World War One, The Fire is Spreading
In the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War of 1906-07 the Russian Navy was left in poor shape. Outside the Black Sea Fleet the Russian Navy had been crippled by that war. However the Russians made a serious effort to rebuild their broken fleet, well at least the Baltic Fleet. The Pacific Fleet was left on the backburner as war with Japan had checked the Russians in the Far East for the time being. Yet their limited domestic ship building abilities had caused the Russians to turn to foreign sources to help quickly build up their Baltic Fleet back up.
By the Spring of 1916 the Baltic Fleet was still a shell of its former self. Yet they had two newly commissioned even if their pre-commission work ups were hastily done Colossus Battleships with a third slated to be ready to join the fleet by the fall. They were supported by a pair of half-Colossus Battleships that was only possible because of the British supplying the turbines as it had been for their new Colossus battleships. Yet the Russians had turned to foreign yards for lesser ships as its own domestic ship building industry was under heavy strain to keep up with the rapidly changing world of ship design. These included cruisers, destroyers, and submarines that had been ordered from America, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
Sweden in the early stages of the Great War was slightly pro-Central Power in outlook. They had informed Berlin soon after the start of the war that they would never side with the Entente. This was because Russia a longtime foe of the Swedish Kingdom was a member of the Entente. Yet no one in Stockholm wanted to fight a war. Sweden hadn’t taken part in a war since the age of Napoleon and many in Stockholm wanted to keep that way. They knew the age of empire for Sweden had long since passed. Yet they stood guard to make sure no one would attack Sweden to get the edge in the current war in Europe.
When the British radically expanded the blockade in 1916 that covered stopping shipping bound to neutral nations such as Sweden if they believed that cargo was going to end up in Central Power nations angered many. Yet the Swedish protested but beyond that they didn’t push it further. They knew against the British the Swedish would be little more than a speed bump in the long run. The British were trying to perform a carrot and stick approach with Sweden to reduce trade with Germany. Notably that of iron ore which the Germans were the number one importers of Swedish Iron Ore.
In Late May the Germans launched a major naval sortie in the Baltic an effort to lieu the Russian Baltic Fleet out of its ports and be destroyed. This was a hammer and anvil mission. The effort was to send a squadron of pre-Colossus battleships into the Baltic to with I Battle Squadron to destroy the Russians. For the Kaiserliche Marine this was this first major operation since the start of the war. The KM to date had been limited to only light unit actions because Kaiser Wilhelm II didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the Island War happening again in a war with much higher stakes than some far off colonies. Even then the Kaiser had to be talked into allowing this mission to happen.
On May 29th the Russian Navy noticed a spike in radio communications within the Baltic. These messages were encoded and this code hadn’t been cracked by Russian intelligence services[1]. Such a spike in encoded communication over the radio could only mean one thing. The Germans were performing a major naval sortie in the Baltic. This information was quickly the chain of command in the Baltic Fleet. The decision was made to sortie the squadron that was based at Riga in an effort to intercept the Germans. The squadron would sell on the morning of the 30th as they needed to get crew of the ships in from liberty and steam up to sail.
A day after the Russians had sortied from Riga they were close to the Swedish held island of Gotland as they were making their search for the Germans. In the dawn light they sighted a cruiser. They believed this was the German cruiser SMS Albatross a minelayer cruiser within the KM. The cruiser they did spot was indeed a minelayer cruiser but it was not SMS Albatross. No the ship they spotted on this morning was the Swedish cruiser HSwMS Fylgia[2]. Even through the Swedish flag was flying proudly the Russians opened fire on the Fylgia. 15 minutes later the Russians saw their mistake and broke contact. Of the crew of 167 onboard 19 were dead and 34 more were wounded as the Fylgia limped back to Stockholm.
This started the Fylgia Crisis. The Russian and German squadrons would later meet on the day of Fylgia Crisis started and both sides suffered damaged ships, the fact the Russians had attack a neutral ship was the main piece of news of the day not the Battle of Gotland. This diplomatic incident was met with public outcry across Sweden. Matters were made worse by the fact the Russian officers of this squadron knowingly lied stating that they failed to see the Swedish flag that was flying from the Fylgia. If this was out of careerism or fear of being sent to count trees in Siberia was unknown. But the fact was refusing to admit fault in the matter was a tripping point on any peaceful end to the crisis.
On June 12th, the Russians presented the Swedish with what they stated would be their final offer to settle the Fylgia Crisis. They offered to pay the Swedish government with enough money to replace the Fylgia with a whole new ship and pay the families of the crews of the dead sailors a large settlement and the wounded sailors a smaller settlement. Yet they refused to take any blame or admit fault along with issuing no apology. Because of the Russian officers maintaining that no flag was flying from the Fylgia meant that that the fault rested with the crew of Fylgia. The Riksdag debated the offer the Russian government had made.
Four days later the Swedish rejected the Russian offer. Their crew maintained that Swedish flag was indeed flying on the day the Russians attacked the Fylgia and the Russians fired on their ship over 15 minutes as the Fylgia refused to return fire. With the Russians standing firm on their offer the Swedish mobilized their army. A last moment plead from the British fell on death ears. The Swedish entered the war on July 1st 1916.
