Prince Henry of Prussia: The Rise of U-Boat.

[BlondieBC]

Prince Henry of Prussia: The Rise of U-Boat.
The little boats that save Germany
Copywrite 1995

"The Great War fundamentally changed the the face of Europe, and began the German Century. As the war fades from living memory to the history books, most school children learn about the crushing land victories of Hindenburg and Falkenhayn. School children tour the German dreadnaught museums in Hamburg, Danzig and Riga. Most of the public views the rise of Germany to the world most powerful seapower as almost inevitable, not a close call in history. The purpose of the books provide the public a detail record of the war at sea was won, and how this victory was the decisive element in the Central Power Victory. I hope to show how brave men in difficult cirmumstances changed the course of history."

Above is a selected quote from what is consider the authoritative 12 volume work on the Gemarn Victory in the Great War. For those of you who are true military history buffs, I encourage you to read the entire work, which can get quite technical for the average reader. This authors focus will be quite different, he intents to provide a serialize account of the major events from "Prince Henry of Prussia: Rise of the Uboat." In this telling, many key events will be summarized with a focus on the decision making process, key naval battles, illustrative naval engagements, and a broad summary of land battles.

[MerryPrankster]

World's most powerful sea power?

Even if they manage to eclipse Britain, the United States has the resources and technology to outclass them on a worldwide scale, were it so inclined.

Of course, since this is from a book, you could always say "unreliable narrator."

[SAVORYapple]

Originally Posted by MerryPrankster

World's most powerful sea power?

Even if they manage to eclipse Britain, the United States has the resources and technology to outclass them on a worldwide scale, were it so inclined.

Of course, since this is from a book, you could always say "unreliable narrator."

Mayhaps the U.S. of ITTL is asleep?

you never know.....

hmmm.....this is a refreshing break from Rast's "A shift in Priorities", another German WW1 victory thread blown into long story

[Tom_B]

Are you familiar with http://alternatehistoryfictory.yuku....story-Fiction? If you are going to post this as a set of fictional narratives and not a simple dry TL you may want to post it there as well and see what feedbck you get.

[BlondieBC]

Originally Posted by Tom_B

Are you familiar with http://alternatehistoryfictory.yuku....story-Fiction? If you are going to post this as a set of fictional narratives and not a simple dry TL you may want to post it there as well and see what feedbck you get.

Thanks for the information. I am not planning on making it a full novel, as the story gets more detail, it will become much more of dry time line like CalBear's stories. The initial preface was to help readers by framing the story, and hopefully be more enjoyable for all. Besides being the "source" material for the TL, and a few quotes to help where needed, the book will not be mentioned again.

In the leading up to the war, there will be a decent bit of narrative to help explain what is happening, but once the war starts, it will mostly be a day by day accounting with things like "CL Athena sunk by mines in Irish Sea". Only a few critical battles will have any narrative, and these will be mainly to explain the reason why things are happening. When I have a radical departure from OTL, i will have to explain a lot. So when I try to blockade the Suez Canal from Tanzania, there may be a lot of narrative on the war plan, but if it is just ships being sunk in the English Channel, it will read like the CL Athena line above.

[BlondieBC]

Early 1900: The Beginning.
Staff Budget meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm in attendence.

Kaiser: Now on to the subject of submersable boats. The Americans are working on the Holland Class submarine, and naval intelligence reports the British are ordering 5 of these ships. I would like to hear each admirals views on the matter in order of rank, and recommended actions, if any. Now, Admiral .... a hour later ... Fregattenkapitän, please read back the minutes pertaining to the U-boat decisions made.

Fregattenkapitän: By consensus, the Admiralty has agreed that experimental research should be conducted into U-boats over the next 10 years. The inital focus shall be to assess the capabilities of these new ships to determine useabilty and needed counter measures. If U-boat should prove to be an effective system, the experimental boats shall be converted to an operational flotilla. A preference shall be given to German built boats, but the Admirality shall be allowed to purchase boats from other countries. We will seek a budget of 12 million marks over 10 years for this program in the next Naval Bill.

Kaiser (Looking around the room): If no one has anything additional to say, lets us move on to the next point, naval defense of colonies ....

Unless otherwise noted: Other events are unchanged in compared to OTL.

Late 1900: The Naval bill is approved authorizing up to a flotilla (12) U-boats to be built by 1910 at a maxium total cost of 10 million mark for building and operations. Initially no more than 3 boats are to be acquired in the experimental fleet until certified as operational ship, then the additional ships can be built. A three man command team is setup to manage the new project, with the highest ranking officer being a Kapitänleutnan.

1901: Several proposal of designs are reviewed and rejected. The U-boat commands produces it first broad strategy guidline of 50 pages. The guidline boils down to we don't know much, but we are sure that current U-boat technology does not allow for operation in fleet engagements but the U-boat show potential to be a coastal defense ship and possibly covert scout around bases. The concept of "day-time torpedo boat" is first discussed in the German Navy. Due to issues with designing an U-boat from scratch, it is recommended that the Admiralty approach America about purchasing one Holland Class boat. Late in the year, the Admiralty approves the recommendation.

