Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

This is the largest I could build at end-game:

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Using the largest guns that would let me have at least ten main guns. If I swapped to the 4 x 3 16" Q1s on the Excalibur and Defiant, I could either get enough heavier machinery for an extra knot of design speed, or an extra half inch of belt armor.

As for SDNW3... go into the STGOD subforum and look for the ship design threat for SDNW3. Hell, I think it was longer than the actual freaking story thread.

Actually, wait, I'll just link you to it: http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 5&t=137985
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Leviathan looks impressive, but not massively more so than Excalibur I suppose. Oh well.

Thanks for the link, I'll have a look at it now!

EDIT: What were you guys using to generate the dimensions and all the other details?
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Eternal_Freedom wrote:Leviathan looks impressive, but not massively more so than Excalibur I suppose. Oh well.

Thanks for the link, I'll have a look at it now!

EDIT: What were you guys using to generate the dimensions and all the other details?
Springsharp 3.1.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

January 1927

After the New Year, further conflict with Germany seemed to be on the rise, with German activities in Latin America causing an irate reaction in Washington. President Coolidge directly asked President Muniz for a Cascadian reaction to their current difficulties with Germany.

Muniz, despite his support for rapprochement and good relations with Germany, valued the American alliance more. And there was the issue of long-standing Cascadian influence in Peru and Chile, influence that was risked by German economic expansion into South America and influence with Argentina. President Coolidge was informed that the United States had Cascadia's full support against German encroachment in the Western Hemisphere.

The discovery of a common foe in Germany led to improvements in the American-Cascadian relationship. Unfortunately, it drastically undermined the long-standing Cascadian policy of reconciliation with Germany.

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US tension down to 3, Germany to 8

Improvements to explosive shell manufacturing was announced.

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The prospect of building a new large cruiser class with bigger guns led to the testing of a new, improved 11" gun model.

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With relations with Germany worsening, Admiral Garrett ordered all ships in mothballed status to reserve status. Crews and officers were called up to begin the process of restoring the ships to combat duty.

Four new minesweepers were laid to anticipate the wearing out of older vessels.

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February 1927

Relations with Germany were improved by a new trade agreement and the prompt arrival of a reparations payment, but when it became clear that German agents were responsible for the theft of design papers on Cascadian naval AP shells, all of the work of the month was undone.

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German tension down and back up to 8

A slow economic recovery and a looming risk of German hostility helped to heal the social divides that had started to reappear in Cascadian society

Unrest to 0

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March 1927

The Soviet government offered to pay for Cascadian plans for a basic torpedo protection system, which the Russians had never successfully employed. Admiral Garrett agreed to support the purchase.

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April 1927

The Hawk Government, citing the ongoing issues with Germany, raised military spending against protest from the Opposition.

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May 1927


The Executive Mansion
Portland Federal District
12 May 1927


Admiral Garrett, Admiral Hawkins, and Admiral Wallace all attended the weekly naval briefing with President Muniz and Secretary of State Montelbano. The new Naval Secretary, Conservative Representative Allen Hartfield of Esquimalt, was in attendance as well as Foreign Secretary Emiliano Santiago, now a Senator.

The dispositions of the fleet were discussed, as were the increased alert level and the prospect of increasing the training regimen. The three leaders from the Admiralty provided the answers in a way that clearly pleased their civilian superiors.

It was Muniz who asked the next two questions, both critical to his thinking.

"Fleet Admiral Garrett, in your opinion, is the Navy ready for war?"

Admiral Garrett showed no delay in answering. His weathered, aged face nodded. "Yes, Mister President. We are ready."

Muniz nodded, satisfied by the answer. "Are you ready for war, sir?"

"Pardon me?"

The Hispanic gentleman and statesman appraised him intently. "Admiral, you have served the Republic faithfully for over half a century. For over twenty years you've carried the weight of the Navy upon your shoulders. We can never thank you enough for this. But what concerns me is your health. You are going on seventy-five, yes?"

"This August, yes."

"And you have already commanded us through three wars. The stress of a fourth, at your age… I am worried for your health, sir."

There was silence in the room. It lingered for several seconds. "Is this your way of requesting my resignation and retirement, Mister President?", Admiral Garrett asked.

Muniz shook his head. "It is not. If you feel fit to serve, I will not remove you. Not without cause."

That won him a nod. "Then I assure you that I am healthy enough, sir."

Muniz looked to the other civilian politicians with him. All nodded - they were satisfied. "Then I hope you go in good health, Admiral. Thank you for your candid answers to our questions."

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After the meeting, Admiral Garrett went on to see his son and family while Admirals Hawkins and Wallace got into the car that would take them back to the Admiralty. As a young yeoman drove them through the streets of the capital, Hawkins looked to Wallace. "I don't think the old man will ever retire," said Hawkins. He looked like a craggy-faced sailor as well, clearly in his sixties. "They're going to find him dead in that office at age ninety, the way he's going."

"He's got a remarkable constitution," answered Wallace.

"Hell, do I know that." Hawkins went quiet for a moment. A late spring rain was sprinkling outside of the vehicle. "The doctors at the Naval Hospital told me I have stomach cancer, Phil."

Wallace looked at the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with horror. "No," he replied. "That's…"

"...I'll make it to 1930 if I'm lucky," said Hawkins. "And let me tell you, finding out something like that… it makes a man consider his priorities. I've got grandkids I want to spend time with."

"You are… retiring?"

"In a couple of months, yes." Hawkins looked to Wallace. "The Old Man wants you to replace me."

Wallace considered that. "I… I'm sorry, sir."

"There's no need to apologize. It's the way things go. Will you say yes?"

Wallace nodded slowly.

"Well, that's good. So I've got some time to get you up to speed on what you'll need to know."

The rest of the trip returned to silence, until their return to the Admiralty signaled a return to the daily labors of overseeing a national navy.




A distance away, at a fine restaurant near the Rose Garden, the Admiral clapped the shoulder of his eldest son in congratulations. "Your first command," he said, beaming. "I'm proud of you."

"It's only for a year or so," said Commander Rafael Garrett, newly-appointed Commanding Officer of the destroyer Christopher F.C. Lee. "I'm hoping to get an executive officer's billet on a bigger ship by then. And I've thought about the Aviation School."

"The Aviation School?" The Admiral looked at him with some confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know they're rebuilding that old oiler into an aircraft carrier soon," Raffie said. "For testing only, yes, but if I go through Aviation School, I will have the qualifications for commanding aircraft-carrying ships as well. And I think they've got a future."

"As scouts," the Admiral said. "I doubt they'll be able to carry any ordnance to threaten a battleship for ages, though. I would suggest you look into an XO billet on one of the battlecruisers if you must."

"The competition is fierce. But I feel strongly that air power may be the course of the future. I wish to give it a try."

"Well, Raffie, it is your career," the Admiral sighed. He wasn't willing to fight with Raffie over this, not when he was already feuding with Thomas over politics.

"Thanks for your support, Pa."



News of Admiral Garrett's remarks about the Navy's war readiness went public. The German Republic protested to world opinion that this was further proof of Cascadia's militant behavior threatening peace.

Both countries, nevertheless, joined a naval conference being held in Brussels on naval arms limitations.

Germany tension to 9

With relations souring, Admiral Garrett ordered enhanced torpedo and gunnery training enacted across the fleet.

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June 1927

The Epaminondas was commissioned into the fleet. The new order of minesweepers were likewise delivered, ready for operation.

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”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

July 1927

The Brussels Naval Conference starting meeting toward the end of June - by July a firm agenda calling for tonnage limitations much like the failed 1923 conference was in place.

This time Admiral Garrett did not call for Cascadian intransigence - he did encourage the government to "keep up appearances", in his words, or rather to show support without committing to a firm naval disarmament program. His own conviction was that the United States would be unwilling to be inferior to Germany, and that Germany would not accept parity with Cascadia and the United States separately.

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In the end, the talks did reveal that all of the governments of the world's naval powers were ready to consider a reduction to naval building, but no firm treaty came about due to the disagreements over tonnage allowances or whether to simply restrict new construction.

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The Germans soon had other problems to contend with. Tensions between the central government and the landowners of East Prussia were reaching boiling point. The junker leadership of the East Prussian state were defiantly pro-monarchy and desired a restoration of the Hohenzollerns as either Kings of Prussia or Emperors of Germany. New land tax laws and labor rights bills incensed the local landowners, and even the peasantry were riled by laws promoting food imports that reduced food prices, and thus their income.


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August 1927

The Demosthenes was commissioned.

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On the 6th of August, the junkers raised the Imperial Flag of Germany in revolt against the German Republic. Armed rebels seized vital points of Koenigsburg, Thorn, and strong columns marched on Danzig and took the city on the 9th. Local Army units dissolved as monarchist officers rose against the Republic and joined the revolt, demanding an end to the Republic and the restoration of the Kaiser.

Cascadian authorities had little to do with the issue - nevertheless Cascadia added its voice to those calling for mediation and an end to the fighting.

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Relations between Cascadia and Germany slightly improved with the German Republic gaining sympathy from Cascadians desiring its success over the monarchist revolt.

Germany tension to 8



September 1927

The Epaminondas finished her crew working up cycle..

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Testing of new oxygen-fueled torpedoes revealed they were duds, forcing designers to go back to the drawing table.

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October 1927

French authorities offered payment for the schematics to the Cascadian preheater machinery in torpedoes. After deliberation, the plans were sold.

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November 1927

The Demosthenes finished her working up.

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A new 3" gun model was made available to the Navy for installation on warships.

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The sinkings of American merchant ships in the Baltics by U-boats heightened tensions with Germany throughout the month. When a Cascadian merchant was also sunk en route to Helsinki, the Cascadian government joined American demands that the German Navy practice more care.

The Germans offered to negotiate reparations, but they refused to apologize, claiming the ships violated an exclusion zone in the Baltics meant to cut off aid to the rebelling junkers.

The United States retaliated with a threat to arm their merchant ships and sink any German submersible that approached. Germany, in turn, threatened to retaliate against any such sinking. It was soon clear that German-American relations were spiraling downward, and with them the Cascadian-German relationship.

Germany tension to 11

The worsening situation prompted Admiral Garrett to mobilize the Navy. The Battle Fleet departed for Manila toward the middle of the month.

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December 1927

The costs of the enhanced training regimen, the fleet mobilization, and the deployment of ships away from home waters forced the Admiralty to suspend construction on most of the Defiant-class battlecruisers.



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The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
25 December 1927


Christmastime had come once again. Raffie was back out at sea at his new posting, leaving his wife and children to attend the family Christmas with Thomas, Anne-Marie, their four children, and Sophie. Raffie and Georgie had given the Admiral a third grandchild, Rafael Keith, to go with Rachel and Catherine. John and Marie were teenagers now, of course, and even David was nearly ten. The last of their children, Gabrielle, was of age to play with Rachel and Catherine.

The children were all raised quite well, at least, and all remained steady at the table as Ms. Freeman brought the dinner out. Sophie and Thomas sat to either side of the Admiral at his customary place at the head of the table. "Thomas, I read in the paper that Representative Woolsey will name you the Opposition's Foreign advisor."

"It is possible," Thomas said. "Although I hold little hope for a vote of no confidence in the current environment. Unfortunately we'll be at war after the New Year without one, I'm afraid."

"The Germans are acting irresponsibly in the Baltic," the Admiral said. "Our American allies have reason to be angry with them."

"It's foolishness. What good would a war with Germany do us now?", Thomas asked, pointedly.

"Little." The Admiral nodded while scooping peas into a spoon. "I would prefer never fighting Germany again. Our nation has little need to get involved in European squabbles and Germany no longer holds Pacific territories. But we must uphold the American alliance. They did the same for us against Japan."

"Another war we didn't need," Thomas grumbled.

"Mon chere…" murmured Anne-Marie, who squeezed her husband's hand.

The Admiral didn't rise to his son's comments. "Hopefully sense will be found between Berlin and Washington."

"Is Papa going to go to war again, Pappi?", asked Rachel. At the age of eight, her brown eyes and dark hair were already painfully reminiscent of her grandmother.

"It is possible, my little Rachel," the Admiral said in a quiet tone. "Pray for him if he does so, and God will see him home."

"I will, Pappi," the little girl vowed.

"I think this talk of war ill-suits the Christmas dinner table," Sophie said. In doing so she adopted the same tone and position her mother had take a decade before. "John, Marie, I trust your grades have improved?"

"They have, Aunt Sophie," John answered. Now that he was coming of age it was clear he'd inherited the family's size and build. "Thank you. Between you and Pa, I'll make University for sure."

"Yes, you will," Thomas guaranteed him. "And I'll be damned if you get dragged into a war like I did."

Before the Admiral could object, Sophie called out, "Thomas, that is enough. This is Papa's dinner table and it is Christmas. We are not a session of the House!"

Thomas' eye looked to his sister and he nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I should hope so." Sophie sighed.

"How is your book writing going, Sophie?", asked Anne-Marie.

"It is going well. I am over halfway through my first draft, and I have all of my research materials." Sophie sighed. "But there is another matter that's come to my attention." She looked at her father with sad eyes.

The Admiral looked to her. "That is?"

"I've been asked by Professor Machett to take up a volume he was starting, on the diplomatic history of the country," she said. "I would have to go through other material relating to the diplomatic initiatives of our country, all of them between 1864 and 1900. Unfortunately, I only have so much of that material from my last trip to Europe, so I'd have to go back."

"Go back," sputtered the Admiral. "When?"

"Summer perhaps. I can bring my materials with me to continue my own work…"

"But Sophie… there's going to be a war," Thomas protested. "And the Germans' U-boats will be out in force!"

"I will seek passage on a neutral liner, if I must," Sophie insisted. "But Professor Machett is offering to sign over his grant from the National University. If I accept this and finish his book as well, I could be offered a faculty position, and further grants! Pa, Tom, this may be the most important opportunity I ever get to become respected in my field!"

As she spoke, the Admiral knew that the decision was already made, and that nothing would unmake it. He nodded and forced a smile for Sophie's benefit. "Your mother would be beaming to see you right now, Sophie," he said warmly. "I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Papa," Sophie said. "I'll be back from Europe within a year or two, I promise." She made a little smile that had an edge to it. "And I won't come back needing a divorce this time."

The Admiral waited for her giggle at that joke before he joined her with a chuckle. Even as he did, though, he felt heartsick at the thought of Sophie being trapped in Europe if another war with Germany broke out, and the seas were made unsafe.

Nor did he bring up the obvious: that her living here for the past four years had made those years, and the last war, bearable to him. With her gone, the house would be utterly empty, unless he managed to talk Georgie into staying until Raffie returned (Not a likely prospect).

But for the sake of his daughter, and his family, the Admiral kept his smile on, and banished those thoughts in the spirit of the season.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

January 1928

President Muniz, though a long-time Hawk of the Democratic Party, proved that Hawkishness was a spectrum with his New Year's Address. In this address, Muniz proposed that a conference be held in a neutral European city to defuse the rising tensions between Germany and the American Republics.

The Germans, still caught up in repressing the Prussian revolt, agreed to the conference.

