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.
Given that late-game 12" guns are perfectly capable of penetrating any cruiser armor in the world, a 3x3 12" setup that is refit ever so often stays viable. The biggest - and indeed most critical - downside to legacy hulls like that, however, is their lack of Torpedo Protection. And we all know how important it is to have as much TP on our capships as we can.
Given that late-game 12" guns are perfectly capable of penetrating any cruiser armor in the world, a 3x3 12" setup that is refit ever so often stays viable. The biggest - and indeed most critical - downside to legacy hulls like that, however, is their lack of Torpedo Protection. And we all know how important it is to have as much TP on our capships as we can.
The battles around the Isonzo continued to rage, with the focus shifting north to the recaptured town of Caporetto (Kobriad) as the planned advance on the coastal plain bogged down and was abandoned. The operational objective was to sweep down on Undine, to compensate for the delay in the offensive from Tyrol. Fighting in the broken terrain around the border ranges was a desperate affair hindered by the lack of specialist troops on both sides; the Austrian and Italian mountain troops had been reserved for fighting in Tyrol and were not committed to the Isonzo front. Predictably the offensive bogged down again in a series of see-saw battles for control of high ground mere kilometers into the Italian border.
The British meanwhile completed their sweeps of Sardinia with the surrender of the last Italian forces holding out in Sassari to the Highland Brigade.
The Imperial and Royal Navy looked at a larger torpedo boat destroyer offered by STT, based on a design created for an export opportunity to the Chinese Empire. In the end it was decided that sufficient numbers of Panther class torpedo boats were available and that performance of the existing model was adequate for the time being.
Italian efforts to fortify the coast proved somewhat effective at deterring further coastal bombardments after an action on 22 May. The First Cruiser Division successfully bombarded Ancona that night but was engaged by a battery of 11" guns manned by the Italian Army. Damage to SMS Ferdinand III was not crippling but the prospect of having to face further heavy coastal batteries was not taken lightly by Naval Headquarters. The Imperial and Royal Navy called off further bombardments, opting instead to strengthen the blockade and try to bring the Regia Marina to a decisive battle.
The improving weather and diversion of Italian troops to the front lines allowed the Socialists in Milan and Turn to consolidate and reorganize. The workers in Turin, renowned as the most radical in Italy, staged a surprise two-day strike from all munitions or war-related production. Credit for the success of the strike, which had remained hidden from the urban police and Italian military, was given to the fiery journalist Benito Mussolini. A Sicilian regiment bound for the fighting along the border was diverted to restore order to the city but sabotage by rail-workers kept it from arriving in Turin before the Socialist leadership dispersed. Arrests of individual workers followed but the crucial leadership assets were missed.
June 1906
With the mountain passes cleared, the Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army finally began its long-delayed offensive out of the Tyrol. Fifth Army concentrated the available specialist troops of the Empire, including two brigades of Mountain Infantry, the entire Kaiserjäger brigade, the Dalmatian Mounted Rifles, and the local Tyrolese Landwehr from the Austrian regional forces. The Italians had finally broken down to divert portions of their elite Alpini to the front around Udine to prevent a breakthrough, and so were caught at a disadvantage. The offensive made rapid gains by the standards of the coastal front despite the unpromising terrain; by the end of the month Asiago had fallen and the Italians were in a desperate position as any further advances by Fifth Army would cut off the defenders of Udine.
The Austrian and Italian home fronts presented two very different pictures at this late juncture in the war. Rations were cut in Italy once again as dwindling financial resources made it more and more difficult to import grain via France. Even coastal communities were increasingly cut off from the sea as British and Austrian torpedo boats and destroyers buzzed through the Italian fishing fleets. The high tempo of combat operations while under the misery of the blockade was straining Italian national unity to the breaking point.
Austria-Hungary on the other hand was enjoying a major spurt of industrial growth. With victory inevitable the Austrian government found it relatively easy to secure low-interest loans in London and New York, which were fed into expanding the needs of the war machines. The Austrian rail network was increased by nearly a quarter of total capacity, and the easy terms of loans made it possible to divert some funding to improving the crucial Vienna-Lemberg line as a precaution against Russian intervention. The chemical industry benefited by the ravenous demand for munitions and the proximity of Germany, who provided engineers and researchers to be lured into the service of the expanding Austrian industry by high wartime wages. Even the motor industry gained a foothold as Conrad talked the Archduke Friedrich into the purchase of an artillery trailer designed by Ferdinand Porsche and manufactured by Lohner-Werke (later Lohner-Porsche, then Porsche).
July 1906
The fall of Bassano on the far side of the River Piave to the Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army sparked a full-scale panic in the Comando Supremo. Udine and the coastal plain were ordered abandoned and a new line of defense centered on Treviso. Montebelluna and the rail lines south of Bassano were ordered defended at all costs, an ordered obeyed with grim ferocity by the elite Savoyan Grenadiers now reluctantly committed to battle. Throughout the final week of July the Austro-Hungarians attempted to push south toward Treviso and for the entire week they were thrown back. Fifth Army finally settled into defensive positions along the foothills of the Alps and gave up attempting to force their way south to the Po River Valley.
It only barely helped matters as the Italian armies converged on Treviso with three other Austro-Hungarian armies in pursuit.
The disaster spurred the Socialists onto their most audacious plan yet, the organization of a strike in Rome itself. The capital was not heavily industrialized but makeshift factories had sprung up around the city, largely staffed by poor Southerners brought up from Campagna, Calabria, and Sicily. Propagandizing among the new proletarians had been hobbled badly by the paucity of mostly-Northerner Socialists who spoke the Southern dialects and by the high rates of illiteracy among the targeted populations. Continued cuts in rations, rumors that the workers would be hauled off into the Army, and accounts of the use of Southern Italian troops as cannon fodder by disinterested Piedmontese generals soon made them receptive. The Socialists also discovered that the fiery rhetoric and exaggerated gestures of the earthy Mussolini made him an ideal ambassador to the Roman factory workers.