1902: While on this trip to the United States, Prince Henry is tasked with approaching the US Secretary of the Navy about purchasing a Holland Class Submarine. The Secretary is receptive, and before the Prince leaves in May, a contract is signed, with a delivery date in mid-1903. the Prince is also give a brief demonstration and ride in a Holland Class ship near Newport, RI.

[BlondieBC]

March 1903: Otto Schultze receives orders to report to Danzig to join the Experimental U-Boat Squadron (EUS). He is to be commander of UX-2 with an eight man crew. The EUS consists of 3 officers and 16 men. The commander of the squadron Kapitänleutnant Speer and commander of UX-1 is Oberleutnant zur See Goldberg. Otto Schultze recieves a promotion to Leutnant zur See.

May 1903: Prince Henry is promoted to VizeAdmiral and becomes commander of the Baltic Naval Station.

June 1903: EUS squadron is assigned to the Baltic Sea Naval Station command.

July 1903: Order for UX-2 and UX - 3 is approved. (Losely based on U-2 ship). The boats are scheduled for delivery in late 1904 and early 1905 at a costs of 250,000 marks each. One is to be built in Danzig, one in Kiel. The critical stats are as follows:
Speed - 12 surface, 9 submerged.
Range - 1500 nm
Crew - 22
Armament - Torpedo, 2 bow, 2 stern with 2 reloads for forward tubes.

August 05, 1903: The three officers of the EUS are summonned to a meeting with Prince Henry, who says "Gentlemen, I will keep the brief, you have all received the detailed written orders for the rest of the year, but I wish to personally emphasis a few points. Both crews are to be proficient on the UX-1 by year end. This task will be challenging, but not the most important task. I want each of you thinking of how this type of weapon can be used both for the German fleet and against our fleets. This command is more about developing tactics and doctrine than learning how to sail the new ship. In this training process, I want each of you to focus on these points. Can it actually defend a port as the Americans claim? Under what conditions can it intercept a manuevering ship? And can it be turned into an offensive weapon? By year-end, I want a written report by each officer on these points. These reports are to be written, Independently, again, let me emphasis, INDPENDENTLY. . . . I also want to emphasis how difficult it is to secure funding for new naval programs. Wasted resources can easily lead to a cancellation of the program, and I want each of you focus on an effective, well run, inexpensive program. Any questions? " ... After a pause of few seconds, "Dismissed, and be careful."

August 19, 1903: The first Holland type boat is completed in Danzig, and is given the number UX-1. The keel was laid in July 1902. Both the crew of UX-1 and UX-2 are to train on the boat, but the UX-1 crew will be responsible for sea trials and certifying the boat as operationally fit. Schultze is assigned the responsiblity of building a partial wooden and metal mockup of UX-1 for training purposes in a naval warehouse. The critical stats for the UX-1 are as follows:
Speed - 8 surface, 7 submerged.
Range - 250 nm
Crew - 8
Armament - 1 torpedo with two reloads.

October 30, 1903: UX-1 sinks in shallow waters, only a few miles from its dock while conducting a training exercise while Kapitänleutnant Speer is observing. A failure of the forward torpedo tubes results in an almost immediate sinking of the UX-1. Both officers on board and two other sailors are lost. The others are rescue by a nearby patrol vessel. A few days later, Otto Schultze receives orders promoting him to Oberleutnant zur See an making him EBS commander with accompying details on the replacement personnel to be assigned. Until the UX-1 can be salvaged and repair, training is shifted to the indoor mockup and surface exercises in rented fishing boats.

December, 1903: Otto prepares the report for Prince Henry. He decides to emphasis the following points:
1) Due to the dangerous, specialized skills required for U-boats; a dedicated career path should be created for the U-boat service if the U-boat squadron goes on operational status.
2) In the long run, German boats should perform better than foreign built boats, and he recommends no additional purchases of foreign boats.
3) The current UX-1 is adequate for port defense, but lacks both the range and surface speed necessary to be and effective inteceptor or offensive weapons. As to be able to work with the High Seas Fleet, the ship would need even greater speed than the new UX-2 or any other current proposal by the ship building companies. The UX-2 should however be able to intercept surface ships in confined areas such as the Baltic Sea or English Channel.
4) Early tests indicate that communication near port using signal flags was difficult at best, and U-boats need to focus on operating exclusively using wireless communications.
5) The UX-1 is expected to return to service in February, and the total repairs plus safety upgrades is expected to cost 75,000 marks.

Otto Scultze http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Schultze
U-2 Type http://uboat.net/wwi/types/?type=U+2
Holland Type http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland_class_submarine

[SAVORYapple]

good start

[BlondieBC]

Februay 1904: UX-1 returns to service. Both the UX-1 and the UX-2 crew certified as proficient on the UX-1. Test of tactics and operations using the UX-1 within 20 miles of port continue for the remanider of the year.