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Tensions down to 10

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February 1928

The Soviet government approached Cascadian authorities with another proposal for a technology purchase, this time seeking Cascadian schematics for watertight hatches. The signal from the Admiralty was a "yes" - the offered compensation would help deal with the budget crunch of the peacetime mobilization of the fleet.

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In Basel, Switzerland, Swedish mediators met with representatives of the American Republics and the German Republic to discuss a way to settle the ongoing tensions.

This netted Muniz the approval of the Cascadian populace. Much to the chagrin of many Hawks, most polling showed that the majority were not interested in a war with Germany, which was no longer seen as a direct physical threat to Cascadian territory.

For men like Senator Abernathy, this state of affairs was dangerous. There were, in their view, still opportunities to seize with the Germans, and furthermore, the alliance with the United States had assumed paramount importance. The Liberal-Conservative leadership in the Government were becoming convinced that the popular sentiments would make supporting an American war against Germany impossible. Something would have to be done.

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March 1928

On the 3rd of the month, The Oreganian published an article that spelled out the Hawk position: Germany, despite everything, was still a potential threat to Cascadian commerce, and to the Cascadian sphere of influence in South America. This threat had to be faced, and it had to be faced alongside the Americans.

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The Liberal newspaper's article was immediately mocked by several other periodicals and dailies, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the San Francisco Times, and the Boise Standard News. Socialist newspaper The Cascadian Worker's News was especially voracious, printing an article by former Senator Flagg excoriating the Hawk government for its "bloody criminality" in pursuing "a war unjustified by even their usual imperialist aims".

This was not going unnoticed in Washington. Anti-Cascadian sentiments in the nation, primarily in the Southern states and sections of the Republican Party, openly declared their concern that the Cascadians would "abandon" the alliance treaty and leave the United States isolated against Germany. President Coolidge made his concerns plain in a message to the Cascadian Cabinet - his government was worried that if it came to shooting, Cascadia would abandon the alliance, in direct contrast to America's behavior in the Japanese War.

Senator Abernathy and War Secretary Jake Roberts therefore came together and approached Secretary of State Montelbano, urging him to go public with the need to face Germany alongside the United States. Montelbano, however, would not be budged - progress was being made in Basel, he asserted.

By the 12th, this progress was undone. The German Republic, desperately trying to avoid further conservative and monarchist defections to the East Prussian revolt, asserted that it could not make any concessions on trade to South America, or indeed any outright concessions period to the American Republic. For Berlin the situation was impossible: the concessions that would have defused the American war movement would have driven more support for the junker revolt, but not giving those concessions increased the likelihood of war with the American and Cascadian nations.

Senator Abernathy struck. In the Senate, and with his allies in the House, he proposed a vote to declare the German terms at Basel unacceptable, and to require the termination of talks if Germany did not acquiesce. Montelbano resisted the vote and the measure, declaring it "unacceptable". With the Secretary of State's position clear, Jake Roberts jumped in - he announced he could no longer support the Government "as constituted" due to "weakness in the Cabinet". Other devoted hawks echoed this. A vote of no confidence against Montelbano was made and barely defeated.

In the House, the Conservatives took up the reins and threw in their own vote of no confidence. With the strength of the Hawks, the measure barely passed (Democrat Hawks and a few Liberals opposed the overthrow, as did many Doves who saw what was going on). Montelbano gave his resignation to the President that night.

On the 16th of March, Abernathy stepped up and declared he would form a new Hawk government. Roberts would remain as Secretary of War and Conservative hardliner Representative John Edward Hallinger of Shasta would become Foreign Secretary. Liberal Hawk leader Horace Cromley of Bremerton was tapped to be the new Naval Secretary.

Muniz distrusted the Liberal Oppositionist, who had been a political enemy during the Sullivan Presidency. Furthermore, he was facing an election campaign, and a strong Dove challenge joined by discontent over the anemic domestic agenda of the Hawk years could see his own party decide to run someone else. Exercising his authority as President, Muniz required Abernathy to win a vote of confidence in the Parliament before he accepted the new government.

Abernathy left nothing to chance. He went to the Liberal Party leadership and, with the force of the Hawk majority on its National Committee, won the right to apply the Whip. Any Liberal Dove who voted against his Government would be stripped of Party support. Abernathy went into the House fully expecting to ride a unanimous Liberal vote.

But one Dove Liberal refused to accept the Whip. Representative Thomas Garrett of Vallejo stood with the Opposition.
"The Liberal Party must now choose between Power and Duty. Senator Abernathy has set the Whip on the side of Power. I choose to stand on the side of Duty.

What is our duty? Our duty is to protect the dignity and reputation of our Republic from the unscrupulous men who are leading us on the path of infamy. Our duty is to stand for the principles of our nation. The German Republic has not attacked our people. They pose no threat to the safety and security of this Republic. But they provide a convenient excuse for the unprincipled to seize power in the name of national defense.

A vote for Senator Abernathy's government is a vote for war. And I vote 'Nay'."
- Rep. Thomas Garrett, Speech on March 17th, 1928

Thomas' stand was not alone, but it was still a very lonesome one. Only three other Liberal Doves stood with him in defiance of the Whip. Abernathy won the vote, and went on to win the vote in the Senate later that day. He became the new Secretary of State.

Newspapers were nevertheless quick to laud the speech, and attacking Thomas - a decorated war veteran and son of the nation's most valued military chief - proved a tricky problem for many pro-war newspapers. Although not all of them: the supremely hawkish Bremerton Standard declared Thomas a "failed, defeatist lawyer".

It was not a problem for the Liberal National Committee. On March 19th, Thomas was informed that the Liberal Party would support an opponent against him in the 1929 Parliament elections.

Thomas responded by crossing the aisle. On March 21st, he sat with the Democrats. He wired his resignation from his seat to the Upper Californian capital of Sacramento the next day, in keeping with parliamentary custom. The Vallejo seat would be opened to a by-election, likely to be held in May.

By this time, Abernathy had already acted. He approached the military leadership of the country and announced that he was ready to pursue a declaration of war against Germany. General Brewer said nothing. Admiral Garrett, however, declared this a mistake. "If you insist on taking us into another war with Germany, at least ensure they are the ones declaring war," he insisted. "We can ill afford to seem the aggressor."

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By that point, however, the issue was moot. German refusal to respect an American demand on both shipping in the Baltic and German influence in South America led to anger in the American Congress. For the Germans, the situation remained impossible: to make concessions would fuel the monarchist cause and doom the Republic, while the alternative was war.

The German Republic chose the latter.

It still remained on the United States to draw the sword. And draw the sword it did, after another American merchant ship was sunk in the Baltic exclusion zone. On March 27th, 1928, the United States of America declared war on the German Republic.

Muniz wanted to negotiate the issue, but the Americans activated the Second Chicago Treaty clause. Cascadia was obligated by treaty to join the war. Muniz left Abernathy to make the vote in Parliament. On March 28th, 1928, the Republic of Cascadia declared war on the German Republic.

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With war declared, Admiral Garrett ordered a fleet contingent sent into the Indian Ocean. The Cascadian Army began work on an invasion of Tanganyika.

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April 1928

Cascadian submersibles operating out of Sumatran ports and German submersibles out of Tanganyika went on an Indian Ocean killing spree in the month: the Cascadians sank nine German ships and the Germans sank six Cascadian vessels and a Cascadian sub.

Germany, as before, let loose cruisers for raiding duties. The Konigsburg sank to Cascadian ships near Ireland and Britain, and Ariadne caught a merchantman off the Azores.

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The US Navy did its own share of sinkings, primarily against German merchant ships in the Caribbean.

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Pacific Union Station
Portland Federal District
28 April 1928



For the second time that decade, the Admiral and his family assembled at the railroad station to see Sophie Garrett off to Europe.

Much had changed, of course. She was no longer a twenty-three year old student eager to prove her worth - she was a thirty-one year old historian off to make her career. She was laden down with bags that a train employee was helping to pack. Several sets of clothing, a typewriter, notebooks and pens, it had all been packed away.

"I'm gonna miss you, Auntie," protested little Catherine. Rachel joined her sister in hugging her aunt while their mother, Georgia, waited.

"I'll bring you gifts from Europe," she promised her little nieces. "Dresses and dolls. And I know you're going to be big when I get back." Sophie hugged her sister-in-law next. "I'll see you, Georgie."

"Take care, Sophie," urged Georgia.

The Admiral took his daughter in a hug. Even at his advanced age, he could still hug tightly. "Be careful," he insisted. "And for heaven's sake, make sure you're on a British liner. Or French, if you must."

"I've got tickets on the Lusitania," Sophie said. "I paid at the Cunard office in San Francisco."

"Good." The Admiral's relief was evident.

As he finished hugging, a chorus of young voices shouted "Aunt Sophie!" and "Auntie!" Everyone turned in time to see Thomas and Anne-Marie following their children through the boarding terminal. Sophie embraced her nephews and nieces tightly. "Oh, I'm going to miss you all," she said.

Thomas sighed with relief. "We made it, excellent."

"Shouldn't you be running a campaign?", Sophie asked, although she happily accepted her brother's hug. "The papers say it is a tight one."

"It is. And the train will be taking us home tonight," Thomas replied. "But I wanted to see you off."

"Well, thank you."

"You're going by a neutral liner, right?" Worry appeared on Thomas' face. "Please tell me you…"

"Yes, I've ordered tickets on Cunard. Don't worry."

Thomas sighed with relief. "Hopefully this insanity will be over with before you're due to return."

"I won't be staying longer than 1930, I assure you. This mess should be over by then."

"Yes, it should," the Admiral said softly. He looked to Thomas and nodded.

The whistle sounded. Sophie gave her final hugs to her family and, with teary-eyes and a smile, boarded the train. She found a nearby seat and waved at them out of the window until the train began to chug its way down the tracks.

Once it had disappeared, the Admiral looked to them. "Do you have time for an early dinner?", he asked. "Before your next train?"

"We do," Thomas answered. "Pa, I…"

The Admiral nodded. "It's fine. I understand." He clapped a hand to Thomas' shoulder. "You are a brave man, Thomas. I could not be prouder of you. Your mother and grandfathers would be saying the same if they were here."

Thomas nodded and closed his eye. "Thanks, Pa."

"Now… let us see about dinner."



May 1928

On May 8th, the people in the Vallejo district cast their ballots. Most polls conducted from newspapers indicated that Liberal-backed Conservative Oswald Heller would win the ballot on the strength of the War Government and his pro-war stance.

By the 9th, the official results were conclusive: Thomas Garrett, now a Democrat, had been re-elected by his constituents by a margin of 55 to 45.

The result rang like a thunderbolt through the nation's political scene. Newspapers across the country declared it a "complete refutation of Senator Abernathy's Government" by the Vallejo district voters. Many attributed the victory to the campaigning of the renegade Liberal-turned-Democrat, who maintained a constant series of attacks on Abernathy's push for war and the conflict as a whole.

The outcome of the Vallejo by-election was now fueling a Dove and Democrat resurgence, and with only a year to go before the Parliamentary elections were mandated.


The enhanced training regimen ordered the prior year had clearly taken hold.

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The Cascadian submersibles sank another nine German ships at the cost of two of their number, with Germany sinking only six again but with no losses. The cruiser Demosthenes, having entered the Caribbean via the Panama Canal, caught a German oil tanker near the Venezuelan coast and sank her.

On May 17th, the Canadian training destroyer HMCS Champlain was the first to arrive at the North Atlantic site where an American-flagged liner, the Star of Brooklyn, had sent an SOS. She found several dozen lifeboats with a few hundred cold, delirious survivors aboard. It soon became apparent that the Star of Brooklyn had been sunk by a German U-Boat. Neutral outrage sounded across the world.


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Additional ships were sent to secure the sealanes in the Indian Ocean for the proposed invasion force.

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June 1928

The Seawolf torpedoed a German light cruiser.

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In June the German U-boat fleet won the honors for most sinkings, costing the Cascadian merchant marine seven vessels with one U-boat lost. Cascadia sank three German ships to one lost sub.

With politics in Germany reaching crisis levels of tension between conservatives demanding punitive naval expeditions, anti-war leftists and Communists, and the beleaguered moderate conservatives and centrist factions, the German government ordered the Hochseeflotte into action. The bulk of German naval power crossed the Atlantic to engage in a series of raids on American coastal cities, supported by transport ships that would provide some logistical assistance.

The German fleet could not leave European water ways without being spotted. The United States Navy was informed of the incoming German fleet and sortied into the North Atlantic.

Off Newfoundland, the two fleets met in a summer storm. The result was a strategic and tactical draw: the Germans, damaged and concerned for it, withdrew from their planned attacks, but they lost only a battle cruiser, the Furst Bismarck, while their forces had sunk the American battleship North Dakota.

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Meanwhile, near the end of the month, the Cascadian Navy launched a coastal sortie near Dar-es-Salaam.

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The Artemis and Fairbanks swept the Tanganyikan coast, sinking the sole German destroyer in the area.

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The Cascadian Navy ordered further expansion to the fleet bases in Sumatra after informing the British.

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The Navy, concerned with losses to the submersible fleet, ordered ten new subs.

10 new subs ordered


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”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

July 1928

The Constitution developed condensor trouble.

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A Japanese agent was arrested by police agents. Admiral Garrett prevailed upon the government to keep the matter discreet in order to avoid problems with the Japanese.

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It was the Cascadians' turn to invite international condemnation; the submersible Dolphin, operating out of New England, sank a HAPAG liner in the Bay of Fundy outside of Canadian waters. Admiral Garrett ordered an immediate JAG investigation and stripped Commander George Holcolm of his command.

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Russia tension up to 1, Japan up to 5

The Sailfish and Porpoise inflicted damage on the German battle fleet, torpedoing a battleship and battlecruiser respectively. Their successes capped a month of poor German performance under the surface - the Germans managed only two sinkings to seven Cascadian sinkings.

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In terms of surface raiders, the score was tied: the Cascadian heavy cruiser Apache sank two German ships in the South China Sea while two German cruisers now raiding in the Pacific, the Konigsburg and Hela, sank a ship apiece along the supply routes to Samoa.

Steel shortages forced new delays on the Warrior and Reliant's construction.

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Cascadian naval forces were deployed into West African waters to intercept German ships coming the long way around to Tanganyika, and to support potential long-range invasions of Cameroon or German-held Southwest Africa.


August 1928

The cruiser Portland developed condensor problems.

Engine trouble afflicts the CRS Republic.

The German Republic proposed a compromise peace treaty through Switzerland, offering reparations.

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But the offered reparations weren't enough for American negotiators, who demanded Germany limit military sales to Argentina and assume responsibility for the war. The German diplomats could not go so far and the peace talks failed to bring about an end to the fighting.

In Germany proper, the junker revolt launched a fresh offensive aimed at seizing Berlin. Additional Republic troops, supported by Communist militia, sealed off the offensive attack at the Oder.

