It was intended to be a "This is why we can't have nice things" sort of thing. The crew drunkenly named the ship, now they are stuck with it.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
It was intended to be a "This is why we can't have nice things" sort of thing. The crew drunkenly named the ship, now they are stuck with it.
As I noted putting Jacob in charge will have the opposite effect AND there's no real reason to take it away from the Luftwaffe anyway since it will be, (as if Jacob's being in charge wasn't a clear sign in the fist place and who in Berlin thought that was NOT going to be both the outcome and effect?) a military program from top to bottom anymore than the German "Nuclear Program" is civilian in nature or organization. It's not NASA it is a joint military program which it was under Luftwaffe control.
HMS Ass? How did that slip by? Somebody along the way should have 'corrected' the ships name before it got out. At times Germany TTL has as many lead-paint drinkers as the US. Nobody "in charge" (even Jacob) is going to be amused by this. (We are but then again we're kinda low brow around here anyway
)Randy
Eh, few not directly involved remember the name of a ship who picked up an astronaut for long. As for on order from up high to change the name, there's bound to be reporters who would speak with the seamen themselves, and they would probably mention that the original name was changed to something more PC, so little chance of hiding that. And from what I remember, it was by chance that the capsule landed near a more... picturesquely named ship.
Wrong navy. 'SMS Ass'. The RN pussers might have given it a more prosaic name like 'HMS Khyber Pass'?
Poor Truman, he just can't win with the Germans. I am sure that he also caught the reference that Albrecht is dating Kat's sister.
I think when Truman's term is up he will leave the White House in a straight jacket, destination rubber room. His nightmares must be in the German Language, and when he wakes up his first thought of the morning must be "What are the Germans going to do today to cause my ulcer to act up?".
When Captain Hasse brings his ship into Wilhelmshaffen, the SMS Esel will get a water cannon salute and a brass band treatment. Perhaps our boy Christian is in line for a PLM himself. The Esel could become a training ship for the KLM.
By the way, I did spit my coffee all over my laptop when I read Truman's line about the "S.M.S. Ass". Thank you PM. It is too bad there is not an option for "Like to the fourth power", rather than just a like. You earned that for sure.
I think when Truman's term is up he will leave the White House in a straight jacket, destination rubber room. His nightmares must be in the German Language, and when he wakes up his first thought of the morning must be "What are the Germans going to do today to cause my ulcer to act up?".
When Captain Hasse brings his ship into Wilhelmshaffen, the SMS Esel will get a water cannon salute and a brass band treatment. Perhaps our boy Christian is in line for a PLM himself. The Esel could become a training ship for the KLM.
By the way, I did spit my coffee all over my laptop when I read Truman's line about the "S.M.S. Ass". Thank you PM. It is too bad there is not an option for "Like to the fourth power", rather than just a like. You earned that for sure.
Jacob von Schmidt is the most logical choice to head the space program as he has the prestige, the technical understanding, the organisation skills, and the vision to take the program beyond the headline making but otherwise useless stunts that has gone on before.
Germany has to decide where they are going to go with the program, is the goal a moon landing or maybe a space station?
The Anglo-French effort I think is going to be geared to satellites launches for scientific, military, and commercial purposes.
For the Americans, well that is another story.
They have the resources of they wanted to do the the moon landings, the space stations, and the satellites if only they can get past the hate and superstition that is holding them back.
Germany has to decide where they are going to go with the program, is the goal a moon landing or maybe a space station?
The Anglo-French effort I think is going to be geared to satellites launches for scientific, military, and commercial purposes.
For the Americans, well that is another story.
They have the resources of they wanted to do the the moon landings, the space stations, and the satellites if only they can get past the hate and superstition that is holding them back.
Logical choice is not always the right choice though....(even if I do agree)
He has burned enough bridges with the upper government do you really think they want him where he may possibly cause moe trouble for them....
