Prince Henry of Prussia: Rise of the U-boat, Redux

[BlondieBC]

I am beginning a rewrite of my previous time line about U-boats. After a few years of reflection, it is clear to me that the story can be improved. My major focus will be on making the story more readable though better writing. As to the content, I never intended for the story to be focused so much on Poland and the Southern Ottoman Empire. This story will be more focused on Flanders, the English Channel, and Africa. It is always a judgement call on how realistic to make the butterflies versus making the story similar to OTL. In the original story, I fully embrace the butterflies. Here I plan to use a higher standard of proof before allowing major butterflies. I also think I had the Royal Navy underperform, or at least, not make enough major reactions. I plan for the Admiralty to be more aggressive in this rewrite.


Since I am a slow writer, and I don’t like redoing sections, I would appreciate any early comments on what people think the major flaws were in the original story. The thread is linked below.


Thanks


BlondieBC.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/prince-henry-of-prussia-the-rise-of-u-boat.225455/

 

[Shadow Master]

I am beginning a rewrite of my previous time line about U-boats. After a few years of reflection, it is clear to me that the story can be improved. My major focus will be on making the story more readable though better writing. As to the content, I never intended for the story to be focused so much on Poland and the Southern Ottoman Empire. This story will be more focused on Flanders, the English Channel, and Africa. It is always a judgement call on how realistic to make the butterflies versus making the story similar to OTL. In the original story, I fully embrace the butterflies. Here I plan to use a higher standard of proof before allowing major butterflies. I also think I had the Royal Navy underperform, or at least, not make enough major reactions. I plan for the Admiralty to be more aggressive in this rewrite.


Since I am a slow writer, and I don’t like redoing sections, I would appreciate any early comments on what people think the major flaws were in the original story. The thread is linked below.


Thanks


BlondieBC.

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/prince-henry-of-prussia-the-rise-of-u-boat.225455/

Awsome news, count me in.

Subscribed!

 

[BlondieBC]

Awsome news, count me in.

Subscribed!

Out of curiosity, have you read the first try?

And I will add a story only thread when there is enough posts to justify.

 

[BlondieBC]

Small Changes Begin to Accumulate

Prince Henry of Prussia: The Rise of U-Boat.
Dawning of a New Age of Naval Warfare
Copyright 2016


Introduction:


It has been over a century since German state began to build its great Navy. Originally the motivation for the navy was driven by national pride and anger over the British treatment of the Boers. The Admirals first focused on defending the German coast, then the idea of dominating the North Sea, and eventually the idea of a decisive win over any potential Navy. Since the United Kingdom had the largest Navy, its forces were often used for planning purposes. As the years past, the budgetary reality of having to maintain an exceptional army forced some degree of realism on naval planners. The concept of Risk Fleet became dominant.

History rarely follows the plans of powerful men, but instead follows an almost random walk of luck, odd events, and occasional farsightedness. The dominance of U-boats and merchant warfare follows this pattern. It was almost an accident that the U-boat command was separated from the surface fleet. Even with the archives now being fully open, it is hard to explain how and why Prince Henry took such personal interest in U-boats besides his love for new technology. The decision to move much of the fleet to Africa was driven by budgetary pressures and vague colonial pride. And all this probably would not have mattered but for a lost car driver in the Balkans.

While not commonly accepted, Germany could have easily lost the Great War. Small changes can have large, and almost impossible to foresee consequences. The uncertainty of the past is often forgotten in the certainty of the present. This book will attempt to tell a small part of the story from the perspective of a handful of important players and the occasional historical document.

 

[BlondieBC]

Creation of First U-boat Squadron

Winter 1902

Against the drab bleakness of a Baltic winter, a solitary man stands on the dock smoking a cigarette. The winter uniform of a Kapitänleutnant does little to cut the wind coming off the ocean as a winter storm slowly rolls in.