The Germans now considered accepting help by pointing out to Pilsudski and his Poles that the monarchists wanted to revoke Poland's independence - if the Poles sealed off their borders with East Prussia, assistance coming in from various sources would dry up. The Poles' price tag was steep, however: rights to a corridor to the port of Danzig and to the port itself. In essence, Poland would have an outlet to the Baltic made out of German territory. Such a term would have incited further support for the monarchists and the Republic refused.

In France, one response to the ongoing conflict was a push to take the opportunity to seize Alsace. French politicians resisted being driven to war so quickly, but it was clearly a possibility with public support.

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Once again Cascadian submersibles had a stellar month. The Viper sinks the German destroyer G7 and a minesweeper with torpedoes and gunnery. Perch damaged a German battleship in the North Atlantic. Eight German ships are sunk to one Cascadian loss, compared to three German sinkings for the whole month.

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The Cascadian Presidential race picked up steam with the party conventions. The Conservatives and Populists decided to endorse the candidate of the Liberals: Senator Allen Abernathy, currently Secretary of State, who ran on a plank of promoting business interests, social stability, and Cascadia's East Asian empire.

The Democrats became more consolidated as more and more Democrat Hawks decided that their desire for further social legislation and labor rights were more important than their Hawk leanings. President Muniz was nominated for a re-election campaign that promised more of these laws and vowed to find an honorable, fair end to the war. He was immediately derided by the Cabinet as a "defeatist".

The Presidential campaign was thus shaping up to be a referendum on the scope and direction of the war: Abernathy was in favor of securing more from Germany, even some or all of Germany's African colonies, while Muniz wanted a "status quo antebellum" peace.


September 1928

Portland
's condensor problems forced her to put into Mombasa. Because of the scope of the repairs she needed, she was interned by British colonial authorities.

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The Germans persisted with a peace offer, offering further reparations. Admiral Garrett, who had previously responded to inquiries on the offers by stating the Navy was ready to continue to fight if needed, now declared he thought the German terms were a good basis for talks, and affirmed his support for an end to the war.

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But the terms still weren't enough, as Germany was refusing to give up its trading links to South America, nor would Germany assume responsibility for the war. The Cabinet in Cascadia refused to support signing the offered treaty and demanded more concessions.

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Cascadian submersibles had a stellar month, sinking nine German ships and suffering no losses. The U-boats managed just one sinking, and lost a U-boat in the process. Additionally, the Sacramento caught a German vessel leaving the Mexican Pacific Coast and sank her.

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October 1928

Condensor problems caused the Katsulas to be caught in Portuguese East Africa while out on a fleet patrol mission. She was interned in Lourenço Marques.

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The Liberty developed condensor trouble.

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Evidence of Russian spying activity became public. Abernathy's government issued a protest note to Moscow.

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Russian tension up to 2

Cascadian submersibles sank seven ships to two kills by U-boats. A U-boat also sank the old destroyer Hull.

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The Sacramento and Ariadne each got one sinking. American ships provided another few sinkings of German ships.

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November 1928

The Cascadian submersible force sank ten ships while losing one. In comparison, the German U-boats only managed one sinking.

In surface raiding the Cascadians were also supreme: Navajo claimed three in the Indian Ocean and Demosthenes sank a German freighter just outside of Bahamanian waters. US ships provided two more sinkings.

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The Goliath's condensor broke down, forcing the ship into Mombasa and likely internment. In Portland this development further exacerbated Navy-Army relations, with Admiral Garrett threatening to recall the fleet from African waters if the Army did not launch its proposed operations immediately.



The Cascadian people went to the polls as a whole, in a Presidential election that was seen by many as a referendum on the war.

And Muniz won.

For Abernathy and Liberal-Conservatives coalition, the loss seemed to break all precedent. In all prior wartime Presidential elections - 1908, 1916, and 1924 - the pro-war candidates had won each time. Now, instead of consolidating power in the government to push for total victory, Abernathy had to deal with a loss of prestige that made his Government unlikely to function.

In 1920, Keith Burgess had resigned the Secretary of State position upon losing the election to Neal Sullivan. But Abernathy was not Burgess - he remained with his Government intact, and in a public message he declared that he and the Government would continue to fight for victory until Parliament declared no confidence in them. Internally this was unlikely - despite Thomas Garrett's bold stance, most other Liberals - even doves - were unwilling to destroy the party government and their careers. It was far easier to vent their frustration and anger on Thomas as a turncoat and opportunist, even if this was solely with the benefit of hindsight.

Muniz vowed in a victory address to "establish a fair and honorable peace". He was joined in this proclamation by the victor of the American election, Herbert Hoover, an engineer who had made a name for himself as a humanitarian for his work in relieving the starvation in Germany, Austria, and Hungary during the Anglo-German War and the Eastern War.

Both men, however, had to contend with their legislatures, and powerful blocs in each that demanded the war be pushed until Germany submitted to their demands. Demands that the German Republic, shaky as it was, could not agree to without toppling.



December 1928

On December 10th, Cascadian Marines and Army troops stormed ashore in Tanganyika. The initial landings overran the German colonial garrisons on Mafia Island after two days of hard fighting, giving Cascadia control of a local off-shore supply base. The second main landings were to the north at Tanga to secure the vital port and railhead. German forces attempted to repulse the early landings but were forced back by the naval gunfire support of the Battle Fleet. It took three days of fighting and it was not until the evening of December 14th that Cascadian control of Tanga was secured. Further landings in and around Tanga would see four large lodgements turned into a major Cascadian-held zone by the end of the month, with 10,000 Cascadian troops ashore and fighting with another 20,000 scheduled to arrive after the New Year.

The Germans had a colonial garrison of 4,000 active troops, European and African, with potential to expand to four times that size with mobilizations. In the prior war they had been led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, a brilliant colonial army officer, but von Lettow-Vorbeck had been recalled to Europe to command German troops fighting the Soviets and now the Prussian Rebellion. His successors included officers trained under him, but it remained to be seen if they could effect the same kind of warfare that had deadlocked the British, Portuguese, and Cascadians for nearly three years.

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The battlecruiser Defiant was commissioned.

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Authorities in British East Africa interned the Goliath.

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The submersible Stingray sank a German minesweeper in a gun duel.

The Cascadian subs only managed four sinkings for the month, losing two of their own in the process, while the U-boats claimed three kills for one loss. The minesweeper Friday Harbor was lost in a gunnery duel with a U-boat.


Making up for the subs' poor month, the surface raiders of the Cascadian fleet claimed five ships. Sacramento, Epaminondas, and Demosthenes each claimed one, Navajo claimed two.

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The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
25 December 1928



The house was quiet. Quiet on Christmas.

That was something new for the Admiral.

It was something that couldn't be avoided this year. Thomas and his family were out of Portland in San Francisco for the holiday for political reasons, given Thomas' increasing prestige in the Democrats' ranks. Georgia and the grandchildren were in Klamath Falls having Christmas with her father, now the Liberal Governor of Klamath. Sophie was in Europe (again). Her wire, from Paris, was sitting on his desk. And Gabriela was… wherever she was.

And the Admiral was home alone.

He'd put in his obligatory war-time eight hours at the Admiralty, dealing with wires and reports. There was nothing else going on there that required his attention. But yet, he almost returned, if only out of the pain of the silence now filling his home. The empty silence made the festive decorations look out of place.

For nearly thirty years the family had dwelled in this spacious home in West Portland. His children had grown to adulthood here. It was the home where he and Rachel had brought their fourth and last child home, where Sophie had learned to read and write and decided to become an academic, where Thomas had studied and Raffie had worked and…

Tears were flowing down the old man's eyes as the sheer weight of his loneliness crushed him. It seemed like the pain would squeeze his heart into stillness. It was made all the worse by the fact that he could have gone somewhere else.

Yes, indeed, he could have been with his family for Christmas. Georgia and her father had extended invitations and he had said no because, with active naval operations in the Indian Ocean, he felt it necessary to be on hand should something happen. Thomas had almost begged him to join the family in San Francisco Again he had said no because, along with his reason to Georgia, he feared it would look like he was weighing in on national politics. And that would violate his standing rule to the Admiralty and the Navy: stay out of politics.

And so here he was, trapped by duty in this quiet, lonely house on Christmas, with nothing but the specters of past happy holidays to accompany the old Admiral.

And it may have been that which finally did it. For ten long, painful years he had mourned Rachel. For ten years, he had scorned his personal life in the name of his duty to the Navy, to the Republic… all that he had left.

But that wasn't enough anymore. There were others waiting to take the reins of his service. Other men who would bring them further into the 20th Century.

He made his decision. He pulled a blank piece of letter-writing paper and began to scribble upon it.
To Secretary Cromley

Dear Sir,
I wish to inform you that it is my solemn intention to retire from the Cascadian Navy no later than the date of January 1st, 1930. I do not arrive at this decision lightly, but I believe that the Republic will be better suited by a successor with more energy and better health in the coming decade. It is my view that Admiral Phillip Wallace will make a fine Chief of Naval Operations upon my departure, if the Government finds him acceptable.


Sincerely,
FADM Stephen Garrett
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

January 1929

Admiral Garrett's last year in the Navy began with another meeting with the Cabinet and General Brewer over the year's budget. This time Admiral Garrett agreed to grant more funding to the Army for use in pursuing victory in Africa.

By this time the Admiral's planned retirement was an open secret in Portland. It was, for many, a shocking idea: Admiral Garrett had been in charge of the Cascadian Navy for almost twenty-three years. The graduating class at Esquimalt upon his first year as Chief of Naval Operations provided many current Captains and one-star Rear Admirals in the Cascadian Navy - virtually every rank below Captain was filled with men who had served under his general leadership. It was almost unthinkable for many officers to imagine "the Old Man" out of the Navy. Many wondered what it might mean for the Navy as a whole and if Admiral Garrett's successors would continue his policies, especially his long-standing demand of complete political neutrality in the Admiralty.

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Attempts to test welded hull manufacturing proved fruitless, baffling researchers.

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It was a month for raiders on the high seas. Cascadian subs claimed six ships for the loss of one sub. The U-boats claimed two kills for no losses. The Apache sank a German ship in the South China Sea, Navajo claimed two south of the Horn of Africa, and Epaminondas claimed two more in the waters near Cameroon. The German service raiders all reported some success: Lubeck, Dresden, Hela, Ariadne, and Roon each claimed at least one Cascadian merchantman sunk in the waters of the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, West Africa, or in Hela's case, off the Cascadian coast proper.

The destroyer Scott was sunk by a mine left by a U-boat in the Philippines.

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Muniz's third and final inauguration speech had the expected content: calling upon the nation to remain united and strong, and promising peace talks with Germany would resume.

Abernathy's Government clashed with Muniz almost from the start. Muniz's proposed legislation was killed in the House committees run by Cabinet members or supporters. The Cabinet declared it would not accept a status quo antebellum peace even if Muniz signed it, and would fight ratification. This had further lethal consequences for the Liberal Party.

In Tanganyika , the arrival of more Regular regiments at Tanga permitted the expansion of the beacnhead. Major General Charles Tuchman, commander of the newly-christened East African Expeditionary Corps, was prepared to begin a march directly to Dar-es-Salaam, supported by a new element to the Army: motorized transport. Fuel oil was readily available, either by shipment across the Indian Ocean from Sumatra or by purchase from the British Trucial States or the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

Tuchman also planned to involve the Marines, now expanded to 10,000 men in three regiments and support companies, by having them embark from Mafia Island to attack Lindi in southern Tanganyika and secure the southern region of the colony. Marine Brigadier Lester Simons protested this plan of attack, arguing that Lindi was a backwater and that his Marines would be better employed landing closer to Dar-es-Salaam. But Tuchman was concerned with letting the Germans escape into Mozambique to begin guerrilla war. He wanted to secure the coastal regions near the border as quickly as possible and believed that his forces present in the north were already more than sufficient to seize Tanganyika's capital. When Simons protested further Tuchman ordered him removed - Admiral Rawlings, commanding the naval force, refused, citing his own authority and causing a major rift between the Army and Navy commands.

Orders from Portland finally broke the impasse - the Secretaries responsible for the services personally intervened and the Lindi landings were ordered.



February 1929

Each side had similar sub sinkings, five Cascadian sinkings to four German, and the surface raiders for Cascadia had particularly good pickings as Epaminondas and her sister ship Demosthenes moved into the waters of the North Sea and sank five ships together to Navajo's four.

Hela continued to aggravate patrols off Cascadia with a single sinking while Dresden caught another struggling Cascadian transport ship before it could find safety in Java.

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On February 16th the Intrepid intercepted the German heavy cruiser Friedrich Carl near Madagascar.

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The German raider attempted to flee to the south, but the Intrepid's gunnery damaged her engine plan and she lost speed, allowing the Intrepid to close. After several minutes the Friedrich Carl was beset by fires wildly out of control, forcing the crew to abandon ship.

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A shakeup in the French government brought into power a coalition that looked favorably upon the war with Germany by the Cascadians and Americans. The Soviets, however, were becoming irritated by the raiding war, and a fear that the outcome might ruin the chances of a successful Communist uprising in Germany.

France tensions down to 0, Russia up to 2

Tuchman's multi-pronged offensive against the Germans began on February 3rd. Cascadian troops launched two main attacks, one south from Tanga toward Dar-es-Salaam, and the other along the Usambara Railway into the interior. The German officers took to von Lettow-Vorbeck's tactics of guerrilla warfare and attempted infiltration of enemy lines and attacks on supply depots. These had mixed successes - the loss of a supply depot and attached rolling stock forced Tuchman to cancel his advance along the Usambara Railway - but the use of motorized rapid reaction companies and strong supply guards prevented major successes against the southern advance. Tuchman's steady supply of reinforcements - Cascadian troops numbered 30,000 in the northern beachhead alone - allowed him to sustain an advance against the German colonial forces.

In the south, the Marine landings at Lindi were not as successful as hoped. The German colonial forces' artillery had pre-sited ranges on Lindi Bay. Two transports were lost and four damaged in the attempt to land on the beaches of the Bay. Gunfire support from the Aurora was required to get the remaining Marines ashore to the northeast of the Bay. It was not until the following day that the Marines, having suffered over ten percent casualties, managed to get to the road linking Lindi to Mbanja. The Cascadian Army's 10th Infantry Regiment, serving as reserves, were sent to the beaches to assist in pushing toward Lindi and its small port.

Progress in the north was far more favorable, as even with mobilization of the Askari fighters for the German cause, the German troops could not resist effectively the superior numbers of the Cascadian forces or their omnipresent naval gunfire support. On February 28th Governor Schnee evacuated from Dar-es-Salaam for Dodoma in the interior. He declared Dar-es-Salaam an open city. German engineers worked to sabotage the naval yard facilities.



March 1929


On March 1st, scouting elements of the Cascadian 3rd Guards Regiment entered Dar-es-Salaam. The Germans left in the city with the docks partially damaged. The 1st Cavalry's squadrons began trotting into the city later in the evening. On the morning of the 2nd General Tuchman transmitted news to the world: Dar-es-Salaam had fallen to Cascadian troops. Cascadia now had control of the economic center of German East Africa.

