- Location
- Southern Virginia
Depends on how things go. Right now he's on the activist Left wing of the Party and in no danger of ideological deviance.
[RTW] Kaisertreu: An Austria-Hungary LP
- Thread starter Cavalier
- Start date
- Let's Play
Depends on how things go. Right now he's on the activist Left wing of the Party and in no danger of ideological deviance.
DezoPenguin
Text Wall
- Location
- USA
It seems like Italian naval doctrine in this universe consists of one paragraph: "Run! Run like the wind! Run like the very hounds of Hell were snapping at your heels!"
15. Don't send an AMC to do a CA's job
- Location
- Southern Virginia
That was kind of their doctrine in WWII, too; at least in regards to major fleet units.
November 1905
Fighting along the Austrian frontier finally petered to a near-standstill as winter conditions shut down the mountain passes in South Tyrol and the Trentino and made further assaults along the Isonzo even more fruitless than they already were. Both combatants were punch-drunk by this point, and the peacetime stocks of shells had been severely depleted with both Italy and Austria-Hungary struggling to increase production to meet demand. Italy was coming off worse thanks to the blockade; though the decision of the French government to allow resale of explosive precursors imported from Germany to the Italians kept them in the fight.
It had not, however, proven possible for Italy to import sufficient coal supplies by rail. Italian industry was suffering, and rationed supplies for heating use in the north where winters could get cold were blatantly inadequate. Martial Law was keeping Milan and the other industrial cities quiet for the time being despite the increasing discontent; and the expulsion of the Socialists from Parliament was allowing the Pelloux ministry to conduct the war as it saw fit. And free from having to deal with the consequences of appearing weak before the nationalists and pacifists, the Italian government finally took steps to present more acceptable proposals for an end to the war.
His overtures were immediately rejected by the Austro-Hungarian government. The casualties of the past year had hardened the attitudes of the Austrian Reichsrat, and the prior farce in Geneva had made the British government unwilling to trust Pelloux. Even the Hungarians were inclined to allow Italy to stew so as to serve as a better example to Serbia and Rumania of the folly of their claims on Hungarian territory. A relaxation of tensions with Russia had also alleviated concerns that war might be immanent with St. Petersburg, making it more feasible to continue fighting until the Italians were well and truly beaten.
With the Italians unwilling or unable to risk their battle fleet, they turned to fairly desperate measures to maintain naval operations.
The cruisers Zenta and Aspern, on patrol covering the coastal traffic around Cattaro, encountered the evidence of the failing Italian Navy firsthand. When responding to a midday report of Italian light forces attempting to penetrate the minefields around the port they discovered a division of destroyers escorting an auxiliary cruiser converted from a large merchant ship. The plan had evidently been to let the destroyers guide the disguised raider through the minefield before they broke off to make a diversionary attack. The armed merchant cruiser could then hide among the Austrian merchant traffic and pick off unwary vessels at night for as long as the ruse could be sustained.
Aspern and Zenta chased down the Italian force in a lengthy chase that lasted into the night. The Italian AMC was shot up and finally torpedoed soon after sunset. The destroyers left sight as Aspern and Zenta slowed to finish off their charge, though a subsequent passing encounter saw an exchange of torpedoes to no effect. At that point, with their mission having failed, the Italians returned back to port.
16. RIP, Leopard
- Location
- Southern Virginia
December 1905
The shift of the Italians to armed merchant cruisers to carry out their raiding operations saw some success in early December, with the former liner Agnese Madre taking a pair of Austrian merchant ships and a British vessel off the North African coast. In response the British moved to tighten their own blockade on Italy by making a series of landings on Sardinia.
To distract the Italians from the impending British operation against Sardinia the Imperial and Royal Navy launched another cruiser sortie into the Adriatic, with the objective of bombarding the city of Ancona. The battle fleet would shadow the First Cruiser Division of SMS Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia, in the hopes of intercepting any Italian responders.
At noon on a sweep south of the city the cruiser division encountered a patrolling Italian destroyer of the Nembo class. The destroyer fled north toward the safety of Ancona harbor's defenses, using high speed and violent evasive maneuvers to avoid shellfire from the Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia.
With the escape of the enemy destroyer the armored cruisers returned to their mission. At 1400 hours they began shelling Italian Army encampments and depots on the outskirts of the city. The bombardment lasted 75 minutes and destroyed a large quantity of enemy stores and set a fire burning toward the city. With military targets exhausted the Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia retired from the bombardment and began a sweep of coastal traffic to the north of the city, prolonging their presence in enemy waters in hope of provoking a Regia Marina response.
Two merchant ships were found lingering in the coastal traffic lanes between Ancon and Venice. Both were fired on and sunk. The setting sun made clear that the Italian battleships would not set out from port, so a sweep south of Ancona for any further merchant traffic was authorized before the force would return to port.
At 21:58 hours local time, the small torpedo boat destroyer Leopard struck two Italian sea mines and began floundering rapidly. The other three escorting destroyers broke off from the SMS Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia to render assistance; this consisted of taking off survivors after the second mine hit. Alerted to the presence of Italian mines, the First Cruiser Division slowed to eight knots to move cautiously out into the open Adriatic. While doing so the SMS Ferdinand III encountered another Italian merchant and sank it with a rapid broadside of her 14.9cm guns.
The sinking of the Leopard was the first loss of an Austrian fleet unit during the war. However, the operation was still considered a notable success. The destruction of material at Ancona hindered Italian preparations to stockpile materials for renewed operations in 1906 and the sinking of three Italian merchants in a single day disrupted coastal traffic for weeks afterward. The loss of a single small and, by design, expendable unit was considered a small price to pay.
The shift of the Italians to armed merchant cruisers to carry out their raiding operations saw some success in early December, with the former liner Agnese Madre taking a pair of Austrian merchant ships and a British vessel off the North African coast. In response the British moved to tighten their own blockade on Italy by making a series of landings on Sardinia.