Police spies got wind of the planned strike this time, and launched a series of raids on worker encampments the night beforehand. They were met with violent resistance when the camps were aroused by the movement of police inside, and most of the ringleaders escaped or hid while a riot developed. The police raiders had not counted on the masses of workers rising up to attack them with stones, bottles, and the odd firearm, and so retreated out of the encampments. The furious workers followed them into the Roman streets in the early morning hours and ran rampant in the poor areas of the city outskirts. The Jewish Quarter was also ransacked, and the King's own Lifeguard fired on parties of rioters approaching the historical and government quarters. By the time Italian troops restored order a few hours later the capital looked like it had been subjected to another barbarian sack.
With the Italian Navy increasingly unable or unwilling to stir from port due to coal shortages and heavy losses among lighter units, the KuK Kriegsmarine took stock of recent technical developments and ordered an evaluation of a new steam turbine model from Ganz & Company.
August 1906
Treviso was now the target of the KuK Armee, and defended with increasing desperation by the battered Italian forces. Casualties on both sides were enormous compared to pre-war expectations, with the Austro-Hungarian Army in particular suffering heavily from the loss of many critical long-service personnel. Austria-Hungary still had very substantial manpower reserves and a growing material superiority thanks to war loans taken out at low interest thanks to the expectation of massive Italian reparations. There was very little doubt now about the ultimate victory.
The Italians on the other hand had been driven from the frontier and were fighting for their lives. The ragged Italian economy was on the verge of breaking down, the rail network was strained beyond capacity, and the early harvest showed signs of being disastrously poor. For the first time Italian armies at the front were getting seriously inadequate rations and supplies; conditions in the rest of the country were provoking not just unrest by incipient revolution.
September-October 1906
Battles for Treviso continued to rage through the autumn. Italian defenses stood under waves of Austrian frontal assaults, but finally cracked as Fifth Army began a new offensive toward Citadella on 8 October. With Italian reserves drawn off the line in full to respond to the Austrian attack to the west the battered Second Army finally drove into the town of the city in the aftermath of a ferocious hours-long bombardment. The Italians fell back on Padua and Vicenza, or crossed the lagoon over to Venice. Fifth Army captured twenty thousand prisoners after cutting the rail lines east of Vicenza, and the other three armies collectively captured about as many, plus nearly 300 artillery pieces abandoned around Treviso. But exhaustion ground their advance to a halt short of the objective of the Po River Valley and bought Italy a couple of more months to haggle with.
The prospect of another desperate winter following the military disaster of the last campaign saw Pelloux's domestic support rapidly declining. By the end of October he was abandoned by the nationalists, and retained power only because no one else wanted to take his place and sign the inevitably harsh treaty that Austria-Hungary would impose.
And on 24 October, with the disaster of Trevisio still very much in mind, the British rounded up a collection of Sardinian notables and had them declare independence. The Sardinian Republic was born of British military power and immediately handed off a 50 year lease to military facilities in the port of Cagliari to the Royal Navy. But it was not totally an artificial creation; the Sardinians were accustomed to hands off governance, and the heavy-handedness of rule by the Piedmont had provoked rebellions in the past. The chance to enshrine linguistic and local autonomy into a new Sardinian constitution backed by the British, as well as suspicions that Sardinian and Southern Italian troops had been abused by Piedmontese generals, brought around the population to the prospect of independence.
On 31 October the Marinekommandant approved a new series of HE shells for use by the Imperial and Royal Navy.
November 1906
And on 1 November the new series of AP shells was approved.
The war had ground to a halt by early November with neither the Italians nor Austro-Hungarians willing or able to continue major operations with the onset of winter. Prime Minister Pelloux stayed on as a sacrificial lamb to take responsibility for the peace, but the now-inevitable loss of Sardinia and border changes with Austria were a bitter pill to swallow. He delayed suing for terms, and in the end events overtook him.
The harvest of 1906 had failed badly due to a combination of weather, scarcity of nitrate, and the mobilization of young men. Milan was a tinderbox waiting to explode, and another round of rumored ration cuts provided the spark. On 8 December the workers of the city walked off their lines, proclaiming their unwillingness to work another minute if the government could not provide their families with bread. News of the action spread quickly; rail workers went on their own strike to shut down the transport of military supplies and prevent the suppression of the Milanese.
A Sicilian division sent to Milan found it impossible to reach the city by train, and while strung out at stations between Vicenza and Brescia the conscripted soldiers were subverted into mutiny. The Sicilians had little interest in socialism but keenly desired to be sent back to their homes, and the Socialists were offering them a way out of the war. Officers were detained and the division appointed new leaders from its ranks before it was sped along the tracks by the rail workers off to form a defensive guard for Milan. Rather than suppress the Socialist uprising the soldiers were joining it.
The end for Pelloux came two days later, on 10 December, with a summons to the Royal Palace. King Victor Emmanuel dismissed him as Prime Minister and appointed a caretaker government to be headed by Giovanni Giolitti. Pelloux left, and Giolitti was invited to the Palace the following day. He showed up accompanied by Filippo Turati, a Socialist deputy and important moderate in the party. Giolitti declined the King's appointment as Prime Minister and put forward Turati as the only man who could save Italy. In the end the King accepted Giolitti's arguments and named Turati as Prime Minister.