[1] No stolen code books ITL as no cruiser ran aground near Russian territory like the SMS Magdeburg did OTL.
[2] Its like the Clas Fleming of OTL.
By the Spring of 1916 the Baltic Fleet was still a shell of its former self. Yet they had two newly commissioned even if their pre-commission work ups were hastily done Colossus Battleships with a third slated to be ready to join the fleet by the fall. They were supported by a pair of half-Colossus Battleships that was only possible because of the British supplying the turbines as it had been for their new Colossus battleships. Yet the Russians had turned to foreign yards for lesser ships as its own domestic ship building industry was under heavy strain to keep up with the rapidly changing world of ship design. These included cruisers, destroyers, and submarines that had been ordered from America, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
Sweden in the early stages of the Great War was slightly pro-Central Power in outlook. They had informed Berlin soon after the start of the war that they would never side with the Entente. This was because Russia a longtime foe of the Swedish Kingdom was a member of the Entente. Yet no one in Stockholm wanted to fight a war. Sweden hadn’t taken part in a war since the age of Napoleon and many in Stockholm wanted to keep that way. They knew the age of empire for Sweden had long since passed. Yet they stood guard to make sure no one would attack Sweden to get the edge in the current war in Europe.
When the British radically expanded the blockade in 1916 that covered stopping shipping bound to neutral nations such as Sweden if they believed that cargo was going to end up in Central Power nations angered many. Yet the Swedish protested but beyond that they didn’t push it further. They knew against the British the Swedish would be little more than a speed bump in the long run. The British were trying to perform a carrot and stick approach with Sweden to reduce trade with Germany. Notably that of iron ore which the Germans were the number one importers of Swedish Iron Ore.
In Late May the Germans launched a major naval sortie in the Baltic an effort to lieu the Russian Baltic Fleet out of its ports and be destroyed. This was a hammer and anvil mission. The effort was to send a squadron of pre-Colossus battleships into the Baltic to with I Battle Squadron to destroy the Russians. For the Kaiserliche Marine this was this first major operation since the start of the war. The KM to date had been limited to only light unit actions because Kaiser Wilhelm II didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the Island War happening again in a war with much higher stakes than some far off colonies. Even then the Kaiser had to be talked into allowing this mission to happen.
On May 29th the Russian Navy noticed a spike in radio communications within the Baltic. These messages were encoded and this code hadn’t been cracked by Russian intelligence services[1]. Such a spike in encoded communication over the radio could only mean one thing. The Germans were performing a major naval sortie in the Baltic. This information was quickly the chain of command in the Baltic Fleet. The decision was made to sortie the squadron that was based at Riga in an effort to intercept the Germans. The squadron would sell on the morning of the 30th as they needed to get crew of the ships in from liberty and steam up to sail.
A day after the Russians had sortied from Riga they were close to the Swedish held island of Gotland as they were making their search for the Germans. In the dawn light they sighted a cruiser. They believed this was the German cruiser SMS Albatross a minelayer cruiser within the KM. The cruiser they did spot was indeed a minelayer cruiser but it was not SMS Albatross. No the ship they spotted on this morning was the Swedish cruiser HSwMS Fylgia[2]. Even through the Swedish flag was flying proudly the Russians opened fire on the Fylgia. 15 minutes later the Russians saw their mistake and broke contact. Of the crew of 167 onboard 19 were dead and 34 more were wounded as the Fylgia limped back to Stockholm.
This started the Fylgia Crisis. The Russian and German squadrons would later meet on the day of Fylgia Crisis started and both sides suffered damaged ships, the fact the Russians had attack a neutral ship was the main piece of news of the day not the Battle of Gotland. This diplomatic incident was met with public outcry across Sweden. Matters were made worse by the fact the Russian officers of this squadron knowingly lied stating that they failed to see the Swedish flag that was flying from the Fylgia. If this was out of careerism or fear of being sent to count trees in Siberia was unknown. But the fact was refusing to admit fault in the matter was a tripping point on any peaceful end to the crisis.
On June 12th, the Russians presented the Swedish with what they stated would be their final offer to settle the Fylgia Crisis. They offered to pay the Swedish government with enough money to replace the Fylgia with a whole new ship and pay the families of the crews of the dead sailors a large settlement and the wounded sailors a smaller settlement. Yet they refused to take any blame or admit fault along with issuing no apology. Because of the Russian officers maintaining that no flag was flying from the Fylgia meant that that the fault rested with the crew of Fylgia. The Riksdag debated the offer the Russian government had made.
Four days later the Swedish rejected the Russian offer. Their crew maintained that Swedish flag was indeed flying on the day the Russians attacked the Fylgia and the Russians fired on their ship over 15 minutes as the Fylgia refused to return fire. With the Russians standing firm on their offer the Swedish mobilized their army. A last moment plead from the British fell on death ears. The Swedish entered the war on July 1st 1916.
[1] No stolen code books ITL as no cruiser ran aground near Russian territory like the SMS Magdeburg did OTL.
[2] Its like the Clas Fleming of OTL.