To distract the Italians from the impending British operation against Sardinia the Imperial and Royal Navy launched another cruiser sortie into the Adriatic, with the objective of bombarding the city of Ancona. The battle fleet would shadow the First Cruiser Division of SMS Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia, in the hopes of intercepting any Italian responders.
At noon on a sweep south of the city the cruiser division encountered a patrolling Italian destroyer of the Nembo class. The destroyer fled north toward the safety of Ancona harbor's defenses, using high speed and violent evasive maneuvers to avoid shellfire from the Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia.
With the escape of the enemy destroyer the armored cruisers returned to their mission. At 1400 hours they began shelling Italian Army encampments and depots on the outskirts of the city. The bombardment lasted 75 minutes and destroyed a large quantity of enemy stores and set a fire burning toward the city. With military targets exhausted the Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia retired from the bombardment and began a sweep of coastal traffic to the north of the city, prolonging their presence in enemy waters in hope of provoking a Regia Marina response.
Two merchant ships were found lingering in the coastal traffic lanes between Ancon and Venice. Both were fired on and sunk. The setting sun made clear that the Italian battleships would not set out from port, so a sweep south of Ancona for any further merchant traffic was authorized before the force would return to port.
At 21:58 hours local time, the small torpedo boat destroyer Leopard struck two Italian sea mines and began floundering rapidly. The other three escorting destroyers broke off from the SMS Ferdinand III and Maria Theresia to render assistance; this consisted of taking off survivors after the second mine hit. Alerted to the presence of Italian mines, the First Cruiser Division slowed to eight knots to move cautiously out into the open Adriatic. While doing so the SMS Ferdinand III encountered another Italian merchant and sank it with a rapid broadside of her 14.9cm guns.
The sinking of the Leopard was the first loss of an Austrian fleet unit during the war. However, the operation was still considered a notable success. The destruction of material at Ancona hindered Italian preparations to stockpile materials for renewed operations in 1906 and the sinking of three Italian merchants in a single day disrupted coastal traffic for weeks afterward. The loss of a single small and, by design, expendable unit was considered a small price to pay.
CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
And the Spaghettis still won't come out to play.
17. More AMCs, like, really?
- Location
- Southern Virginia
January 1906
With the start of the new year speculation began on whether or not the Italians would give in. The worst months of winter were still ahead and Italian arms had not been crowned with success. However, the British invasion of Sardinia gave new life to the Pelloux government as nationalists who had previously been growing critical of the war effort's mismanagement now rallied around the flag. Strikes and unrest also died down, though largely because the weather and large garrisons in Milan and Turin discouraged action and the bite of rationing was starting to make finding food a greater priority than protesting the state of affairs.
Hopes of a successful war had largely ended, but Pelloux hoped to carry on through the spring and resist the inevitable Austrian counteroffensives. With some victories in hand his bargaining position would be strengthened and Sardinia could be saved for Italy. The continued success of the Agnese Madre gave him some hope that the new strategy of using large numbers of converted merchant cruisers in a campaign of commerce raiding could produce results the increasingly strained regular naval forces had not.
With that thought in mind the Regia Marina launched another attempt at infiltrating new AMCs into the path of Austrian merchant shipping.
It was 12 January and SMS Zenta and Aspern were again tasked with escort of a major convoy moving out into the Mediterranean from Cattaro.
At 13:26 hours reports of Italian torpedo-boats within the coastal minefield reached Konteradmiral Njegovan commanding the cruiser division from aboard Aspern.
Njegovan passed on word of the report to the SMS Szigetvar, patrolling at the outer approaches of the minefield and proceeded to chase the Italian destroyers away from the convoy ships.
Another pair of armed merchant cruisers were sighted during the pursuit of the destroyers. Njegovan elected to engage the force rather than allow the ships to escape and attempt another infiltration during the night.
The mixed Italian force was overmatched by the protected cruisers and their destroyer escorts and so fled at top speed. The Aspern and Zenta drove them south, into range of the Szigetvar and her own force of destroyers. After an exchange of fire the Italian force fled east at high speed. Szigetvar moved northwest to cover the convoy, leaving Aspern and Zenta free to pursue.
Aspern and Zenta overtook the AMCs at 16:30 local time, a mere half-hour before sunset. The engagement was fought at high speed in close quarters, with the large number of rapid-fire 12cm guns proving effective in raking the lightly-armored AMCs and driving off the smaller Italian destroyers. It took less than twenty minutes to put the Giuseppina at a sinking list and to gut the Citte di Bari.
The Italian destroyers abandoned their charges as the sun set and the reduced visibility allowed them to escape by steaming at best speed toward Ancona. Aspern and Zenta focused on sinking the two AMCs so that they would not become a threat to merchant shipping like the Agnese Madre had. With the Citte di Bari blazing from fires raging out of control above deck, it was little trouble to shell her in the darkness until she sank beneath the waves.
The Austrian convoy safely exited out into the Adriatic where the First Cruiser Division took over escort to Malta. The loss of the two AMCs was a blow to Italian plans for a commerce raiding strategy; and efforts to use them as replacements for the light and armored cruisers that Italy no longer had were obviously failures.
In light of increasing demands and flush with cash from wartime contracts, STT undertook a laborious process of upgrading its docks. STT had no intention of allowing the upstart Danubius to threaten its position as the key shipbuilder of the Empire. Previously planned efforts to expand the Seearsenal also came to fruition in January, insuring support for a follow-on class of battleships once the Radetzky class finished construction.
With the start of the new year speculation began on whether or not the Italians would give in. The worst months of winter were still ahead and Italian arms had not been crowned with success. However, the British invasion of Sardinia gave new life to the Pelloux government as nationalists who had previously been growing critical of the war effort's mismanagement now rallied around the flag. Strikes and unrest also died down, though largely because the weather and large garrisons in Milan and Turin discouraged action and the bite of rationing was starting to make finding food a greater priority than protesting the state of affairs.