Turati first act as Prime Minister was to have the King rescind the decree of martial law. His very next act was to leave the palace for the French Embassy, where he asked Paris to inform the British, Austrians, and Ottomans that Italy would sue for peace. He also requested that France act as a mediator in favor of Italy. The British and Austrian governments rejected the involvement of France in peace negotiations, but alarmed at the progress of revolutionary socialism in Italy agreed to an armistice to be implemented in 72 hours. Turati announced the armistice to a full session of Parliament on 12 October and called for an end to the strikes so as to allow a return to normalcy in the country.
Mussolini and the more radical faction of the Socialist Party denounced Turati and established a "revolutionary commune" in Milan on 13 December. Their appeal to arms fell flat outside the superheated environment of the city, though Turin came close to joining them before the British and Austrians agreed to end their blockades ahead of peace negotiations. Acting on advice from Giolitti the new Prime Minister issued an order demobilizing the Sicilians in Milan and granting them priority access to the rail network to facilitate their return to their homes. The "Milan Commune" fell apart on 16 December when the Sicilians voted to accept Turati's offer and left the Milanese to their own devices. Piedmontese forces released by an informal agreement with Austrian commanders on the front lines then restored order.
Within a week Italy was at a tenuous peace and Turati exercised control over the country. The peace remained.
The Austro-Hungarian government of Count Aerenthal declinedthe offer of Italian Eritrea or the Somaliland and set its sights on maximal territorial gains and reparations in the Treaty of London. In the end the British refused to support the return of Venezia or Lombardy to Austrian control, to the quiet relief of everyone in Vienna except the aged Kaiser. Friulia and the Julian March were returned to Austria, as the local Friulian, Ladin, Romansch, and Slovene speakers preferred Vienna to Rome; a series of minor border adjustments along the Tyrolese border gave Austria unequivocal control of the high ground in the region.
The real gain for Austria came from massive reparations exacted out of the Italians. They strengthened Austria while weakening Italy further than defeat already had. Austria could pay off loans taken in the war while retaining the benefits of infrastructure that had been built with borrowed money from London and New York. Railroads would knit the Dual Monarchy together, and new factories would keep the populace more interested in earning money than in political agitation. Such were the hopes of the government.
And the victory over Italy did reaffirm Austria-Hungary as a Great Power. Ethnic tensions subsided a little bit at the show of strength. Romania and Serbia were suitably cowed. The shame of defeat in 1866 would never be erased, and the war had revealed some real weakness in the Austrian military, but victory was victory.
The recognition of the Sardinian Republic was in many ways the bitterest outcome for Italy. Sardinia had been tied to the Piedmontese state for two centuries. It had played a major role in the Risorgimento that had created modern Italy. The stunning rejection of Italian unity could be excused with claim that the Republic was purely a creation of British military power. Italian nationalists vowed to reclaim Sardinia as they did Triest and Bolzano and Nice and Savoy. But the claims and vows rang increasingly hollow as Sardinia proceeded to embrace its new autonomy and reorganize itself as a collection of local cantons with a weak central government under British protection. Sardinia no longer saw its future as belonging with Italy.
The Italians were also forced to recognize Ottoman suzerainty over Libya, though that was a mere formality given how the war had progressed.
As the ink dried on the Treaty of London the Austro-Hungarian Empire welcomed in the year 1907 with raucous celebrations. Victory had brought a breath of fresh air sweeping into the Empire and for the first time in a generation optimism rather than pessimism permeated Vienna. And at Naval Headquarters in Pola plans were being drawn up to launch Austria-Hungary into a whole new rank as a naval power.
I love the way that you back-fit the events of December's defeat in constructing the narrative (Britain's support of revolution in Sardinia, for example). It's really giving this LP that feeling of historical drama.
I have to say that it doesn't seem like the war helped you that much considering you don't seem to gain that much while italy doesn't seem to have lost much in larger tonnage ships. I guess that the budge increases were/are helpful but I have a hard time believing they were worth that much effort - though I have never played the game myself so I certainly could be wrong.
I have to say that it doesn't seem like the war helped you that much considering you don't seem to gain that much while italy doesn't seem to have lost much in larger tonnage ships. I guess that the budge increases were/are helpful but I have a hard time believing they were worth that much effort - though I have never played the game myself so I certainly could be wrong.
If I understand correctly, the reparations permanently increase the GDP of his nation, which means his budget will be bigger than otherwise for the rest of the game. For A-H that must be very important to get early if he hopes to play with the big boys in the later game.
If I understand correctly, the reparations permanently increase the GDP of his nation, which means his budget will be bigger than otherwise for the rest of the game. For A-H that must be very important to get early if he hopes to play with the big boys in the later game.
Pretty much this. Beating up on weaker powers and taking their lunch money is how you can get the resources to substantially boost your late-game budget. The 500,000 to Resources isn't much right away but with some compounded growth it'll add up.
Also Italy's light forces were hammered in the war so they'll either have to rebuild those, meaning they enter the dreadnought era later, or they fight another war with inadequate destroyers and light cruisers (not recommended). Granted they can rebuild fast, but their budget is now much lower than Austria's and Italy usually stays in last place for the rest of the game.
The future of the Imperial and Royal Navy began to take shape with a series of drawings produced under the direction of Generalingenieur Siegfried Popper. The first Austro-Hungarian Formidable-type battleship would introduce a triple turret as a means to maximize firepower and protection with minimal weight. That was crucial, as the new dockyard expansion limited the size of any possible battleship; and the parsimony of the Hungarian Diet, with the advent of peace, limited the cost that could be borne by the naval budget.
The Habsburg class battleship was approved as the basis for development, as was the Graz type of Super Cruiser. Refinement and revision of the designs would go on for several months as no construction was expected to begin before the completion of the three ships of the Radetzky class.
