[X] Less than 22 knots of seagoing speed - twenty-five ships scrapped
[X] Less than 20 knots of seagoing speed - fifteen ships scrapped
If we're going to be stuck with rules, might as well give us as much space as we can to operate as we can under the new rules. Especially as I imagine the UK is scrapping more battleships and the like than we'll have to.
Yes. It's part of trying to move to something closer to the real-world treaties. The caps are probably too restrictive for purpose usually, but it certainly makes things...interesting.
What should be the criteria for scrapping an Armoured Cruiser: While there was much disagreement over what criteria to use, eventually it is decided a harsh hand is needed. Less than 20 knots of seagoing speed - fifteen ships scrapped What should be the criteria for scrapping a Protected Cruiser: Less than 22 knots of seagoing speed - twenty-five ships scrapped
Meeting the Treaty Requirements
With the arrival of the ratified naval treaty, a heavy pall has been cast across the ports on both the North and South coasts. Forty ships are slated to be sold to the scrappers, and rightly so; they no longer are capable of the things we require from our warships, so what better choice but to strike them and sell them off. This fierce reduction will include:
- The nine ships of the Dupuy du Lome-class - The Pothau and the Chanzy are noted for their actions in skirmishes during the second Franco-German war - 68,400 tons
- The six Jeanne d'Arc-class cruisers - The Montcalm was thoroughly tested during the war with Britain - 27,600 tons
- The Tage-class, all seven of them - 27,300 tons
- The seven ships of the Coetlegon-class - The Coetlegon herself earned six battle stars against the Germans - 39,200 tons
- The last surviving Jean Bart - 5,400 tons
- The three remaining Friant-class ships - 16,800 tons
- Five of the seven Infernet-class protected cruisers - 20,000 tons
In total this will free up some 200,000 tons and drop us below our treaty limit by around 90,000 tons. It also gives us a monthly budget surfeit of around eight million francs, a huge amount of money for the construction of new ships. As such, we will lay down the following ships:
- Four more Chasseloup-Laubat protected cruisers of 4,000 tons each, as previously described.
- A new armoured cruiser of similar intent to the previous Kleber-class but limited by the treaty. This design, the new version of the Jeanne d'Arc, will be 15,000 tons and carry ten 203mm guns of the most modern kind. Three of these turrets will be mounted along the centreline, a new development in ship design that will maintain the eight rifle broadside of the Kleber on a much lighter hull. It will, of course, be capable of 24 knots compared to the protected cruisers 27.
Scrapping around the world
We are not alone in our massive reduction in tonnage either.
- Germany scraps seven ironclads and numerous other ships.
- Eleven of the British battleships go to the scrap merchants.
- The Russian Tsar commits six battleships to be struck off.
Other ships have gone as well, but these are the vital reductions that must be taken note of.
We have also, in tests, demonstrated the ability to fire boilers purely with oil, however we have not managed to secure as steady a supply of oil as we have coal and thus this is not currently useful technology to the fleet.
Two of our new super cruisers are laid down in February of 1906, the Jeanne d'Arc and the Gueydon. In March, the Colbert wins the Presidents Cup in a fleet wide shooting competition. In April, strange news comes from the Mediterranean as a pro-Italian coup takes the government of Greece by storm and immediately signs a series of defence pacts, extending their control over the Eastern sea. We respond by laying down a third of our Super Cruisers, the Montcalm.
The extent of the Kingdom of Italy's reach in the Mediterranean.
A second class of protected cruisers, the Descartes is designed, a simple upgrade to the Chasseloup-Laubat. They will be capable of 28 knots and carry slightly thicker belt armour, but otherwise they are nearly identical. They simply take advantage of the most modern steam engines to achieve these goals. Two are laid down in July to be ready some eight months after their cousins. We also lay down two more submarines, following the Sirene with the Narval, taking advantage of advances in diesel engine design to improve the boats further.
The Ongoing Diplomatic War
Spain, as of late 1906, approaches us about the concept of an alliance even with the disarmament treaty. We of course snub them, but it's interesting that they are feeling so weak in the wake of the spending controls. It does, perhaps, not help that they are staring down the burgeoning giant of the United States in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the Assemblee Nationale sees this rejection of a defence pact as a sign that the Navy is strong enough and reduces the budget in kind. The budget will, fortunately, stretch to complete the current tranche of construction but will perhaps require a gentler hand going forwards. Some months later, they reduce it again and further and reduce us to little more than two-hundred million francs per year.
We find ourselves in 1907, poorly funded and poorly equipped, but with a technological research department that is well staffed and producing such things. We can now develop effective three-gun turrets for our ships, and with improved annealing processes for our armour and better longitudinal framing our hulls will be lighter and cheaper and sleeker too. We have developed concepts such as the anti-torpedo bulge that would protect ships somewhat from enemy attack. We could build phenomenally advanced ships... if we could afford them.
Select two of the following as spending priorities for the Marine Nationale over the coming months and years:
[ ] Construction
[ ] Enhancing Bases
[ ] Coastal Defences
[ ] Research
[ ] Advanced Training
[ ] Intelligence What about this advanced technology?
[ ] We should maintain the construction of at least one modern cruiser at all times.
[ ] We should maintain the construction of at least two modern cruiser at all times.
[ ] We should build small, experimental ships, to test these technologies.
[ ] Write-in
[X] We should maintain the construction of at least two modern cruiser at all times.
Our major cuts mean that we can, and must, maintain an aggressive build programme to modernise our fleet and ensure that we construct up to our treaty limit. We should also be pursuing new technologies that we can fit to these ships. If we get these next few years right we can steal a march on the world and build a fleet that is more capable per tonne than any opponent can match.