Hans Speer mulls his fortune/misfortune of his ambition. “My father was a shop keeper. I always dream of rising rapidly in the ranks … of having the chance to impress admirals. I took pride in being an intellectual, of impressing nobility. … I took pride in being a maverick … Well, sometimes you get what you wish for.” He drops his cigarette butt that is quickly crushed under his boot.

An hour later, the Kapitänleutnant enters a plainly furnished room. “Take a seat”, says the admiral. Hans sits in a sturdy wooden chair, and sat opposite from Prince Henry and four other officers. The officers are reviewing a thick, written report.

“I see you took seriously my instructions to challenge our current naval strategy” said Prince Henry. “Summarize the flaws for me.”

Hans takes a small gulp of air, and then begins “We simply will never be able to match the British budget. And we will never have as good a network or ports. The condescending British Admirals happen to be correct when the talk to the press. Germany should focus on being a second-class navy.” A cough from the table interrupts him. Hans continues as if only he and the admiral are in the room. “Yes, a second-class navy. As long as we have to have any army that candle both handle France alone and half the Russian Army, our naval budget can never be as big as the Royal Navies. … We must focus on oversized impacts from an undersized budget.”

“Go on”, says the Admiral.

“At best, we can get half the funding of the Royal Navy. With these funds, we can build a big enough main surface fleet to control the Baltic. A big enough fleet to keep the French off our North Sea Coast. We can’t build a big enough fleet to defeat the Royal Navy. And even if we can defeat the Royal Navy or the French Navy, our ports are in the wrong location to blockade either the French or British Coasts.”

The admiral interrupts, “Your views fall well outside the main stream of German naval strategy, not to mention they would be very unpopular with the German public. I have read your full report, do you have any serious recommendations that are actually politically possible”.

“Yes” gasps Hans. We need to divert a few percent of the naval budget to smaller ships. We need to preposition these ships where they can strike at the softer underbelly of the Royal Navy, the merchant shipping. We need to move lighter and older ships to colonial bases around the world.”

“And do you still stand by your position that Jeune Ecole is the best modern naval strategist.”

Hans nods.

The admiral laughs, “Good to see you have such vision and dreams, I am assigning you to my personal staff to develop these plans and technology. Remember, ‘Big results for few marks’ ”

 

[flo]

Good work!

I am glad to see this. I enjoyed the original, and I like the first chapters of this rework very much. Are you continuing the whole story in this style?

 

[gallen95]

Looks as good as the first time. Looking forward to reading it again.

 

[TRH]

I read the original timeline, although it's been a long while, so my recollections are a bit fuzzy. That said, I do think this paragraph-oriented style is better than the more bullet point-ish format that was most of the last one. Also, I think those "Day in the life" updates from the last one were a drag on the narrative pacing, especially how it seemed to touch on everything when it could probably have gotten away with a few of those things. Now, I don't have as strong an opinion on what the story should be focusing on, whether you did too much with Poland/Arabia last time, but I do feel like Kamerun may have gotten a little short shrift later, when it was just doing things like attacking Banana and Portuguese colonies without much of a look at what the colony proper was like after all of that time.

Anyways, good luck with this one, I hope it does as well as the original or better.

 

[matzeskatze]

Interesing divergence from the "original"...
And I can see the appeal in the change that happend. But isn't that change of focus a bit much? Yes it could happen and a maverick is always good to do those things, but would that realy be a focus to the naval officers of the time?
(This is a question only, I hope to learn more about the then thinking...)

 

[Knightmare]

But isn't that change of focus a bit much?

Possibly. Realistically, anyone looking at a map should be able to tell in a fight between Germany and Britain, on the seas, Britain wins. Bigger headstart, their bases are nicely lined up to seal off the North Sea...

Plus, from a budgetary standpoint, it's cheap, which is a big thing to sell to the public. Yes, it won't be as dangerous as a flock of BBs, but a flock of subs offers greater flexibility.