Hopes of a successful war had largely ended, but Pelloux hoped to carry on through the spring and resist the inevitable Austrian counteroffensives. With some victories in hand his bargaining position would be strengthened and Sardinia could be saved for Italy. The continued success of the Agnese Madre gave him some hope that the new strategy of using large numbers of converted merchant cruisers in a campaign of commerce raiding could produce results the increasingly strained regular naval forces had not.
With that thought in mind the Regia Marina launched another attempt at infiltrating new AMCs into the path of Austrian merchant shipping.
It was 12 January and SMS Zenta and Aspern were again tasked with escort of a major convoy moving out into the Mediterranean from Cattaro.
At 13:26 hours reports of Italian torpedo-boats within the coastal minefield reached Konteradmiral Njegovan commanding the cruiser division from aboard Aspern.
Njegovan passed on word of the report to the SMS Szigetvar, patrolling at the outer approaches of the minefield and proceeded to chase the Italian destroyers away from the convoy ships.
Another pair of armed merchant cruisers were sighted during the pursuit of the destroyers. Njegovan elected to engage the force rather than allow the ships to escape and attempt another infiltration during the night.
The mixed Italian force was overmatched by the protected cruisers and their destroyer escorts and so fled at top speed. The Aspern and Zenta drove them south, into range of the Szigetvar and her own force of destroyers. After an exchange of fire the Italian force fled east at high speed. Szigetvar moved northwest to cover the convoy, leaving Aspern and Zenta free to pursue.
Aspern and Zenta overtook the AMCs at 16:30 local time, a mere half-hour before sunset. The engagement was fought at high speed in close quarters, with the large number of rapid-fire 12cm guns proving effective in raking the lightly-armored AMCs and driving off the smaller Italian destroyers. It took less than twenty minutes to put the Giuseppina at a sinking list and to gut the Citte di Bari.
The Italian destroyers abandoned their charges as the sun set and the reduced visibility allowed them to escape by steaming at best speed toward Ancona. Aspern and Zenta focused on sinking the two AMCs so that they would not become a threat to merchant shipping like the Agnese Madre had. With the Citte di Bari blazing from fires raging out of control above deck, it was little trouble to shell her in the darkness until she sank beneath the waves.
The Austrian convoy safely exited out into the Adriatic where the First Cruiser Division took over escort to Malta. The loss of the two AMCs was a blow to Italian plans for a commerce raiding strategy; and efforts to use them as replacements for the light and armored cruisers that Italy no longer had were obviously failures.
In light of increasing demands and flush with cash from wartime contracts, STT undertook a laborious process of upgrading its docks. STT had no intention of allowing the upstart Danubius to threaten its position as the key shipbuilder of the Empire. Previously planned efforts to expand the Seearsenal also came to fruition in January, insuring support for a follow-on class of battleships once the Radetzky class finished construction.
18. Shiny and Chrome
- Location
- Southern Virginia
(Have finally remembered to put in threadmarks.)
February 1906
The isolated and blockaded Italian garrison of Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, surrendered to British forces on 8 February under the threat of a bombardment by the Mediterranean Fleet. The port facilities of Cagliari were not damaged before the surrender, allowing the British to base destroyers nearby to support a tighter blockade of the Ligurian ports. Resistance to the British invasion continued in isolated strongpoints in the interior and in the loyalist communes of Sassari in the north of the island but to little effect.
The Regia Marina continued to refuse attempts by the Imperial and Royal Navy to bait it into a fleet action, allowing the repeated bombardment of Pescara, Ancona, and unfortunate Bari.
The lack of a response finally provoked a renewed outbreak of protests and demonstrations, this time along the Adriatic coast. The workers of Ancona staged a general strike on 20 February to protest being left undefended by the Italian Navy. Other cities along the coast followed their example. The not quite anti-war tone of the demonstrations made it more difficult politically for Pelloux to order in the troops; plenty of the nationalists still willing to support the war were growing increasingly critical of the "fleet in being" strategy pursued by the Regia Marina at the expense of the Italian population. A softer approach was suggested by the Foreign Minister, Sidney Soninno, since the demonstrations were clearly linked to local circumstances and hardship rather than a Socialist anti-war conspiracy.
Pelloux visited the region alongside the Royal Family to urge the striking workers to return to their jobs to support the defense of Italy in the great battles coming in Spring. He authorized relief funding for those made homeless by the bombardments. King Victor Emmanuel visited the wounded and his wife Elena of Montenegro made rounds as a volunteer nurse. The appeals to patriotism and national unity served to end the strikes for the time being, but Pelloux had also been forced to make other concessions. Artillery would be diverted from the battles along the frontier to serve as coastal batteries, and the Regia Marina was ordered to make more vigorous use of its light assets to keep the Austrian Navy off-balance.
With the war well in hand the Marinekommandant was able to spare a measure of attention to the future. Reports in late February confirmed that Germany had laid down a Formidable-type battleship earlier in the month. Relations between Britain and the Germans had always been delicate, and with the Americans staging a strong challenge to British naval supremacy the relationship was bound to become even more troublesome. Austria could be torn between fraternal ties to its German cousins and its increasingly vital alliance with the British; the Navy and the Army would probably have two very different ideas of what to do in such a case.
In any case it was increasingly apparent that the future belonged to much larger, far more heavily armed capital ships. Admiral Montecuccoli released war bond funds to expand the docks at the Seearsenal yet again, and used his contacts with STT to urge that they follow suit to be able to meet future contracts from the Navy.
March 1906
The spring melts were responsible for a final brief stretch of relative peace along the Austrian-Italian frontier. The Austrian units now forming up in a massive concentration behind the lines, and the Italian soldiers suffering in the trenches opposite them, knew the war would begin again all the more fiercely once the reprieve ended.
Armee Oberkommando was preparing for a major push back from the Isonzo in the general direction of Venice, to be accompanied with an attack over the Asiago plateau from South Tyrol. The plan, the result of work by the highly regarded staff officer Feldmarschalleutnant Conrad von Hötzendorf, aimed at encircling and destroying the Italian Army in a single decisive strategic offensive. With no further resistance the Austrian Army could sweep through Venezia and into the Po River Valley, bringing a swift end to the war if not to the Italian state itself.