March 1904: Monthly hourly meeting between Prince Henry and Otto Schultze. Prince Henry has begun to develop a real confidence and trust for Schultze. The Prince says, "Over the past few months I have been impressed how you handled the difficulties related to the sinking, and I my staff has reported an noticeable improvement in the unit performance over the previous commander." ... "Due to issues discovered related to the salvage effort, the Admiralty has authorized an additional 4.5 million marks toward the construction costs of the SMS Vulcan, whose details you can get from my staff. The expected completion date is 1906." ... and and the very end of the meeting .."I need to explain the background behind the orders to setup the West African Squadron. This information is solely for your use, and is not to be repeated to anyone until officially released to the media or formal orders are cut. The Kaiser has approved a 10 year plan for a major West African Commerical Port, and the public announcement will be later this year once the details are finalized. Any major port, needs a naval security element, and I have secured funding and approval for the Western African Squadron to go active in 1908. The 1907 class of U-boats are to be assigned to this station initially. I need you personally to begin work on the logistical details of setting up the base in Doula."

Schultze prepares a quick review of the ideal characteristics for the a U-boat Depot Ship is prepared, and discussed with the Prince's Engineering staff. The ideal ship would be over 10,000 tons and approaching the cost of at least a large cruiser. The staff does give him three broad "suggestions" for use in Africa each using a ship around 1000 tons:
1) Any freighter over 700 tons could carry enough parts, fuel and ammo to support a fleet from any harbor that possesses warehouses attached to a dock. It would take a few days to fully setup operations, but after the transition, a squadron would have a functional base. The problem with this ship, and all other ships of this size is the amount of supplies they can carry will be quickly depleted in a war, especially food, fuel, and to a lesser extent ammo. This base would require regular resupply by sea or rail. The resupply issues are similar for the next two options, i.e. without regular resupply, it only allows a burst of U-boat activity. Schultze decides on this option for the initial Africa setup.
2) Additional ships like the SMS Vulcan which would excell at repairs and even salvage, but would would have even less storage than a freighter. This ship setup in any calm anchorage, and be operational as a base with hours.
3) A new class of ships similar in size to the Vulcan but without the Salvage capabilites, but with more supplies than the SMS Vulcan. The cost of designing a new ships would be the drawback.

Shultze then begins the list of items to be considered, and highlights included fuel, ammo, mechanical shop, electrical shop, marines, shore batteries, mines. He also realizes that a distant base will take months to replace injuried or sick personnel, and there will be need for surplus crews with each squadron.

April 1904: Schultze reviews the various subproposal to build two more UX boats in 1906 based on existing designs. The proposal from the Danzig shipyard is for 212,500 for one units or 412,500 for two units. When he inquires about the price drop, he receives a long lecture on how it is cheaper to do long production runs with good leadtimes than to custom design ships on a start and stop basis. Shultz consider recommending using just Danzig, but decides he would rather stay with two vendors at this point. He forwards his recommendation to Prince Henry staff for order one ship from Danzig and one from Kiel for 425,000 marks. The recommendation is approved without comment a few weeks later.

May 1904: Schultze submits the selected design to bid. (Losely based on the U-3 in OTL) The critical stats are as follows:
Speed - 12 surface, 7 submerged
Range - 3700 nm
Crew - 35
Armament - Torpedo, 2 bow, 2 stern with 2 reloads for forward tubes. A 105mm deck guns is added with 300 rounds ammo.

A month later the bids are returned at a single unit cost of 1.5 million marks. Twelve ships chosing only one yard will cost 10 million marks, and spliting the order between two ship yards costs 12 million marks. The decision is left for later in the year.

July 1904: Schultze tours the factories and is horrified to see that the UX-2 and UX-3 parts are not interchangeable, even worse the top speed varies between the two ships by one knot and the range varies by 100 nm. He makes sure both manufacturers understand continued business depends on a single blueprint for each class of ship, and he wants the UX-4 and UX-5 to be built on the slightly superior UX-3 blueprints. On the upcoming 12 ship bids, both companies will be required to meet in his office on a regular basis to insure all the ships are built in the same manner with the same performance characteristics. He then proceeds to his much deserved August Vacation.

September 1904: UX -2 is delivered.

October 1904: In a series of meetings with the Prince and his staff, it is decided to use two manufactures to build the next 12 U-boats (UX-6 to UX-17) to avoid single sourcing the U-boats. The U-boats will be delivered in 1907/1908/1909.


SMS Vulkan http://mareud.blogg.se/2010/december...d-salvage.html
Doula http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douala
U-3 http://uboat.net/wwi/types/?type=U+3

[BlondieBC]

March 1905: UX-3 Delivered.

August 1905: While at dock, and explosion in the engine room kills 3 sailors. A safety review concludes that the explosing occured in the battery compartment. The panel recommends that all new classes of ships switching to diesel engines for improved safety and longer ranges, and these recommendations are approved later that year.

October 1905: Schultze promoted to Kapitänleutnant.