 

[LordCalner]

Uboatscribed!

 

[Tyr Anazasi]

I am looking for more interesting posts. One has to say the Uboat was not totally neglected by the German admiralty, but it was considered as too weak/short ranged to be suitable for tasks except the very near coastal (and sometimes only) harbour defense. That only changed with the Forelle, which was built as experimental boat without having any order. The boat was later sold to Russia, where it sank in 1910. Before it was shown to the German admiralty as well. Because of that not only the Russians ordered submarines, but also the HSF:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-1_(Germany)

So far to the historical background. I am curious, what changes are made.

 

[History Learner]

This is going to be badass.

As far as comments on the original version, the only criticism I could offer is it seemed weird the War lasted as long as it did and, personally, I would've liked at least one post-war update to get an idea of what happened after.

 

[BlondieBC]

I read the original timeline, although it's been a long while, so my recollections are a bit fuzzy. That said, I do think this paragraph-oriented style is better than the more bullet point-ish format that was most of the last one. Also, I think those "Day in the life" updates from the last one were a drag on the narrative pacing, especially how it seemed to touch on everything when it could probably have gotten away with a few of those things. Now, I don't have as strong an opinion on what the story should be focusing on, whether you did too much with Poland/Arabia last time, but I do feel like Kamerun may have gotten a little short shrift later, when it was just doing things like attacking Banana and Portuguese colonies without much of a look at what the colony proper was like after all of that time.

Anyways, good luck with this one, I hope it does as well as the original or better.

Thanks for the input

Well, as the years past, I also decide the bullet point was less than ideal. I plan to mostly be individual point of views, few newspaper articles, and maybe a few excerpts from reports. I also agreed the day in the life did not work so well, so hopefully having selected characters tell selected events will provide an easier to follow story. I don't think I ever really explained well exactly what the U-boats rules of engagement were in the ATL, why the were viewed as different, and the like. I know I largely glossed over the AMC, which are actually hugely important in the war effort. And I lost control of the butterflies, which made the story too slow to write.

The major changes I plan relate to it being more naval, showing a lot more of the setup of the story, and more African details. Of all the prewar stuff, Africa is the only part likely to get a major rewrite because there are several mistakes I know I made, and a lot of things I think I did not flesh out well.

 

[BlondieBC]

Good work!

I am glad to see this. I enjoyed the original, and I like the first chapters of this rework very much. Are you continuing the whole story in this style?

That is my plan. The main focus is to improve as a writer, so the changes to the war will mostly have to do with supporting this effort. For example, while fascinating, I am not getting into the population exchanges in Poland associated with a German win. Or showing the improvements to the Ottomans in more than a passing reference. Some of these changes will be changes to the story, some will be changes to the butterflies.

I figure if you want technical details like I spent all my time on in the last TL, you can just read the last TL.

 

[BlondieBC]

Interesing divergence from the "original"...
And I can see the appeal in the change that happend. But isn't that change of focus a bit much? Yes it could happen and a maverick is always good to do those things, but would that realy be a focus to the naval officers of the time?
(This is a question only, I hope to learn more about the then thinking...)

Actually there is not a divergence in the two time lines yet, and I may not do any major divergences until the war starts. I just put the POD into writing in this version. The basic POD is that Prince Henry uses personal political and personal power to gain control of the U-boats when they program is just starting. He will not give up control in the prewar years, and the early success in the war will allow Prince Henry to eventually control/command the German Navy. The POD is not the low ranking naval officer found a noble and changed his mind. The POD is that Prince Henry is making a power play, and he found a officer both young and dumb enough to jump at the opportunity. Most of the officers who are selected/volunteered will spend the majority of the adult life in backwater colonial ports. Prince Henry recently returned from commanding in China, so he understands what he is asking.