The KuK Kriegsmarine was under serious pressure from Vienna to either curtail operations so as to release resources for the Army or to bring the Italians to a decisive naval battle so as to be able to support the advance along the coastal plains toward Venice. Fortunately the renewed tempo of Italian naval operations brought the Navy a reprieve. Italian torpedo boats launched a number of daring operations against the Adriatic coastline in response to Pelloux's order for the Regia Marina to do more to keep the Austrians from bombarding cities at will. In turn, the surge in demand for escorts and coastal patrols maintained the Navy's argument that a strong Adriatic presence was still required.
The final engagement of the month, the Action of 30 March, provided a succinct example of the kind of naval operations ongoing in the period.
SMS Szigetvar, leading a squadron of torpedo boats escorting a convoy bound out of the Adriatic from Cattaro, sighted a trio of Italian torpedo boat destroyers steaming at high speed shortly after nightfall. Visibility conditions were exceptionally bad, and the sighting was the result of pure luck. That fluke of chance alone gave the cruiser and its destroyers the opportunity to intervene against the high-speed attack on their charges.
One of the Italian destroyers put a torpedo into the merchantman Laibach during a fast pass through the merchant vessels, but the sudden appearance of Szigetvar through the mists caused the others to abort their attack runs.
Szigetvar and her destroyers did their best to maneuver at high speed through the merchant convoy while engaging the Italian destroyers. With visibility as poor as it was there was basically no chance that torpedoes could be sighted in time to maneuver against them. The captain of Szigetvar, a newly promoted Miklos Horthy, ordered his ships to engage in unpredictable courses to throw off the aim of the Italian destroyers but to continue firing at all costs to keep the Italians from lining up shots on merchant ships.
Guns were inaccurate due to the high speed and rapidity of maneuvers and torpedoes were inadvisable given the confusion of the melee. When one of the convoy's attached destroyer-escorts, SMS Elbe, saw an Italian destroyer emerge through the mists the lieutenant commanding the vessel instead ordered all ahead at flank speed. The resulting collision took the Nembo-class destroyer amidship; the Elbe cut her foe in half and continued on through the other side.
With their initial pass-through having failed, the remaining two Italian destroyers broke away from the convoy to regroup for another attack.
As they approached again the SMS Trabant followed her sister ship's example and steamed out of the fog to collide with the lead Italian destroyer. The collision saw the bow of Trabant slammed into the side of the aft deck of the Italian destroyer. Instead of a clean break-through the two destroyers were stuck in alongside each other.
Trabant's heavier armament of rapid-fire 75mm guns quickly swept the Italian destroyer's deck and shattered its superstructure. The enemy destroyer was left a burning wreck as the Trabant disentangled itself from the collision.
The sudden, violent loss of two destroyers sent the surviving Italian ship fleeing back to port at high speed. The loss of the Laibach was regrettable, but the Italian destroyers having free rein among the convoy's merchantmen could have had substantially worse outcomes. The quick thinking and aggressive responses of Captain Horthy and the crews of the destroyers Elbe and Trabant limited the damage and insured that the enemy paid a stiff price for their success.
February 1906
The isolated and blockaded Italian garrison of Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, surrendered to British forces on 8 February under the threat of a bombardment by the Mediterranean Fleet. The port facilities of Cagliari were not damaged before the surrender, allowing the British to base destroyers nearby to support a tighter blockade of the Ligurian ports. Resistance to the British invasion continued in isolated strongpoints in the interior and in the loyalist communes of Sassari in the north of the island but to little effect.
The Regia Marina continued to refuse attempts by the Imperial and Royal Navy to bait it into a fleet action, allowing the repeated bombardment of Pescara, Ancona, and unfortunate Bari.
The lack of a response finally provoked a renewed outbreak of protests and demonstrations, this time along the Adriatic coast. The workers of Ancona staged a general strike on 20 February to protest being left undefended by the Italian Navy. Other cities along the coast followed their example. The not quite anti-war tone of the demonstrations made it more difficult politically for Pelloux to order in the troops; plenty of the nationalists still willing to support the war were growing increasingly critical of the "fleet in being" strategy pursued by the Regia Marina at the expense of the Italian population. A softer approach was suggested by the Foreign Minister, Sidney Soninno, since the demonstrations were clearly linked to local circumstances and hardship rather than a Socialist anti-war conspiracy.
Pelloux visited the region alongside the Royal Family to urge the striking workers to return to their jobs to support the defense of Italy in the great battles coming in Spring. He authorized relief funding for those made homeless by the bombardments. King Victor Emmanuel visited the wounded and his wife Elena of Montenegro made rounds as a volunteer nurse. The appeals to patriotism and national unity served to end the strikes for the time being, but Pelloux had also been forced to make other concessions. Artillery would be diverted from the battles along the frontier to serve as coastal batteries, and the Regia Marina was ordered to make more vigorous use of its light assets to keep the Austrian Navy off-balance.
With the war well in hand the Marinekommandant was able to spare a measure of attention to the future. Reports in late February confirmed that Germany had laid down a Formidable-type battleship earlier in the month. Relations between Britain and the Germans had always been delicate, and with the Americans staging a strong challenge to British naval supremacy the relationship was bound to become even more troublesome. Austria could be torn between fraternal ties to its German cousins and its increasingly vital alliance with the British; the Navy and the Army would probably have two very different ideas of what to do in such a case.
In any case it was increasingly apparent that the future belonged to much larger, far more heavily armed capital ships. Admiral Montecuccoli released war bond funds to expand the docks at the Seearsenal yet again, and used his contacts with STT to urge that they follow suit to be able to meet future contracts from the Navy.
March 1906
The spring melts were responsible for a final brief stretch of relative peace along the Austrian-Italian frontier. The Austrian units now forming up in a massive concentration behind the lines, and the Italian soldiers suffering in the trenches opposite them, knew the war would begin again all the more fiercely once the reprieve ended.