1906: Twenty four new submarines is authorized by the Third Naval Law, and they will be built from 1908 to 1912. These ships (UX-18 Class) will form the Baltic and China Squadrons and be built by the Danzig and Kiel shipyards for a cost of 46 million marks. The UX-18 is similar to the U-19 and has the following critical stats:
Speed - 16.5 Surface, 9.5 Submerged.
Range - 8300 nm
Crew - 35
Armament - Torpedo, 2 bow, 2 stern with 2 reloads for forward tubes. A 105mm deck guns with 300 rounds ammo.

February 1906: UX-4 Delivered.

April 1906: On UX-2, the three crewman die from lack of oxygen while a submarine is testing underwater endurance of the ships. Concerns about losing an entact submarine to the enemy leads to the development of additional code book security. The submarine command will use separate code books from the rest of the fleet, and only carry fleet code books when attached to the main fleet. The code books will also be produced using water soluable ink.

June 1906: Prince Henry becomes High Seas Fleet Commander, the U-boat command continues to report to him.

September 1906: - UX - 5 Delivered.

U-19 http://uboat.net/wwi/types/?type=U+19

[BlondieBC]

February 1907: UX-6 Delivered. First of New Class

May 1907: UX-7 Delivered

August 1907: UX -8 Delivered

October 1907: Schultze promoted to Korvettenkapitän and given the West African Squadron Command that will eventually number six UX-6 class ships. Hans Rose, Schultze XO, assumes command of German U-boat forces.

November 1907: UX - 9 Delivered.

December 1907: A freighter and three UX-6 class submarine depart for Kamerun. The convoy will make multiple ports stops along the way, and generally follow the coast line due to concerns about the safety of the U-boats. The trips is also used to test ship to U-boat refueling and resupply in remote anchorages on the African Coast. The "Freighter and a Diamond" concept is first tested on this voyage, which is a freighter in the center of an half squadron of U-boats. Two U-boats will escort the freighter and the four other boats will form a "scout diamond" of ships 10 to 40 miles from the freighter. The concept of an bubble, 30 miles in radius intercepting merchant shipping will form the basis of the pre-war German merchant raiding strategy. Work on radio direction finding, as a tool to locate enemy shipping, is tested from the freighter. For the remainder of the pre-war years, West African waters will be used to test new concepts in U-boat strategy. West Africa is far from the prying eyes of the English Navy, and more importantly, German Navy eyes.
Also accompanying the freighter is an officer and 3 soldiers from the Seebatallione. By 1914, these forces will have evolved into the IV Seebatallione in Kamerun and the V Seebatallione in German East Africa. Each Battalion will have an active company of 4 German Officers, 8 German NCO's and 160 native soldiers. The reserve component will be 3 companies composed along the same lines using German settlers and natives. The authorized mobilized strength is 22 officers and 680 men.

1908: 4 UX-6 and 2 UX-18 Class ships are delivered during the year.
Another Naval bill authorizes 3 new "sub tenders" and a 4th North Sea Squadron. The U-boats will be built in 1913 and 1914, and they will be a new class of ships.

March 1908: The West African squadron arrives in Doula and works begins on upgrading the port. The port upgrades and many of the naval infrastructure is paid for out of the expanded colonial upgrade budget. Only direct military costs are from the naval budget. By 1914, the port will be able to handle ships with a draught of 8 meters and a length of 500 feet. The port will have repair facilities for merchant freighter and U-boats, but will lack any specialize equipment for repairs of larger ships such as battleships. The base defenses will consists of a mining plan, U-boat caliber shore guns, a network of spotting stations, and the IV Seebatllione.

June 1908: A two-year program to refit all early U-boats with radios is authorized. An E-war officer is assigned to each ship.

November 1908: Design work begins on customized mines to be used with the U-boats and deployed through the torpedo tubes.



Hans Rose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rose

[BlondieBC]

1909: Four UX-6 and Four UX-18 class U-boats are completed.

June 1909: UX-9 lost on patrol in West Africa. Reason and location of loss are unknown.

November 1909: Three U-boat tenders are order for a cost of 13 million marks for deliver in 1911, 1912, and 1913. Critical stats are diesel engine, speed 14 knots, range 10,000 NM, Crew 75 to 100. Two 105 mm deck guns.
Twelve of the UX-42 class of U-boats are ordered for delivery in 1913 and 1914. The UX-42 is similar to U-31. Designs are not final, but the expected critical stats are as follows:
Speed - 17 surface, 10 submerged.
Range - 9500 nm
Crew - 37
Armament - Torpedo, 2 bow, 2 stern with 2 reloads for forward tubes. A 105mm deck guns with 300 rounds ammo.

October 1909: Schultze returns to Germany. He is given overall command of the U-boats and promoted to Fregattenkapitän.

1910: Six UX-18 Class Boats delivered.

January 1910: Schultze conducts comprehensive review of the War Plans.

