Saphroneth
Banned
I do not mind flexible rules; however, I'd like to know the specifics of what is allowed in this situation simply because I'm quite surprised to have broken a rule at all. I don't want to break this rule again.
If they will not meet us on the open sea (a Trent TL)
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Saphroneth
Banned
6 June
HMS Lion stops off at the Cape on the way to the Pacific. An unremarkable 80-gun Second Rate steam liner rearmed with half a dozen Armstrong guns (thus technically now a 76), she is to be the nucleus of the Hawaiian Station at Pearl, and escorts two steam cargo ships. One is a trooper (carrying the battalion intended to train the Hawaiian militia and defend the new protectorate) and the other bears four heavy 68-lber guns along with engineers to plan the Pearl Harbour defences.
Interestingly, on her voyage south she came within a hundred nautical miles of the Mississippi, though neither ship was aware of the other.
The Admiralty is planning on digging into the fantastic natural harbour of Pearl too deeply to be winkled out, and plans are already being drawn up for a pair of 'pre-fabricated' ironclads to be conveyed as cargo to Pearl for local defence. These are to be similar to the Zodiac class in broad concept, though by the time the Hawaiian Defence Fleet is actually in construction the plans will have changed considerably. (The resulting two ships, the A'a and Pahoehoe, are the archetypical breastwork monitors.)
HMS Lion stops off at the Cape on the way to the Pacific. An unremarkable 80-gun Second Rate steam liner rearmed with half a dozen Armstrong guns (thus technically now a 76), she is to be the nucleus of the Hawaiian Station at Pearl, and escorts two steam cargo ships. One is a trooper (carrying the battalion intended to train the Hawaiian militia and defend the new protectorate) and the other bears four heavy 68-lber guns along with engineers to plan the Pearl Harbour defences.
Interestingly, on her voyage south she came within a hundred nautical miles of the Mississippi, though neither ship was aware of the other.
The Admiralty is planning on digging into the fantastic natural harbour of Pearl too deeply to be winkled out, and plans are already being drawn up for a pair of 'pre-fabricated' ironclads to be conveyed as cargo to Pearl for local defence. These are to be similar to the Zodiac class in broad concept, though by the time the Hawaiian Defence Fleet is actually in construction the plans will have changed considerably. (The resulting two ships, the A'a and Pahoehoe, are the archetypical breastwork monitors.)
Well, unless the US take Hawaii, then any future WWII in the Pacific is a British affair not US.....
Closer ties with Japan initially I would say, but then..... Well, the Japanese considered the US their major threat, now it will be the British Empire....
Saphroneth
Banned
There was something I was wondering about, actually, which is basically - would the events based off this (which include a more self-assured Napoleon III due to the Mexican adventure) potentially wreak havoc on the course of the 20th century?
After all, with fifty-plus years of buildup and a divided America I could see things like "Russia does not have a revolution", "different wars plural in place of WW1" and "China gets its act together faster".
After all, with fifty-plus years of buildup and a divided America I could see things like "Russia does not have a revolution", "different wars plural in place of WW1" and "China gets its act together faster".
(Hands Sap a giant butterfly net and then runs away and hides with his fingers in his ears)
Saphroneth
Banned
But I like the idea of the China Sea War of 1925-35... or the Alpine War (Italy + North Germany v South Germany/Austria + France)... or for that matter an actual Russian attempt to take India...
I'd like to see that too. A Russian army of 300,000 men sets off to invade India, and 2000 survive to reach their destination whereupon they are arrested by the local police!
That is always the challenge with a serious POD, the events down the line 50-100 years (if the goal is to follow out that far). British Hawaii may well result in a Japanese Philippines if the Spanish slowly come apart. How does that impact the Anglo-Japanese relationship? Does the Russian Japanese War still happen? The list is almost literally endless.
Saphroneth
Banned
Hmmm... this might be a problem.
With basically no coastal traffic, the US is having to rely almost entirely on rail to transport up/down the eastern seaboard... but based on
There's one or two routes from New England to points south and west, and the one I'm not sure about goes through NY and may be a break-of-bulk via NYC harbour.
Can anyone clarify on whether there's a nice easy bridge or tunnel connection there?
(Mind you, either way the US's rolling stock - and those rail lines - is under a bit of strain.)