Armee Oberkommando was preparing for a major push back from the Isonzo in the general direction of Venice, to be accompanied with an attack over the Asiago plateau from South Tyrol. The plan, the result of work by the highly regarded staff officer Feldmarschalleutnant Conrad von Hötzendorf, aimed at encircling and destroying the Italian Army in a single decisive strategic offensive. With no further resistance the Austrian Army could sweep through Venezia and into the Po River Valley, bringing a swift end to the war if not to the Italian state itself.
The KuK Kriegsmarine was under serious pressure from Vienna to either curtail operations so as to release resources for the Army or to bring the Italians to a decisive naval battle so as to be able to support the advance along the coastal plains toward Venice. Fortunately the renewed tempo of Italian naval operations brought the Navy a reprieve. Italian torpedo boats launched a number of daring operations against the Adriatic coastline in response to Pelloux's order for the Regia Marina to do more to keep the Austrians from bombarding cities at will. In turn, the surge in demand for escorts and coastal patrols maintained the Navy's argument that a strong Adriatic presence was still required.
The final engagement of the month, the Action of 30 March, provided a succinct example of the kind of naval operations ongoing in the period.
SMS Szigetvar, leading a squadron of torpedo boats escorting a convoy bound out of the Adriatic from Cattaro, sighted a trio of Italian torpedo boat destroyers steaming at high speed shortly after nightfall. Visibility conditions were exceptionally bad, and the sighting was the result of pure luck. That fluke of chance alone gave the cruiser and its destroyers the opportunity to intervene against the high-speed attack on their charges.
One of the Italian destroyers put a torpedo into the merchantman Laibach during a fast pass through the merchant vessels, but the sudden appearance of Szigetvar through the mists caused the others to abort their attack runs.
Szigetvar and her destroyers did their best to maneuver at high speed through the merchant convoy while engaging the Italian destroyers. With visibility as poor as it was there was basically no chance that torpedoes could be sighted in time to maneuver against them. The captain of Szigetvar, a newly promoted Miklos Horthy, ordered his ships to engage in unpredictable courses to throw off the aim of the Italian destroyers but to continue firing at all costs to keep the Italians from lining up shots on merchant ships.
Guns were inaccurate due to the high speed and rapidity of maneuvers and torpedoes were inadvisable given the confusion of the melee. When one of the convoy's attached destroyer-escorts, SMS Elbe, saw an Italian destroyer emerge through the mists the lieutenant commanding the vessel instead ordered all ahead at flank speed. The resulting collision took the Nembo-class destroyer amidship; the Elbe cut her foe in half and continued on through the other side.
With their initial pass-through having failed, the remaining two Italian destroyers broke away from the convoy to regroup for another attack.
As they approached again the SMS Trabant followed her sister ship's example and steamed out of the fog to collide with the lead Italian destroyer. The collision saw the bow of Trabant slammed into the side of the aft deck of the Italian destroyer. Instead of a clean break-through the two destroyers were stuck in alongside each other.
Trabant's heavier armament of rapid-fire 75mm guns quickly swept the Italian destroyer's deck and shattered its superstructure. The enemy destroyer was left a burning wreck as the Trabant disentangled itself from the collision.
The sudden, violent loss of two destroyers sent the surviving Italian ship fleeing back to port at high speed. The loss of the Laibach was regrettable, but the Italian destroyers having free rein among the convoy's merchantmen could have had substantially worse outcomes. The quick thinking and aggressive responses of Captain Horthy and the crews of the destroyers Elbe and Trabant limited the damage and insured that the enemy paid a stiff price for their success.
Last edited:
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
While the war overall can be summed up as "Italian Navy Declines Battle" - and I don't think you can force them to do so outside of an Unexpected Battle, which would pit their (superior) battle line against yours in a night/rain battle (or gods forbid, a rainy night battle) - I have to say that I love your narrative.
- Location
- Southern Virginia
There's a reason the new tag is "War is Boring." That said after the massacre of Italian destroyers coming up I'd have lept at the chance to get at their battle fleet in a night action.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Let me guess, you got the "latest offensive is a gruesome failure" event?
19. Feed me DDs
- Location
- Southern Virginia
April 1905
The Austrian strategic offensive along the Isonzo front began on 19 April, following two weeks of preparatory tactical actions aimed at retaking high ground overlooking the coastal valley. The immediate results were a bloody shambles. The Isonzo itself, and streams in the region, were still partially flooded and the ground was largely saturated with water. The attack from Tyrol had in fact been postponed due to these conditions at the insistence of Austrian Landwehr commanders, who prevailed upon the Chief of the General Staff Feldzeugmeister von Beck to override Conrad's insistence on a simultaneous offensive. The Italians were thus free to concentrate their reserves along the front lines.
Tactical deficiencies in the KuK Armee were apparent from the start and exacerbated the problems of geography. Despite doctrine in theory stressing maneuver and firepower the offensive was carried out with dense assault columns which made excellent targets for the limited number of Italian machineguns. Artillery was very poorly coordinated with the attack and too much emphasis had been placed on direct support fired over open sites, which was poorly suited to dealing with the primitive Italian trench networks. Some of the fault was with the Delegations who had previously kept the Austro-Hungarian military starved of funds, but the overall effect was to show that reforms put into place after the 1863 defeat by Prussia had still not fully circulated through the ranks.
French observers on both the Italian and Austrian sides made note of the unwillingness of the soldiers to press the attack in the face of machinegun and artillery fire, and wrote back to Paris stressing the need to cultivate sufficient offensive-mindedness to press through despite heavy casualties. Otherwise offensives risked bogging down as the enemy built up entrenchments along favorable terrain and reduced battle to an attritional slugging match. German observers instead frequently commented on the efficiency of even limited numbers of machineguns in bogging down attacks and on the ineffectiveness of small caliber field guns confronted by entrenchments. They agreed with the Frenchmen that rapid maneuver would clearly be necessary to avoid the reduction of battle to entrenchments, but reached the conclusion that the side with material superiority would enjoy a major advantage if combat did break down into positional struggle.
