Charles Markov`s history of Modern Alaska .

Alaskan urbanization .1870-1900
Besides and education from his mother in politics ,Francis I was also taught to be an architect by his father who was himself somewhat well known for designing the new naval hospital in Anchorage .
Francis planned to put this training to good use by rebuilding the city of Dunedin which had been burnt to the ground by a fire in 1868 .He proposed the idea to Isabel who thought it a good use of her sons talents and something his father would have been proud of .So she commissioned Francis as chief architect for the rebuilding of Dunedin .
The Duma allowed Francis to build the city however he saw fit in the hopes that when he was made king he might be so distracted with building his city that he would leave the important people who ran the government alone .
With the joint freedom of no government supervision and unlimited funding Francis planned the new Dunedin to look very different from contemporary cities .For one the city was to have a circular plan with four main roads converging around a vast park ringed with white marble columns imported from Europe (paid for with his own money) .Ringing the park would be circular roads to deal with traffic with large rings of buildings in between which would hold factories ,housing and entertainment for the population of the new city .
The plan called for the roads to be five lanes wide with two lanes for outgoing traffic ,two lanes for in going traffic and the center lane for the trolley system which would wind it`s way through the city carrying men around far easier than horse drawn carriages would .
Large cobblestone sidewalks were to line the streets with certain thorough fares having bridges for foot traffic going over roads to ease congestion .
Outside the city limits a vast complex was built to accommodate the vast amounts of rails traffic and goods passing through the city .
Construction began in 1870 with the laying of the cobblestone streets and sewer and fresh water pipes deep underground .
By the time Francis had taken over as king the city was nearing completion with the transportation side of the city handling around ten percent of the traffic it was designed to .
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Arial view of Dunedin circa 1943 showing the layout of the city well .
It was at this time that other cities within the nation began to notice how unremarkable they were compared to the gleaming marvel that had become known as Dunedin .Whereas Dunedin had paved streets and sewers most of the cities of the kingdom ,including the capital itself had mud streets and no sewers .Whereas Dunedin had gleaming multi story stone and brick tenements other cities had small single and dual floor wooden boardinghouses .
To remedy this many of the cities governments petitioned their new king to rebuild them along the lines of Dunedin .
Chief among the cities wishing to be rebuilt was Anchorage which hated the notion that another city could be called grander than the very seat of power .They practically demanded that Francis to for them ten times what he had done with Dunedin .And he did not fail to deliver .
The new Anchorage .
In order to one up his master piece Francis planned to cover his new city in monuments to past Alaskan achievements .Vast arches over the streets themselves were to be built to celebrate battles with the Spanish and famous war heroes .
Pillars were to be built to hold statues of those same men to ring the cities central park .The park itself was to be four times as large as the one adorning Dunedin and the roads leading to it would be ten lane rather than five (Four each way plus two lanes for trolleys) and a massive subway system was also built .
The city would have dozens of parks with fountains and trees .Huge tenements were built with ten stories and massive public buildings such as theaters ,zoos and museums were to help to enrich the lives of the everyday citizen .
The project was begun in June of 1885 and had a scheduled date of completion set in 1905 ,though the final buildings would not be done until at least 1920 .
The city also requested that the capital be made to look old and not have the modern feel Dunedin had .They wanted Anchorage to feel like the capital of a European nation with two thousand years of history rather than a lousy imitation .
Francis complied by designing his buildings and monuments in dozens of different styles and periods to make the city feel organic and give it the feeling of age Dunedin decidedly lacked .
He even built the city a massive castle complex to complete the illusion of age .Dubbed the Swan Palace the fortress was to serve as the home of the Monarchy ,Government and Armed forces .A place away from the hustle and bustle of the city yet close enough to be in the city .
The new royal gardens comprising over one hundred acres were spread across the lavish statement of wealth and power .The castle ,built in many different periods and stages to look like it had received many renovations and rebuildings would also hold the royal museum and zoo .All of which would be open to the public .
The Palace complex and city would be first among the many rebuilding projects undertaken and overseen personally during Francis`s reign and would serve to not only increase the look of the nations cities .But also helped to jumpstart the kingdoms economy as along with the tenements large numbers of factories were built to take advantage of Alaska`s abundant natural resources .
The jobs thus produced would help to entice new waves of immigrants to come to Alaska .Not because of the promise of land ,but the promise of a job and housing in the new cities .