Regarding the whole "Esel" thing, I guess they can either pretend it didn't happen or embrace it. Point at the positive aspects of donkeys as being known to be hardworking and not easily deterred from its chosen goal. Have some paint an image of the virgin Mary astride a donkey with a shooting star going by above her on the bow and generally claim that "HMS Esel" is a fine name for a ship and everyone who thinks differ.
If they do it right a few decades from now, the KLM will launch its newest research ship full of antennas and satellite dishes and computers to support the space program and name it HMS Esel because at that point the name has tradition.
The Anglo-French effort being so close on the heels of the German one is certainly a surprise, but without any wars to drive the countries near bankruptcy and after seeing what rockets did to Japan they probably had both the resources and the willingness to advance such a project.
Regarding the Pour le Mérite and other medals they might want to pin on von Richthofen. They will probably eventually need to come up with some sort of Astronaut medal or order like the Congressional Space Medal of Honor or the Russian ones like it in OTL. And may remember to include all the people on the ground who made the whole thing possible like von Braun.
Jacob should be smart enough to set his ego aside and include as many people from different branches as possible in the new organization now that he has won. Make sure that the air force won't feel completely slighted and have some of their people be next, maybe include some from the medical branch in future larger vessels with multi-person crews.
Weather satellites will be a big thing that will justify the coast of the space program to many. Germany may not be as susceptible to extreme weather events as the US, but the benefit for shipping and similar will be immense not to mention the German interests in places like Vietnam that are far more likely to be hit by tropical storms.
Communication satellites are another big thing that probably Arthur C. Clarke has already written about in this timeline. Again the much compacter Germany has less use for that then the US and USSR had in OTL, but communicating with some overseas interest is still a useful thing especially for the British and the French. (Also places like the Karolinen will eventually get German TV via sattelite rebroadcasted locally to help with the whole cultural assimilation thing.)
If they do it right a few decades from now, the KLM will launch its newest research ship full of antennas and satellite dishes and computers to support the space program and name it HMS Esel because at that point the name has tradition.
The Anglo-French effort being so close on the heels of the German one is certainly a surprise, but without any wars to drive the countries near bankruptcy and after seeing what rockets did to Japan they probably had both the resources and the willingness to advance such a project.
Regarding the Pour le Mérite and other medals they might want to pin on von Richthofen. They will probably eventually need to come up with some sort of Astronaut medal or order like the Congressional Space Medal of Honor or the Russian ones like it in OTL. And may remember to include all the people on the ground who made the whole thing possible like von Braun.
Jacob should be smart enough to set his ego aside and include as many people from different branches as possible in the new organization now that he has won. Make sure that the air force won't feel completely slighted and have some of their people be next, maybe include some from the medical branch in future larger vessels with multi-person crews.
Weather satellites will be a big thing that will justify the coast of the space program to many. Germany may not be as susceptible to extreme weather events as the US, but the benefit for shipping and similar will be immense not to mention the German interests in places like Vietnam that are far more likely to be hit by tropical storms.
Communication satellites are another big thing that probably Arthur C. Clarke has already written about in this timeline. Again the much compacter Germany has less use for that then the US and USSR had in OTL, but communicating with some overseas interest is still a useful thing especially for the British and the French. (Also places like the Karolinen will eventually get German TV via sattelite rebroadcasted locally to help with the whole cultural assimilation thing.)
I can see this taking off, especially the painting, although keep that in the ward room.
On the Bow I'd gave a line drawing of a Donkey's head with a Shooting Start overhead. For each Raumfahrer they recover, add another star. If not, not sure if the KLM use them, but that could also work as a unit flash.
Eh, in German it merely is a homonym for 'Dummkopf' (dunderhead? dunce?). That's the actual low key joke the trawler's crew are going with.HMS Ass? How did that slip by? Somebody along the way should have 'corrected' the ships name before it got out. At times Germany TTL has as many lead-paint drinkers as the US. Nobody "in charge" (even Jacob) is going to be amused by this. (We are but then again we're kinda low brow around here anyway
Randy
It's hardly the German authorities task to police unimportant ship designations for their range of possible equivalents in other languages on the off chance that they also happen to have a vulgar use.