The officers of the Imperial and Royal Navy looked on the state of affairs without satisfaction, but at least some contentment that their junior service was a model of efficiency and competence in comparison.
Of course other developments in April gave reason for the prevailing atmosphere at Pola. Continued refinement of the new central firing control system saw an increase in accuracy during testing drills. An examination of Italian naval munitions captured aboard a naval transport trying to run the blockade to Taranto also confirmed that Austrian ammunition was more reliable and better designed. For the first time in a while the Marinekommandant felt confident in pitting his battleships against those of the Italians. The internment of the RM Marco Polo in the French port of Toulon, fleeing ahead of a Royal Navy squadron, had also stripped the Italians of their last conventional scouting unit and ended a threat to Austrian commerce.
On 20 April the cruisers Maria Theresia and Karl VI encountered an Italian convoy steaming toward Taranto from Syracuse. The Italians had detailed a substantial escort, stripping the battle fleet at Taranto of its destroyer force and assigning one of their last AMCs to command the operation. The interception was a matter of pure chance in the patrol patterns; had the Italians set out an hour earlier or an hour later they would have slipped by without the Austrians noticing.
The two Austrian armored cruisers fell on the Italian merchantmen likes wolves. A high speed sweep on the flanks of the convoy allowed their secondary batteries to reduce the transports to flaming wrecks. The Italian escorts reacted in confusion and failed to effectively engage either cruiser; instead, following orders from the AMC Agnese Madre, they fell back to cover their command ship. And as the Maria Theresia and Karl VI finished off the convoy they swept back in to attack the escort.
Two Italian destroyers broke off south in confusion, and then steamed back north to the site of the convoy massacre, perhaps in an attempt to force the two Austrian cruisers to break off from the sole surviving transport of the convoy. The commander of the First Cruiser Division, Anton Haus, obliged by following after the Italian destroyers to cut them off from the rest of the escort force. The elite gun crews of the two cruisers riddled the Italian torpedo boats with shellfire from the 14.9cm secondaries and rapid-fire 8.8cm cannons.
With the destruction of the isolated pair of Italian destroyers accomplished the Austrian force moved to flank speed. Karl VI torpedoed the sole surviving Italian merchantman almost as an afterthought as it swung by the remains of the convoy in pursuit of the enemy AMC. As the two cruisers caught up to the Italian force they riddled the three trailing enemy destroyers with shellfire.
A change in the weather and the fall of night allowed the leading two Italian destroyers to escape the slaughter. The Agnese Madre was not so lucky. Her career ended when thrown into a role she was manifestly unsuited for. That she was used in the operation at all was a sign of how desperate the Regia Marina was becoming due to the loss of its pre-war cruiser fleet.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, despair now gripped the Italian fleet. The Navy's proud battleships had been completely ineffective in the war and the lighter forces had been comprehensively defeated by the qualitatively superior KuK Kriegsmarine. Nor were the sailors immune to the hardships being faced by civilians; rations were being cut in the Navy, though they were still substantially better than those afforded to civilians. Letters from family were being heavily censored to prevent the sailors in Taranto from learning about conditions in the cities, though it was of limited use; most enlisted sailors were illiterate anyway, and they interacted enough with the radicalized dockworkers of Taranto along the port to have a good idea how much the civilians were suffering and how little good they were doing.
Toward the end of the month King Victor Emmanuel was persuaded to make an address calling upon further sacrifice to defend the motherland against invasion. The success of the Italian defenders along the Isonzo gave the appeal some credibility, but it seemed to too many Italians that all their government had to offer them were flowery words calling for more rationing cuts and more cannon fodder.
The Austrian strategic offensive along the Isonzo front began on 19 April, following two weeks of preparatory tactical actions aimed at retaking high ground overlooking the coastal valley. The immediate results were a bloody shambles. The Isonzo itself, and streams in the region, were still partially flooded and the ground was largely saturated with water. The attack from Tyrol had in fact been postponed due to these conditions at the insistence of Austrian Landwehr commanders, who prevailed upon the Chief of the General Staff Feldzeugmeister von Beck to override Conrad's insistence on a simultaneous offensive. The Italians were thus free to concentrate their reserves along the front lines.
Tactical deficiencies in the KuK Armee were apparent from the start and exacerbated the problems of geography. Despite doctrine in theory stressing maneuver and firepower the offensive was carried out with dense assault columns which made excellent targets for the limited number of Italian machineguns. Artillery was very poorly coordinated with the attack and too much emphasis had been placed on direct support fired over open sites, which was poorly suited to dealing with the primitive Italian trench networks. Some of the fault was with the Delegations who had previously kept the Austro-Hungarian military starved of funds, but the overall effect was to show that reforms put into place after the 1863 defeat by Prussia had still not fully circulated through the ranks.
French observers on both the Italian and Austrian sides made note of the unwillingness of the soldiers to press the attack in the face of machinegun and artillery fire, and wrote back to Paris stressing the need to cultivate sufficient offensive-mindedness to press through despite heavy casualties. Otherwise offensives risked bogging down as the enemy built up entrenchments along favorable terrain and reduced battle to an attritional slugging match. German observers instead frequently commented on the efficiency of even limited numbers of machineguns in bogging down attacks and on the ineffectiveness of small caliber field guns confronted by entrenchments. They agreed with the Frenchmen that rapid maneuver would clearly be necessary to avoid the reduction of battle to entrenchments, but reached the conclusion that the side with material superiority would enjoy a major advantage if combat did break down into positional struggle.
The officers of the Imperial and Royal Navy looked on the state of affairs without satisfaction, but at least some contentment that their junior service was a model of efficiency and competence in comparison.