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Elections of 1885
During the war Francis had not gotten along well with the government .This was due to the Duma`s belief that Alaska had no business playing the colonial game and had higher standards than the petty control of far off lands (ignoring the fact that Alaska had colonies in the Pacific which the government was all to happy to collect taxes from while stifling local control).They claimed that the kingdom was far to weak to have to fight for land that served no purpose to anyone (today Patagonia is one of the richest regions in the kingdom) and would only serve as a pit for the governments money .Money that would be better spent going into public works and or their salaries .
Francis managed to pass his declaration of war and succeeded in claiming Patagonia despite the governments views but was unable to pass any major domestic bill .The Duma felt that the only role a king should play was to serve as a mouth piece for the government ,informing the unintelligent masses what their social betters was doing for them and that a king should not be allowed even a vote in government proceedings .
So heated was the situation that the Duma actually began the process of dethroning the king on grounds of treason towards the end of 1884 !
Only a mass protest throughout the nation and the threat of violence stopped the Duma from carrying through .
Unable to allow the current state of events to continue Francis devised a plan and waited for the elections in 85 to implement it .
Under the original constitution the monarch had the authority to reject the Chancellor at any time they chose .In fact they had the power to reject the whole government if they so chose .
However if they did that they would have to bring up a special election to replace the lost members of government to stop a monarch from ever holding complete control of the nation .But if the members of government did not accept the dismissal then the government could effectively cease to function until the impass was resolved .
Constitutional Crisis .The Election of 1885
When the final tallies for the election of 85 were counted it was found that the Duma would be headed by many of the same people who had run the government for the past twenty years .All of them were members of the so called progressive party which had been among the first political parties to form in the nation .
The Chancellor of the kingdom was once again to be Mitchel Zhan ,and aged ex genera who felt that the young king was navy mad and failed to see the nations need for an army rather than insane navy as a means of defense .
It was during his inaugural speech that Francis sprung his trap .When Zhan asked for his kings permission to be sworn into office as the first member of the new government Francis said one word .No .
Taken back Zhan asked Francis to repeat himself .Francis once again said no .When asked why by Zhan who thought the whole thing rather funny that a mere king had refused his ruler that same ruler replied that he could not in good faith let people run the nation who had attempted to overthrow it .
Angry Zhan demanded to be sworn in shouting that unlike a proper kingdom were the king ruled as he saw fit Alaska was a republic which just so happened to be stuck with a king as a concession to a dead admiral who had been in the right place at the right time to take over from a dictator .
That was when members of Francis`s personal guard stormed in and Francis stated that dethroning the monarch if he had no heirs was expressly stated in the constitution as being illegal ,which it was .When Zhan pointed out that Francis had in fact not only a wife and child ,but two siblings to take the throne Francis said that he had talked to them and that they all had refused to take the throne (even the kings seven month old son had said so) .
The Chancellor and seven of his advisors were arrested and carted off and Francis announced who would be Chancellor and the adoption by his new government of a new constitution which had been drafted with input from Francis himself .
Though Zhan and his associates would all live and in fact get out of prison entirely due to the courts viewing Francis`s reasoning flawed his messahe was clear .Dont mess with the king .
 