Now as to your questions, it probably helps to explain some background. The whole purpose of this ATL is to follow Jeune Ecole doctrine as publicly understood by the British Admiralty, and with an eye towards the budget of the German navy. Sure it will be a bastardize version compared to the pure form, but so was the Japanese modifications to Mahan. Now to get there, I need to do a series of events. I need to get the U-boats out of the command structure of Battleship Admirals. I need to get the majority of the U-boats away from Germany, so the U-boats can stay independent, and I need to develop training/doctrine. So I guess in some ways, you might think of its as the US Air Force escaping the US Army, but in this ATL, it is more an accident that the U-boats are effectively an independent service due to lack of desire of people to move to Africa.

 

[BlondieBC]

I am looking for more interesting posts. One has to say the Uboat was not totally neglected by the German admiralty, but it was considered as too weak/short ranged to be suitable for tasks except the very near coastal (and sometimes only) harbour defense. That only changed with the Forelle, which was built as experimental boat without having any order. The boat was later sold to Russia, where it sank in 1910. Before it was shown to the German admiralty as well. Because of that not only the Russians ordered submarines, but also the HSF:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SM_U-1_(Germany)

So far to the historical background. I am curious, what changes are made.

So far, nothing technological has changed. It will take time to get to that part. As of what I have written now, all that has happened is we have an officer, a desk, a few sailors, and a typist working on planning in a small room in Danzig. By the time you get to the war, it will be a different U-boat forces than OTL. Not so much improvement in ships, but a fully developed tactical doctrine.

And there are some obvious ways to stretch the range of U-boats that cost very little.

 

[BlondieBC]

Announcement of 6 Holland licensed boats

Winter 1902: Danzig

As the sun rises over the Baltic, Hans goes down the steps into a basement of a bakery. A week has passed since he has been given command of Experimental Naval Squadron #1. Hans briefly acknowledges the two seaman who stand as he enters the room. He looks at his overflowing in tray, and pulls the first document off the top.

Naval Press Release:

The German Navy is proud to announce the commissioning of the first Day Time Torpedo Boat on May 12, 1902. Attending the ceremony will be ….

Hans reflects “Well, at least using he blueprints for the American Holland boats saved a few years in development time. Maybe flowery press releases really do get additional funding?”

He turns to his civilian secretary. “Write a memo up thanking the Admiral for his kind words in the press release.” After a brief pause, “Did we get a reply on the request to have the U-boats crews assigned sooner than two weeks before the commissioning?”

“Denied” comes a voice from the corner.

Hans, “Ok, the block off my schedule for April 25th to June 15th for working with the new crews. Do I have any meetings today?”

“No”

“Good, then sort my inbox by priority, I will be back late this afternoon to work thru the paperwork. If anyone asks, I am in my living quarters working on the war plans the Admiral requested.”

 

[Tyr Anazasi]

So the Forelle was not built by the Germaniawerft?

 

[BlondieBC]

So the Forelle was not built by the Germaniawerft?

I am getting fish when I google the term Forelle. Are you asking about the U-boat construction schedule?

I am going with the schedule, so far I am basically following the other ATL so far. I avoid the stuff below because it makes for dry reading. It is slightly modified by increased spending and a bit more ships.

1900: Different naval bill is passed. It is a bit larger budget, with about a 2 million mark per year budget for U-boats and other new naval weapons not IOTL budget. The target goal is 12 U-boats (squadron). There is also a development budget to test craft.

1901: Germans industry begins to work on their own designs. Around this time period, Americans approach the Germans about licensing the Holland much like the UK did. The Germans buy 6 of these licenses to be built in Germany. It is to jump start the industry, and more important to give the Germans something to test with, to train with, and to develop doctrine.

1902: The Germans continue work on there first domestic designed. It will look a lot like OTL U-2, but be bit better in some ways. Since the Germans are thinking about colonial subs and merchant raiders, there will be tendency to see longer ranges (it is long way to Africa) and more shots per ship. Once you have a longer range, you will likely need more ammo for these longer patrols.