alternatehistory.com

14 September

The Shogunal army arrives at Saga castle, and invests it. They do not have the manpower to fully surround the castle, and so company-strength pickets are placed near the access bridges while the bulk of the force establishes itself in a camp a little way off - a mile or so.

Little action takes place on the first day of the siege, as the Ushidoshi Maru is brought slowly up the shallow Honjoe river to get as close as possible before unloading her guns. Near nightfall she grounds despite a quite high tide, and construction begins on a pier to take four of her heavy Armstrong rifles off.


16 September

A small sally is launched by Hizen domain samurai. They cause some casualties, but are driven off by disciplined rifle volleys from a company of the Susano-o regiment of Shinsengumi. (It is notable that the Hizen samurai also came under flanking fire from two other Shinsengumi pickets - the distances were pre-measured during the first day, so the rifle fire is quite accurate.)


17 September

Frederick III is informed that there is a strong likelihood of a war with Austria the following year, with his advisers concurring that Austria is trying to win support from the more minor states of the German Federation.
Upon his inquiries, the state of the army is broadly considered to be "good" though some "Old Prussian" officers are mildly upset that the new army structure precludes a pre-emptive strike.
Large numbers of railway timetables begin construction.


21 September


The Puritan undergoes sea trials.
She is at least able to steam, which is a good thing, though it becomes apparent that her design speed of 15 knots was hopelessly optimistic. By the time she reaches ten knots there is a hefty bow wave forming around the front of the turret as green water washes over her deck, and eleven knots is the maximum she achieves even at full power.
Her ability to ride out storms could charitably be called "awful", with one officer saying rather bitingly that he would consider her a fine vessel so long as she never expected to encounter a wave, and it is noted that with her turret jacked up to operate her operational speed is perhaps six or seven knots in calm weather - more than this and the water over her deck would flood and sink her.
In better news, however, she is certainly able to fire her guns - though the time taken to reload is as bad as had been expected. The shell is hurled over two miles, which draws some admiration, but misses the anchored target by a hundred feet - and the Secretary of the Navy does a few calculations, then declares that the Puritan would be vulnerable to easy defeat by "a dis-masted gun-less hulk of a paddle steamer" in combat - the reload time on her guns being so extravagant that an 11-knot steamer could close from outside the range of the 20 inch guns to reach boarding distance even in a stern chase, unless the turret was lowered and kept there.


23 September

After several major delays, the 110-pounder Armstrong guns of Ushidoshi Maru have been put ashore and open fire on Saga castle.
The effects are startling even to those who had trained with them. The curtain wall of the castle is earthen, not stone, and the heavy shells are plunging ten or twenty feet into the earth before exploding - tamping them to perfection, and sending great gouts of earth sliding into the moat.
The gatehouse to the south of the main castle is also attacked, quickly doing incredible damage, and by the time the gunners have run through their ready supply of shells most of the southern wall of Saga castle is effectively gone or ruined - and the palace structures within are afire.

No assault is made to follow up on the 23rd itself, as the commander would prefer access to more shells in order to provide for fire support. They are present in an ammunition ship, but getting them to him will take some time.



24 September

Justo José de Urquiza concludes a clandestine deal with the Paraguayan leadership. He will effectively drop out of the fighting against Paraguay and offer no aid to Brazil or Argentina, and in return he will not come in for attacks himself.

Also on this date, the first batch of twelve Creusot guns is received by the French army. They are very impressed with the pieces, finding them perhaps a little complex to use but very accurate and long ranged.
Half of the guns are earmarked to be used by a battery made up of old sweats - who have the perhaps unconventional order to try and break the steel guns by any realistic means!



25 September

With 110 pounder guns firing case shot in support, the Shinsengumi of the Izanami and Susano-o regiments storm Saga castle.
Resistance is initially stiff but quickly melts away, and it will later transpire that this is because one of the first 110 pounder rounds killed the nineteen-year-old Nabeshima Naohiro (the daimyo of Hizen). With his death the inevitable confusion and lack of coordination sets in, and before the end of the day the castle's surrender is complete.


27 September

The killers of Joseph Trudeau hang in New Orleans, having been caught two days ago attempting to get aboard a British ship visiting the port.
Seeing black slaves hang for the crime of killing a black planter with a french name, in a state permitting armed black militia in a nation which mostly views the whole idea with revulsion, the crew of the ship in question (HMS Alert) have no idea whether or not to feel guilty.


30 September

Robert Whitehead successfully tests a locomotive torpedo in calm water, this time managing to blow up the ship he was actually aiming at. The size of the hole is considerable, enough so that Whitehead considers the next avenue of investigation to be a look at the way the hull design might affect the damage done. (For example, whether an iron hull, thin wood hull or thick wood hull would be easiest to damage, and whether a flooded ship would be harder to pierce.)


1 October

A major innovation is made at the Elswick Ordnance Company, when someone thinks of turning the gun on its side. This at a stroke makes the process of loading much easier, because now the breech-block does not need to be levered vertically out of the gun and can instead be moved by sliding horizontally.
Armstrong is immediately informed, and for the rest of the day is seriously considering kicking himself.