Francis`s Government
The new Constitution Francis created was heavily based on Socialist principles with a unique spin .The government would keep the names of the old institution with both a Duma and a Soviet sharing power with the king .The government was organized as follows .
Monarch
The Monarch ,whether he be man or woman was to represent the highest law of the land .Controlling both the courts and armed forces of the nation .
In the Duma they held the five votes while in the Soviet they held the power of Veto to any law they opposed .
In addition the Monarch also held limited power of the purse to enable them to spend a percent of the budget on things they cared for ,provided that it was not spent on military matters (Francis I ,II and Titus would circumnavigate this law by using personal funds to expand both the army and the navy at various points in the future) .This law was intended to enable the monarch to carry some ability of independence .
Soviet
Under the new Constitution the Soviet was to serve as a decision making body with the Chancellor serving over fourteen other members who were from the various ministries (Ministry of the navy ,Army ,transportation ,Industry ,Immigration etc...) five of these ministries were to be fixed and not would always be in the government (War in the form of the Chancellor ,Navy ,Army ,Transportation ,Treasury) .The others would be included on the basis of Duma and Monarch appointment with the Duma getting five appointments ,and the Monarch getting the same number .
The job of the Soviet was to serve as the main decision making body in the kingdom .While the Duma was to approve laws and vote on issues concerning local and internal affairs ,the Soviet was to decide on issues concerning the whole nation and international affairs .Though the Monarch again held Veto power and alot of control in what was said to whom .
Duma
The Duma was to be comprised of both the nobility and commoner elements of Alaskan society .Every noble was allowed to sit in and even take part in debates but had to run for office and be elected to get a vote .
The Duma had representatives from each of Alaska`s provinces .One from each who served a term of five years as all members of the elected government did .The Duma was concerned with matter partaining mostly to domestic issues such as new railroads and taxes .
The provinces further held substantial local autonomy in certain areas of jurisdiction .
Alongside the original twenty five provinces Alaska had fifteen Duchies which had a Duke appointed for life by the Monarch who held a single vote in the Duma .
Dukes were and are the only nobility aside from the Monarch to hold a vote in government without having to run for their office but as a side affect of their position are unable to run for any office other than Chancellor (even if they are elected to the position they only have the five votes given to said position) .
Grand Duchies
Aside from the fifteen Duchies in Alaska originally Francis made special provision for a number of regions to have special privileges other Provinces and Duchies did not have .
These five Grand Duchies would be more akin to protectorates than anything .They were allowed to have their own government ,could ignore the Duma (they were under the control of the Soviet) have armies (limited to ten thousand men) and keep half of the taxes collected in the nation .
The purpose of these Duchies was to give isolated and difficult to communicate with regions the ability to enact laws that worked for them .Vancouver ,Attoria and Wellington <OTL Fiji> are such examples .
In the two other Grand Duchies it was for different reasons .
In the case of the Grand Duchy of Blue Peak it was because the ten thousand acre plot of land stretching from the coast to the Eden river was the personal property of the house of Thatcher and thus was free from government rule .Though it was mostly uninhabited and isolated at the time .There were under ten thousand people living within it`s borders in 1900 .
The fifth Grand Duchy ,Kodiak was made for a totally different reason as the other four .The reason was that Kodiak was a semi-Autonomous Republic under the old government comprised mostly of Irishmen who fled the Emerald isle after the potato famine and the 1876 Dublin uprising to seek freedom from the oppression of the British .
The government had allowed a group of around three thousand to settle on the island of Kodiak as it was mostly uninhabited since the Spanish takeover of the island in 1827-34 .More settlers soon followed .These settlers spoke Gaelic rather than English and had always been a pain to deal within the old government were they had been counted as a Province .Francis hoped that his solution would solve the problem nicely .Which it did .
Not only did it give Alaska a rather unique make up ,but the Celts on the island became very loyal to the crown during the reigns of Francis I and II ,even forming the kings own in 1912 from veterans from Patagonia to protect the king himself .
The units five legions would come to fame during the second great war as the personal command of Titus the great during the siege of Anchorage in 1945 .
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Kings own dress uniform

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New update on the time line explaining the workings of the new government and other such things .
Does anyone out there know anything about the history of colonization of Oceania by chance ?The reason I want to know is that with Alaska claiming what it did in the region is going to throw all that out the window .
But I have no idea which window it will be thrown out as I have no clue as to the history of the region .HELP !
 