Of course other developments in April gave reason for the prevailing atmosphere at Pola. Continued refinement of the new central firing control system saw an increase in accuracy during testing drills. An examination of Italian naval munitions captured aboard a naval transport trying to run the blockade to Taranto also confirmed that Austrian ammunition was more reliable and better designed. For the first time in a while the Marinekommandant felt confident in pitting his battleships against those of the Italians. The internment of the RM Marco Polo in the French port of Toulon, fleeing ahead of a Royal Navy squadron, had also stripped the Italians of their last conventional scouting unit and ended a threat to Austrian commerce.
On 20 April the cruisers Maria Theresia and Karl VI encountered an Italian convoy steaming toward Taranto from Syracuse. The Italians had detailed a substantial escort, stripping the battle fleet at Taranto of its destroyer force and assigning one of their last AMCs to command the operation. The interception was a matter of pure chance in the patrol patterns; had the Italians set out an hour earlier or an hour later they would have slipped by without the Austrians noticing.
The two Austrian armored cruisers fell on the Italian merchantmen likes wolves. A high speed sweep on the flanks of the convoy allowed their secondary batteries to reduce the transports to flaming wrecks. The Italian escorts reacted in confusion and failed to effectively engage either cruiser; instead, following orders from the AMC Agnese Madre, they fell back to cover their command ship. And as the Maria Theresia and Karl VI finished off the convoy they swept back in to attack the escort.
Two Italian destroyers broke off south in confusion, and then steamed back north to the site of the convoy massacre, perhaps in an attempt to force the two Austrian cruisers to break off from the sole surviving transport of the convoy. The commander of the First Cruiser Division, Anton Haus, obliged by following after the Italian destroyers to cut them off from the rest of the escort force. The elite gun crews of the two cruisers riddled the Italian torpedo boats with shellfire from the 14.9cm secondaries and rapid-fire 8.8cm cannons.
With the destruction of the isolated pair of Italian destroyers accomplished the Austrian force moved to flank speed. Karl VI torpedoed the sole surviving Italian merchantman almost as an afterthought as it swung by the remains of the convoy in pursuit of the enemy AMC. As the two cruisers caught up to the Italian force they riddled the three trailing enemy destroyers with shellfire.
A change in the weather and the fall of night allowed the leading two Italian destroyers to escape the slaughter. The Agnese Madre was not so lucky. Her career ended when thrown into a role she was manifestly unsuited for. That she was used in the operation at all was a sign of how desperate the Regia Marina was becoming due to the loss of its pre-war cruiser fleet.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, despair now gripped the Italian fleet. The Navy's proud battleships had been completely ineffective in the war and the lighter forces had been comprehensively defeated by the qualitatively superior KuK Kriegsmarine. Nor were the sailors immune to the hardships being faced by civilians; rations were being cut in the Navy, though they were still substantially better than those afforded to civilians. Letters from family were being heavily censored to prevent the sailors in Taranto from learning about conditions in the cities, though it was of limited use; most enlisted sailors were illiterate anyway, and they interacted enough with the radicalized dockworkers of Taranto along the port to have a good idea how much the civilians were suffering and how little good they were doing.
Toward the end of the month King Victor Emmanuel was persuaded to make an address calling upon further sacrifice to defend the motherland against invasion. The success of the Italian defenders along the Isonzo gave the appeal some credibility, but it seemed to too many Italians that all their government had to offer them were flowery words calling for more rationing cuts and more cannon fodder.
Chimeraguard
We do deserve to exist.
Somehow, I don't see this going very well.
On another note, what's the current status of the Austro-Hungarian and Italian navies?
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CV12Hornet
Riter.
- Location
- Tacoma, Washington
Well, I'm pretty sure the Spaghettis have literally no cruisers left.
20. The Shape of Things to Come
- Location
- Southern Virginia
Thanks to that last battle and other developments they had 6 Battleships, 0 cruisers, 5 destroyers, and some small number of minesweepers and AMCs. The Austro-Hungarian Navy has 4 battleships, 3 large armored cruisers, 3 protected cruisers, 57 destroyers, and 16 minesweepers. One Italian CA and one CL are interned so they got those back at the end of the war, and they completed two battleships of a new design not soon after the end of the war whereas the 3 battleships of the Radetzky class are 6-12 months out from completion. Speaking of which...
The war ended in December 1906, which was longer than anticipated. Nothing much really happens in the next few months until then, but I'll try to write up events to bridge matters. Since that may take a little bit, I'll submit a few designs up for consideration.
Once the Radetzky class are finished I'll face the need to start building Dreadnoughts and Battlecruisers. It's unclear whether or not a battlecruiser or a dreadnought class should go down first, or even if one of each should be built simultaneously. Nor are design philosophies really settled on, either. The following options have been pondered over, as has a new class of light cruiser; the Italian experience certainly shows how important those are. I suppose a new CA might also be an option, too.
And the current Strategic Balance looks like;
Battleships
The major question building a new battleship raises is whether or not to make use of triple turrets. Those are a new technology and have some significant debuffs until the Improved Triple Turret technology is available. On the other hand getting a 9 gun broadside with only three triple turrets is superior to the default "early" dreadnought configuration while saving more weight to add to armor. But are the debuffs worth it?
Secondary issues include whether or not to eliminate torpedo tubes and if the 12cm gun is sufficient for use as a secondary battery or if the 14.9cm of the Wien and Maria Theresia classes should be retained.
The proposed Habsburg class is based around a 3 x 3 centerline 12" gun arrangement. It increases base speed to 21 knots, and increases armor protection as much as practical within the available constraints.
The proposed Monarch class, on the other hand, retains the double turrets and makes use of two wing-turrets to allow an eight-gun broadside. It has an inch less in belt armor, being about as well protected as the prior Radetzky class. It also requires the use of Cramped crew quarters, which might create a minor debuff in performance.
Battlecruisers
The exact blend of speed, firepower, and armored protection required for a battlecruiser is even more difficult to get right. There are three proposals, both much more varied than the battleship classes. A secondary consideration is whether or not to build the battlecruisers for operations outside the Mediterranean, at least in neighboring sea-zones to allow for raiding or to counter enemy raiders.