..... Correct me, but the incident in question wasn't the inverse, namely Albrecht giving a serious case of Brown Trousers to the crew of a Recon converted Bomber that got too nosey and tried to enter an aerial Exclusion zone during the Mexican Conflict?
Never question your own sides view of things! Obviously that German plane was far inferior to the USA plane, even though it was a converted bomber. The USAF( has this happened ITTL?) knows what happened (!) and that is what they have told the President. Would they ever lie to the President?
Not a homonym, just the German word for equus asinus asinus is Esel witch is also used to call someone, who acts stubborn and stupid. But that is an insult to the intelligent and brave Ugulate.
@Peabody-Martini
A little OT but could we please get an overview of the state of the world update when you reach 1960?
I'm very interested in what will happen in the french and british colonies/protectorates. Maybe from Douglas POV who is sent to Africa.
A little OT but could we please get an overview of the state of the world update when you reach 1960?
I'm very interested in what will happen in the french and british colonies/protectorates. Maybe from Douglas POV who is sent to Africa.
Next, going into space for a picnic lunch.
Note that I'm only being a little sarcastic. OTL, no one new if it would be possible to eat in zero gravity.
Note that I'm only being a little sarcastic. OTL, no one new if it would be possible to eat in zero gravity.
I like to think that my German skills are passable, nowhere near fluent, but good enough.
I think Dain nailed the intent of the crew when they christened their "skow" the Esel. It is in the English translation that Esel can come off as "Ass" with the double meaning which does not exist in German. My gut tells me that the crew of the Esel were thinking more along the lines of slow, unrespected, unloved and perhaps even stupid, as a comment on their originally assigned mission.
This reminds me of a saying one of my German teachers enlightened us with. "Nicht alle Esel hat vier Beine", which translates to: "Not all Donkeys (or in this case morons, idiots or dumbasses) have four legs".
Part 78, Chapter 1167
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Sixty-Seven
13th February 1956
South China Sea
It was hardly a surprise that the Brass wasn’t thrilled to learn the name that the crew had bestowed upon the Esel. Compared to the normally glacial pace that decisions were made regarding ships and their crews in the Western Pacific, this was done with shocking speed. They had been notified that the High Command had determined that the name of the ship had been done for crew morale, there were also rumors flying around that the English translation of Esel had been noticed by the President of the United States no less. It would have been a lot more fun if they had known about that before they had done it.
Officially, the Esel had just become SMS V618 Greetsiel, named for a village in Lower Saxony which was the standard practice for armed trawlers, and they were to never mention any of that ever again. Naturally, it was still all anyone was talking about when they had been sent out on patrol to the Spratly Islands. Christoph remained in command of the Greetsiel, though he had learned through back channels that someone extremely high up the food chain in Wunsdorf wanted to speak to him in person when he made it back to Germany. When a small fish gets spotted by big fish, they most often get eaten. Christoph didn’t need anyone to tell him that. The result was that he was in no rush to get home.
The Spratly Islands would be a good escape, albeit a frustrating one. Smuggling routes ran through the islands from China and Vietnam, opium mostly but a staggering array of other things. The Philippines had long been a transshipment point for goods of questionable provenance going east or west. The Greetsiel could patrol those waters for the next thousand years and hardly make a dent in the illicit trade. It was the lure of easy money, what was bought for pennies in the Far East could be sold for dollars in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Berlin
After debriefing and extensive medical checks Albrecht von Richthofen had been sent home to take a well-deserved leave.
When Albrecht arrived back in Berlin, Emil had found himself as part of the delegation of Senior Officers that met him at the airport and went with him to the von Richthofen townhouse in Mitte Berlin. It was an incredible scene at the airport and in the streets with massive crowds, the Press, even people who had a good reason to be there. All they needed was a chariot and a dwarf to whisper in Albrecht’s ear that he wasn’t a god to complete the spectacle.