Even as Tuchman's troops moved down the coast to secure it, it was clear he was not entirely accurate. The Askari and German colonial forces had retreated in good order to the interior. Schnee signaled to Germany that he intended to continue the fight by applying von Lettow-Vorbeck's guerrilla tactics. The roads in the interior were not very good, after all, and the motorized transport that made the Cascadian Army's reaction units effective would prove unreliable.

Tuchman was not oblivious to this fact. His solution was to call for more cavalry and the Native Scout regiments, eventually leading to protests from the First Nations about the use of their troops in an "imperial endeavor". The Tanganyikan Campaign was indeed already a source of controversy in Cascadia. President Muniz was lukewarm toward it and had no intention of holding onto the colony unless forced; Abernathy saw it as a means for Cascadia to exert more influence in the Indian Ocean if held. The populace at large was not supportive at all of Cascadian holdings in distant Africa. It was one thing for Cascadia to hold bases or territories in East Asia - the Pacific Rim was the center of the nation's trade. Seizing a European colony in Africa, however, smacked of imperialism that even some Hawks thought wasteful and unnecessary.

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The new CRS Warrior was commissioned. At her commissioning ceremony in Bremerton, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Wallace gave the commissioning address.
Five years ago we lost a legendary ship in a now-legendary fight. I wrote then that her memory would live on and today this becomes reality. Today, the new Warrior joins the Cascadian Battle Fleet, and just like her namesake she is at the forefront of naval development. This fine new ship is one of the four largest and most powerful ships afloat anywhere on Earth, and I have no doubt that she and her sisters will do themselves, their nation and their names proud.

While she is commissioned in war, God willing she will not have to fight another beyond this one. Anyone who has seen a battle at sea knows the horrors involved and would not wish to witness it again. Built for combat though she is, it is my hope that she will see a long and lasting peace.

She will sail forth around the world, proclaiming Cascadian values and principles, and our absolute readiness to fight to the last to preserve them if necessary. She will be a model of naval skill and pride, from her designers to her builders to her crew.

May God bless her and all who sail in her, this proud new Warrior."

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Defiant
finished her working up.

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The Intrepid suffered a failure in her condensor. She was forced into the newly-acquired docks at Dar-es-Salaam. Sabotage damage would prolong the time needed to work on her engines.

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It was an active month for the submersible fleets. Cascadian submersibles sank eight German ships, with Porpoise adding a kill by sinking a German minesweeper fleeing Tanganyikan waters in a gun duel. Two subs were lost in the month.

But the U-boat fleet was not out of the fight. They claimed six sinkings as well, another Cascadian minesweeper, and most importantly, the torpedoing and sinking of the cruiser Esquimalt.

The Apache and Dresden each claimed one ship for their respective sides in the surface raider war, catching their prey in Southeast Asian waters.

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The raider Bremen was interned in Lagos after running out of fuel.

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The Demosthenes ran into the battlecruiser Derfflinger south of Ireland on the 17th of March. Before she could get out of range, the German ship's shells had destroyed one turret and inflicted damage on the large cruiser that forced her to dock in Bristol.

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With losses to the surface cruiser force, and the success of German surface raiders, the Cascadian Navy decided to build a dedicated surface raider. The Denver-class cruiser would be armed with eight 4" guns in four double turrets, four 3" deck guns, and two double torpedo mounts. She would carry 56 mines to be used in mining enemy harbors and sealanes. Protection was limited to 1.5" deck and belt armor, 2" turret armor, and 2.5" conning tower armor. Her design speed was 30 knots. This was a necessary concession due to the extremely large fuel reservoirs the ships would carry, giving them extreme cruising ranges before they needed refueling.

Some Admiralty experts questioned the design due to its speed: the latest battlecruisers and large cruisers could chase the raiders down effectively. The cheapness of the 5,500T design was used as a justification - the Navy could afford to lose them more easily than a heavier raiding ship. The only way to increase speed would have further denuded the design of armor that made her survivable against the guns that an armed merchant ship might mount.

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The first two of the class, the Denver and Esquimalt, were laid.

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Funds were invested in repairing and expanding the naval base at Dar-es-Salaam. Tanga would also get extra port facilities.


Toward the end of the month Cascadian troops began advancing into the interior.


April 1929

Governor Schnee's retreat into the interior proved only a short delay to the consolidation of Cascadian control of the colony. Morogoro fell on April 2nd to a flanking maneuver that encircled half of his remaining troops, forcing their surrender on the 6th. By April 25th Cascadian troops were past Mpwapwa and advancing on Dodoma with little resistance while, in the north, Arusha fell to a renewed advance along the Usambara Railway. Mtwara fell to a Marine/Army landing force on April 15th. Companies operating from Lindi entered Nanganga on the 20th as part of a drive to secure southern Tanganyika by taking Masasi.

Schnee now believed that meaningful resistance was no longer possible. He ordered all colonial forces in Tanganyika to surrender on April 28th.

If von Lettow-Vorbeck had been present, this order would have likely gone ignored. But his most capable successors had either been killed or captured by this point. The officers left, bitter about their perceived abandonment by Berlin's republican government and by Schnee's defeatism, either agreed to surrender or took to guerrilla warfare that, while capable of annoying the Cascadian occupation, could not hope to drive Cascadian forces from the colony.

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The subs continued their deadly torpedo attacks. Six German ships were claimed by Cascadian subs, who lost two of their own. The U-boats sank only three and lost one. The raider Hela continued to harass Cascadian shipping in the Eastern Pacific, sinking two ships while evading the Freya and other Cascadian ships tasked with hunting down the raider. Tacoma sank a German vessel near Bermuda.

American ships added several more sinkings of German ships - additionally, American cruisers bombarded German facilities in Duala, undermining German power in Cameroon.

The sinkings were doing Germany more harm than Cascadia. The German economy, already reeling from the civil war with East Prussia, was now losing its traditional strength in shipping due to the constant losses. German shipping firms were facing bankruptcy as more and more companies were turning to British and other neutral shipping companies to avoid ruinous insurance rates.

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British authorities interned the Demosthenes in Bristol.

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Additional ships were sent to West Africa by order of Naval Secretary Cromley, with orders to prepare for invasions of Germany's remaining colonies.

This decision resulted in frustration in the Admiralty. Cascadia's use for Tanganyika was minimal - Cameroon and Southwest Africa were Atlantic Ocean possessions that were of zero interest to the Cascadian Republic. But Abernathy and Cromley, as well as Roberts, persisted: this was, they insisted, a measure to force Germany to the negotiating table.

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Under increasing direction from Admiral Wallace, the Admiralty approved a new scout cruiser design to supplement the cruiser fleet. The 7,500T Stockton-class cruisers would be armed with eight 6" guns in four dual turrets. Eight 3" deck guns and two quadruple torpedo mounts provided the rest of her armament, with a minimal mine rack carrying twenty mines at a time. 2" belt armor and 1" deck armor were mandated to permit enough weight savings for a large engine plant to provide a design speed of 32 knots.

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Four ships of the class were laid: Stockton, Bremerton, The Dalles, and Eugene.

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In Germany, the ongoing wars were fracturing the German Republic. Leftists were demanding more social reforms be enacted or the working class would fail to rally to the Republic, while Communist militias were causing trouble for authorities even as they assisted on the front with the junkers. German police arrested army officers in Stuttgart and Strassburg after evidence surfaced that they too intended to rise against the Republic- in Strassburg ongoing rumors persisted that Berlin would turn Alsace over to France to avoid a war on the west border.

In this environment, and with the fall of Tanganyika and the economic losses, the Germans were desperate for peace, and even some conservatives were willing to give up more to the Americans and Cascadians.



May 1929

The Reliant was commissioned.

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The Las Vegas' condensor failed.

Las Vegas Condensor

The German terms to the American and Cascadian negotiators in Paris were virtually everything that had been asked for. Germany would suspend military sales to South American countries and provide reparations payments. Upon hearing of them, Admiral Garrett told the Government that they were "good terms" and should be accepted. Hoover was ready to push ratification through the US Senate.

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But they were still not enough for Abernathy. Abernathy instructed the negotiating team to return to the Germans with a new demand: Cascadian control of Tanganyika.

The news caused a massive tumult in Parliament. Many Hawks were against this additional term, seeing Tanganyika as useless for the Cascadian Republic. Representative Garrett of Vallejo led the charge in the House denouncing the new term. But Abernathy was insistent, and his Cabinet joined him on the matter - the arch-Hawks in the House, accusing their detractors of disloyalty and "German sympathies", beat off a vote of no confidence by ten votes. With this victory, Abernathy pushed through his refusal to accept the offered peace terms.

It was, for the Liberal arch-Hawk, a desperation gamble. All indications were of an anti-Hawk sweep in September. Abernathy was convinced that he would prevail in an election if it included a victory over Germany and additional territories for the Republic to administer in some fashion. He even ordered a committee to investigate, with the Army, on finding local Tanganyikans who would welcome a Cascadian oversight of their homeland to prepare it for independence - a pro-Cascadian Tanganyika would still provide Abernathy's desire, a naval base on the Indian Ocean in range of the Bab al-Mandeb that could give Cascadia the means to interdict French, German, or Russian supply lines to East Asia.

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Ordnance experts reported they were close to developing oxygen-fueled torpedoes.

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Naval Artillery reported completion of an 11"/52 caliber gun model for use in future large cruiser designs.

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The Cascadian sub fleet had a dismal month, sinking only one German to two lost subs. The U-boats did better: no losses, four sinkings, and a submersible sank the destroyer Lee south of Sumatra with a mine.

Cascadia's surface raiders made up for this. Sacramento caught a German vessel off the western coast of Mexico - the German merchantman had been planning to make a dash south to Chilè and around Cape Horn. Epaminondas caught and sank four German merchant ships trying to slip through the English Channel. German surface raiders weren't quite as successful: Arcona sank two Cascadian ships off New Guinea and Ariadne sank a Cascadian transport ship west of Corsica.

The sinkings caused still-further disruption to Germany's suffering economy, putting massive pressure on the German Republic that was deepening the cracks forming within it.

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A new class of destroyer was ordered by the Admiralty. The Nelson-class continued the Rodriguez's emphasis on torpedo armament, although it added two guns by turning two of the 4" mounts into double turrets and reducing one of the torpedo mounts to a triple torpedo mount. The design speed remained 35 knots.

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Eight Nelson-class ships were ordered: Nelson, John Q. Adams, William L. Garrison, Theodore D. Weld, Harriet B. Stowe, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, and Kirk.

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June 1929

The Germans send another peace offer. But it was mostly a political maneuver by the Republic, as it gave no new concessions, an attempt by the current leadership to demonstrate that the war with America and Cascadia could not be ended easily. Predictably it was denied.

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Warrior finished her working up.

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The U-boats had a bad month, only sinking one ship. Cascadia's submersible force sank six Germans and lost one of their own. Sacramento returned to port from mechanical faults while Tacoma sank a German merchant ship near Bermuda.

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Two more Denver-class raiding cruisers, Salem and Tillamook, were laid.



In Germany, the pressure of the war over the Republic and against the North American alliance was beginning to suffocate the Republic. The Communists, under Wilhelm Pieck and Ernst Thälmann, were officially supporting the Republic against the "reactionary counter-revolution", but they were dissatisfied with the squabbling of the democratic factions and discontented with the increasing role given to their rivals in the Social Democratic Party.

Meanwhile, another force was rising out of Bavaria, a minor extremist party called the National Socialist German Workers' Party, under the leadership of Austrian-born war veteran Adolf Hitler. Hitler was being cagey about the civil war, refusing to commit entirely against the junkers despite his own dislike of them, and instead excoriated the government in Berlin as weakened by "Jewish" influences and needing to be replaced by a stronger government. The SDP and the KDP (Communists) were also targets of his demagogic and anti-Semitic rancor.



Note: As before, Wallace's remarks were provided by Eternal_Freedom on SDN.
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Raesene »

I assume the commander of the DD Lee at the time of her sinking was not the Admiral's son ?

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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Raesene wrote:I assume the commander of the DD Lee at the time of her sinking was not the Admiral's son ?
I'd mentioned he was only doing it for about a year, and that was in May 1927. But no, Raffie was already on to another post when Lee was sunk.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

July 1929

The Avenger was commissioned. All four Defiant-class battlecruisers were now in service and were designated 1st Battle Scout Division - the Intrepid-class ships were now 2nd Battle Scout Division.

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Naval Ordnance confirmed successful testing of oxygen-fueled torpedoes. Production began immediately.

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The month's sinkings - four by Cascadian submersibles, three by the Epaminondas - aggravated the economic disruptions in Germany. The German U-boats only managed 2 sinkings and lost one of their own.

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The Cascadian Navy laid two more Stockton-class cruisers, the Kelowna and San Diego, as well as five new minesweepers to replace losses.


A Communist anti-war protest turned into a general strike in Dusseldorf that spread across the Ruhr, threatening to cut of the vital supplies of arms that kept the Republic's army in the field against the junkers. Communist officials demanded immediate social reforms to be passed by the Reichstag. The Government called up reserve army units to restore order and take over the factories.


August 1929

Berlin became the site of another uprising by the Communists. Again the Army was called in. But the troops had been suborned by the Communists - they disobeyed their officers and instead marched on the Reichstag, dispelling the legislature by force and throwing the Chancellor out of office. Factory workers, crying for "pay and bread", hailed the troops and openly cheered Thälmann and Pieck when they arrived to assert control.

Word flashed across Germany by wireless and wire. Thälmann declared the formation of the "German People's Republic" and asserted control over Berlin's civil services. Communist politicians and supporters across the country echoed the takeover, while the forces of the Republic - demoralized and squabbling - failed to assert control outside of some states inside of Germany.

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Thälmann and Pieck immediately went to Stalin and asked for his assistance in peace with the North Americans. Stalin's reply was simple: like the Soviets, peace would have to be bought at high cost from the "rapacious capitalists". He urged the leadership to accept demands. Thälmann was worried, however, that doing so would fatally undermine his government. Like the Republic authorities he had overthrown he now faced the vise of an unpopular, unnecessary foreign war and the concessions to end it killing his government.

In the end, his situation pushed him into it. On August 25th a delegation of German Communists led by Hermann Remmele arrived in Paris. They were prepared to meet any terms the Cascadians and Americans gave them.

Abernathy had by now replaced the delegation team with arch-Hawks, led by Populist Representative John Landers of Ogden in Utah. Landers wired to Abernathy that "The German Communists are offering us everything": Abernathy's reply was "Then take it".

It would be more accurate to say that the German government had very little to offer in reparations. Germany was broke. The Germans were still paying reparations from the last war and the rebellion of the junkers was draining the country's resources. With this discussed, Abernathy's team seized upon their remaining colonies. Germany would sign over Cameroon and Southwest Africa to Cascadia, provide one of its latest battleships as collateral, and in turn the Cascadian government would agree to count the colonies' resource values and tax receipts against the reparations figures in the treaty, temporarily suspend reparation payments from the Treaty of Versailles terms, and assume the costs to Cascadian shippers for the war. The Americans would get what they wanted; no German military sales to South America and reparations for the lost ships to come out of what remained of the surviving German merchant fleet, with the ships to be eligible for return once the reparations had been sufficiently paid.