A technical dispute between Graz & Company and the Russian Ochtomski Baltic Works took on international dimensions when it became clear the new Russian battleship Pobeda had installed copies of boilers from the SMS Schwarzenberg under construction at Danubius. Graz & Company accused the Baltic Works of stealing technical drawings and infringing upon patents; the Russians in turn accused Graz & Company of stealing their boiler design. A suit was filed in Vienna over the matter and the resulting trial created a tense atmosphere with St. Petersburg.
March-April 1907
Work to prepare for the construction of new capital ships saw some useful advances over the next couple of months. A new turret design developed principles which could be applied to all classes of guns, while a streamlined oversight process instituted at the yards would help trim extraneous weight. STT also launched a class of submarine for export, with purchases coming from the Ottoman Empire and Portugal; a refined version was offered to the KuK Kriegsmarine and declined for the moment due to a lack of funds. The improved torpedoes that came with the submarine were put into production for the general use of the fleet.
After the end of the war the newly promoted Admiral Montecuccoli ordered a thorough review of lessons from the naval combat with the Italians. One of the chief problems uncovered by the review was abysmal shooting accuracy by the Italian, Austrian, and British navies. Of the three the British had proven unquestionably superior, even if not up to the rigorous standards that pre-war Austrian strategizing had expected of its own navy. It was obvious that Doing Something to improve the shooting of Austrian warships would be a major feature of the report very early on; copying British practice and increasing the amount of shooting practice mandated on a monthly basis was a likely recommendation, even if it wouldn't raise the standard to the previously too-ambitious projection.
The Kaiser was kept abreast of developments and offered his own suggestion to the Marinekommandant during his visit to the post-war naval review. A shooting competition, the old Emperor felt, would motivate crews in their training by giving them a standard to strive against. The suggestion was taken into account immediately, and two weeks later the first gunnery trials were begun. The venerable cruiser SMS Maria Theresia swept the categories for capital ships, and was awarded the right to display an Imperial Marksmanship Pennant until the next shooting competition in a year's time.
May-June-July 1907
Refinement of the designs of the Habsburg and Graz class continued into mid-year. An innovative system of anti-torpedo bulkheads was incorporated into both ships, and would become standard on all major vessels in the future. However since the bulkheads were not part of the original designs space had to be found to accommodate them, and in the end it was decided to sacrifice crew accommodations. The Habsburg and Graz class ships returned to the cramped quarters of the old Wien class ships, much to the dismay of the sailors who would crew them. The decision would make the Radetzkys a much-sought assignment as they offered more space and comfort to the average rating despite their already obsolete design.
Skoda meanwhile offered the improved M.07 14.9cm naval gun for use aboard future battleships and cruisers. A decision had been made to reduce the secondary armament for future capital ships to the M.04 12cm gun, as having sufficient rapidity of fire to be useful against smaller destroyers while retaining sufficient penetration and HE power to be useful against superstructure on capital ships. The availability of a much improved 14.9cm gun created an argument in favor of returning to the older standard for secondary batteries, with the adoption of the 104mm rapid fire field gun for use against the larger destroyers coming into vogue. There was also interest in using the M.07 as the main battery for a new class of cruiser projected for construction in 1908 or 1909.
Finally, the commissioning of SMS Radetzky was the focus of celebrations in Pola. Though not a Formidable –type, the Radetzky was certainly more powerful than any warship boasted by Italy, France, or Russia. It was in its own way a symbol of the Austro-Hungarian commitment to naval power and the newfound prestige of the junior service following the victory over Italy.
August 1907
Ganz & Company, perhaps spurred by the Russian espionage, rushed out a new and refined version of the boilers being fought over in their suit against the Ochtomski Baltic Works. The new small tube boilers were more efficient than previous models, and closer match to the cutting edge boilers being used by the Royal Navy for its Formidable-type battleships.
On the other hand the munitions works attached to the Seearsenal reported continued and persistent problems in developing a new alloy for use with improved AP ammunition.
The commissioning of SMS Daun in Trieste opened the floor to consideration of the build plan for Austria-Hungary's first Formidable-type battleships and Super Cruisers. The Habsburg and Graz class had been agreed upon, refined, and approved in final form; but it was clear the meeting of the Delegations for 1907 would not bring any increase in the naval budget without exceptional circumstances intervening. Tension was also rising with France and Russia. It was expected that Austria-Hungary had four, maybe five years before another war would break out. British colonial tensions with France and Russian designs on the Ottoman Empire would have to be addressed sooner or later and a peaceful resolution to either problem looked unlikely.
Initial plans had call for the construction of three Habsburg class battleships to be followed by three Graz class Super Cruisers, in addition to a rebuild of the Szigetvar class light cruisers and construction of another three light cruisers for raiding and scouting in the Mediterranean. There were also demands for extra funds to implement the recommendations of the post-war review of naval operations and for the development of a submarine service. Only the destroyer flotillas looked acceptable for the time being, though everyone knew there would come a point the huge fleet of Panther class destroyers had to be overhauled.
Reducing the number of battleships and Super Cruisers to two each would save funds enough to allow the lighter forces to benefit; two, possibly three light cruisers might be built in addition to the overhaul of the Szigetvar class in the four-year window before war was expected. And yet there was also an argument that submarines were needed now, to have on hand to develop necessary expertise in their use… and in countering them. And a substantial number of officers were of the opinion that improved training had to be implemented today, lest the next war catch the Imperial and Royal Navy unprepared.
A conference was held at Pola on 16 August bringing together the ship division Admirals, senior captains, and staff officers with representatives from the shipyards at Trieste, Pola, and Fiume. What could the KUK Kriegsmarine actually afford?