For the German U-boats, there are over a dozen plans, but the most three likely plans are English Channel, North Sea, and Home Port Defense. The English channel plan has all available U-boats to surge to Dover, each boat traveling a different route with staggered departure times. A third of the boats will blockade the Channel at Dover, and the remainder will go to patrol stations near ports to hunt the enemy fleet. The plans differ slightly based on the England versus France scenario, but are basically the same. The North Sea Plan has all boats surging at the same time, and sweeping the ocean looking the the British Fleet. If the initial sweeps fail to find the enemy fleet, the boats will move to patrol stations at British ports and anchorages. The Home Port Defense has the boats patrolling in a pattern 20 to 50 miles from main fleet anchorage, in order to intercept the approaching British Fleet.

The West African Plan calls for a defense of Doula. There are broad outlines of attack plans, but these all require the arrival of additional forces from Germany. Finally, there is the "Freighter and a Diamond Plan" which calls for the sub tender to be moved to SW Africa, and for the U-boats to intercept ships leaving Cape Town. In East Africa, the plans are much the same with the exception of no merchant interception plan. Zanzibar makes Dar Es Salaam too vulnerable to attack for the U-boat fleet to go on long range missions.


March 1910: Freighter plus 6 U-boats depart for Dar es Salaam in German East Africa via Kamerun. The Base will be setup on the Doula pattern.

October 1910: Prince Henry leaves command of High Seas Fleet for other duties, and the U-boat command continues to report to him. Schultze is promoted to Kapitän zur See.

1911: Six UX-18 Class boats delivered.

October 1911: Hans Rose departs for Tsingtao for a 3 year command tour. His initial fleet is a sub tender and 6 UX-18 Class boats, with 6 more boats scheduled to arrive with the annual ammunition freighter. Due to the exiting naval facilities he does not bring any marines or modify the port defenses.


U-31 http://uboat.net/wwi/types/?type=U+31

[BlondieBC]

From this post forward, events from OTL are in italics.

1912: The final six UX-18 Class boats are received. Another 17 UX-42 class boats are order to replace the 12 boats of the Africa Squadron and 5 to replace the training boats. Once delivery is completed in 1917, all the Kerosene based boats will have been replaced.

1913: The First Six UX-42 Class boats are delivered.
Schultze reviews the War Plans for China. Tsingtao is only expected to hold for a few months after a major land attack. The broad outline of the war plan is to use half the squadron to help defend the port, and a quarter as an offensive weapon, and a quarter to protect the tender which is to be move to a remote anchorage with a supporting freighter. If the port is lost, the squadron will assemble at the tenders location, and then move towards another German Naval base.

October 1913: Schultze promoted to Kapitän zur See im Range eines Kommodore.

1914: Six UX-42 boats are scheduled for delivery. Prince Henry Becomes Baltic CINC.

June 27, 1914: Fleet Composition. Five subs located at the training unit in Danzig. Five UX-6 Class U-boats, one tender, and IV Seebatallione in Kamerun. Six UX-6 class U-boats, one tender, V Seebatallione in Dar Es Salaam. Twelve UX-18 class, one subs tender, auxiliary tanker and auxiliary freighter in Tsingtao. Twelve UX-18 and U-boat salvage ship in Baltic Squadron colocated with Baltic Fleet. Nine UX-42 class submarines are based at Helgoland with the 3 more scheduled for delivery later in the year. All the colonial fleets are additional forces compared to OTL. In Germany, there are 21 compared to 28 U-boats in OTL.

June 28, 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdiand assassinated.

June 30, 1914: All U-boats order to return to home ports.

July 30, 1914: Germany begins mobilization. Douala and Dar Es Salaam begin deploying minefields. All colonial squadrons deploy 1/3 of their U-boats as a defensive screen 20 miles from their respective home ports.

August 3, 1914: Schultze selects War Plan North Sea. After personally brief the U-boat commanders at the Baltic Squadron, he begins traveling to Helgoland.

August 4, 1914: Britain declares war on Germany. The Baltic Squadron leave Port upon receipt of the Declaration of War.

August 6, 1914: The North Sea Squadron leaves port. The Baltic Squadron completes passage through the Kiel Canal.

August 8, 1914: UX-35 encounters the HMS Monarch, Orion, and Ajax. After radio a contact report, he begins his approach and fires two torpedoes at the HMS Monarch. The first torpedo hit the HMS Monarch 50 feet from the bow, and the second hits the center of the ship. Believing the Monarch has hit a mine, the other two ships approach to pickup survivors. Ten minutes later, the UX-35 hits the stationary HMS Orion with two torpedo. Realizing it is under torpedo attack, the HMS Ajax begins to move away from the other two ships. The U-35 turns, and fires its last two torpedoes at the remaining super-dreadnought The first torpedo misses the the Ajax, but the second hits under one of the main gun turrets. Within seconds, a main magazine explodes breaking the ship into half and throwing debris for 1000's of feet. One of the chunks hit the submerged U-boat, forcing it to blow its ballast tanks. Several gun crews on the badly listing HMS Monarch and the less damaged HMS Orion begin to fire at the U-35 through the smoke of Ajax in the fading light of the evening. The U-35 sends out a second wireless message reporting one BB sunk and 2 BB damaged before a direct hit by the HMS Orion sends the U-35 to its watery grave.