The Triest class proposal uses a blend of triple and double wing turrets to allow an eight-gun broadside. If Cross Deck Fire were available (it is not) it would be able to put ten guns on a target in a limited broadside arc. The use of the 12" gun is retained here for maximum effect against enemy capital ships. Armored protection is not ideal, with the belt extension armor being particularly vulnerable to intermediate and even most light secondary guns. With a top speed of 26 knots it should be able to stay at range against any foe powerful enough to exploit that disadvantage, though.
The Lissa class proposal on the other hand focuses on raw firepower at the expense of speed. By dropping the gun caliber to 11", the Lissa class can fit in a broadside of eleven heavy guns. Speed drops to 24 knots, though the ship is designed for operations outside the Mediterranean. Alternatives which trade operational range for additional armor would be considered. The trade in sheer penetration power for additional guns on the broadside is however uncertain given the increasing escalation in AP shell quality already being noticed in the course of the war with Italy.
The Graz class splits the difference between the two other proposals, using a 3 x triple 12" centerline turret arrangement with a design speed of 25 knots and stores for operations outside the Mediterranean. A sub-variant, the Lemberg class, trades range and a reduction to 24 knot speed (with a reliable engines) for additional armor.
Light Cruisers
The Szigetvar class light cruisers are in bad need of an update. A basic upgrade to Central Firing will happen anyway. But replacing the engines to reach 25 knots is being considered. Total cost would be ~1 million for 10 months of yard time. Another plan to increase turret protection for the ship's 12cm guns at the expense of removing the secondary battery of 8.8cm guns is also being considered, on top of overhauling the guns. That would cost about ~1.3 million for 10 months.
Of course there was consideration being given to just new-building a replacement class.
The proposed Admiral Spaun class was presented as an option capable of extended operations as a raider away from support bases.
The proposed Novara class, by contrast, was designed purely with Mediterranean operations in mind. It represented a major escalation in torpedo capability as well as armor protection while avoiding the troublesome dual turrets of the Szigetvar class.
However the budget was a matter of some concern so the cheaper Helgoland was also considered. It increased main gun firepower to 14.9cm guns, albeit only 5 on each broadside. There was some serious debate as to whether or not the reduced number of guns with their slower firing rate was really suitable for a light cruiser.
An alternative Helgoland class as simply an update of the Szigetvar class was presented in light of the Navy's reluctance to embrace a smaller number of heavier guns.
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Exterminatus
Tsukumogami User
- Location
- Southern California
RE: BBs & BCs
I have a huge bias towards all centerline arrangements because it minimizes the amount of dead weight that wing turrets give you. Plus it gives more space for armor and such. Maybe a radical proposal for a modified Habsburg would be to make the accommodations cramped and remove armor for the secondaries and go for 24 secondary and tertiary guns. Dump the weight into even more armor.
So Habsburg and a modified Graz (short range and cramped for more armor) is what I would prefer.
As for CLs, I'll probably go for the insane option and build 8000 ton version of the Helgolands with maximum 14.9cm guns instead of 12cm guns.
I have a huge bias towards all centerline arrangements because it minimizes the amount of dead weight that wing turrets give you. Plus it gives more space for armor and such. Maybe a radical proposal for a modified Habsburg would be to make the accommodations cramped and remove armor for the secondaries and go for 24 secondary and tertiary guns. Dump the weight into even more armor.
So Habsburg and a modified Graz (short range and cramped for more armor) is what I would prefer.
As for CLs, I'll probably go for the insane option and build 8000 ton version of the Helgolands with maximum 14.9cm guns instead of 12cm guns.
- Location
- I don't know where I am
BC: Definitely the Graz, because centerline turrets are always good, and 9 12" guns is better than 11 11" guns because they just hit that much harder, IIRC.
The Lemburg is also an attractive option, more armor than your BB designs on a faster hull, with similar firepower. You might want to go back up to 2.5" deck armor though, AP shell technology will be advancing enough to let them penetrate 2" deck armor at combat ranges soon enough.
5" secondaries are basically the sweet spot, as others have told me; still enough damage to tell CLs to fuck off while not having an accuracy penalty against destroyers.
The Lemburg is also an attractive option, more armor than your BB designs on a faster hull, with similar firepower. You might want to go back up to 2.5" deck armor though, AP shell technology will be advancing enough to let them penetrate 2" deck armor at combat ranges soon enough.
5" secondaries are basically the sweet spot, as others have told me; still enough damage to tell CLs to fuck off while not having an accuracy penalty against destroyers.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
Graz for your BC, Lemberg with better deck armor for your "BB". Two Spauns for raiding, Novaras for the rest of your CLs. No more CAs, you can't afford them and BCs at the same time.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's Habsburg, you foreign barbarians
Personally, @Cavalier, I'd say build 3*3 centerline ships over ships with wing turrets: You can and will be able to refit them down the line, so 3x3 guns and decent armor - and a 5" secondary battery - will give you ships you can use far longer than the other designs, which is good because that means you can put them on colonial duty.
DezoPenguin
Text Wall
- Location
- USA
That's the point I was wondering about. If the game allows relatively easy/cheap refits with better turret technology, the 3*3 designs could stay useful for much longer and avoid the problem with the original Dreadnought, where by the time Jutland rolled around she was too obsolete to go to war, but I'm not sure of the game min/maxing. Given that from what I can see Austria is not like GB or the US with resources coming out of its ears, it seems important to plan long-term.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Machinery replacement refits can be devilishly expensive, oftentimes as much as two-thirds of the vessel's overall cost.
- Location
- Southern Virginia
Generally the only time an extensive overhaul makes sense is during a Treaty when you can't build new capital ships, I'd say.
Cornuthaum
Be kind to each other.
- Location
- Austria
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I tend to keep my battlecruisers on for a -fairly- long time, since they get slotted into Cruiser slots for size 2 engagements. Can't have too many BCs, really.
- Location
- I don't know where I am
Or if you are about to get into a war and you NEED the hulls for your battle line.
Battlecruisers are also excellent candidates for refits, especially if they have heavy guns and enough armor.