The numbers were discouraging. Unless some means could be found to substantially reduce costs even the two Formidable-types and two Super Cruisers could be out of reach. Improved training would reduce available funds by nearly one-fifth; three new cruisers would cost more than a single Graz class. Budget increases could be expected, to be sure, but clearly some economizing measures were needed and construction would have to be very heavily prioritized.
Placing all four of the Wien class battleships into reserve status would save over 400,000 crowns a month; putting 30 destroyers alongside them would save an additional 180,000 crowns per month. There would be a steep deterioration in the skills of the crews moved into the reserves, though. Debate continued to rage over the course of the conference whether or not it would be worthwhile; in the end the four-year savings would not quite pay for all the existing light cruisers to be overhauled, after all.
Well, I put Ship Design on high priority and just left it there after I got Center Firing. Contemplating throwing it back on Fire Control, mind, until I get Directors. That said I'm kind of dreading however long it's going to take to get AON. I don't want all my luck to be used up early.
In the end the conference on the future of the KuK Kriegsmarine concluded that the battle-line had priority. The war with Italy show the effectiveness of the cruiser divisions within the confines of the Mediterranean, and the alliance with Britain obviated any need for the development of vessels for worldwide service. The superiority of the Italian battle-line had been a constant embarrassment throughout the war, and the introduction of Formidable-types was a chance to leap ahead of Italy, France, and Russia. Overhauls of the Szigetvar class would be funded and two, or depending on finances, three Habsburg class battleships would be constructed before another Super Cruiser was ordered.
And as the Radetzky-class battleships entered service it was determined that the older Wien-class battleships could be placed on reserve, as would the older destroyers of the Panther class. It was with some reluctance that the step was approved, but the horizon for a major threat appeared to be far enough away that it could be borne. Every single crown would have to be squeezed from the budget to make even the very unambitious program agreed to possible.
The exposure of a clerk in the Naval Section of the War Ministry as a German spy came as an unpleasant surprise to the Marinekommandant, following as it did on the heels of a lengthy and controversial conference. The individual had joined a pan-German political party and passed documents on to the German consulate in Trieste as part of his assumed allegiance to a Greater Germany. This time Admiral Montecuccoli was in no mood to smooth over the breach in amity and pressed hard for the spy to be given a public trial and lengthy imprisonment as a rebuke to Berlin.
The need to economize on future capital ship design saw a dedicated move toward an all-centerline armament, in direct contrast to earlier and contemporary Formidable-type battleships constructed by Britain and Germany. The Habsburg class had been approved on the basis, and the Graz class had been worked on with that understanding. When chief of design Popper instructed that the earliest theoretical design studies for successors eschew wing turrets he cemented an important precedent for Austro-Hungarian naval architecture.
Meanwhile the Szigetvar class began its rebuilds. New lighter boilers from Ganz & Company would allow the ships to reach a top speed of 26 knots, which was increasingly being considered a minimum speed for any new build protected cruisers.
Further refinements to the now battle-tested Central Firing control system were also welcomed into the fleet.
November-December 1907
The commissioning of SMS Schwarzenberg was a welcome celebration for the Imperial and Royal Navy. Parity or superiority over the Italian battle line could now be assumed confidently and the slipways and funds were now clear for the first class of Formidable-type battleships. The moment was not without critics, however; Danubius had finished well behind the more efficient shipyards of STT and the Seearsenal, and with some serious cost overruns. But the successful completion of a first-rate battleship did answer once and for all any concerns that the Fiume yard was not up to the task of capital ship construction. Having a third first-rate shipyard was a welcome relief in many ways, and the option to divert contracts to Danubius to placate Hungarian politicians would be another welcome tool in building the naval power of the Empire.
And, with the completion of the Radetzky-class, the venerable Wien-class battleships were relegated to reserve status. They had served, albeit without much glory, in the war against Italy. Developments had made clear that they were at best second-line battleships even in comparison to their contemporaries. The completion of the Habsburg-class was expected to see them further reclassified as coastal defense vessels and gradually reduced to third-line status.
Contacts between Skoda and British industry resulted in the introduction of a new HE shell.
January 1908
The laying down of the SMS Habsburg was a moment of great pride for the Imperial and Royal Navy. While the British, Americans, and Germans all had their own Formidable-type battleships in service or at least well-advanced in construction, the Imperial and Royal Navy had beaten the French, Russians, Italians, and Japanese in laying one down. It seemed to augur the ascension of the Imperial and Royal Navy to a greater prominence and at least dominion over the Mediterranean; a natural right of an Empire which traced a line of descent (however tenuous) from the Caesars.
The Emperor attended the brief ceremony laying down the vessel and made an address to the assembled sailors. A naval review was held in Trieste to celebrate the occasion, with representative ships from Britain, Germany, France, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Greece, and Spain in attendance. A battleship division from the USN, diverted from the circumnavigation ordered by President Roosevelt, also participated. The heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was prominent in greeting the foreign delegations and took the honor review of the naval infantry regiment that composed the entirety of Austria-Hungary's marine forces. Later that night at the main offices of Austrian-Lloyd's he attended a ball for naval officers and celebrated the founding of the Austrian Naval League, of which he was the first president.
February 1908
The second battleship of the Habsburg-class, SMS Arpad, was laid down at Danubius the following month to a far more restrained atmosphere.
The ranks of the Austrian Naval League soon encompassed many important industrialists, including the executives at Skoda and STT. Admiral Montecuccoli was prevailed upon by their arguments to use an audience with the Emperor to argue in favor of laying down the third unit of the Habsburg-class in 1908 instead of waiting for 1909. The audience went well enough; the Emperor sanctioned the lobbying done by his nephew the Archduke to secure approval for the necessary funds through the Austrian Reichsrat.
