TL-191: Featherston's Finest - Uniforms, Weapons, and Vehicles of the CSA and Freedom Party

Pangur

Donor
Rockets on a sub!? What madness is this!

Okay joking aside, perhaps the Confederates wouldn't try this, but to me the chance is... 40/60? Their sub fleet has been the only successful service of the Navy so far. My reasoning is that, despite the limited funding they might get, they could at least try to develop a design to address a problem they have. It might be better to just invest in more cheaply built subs, but still. Featherston was pouring funds into anything that would give him an edge, especially in the Army. Perhaps he could spare something for the Navy.
Thats all quite true about the Confederate subs. Your reply has got me thinking, would Featherstone have a blind side to him re their navy like Hitler did? He as army in the previous war
 
Thats all quite true about the Confederate subs. Your reply has got me thinking, would Featherstone have a blind side to him re their navy like Hitler did? He as army in the previous war

A blind side, huh? Well, yeah, the Confederate Navy would be something of a blind side I suppose. By that, I mean that it would be the weakest branch of the Confederate Armed Forces. Traditionally it has relied on the British Royal Navy to handle almost all naval activity and protection. There would be no way the Confederates could match the United States or Britain in terms of number on the high seas. It would have to build wisely.
 
Rockets on a sub!? What madness is this!

Okay joking aside, perhaps the Confederates wouldn't try this, but to me the chance is... 40/60? Their sub fleet has been the only successful service of the Navy so far. My reasoning is that, despite the limited funding they might get, they could at least try to develop a design to address a problem they have. It might be better to just invest in more cheaply built subs, but still. Featherston was pouring funds into anything that would give him an edge, especially in the Army. Perhaps he could spare something for the Navy.
Thats all quite true about the Confederate subs. Your reply has got me thinking, would Featherstone have a blind side to him re their navy like Hitler did? He as army in the previous war
The CSA might be open to radical ideas for its submarine force ITTL. IOTL the French had big guns on subs, the Japanese had subs that could launch aircraft and Germany experimented with launching rockets from submarines. Post WWII the Russians experimented with an airplane/submarine hybrid, what crazy ideas for subs could the CSA have come up with?
 
The CSA might be open to radical ideas for its submarine force ITTL. IOTL the French had big guns on subs, the Japanese had subs that could launch aircraft and Germany experimented with launching rockets from submarines. Post WWII the Russians experimented with an airplane/submarine hybrid, what crazy ideas for subs could the CSA have come up with?

Well that's a fair point. Again, if they do end up making these I don't foresee many of them being made, at least one or three, but it would be fun to see! Design wise the Surcouf submarine had a few major problems relating to its guns, but the French went about building it anyway. Who knows really. I'd for sure like to see it adopted by the Confederate Navy.

In general though, I believe the Confederate Navy's submarine force would be its most active and successful component compared to its surface fleet. Whether the Confederates realize that or not I do believe that would take steps in experimenting with a Surcouf style sub or modernizing their submarine fleet.
 
So here's a interesting question for you all.

Its kinda of related to this thread. What do you think Lulu Mattox, Jake Featherston's secretary, would look like? Specifically, what do you think she would look like in uniform, if she was mentioned to ever wear one or not.

Like the men in the Freedom Party around the time of the Second Great War, I do imagine that many women that were party members also had some kind of uniform, whether for field duty or for administrative duties. In general I think quite a few Confederate women would be in uniform at this time as well.

Here are some references pics. Most of these are British, German, and American style uniforms, but the Freedom Party's look is stated to be a white shirt with butternut bottoms. Something could be made there I think, whether for administrative work of field work.

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Here's a few more pictures. These ones have a white shirt this time, which I think would be more in-tune with the Freedom Party's uniform. Again I have no idea if Lulu Mattox would wear a uniform as Featherston's secretary, perhaps she'd just wear something more civilian. Still, why not.

762523d13b9378dc74fb34b4a9e1e31f.jpg
 
So here's a interesting question for you all.

Its kinda of related to this thread. What do you think Lulu Mattox, Jake Featherston's secretary, would look like? Specifically, what do you think she would look like in uniform, if she was mentioned to ever wear one or not.

Like the men in the Freedom Party around the time of the Second Great War, I do imagine that many women that were party members also had some kind of uniform, whether for field duty or for administrative duties. In general I think quite a few Confederate women would be in uniform at this time as well.

