alternatehistory.com

2 April

Discussion takes place in the German Confederation as to whether the peace was worthwhile. The arguments used in favour are the casualty count (surprisingly low, considering the multiple assaults on defended fortifications - at least on the German side) and the confirmation of Confederation authority over the German duchies and other constituent states without expansion; the arguments against include the way the Eider is now in dual control and the possibility that the Dannevirke could have been neutralized as a future defensive line.


4 April

Dahlgren fires upon the intended armour scheme for Puritan at various ranges and with various of his guns. The sleeved rifle bursts, thus making him more sure that it would be better to stick to large capacity smoothbores and leave the matter of rifles to Parrott (whose guns seem more reliable) but more to the point he is discovering that his 15" gun is less effective than anticipated - something which may have dire repercussions for the 20" gun intended for Puritan which has the same design concept.
Observing that the 15" gun is sending forth a cloud of unburned propellant - suggesting that the powder he is using may be burning too slowly - Dahlgren has the next round fired with the proof charge (which is greater than the service charge) in order to verify that faster burning powder is something the gun would survive. The result is unanticipated - the gun simply bursts, unable to withstand the pressure of what should theoretically have been the service charge.

On checking the records Dahlgren finds that this gun has been fired some two hundred times (very much on the low side for a service piece, but for a massive gun the length of time a gun lasts can be shorter - it is better than the 11" using his newly designated 'battering' charge, at least, which lasts about thirty fires), but nevertheless this is not an especially encouraging sign for using the 15" gun as a true anti armour piece. Instead he considers whether it would be more useful to take a 15" blank and bore it to 12" rifled instead, using it as a rifle and relying on the thicker walls of the resultant gun to avoid bursting under the theoretical service charge.

6 April

Dahlgren's records have also revealed something slightly worrying about the 15" gun - fully 10% of them (aside from the destruct tested #1) have failed in proof and never been issued, which suggests that the problem is as much the metallurgy as anything and that the gun he was using for his Puritan tests was quite possibly above average.
Lacking a particularly easy solution for this one, he suggests instead that there should be kept spare a number of 15" (or derived) tubes so that replacement in time of war is not too difficult.

7 April

The US and the British redemilitarize the Great Lakes, both sides agreeing that the other's actions in the late war were understandable under the circumstances and should not prejudice the reactivation of the treaty in question; however, a clause is added that no military ship not already covered by the allocations may be brought into service on the lakes (defined as commission, patrolling, or attacking) until three months after the declaration of hostilities even if a war breaks out. The penalties specified are considerable.
For the Union, this is something to hopefully prevent the British sailing reinforcements up the Lakes; for the British, this will hopefully avoid too much disadvantage resulting from the freezing of the St Lawrence.

10 April

The Admiralty is approached by the Prussian government over the potential purchase of an ironclad.
This leads to a distinct deja vu in the Admiralty, since the Prussians specifically enquire over a Zodiac - thus making it the second possible sale of this kind of ship in a relatively short time. (Adm. Milne, now back from the Americas, jokingly asks if they were built for him or for everyone else.)


11 April

The Black Prince recommissions in Portsmouth, now the first British ironclad to have an armament consisting entirely of rifles - with RML 7" guns for armour penetrating pieces and Armstrong guns for general service. She is to serve in the Mediterranean.

13 April

Lincoln floats the idea of compensated emancipation, to be paid for partly by the charity of the British public. The idea instantly sparks controversy in the Republican party, with newsletters in favour of anything from uncompensated emancipation immediately to simply legislating that all future children are born free (and not citizens) if any abolition measures are to be taken up at all.
The reception in British territories is more mixed, and indeed it is already causing some bad reactions in British North America (where the comparison is made between the great number of slaves which the British Empire emancipated themselves, and the smaller number of slaves the Union wishes others to pay for) but also some support (the point being made that what matters is the freedom of the slaves, not the minutiae of how.)