March-April-May 1908
Yearly naval exercises in spring saw the opportunity to introduce new tactical exercises and innovations. For the first time anti-submarine maneuvers were practiced on a large scale, and destroyers were grouped in larger formations to provide a stronger anti-torpedo boat screen attached directly to capital ships.
Ganz & Company benefited from the close relationship with Britain by gaining production rights under license for an improved Economizer design from Green & Sons. The executives dispatched to finalize the deal passed on a report that Vickers Shipbuilding had purchased a number of the new Economizers for evaluation on a new export battleship. The specifications of the battleship were unremarkable save for a report that it would be provided with a new 15" gun in four double turrets. The escalation in naval firepower was alarming in light of the 305mm guns taken as standard for the fleet not all that long ago. Further contacts between Vickers and STT confirmed the rumors to the dismay of the Marinekommandant.
June-July 1908
More disturbing news followed in the next couple of months. Russia and then France finally began laying down Formidable-type battleships. Austria-Hungary had an advantage of several months but that was insufficient in light of the increasingly tight relationship between Russia and France. The French Premier Theophile Delcasse, noted for his interest in naval affairs, directly pushed for a significant increase in naval spending so as to insure French superiority in the Mediterranean. While previously critical of efforts to expand the battle-fleet to match the Royal Navy, Delcasse was unwilling to see France lag behind Austria-Hungary and demanded a powerful fleet worthy of an expanding French colonial empire. Though neither France nor Russia made overt moves toward challenging the British and Austrian alliance the potential for a threat was clearly growing.
In response the third battleship of the Habsburg-class was laid down in July, ahead of the original timetable by six months. A special budgetary allocation had been secured from the meeting of the delegations of the Reichsrat and the Diet, and the completion of the overhauls of the Szigetvar-class cruisers freed up additional funds. Hungarian complaints were mooted given the increasingly real prospect of war and the approaching renegotiation of the security treaty with Great Britain. Having three modern Formidable-types would make Austria-Hungary far more valuable as an ally and British or German support would be necessary if tensions in the Balkans led to war with Russia and France.
And in response to requests from the Naval Headquarters, Skoda presented an option for a larger battleship gun. The M.08 33cm naval rifle was an enlarged version of the M.04 30.5cm gun equipping the Radetzky and Habsburg class; while it lacked the sheer power of the British 15" gun it was an improvement in all regards over the M.04 and could be used as the main gun of the Graz-class Super Cruisers with only minor adjustments in the design.
The sale of a potentially sensitive patent to the Italian Ansaldo naval engineering form was a matter of controversy within the Austro-Hungarian government. The Army was opposed to allowing the transfer on the grounds that Italy was a potentially hostile power who had only recently been defeated in a war. The Finance Ministry on the other hand took its usual laissez-faire position on trade, arguing that the Italians would develop a similar system on their own in due time in any case so that there was no point intervening. In the end the Marinekommandant reluctantly weighed in favor of allowing the transfer, noting that Italy was not nearly as significant a threat as the French and Russians were, and that Turati had thus far hewed to a foreign policy of neutrality.
The money was also badly needed to improve conditions at the shipyards working on the Habsburg-class. Ultimately the government elected not to block the sale.
In the early fall a new more capable submarine model was launched by STT. It was approved for export, though the most notable success of the period was the sale of an improved design for storing compressed air to the Royal Navy.
The export success was not an isolated affair. The Dual Monarchy was in the midst of a post-war economic boom building upon the development of industry during the struggle against Italy. The country's alliance with Britain made it a favorable destination for British capital and the relatively undeveloped regions of Hungary and especially the vast plains of Galicia offered a ready return on investment. Budapest was becoming an industrial city comparable to the Empire's economic center of Prague, while Lemberg saw the stirrings of industrialization as a regional hub for rail transport and food processing in the eastern fringes of the Empire.
November-December 1908
November saw the debut of an improved torpedo model developed by the Pola Seearsenal. The developments in design to protect against torpedo attack had not gone unnoticed by the ordnance design teams, and their first impulse was simply to increase the size of the warhead in the standard torpedo model. While it was uncertain if it would restore the previous efficacy of torpedoes against newer ships, there was little question that the new model would be devastating against older vessels lacking the latest design innovations.
The most important political development was the expiration of the Anglo-Austrian Naval Treaty, which had upended the diplomatic balance of Europe five years prior. Negotiations to secure an extension were ongoing even at the time, though a significant faction at Court and in the Army preferred to negotiate an alliance with Germany instead. The British had their own concerns about the ability of Austria-Hungary to contribute as a continental proxy against France or Russia, which became particularly acute as colonial tensions increased with a newly aggressive French government of Premier Declasse.
Berlin encouraged industrial ties in a bid to woo the Austro-Hungarian government. It was not an entirely one-way effort, as the Germans took the opportunity to purchase patents and licenses for a number of Austrian innovations. The sale of sensitive Fire Control developments came before the government, though it was approved with the support of the Marinekommandant as a relatively uncontroversial transfer.
Finally, word of delays in the construction of the first Russian Formidable-type battleship raised hopes that Austria-Hungary would be able to keep ahead of the Franco-Russian Entente in what was becoming a full-scale naval arms race.
January 1909
Early in the New Year a major dispute within the War Ministry erupted over the disposition of a surplus produced by taxes authorized the year before. The Delegations had unenthusiastically approved a separate income tax in both Austria and Hungary to fund the war with Italy back in 1905, and consented to the retention of the tax in light of rising tensions with Russia. The industrial boom following the war had raised far more revenue than anticipated, and both the Army and the Navy wanted an increase in funding. The Finance Ministry had also weighed in favoring a program of infrastructure development, and there was pressure from the Socialists in the Reichsrat to use the funds to defer an expansion in old age pension benefits.
