The Rainbow. A World War One on Canada's West Coast Timeline
- Thread starter YYJ
- Start date
I
Nice pix. Thanks.
I did think about backing Princes Charlotte into US waters. From a narrative perspective, it felt comical in the wrong way, but I may revisit that when I take this monstrosity and give it a big edit after I am done.
Nice pix. Thanks.
Note that not all ships can take backing up long distances. It's rough on the rudder. Especially if said ship has recently grounded and been torpedoed, and was never imagined to take such punishment.
And "Armchair Admirals" will debate Lieutenant Von Spee's decision for decades to come afterward
(And likely a Board will make some comment on it since the bulkhead DID cave) But in essence that would likely have required some additional personnel to be available to run those orders and set everything up and, (as he should) Spee was more directly concerned with getting his crew to relative safety if he could. I'd leave it alone as it makes sense under the circumstances that by the time he'd have thought about it there would be no one but him on the bridge and well ...Randy
There may be practical reasons for the Princess Charlotte not sailing backwards. For more tension, maybe Von Spee and Rahl do want to back her up, but damage somewhere rules that out?
Thanks for the pix. Those treaty cruisers were a tough lot. I have been thinking of the naval campaign in this story as being like a mini-Solomons campaign, mini in warships and time. Point-blank ranges in poor visibility and narrow waters. I can imagine in an alt-WW 2 a Canadian warship being sent to a South Pacific island chain, with a senior officer or NCO remembering his time as a young sailor fighting the Hun. Or an American sailor in an alt-WW 2, serving in the Solomons, remembering the stories of an uncle or dad who was a German or Canadian sailor.
Yes, the fights with Anadyr, Restless, and the Galiano/Malaspina showdown had a sort of Third Savo Island/First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal feel about them.
There's a big difference between a CA needing to sail hundreds or thousands of miles, and an AMC just needing to limp a few miles and not wanting to pause in Canadian territory. Attempting to stop and reverse is liable, in Von Spees mind, to get them attacked, and given the semi-non shouted nature of the leaks I'd bet on getting her grounded ASAP as opposed to reducing pressure.
Yeah that sounds about right. I would think Von Spee is pretty sure that there is no saving the ship so his primary concern would be avoiding a POW camp (and Radl avoiding the noose) so just going for the line makes more sense.
Plus what's yet to happen, hopefully Rainbow and the Esquimalt batteries vs Leipzig and Nurnberg with the subs bringing up the rear.
Question: If the Germans and Canadians are interned for the first 3 years of the war, what happens when the US declares war on Germany? Do the Candians then get repatriated back to Canada and the Germans become prisoners of war? Or do they get turned over to another neutral country until the war ends? Particularly with the Radl situation this seems kind of dicey...
What you outlined is the exact process. The Germans become POW, Radl is probably a political decision. The Canadians can have princess Charlotte back
With Radl's Ships officers papers, they could list him as a reservist in the Imperial Austrian Navy as part of his qualifications. There would be no problems if they tried to get him as a spy since it was plainly there, or really cause problems with whoever said yes to hiring him.
What you outlined is the exact process. The Germans become POW, Radl is probably a political decision. The Canadians can have princess Charlotte back
However, they are responsible for moving her.
Radl is going to be one of history's infamous characters, isn't he - at least in Canada.
Driftless
Donor
I'd guess, the notion that most history is written by the victors would come into play here.
Assuming the victors are the same after this devastation of a sizable portion of Allied copper and other industries...