Working on the time line but things in life have come up (Learning Russian ,writing book and school) so expect fewer updates in the future .Maybe two a week for the next few weeks .
I would also like to ask the regular readers of the time line to feel free to post their thoughts about the time line .Not just trash talk but also good points of it .If you notice a flaw in my series of events or think something is not at all within the realms of plausibility please let me know and I will fix it ,explain it or panic .
I know I have asked for feedback before but I want to stress this time around how difficult it is to write something good if no one says anything about it good or bad .
 
The Economic boom of 1885
One of Francis I first acts under the new Constitution was the growth of the nations economic and industrial strength .To accomplish this Francis created many new factories ,shipyards ,mines and farms .These new businesses were owned by the government which operated them with as little oversight as possible .The AIC also expanded in the period opening many plants in a program similar to that undertaken by the government . For the most part the new businesses ran themselves with foremen and bosses appointed by an election within the plant ,farm ,mine etc ...
The business would then distribute it`s merchandise to private venders and government projects which would further strengthen the nation .
So successful was the new program that the economy exploded to over ten times it`s size in a decade ,putting Alaska on par on a per capita basis with the Unites States and United Kingdoms .By 1900 Alaska in fact would have one of the highest standards of living in the world ,which in turn would attract many immigrants to the nations seeking a fresh start .
Education for all .
One of the things Francis most hated about the old way was the wildly variable standard of education in the kingdom .Some provinces had very good schools which gave students and edge in the world .Others had poor or even no school and thus illiteracy was rampant .
Francis wished for all Alaskans to have an equal chance and thus began to create a standard educational system which would teach children at the starting age of six in a six year period about basic math ,science ,history and reading .Before they either left the school system to work ,or continued to four years of high school were they would be able to specialize in a specific field of knowledge such as medicine or precision machining .
The child would learn about math ,science ,history ,reading and writing (In language of province) .As well as art starting third year .
A national tongue .Welsh in school.
One of the biggest problems facing Alaska at this time was the large number of languages spoken in Alaska .Among them were Swedish ,Russian ,English ,Dutch ,French (In Attoria) ,Spanish (In Patagonia) .And even Gaelic in Kodiak .
These languages showcased the diversity of the kingdom quite well but also highlighted a major obstacle to travel in Alaska .Getting understood .
Say of you were from the province of Gustavus (Swedish spoken) and wanted to go to Anchorage .To get there you would have to cross Holland (Dutch spoken) .You would need to stay overnight at an inn and in order to book a room you would need to know Dutch .Which an average person would not know .
Equally difficult was reporting news as it had to pass through many different translations into half a dozen different languages and was a nightmare .
The kings solution ?Simple .He would use the same tactic his grandfather had while in command of the Dauntless .Teach the crew Welsh .
In fact at the time Welsh was the standard tongue for members of the army and the navy as the two large hodgepodge organizations needed one language to get orders across and Welsh was the traditional way of doing it .
So starting in the third year of schools students would learn Welsh .In the final year of school Welsh would be the only language lessons would be taught in and all tests and papers would be in the same .
Within a generation Welsh would rise to become the linga franca of Alaska ,spoken today as a first and second language by over four hundred million people from Europe to South America .
 