Thälmann consulted with the Communist Party leadership, the Comintern, and Stalin - at their advice, on August 30th, he agreed to the terms and by doing so liquidated the German overseas empire.

At the start of the century Germany had ruled lands across the seas. The Kaiser's subjects included the tribes of Togo and Cameroon, the Swahili-speaking peoples of Tanganyika, and the Herero and Namaqua peoples of the Southwest. Germany held the formerly-Spanish islands of the Marianas and had taken over the Bismarck Archipelago with the northern coast of New Guinea. The German flag fluttered over the concession in Tsingtao. Even Tsingtao's loss had been made up for with the oil and rubber-rich island of Sumatra.

Now it was all gone.

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The average German, at the time, had bigger concerns. There was no starvation, yet, but jobs were being lost, the Communist takeover was causing further conflict in the cities and the countryside, and the junkers finally crossed the Oder during the month, taking part of Frankfurt an der Oder, as well as taking Swinemünde and Stettin. It was patently clear that, peace treaty or no peace treaty, the Communists were losing the civil war as well.

The various ships held in Indian Ocean ports, as well as Demosthenes in Bristol, were released from internment with the end of hostilities.


The end of the war settled Cascadian relations with the rest of the world for the time being. Britain and France were relieved to finally have Germany removed as a competitor in Africa. Cascadia's new African empire was not the same concern to them - many expected Cascadia to divest said empire soon enough as it was, and even if they didn't, the distances from the Cascadian homeland to their new holdings were enough that they weren't considered the threat that the Germans were.

The US welcomed an end to the war. But an undercurrent of discontent was forming over the end of the conflict - American right to the seas had been confirmed, but the Cascadians' takeover of colonies was a suspicious act to many Americans and widely unpopular (as, indeed, it was in Cascadia). The Germans had other matters to deal with, so relations were allowed to return to some degree of cordiality. The Japanese were also quite peaceful for the moment, perhaps hoping that Cascadian embroilment in African imperial politics might win them European allies.

The Soviets were still cordial, but the Comintern made it clear how Communists felt about the "grasping, murderous, thieving capitalists of Portland". Abernathy was derided as "Herr Kaiser Abernathy" and often depicted as a lookalike of the Kaiser as a means of propaganda.

Post-war tensions - Britain and France at 1, Germany Japan and US at 2, Russia at 3



The Reliant finished working up.

The Navy ended its enhanced training program to save costs in the post-war budget. The Battle Fleet was recalled to home waters.

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The Admiralty
Portland Federal District
30 August 1929



The news had come in by wire: the German Communist Republic had signed the agreement. Cascadia and America had won. The German Empire was dead.

Admiral Garrett took the news with quiet introspection when Wallace delivered the note to him. "To think I would see the day," he mumbled. His eyes gazed to one of his maps. The islands of Samoa were prominent there, including the Cascadian-controlled base at Apia. "I remember when we were afraid the Germans would seize Samoa from us. When Cascadian diplomacy was marshalled entirely to ensure that the Germans could not. And now look at us." He turned his face to another new map, a world map, showing the territorial holdings of the world's great powers. He could make out Cameroon and German Southwest Africa, not to mention Tanganyika. All of those lands would now fly the Evergreen Tricolor. "My mind rebels against it, Phillip. We have an African empire. We, the Cascadian Republic, a Pacific power, now govern the destinies of many thousands, millions, of Africans."

"It seems unnatural, I agree," replied Wallace. "Perhaps we should have spoken out…"

The Admiral raised a finger. "No. It is not the place of the Navy to meddle so deeply in national affairs. We advise and then we obey. I will not have us end up like the Army, constantly dabbling in Conservative and Liberal politicking."

Wallace could have pointed out that in four months that would be his call, not the retiring Admiral Garrett's.

"Of course, sir," replied Wallace, in the place of such a reminder. He sighed. "Four months, then?"

"Four months. Are you ready?"

"I am," Wallace assured him.

"Good. Old Admiral Wilburn, God rest his soul, did not get to hand authority over to me like that."

"I remember." Wilburn, the Chief of Naval Operations who had first made the Admiral a part of the Admiralty as Chief of Naval Design and Procurement, had died at the Naval Academy in Esquimalt in 1906, elevating Admiral Garrett to the rank that he had held for over 23 years. "If I may, sir… what are your plans when you retire?"

The Admiral was quiet for a sad, lonely moment. "I will leave Portland," he finally said. "Back after the second war with Germany I had a house built in Astoria for when I retired. It was for my wife and I to spent the summers in." His eyes glazed over slightly. Tears shined in them. "It is down by the Columbia River at Youngs Bay, not far from the main port. It is not anything like Vallejo Estate, of course, but it has a few spare rooms for the grandchildren to visit and a room for my library and study." A small, sad smile came to his face. "Maybe great-grandchildren if I live a few more years."

"Are you sure about it?", asked Wallace. "It was for you and her, and now…"

"...it'll be just me, yes," the Admiral answered. "For a few years, at least. My sons have homes available already so I intend to give it to Sophie, if she desires it." A distant look appeared in his eye. "Or, depending on matters, maybe Gabbie."

Wallace said nothing. Over the years, the rumors about Gabriela Garrett and Isabela Talaverda had become impossible to avoid. "Even if her… friend is still with her?"

There was no mistaking the pain that came over the old man's face. The war within him between the part of him aghast at what his daughter had become… and the part that, regardless of that, still loved her. "Perhaps," he admitted.

There was nothing more to be said on the matter. Wallace instead reached for a bottle of Californian wine he had brought with him. "A toast, sir?"

Normally the Admiral wasn't one for wine in his office. But having just turned 77 a week prior, he sighed and nodded. Wallace poured the two glasses and handed one to the Admiral. "To the end of another damned war, may this be the last," he proposed.

"It is the last," replied the Admiral. "My last, anyway." He frowned at the random thought in his head. The thought that, for Wallace, Japan and Germany might yet provide another war for him to deal with. But he said nothing on the matter. "To the end of the war," he said, raising his glass in a toast.

Wallace did the same. "And to the Cascadian Navy, may God keep our seas calm and our skies clear."

"Amen, Phillip. Amen."




September 1929

While the German Civil War continued to rage in that country, Cascadia assumed formal control of the former German holdings in Africa. Cascadian Marines were landed at Duala, Luderitz, and Swakopmund to take over from evacuating German regulars. Admiral Rawlings issued a proclamation guaranteeing the civil rights of German settlers and native peoples. In Southwest Africa this immediately set him at odds with the white settlers, who had enjoyed superiority since the failed Herero rising of 1904-1907.

It was this rising that also came up in the Senate, and which Abernathy used to argue against now-Democratic Senator Gerald Adkins' charge to refuse to ratify the Paris Accord. Abernathy asserted that the only way to protect the surviving natives in the Southwest was to assert Cascadian law upon the German settlers. To refuse the peace treaty, even if a ceasefire were upheld, would continue the suffering of these peoples. As a maneuver it came off as cynical given Abernathy's behaviors, especially since his own home province of Montana had a poor reputation of working with native populations.

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Ultimately the Senate, defying some expectations, ratified the Paris Accord on September 10th, a week shy of the upcoming elections.

Abernathy's hope was that an end to the war and the gains to Cascadia would win his coalition a majority.

His hope proved false.

It may have dampened the swing somewhat, but in the end, the Hawk Coalition was swept from power. The Democrats and, surprisingly, the Socialists were the big winners - the Democrats gained a near-majority in the House and the moribund Socialists rose to fourth in seats. The Populists fell to just a dozen seats, all in their interior homebases, and the Conservatives declined to a distant third, with just four more seats than the recovering Socialists. The Liberals managed to be second and to just barely deny the Democrats a ruling majority in the House.

Senator Karl Green, now the leader of the Democrats in Parliament, was preparing a minority government. The Socialists were radicalizing and the Liberals, as an organization, were still Abernathy's group.

But Green found a surprising Coalition partner: Jake Roberts. The aging Populist knew his days in Portland were numbered. An investigation into corruption was costing him pull in Montana and would likely cost him his legislator-appointed Senate seat. His Party's drubbing was amplified by the fact that most of the new Populists were isolationist and anti-imperialists who opposed the conflict. Indeed, if there were anything that separated Populists from Democrats, it was that the former were firmly a rural party dominated by white and predominately white settlers of the inland provinces along the American borders, prone to racist bigotry and pro-white nativism.

That proved the stickler, as the Populists wanted to amend the Native Rights Act and Native Nations Protection Act to reduce the size of the Native Tribes' national homelands. Roberts proposed only a slight modification that would secure Populist (and likely Liberal) support in the vote in exchange for Populist support for the rest of Green's proposed social legislation and, most importantly, a military budget cut. Green, however, would not compromise on the issue - he would offer increased government programs and support for interior farmers, but he would not compel the native tribes to permit more land clearance through a reorganization of a federal act. In disgust Roberts quit the deliberations, much to the discomfort of younger Populists who were willing to compromise. But for the time being Roberts' authority in the Populist Party leadership made it impossible for younger Populists to displace him.

Abernathy, meanwhile, considered trying to form his own minority government with the Conservatives and Populists. But here he ran into a problem: Muniz had already called for him to resign and, when pressed, declared he would not accept any government run by Abernathy or someone linked to him. In the press their partisans started slinging ferocious amounts of mud - Muniz was accused of abusing the Presidency's powers for partisanship, Abernathy of resisting the democratic will of the Cascadian people, who had clearly voted against his Hawk Coalition.

Economic news started to come into focus: British markets were declining due to finding of fraud that led to several jailed investors, including known investor Clarence Hatry. The German Civil War was also having an effect upon European markets as Germany, once an importer of goods from various countries, was no longer buying: Danubia, Italy, and France all had clear economic troubles. Danubia's problems were being escalated by rumors that the elderly Franz Ferdinand was about to name his son Maximilian his heir, in direct defiance of the agreement he made when he married his late wife Countess Sophie Chotek.




The submersibles Salmon, Seadragon, Albacore, and Permit were commissioned.

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After consultations with Admiral Wallace, Admiral Darrin Rutherford as Chief of Naval Design and Procurement, and other officials, Admiral Garrett ordered the scrapping of the Ranger and Reprisal. The two battlecruisers were over twenty years old, were hopelessly outdated, and a rebuild to make them relevant as coastal guards or convoy escorts was deemed too expensive. The ships were ordered to the breakers, although Wallace and Garrett agreed that as the sister of the old Warrior the Ranger would be temporarily held back from scrapping while independent organizations attempted to raise funds to convert her into a museum ship.

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News of the treaty also provoked a anti-Communist uprising in Bavaria where a political sausage of monarchists, republic-aligned conservatives, and Hitler's Nazis took to the streets. Hitler and his forces seized Nuremburg independently of the others, who secured Munich. Kustrin fell to the Prussian revolt. By the end of the month Hannover was also up in arms, driving out Communist officials sent to begin enforcing the new property laws. When some in Hannover openly contemplated the idea of Hannover leaving the German Empire and becoming a sovereign state, it caused panic among Germans opposed to a disunion of the German nation.

Stalin proposed to Pilsudski that if he permitted Soviet troops transit rights to attack the junkers, the German Communists would turn over Polish-populated areas of SIlesia and Posen to Polish rule. Pilsudski was indeed interested in territorial gains, but he didn't trust Stalin and the negotiations went nowhere.

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October 1929

Six more submersibles joined the depleted sub fleet of the Cascadian Navy: Searaven, Squalus, Shark, Trout, Tuna, Pompano.

The Avenger finished her working up period and joined 1st Battle Scout Division.

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With no end in sight for the political deadlock, Muniz was ready to call for new elections. He stopped only when a group of Liberal Senators in the Senate asked for more time - on October 19th it was announced that Senator Green was indeed assembling a Cabinet that would include Liberal Senator Emiliano Santiago as Foreign Secretary and Liberal Representative Frederick Woolsey as Secretary of the Treasury. Representative Thomas Garrett of Vallejo was named Solicitor-General, but it was widely recognized that he would be Santiago's likely replacement if the Democrats controlled a Cabinet reshuffle.

When the new Parliament met on October 21st, Abernathy - as a Senator - immediately moved for a vote of no confidence against Green's Democrat-dominated Government. Representative Cromley did the same in the opening session of the House. At Abernathy's instruction the Whip was applied in both Houses - any Liberal who voted for the minority government would be stripped of his party support.

This time, the maneuver backfired. Woolsey had submitted in 1928, but now he held firm - Santiago did too. Half of the House's Populists defied the Populist Whip and voted with the Green Government. Green's Government, still technically a minority government, survived.



The Garrett House
Portland, West Oregon
21 October 1929


It had been a long Monday for Thomas when he arrived at the old family house. Anne-Marie had insisted, and his father had as well. He met them in the parlor and sighed as he took his seat. "Today has been eventful."

"Did Abernathy topple Green's new Government?", the Admiral asked.

"No." Thomas sighed. "No, we got enough Liberal defectors to resist their whip and vote for the Government. And a few from the Populists too. That's a surprise. I suppose even the Populists had to show some sign of acknowledging the country west of the mountains."

The Admiral smirked slightly at that. "Yes, I suppose. I take it that means you will soon be spending your days at the Legal Office?"

"Yes it does." Thomas nodded. He looked at his father with his lone eye and closed it in circumspection. "And you'll be gone, I suppose?"

"Oh, come now. Astoria is only a few hours by boat. Even less if you take an automobile up the new highway."

"True. Perhaps we can spend weekends once a month or so." Thomas shook his head. "But you're going to be alone out there. And with your health I… well, I thought you might do better going to the Estate."

"The Estate is your home, Thomas. For me, it was always your mother's home. My family rebuilt itself in Astoria and, in many ways, it was my home." A slight grin came to his face. "And your cousins and their children still live in the area."

"Richard owns the family shop now, right..."

"And his son is looking to get into Esquimalt. Just as your cousin Jesse did." The Admiral smiled thinly. "Although I will be 'Grand Uncle' and not 'Grandpa', I suspect I may have some little ones around from time to time."

"At your age, Pa…"

"I'm only 77," the old man guffawed. "Remember how long your Grandpa Jim lasted."

"I do." A concerned look was on Thomas' face. "He was 79."

Thinking of his father, dead now for thirty years, was another older pain, dulled by time… and by Rachel's death. The Admiral drew in a sigh. "I will watch my health, Thomas. I would like to see my great-grandchildren."

Thomas chuckled. "Me, a grandfather. Now I'm feeling old."

"You are going to be 40 next month," the Admiral reminded him. "And you should be minding your health too. But that is not what I wish to discuss with you. Before Ms. Freeman brings dinner out and John gets back with the other children, I need to ask you and Anne-Marie about the family house."

"As in this one?", Thomas asked.

"Yes." The Admiral reached down beside his chair into a briefcase. "I consulted with my personal attorney on the matter, and with the Navy attorneys…" He came back up with a stack of papers. "Here."

Thomas took them and read them over. He blinked. "A trust?"

"Yes. You are the legal scholar of the family, Tom, so it's best if you take the lead in this."