Ultimately Admiral Montecuccoli and the new Chief of the General Staff General Moritz von Auffenberg agreed on a compromise with the Finance Ministry. The funds would go toward further development of the railroad network in Galicia and Eastern Hungary. There was an obvious defensive benefit in improving transportation infrastructure along the Russian frontier and the border with the Balkan state. However the expanded rail net would also work to extend the reach of the industrial boom; the approved plan especially greatly improved the density and quality of connections between Lemberg and the rest of Eastern Galicia. That would, it was hoped, also eventually lead to substantial increases in further tax receipts from what was still one of the poorest regions in Europe which could help fund the navy while increasing the fitness of conscripts in the area for Army service.
In purely naval developments the design teams working under Popper at the Seearsenal had turned their attention to the next generation of Austrian cruisers. The protected cruiser was rapidly giving way to more heavily armored vessels as power plants shrank in mass while growing in raw power. That made it possible to provide splinter protection and even to armor against smaller secondary batteries in a more consistent manner. The next Austrian light cruiser would be substantially better protected than the Szigetvar class, without question.
Docks at Trieste and Pola also finished expansion in anticipation of orders for an enlarged version of the Graz class Super Cruiser.
And toward the end of the year Skoda pursued the opportunity to purchase tooling, production notes, and patents for a 14" gun from the American Bethlehem Steel Corporation. The American corporation had originally been contracted by the USN to supply guns to supplement production for a planned follow-on to the South Carolina class of battleships. The elections of 1908 had seen a stronger Democratic party in Congress and the exit of President Roosevelt, leading to a scaling-back of naval construction. Having entered the naval artillery business on the pretext of building guns for the Navy, Bethlehem Steel looked to exit when it became clear no contracts would be forthcoming. Skoda was in a position to secure the valuable assets with cash on hand.
February 1909
Skoda's new M.09 36cm naval rifle was based on the unproven American design acquired from Bethlehem Steel, and was less refined than the 30.5cm gun Skoda had developed earlier in 1908. The heavier shell of the M.09 was balanced against the greater velocity of the M.08 naval rifle and found somewhat wanting. On the other hand the British 15" gun had clearly indicated the future belonged to heavier and heavier naval guns and so the M.09 offered a solid basis for future development.
Improvements in available guns were matched by the improved armor quality, improved optics, and improved shell loading technology.
Still, despite the plethora of technical advancements in February the primary developments were again political. Negotiations with the British had reached a critical point. An Anglo-French contest for influence over Siam in the Far East was reaching a boil, with both sides maneuvering troops along the Siamese borders. The British were eager to conclude negotiations for the renewal of the alliance with Vienna so as not to be isolated against France and Russia.
There remained substantial support for a new approach to Berlin among the Imperial and Royal government. The General Staff, with arguments ultimately sources from Feldmarschalleutnant Conrad von Hötzendorf, considered the Germans better allies against Russia and more likely to support pre-emptive attacks on Serbia, Romania, or Italy. An engagement with Berlin would make war with Russia substantially more likely, creating something of a self-fulfilling prophecy in the eyes of the Ballplatz. France and Russia could be isolated and Russia was by far the more dangerous enemy as any war would be fought on Austro-Hungarian territory, whereas an Anglo-French colonial war would allow Austria to reprise her role from the Italian war.
The Austro-Hungarian Navy had few qualms about allying with Britain, though. Archduke Franz Ferdinand also came down in support of the British alliance, at least in part to restrain Conrad, and used his Navy League to lobby the Reichsrat. The Emperor ultimately accepted the arguments of his Foreign Minister and gave assent to renew the treaty with England despite his own preferences for closer ties to Germany.
The renewal was signed on 20 February in London, with Foreign Minister Aerenthal representing His Imperial and Royal Majesty. Archduke Franz Ferdinand made an official visit to Britain as heir, transported aboard SMS Radetzky with the cruisers Maria Theresia and Aspern providing escort and an Austro-Hungarian presence at the Naval Review in Spithead held in honor of the Treaty.
While I have few comments to make, I do want to say that I am enjoying this immensely, especially the in-universe, historical-record style of narration. Kudos to you, sir.
With the renewed British alliance the Imperial and Royal Navy went into spring exercises planning against France and Russia. The influence of the Jeune Ecole was strong in both nations, and it was expected that they would rely heavily on commerce raiding and submarines against the Royal Navy. Accordingly the Austro-Hungarian Navy would be required to secure control of the Mediterranean as well as bottle up French and Russian submarines. While the battle-fleet carried out gunnery exercises the destroyer flotillas practices further anti-submarine tactics, including the securing of ports against infiltration by the use of anti-submarine nets.
May-June-July 1909
Early summer saw the introduction of new shells, new construction techniques at the Seearsenal, and a new STT export destroyer design.
And late summer saw a new crisis break out in Europe. Austrian attempts to mediate a diplomatic solution to the colonial stand-off between Britain and France over Siam were a complete failure. Skirmishes between French colonial forces and the Siamese had led the French to occupy four border provinces in June. Count Aerenthal, the Foreign Minister, arranged an unprecedented private visit of the Emperor to the French Riviera as an opportunity to present a proposal to renew the 1886 Anglo-French understanding of the neutrality of Siam in exchange for British acceptance of the border change. The proposal was, in and of itself, sound enough; and the British had intended to press their own claims to the Pattani kingdoms on the Malay border and could have used French concurrence to assure that Siam backed down without a fight.