New Ships of war .1886 fleet program .
After a decade long pause in warship construction Alaska initiated a major new fleet building program in 1880 designed to bring the navy up to modern standards .The plan called for six modern Battleships ,four large cruisers and a dozen torpedo boats to be built .
Alaska`s old Central Battery ships of the Caesar Ptolemy and Romanov classes would be rebuilt and turned into small cruisers under the program .Though only nine ships were suitable for the refit .
These plans would prove to be somewhat difficult to attain however as Alaska lacked the dock capacity to build and refit so many ships at the same time .Instead the nation would order the four cruisers and dozen torpedo boats from French yards while the battleships of the Bulwark class and the central battery ships would be made at the newly enlarged Anchorage fleetyard .
The Bulwark class was heavily influenced by French warships of the period .The Amiral Baudin class which had been laid down in 1879 to be precise .The Alaskan vessels would mount two fifteen inch guns in two single turrets with two ten inch guns mounted in singles rounding out their main armament .Fourteen three inch twelve pounders and twenty six pounders mounted in the Neptune style fighting mast and citadel would provide the ships secondary and tertiary weapons .The vessels had a higher freeboard than their French cousins to enable them to sail in the often turbulent waters of the North Pacific .
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Alaskan Battleship Stockade of the Bulwark type .These six ships differed widely with ships such as Stockade having turrets while the three later vessels mounted their guns on lighter barbettes .
The cruisers built in France would be repeats of the French Vauban class mounting two ten inch guns and a brig rig for sailing these ships were designed as imposing warships for distant missions were the rebuilt ships of the old central battery type would not cut it .
The Torpedo boats ordered were built to a completely Alaskan design which called for a boat capable of oceanic voyages of up to eleven hundred kilometers at ten knots .To accomplish this the vessels had a high freeboard and were larger than their contemporaries mounting a pair of twelve pounders at both the bow and stern of the ship .Torpedo armament consisted of two fifteen inch Whitehead torpedo tubes and six spares .
The ships were ordered in stages with the first units of the Dewr (intrepid) class of rebuilt central battery ships being completed in 1888-89 .The Bulwark class ships followed in 1888-91 with the French made vessels being delivered from 1887-90 .
The ships were part of a joint warplan with France and the Russian empire concerning a future war with the British empire .Russia would drive for India while France fought the British in the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas and on land in Europe .Alaska was to re-enforce the French navy with a squadron of ships and would attempt to take British Pacific possessions in Australia and Oceania .
In fact the ships of the 1880 program owed their existence to the alliance treaty that Francis renewed with France in 1878 .Otherwise it is doubtfull Alaska would have had the technical ability to build any of the ships they did .Nor would they have found a source of smaller vessels .
This alliance would expire in the 1890`s as the threat of a Franco-British war subsided but Alaska would become an unofficial member of the Entente in 1903 in the event of a war with the US .
The ships of the program assured that Alaska would maintain it`s status as the largest navy in the new world throughout the 1880`s and early 1890`s .But rapid advances in naval design would render the Bulwark class ships obsolete even before they had been in service a decade .

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New update about the naval side of things .Meant for Saturday of last week but stuff got in the way .
Alaska is about to become a major player in world events .Up to this point they have only been of importance to nations bordering Alaska .This will change with the 1890`s and the rise of Imperial Japanese and the United States navies .
And lets not forget the bitter resentment felt by the south American nations over the loss of Megellania in 1883 .
 
Naval Bill of 1890 .
Even before the ships of the Bulwark class were completed they had been rendered obsolete by rapid advances in shipbuilding in Europe .Her armamant ,armor and even design had been ovettaken by newer more capable warships .
But it was not Europe that concerned Francis and the Duma .No it was the navies of the south American powers which caused great alarm when they placed orders for modern battle units of their own .
These new ships with their better guns and more seaworthy hulls could stay at sea for longer ,deal more damage ,and most importantly beat the Bulwarks in any fight .
Also of concern was the United States Navy ,long dormant since the American Civil war of the 1860`s the many ships built during the program had been allowed to decay during the 70`s and 80`s but the navy announced plans to build three large cruisers and a dispatch boat .These ABCD ships would be launched in the early 1890`s and would be followed by an order for two new battleships to be called USS Maine and USS Texas .
Since Alaska`s only real ally at this time was the Brazilian empire which was recovering from a rather brutal civil war which had raged since 1887 and led to the formation of a proper constitution in 1889 and the abolishment of slavery ,Alaska needed new ships to counter the ones being built for the other powers if they were to maintain their position as the largest navy in the new world .
The Ships are ordered .
What was proposed was a plan to build the new fleet in five orders .In this plan five classes of four battleships would lead each order and would be built domestically in the Anchorage fleetyard which had just been expanded with eight large docks .
Fifteen armored cruisers in five classes of three would be ordered in tandem with the battleships .Though the nation lacked the dock space to build these ships in addition to the battleships and so the vessels were ordered from abroad with the first ships being received in 1895 along with the Broadsword class battleships .
sixteen protected cruisers would be ordered from foreign yards as well with the final design to be build in Alaskan dockyards once the further expansion of the building slips was completed in 1900 .
To protect and cover all these new ships twenty five destroyers would be ordered in five classes of five .Three of these classes would be ordered abroad while starting in 1900 they would be build domestic .
The launching times of the battleships would be 1895 ,1897 ,1900 ,1902 and 1904 with supporting ships following at the same time .
The ships ordered in 1890 would not be commissioned for several years but once completed no other navy with the exception of the USN could equal the number of ships built and the quality of the sailors .
 