"I see." He continued looking over the paperwork. The terms… did not surprise him. His father was always kind like that. "I suppose it will work. Perhaps beyond our lifetimes there may be trouble if the Navy or the National Government change their minds on some of the aspects."

"I suspect that may not be an issue for a long time. But I want to make sure everyone is cared for."

"Yes, well… yes, I think this will work. You still have Mister Lewis as your attorney? Adrian Lewis of Lewis McMartin & Morgan?"

"Yes, I do."

"I'll sign this and get an appointment with him… when I can." Thomas sighed. It was one more load of work for him… but it was one he would take without question. "Even when you're gone, I'll make sure this works for you."

"Thank you, Tom," the old man replied. "Now, let us head to the dining room. If I know Ms. Freeman, dinner should be…" A distant bell rang. "...ready for us now."

The timing brought chuckling from the assembled family members. Within seconds the signed papers were packed back up, and all were heading for dinner.



On October 29th, a stock market scare rattled investment bankers - the San Francisco Stock Exchange reported a four percent fall in value.


November 1929


Fighting in Germany continued to attract world attention, as did a new stock market slide, this one in France. The British and Danubian governments - with Franz Ferdinand personally involved with the latter - urged the German factions to make a ceasefire and accept mediation for a new political settlement in Germany. The pleas fell on deaf ears.

Meanwhile the Green Government went to work. Saddled with the former German colonies, it passed, in succession and with varying Liberal and Populist support, the Tanganyikan Organization Act, the Cameroon Organization Act, and the Namibia Organization Act, which renamed the German Southwest Africa colony to reflect the name of the large coastal desert of the country. A letter in the Portland Tribune from a former consul in Walvis Bay stating that "Namib" was a Nama word for "vast place" gave the new name additional traction, although many German settlers would defiantly continue to refer to "Südwestafrika" as their homeland.

The Acts allowed for a period of up to twenty years during which the three colonies would be governed as semi-autonomous provinces in Cascadia, with locally elected legislatures and a Cabinet responsible to them under a Governor appointed by the President of Cascadia and confirmed by the Senate. Under the instruction of the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General, legal experts with knowledge of German law were ordered out to Windhoek, Dar-es-Salaam, and Duala to begin the process of examining the German colonies' criminal and civil laws and reconciling them to the Cascadian Constitution and Cascadian national law. The process would likely take years, during which the new judiciary in the colonies would be responsible for upholding the constitutional rights of Cascadia's new colonial citizens.

Much like Sumatra, allowance was made for the eventual independence of the African colonies.

The Government also began pursuing new legislation to deal with the increasing shocks to the global economic system. This would prove more difficult, as even the dissenting Liberals, as Liberals, were opposed to some of the measures that Muniz and Green were interested in taking.





The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
20 November 1929



It was by all appearances a normal Wednesday. But it was the day that Mei-Ling, at the quiet urging of Ms. Freeman, finally approached the Admiral. The middle-aged Chinese woman came to him in his parlor as he finished paperwork on the Admiralty's daily business. "Admiral?", she asked in a calm, almost silent tone.

He looked up. "Yes, Mei-Ling?"

She entered and kept her head bowed a little. "I… I am sorry. I just wanted to know… you say you are leaving the house soon… and you haven't asked about your new home in Astoria."

"Your family is here in the Portland Chinatown, aren't they?", he asked. "I wasn't going to ask you to leave them, Mei-Ling."

"I thought so." Her eyes lowered. "But… I have been saving from my wages and I can afford to find a home, but I am worried about employment. The newspapers say that people aren't hiring as much anymore."

The Admiral reached over to his desk and pulled up a piece of paper. "This should ease your mind."

She approached and took the paper. Years of working with the family had given her a strong grip on English, enough to grasp what the paper meant. She looked at it for nearly a minute, pure surprise on her face, before asking, "You are going to do this?"

"I am."

"I would… I would live here?"

"And you would get a weekly stipend," the Admiral answered. It was clear Mei-Ling was surprised by what was listed: he had always paid her above the usual pay for her services, and the stipend was rated to twice that. "As the official keeper of the house for the Trust." He put his hands together. "For as long as you live and desire it, you will have a room and the stipend. Even if your health fails you and you are no longer able to do the housekeeping, then the Trust will assist you in hiring a replacement. And all you have to do is what you have always done, and to keep my things in order."

"Your papers?"

"Yes." The Admiral nodded. "My letters, my notes and memorandum and other materials that are not official Navy property. My family papers will go to my home in Astoria, of course, and will be for Sophie to use in my biography. But all of my personal papers regarding my career will remain in the house under the care of the Trust. You will be the house's keeper and Thomas will be the Trust's executive officer."

"And the Navy…"

"...the Navy will catalogue my papers, under the Trust's supervision, and determine which must be kept locked away under the terms of the National Secrets Act. Gradually they will also be released for public viewing although, honestly, I doubt either one of us will see that day come. The Trust will own the house and collect proceeds from any use of it as a museum or national site. As keepers of the property, you and Ms. Freeman will enjoy lifelong residency rights. And when you and Judy and my children have all passed away, the Naval Office and the Government will assume control of the Trust. In exchange the Navy has agreed to provide some of the Trust's initial operating funds."

As the Admiral explained all of this, tears were forming in Mei-Ling's eyes. "Thank you," she said.

"You are welcome. And thank you, Mei-Ling, for your years of service to me and my family." the Admiral closed his eyes briefly. "Without you, the years after Rachel's death might have been utterly impossible."

Mei-Ling accepted his gratitude wordlessly. On her part, there was nothing more to say.



Image



December 1929


Danubian banks were the next to get hit, as a stock market fall in Vienna on December 9th prompted a bank run. Danubian authorities acted quickly, declaring a bank holiday.

The shockwaves flowed outward: Serbia had a run on its banks four days later, and on the 16th it was Rome's turn. London took another shock on the 18th despite word from New York that a dip in the stock market was being absorbed by concerned bankers buying stock to shore investor confidence. It was San Francisco's turn on the 23rd in what became known as the Christmas Crash, with an eight percent slide in value. A consortium of investment banks led by John C. Callum's First California National Bank pledged credit for when trading resumed on the 26th, looking to thwart any further slides.



The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
25 December 1929



It was to be the last Christmas that Admiral Garrett spent in the Portland house.

And it would not be as lonely as the previous year's.

Rafael was home, now a Captain who had finished Aviation School just before the "Tanganyikan War" - as many were now calling the recent conflict with Germany - and who was slated for his first capital ship command after New Year's, the large cruiser Epaminondas. He and Georgia came with the children - Rachel, Catherine, and Rafael Jr. - and Georgia was in her second trimester for a fourth child, giving the Admiral eight grandchildren.

Thomas was present this year. The heads of Government offices didn't get sent out for Christmas political dinners. Anne-Marie was on his arm and their four children, three of them now ten or up, had jostled with their cousins for the chairs at the end of the table. Which was now two tables placed end-on-end, as if the Admiral was hosting a society dinner (a rarity for him indeed).

While everyone waited on Ms. Freeman to finish cooking the dinner (for a meal this big she had brought her nieces to help, and the Admiral had cheerfully offered to pay extra wages for both of the college-aged girls) talk was again dominating the table. WIthout their mother or Sophie to keep the topics on track for the season, Thomas and Rafael had brought up Monday's stock market crash. "I've heard that more may happen," Thomas warned everyone. "Pa, you've invested, right? Keep an eye on them."

"I have not invested too much," he answered.

"Still, be careful," Thomas insisted. "Raffie, you might want to sell anything you've bought."

"You are being paranoid, Tom. It's just a market correction," insisted Rafael. "Besides, I'd never risk my family's financial well-being with speculation. I've kept my investments to a sane level. Just enough to provide for Georgie and I when the time comes for me to retire."

"Good. Good." Thomas looked again to the Admiral. "Pa, I know you'll have your pension, but the Trust isn't giving you anything financially. Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'm quite sure, Tom. Quite sure. Your mother and I saved carefully over the years."

"Right."

"Dad, calm down," John urged. "You've got enough stress trying to run the Solicitor-General's Office."

"It can be a drain, yes, John. But I am allowed to worry about the family."

Georgie shook her head. "It might not last long. My father thinks that Green won't be able to maintain the current government if the stock market keeps dropping. The Liberals won't allow him to pass the banking laws he and the President are talking about."

"I doubt the Liberals can form a government, though. If Green's government falls, we could be looking at a new election."

"That might be what the country needs," said Thomas. "The Abernathy faction of the Liberals is too hidebound to economic dogma to realize we might have to make reforms to the national banking system. Have you seen how many people play in the markets? And I've heard it's even worse in America!"

"Such tantalizing Christmas conversation," the Admiral mused.

The two brothers, and Georgie, stopped. They looked at each other and lowered their eyes. "Ma would have shut us up by now."

"She would have," agreed Rafael.

"So when are we goin' to have Auntie Gabbie in for Christmas?", asked David. "Is she still away?"

Thomas gave his son an almost despairing look. The Admiral bowed his head. "I am not sure," he admitted. "She hasn't told me when she will be back."

"Mama says this is our last Christmas here, Pappi," Rachel said. "Why?"

"I am leaving next month," he said. "I have a new home."

"Is the Navy sending you away like they do to Papa?"

There was clear hurt in Rafael's eyes, since it was clear his daughter was often saddened by his time away from home. The Admiral shook his head. "No, little one. I'm retiring from the Navy."

"So you're not going to be in the uniform with the sparkly medals anymore?"

He smiled and shook his head. "Not nearly as often, no. Only at official functions."

There was, in the distance, a knocking at the door. Mei-Ling was quick to get it. There was hushed conversation as she took the raincoat of the new arrival and, given what was being said, helped direct the placing of bags too.

The Admiral was standing up and turning just as Sophie entered the dining room, wearing a green blouse and black winter dress. "Ah, Sophie," the Admiral greeted his daughter, smiling.

"Auntie Sophie!", cried Rachel. She jumped from her chair to greet her aunt as did a number of the other children.

"Papa," she answered. She opened her arms and pulled him close.

"Arrived on Christmas again? I'm beginning to think this was intentional!"

"This time it was!", laughed Sophie. She took turns hugging her nieces and nephews. "I got off the train on the 23rd just to delay my arrival for Christmas." She looked healthy and fit, with a bit more weight on her to fill her out.

Hugs from her siblings came next. "But I knew I had to be back tonight," Sophie said, "So I made sure of it. Our last Christmas in the house."

"Now if only Gabbie could make it," Rafael lamented.

Sophie's eyes lowered. There was nothing she had to say about that.

At that point Ms. Freeman's bell rang loud. "I'm bringin' it in!", she bellowed.

"Alright, children, back to your seats," the Admiral insisted. "And make room for your Aunt Sophie. The geese are on the way!"

And indeed they were - two plump, cooked geese on a tray cart pushed by Ms. Freeman. Three nieces from ages fifteen to nineteen came from behind with their own loads of food for the table.

It was their last Christmas in the house, and it would now be one to remember.


Image


On December 31st, an officer from the Office of Naval Design and Procurement delivered a note to the office of Admiral Garrett. Testing with welding hulls for new ships proved the concept viable, offering further savings in structural weights for vessels. A final report was expected to be released after the New Year.




January 1930 - End of Game

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The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
1 January 1930


On that Wednesday, the first morning of a new year and a new decade, Fleet Admiral Stephen Garrett rose from bed at 0600 sharp. The day would thus begin like many others. A shower, a trimming of his snow-white beard, a hearty breakfast cooked by Judy Freeman in which he enjoyed Sophie's company, and then to his bedroom to get into his blue-gray naval uniform. He put his cover on his head and went downstairs, where Mei-Ling waited with his officer's raincoat. He slipped it on over his uniform jacket and, with a nod from his housekeeper, stepped out into the cold rain.

It was the rainy season. Just as it had been that day thirty years ago. Thirty years ago he had done this same ritual. But Sophie had been just three years old and had slept in. Mei-Ling was still living in China as an adolescent. Tom and Raffie had been the ones to see him off…

...as had Rachel, who had given him a good luck kiss.

And the cab hadn't been an automobile. It had been a hansom cab, drawn by a horse. And waiting for him had been…

With a head of gray hair and his own great raincoat, Captain (Ret.) Reginald Etps was waiting for him. "Admiral," he said, saluting just as he had done thirty years ago, with a weathered, aged version of that same impeccable English accent.

"Reg." The Admiral looked at him with some surprise. His old aide was in his sixties now. Arguably he shouldn't be out in the cold any more than the Admiral should be. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I have the time." A sad little smile came to Reggie's face. "With Melvin gone, I mean. I know how you felt now when Rachel… well, let's not dwell on that, we are now old men and we will catch our cold out in this rain."

"Yes. We will."

The Admiral got into the cab beside Reg. "I thought it fitting," he continued. "This is where it began, after all."

"I distinctly recall when a fire-eating young Lieutenant first stepped aboard the Valiant, acting and certainly sounding as if he were a Royal Navy officer ready to win land for his Queen and Country," replied the Admiral with a sardonic smile.

Etps grinned. "And you were the Executive Officer tasked with whipping me into shape." He shook his head. "But let's be honest, sir. However great your services as an officer aboard a cruiser, or as the victor of Manila Bay… even those will merely be the build up for your time in the Admiralty. The man who gave to the world the battlecruiser and the sovereign, who led Cascadia through four wars as Chief of Naval Operations and made our nation the third greatest naval power on the seas. Certainly the greatest naval power on the Pacific."

"The fool who didn't retire when it was time," grumbled the Admiral, "and who robbed his wife of the happiness of what was to be her final years."

Etps shook his head. "You could no more have retired in 1915 than Nelson could have avoided Trafalgar, sir."

"Perhaps not." The Admiral shook his head. "But not a day goes by that I don't wish that I had."

Etps nodded. "I understand that pain, sir, I do. I feel it all of the time myself."

They said nothing more. The cab crossed the Willamette into the Federal District and made its way to the Admiralty. It had been a new building at the start of the century. Today, it was not as new as other structures that had begun to rise in the Federal District.

Just as before it was a Marine who opened the door for them. Inside an entourage waited. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Phillip Wallace saluted. "Sir," he said. His uniform now had a fifth star upon its rank insignia, and an extra band of gold on the cuff. It was the first day he was wearing said uniform.

Nothing more was said. He went to his office, with Etps as his guest. The retired Admiral Holmes was also in attendance, as was every naval officer who had ever been an aide (save for now-Rear Admiral Reynolds, currently serving as Commander of the East Asian Naval Command), and the rest of the Admiralty. Representative Arnoldo Guzman of New Mexico, the Naval Secretary, was present as well.

The Admiral's office still had the maps, the writing utensils, everything that was official Navy property. Only his portraits and photographs had been removed. He stepped up to the desk and looked to the assembled officers. "This is it," he said, mustering his strength for his voice to come loud and clear. "I have served in this building for thirty years. Twenty-three years and nine months, I have been Chief of Naval Operations, and beforehand I was Vice-Chief of Naval Operations and the Chief of Naval Design and Procurement. I am told that there are few, perhaps none, in the history of the world's Admiralties who can match my time in office and my influence upon our nation's Navy as an institution."