Here are some references pics. Most of these are British, German, and American style uniforms, but the Freedom Party's look is stated to be a white shirt with butternut bottoms. Something could be made there I think, whether for administrative work of field work.

View attachment 445038

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I don't think it was ever mentioned that Featherston's secretary wore a uniform. I remember her being described as being over weight and middle aged and that Featherston himself didn't find her attractive which he felt was a good thing because she wasn't distracting.
So even if she did wear a uniform, she wouldn't look like the pics of women in uniform you posted here.

BTW I don't recall Featherston being married or ever being described in any of the books of being attracted to women, is it possible Featherston was gay? If I understand correctly Hitler's sexual preference is still in doubt.
 
BTW I don't recall Featherston being married or ever being described in any of the books of being attracted to women, is it possible Featherston was gay? If I understand correctly Hitler's sexual preference is still in doubt.

It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely, or that the absence of a love life is evidence of being gay. He probably had different priorities in life, and maybe women found him unattractive?
 
It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely, or that the absence of a love life is evidence of being gay. He probably had different priorities in life, and maybe women found him unattractive?
Yeah I could see that, also he seemed too angry at the world to be interested in romance of any kind.
 
BTW I don't recall Featherston being married or ever being described in any of the books of being attracted to women, is it possible Featherston was gay? If I understand correctly Hitler's sexual preference is still in doubt.

Wasn't married, nope. Don't think he was gay though, but I guess if Turtledove really wanted to make the parallels to Hitler be more pronounced he would have left it up for debate. I believe in a meeting with Anne Colleton in the American Empire series Anne was particularly surprised that Featherston didn't seem to find her attractive at all, which many men did. Then again, Featherston was the kind of guy to stay mad at everything all the time. Plus, he wasn't much of a looker either.

He's quoted as saying "I like Lulu. Rest of the world is full of assholes." Whether he found women or men attractive he probably didn't care. Thought everyone was an asshole. So there's that XD
 
Confederate Freedom Party Guardsmen Uniforms #2:

Credit for art by --- >>> Maridjan Kirisame on DeviantArt --- https://www.deviantart.com/maridjan-kirisame

Credit for submachine-gun by --- >>> @cortz#9

Screen Shot 2019-03-06 at 11.29.37 AM.png


^^^ --- Second of Freedom Party Guardsmen by the same artist that did the first. Mid to Late-War, variations in headwear ranging from camouflaged army issued hats to civilian wide brimmed hats with Confederate badges pinned on them. Variations in weaponry include submachine-guns and the occasional bolt action rifle for snipers or designated marksmen.
 
Wasn't married, nope. Don't think he was gay though, but I guess if Turtledove really wanted to make the parallels to Hitler be more pronounced he would have left it up for debate. I believe in a meeting with Anne Colleton in the American Empire series Anne was particularly surprised that Featherston didn't seem to find her attractive at all, which many men did. Then again, Featherston was the kind of guy to stay mad at everything all the time. Plus, he wasn't much of a looker either.

He's quoted as saying "I like Lulu. Rest of the world is full of assholes." Whether he found women or men attractive he probably didn't care. Thought everyone was an asshole. So there's that XD
Pretty much agree and I think I remember him saying most men would not find Lulu attractive.
 
Confederate Freedom Party Guardsmen Uniforms #2:

Credit for art by --- >>> Maridjan Kirisame on DeviantArt --- https://www.deviantart.com/maridjan-kirisame

Credit for submachine-gun by --- >>> @cortz#9

View attachment 445080

^^^ --- Second of Freedom Party Guardsmen by the same artist that did the first. Mid to Late-War, variations in headwear ranging from camouflaged army issued hats to civilian wide brimmed hats with Confederate badges pinned on them. Variations in weaponry include submachine-guns and the occasional bolt action rifle for snipers or designated marksmen.
I like the sub-gun. :biggrin::cool:
 
I think it looks great! Has a distinct “Southern” look about it.

The artist did a really good job here. The submachine-gun on the left was done by @cortz#9 . We never got to naming it, but I always just refer to it as the "Griswold". The rifleman on the right has a "southern cross" badge on his hat, taken from the actual Southern Cross of Honor in OTL. Wanted to give him a bedroll like they had in the Civil War, but this is fine as is I think.
 
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