[BlondieBC]

(WA) October: After using the first two months of the war to repulse three attack columns from Nigeria and one from the French Sahara, General Zimmermann decides to seize the initiative with his 4,000 German and 25,000 native troops. His troops are equipped between A-H and German TOE, making them the best equipped army between Italy and South Africa. The marine unit is up to a full regiment strength by the end of the month.

(NA) October 1: HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue sail from port to replace ships on the Greenland blockade line.

(PO) October 2: Hans Rose begins a coordinated attack near the Dutch East Indies. The three U-boats on station around Singapore/Hong Kong have begun the long, direct run to Dar Es Salaam. From south of Davoa, Philippines, he divides his 9 U-boats into 3 equal parts. Squadron one will travel around the NW side of Borneo and begin operations around Singapore. Squadron 2 will travel south east of Borneo and operate around Java. Squadron 4 will include the 3 surface ships and will travel to the Molucca Sea to the Timor Sea. From there, two U-boats will opearate in the area around Timor, while the surface ships and one U-boat will make a straight run to Dar Es Salaam avoiding contact. His intelligence indicates less than 8 cruisers and 8 destroyers in the Western Pacific, south of Hong Kong and West of Rabual. In the next 14 days, the 9 U-boats will claim over 300,000 tons of shipping while broadly following cruiser rules. The targets are so plentiful, most of the U-boat commanders ignore any ship under 4000 tons. One cruiser is sunk 10 nm from the three German surface ships while approaching to investigate. Another second-rate cruiser is sunk while traveling at low speed near Java. All Entente shipping near the Dutch East Indies grinds to a complete halt for most of the remainder of the month. Hans Rose will later report that he was on a pace for over 800,000 tons of shipping if not for Entente shipping refusing to leave port. By the middle of the month, all U-boats are well on their way to East Africa due mainly to a lack of torpedoes.

(WA) October 3: A regiment lands near Calabar. The two companies of Nigerian soliders are quickly overwhelmed. Two Zeppelins arrive in Kamerun.

(EA) October 4: Three Zeppelins arrive in German East Africa.

(NA) October 5: Von Shultze sends 3 long range U-boats to West Africa to reinforce the squadron, to provide sensitive/complicated intel, and to send additional officers to help with the ground war.

(WA) October 8: A full divisions of soldiers begins landing near Port Harcourt. The Nigerian battalion commander begins withdrawing on the same day to north Nigeria to link up with the other 3 Battalions in the country.

(NA) October 9: Prince Henry approves the conversion of 3 ships into aircraft carriers.

October 11: Steamer Hobart loses a code book

October 15: President Wilson sends a note to both Germany and the UK. He complains about the English Channel, North Sea, Africa, and Asian minefields, and he ask for clarification on what the Germans consider "lifeboat near land". He also refers to the German battleship attack on England as "excessive".

(WA) October 19: The Germans are in full control of the Niger Delta.

(PO) October 26: After repeated request by the British for more naval assistance from Japan, the Foreign Minister of the UK receives a reply from Japan. "After the operations in Tsingtao are completed, Japan will be able to provide additional assistance to the Entente. Our Naval and Army are developing plans to garrison and administer Hong Kong and Singapore, provided the assistance is publicly requested by the King of England."

October 29: Ottomans enter the war.

OTL Merchant Tonnage Sunk/Captured: 88,000
Additional Tonnage Sunk/Captured by Merchant Cruisers (including mines) for the Month:

(WA) 66,000
(EA) 34,000
(PO) 0

Additional Tonnage Sunk/Captured by U-boats:

(WA) 1,000
(EA) 8,000
(PO) 316,000

Total Tonnage: 513,000 (Level not exceeded in OTL until Feb 1917).

Total for War: 891,000. (Matches mid-July 1915 total in OTL)

The UK has hit the pain (Navy will lose war) level. I have spent most of my time on the German side of things and I have some ideas about how the British will react. I am also open to suggestions, even very creative ones. Please note: The British do not have any additional units over OTL, so the units used in any move have to come from somewhere.

I am also going to give a sample day in the next post to help clarify what is happening in the world.

[NHBL]

Japan "administering" Singapore and Hong Kong? I wonder how easy it will be to get them to leave?

If Britain looses, then those two colonies are likely gone also...

[SAVORYapple]

The grand fleet is effectively bottled up.

I'm thinking for U-boats to escort German shipping to scare the British off

[BlondieBC]

Originally Posted by NHBL

Japan "administering" Singapore and Hong Kong? I wonder how easy it will be to get them to leave?

If Britain looses, then those two colonies are likely gone also...

I am not a diplomat, but i tried to write an extortion attempt for Hong Kong in "diplomatic speak". My views may be wrong, but I see Japan from 1890 to 1945 always becoming aggressive on perceived weakness. I also have read a lot of threads that Britain would never make peace, which is true to some extent. Britain will only make peace with Germany when the alternative is worse. I see about a 0% chance the UK takes Japan up on the offer, but they might make a counter offer.