"If they are right, I pray that my influence has proven a positive one for the men of our Service, the men of the sea. Our work is a lonely one. Unlike our Army comrades, we spend months, years, away from our loved ones in service to our country. Due to the nature of our borders and our holdings, Navy and Marine men have usually been the first to shed our blood when our nation goes to war. And yet, for all of these woes, I could never ask for a higher calling than my service in this Navy. I have spent nearly sixty years in service to the Navy of the Cascadian Republic and I would not take that back."

Reg lowered his eyes briefly, and Wallace shifted slightly. Both men knew that while he would not take back his whole service, he desperately wished it had been ended fifteen years ago.

"I have carried the torch for the Navy for over twenty years. Now it is time that I pass that burden on to the generation of officers who followed me. May God bless you with the wisdom, integrity, and courage to see our Navy through to the next generation."

At that, he reached down to the desk and picked up the one paper left on it the prior day. He handed it to Naval Secretary Guzman, who held it up and adjusted his spectacles briefly. When he spoke it was with a refined Spanish accent speaking in excellent English.
To the Naval Office of the Republic of Cascadia,

In light of the retirement of Fleet Admiral Stephen T. Garrett, effective on the First of January in the Year Nineteen Thirty, Admiral Phillip J. Wallace is hereby promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral. Fleet Admiral Wallace is ordered to relieve Fleet Admiral Garrett of his duties and to assume the post of Chief of Naval Operations of the Cascadian Navy on the aforementioned date.

Signed,
Alonso Muniz
President of the Republic of Cascadia
The Thirtieth of December, Nineteen Twenty-Nine

Guzman handed the letter to Wallace, who read it himself, quietly. After doing so he looked to the Admiral and saluted crisply. "Fleet Admiral Garrett, sir, I am here as ordered to relieve you of your post."

The Admiral returned the salute crisply. "Thank you, Fleet Admiral Wallace. I stand relieved." Ceremonially he stepped away from the desk and allowed Wallace to step up to it.

"I will be brief," Wallace said, as he looked to his predecessor. "Admiral Garrett, I thank you for your years of service to the Navy and the Country. I will remember with pride the days you gave me every command, every post, I have held in this Navy, as I am sure many of those assembled will do. You have molded the Service into one of the finest on the planet. I may even say it is the finest. The Royal Navy itself could not find fault with what we have become due to you. I consider it my duty to continue commanding this Navy with the same principles you have bestowed upon us in the generation you have been in this office. Thank you again, sir, for all you have done."

Polite applause answered him.

The day was not quite over. The Admiralty, as a whole, departed for the Navy League Club in a convoy of taxicabs, where the Navy League held a celebratory luncheon to welcome the new Chief of Naval Operations and see off the old. This time his family was there, entirely, sitting and listening as the attendees gave him their heartfelt sendoff. Admiral Garrett was made, by unanimous vote of the Club, a member for life, and the Navy League named him Co-Chairman of the Navy League Governing Committee. Three former Naval Secretaries gave him parting farewell addresses and welcomed Wallace to his new posting.

The arrival of President Muniz was a delightful surprise. He came toward the end of the luncheon, although he did not speak or participate.



When the luncheon was over the family left to return to the House. Christmas dinner had been just a week prior, so for the day dinner would be primarily cold meats and finger foods. Standing with Etps in his parlor, the Admiral said, "I plan to be in Astoria in two or three weeks. It will take me that long to finish dividing my private family papers and correspondence with my papers relating to the Navy."

"If anyone has earned retirement, sir, you have."

He gave Reg a slight smile. "Come now, Reg. It's just 'Steve' now. I'm retired."

"You will always be 'sir' to me… sir… Stephen."

"Ha!"

"Uncle Reggie!" Raffie appeared at the door with his little boy. "I don't think I've introduced you to Raffie Junior, have I?"

"No, Raffie, you have not," declared Reg. He looked the little boy in the eye. "Hello Raffie Jr."

"Hello Unkie Reg," the toddler replied.

"Let me take you to Catherine," Rafael said. "She's with Rachel and their cousin Gabrielle in the old playroom."

This gave the Admiral a moment alone until Sophie arrived at the door. "Papa, you want me to do the biography?", she asked.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, you are a writer yourself…"

"But I am, as a historian, an amateur," he countered. "You have your schooling, your education, to support you in a proper account of my life."

"But I can hardly be objective…"

"You will be plenty objective," he insisted. "I raised you to be honest, after all. And yes, you will have full access to the papers here… after the Navy censors decide which ones have to be locked up for another half-century anyway."

"Right." Sophie sighed. "Very well. I'll do so. But I would like you to join me."

"Hrm?"

"Write about your life, Papa," she said. "I mean, when you get to Astoria. Sit at a typewriter or with your pen and paper and write about things. How you look back on everything. I think it will give the book a special feel to it that I can't do by myself."

Seeing his daughter meant that, the retired Admiral sighed. "Alright," he said. "I shall do so."

With that agreement made, they looked to the window that showed the backyard. The rain was still drizzling down. "Papa, I'm going to miss it," Sophie said. He could hear her voice breaking and turned to face her. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she started to sob quietly. "This was my home for so long…"

"Your name is in the Trust," he said. "You can live here whenever you like, for the rest of your life."

"I know." She nodded. Tears still came. "But it's not just that, Papa. Before… you were always here, even if Thomas and Raffie and Gabbie weren't. But now you'll be gone too. It's like there's nothing left of when I was little."

"I know." He gently embraced his daughter. His tears began to flow too as he thought of everything that they had done in this house, of everything the family had been so many years ago, and how it had all eventually flowed away. "But that's the way life is. Just like the sea, it goes on and on…."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

End of Game Almanac Data:
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End of Game Fleet:
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Cascadian ships sunk during the game:
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End of Game Construction:
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Summary Timeline:
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”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Raesene »

A big Thank You for this entertaining story.

Any chance of story epilogues :wink: ?

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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

That was a hell of a ride Steve, thanks. And thanks for letting me have a fun role :)

I gotta say, for four or five major naval wars, only losing one BB and one BC in thirty years is damned impressive.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."

Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

There will be epilogues.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Thanas »

On the 6th of August, the junkers raised the Imperial Flag of Germany in revolt against the German Republic. Armed rebels seized vital points of Koenigsburg, Thorn, and strong columns marched on Danzig and took the city on the 9th. Local Army units dissolved as monarchist officers rose against the Republic and joined the revolt, demanding an end to the Republic and the restoration of the Kaiser.
:lol:

This reads like somebody has no real knowledge of the German Empire. Or geography.


EDIT: I also don't know why France hasn't pounced on it yet.
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Thanas wrote:
On the 6th of August, the junkers raised the Imperial Flag of Germany in revolt against the German Republic. Armed rebels seized vital points of Koenigsburg, Thorn, and strong columns marched on Danzig and took the city on the 9th. Local Army units dissolved as monarchist officers rose against the Republic and joined the revolt, demanding an end to the Republic and the restoration of the Kaiser.
:lol:

This reads like somebody has no real knowledge of the German Empire. Or geography.
To be honest, I'm not an expert on what the two Prussias (East and West) were like back then, I just know city names and have a general idea of some of the local terrain and environment. Like, I know that the monarchy controlled the valuable amber trade, that there were still large junker estates across the countryside, but I'm not familiar with how much local industry existed or the railways. But I was trying to account for the revolt in East Prussia triggering in-game and the fact that even though it started pre-war, even as of the end of my playthrough (when I clicked Resign) it still hadn't been resolved one way or the other.

So in general, if what I write contradicts our history even when it doesn't seem like it should... I suppose it's a butterfly effect of the different timeline. Or something.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Nephtys »

That's a lot of sunk merchants.
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Thanas »

Steve wrote:To be honest, I'm not an expert on what the two Prussias (East and West) were like back then, I just know city names and have a general idea of some of the local terrain and environment. Like, I know that the monarchy controlled the valuable amber trade, that there were still large junker estates across the countryside, but I'm not familiar with how much local industry existed or the railways. But I was trying to account for the revolt in East Prussia triggering in-game and the fact that even though it started pre-war, even as of the end of my playthrough (when I clicked Resign) it still hadn't been resolved one way or the other.

So in general, if what I write contradicts our history even when it doesn't seem like it should... I suppose it's a butterfly effect of the different timeline. Or something.
Ah the timeline that magically transformed agriculture into industry. :P

Yeah I think it is more the fault of the game having little to no resemblance to real politics or real history. I mean, it has the backwater area of the German Empire, which was largely used for agricultural production, rise up in revolt against the industrialized portion of it.

It would be like if the confederacy had consisted only of Lousiana and Alabama rising up against the entire USA. I mean Paradox games are pretty shit with regards to that but at least they don't pull things completely out of their behind.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Thanas wrote: Ah the timeline that magically transformed agriculture into industry. :P

Yeah I think it is more the fault of the game having little to no resemblance to real politics or real history. I mean, it has the backwater area of the German Empire, which was largely used for agricultural production, rise up in revolt against the industrialized portion of it.

It would be like if the confederacy had consisted only of Lousiana and Alabama rising up against the entire USA. I mean Paradox games are pretty shit with regards to that but at least they don't pull things completely out of their behind.
Oh, that I understand.

Note that the same can happen to the US: Maine can potentially revolt.

I think it's because they wanted to give some border territories for various great powers integral to the game to fight over. Russia can take East Prussia from Germany, Germany can take the Baltic States or Finland from Russia, someone can take Sicily or Sardinia or Corsica or Ireland from their respective states, you can even make the US give up Maine. But that means the game treats them as non-home areas where revolts can happen. And then, depending on if the RNG hates you (and I think positioning naval forces can have an effect on this), the area's rebellion can succeed, turning it into a neutral possession that can be taken by a GP via event.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Naval Launch
Exiting Columbia River, Oregon
2 September 1934



The naval launch skipped its way across the sandbar near Cape Disappointment and out into the Pacific. The day was beautiful, with just a few clouds in a sun-filled sky that showed summer, while technically over, was still lingering on.

Two figures sat in the back of the naval launch. Captain Rafael Garrett tried, and failed, to hide his concern for his father. The retired old Admiral, approaching the final quarter of his fourth year of retirement, had lost weight since Raffie had last seen him earlier in the year. His cousins had been more than willing to inform Rafael of his father's health whenever it was asked. It was not surprising that at the age of eighty-two, Admiral Garrett's body was starting to fail on him. His hearing was faltering, his eyesight required him to wear glasses now, and arthritis and other maladies had sapped away his vitality to the extent that the old man had needed help getting into the launch.

"Sophie says the biography's going well, Pa," Raffie said, making conversation.

For a moment his father said nothing. He seemed completely absorbed in their launch's progress out to sea. Just before Raffie could repeat himself the Admiral turned to face his son. His beard, once full, had become wispy. Age spots were appearing on his face. "It has," he agreed. "I'm afraid my contributions have declined in the last year."

"Richard said you were starting to have problems remembering things." Rafael thought for a moment. "Pa, maybe for the winters you should go down to the Vallejo Estate?"

"Not you too," the Admiral grumbled. "That's all I ever hear from your brother."

"Thomas isn't wrong, Pa." Rafael swallowed. "I'm worried about you."

"Son, I'm eighty-two years old. You'll always be worried about me." The Admiral drew in a breath. "And the fact is… I'm not going to be around for too much longer. It's just a fact of life."

Silence prevailed for a moment.

"Your brother… he's doing well for himself."

Rafael sighed. "Depends on who you ask, Pa."

"He's Foreign Secretary of the Republic and a Senator," the Admiral pointed out. "He might end up President by 1940."

"And he's second in line to become Secretary of State if Hollis ever quits, yes." Rafael shook his head. "But Pa… he's made a lot of enemies over the Port Arthur Treaty…"

The Admiral shook his head. "He did what had to be done."

Neither had to go on about that. The stock market crashes and bank failures of 1930, followed by the ripple of protectionist tariffs from the United States to Britain to Cascadia, had broken the world's economy. Cascadia was trying to pull out of it with a new program of government assistance and economic investment under the Democrats, but the need to slash the military budget had left the Cascadian Navy short on ships and on manpower.

As a result, following the election of Karl Green to the Cascadian Presidency in 1932 and Senator Hollis taking his place as Secretary of State with a Democrat majority Parliament, a re-alignment of Cascadian defenses had been enacted. A treaty with Japan, with its strong fleet and a government becoming more and more authoritarian by the year, resulted in the virtual cession of the Liaotung Peninsula to Japan - while politically Cascadia still possessed the cities, Japan had full military rights to them. The alternative had literally been war, a war that the cash-starved Navy and Army could not have won.

Unfortunately that had backfired. Japan had used its control over Liaotung as further leverage to strip Manchuria from China, creating a Manchu monarchy under Pu Yi called Manchukuo. The world had protested, but little had been done. Opinion polls in Cascadia showed that most Cascadians were more worried about keeping their jobs or finding food and shelter, not what Japan was up to.

But for Rafael, those concerns weren't primary on his mind. He was looking ahead at their destination. "There she is, Pa," he said. "My new ship."

"Ah?" The Admiral looked ahead. His brow crinkled. "Why is her deck so high?"

"That's not her freeboard deck, Pa. That's her flight deck. She's an aircraft carrier. About 25,000 tonnes." Rafael couldn't help but grin as he looked at the looming shape of the flat top ahead.

"What's her name?"

"Enterprise."

It took them a little longer for the launch to pull up to the CRS Enterprise, first of her kind. The aircraft carrier was built to be a fleet scout and could carry nearly ninety new monoplane aircraft. Some naval theorists were already arguing that with bombs and torpedoes loaded, her air group might pose a danger to a battleship.

Rafael shared this with his father. The Admiral snorted. "Wood and canvas… any light gun would tear those things to shreds."

"They're not wood and canvas anymore, Pa," Rafael said. "They're making them of metal now. Aluminium and such."

"Hrm."

When they pulled up along the carrier crew were waiting to lift the launch up to a receiving deck. From there Rafael led his father up to the deck of the flattop.

The crew had assembled in perfect order, standing on the "island" - the superstructure tower - where it had deck space available on the outside. Men in Cascadian blue-gray were arrayed in inspection formation.

"Alright Pa, here they are. My new crew."

"Right."

The two inspected the crew by sections. The air group pilots and mechanics, the flight deck crew, the engineering crew, bridge crew, support crew…. It took much of the day to go through the details and sections, and night was already starting to descend when they returned to the launch. There would be no return trip until morning: Rafael had already arranged to stay at his father's home, and the launch crew had a room at the Astoria Naval Station waiting for them.

As the launch motored its way back to shore, Rafael looked at his father. "So, Pa? They're a good crew, right?"