Brief update on time line addressing the naval situation .FYI I love ships so the next few updates will focus more on the naval side of things before moving on to what the rest of the world is doing since the second Napoleonic war .
 
Ships of the 1890 bill .1895-1905
Battleships
The first Battleships to see service under the 1890 bill were the four Broadsword class ships commissioned 1895-1896 and armed with a four gun battery of eleven inch guns these ships were light compared to their contemporaries in other navies and aside from the French ships were the most unseaworthy vessels of the PreDreadnought battleships .
The follow on Javelin commissioned 1897-1898 were an improved version of Broadsword possessing the same armament of eleven inch guns in a better turret design and having a larger displacement (from 12000 tons to 14000) and greater dimensions (130m from 120m) which enabled not only greater seaworthyness but also more coal to be carries ,increasing the ships range by a considerable degree .
The Khetanna class of 1898-1899 was a further improvement of the Javelin class having four more six inch guns in two additional twin turrets and displacing 15000 tons these ships were by far the best ships in the navy in terms of stability and range .
The saber class was essentially an improved Khetanna with the same dimensions and secondary guns but with twelve inch main guns rather than eleven inch .These ships would serve until 1923 when the last ship ,the Zwaan would be commissioned in the Illiamna squadron as a museum ship .
Commissioned in 1903-1905 the last class of Alaskan PreDreadnought was the most perfect .The Lance class ships possessed four twelve inch guns as a main armament but had a secondary armament consisting of twelve eight inch guns in six twin turrets and sixteen three inch guns rounding out the ships weapons load .These very well armed battleships however were a poor match for the newer types of battleship entering service however and would soon be rendered obsolete .
Armored Cruisers .
The first two classes of Armored Cruiser ordered for the Alaskan navy were ships of the Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi class .These ships armed with a single ten inch gun and a twin eight inch turret were good sea boats and well protected ,able to stand against battleship fire as was discovered during the second battle of Bahia Blanca .
The next two classes would be built by British yards as small battleships armed with four nine inch guns in two turrets and displacing up to 12000 tons while the final class of AC the Storm class was built domestically to a British design .
This gave Alaska fifteen Armored cruisers to backup their twenty Battleships and would serve to greatly increase the size and power of the Alaskan navy .
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Italian made Alaskan Armored Cruiser Pedryn shortly before her deployment to south American waters to challenge the four ships of the same class ordered by Argentina .
Protected cruisers .
under the 1890 bill the Alaskan navy was to buy five classes of three protected Cruisers but in reality the navy simply ordered fifteen of the same class of cruiser built at Britain`s famous Elswick yard .All the ships carried six six inch guns in single mounts with eight three inch guns as secondaries .The ships were basically improved as each class was commissioned .One of the major differences between the newer ships to the older vessels was the addition of torpedoes from Cigfran onwards .The similarities between the ships lead to some confusion during the 2nd Patagonian war for Alaska`s enemies as they never knew which class of ship they would be going against .
Destroyers
Alaska was to acquire twenty five of these ships in five classes of five .Three classes were to be ordered from French yards and these ships were commissioned into the navy in due course .
The last two classes however ,the series sixteen and S sixteen Bs were all built domestically though to a British design as the French ships were found to be to cramped to be of use and lacked any kind of ability to perform in rough seas .

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Update showing the Alaskan naval program before some massive changes render it obsolete overnight .Next update will focus on the new arms race occuring in south America .
 
