Shadow Master Begins Email
I just started a thread about {
Alternate ship designs; Rescue for hire ships}, and would like your thoughts.
The reasons for this should be obvious, as in your ATL, there are going to be many folks taken off their ships in out of the way places, and if a neutral nation organization could exist, preferably S American, that operates {Rescue for hire} ships, this might have interesting impacts on the capabilities of subs and raiders to sink ships over a greater area, while providing safety for passengers and crew in accordance with Cruiser Rules, and also allow for them to be taken off Germany's hands in mid ocean/secluded anchorages, so that the German raiders can keep on raiding, and no masses of folks need to be brought back to base, and perhaps get an up close look at things you would rather they didn't.
What are your thoughts for expenditures on colonial defenses once they realize the war fighting potential of commerce warfare units stationed abroad. Will they wait till the war actually starts before they realize the long term potential these forces represent?
What are your thoughts in regards to specialized cargo submarines, designed for bringing large objects to faraway places, in secrecy? I am already seeing folks posting the pat, "You cannot resupply, so your colonies cannot last" kind of objections.
German WA could be resupplies from S American nations, especially if you do some work establishing specialized industrial production of things needed in your colonies, like Germans standard arms and ammunition, and artillery production lines in Argentina and/or Brazil for AMC would be a huge help, and good luck to the British trying to block this traffic, especially if custom designed U boats are the vehicles of choice.
I am still plugging away at the old ATL, and trying to keep up with the new one, but wanted to get my input in before it's too late.
Thoughts?
End of Shadow Master email, begin of reply
You don't have to worry about it being too late. I am a half page into the old ATL, and the old ATL is 59 pages, so this rewrite will be a multi-year process. I am basically writing a book, and I did not work Monday and Tuesday.
As to merchant submarines, they are really likely to be built after the start of a war. At the start of WW1, only about 1/3 of merchant ships had radios, and it would be even lower in 1902. To stop shipping going to Cameroon, a royal navy cruiser will need to find the ship at sea by visually spotting it. And if you keep the enemy navy more than a 100 miles or so from Cameroon, there are not obvious bottlenecks. Also, they are planning for a neutral UK. So they can land supplies at Calabar in Nigeria. Cameroon is selected because it messes with the French. And the Germans plan to win in 6 months on land, so it is probably easier to stockpile many supplies. For example, if you keep a year worth of coal on hand for peace time, and you likely have plenty of coal. Same for torpedoes or shore battery ammo.
As to the smaller items, people are making it too complicated in the discussion. In a pinch, I can run men, parts and torpedoes to Africa in a regular submarine. This can be increased even more if I use a limited crew to conserve food. There will be a lot of stuff about Kamerun, but most of it has to do with me wanting to have a mini ATL where a colonial power seriously tries to develop a so, so colony for 10 years or more, and this is the only scenario that I have been able to develop.
And cruiser rules, at least effective cruiser rules, are more lax than people seem to realize. For example,
- Germans U-boats would just tow the passengers in life boats with about a 100 foot rope. When they saw a ship on the horizon, often a UK warship, they simply let go of the rope and submerge. I have found no complaints of this type of action ITOL.
- You just have to get the people to a port, not a good port. Some remote port where a ship stops by every 4 months still counts. You are not responsible for feeding the people once they are there, or supply cash to buy supplies. So take operations near China, if the U-boat takes the passengers to near a minor chinese port (large fishing village), and drops them off, then there is no further responsibility of the Germans.
- Part of the reason for the rewrite is things I covered to briefly. Most of the time in the South Atlantic, the U-boats operate with a AMC. It is an AMC and 4-6 U-boats operating as a team. The AMC picks up survivors, and in many cases puts a crew on the captured ship to sail to Kamerun. There is a large POW camp on the interior of Kamerun, I just did not cover it much. And if you are a neutral, you can take stay the war at the expense of the German government, try to leave overland, or take one of the supply ships to South America.
As to the reaction, it took the UK several years to react IOTL to developments, so most things I do will have no prewar impact on the British actions. If the Germans were not writing press releases as they go along bragging, the British probably would not even know what the Germans were doing.
So what really happens elsewhere? You get a brief burst of activity near China. People will travel from Chinese ports to Shanghai, and then go back to their home country. Probably the USA as the most powerful neutral will organize the effort, to the extent it is organized.
If you are in the Indian Ocean basin, you will spend the war in the highlands of East Africa.
If you are in the South Atlantic, you have options.
If you are near the UK home waters, you end up on a UK warship or the coastline of a neutral country.
I did not cover it, but the biggest single loss of life will be when UK warships attack German AMC's since most of these ships will have prisoners below decks. If the German crew dies, the POW also die. It was not covered in the first ATL in any detail.