Originally Posted by lookupshootup

The grand fleet is effectively bottled up.

I'm thinking for U-boats to escort German shipping to scare the British off

You are ahead of me, it is in the next few posts. I been working on the rule of thumb that any really new uses take a few months to implement. So Germany has some choices of uses of U-boats. I basically have the concept of the war through December, but it will take some time to write. I spent a lot of time researching over the holidays, and now I am slowing down some.

I think 800K+ tons lost is enough to get Britain to adjust the strategy, so by say February, Britain strategy will start to differ greatly from OTL.

Both Germany and the UK face the same choice: Is it better to enforce a blockade or break the enemy's blockade.

[wietze]

Originally Posted by BlondieBC

[B]
(PO) October 2: Hans Rose begins a coordinated attack on the Dutch East Indies.

This is extremely unlikely as it would majorly piss of the netherlands, which at this point is neutral but leaning towards germany. secondly they need the netherlands to be able to import stuff. so this kind of operations in the DEI are extremely unlikely, unless germany is planning to declare war on the netherlands, because what rose effectively did is declaring war on the Netherlands.

What this kind of action would do is the Netherlands a) send a formal protest to germany b) would go strictly neutral (or even leaning towards entente) and c) would come to view germany as the biggest threat

[BlondieBC]

Originally Posted by wietze

This is extremely unlikely as it would majorly piss of the netherlands, which at this point is neutral but leaning towards germany. secondly they need the netherlands to be able to import stuff. so this kind of operations in the DEI are extremely unlikely, unless germany is planning to declare war on the netherlands, because what rose effectively did is declaring war on the Netherlands.

What this kind of action would do is the Netherlands a) send a formal protest to germany b) would go strictly neutral (or even leaning towards entente) and c) would come to view germany as the biggest threat

I probably should have used the word near. He is attacking British flagged ships, which are 50% of all ships.

The entry has been fixed.

[BlondieBC]

A sample October day in the naval war from the U-boat perspective:

Indian Ocean: Rose's group has not seen a ship in several days. He is reviewing the situation in the Indian Ocean in preparation for his assuming command of the new Pacific/Indian Ocean command. The new orders are to use the older U-boats to continue to guard Dar Es Salaam and to pair his 12 U-boats with the slower Merchant Cruisers as they cycle through Dar Es Salaam. A shipment of sea planes has arrived in Dar Es Salaam, and the ships will be modified to carry the planes. The Zeppelins are providing excellent raid warning for German East Africa on clear days, but there is still risk of a bad weather or night time assault. The mouth of the Red Sea has continual protection from at least a cruiser squadron. In addition, numerous short range boats out of Aden makes this area very difficult to operate in. The British appear to intend to increase Zanzibar garrison to at least a regiment, and some additional forces have already arrived. With only 2 or 3 U-boats at sea at a time, the British are apparently making high speeds runs to Zanzibar at night or poor weather.

German Navy(EA): Six boats are tasked to the defense of German East Africa. Three longer range boats are nearing Dar Es Salaam. The remaining 9 boats are operating on their patrol stations and they will soon begin runs to Dar Es Salaam for resupply. Merchant Cruiser #1 is laying foreign bought mines at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Merchant Crusier #2 captured a small sailing ship carrying wool NW of Perth. Merchant Cruiser #3 had laid a series of mine fields near Sri Lanka and is now heading to Dar Es Salaam to resupply and be matched with an U-boats. Merchant Cruiser #4 is sending out fake distress calls east of Madagascar.

British Navy (Indian Ocean): The Entente have 30 mostly obsolete cruisers on patrol today and numerous short range coast boats. Another 30 cruisers are in port today. The cruisers are focused near Aden in the west and near Burma. The primary focus is keeping the Suez open and hunting the Emden.

Dar Es Salaam: The three Zeppelins are in sheds today due to bad weather. For security reasons, the sheds are about 25 miles inland on the main rail line. On clear days, two U-boats would be patrolling about 75 miles from port with a Zeppelin on over watch. On all days, one U-boat is kept as a ready reserve. Today, there are three year U-boats patrolling at a range of 20 to 45 miles from port. The light cruiser is being held in port to use as a flagship if needed.

Douala: An Zeppelin watches over a quite Blight of Africa, and he is controlling 2 U-boats and a dozen fishing vessels converted to patrol boats. The landing of men and material in the Niger delta continues. A second Zeppelin is scouting the mouth of the Congo for future operations. All U-boats are tasked to defensive operations:

German Navy (WA): Merchant Cruiser #1 captured a British flagged refrigeration ship (8000 tons) with a fake distress call. Due to the high speed of this ship, it will be sent to Douala for a refit to a Merchant Cruiser. Merchant Cruiser #2 is laying minefields off the coast of South Africa. Merchant #3/4 are in the Eastern Pacific looking for unwary shipping. Merchant #5 is in the Caribbean. Merchant #6 is 1000 nm east of Madagascar heading towards Australia. Merchant #7 is being resupplied in Douala. Merchant #8 is near the Canary Islands. Merchant #9/10/11 are operating off the coast of Brazil.

