7 February
The CSS
Virginia is taken out of commission. She is not to be broken up - instead she will serve as a training ship, and there is already a movement for her to become a permanent symbol of Confederate independence - but she is already outdated by the standards of modern weapons and armament, and she has no room for growth in her displacement.
9 February
Several British ships, including the
Royal Sovereign, conduct firing trials against a sea target. The guns used range from 40-lber rifles and 32-lber smoothbores to the mighty 10.5 inch smoothbore guns of the
Royal Sovereign, and the structure of the target has been a source of much debate - in the end it is a 'laminate' formed of multiple 5.5 inch plates with backing between them.
The intent is to measure accuracy, not penetration, so the unrealism of the target is not a problem - the main concern is that the target ship is not destroyed! In the event an already-damaged screw liner is used, with the ship entirely evacuated above the waterline, and no explosive shells are used. Shells are fired with sand filling instead to provide an accurate picture of the difference with solid bolts/shot.
The experiments demonstrate a few important details.
- Firing at a stationary target is easier than a moving target, but a slow-moving target is not much harder than a stationary one.
- A target on a consistent course is quite easy to hit.
- The guns with a higher muzzle velocity retain their accuracy against both moving and stationary targets for longer.
- Depending on the sea state, a moving ship is a more stable platform.
- The ships which are worse rollers are worse gun platforms, unless the roll is slow.
- The 10.5 inch smoothbore is unacceptably slow to load in a seaway with manual loading. Powered loading would be needed.
- Even at 3,000 yards and against a moving target, some 10% of hits can be scored with modern weapons.
They also confirm that rifles are considerably more accurate at long range than most smoothbores, though the 68 pounder is almost as accurate as a rifle - this is seen as due to the fantastic speed of the round.
As a result of these experiments, it is recommended that rifles of some description replace all smoothbores on Navy ships as soon as possible. Where armour penetration is unimportant (e.g. the secondary guns of gunboats) then first generation Armstrong guns are quite sufficient - otherwise, Armstrong-Elswick guns are desired.
To this end, an order is placed for many hundreds of Armstrong-Elswick guns of a design to be finalized, with a bore somewhere in the 4-5 inch range, to replace 32 pounders. It is also instructed that experiments should take place on rerifling 32-lbers into RML guns, since it is felt that RML guns will suffice on the broadsides of ships of the line.
14 February
The first recommendation of the Consultative Council is voted on in Mexico, and presented to the Emperor. He agrees, and signs it into law - a formal declaration that slavery is not a status recognized as legal
on Mexican soil, and therefore that any man who breathes the Mexican air is automatically emancipated (regardless of origin).
This in truth is not much of a difference from the state of affairs as they already existed, but it is certainly a firm statement to the Confederacy just over the border.
16 February
The French government trials a "Creusot" field gun against a bronze rifle of the La Hitte system. The specifications given are met quite tolerably by the La Hitte gun, and at first it does not seem that the Creusot steel piece is much better - until the Schneider et Cie representative respectfully requests that the targets be moved twice as far away.
The Creusot gun does not quite meet the specifications under this new set of distances, but the La Hitte guns perform much worse. As such, Napoleon III (impressed by the news) awards a contract to the Schneider et Cie corporation for fifty guns and sufficient money for further development. (He feels that, if the further development in question is successful, he can probably pass on the Creusot Mk. 1 guns to Maximilien.)
19 February
With the Kronprinz of Prussia now a little over six years old, efforts are underway to select for him an appropriate tutor. His parents are worried over how to best impress upon him the values they feel are right for the German people as a whole - chiefly liberalism and
nobliesse oblige - and how to compensate for his poorly developed arm.
A suggestion by his grandfather that Otto von Bismarck is "a fine Prussian gentleman" for the task is rejected.
22 February
A Russian army is seen being armed and prepared for a campaign in Poland over the summer. The men are being drilled in the correct tactics to deal with snipers and with fast cavaly, and a large portion of the rifled artillery of Russia is allocated to them for training.
This news precipitates discussion in the German Confederation, including whether it is appropriate to enact yet
another partition of Poland. (The Prussian view is no.)
24 February
The official curriculum of small-arms training at HMS Excellent is altered to take into account the breech-loading rifle. It differs somewhat from the foot infantry version, and has more of a focus on barrages of fire delivered from close order. (Skirmishing is seen as more of a Regular thing by the Royal Navy.)
26 February
A railway line completes construction to Orenburg.
1 March
Chamberlain marches against the Pashtuns in the North-West Frontier. Before the first day is out he has good reason to be glad of his riflemen, particularly the Snider-armed British regulars - there is plenty of sniping aimed at his men, possibly simply on general principle, but as yet no 'Khyber Pass Copies' have been made of the Snider or other breechloaders and so the British troops have an advantage.
(Their superior training is also useful, but not as much as it would be in a field battle - the Pashtuns have an unfortunate habit of popping up to shoot for too short a time to actually aim properly and at a distant angle.)
4 March
George McClellan delivers his inaugural address. He stresses themes of peace and prosperity - both internal and external - and of America as a country with "the accoutrements and attitude for defence, not the attitude for aggression and the accoutrements for defeat".
Observers note that the new 17th President of the United States - the youngest in history - will likely have more trouble with his own party than with the rather diminished Republican representation in Congress.
Abraham Lincoln's view on his successor is one he keeps to himself, for now, but the Lincoln family has already planned to move back to Illinois. Lincoln's reputation as a leader is rather badly impacted by the mixed results of his presidency, but his legal reputation is mostly unmarred (which is somewhat ironic, as the main actual criticisms that could be levelled at Lincoln are largely legal in nature).
6 March
Parrott's first attempt at a 12 inch rifle blows itself to pieces on the second shot. As the comparison to Dahlgren's activities is one which rings quite true, the artillery inventor begins considering upgrading to wrought iron instead - it seems cast iron may no longer be a useful material for heavy rifles.