With basically no coastal traffic, the US is having to rely almost entirely on rail to transport up/down the eastern seaboard... but based on
There's one or two routes from New England to points south and west, and the one I'm not sure about goes through NY and may be a break-of-bulk via NYC harbour.
Can anyone clarify on whether there's a nice easy bridge or tunnel connection there?
(Mind you, either way the US's rolling stock - and those rail lines - is under a bit of strain.)
Is it worth extending this to 1865?
'Then came the Bulldog incident. Captain Wake had excited the ire of the insurgents by protecting a British vessel; and to show their anger, under the direction of Delorme, Salnave's principal adviser, they rushed down to our Consulate, and took by force certain persons who were under the protection of our flag. The Bulldog steamed into harbour to obtain redress, and ran aground. A combat ensued, and finding he could not get his vessel off. Captain Wake blew her up, and retired with the crew in his boats.
All the persons taken from our Consulate had in the meantime been murdered. On hearing of these transactions, I went up in H.M.S. Galatea with the Lily, and being unable to obtain any adequate satisfaction, the outer forts were bombarded. Geffrard's army rushed in, and the insurrection was at an end. Salnave and his followers escaped in the United States ship Desoto, after leaving orders to burn down the town, which his men only partly effected.' (source)
'The superior firepower of the Galatea and the supporting vessel, HMS Lily, outmatched the rebels. From their place in the harbour, the British ships destroyed the rebel forts in the town, taking out the central Fort [St.] Michel with ease. Some buildings were incinerated in seconds, to the astonishment of the people onshore... British prestige had been restored to a country that had proven once more its heavy reliance on the Crown.' (source)
Note the 'took by force certain persons who were under the protection of our flag' theme cropping up again.
From this, it looks distinctly like the line ends at Chambers and Hudson with the main transfer across the river being at Eleventh Avenue. The Newburgh-Hudson connection is a car float operation as well, but I'm not sure if there's a bridge at Albany.
And unavailable to transport troops and supplies to Canada, needless to say.
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Saphroneth
Banned
Right, so that looks like it's a potential cause of "traffic jams". Nothing particularly crippling per se, but more friction in the system.
This talk of trains means I might include a bit of train related colour in the next update...
This talk of trains means I might include a bit of train related colour in the next update...
7-8 June 1862
Saphroneth
Banned
7 June
After a delay due to engineers being sent to Canada to work on the Grand Trunk, the first train journey the full length of the London Metropolitan Railway takes place. The journey from Paddington (Bishop's Road) to Farringdon Street takes place without incident, and William Gladstone is heard to remark to Charles Pearson (the original promoter of the concept) that the convenience is marvellous - though it is rather smoky.
At about the same time, Cleburne arrives at the camp of the Army of Northern Virginia. He has twenty or so of his Rifles with him (men referred to as cronies or apprentices, depending on who is doing the describing) and asks to see the shooting figures of the regiments of Lee's army.
When he is informed no such records exist, he has his Rifles pick a half-dozen regiments at random and run them through basic shooting evaluation - twenty rounds each, including file firing and individual firing at both single and area targets. This consumes much of the day (including a half-hour argument with the quartermaster over providing ~70,000 rounds for the evaluation) and when the results are in Lee and Cleburne examine them.
8 June
The Kentucky's keel is laid in Gosport. This ship is part warship and part prestige project, intended to be the greatest ship ever built in the Americas, and is based off the Franklin class frigates with some alterations. In particular, her draft is reduced slightly from the original Franklin class, and she is also designed from the start as a broadside ironclad - one to be fitted with both sail and steam. She is also slated to receive Tregedar iron and engines, and Brooke rifles - in short, to be an entirely domestic product.
The Kentucky will not complete under that name, and will undergo a total of three alterations before becoming simply the Confederacy. Changes made while she is under construction will also give her a total of eight 110-lber Armstrong rifles purchased from Great Britain, thus slightly marring her domestic credentials.
Cleburne makes a suggestion to Lee, which is accepted. The Army of Northern Virginia does not have time to put the entire force through the wringer, nor can Lee be certain of getting the ammunition - however, training a subset of the army is considered quite possible. As such, Cleburne's Rifles will each test a regiment a day, identifying the men who are good at guessing ranges already, and once the top ten percent or so are identified in each regiment they will be quickly trained to deliver accurate aimed fire at 200-300 yards. (MacGruder, also present, comments that this is 'better than the Yankees, anyway'.)