The Admiral, again, took a few moments to respond. And when he did, it was with a nod. "Yeah, Raffie," he murmured quietly. "A good crew. Like they always are."
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

The Vallejo-Garrett Family Estate
Outside of Vallejo, Upper California
3 April 1937



The Vallejo family estate had once been the pride of the upper class Californio family. Rafael Vallejo, in turn, had bequeathed the family estate to his eldest daughter, and she in turn to her children. In general it was the residence now of Senator Thomas Garrett of Upper California, currently holding the governor-appointed Senate seat for the province that his grandfather had once held. In practice, any of the children could stay there whenever they pleased.

The entire family was at the Estate now, gathered for the first time in over a year.

It was not a happy occasion.

The children were off playing. The only child with the adults (and teenage Rachel) was John Jr., Thomas' one year old grandson and the second of the new generation of the family. He was sitting in the lap of his mother, Beatriz Luz Corrello, looking at his grandparents and grand-aunt and -uncle with the sort of general confusion a baby would often have in unfamiliar places.

It was noon when the doctor came into the parlor, straight from the bedroom-turned-sickroom. Doctor Hasselbach had an apologetic expression on his lined, aged face. "I'm sorry," he said. "It won't be long."

A brief sob came from one of the assembled - Rachel. The tears on her eyes caused her mother to embrace her warmly.

"Is he lucid?", Rafael asked.

"In and out. He shared some of the symptoms. But it's only going to get worse for him." Doctor Hasselbach kept his voice gentle. "Have you sent for a priest?"

"Pa's not Catholic," said Thomas.

"I see. Then there is nothing more to do but to make him comfortable until the end."

There was a muffled cry from the room in question. Instinctively Sophie rushed to the door first. She had been the one who start caring for her father when his health confined him to the Astoria house. And she had been the one to finally prevail on him the previous September to come and live in the Vallejo Estate, where it was warmer and healthier for him.

That had bought time. But not enough.

The others were coming up behind her as Sophie opened the door. The wasted form of the Admiral was on the bed in a crumpled set of pajamas. He was no longer the large, bearded gentleman that Sophie had called "Papa". His body had shriveled down. His eyes were nearly blind from cataracts and age. His beard had virtually faded to nothing, just a few little tufts of gray hair.

"Gabbie?", he croaked. "Gabbie, are you there?"

Sophie stifled a sob. "No, Papa. It's Sophie."

"Where's Gabbie?" He looked blankly at her. "I have…" He went silent, as if he wasn't sure what to say. "I chased her away. I chased my baby girl away. Oh God forgive me…"

"Pa, it's fine…"

Thomas' attempt to soothe didn't work. A pained sob came from the bed of the dying man, beset now by old regrets. "Rachel?"

"Papi?" The teenage girl went into the room. "Papi, I'm here."

"I'm sorry, Rachel," he wept. That he was oblivious to the fact that the Rachel in the room was his granddaughter, not his late wife, added to the pain of the scene for all concerned. "I should have left when you asked. I should… I should…"

There was a very tense moment when he stopped speaking. Doctor Hasselbach went back into the room and checked on him. "He's sleeping."

"Doctor, is there anything we can do?", Anne-Marie asked.

"You can keep him comfortable until the end. That's all any of us can do."




The day moved toward night. The Admiral slept through most of those hours. When he was awake his mind slipped back and forth through memories. He would spontaneously call out orders to gunners and helmsmen, talk about Spanish torpedoes, or order men to keep their storm stations and "we'll get through this damn typhoon". Occasionally shouts about "Rebel shells" joined these orders.

The children had come inside for dinner when a cry of "The Rebs are burnin' the house, Pa! They're burnin' the house!" came from the bedroom.

A confused Rafael Jr. looked to Sophie. "Aunt Sophie, what's he saying? Papi's house never got burned down."

Sophie's eyes were glistening with tears as she turned away from looking down the hall. "His first home was," she answered. "This happened when he was your age, Rafael. Some Confederate soldiers burned down Papa's home in 1862. Back in Maryland."

"Why?"

Rafael Jr's questions were a welcome distraction for Sophie. "Grandpa Jim was a Unionist and some of the neighbors were Secessionists, and they claimed he was hiding runaway slaves. So some of the Confederate soldiers got out of control and burned down his house to make them run out. There weren't any, though, but it was too late to stop the flames."

An angry look came to Rafael Jr.'s young face. "That was wrong."

"It was."

"And Papi got them back, right?"

Sophie nodded slowly. "Well, he fought in the second war. You've learned about the Second North American War in your history class, right?"

"We helped the Americans beat up the slave-owners, right?"

"Something like that."

"Do you think we'll have to do it again?", Rafael Jr. asked.

"Do what?"

"Beat up bad guys like that. Like the Nazis. They're mean to people too. Do you think I'm going to end up fighting the Nazis like Uncle Thomas fought the Germans?"

A sour look came to Sophie's face. "Don't worry about that right now, Rafael."

There was a knock at the door. Rachel, who had appointed herself the official door-greeter, went to it. It was presumably another telegram from one of the Admiral's admirers or old colleagues.

Instead she stepped back from the entryway. "Papa, there's a couple of ladies here. I think they're cousins?"

Rafael and Thomas got to the entryway first. Sophie began to walk their way as well.

Before she got there, her brothers stepped out of the entryway. Behind them came two women, both several years younger than Sophie, dark-haired and with farmers' tans on the bare arms shown by their plain blouses.

Sophie gasped, partly in surprise and partly in joy. "Gabbie?"

Gabriela took her older sister in a hug. Tears flowed down their faces at the heartfelt embrace. "Sophie, it's good to see you again," Gabbie said.

"You're still ranching?"

"We are," Gabbie said. She looked at the others in the room. She recognized Anne-Marie and Georgia and accepted hugs from them. For the family, seeing her as she was now - in a "Sunday best" formal dress blouse and ankle-length dress, the sleeves short enough that her lean, muscled arms were visible, and her hair cut boyishly-short - brought back old memories of the baby sister she had started out as.

"You've gotten so big," Gabriela said to John.

"Thanks, Aunt Gabbie. Say hello to John Jr."

While Gabriela held her grand-nephew, it was Thomas who said, "This is your Aunt Gabbie," to the assembled children.

"Who's the other lady?", asked Rafael Jr's little sister Linda, the youngest of Raffie and Georgie's children..

The moment would have been awkward if Gabriela hadn't quickly said, "She's Isabela. She and I run a ranch together, and she knew Papa growing up."

Isabela nodded at that.

Gabriela's siblings let it stand at that. "How is Papa doing?", Gabriela asked. "The newspapers are saying he's really sick."

It was Rafael who took the lead. "Doctor Hasselbach thinks he'll be gone tonight, maybe tomorrow morning."

Gabriela bowed her head. She wiped a lean, muscled arm over her eyes to brush away tears. "Can I see him?"

"Yes," Sophie said immediately. "He wants you to."

With a look to her brothers indicating she was not going to be denied on this, Sophie led Gabriela and Isabela to the sickroom. WIth the sky darkening outside the room was dimly lit. A gentle low light was turned on to provide them the ability to see. "Oh Papa", sobbed Gabriela at seeing her father's condition. "Oh Papa…"

It looked like the old man was sleeping, but he suddenly stirred on the bed. "Huh?" He made another confused noise before his cloudy eyes turned to the door. "Gabbie?", he asked weakly.

She nodded. Tears continued to flow down her cheeks. "I'm here Papa. I'm here."

"Gabbie… my little girl, my littlest…" He moved an arm weakly toward her.

It was clear that every moment was pain for Gabriela as she stepped up to the bed and knelt beside it. She took her father's hand into her hands with the sort of delicate touch one would expect from handling a fragile vase. "Papa, I'm sorry," she said. The tears were flowing freely now. "I should have come back sooner. But I was afraid… I thought you'd reject…"

"You're my little one. I should have written to you. I should have…" He coughed. The cough turned violent and within moments there was blood and green mucus in his coughs. Gabriela held him gently until the coughing ended. "I should have… brought you back… you're my little one…"

"It's okay, Papa. I'm here now. I'm here…"

For several moments there was nothing to say. Gabriela sat quietly while her father slid back into what seemed to be sleep.

But then he moaned. "Jerry, keep your head down, the Rebs will take your head off," he mumbled. After another incoherent mumble it became a shout of "Keep your damn heads down, all of you!"

At that point, Gabriela couldn't hold it back anymore. She turned and buried her face into Isabela's shoulder.

And she started sobbing, and did not stop until long after Isabela and Sophie guided her from the bedroom.



It was nearly dawn. Sophie was still awake, as were her siblings, and with the exhausted Doctor Hasselbach sleeping in the guest room it was Sophie who was sitting beside her father. She was reading anything she could find for him. Poetry, a collection of sea tales he'd once told her as a child… she had even found an edition of Sherlock Holmes stories, which she knew he'd loved all his life. She liked to think he was hearing her, and enjoying it, even as his failing mind kept pulling him back to the most tense moments of his long life.

Sophie, more than her siblings, was familiar with those moments. His biography was mostly done, after years of work. His mumbles, and occasional cries, came from the pages she had written over the decade. He would scream to sailors and Marines to get their heads down during the Georgia campaign of 1884. Then it would be calling for his father in 1862, as Southern soldiers burned down the home of a ten year old boy. The typhoon that nearly sank the Valiant in 1892, the Battle of Manila Bay, the siege of Charleston…

Sometimes it wasn't battles, but friends. Reginald Etps, Sophie's dear Uncle Reggie, who had died two years ago. Comrades from his early career now long-dead, his parents, his siblings...

But what hurt the worst was when he'd call for Rachel. For nearly twenty years Sophie had carried the wound of her mother's death, and with her father dying hearing him cry for her was ripping that wound open again. He would call her name, beg for forgiveness, proclaim his love, and it was breaking Sophie's heart to see how much pain her father had quietly carried in his heart, now gushing out of him as his failing body and mind couldn't hide it anymore.

And then it stopped. There was a low sound from his chest, a rattle. Something new.

Sophie jumped to the door and opened it. "Get the doctor!", she cried.

Soon the family filed in, save the children sleeping in their beds. The Doctor looked over him. "He's still alive. But…"

He needn't have added the "But". Within a minute it was clear that the Admiral's chest had stopped moving. He was still and lifeless.

Hasselbach went through the forms and checked his watch. "Six-oh-nine AM," he said. He picked up one of his papers at the side of the bed and scribbled upon it.

By the time he was writing the time, the sobbing had begun.




The announcement was made shortly thereafter. The death had been expected and local authorities quickly confirmed details and made their formal recognition. An undertaker service was summoned to retrieve the body and prepare it. As the hours went by on April 4th, 1937, so did the telegraphs and the radio announcements on the death of the retired Fleet Admiral Garrett.

By the next day the wires came in from across the world. Condolences from other naval chiefs and politicians of several nations whom had worked in some way with the Admiral. President Green ordered the flags of the nation flown at half-staff until the funeral at the end of the week. A state funeral was proposed by the Admiralty, but shot down by the government as a "wasteful extravagance in a time of national need". The country was still gripped by the Great Depression, and the Democrats and the renewed Socialist Party were full of politicians who thought the expenses of a state funeral for a retired admiral to be out of the question with out-of-work citizens starving in the streets. The Navy League protested bitterly, as did many others, but in the end the decision was confirmed: no state funeral would be performed.

The funeral service was nevertheless held in Portland's National Baptist Church with the full military ceremony that the Admiralty demanded for their former chief. Former President Muniz was seen in attendance, and many members of both houses of Parliament came to attend. Fleet Admiral Wallace joined Rafael and others in eulogizing the late Admiral. After the service a military procession, complete with riderless horse, brought the tricolor-draped casket back to the rail station. The family escorted it back to the Bay Area where Admiral Garrett was laid to rest in the Vallejo family crypt beside Rachel, a reunion twenty years in the making.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Image



Hunter's Point Naval Yard
San Francisco, Upper California
10 June 1974




Crowds of yard workers, Navy sailors, and journalists gathered for the formal ceremony at the large slipway at Hunter's Point, all enjoying the warmth of the summer sun that Monday. Ahead of them, and towering over them, was the colossal form of a 100,000 ton behemoth of a ship. Its top deck was festooned with green, white, and blue bunting, and the Cascadian tricolor was hanging off the bow.

President Arturo Guzman was on hand to personally give a speech after the Chief of Naval Operations, Fleet Admiral Alexander Summeral, gave the formal introduction. Other leading politicians, officials, and naval officers were on the main platform behind the podium.

Given the formal business suits and uniforms on middle-aged and older men, it probably seemed out of place to many that two old women were seated near to the President as the guests of honor. Their hair was long whitened by age.

It was only after the typical "defense of our nation" speech that Guzman motioned to them. "And now, to christen this great vessel in the name of one of our nation's greatest naval heroes, I would like to introduce to you the surviving children of that great man: Sophie Garrett and Gabriela Garrett."

The two sisters nodded quietly and stood from their chairs. Recently-turned seventy-eight years old, Sophie was having some trouble walking, and it was with her sixty-nine year old sister's help that she stepped up to the waiting platform beside President Guzman. A wine bottle was held in place there. It came from a Vallejo family-owned vineyard, as they had requested. Its neck was tied to the ship by a long ribbon of green, white, and blue.

"Ready?", Gabriela asked Sophie.

"I am," she replied in a soft, strained voice.

With a microphone now placed up to them, they spoke in unison. "We hereby christen thee the Cascadian Republic Ship Stephen Garrett," at which point they pushed the bottle toward the hull. Due to the length of the ribbon and the strong push the two managed together, the bottle struck the metal hull of the great aircraft carrier and shattered completely. Wine covered the hull.

"Bring her to life." The order was from Gabriela. Sophie's voice simply couldn't manage the necessary volume.

Within the ship, the proper buttons were pressed, the right processes began, atoms split and caused more to split, and a power source their father would have been astounded to hear of began to generate heat. The heat was transferred to pressurized water, which in turn flowed into a steam generator full of water to push turbines and generate electricity, a process he would have found utterly familiar.

The 100,000 ton aircraft carrier began to slide out into the waters of San Francisco Bay within seconds as applause sounded from the crowd. Overhead naval pilots flew fighter jets much like the ones that would be embarked upon the ship, which could carry them to the far corners of the Pacific, indeed to the far corners of the globe, and defend the friends and interests of the Cascadian Republic.

"Pa would have been astounded to see a ship that big," Gabriela said.

"He would," Sophie agreed. "But he would be proud."

"So would Raffie and Thomas." There was pain in Gabriela's voice when she mentioned their brothers.

"It's okay." Sophie smiled gently at the sister who, though no longer smaller than her, was always going to be her little sister. "The President is waiting. And so is Isabela."

With a tear in her eye, Gabriela nodded.

The two sisters left the platform together, as behind them the ship bearing their father's name began what they hoped to be a long and distinguished career in the service of the country he had dedicated his life to.



FINIS
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Raesene »

Again, thank you for the wonderful story

so, when will youn start a playthrough using Rule the Waves 2: now with carriers ? :wink:

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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Raesene wrote:Again, thank you for the wonderful story

so, when will youn start a playthrough using Rule the Waves 2: now with carriers ? :wink:
You're welcome.

And I don't know, I think one was enough. :P I mean, I guess we'll see? I've not heard much of RTW2 being anything more than a concept.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.

DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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