands of real war. The continued success of the blockade and the strength of the Royal Navy would insure victory over Italy; but training reforms would be needed after the war, and investment in better optics and range-finding tables, and even entire new systems of fire control, were called for in the long run.
(Ironically for taking up an armored cruiser against a battleship I probably should have been more aggressive about closing the range. If I could have just slowed the Italia down the light cruisers could probably have torpedoed it; and the Maria Theresia could have tried a torpedo run herself.)
Political developments were of little comfort in the aftermath of the wasted battle. The war with Italy in defense of the Ottoman Empire alongside Austria-Hungary had never been a popular fight with the British public. And the naval arms race with America was straining even the prodigious resources of the British Empire. Parliament cut appropriations for the Royal Navy in response to a widespread petition movement in favor of peace, and invited the Italians to present terms for discussion at formal peace negotiations in Geneva.
Fortunately, whether motivated by weakness or by arrogance, Pelloux presented a proposal for status quo ante bellum. The British military establishment was offended at the failure of the Italians to offer even token concessions considering how badly they were losing the war. It was a simple matter for the Austrian government to cast the terms as more insulting than they were, and to insinuate that the Italians were simply stalling for time while they negotiated with a sympathetic France and Russia. The talks were broken off shortly after they started, and Italy faced the prospect of a cold and hungry winter.
Okay, there's like five more months of updates before I get up to where I presently am. And this was the last for today. one thing to be sure, this war is pretty boring. The Italians keep refusing battle and the cruiser fights are mostly just two DDs running away from my CLs to the sounds of the Benny Hill theme. There's one absolutely ludicrous battle I fought in March but I still only managed to kill two more Italian DDs. Anyway, that's for later.
Mistakes I think I made thus far;
1. Failed to press the Italians aggressively enough for fear of losses.
2. Didn't put on Enhanced Training 12 months before the start of the war.
3. I was probably optimistic about the 9" gun being consistently sufficient to fight early-game predreadnoughts.
4. Should have just declined to build more than two armored cruisers until I had put out a more powerful B class.
Also the DD-made Naval Secretary event cost me a lot of flexibility even if it did make it theoretically possibly to throw Italy under blockade even with fewer battleships, if I'd been fighting Italy alone. Not sure what to do with these masses of 500 ton destroyers in the long term, either. Is it worth it to rebuild them as patrol and mine-laying boats later? They probably are cheap, especially if kept in reserve while newer Fleet Destroyers are available.