For his part, McClellan is insisting on better artillery - and more of it - to counter his perceived (and, indeed, real) inferiority in small arms quality. The conflicting demands of the Union's war effort (needing to provide guns to the Eads boats, to coastal forts, to the armies facing the British and others facing other Confederate forces, and to build inland forts to improve the strategic situation in general) mean that he is not getting as many rifled artillery pieces as he would like.
After a delay due to engineers being sent to Canada to work on the Grand Trunk, the first train journey the full length of the London Metropolitan Railway takes place. The journey from Paddington (Bishop's Road) to Farringdon Street takes place without incident, and William Gladstone is heard to remark to Charles Pearson (the original promoter of the concept) that the convenience is marvellous - though it is rather smoky.
At about the same time, Cleburne arrives at the camp of the Army of Northern Virginia. He has twenty or so of his Rifles with him (men referred to as cronies or apprentices, depending on who is doing the describing) and asks to see the shooting figures of the regiments of Lee's army.
When he is informed no such records exist, he has his Rifles pick a half-dozen regiments at random and run them through basic shooting evaluation - twenty rounds each, including file firing and individual firing at both single and area targets. This consumes much of the day (including a half-hour argument with the quartermaster over providing ~70,000 rounds for the evaluation) and when the results are in Lee and Cleburne examine them.
8 June
The Kentucky's keel is laid in Gosport. This ship is part warship and part prestige project, intended to be the greatest ship ever built in the Americas, and is based off the Franklin class frigates with some alterations. In particular, her draft is reduced slightly from the original Franklin class, and she is also designed from the start as a broadside ironclad - one to be fitted with both sail and steam. She is also slated to receive Tregedar iron and engines, and Brooke rifles - in short, to be an entirely domestic product.
The Kentucky will not complete under that name, and will undergo a total of three alterations before becoming simply the Confederacy. Changes made while she is under construction will also give her a total of eight 110-lber Armstrong rifles purchased from Great Britain, thus slightly marring her domestic credentials.
Cleburne makes a suggestion to Lee, which is accepted. The Army of Northern Virginia does not have time to put the entire force through the wringer, nor can Lee be certain of getting the ammunition - however, training a subset of the army is considered quite possible. As such, Cleburne's Rifles will each test a regiment a day, identifying the men who are good at guessing ranges already, and once the top ten percent or so are identified in each regiment they will be quickly trained to deliver accurate aimed fire at 200-300 yards. (MacGruder, also present, comments that this is 'better than the Yankees, anyway'.)
For his part, McClellan is insisting on better artillery - and more of it - to counter his perceived (and, indeed, real) inferiority in small arms quality. The conflicting demands of the Union's war effort (needing to provide guns to the Eads boats, to coastal forts, to the armies facing the British and others facing other Confederate forces, and to build inland forts to improve the strategic situation in general) mean that he is not getting as many rifled artillery pieces as he would like.
Saphroneth
Banned
Now, then... I think I might have something Go Wrong with a Union attempt to use guncotton as a propellant. (Just another example of outside-the-box thinking that's not necessarily ready for prime-time.)
There's also probably another riverine battle due, and for that matter an assault on Grand Rapids.
EDIT - and perhaps I should show a successful blockade-run. The hard bit is working out how that could be done, actually - the closest possible source point is probably St. Pierre, and that's hundreds of miles, but the alternative is trying to blockade-run across the entire Atlantic (possibly from the Azores?)
At least the ship is obvious - the Vanderbilt, the fastest cruising ship the USN had OTL (let alone TTL).
There's also probably another riverine battle due, and for that matter an assault on Grand Rapids.
EDIT - and perhaps I should show a successful blockade-run. The hard bit is working out how that could be done, actually - the closest possible source point is probably St. Pierre, and that's hundreds of miles, but the alternative is trying to blockade-run across the entire Atlantic (possibly from the Azores?)
At least the ship is obvious - the Vanderbilt, the fastest cruising ship the USN had OTL (let alone TTL).
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Don't really know enough to comment? But, as always, enjoying the hell out of this.
How about from Cuba? The British won't be blockading the Confederate coast and the CSA doesn't have a fleet of it's own to intercept. The biggest risk would probably be running into random British ships near the Bahamas, but all they'd have to do is hoist Confederate colours and the RN probably wouldn't even bother to stop a CSA ship sailing up the Florida coast (unless they thought it was carrying slaves anyway, which would be somewhat ironic...)