Ultimate WWI Naval Scenarios

Just some rough ideas.

1907-German Intelligence gains accurate information on design of Invincible class battlecruisers. SMS Blucher is Germany's first Battlecruiser.

1908-1911 US sells all Pre-Dreadnoughts to China, Greece and Turkey

1912-German Naval Command decides not to send Goeben and Breslau to Med. Instead all Pre-Dreadnoughts are sent to Tsingtao, China to match Imperial Japanese Fleet.

Criticism welcome also feel free to add your own ideas.
 

MrP

Banned
While I think it'd be cool to have a large AH naval engagement between German and Japanese fleets in WWI, it sits ill with a fairly important reason (aside from the inconsequentiality of Tsingtao and difficulties with supplying such a large battlefleet in time of war) for retaining the predreads in home waters. While only a few of the late German predreads augmented the HSF's dreadnought forces, the lion's share of them oversaw the Baltic, ensuring that the smaller Russian fleet presented no threat to Germany.
 
We sold predreadnauts to Greece. Turkey was in the market for Dreadnaught and bought one from Great Britain that was taken over at the start of the war and named the Erin. We also built a couple of BB's for Argentina at this time. We probly would not have sold obsolete BB's to China because we were friendly with Japan, UK and other powers that were carving up the country and did not want to give the Chinese a more efficient way to fight back.

Germany would maybe send a couple of predreadnauts to Tsingtao, but if anything would send something more along the lines of a newer BC and cruisers if they wanted to counter the Kai Gun in that area. Japan was having the UK build the Kongo at this time and it was delivered before the outbreak of WWI so if they were wanting to have something to balance the IJN it would be at least one or more BC's and cruisers. One of the ideas for that fleet was not power projection but more of the commerce raiding potential for operations in the Pacific area.
 
Dan,

I don't think spreading out a number of capital units to foreign stations and foreign owners will necessarily increase the number of battles.

Aside from the supply issues, such as how Tsingtao is going to coal a squadron much larger than the one stationed there in the OTL, and operational issues, such as why Germany is going to send pre-dreds to face Japan's dreds, the smaller powers will be just as leery to risk their handful of ships as the larger powers were leery to risk their squadrons.

I just don't see more battles occurring, sorry. :(


Bill
 
Ok how about Italian entry in 1915 as a CP the Med was to quiet for my liking.


Dan,

Now that opens up all sorts of naval possibilities in both the Med, North Sea, and beyond.

As we all know, Japan eventually sent warships to the Med to help with ASW efforts thanks to her naval treaty with the UK. Imagine what sort of help the UK might ask for and Japan might provide if the Entente was facing the Italian and Austro-Hungarian battlefleets?


Bill
 
We sold predreadnauts to Greece. Turkey was in the market for Dreadnaught and bought one from Great Britain that was taken over at the start of the war and named the Erin. We also built a couple of BB's for Argentina at this time. We probly would not have sold obsolete BB's to China because we were friendly with Japan, UK and other powers that were carving up the country and did not want to give the Chinese a more efficient way to fight back.

The Greeks apparently tried to negotiated the purchase of a battlecruiser mirroring HMS Tiger and dreadnought from the French. Their diplomacy was horrible, tho it may have done more with their finances. The 'Dreadnoughts' supplement by Avalanche Press is particularly informative.

There may have been an international scramble among the powers to purchase the Rio de Janerio when the Brazilians initially put it on the market.

Apparently the Chinese did carry out some negotiations with Bethlehem Steel to procure the infrastructure and then warships to create a new navy in the early 1900s. My friend believes that they were in the market hoping to acquire battleships similar to the South Carolina class.
 
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