Melborne: A shipping company manager holds a meeting about effects of the war. Before the war, he had sent 2/3 of his traffic around the Cape of Africa to save on the Suez Canal tolls. With the South Atlantic largely being shut, he is sending all the traffic on a route through the Suez. As soon as the ships are near Perth, the ships make a run across the Ocean to somewhere between Aden and the tip of India. He has increased the speed the ships travel at by two knots which burns more fuel and increase maintenance issues. Since the higher shipping rates are more than covering the extra tolls, fuel, and maintenance, the company is making larger profits than in peace time.

Java: About 50% of shipping (Entente owned) is refusing to leave port, and they have been moved to outlying anchorages. Many of these ships are in the process of re-registering as Dutch ships, and the Dutch authorities are proceeding intentionally slow to avoid angering the Germans. It is a delicate balancing act trying to remain neutral between the two great power blocks. For the non-Entente ships, after the initial shock, most ship owners went to hauling only between neutral ports with neutral cargo. With the British and German competition out of the way, there is enough work to keep the remaining 40% of ship owners very busy. Profits are massive due to higher shipping rates and being exempt from Entente price controls.

Hong Kong: After being the focus of a 2-month continuous mining and U-boat attack, the port is basically shut down. Any ship that does not have to dock at Hong Kong is bypassing the port. After a lot of threats and rewards, most Entente based shipping has left the port, and they have resumed there routes without the Hong Kong stop.

Singapore: The war has been a war of two phases. For the first part of the war, the port was overloaded with its normal traffic combined with the traffic of Hong Kong. After the U-boats started operating in the area, the port is beginning to resemble Hong Kong.

Calcutta: The Emden caused his port to be shut down for 9 days, after 7 of 12 merchant ships sent out were captured. With more cruiser in the area, and the Emden shifting its area of operation, ships are beginning to leaving port, but a huge backlog remains. The shipping schedules are wrecked, and it will take many months to fix all the bottlenecks.

Columbo: A tea merchant prepares for a meeting with the Colonial administration. Since Tea is not a priority item, an additional 45 days of tea shipments have piled up in his warehouse. He plans to emphasis that the tea industry will go bankrupt and thousands will be jobless unless the Crown does something to address the issue.

Cape Town: The supply situation is quite dire with a sustained reduction of 50% in ships arriving/leaving. Due to both the longer Suez route and being placed at a lower priority by the British Admiralty, the economy of South Africa is collapsing. With civil unrest beginning to be seen among the Anglo population, the suppression of the Boer revolt has stalemated. The South African PM has communicated to the UK PM that without more shipping, he may be forced to make a political settlement with the Boers and assume a de facto neutral position in the war.

New Zealand: With the South Atlantic closed, most shipments have been diverted to the Suez Canal except the very fastest ships which are believed to be largely safe due to their higher speeds. Like Australia, the situation is very manageable.

Manila: Port volumes are up over 10 to 1. To ration fuel, only ships that used the port before the war are allowed to refuel. Additional supplies have been order. Scores of ship are anchored around Manila bay, waiting for fuel.

Chile: A former German merchant ship, now reflagged as Brazilian, makes his regular nitrate run from Chile to Brazil.

Argentina: Exports of beef to Europe have declined by 90%. New orders for beef from Spain and Holland are beginning to flood into South America.

Suez: Overall, the canal operations are going better than expected. Traffic volumes are very erratic.

Liverpool: Despite the huge need for war material, volume is down 35% from prewar levels.

British Home Fleet: Thirty of the ninety ships assigned to the Scotland/Greenland line are on station today. The Grand Fleet is in port. Thirty six submarines are assigned to patrolling the North Sea, and 14 are on patrol today. In ports all over England, another 36 submarines are held as a response force, with 18 able to sail in under 1 hour notice.

German U-boat (North Sea). Most of the 22 newer diesel U-boats are in port. Four are assigned to the training school. Two on on their way to Douala. Of the five boats on Patrol, #1 is off the Belgium coast, #2 is near Scapa Flow, #3 is in the middle of the north sea being controlled by a Zeppelin, #4 is in the Irish Sea looking for Warships, and #5 is following a neutral freighter out of Narvik. In the previous week #1 torpedo a second-class British Cruiser which was inspecting a neutral ship, and the commander is trying to repeat the success. The Zeppelin has spotted a seaplane carrier at 75 miles trying to engage the Zeppelin, and the Zeppelin is trying to vector a U-boat to the carrier. Both sides will be unsuccessful today due to worsening weather. Today, three Zeppelins are assigned to the North Sea, and one to the Baltic Sea.


Comments welcome. Also welcome are things you would like to see in future stories. The British are about to start making major reactions to the U-boats next installment, so if you have opinions about what the British will do, now is a good time for them. Barring glaring errors like sinking ships that don't exist, I don't intent to rewrite story sections.