Graf von Richthofen was present, having come from his house in Kleinburg. He said that he hoped that his son finally gotten this insanity out of his system. The Graf was going to be disappointed. Emil had seen that Albrecht had been promoted to Korvettenkapitän with rapid advancement in the future promised, Emil had to remind himself that was equivalent to a Major in the Heer or Luftwaffe. Walther von Braun had also put forward an ambitious time-table for the Atgeir Project in Cam Ranh with three more launches before the rainy season shut down operations for the year. Two satellites, one for pure research to continue an examination of the belts of charged particles that had been discovered years earlier by Passat series of satellites and the other an experimental communications satellite that would be in high earth orbit. Then the final launch of the year would be a manned mission. While Albrecht wasn’t slated to be involved in any further spaceflights, he was expected to play a leadership role for the remainder of the Atgeir Project among the Raumfahrers. He would probably stay in that role in future projects. Listening to the way that Albrecht described spaceflight, he would leap at the chance to go again if he was given the opportunity. The Gräfin was a different story, she just seemed happy that her son had made it home safely.
Elisabeth, Albrecht’s girlfriend had looked terrified the entire time. Maria had warned Emil that she suffered from agoraphobia and that he needed to be understanding of her. The fact that she had braved what had to be her worst fears to be there when Albrecht stepped off the plane suggested a lot of good things about her. Emil just hoped that he appreciated her.
Emil himself found Christoph Hase to be interesting. He knew a thing or two about getting unexpectedly catapulted into a position of authority and being the Chief of the OKW meant that he was authorized to look at the unredacted personnel files of anyone he wanted. As a career Noncommissioned Officers in the Navy, Hase had in the file distinguishing features on his body just in case it would need to be identified from those alone. Those seemed to consist of a large number of tattoos, Emil was left with the question of why he had crosses tattooed on the soles of his feet and a rooster on his right ankle that he was certain involved a dirty joke.
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The show that Kiki was watching was an absurd bit of escapism, but the patients liked it. Suddenly, the South Pacific was all the rage. It was about a Chief Constable who burns out while working in a nameless big city in Germany. His superiors get him reassigned to the distant Caroline Islands in the Pacific to recuperate. Instead, he finds himself working in Major Crimes on the Islands, policing a jurisdiction that covered tens of thousands of kilometers.
The show concluded, and the news came on. Kiki got up to change the channel only to have the patients insist on watching the news. The thing they wanted to see was the report about the latest developments in the space program. Speaking of something that was all the rage.
13th February 1956
South China Sea
It was hardly a surprise that the Brass wasn’t thrilled to learn the name that the crew had bestowed upon the Esel. Compared to the normally glacial pace that decisions were made regarding ships and their crews in the Western Pacific, this was done with shocking speed. They had been notified that the High Command had determined that the name of the ship had been done for crew morale, there were also rumors flying around that the English translation of Esel had been noticed by the President of the United States no less. It would have been a lot more fun if they had known about that before they had done it.
Officially, the Esel had just become SMS V618 Greetsiel, named for a village in Lower Saxony which was the standard practice for armed trawlers, and they were to never mention any of that ever again. Naturally, it was still all anyone was talking about when they had been sent out on patrol to the Spratly Islands. Christoph remained in command of the Greetsiel, though he had learned through back channels that someone extremely high up the food chain in Wunsdorf wanted to speak to him in person when he made it back to Germany. When a small fish gets spotted by big fish, they most often get eaten. Christoph didn’t need anyone to tell him that. The result was that he was in no rush to get home.
The Spratly Islands would be a good escape, albeit a frustrating one. Smuggling routes ran through the islands from China and Vietnam, opium mostly but a staggering array of other things. The Philippines had long been a transshipment point for goods of questionable provenance going east or west. The Greetsiel could patrol those waters for the next thousand years and hardly make a dent in the illicit trade. It was the lure of easy money, what was bought for pennies in the Far East could be sold for dollars in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
Berlin
After debriefing and extensive medical checks Albrecht von Richthofen had been sent home to take a well-deserved leave.