The All Big Gun Battleship
By 1903 the navies of the world began to take notice that the small six inch secondary guns installed on most classes of Battleship would be next to useless in a modern long range gunnery duel and so began to search for ways to increase the effectiveness of their fleets .
One solution to this problem was to increase the diameter of the ships secondary guns from six inch to seven ,eight and even nine and ten inch guns .The Alaskan Lance class ,British Edward VII class and some American and Japanese classes were examples of this train of thought and carried from eight to twelve secondary guns of up to ten inches .
However this approach brought about other challenges to warship crews and designers and that was fire control .Up to this point a ships guns were aimed by judging were the round hit the water from its splash .Problem was that with the new ships the splashes of the main and secondary guns looked alike and so director crews could not tell which caliber fired were and as a result accuracy plummeted .
A solution to this problem was the concept of an all Big Gun Battleship which would mount only one caliber of long range guns which would greatly simplify aiming ,ammo storage and handling as well as crew training .
The Russo-Japanese war of 1903-1905 highlighted the weaknesses of current battleship designs when at the battle of the Yellow sea Russian and Japanese vessels engaged at a range of eight miles .Far outside the reach of secondary guns and thus the battle had to be fought with the four twelve inch guns most Battleships carried as main armament .
After the battle the British and Alaskans ,which had observers aboard the combatants ships began planning to build all big gun ships .The Americans and of course the Japanese also began to plan to build ships of the all big gun type at around the same time .
The British plans would stall due to lack of interest in rocking the boat by the current admirality but this would change when Admiral Sir John Fisher was made first sea lord .Among the first of his plans was the scrapping of many old and outdated vessels in the fleet to free up new funding for other projects .
Among these projects was the creation of an All Big Gun design to be called Dreadnought .
Fisher wanted his ship to be built before the other three competitors in this race which had all laid down ships of the type a year before .Thus the ship was rushed to completion by borrowing engines ,guns and armor from other vessels under construction ,notably the Nelson class Battleships whose guns and armor were practically stolen from beside the ships the day before it was to be installed .
Hence on February 10th 1906 the brand new HMS Dreadnought became the first of a generation of capital ships .She rendered all Battleships currently in service obsolete overnight and caused many of the worlds top navies to have minor heart attacks as they eat up the clean and slim lines of and ten twelve inch guns of the first Battleship in the world to carry more than four main guns and have turbine propulsion which drove the vessels at the blazing speed of 21 knots .
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Dreadnought herself soon after commissioning .Note her odd placement which only brought eight of her ten guns to bear on a broadside .This problem would continue with the followon Bellerophron and st Vincent classes of Battleship but by the time of the Neptunes would be resolved with the fifth turret moved to the centerline of the ship and two pairs of superfiring guns for and aft .
Dreadnought was not alone for long however as just seven months later the Alaskan navy commissioned the two ships of the Kopis class .Mounting nine guns to Dreadnoughts ten she nonetheless had one gun more on either broadside than her cousin in England due to her three triple turrets which could bring all her guns to bear on one broadside .Kopis was followed in 1907 with the Ocean class ,essentially an enlarged and improved Kopis design mounting her forward guns one deck higher in a forecastle to improve seakeeping and havinf four inch secondaries as opposed to three inch the ships made Alaska the most powerful navy in the world for a little under a year as not even the British had more than four ships in service .
The US would lay down their South Carolina class in 1904 ,long before Dreadnought was .But due to government oversight she would take over four years to build .Once commissioned the ships were somewhat better than their competition as they had for the first time superfiring turrets which enabled the ships not only to bring all their guns to bear on one side ,but also allowed for half the ships guns to fire dead ahead .
The South Carolina would suffer from some problems though as she carried the older less powerfull reciprocating machinery of Battleships of the past and was not as long legged .She also displaced far less due to a government restriction on Battleship size which gave her a bad roll and very short range .
Japan would never complete the three ships of the Satsuma class as the all big gun concept due to a shortage of guns .It would take a further four years until Japan would produce an All Big Gun ship of their own in the form of the Settsu class which carried twelve twelve inch guns in six twin turrets arranged in a hexagonal pattern .
The three ships would put Japan on the map as a major naval power and but would be sold to Thailand in 1923 due to their age and rapid advances in naval technology .
The new ships called Dreadnoughts would spark off an arms race as the major naval powers each scrambled to build more ships than their neighbor .Even minor powers would get in the game with Portugal ,Spain ,Greece ,The Ottoman Empire ,Netherlands ,Denmark ,Sweden and Norway each ordering Dreadnoughts .Though few would actually receive their ships as the vessels were horrendously expensive and many nations backed out when the cost of the ships became apparent .
In South America Argentina ,Brazil ,Chile and Peru would all order Dreadnoughts ,though Peru would not get their single small ships ordered due to an accident in the yard which ruined the incomplete hull .
The race would lead to increased tensions between the worlds great powers and would be a cause of the future war ...