[X] Research
[X] Advanced Training
[X] We should maintain the construction of at least one modern cruiser at all times.
20k isn't two cruisers, it's not much more than one, so we've got to keep it like this. And those budgets, ow ow ow. I hope we get a good war soon.
Select two of the following as spending priorities for the Marine Nationale over the coming months and years:Research, Advanced Training What about this advanced technology?We should maintain the construction of at least one modern cruiser at all times.
While it is clear that we need to keep costs low, and as such we are reducing the amount of construction the navy will be conducting dramatically, we must nonetheless maintain the fleets place in things. As such a new class of torpedo boat destroyers is designed to replace the aging Sabre, the Temeraire. These 700-ton boats will have a crew of 105, a 100mm gun fore and aft and a pair of torpedo tubes on the centreline. They will be stupendously fast, trading the earlier ships 27-28 knots for 31 at flank speed.
The small but capable Temeraire in port
We also conduct in a wide array of the buying and selling of technology, as the Austrians come to us for our advanced metallurgy and the British, perhaps as some sort of show of good will, offer us the technology to build even more efficient boilers in our next class of cruisers. Tensions spike in Africa as the border of German Cameroon and French Congo is disputed with harsher words and some brief shows of force, but fortunately little comes of it but a slight boost to our budget.
A minor crisis in the Balkans and several hurried negotiations later, the current naval treaty has its end scheduled to come not in 1922, but in 1928 instead. However it is not long before this crisis blooms and, after the assassination of several Ottoman political figures in Rumelia, the great nations of Europe come together to find a diplomatic solution. The answer, it seems, is the stationing of a combined squadron in the eastern Mediterranean and the straights, including ships from Great Britain, France, Italy and Austria-Hungary. Germany, notably, refuses to be involved due to tensions with France.
We lay down a new Super Cruiser, the Vercingetorix. She is not easily distinguished from the Jeanne d'Arcs, but she fits the new anti-torpedo systems theorised about in the last few months and will be the ideal test-bed for those. The rest of our meagre budget is spent further updating out torpedo boat forces. Our Narval submarines are completed, and with no new technology we let their slips rest for a little while. A new super-light cruiser is developed as well, the Sfax, which is estimated to displace just 3,600 tons at full load. It carries a small battery of 127mm guns and makes 28 knots, as is the new standard for cruisers. Limits on how much we can build at once under treaty delay their laying down for a few months, but come February of 1908, two of these sleek, narrow ships are on the slips.
Technology continues to march on, even as the building war does not. The arsenals consider the capabilities of a 356mm gun as compared to the most modern 305mm rifle. The range of these guns is quickly growing out of control compared to the armaments of our large cruisers, and even compared to the much smaller 305mm the 356mm has considerable penetration capabilities even at the longest of accurate firing ranges. We will have to consider these guns carefully if and when we build another larger warship. They are (perhaps fortunately) not a viable armament for 15,000 tons and are also limited specifically by treaty.
We also update our torpedo boat forces even further, fitting three tubes and four 100mm guns to the successor to the Temeraire, the Magon. However the development of a new armour configuration for lighter cruisers will improve the weight and protection of our small ships even further, and forces a further development of the Sfax into the 4,000 ton Tage. It seems we are able to maintain a considerable building program even under the current budget constraints. The addition of a pair of Submarines to the list in March of the new and improved Espadon-class, and a second Vercingetorix-class cruiser, expands the fleet even further than we had hoped.
A fore-quarter view of the Jeanne d'Arc after fitting out, with her 203mm guns on display
Our budget has mostly recovered from the horrors of the treaty cuts, and now we have more money than we know what to do with. Construction will continue, but there is only so much we can build under the current treaty.
What should we spend our money on? Pick two (only one academy expansion can be selected).
[ ] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[ ] Expand the academy and add a school for gunnery.
[ ] Expand intelligence efforts globally.
[ ] Expand our overseas ports and protect them with coastal batteries, focusing on South East Asia.
[ ] Expand our overseas ports and protect them with coastal batteries, focusing on Africa.
[ ] Expand our overseas ports and protect them with coastal batteries, focusing on the Mediterranean.
[ ] Write-in We also now have the option to design triple turrets for larger guns. What do we consider best?
[ ] We have effectively only recently switched to dual mounts. Further change is unnecessary cost.
[ ] Any advantage is required! Design a new ship with triple gun mounts.
[X] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[X] We have effectively only recently switched to dual mounts. Further change is unnecessary cost.
[X] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[X] Expand our overseas ports and protect them with coastal batteries, focusing on the Mediterranean.
[X] We have effectively only recently switched to dual mounts. Further change is unnecessary cost.
Early night fighting skill is astoundingly handy; and focusing on the Med will be helpful given how big for its britches Italy is being. We'll want to be able to kick them over when the time comes.
Triple turrets are nice, but the first generation ones are just too unreliable - let's hold off on those for a bit
[X] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[X] Expand intelligence efforts globally.
[X] We have effectively only recently switched to dual mounts. Further change is unnecessary cost.
[X] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[X] Expand our overseas ports and protect them with coastal batteries, focusing on the Mediterranean.
[X] We have effectively only recently switched to dual mounts. Further change is unnecessary cost.
[X] Expand the academy and add a school for night fighting.
[X] Expand intelligence efforts globally.
[X] Any advantage is required! Design a new ship with triple gun mounts!
The broadside must get larger.
