alternatehistory.com

8 May

Russian cruisers and a steam liner show up in New York. Other ships are making for San Francisco.
This is part of a risk mitigation plan by the Russian government, which seeks to ensure that their ships will not be trapped in port in the event of Britain intervening in the Polish crisis, but is treated in the United States as a gesture of support and solidarity from their friends the Russians.
Indeed, the friendship between the US and the Russians is one reason the Russians are so worried about British interference - they follow the US explanation of why the British went to war, which is that Trent was a mere pretext (though this is an interpretation the US itself is trying to de-emphasize.)


11 May
Admiralty court ruling on the Spirit of Carolina case, that the Spirit's capture was correct given the Right of Search and that the Confederacy itself has outlawed the slave trade.
A complaint is immediately registered by Mason.

13 May
The Moules, a French merchant vessel, unloads cargo in Danzig for shipment to a private buyer in Poland. The cargo - several crates full of long 'agricultural equipment' with bayonets on the end, along with several tons of treated nitrates - is inspected, certified to consist of agricultural equipment and supplies, and sent south and east.
Incidentally, the crate of what look a lot like percussion caps is officially 'bird scarers'.


15 May
Troubridge leaves Charleston after an eventful stayover. Interestingly, her crew seems to have gained a few more clumsy sailors of African descent.
Also on this day, the French ironclad Congreve is sold to Imperial Mexico as the Maximilian. (The price is a peppercorn, only a few hundred pesos.)



19 May
Battle of Lublin, where the main force of the nascent Polish field army engages a Russian column to the north of the town itself. This clash is particularly notable as the Polish force deploys fairly large quantities of muzzle loading artillery (considering their situation) and also manages to inflict an outright defeat on the outranged Russian regulars (who withdraw east of the Bystrzyca).

21 May
Angry remonstrations reach Prussia as to the German support for the rebels in Poland. Artillery in particular is mentioned, and Frederick III takes a certain pleasure in pointing out in his reply that Prussia fully rearmed with 6pdr Krupps some time ago - and in suggesting that perhaps it would be more appropriate to remonstrate with one of the constituents of the German Confederation which more recently rearmed, such as Baden, Wurttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Brunswick, Hanover, Mecklenburg, Nassau, Oldenburg or Saxony.


25 May

Publication of the Grant-McClellan booklet.
The work is notable as it emphasizes the difference between maximum, effective and decisive range for a given weapon, and in that it is a serious attempt to construct a doctrine that can adapt to varying weapons.
The general thesis is simple - that an attack against a defending enemy will fail if the defending enemy is able to use their superior protection to lay down a base of fire - and goes on to suggest that what is called "successive suppression" should be used.
Under this concept, those troops armed with the longest ranged weapons should advance first, halting at effective range and using their weapons to lay down a base of fire of their own and suppress the defenders. With this set up, the next longest ranged troops should advance next - the example given has suppression by (in succession) rifled artillery, smoothbore artillery, Sharps rifles, Springfield rifles, smoothbore muskets with buck-and-ball, and finally multiple-shot repeaters. Once this suppressive fire is in place, the next waves should then advance to the point of the bayonet.

This tactical doctrine is untested by war, but the general view of both authors and many readers is that it can hardly be much worse than what happened in the late war.

This is also tied into the ideal form of defence, which under the recommendations places the men with the longest ranged weapons most towards back and has shorter ranged weapons further forwards - though both men agree this is unlikely to actually be feasible. But the general idea of a second rank creating a beaten zone by firing over the heads of the men in the front rank of defences is there.



29 May
William G. Armstrong sketches out a breech design for a breech-loading heavy rifle (not the first he has sketched today, let alone in the last few months - the topic has been on his mind to say the least). The key difference this has from his earlier designs is that the breech locks in place by the turning of a wheel rather than merely being screwed into place by the same - an important distinction as it means the force of the explosion is not able to force the breech back open again.
It will require much further development, but this breech mechanism is the one which will (under the name of the Elswick breech, as testing and development takes place under the Elswick Ordnance Company banner to avoid the conflict of interest that would otherwise result) become the basis for British breechloaders of the late 1860s and the 1870s.



1 June
With encouragement from the Emperor, the Daimyo of Satsuma refuses payment of an indemnity for the Namamugi Incident.

Also on this day, the Solferino sinks the Guadelupe and Montezuma. The victory is so fast that it leaves the French captain feeling he has made a mistake somewhere.