When Albrecht arrived back in Berlin, Emil had found himself as part of the delegation of Senior Officers that met him at the airport and went with him to the von Richthofen townhouse in Mitte Berlin. It was an incredible scene at the airport and in the streets with massive crowds, the Press, even people who had a good reason to be there. All they needed was a chariot and a dwarf to whisper in Albrecht’s ear that he wasn’t a god to complete the spectacle.
Graf von Richthofen was present, having come from his house in Kleinburg. He said that he hoped that his son finally gotten this insanity out of his system. The Graf was going to be disappointed. Emil had seen that Albrecht had been promoted to Korvettenkapitän with rapid advancement in the future promised, Emil had to remind himself that was equivalent to a Major in the Heer or Luftwaffe. Walther von Braun had also put forward an ambitious time-table for the Atgeir Project in Cam Ranh with three more launches before the rainy season shut down operations for the year. Two satellites, one for pure research to continue an examination of the belts of charged particles that had been discovered years earlier by Passat series of satellites and the other an experimental communications satellite that would be in high earth orbit. Then the final launch of the year would be a manned mission. While Albrecht wasn’t slated to be involved in any further spaceflights, he was expected to play a leadership role for the remainder of the Atgeir Project among the Raumfahrers. He would probably stay in that role in future projects. Listening to the way that Albrecht described spaceflight, he would leap at the chance to go again if he was given the opportunity. The Gräfin was a different story, she just seemed happy that her son had made it home safely.
Elisabeth, Albrecht’s girlfriend had looked terrified the entire time. Maria had warned Emil that she suffered from agoraphobia and that he needed to be understanding of her. The fact that she had braved what had to be her worst fears to be there when Albrecht stepped off the plane suggested a lot of good things about her. Emil just hoped that he appreciated her.
Emil himself found Christoph Hase to be interesting. He knew a thing or two about getting unexpectedly catapulted into a position of authority and being the Chief of the OKW meant that he was authorized to look at the unredacted personnel files of anyone he wanted. As a career Noncommissioned Officers in the Navy, Hase had in the file distinguishing features on his body just in case it would need to be identified from those alone. Those seemed to consist of a large number of tattoos, Emil was left with the question of why he had crosses tattooed on the soles of his feet and a rooster on his right ankle that he was certain involved a dirty joke.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The show that Kiki was watching was an absurd bit of escapism, but the patients liked it. Suddenly, the South Pacific was all the rage. It was about a Chief Constable who burns out while working in a nameless big city in Germany. His superiors get him reassigned to the distant Caroline Islands in the Pacific to recuperate. Instead, he finds himself working in Major Crimes on the Islands, policing a jurisdiction that covered tens of thousands of kilometers.
The show concluded, and the news came on. Kiki got up to change the channel only to have the patients insist on watching the news. The thing they wanted to see was the report about the latest developments in the space program. Speaking of something that was all the rage.
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You Guys are forgetting the main thing. After this historic moment the whole press corps is in overdrive to put a spin on it. At least one (from a more tabloid like newspaper) will look in to the "Esel" situation. And what will he find, a. The "Esel" is an ex-pirate ship. b. The KLM is still fighting real Pirates in the far east. c. The TV-programmers are looking for there own Jochem Loewe for a series (think haleys navy/pirattes of the …). Every week the adventures of world famous "... Ass", fighting pirates, rescuing "pretty white slaves", finding treasure, saving the world from…, and finally going where no ship has gone before…..
Ps. Are Revell/Airfix in buisness in this world? I think a model of the "SMS Esel" would have a lot of attraction for boys..
Ps. Are Revell/Airfix in buisness in this world? I think a model of the "SMS Esel" would have a lot of attraction for boys..