But the outbreak of a severe disturbance in the Moroccan Rif territory in July upended the entire project. The Berber and Arab tribes of the region had always been effectively autonomous from the Moroccan Sultan and from French and Spanish influence as well. And since the Ottoman "victory" over Italy in Libya the whole of North Africa had become more restive as the natives saw the opportunity to challenge European rule. Algeria was no exception, and the cross-border ties between Berber tribes made the Rif a center of unchecked anti-French sedition. The increasingly obvious subordination of the Sultan to France and meddling by German interests created a powder-keg that duly exploded into revolution in the early days of June. The small French colonial force in Morocco was insufficient to keep order in the cities of the country while Moroccan royal troops were being overwhelmed by defections, urban rioting, and sudden tribal attacks.
The situation deteriorated over the second week of July, as the Emperor wrapped up his visit. Reports of a massacre of Europeans in Casablanca were being spread all over the continent from a mail-steamer which had escaped the port under fire from rebel artillery batteries. The French were putting together a response force, but the Foreign Legion regiments tasked for the operation were diverted by the outbreak of tribal rebellion on the Algerian side of the border. As the lurid reports of rebel atrocities escalated Admiral Montecuccoli ordered the battleship Arpad and the Second Cruiser Division of Zenta and Aspern to Casablanca with a company of naval infantry. They were joined by a British cruiser force and another company of Royal Marines, as well as a German cruiser and some Spanish gunboats; the international task force would secure the port and rescue Europeans in Morocco, or avenge the Europeans if too late.
The Moroccan rebels fired on the Zenta as it approached harbor with obsolete muzzle-loading cannon and were duly annihilated in a storm of 24cm shell fire from SMS Arpad. Once landed the British and Austrian naval infantry readily secured control of the city and located the European inhabitants. Several individual murders had been committed but the balance of civilians had been secured in the Jewish Quarter and left unmolested. The remaining Europeans were evacuated by sea and the occupation of the city maintained to provide a safe zone for remaining European citizens in the country to escape to. Several captured rebels were also summarily hanged or shot in order to avenge various outrages against white civilians.
While the French had no qualms about the violent intervention they took exception to the continued occupation of the city by the British and Austrians. As the months continued and the French systematically destroyed the rebellion the presence of the detachments in Casablanca would only grow more irritating.
August-September-October 1909
As the crisis in Morocco continued at a slow burn, the future of the Royal and Imperial Navy was being shaped hundreds of miles from the coast in Galicia. The expansion of regional infrastructure had made the oil fields even more productive and efficient. Austria was now a major supplier of oil to continental Europe, fully capable of greatly exceeding domestic demand for the fuel. Much of that fuel was notenw being exported via a pipeline running to the port of Trieste, which coincidentally provided a completely secure source for the Austrian fleet.
Under these circumstances the Marinekommandant signed off on an order to the design teams at Pula. All future Austrian warships would burn oil, not coal. That threw a number of plans into jeopardy; the Graz class Super Cruiser was effectively scrapped before the first hull was ever laid down. Nor was it clear what would happen with the Panther class destroyers; the oldest ships were just completing refurbishment but their machinery spaces had not been touched.
And as the standoffs at Casablanca and along the Siamese frontier dragged on additional fleet exercises and gunnery training were mandated. Many of the reforms proposed in the aftermath of the victory over Italy were finally implemented. Critics within the Navy fretted that the measures were too little, much too late with the prospect of war against France looming.
November-December 1909
The acquisition of German mechanical fire control computers was a welcome relief then; while the drills required for building crew skills would take time, plugging the new models into the existing fire control systems offered an immediate improvement in fleet accuracy.
But meanwhile the political situation continued to deteriorate. Socialists in the Reichsrat called for a naval freeze and a withdrawal from Casablanca to provide a last chance for peace. The incensed Admiral Montecuccoli worked with the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Naval League to stir up massive resistance to the proposal. In the heated atmosphere of the day the Socialists were denounced as traitors and calls were made to retain Casablanca as the beginnings of an Austrian colonial empire. This in turn greatly alarmed the French, who had finally succeeded in largely putting down the Algerian rebellion and in restoring order to the rest of Morocco.
January 1910
The year 1910 was greeted with a somber mood across the Empire. Tensions with France and Russia were reaching a boiling point and war was expected at any day. Fighting between Siamese and French troops escalated throughout the week of the New Year, leading to a full-fledged French invasion and a naval bombardment of Bangkok. The French ignored a British demand to cease operations, and began moving forces to isolate the Casablanca garrisons. The Austrians evacuated Morocco toward the end of January but British and French colonial forces had already begun clashing throughout Africa and Asia.
The French government was unwilling to step back from the colonial adventures that had marked much of Declasse's premiership. Anti-English sentiment was at an all-time high, and the British alliance with Austria was seen in starkly negative terms as an encirclement that needed to be broken. The Marine Nationale felt confident that the Jeune Ecole elements of commerce-raiding and submarines could reduce the British to terms despite losses in the colonial sphere, but they were unwilling to cede the Mediterranean to Austria-Hungary in the meantime. Paris issued a communique on 28 January, even as the Austrians were finishing their evacuation of Casablanca, demanding a pledge of neutrality from Vienna and guarantees of naval cutbacks at the conclusion of the crisis.
The British Empire declared that a state of war existed with the French Republic the next day, on 29 January. France reciprocated on 30 January and upgraded the communique to Vienna into an ultimatum. That ultimatum was received an hour after the old Emperor, pressured by Aerenthal, Franz Ferdinand, and Admiral Montecuccoli, had already authorized a declaration of war in support of Britain.
Putting gun research on high priority really doesn't guarantee any advancements. What gets advanced there is almost 100% random. You could unlock the next size gun, or you could unlock +1 guns for every caliber type that you don't actually use.