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Well that is all for the naval side of things for now .Goes very much like OTL with Alaska coming to the forefront of naval powers with their new ships .
The next update will focus on the world as alot has and hasnt happened since the end of the war .With another one discussing South America .
 
Europe after the second Napoleonic Period .1842-1900
After the Napoleonic wars three nations emerged as superpowers on the continent .First of them was the United Kingdom which has preserved their naval superiority as well as their position of dominance throughout the war .
France followed a close second .Though their fleet was smaller and less well equipped they nonetheless were a major power due to their large and well funded army and robust population which provided large amounts of manpower for the spuding French economy .
Russia was the third of the great powers and often thought of itself as the loin of eastern Europe .They had a fairly large fleet but it was not very well trained and the empires main power lay in its massive army which was twice the size of that of the French .
These nations were surrounded with other less powerful yet still strong nations such as the Netherlands and Prussia and Sweden which along with Austro-Hungary (A nation formed from the former Austrian empire after the Hungarian revolt of 1848 which saw the two nations becoming two separate kingdoms under the same ruler and government) were the middle size powers of the continent .
After the war a long period of peace hit the continent ,almost fifty years in fact in which British dominance was not threatened anew and Imperialism reached its peak .
This came to an end however with the Unification of the Germanies under Prussia after the disastrous Franco-Prussian war and the earlier Unification of Italy in 1864 .These two new powers quickly challenged the balance of power on the continent and sought colonies of their own to assert their newfound positions of power .
Germany had more success than Italy when it acquired colonies in the Pacific and large chunks of Africa in the Treaty of Berlin which carved up the continent amongst the powers .
Many nations in an effort to defend themselves formed alliances .At first the Franco-Russian alliance which had been formed in the 1870`s to counter the power of the UK .And later the Triple Entente between the UK ,France and Russia to serve as a counter to German and Italian ambitions .
Germany countered with the Central powers which was an amalgamation of Germany ,Austro-Hungary and Italy meant to protect themsleves in the event of a war .
The alliance structure resulted in a naval arms race throughout the 1890`s which continued into the early 1900 and was accelerated upon the commissioning of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906 as the powers each attempted to outbuild the other in numbers of Battleships .
Europe was poised for war and all it would take would be one small spark in the Balkans to light it up .
 
So I am reading the time line over and should not have as I found a few things with it I am not at all happy with .
For one some parts of the time line go on forever and seem to long to stay interesting .Second some things dont get focused on enough as I spend all my time fussing over one aspect of the scenario .
And the main thing is how ASB some of this sounds even though I have detailed reasons why it is not .If I had had the common sense to add it in then it would have clarified the TL and made it seem more believable .
So I am toying with the idea ,tell me what you think .Of restarting from scratch as I have done with my other time line ,if you want a link message me and ask .
I am quite a ways through this time line already but I think the new one ,which would cover material from this one but in a cleaner faster moving way .
First I would like to know what you all think of this idea .I know many of you read it but I have never known what you think of it as you all seem to be mute :confused: .So tell me just this once and then never speak to me again what you think of this idea of mine .
Second if you think this is a good idea and want to see it done I am open to suggestions for the title of the new time line .Currently I have nothing and anything is better than nothing .
Well that about covers it for know cheers and let me know your opinion on this idea of mine !
 
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