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 »

Eternal_Freedom wrote:Good to know updates are near...and for Seeking the Future too!
I think you mean "Undiscovered Frontier"? :wink:

"Seeking the Past" was the uniform title for its first season of stories (like how B5 had titles for each season drawn from an episode of that 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 Eternal_Freedom »

Yes, that, but at least we both knew what I meant :D
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 »

July 1916

Von Lettow-Vorbeck humiliated the British again, inflicting severe losses on them on the slopes of Kilimanjaro before retreating successfully into Tanganyika.

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The Apache and Richland were commissioned, giving much-desired reinforcement to the Cascadian cruiser fleet.

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Each submarine force claimed a sinking.

Las Vegas claimed three more German merchant ships in the waters of Southeast Asia.

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Dear Father,

I am very thankful for the letters I received from home at the beginning of the month. To hear that Mama's condition has continued to improve has taken a burden off of my soul. I long, greatly, to see her and you again.

I also extend my thanks to Mama for providing her love and care to my darling Georgia during this war. It pains me to be separated from her. To know she has the support of the family is a little balm for my pains.

Father, long ago you warned me of the stresses and terrors of battle. Uncle Reggie, who sends his tender regards, had made the point clear when I was still an adolescent. Now, I can say that I understand you both.

The 5th of July was a day like no other in my memory. That the action began so late in the afternoon meant only a day of nerve-wracking uncertainty and fear for myself and my fellows on the Liberty.

The action began slowly enough. We were off of Juist when the first enemy ships, a merchant and minesweeper, came into our view. We sank both with prodigious speed and our guns' fury silenced a German coastal battery next.

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We were southwest of Helgoland when the battle was joined with the main enemy fleet. Our guns thundered in battle anger for the first time. I felt my heart pound and my mouth dry as the first shells splashed into the waters around us. I remember this feeling I had, saddened and yet relieved that Uncle Reggie was not present with his ship. I could smell the smoke from our guns' thunderous retorts to this enemy attack.

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From the Constitution the signals flowed in repeatedly. The division commanders were seeking to close the range. I am not sure if the Admiral was refusing them or if he had a greater plan.

The Germans were giving us a hard fight. The hits landed upon the Warrior and Relentless and I was left wondering if we would take the next shell. In the distance I thought I saw a shell fell on an enemy. So few did. And we kept to the same course. I do not understand why the engagement was not contested more hotly. What Admiral MacCallister was thinking by not pressing forth.

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Night fell upon us and we could no longer see clearly enough. A wave of discontent filled my heart. All of that uncertainty, all of that raw fear, and what had we to show for it? A couple of minor sinkings? This was to be the day we battered the German fleet and tightened the blockade. Instead it came to nothing. Nothing of import. A draw. Perhaps even an enemy victory, if reports of no damage to the enemy battle line are to be believed.

It is so frustrating, Father. The British Royal Navy and the Cascadian Navy, united, are the mightiest forces afloat today. Why can we not accomplish more? There must be something we can do to break this deadlock and commence the blockade.

My frustrations are calmed by my faith in your leadership. I know you will find a way to tighten the noose and enable the blockade to work. With their trade crippled, the Germans' economy will falter. They will have to make peace with us. A lasting peace this time. Something to end, once and for all, all contentions between our peoples, so that Cascadia's place in the world is finally secure and we can live free of the tumult of these wars.

Please take care, Father, and know that my faith, and the faith of the entire Fleet, rests in your leadership.

Your Dutiful Son,
Raffie


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The Battle of Helgoland was an indecisive engagement ultimately. In terms of costs the Germans came out slightly ahead, inflicting moderate damage to the Warrior and light damage to the pre-sovereign Relentless at the mere cost of a lost destroyer and minesweeper. It was a frustrating experience for the Cascadian Navy. Recriminations came up the ranks against Admiral Roger MacCallister for what was perceived as a repeat of the Battle of the Carolines in the last war; a failure to close the distance and bring superior firepower to bear.

In Portland President Lakeland saw the battle as another sign that the Cascadian fleet was being wasted in England and should be recalled to the Pacific to support invasions of the German Pacific territories. Admiral Garrett remained steadfast with the support of Naval Secretary Santiago, however, pointing out the extreme difficulty in amphibious invasions in the Pacific and the possibility that the German fleet's dispersal after an abandonment of the tightening blockade would "have a horrific effect upon our global commerce". A further delay in Army preparations finally convinced Lakeland to withdraw his complaints for the moment.

Enemy merchant and minesweeper sunk, coastal battery taken out. Main enemy fleet engaged Southwest of Helgoland. Exchange of shots, both fleets break off with an hour before sunset.


The third Titan-class battleship, the Colossus, is laid.

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August 1916

The large cruiser Navajo is commissioned.

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In Berlin, a shock came with a reduction in the incoming grain from Russia. Lenin's authorities were facing increased resistance to the full-scale collectivization he had ordered. This omen to troubles in Soviet Russia was clear warning to Bethmann-Hollweg and his colleagues that Germany could not trust the flow of needed grain from Russia either.

With this in mind Germany, using the same Swiss channels that ended the last war, offered a status quo antebellum peace to the Allies. German troops would withdraw from Mozambique.

Neither London nor Portland were inclined to accept. The British wanted to see the German Empire's naval threat reduced. President Lakeland and larger sections of Parliament were more unwilling to see another war go by without a decisive result.

The reply made that clear. Cascadia was willing to discuss peace if it involved a German withdrawal from the Pacific. These were not terms the Germans could accept. And so the peace talks ended without success.

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As Admiral Garrett had expected, Burleigh & Armstrong delivered preliminary plans to the Admiralty for a 1,500T destroyer. The Admiralty signed a contract to fund further studying on the planned design.

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The Battle Of Helgoland contributed further to the Navy's tactical capabilities despite the lackluster outcome.

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The German submersibles had the better month. U-Boats claimed 2 Cascadian merchants in the Pacific while the Cascadian sub force claimed just one, with one sub confirmed sunk off Sumatra.

The cruiser war went the other way. The Juneau, back on her raiding patrols, sank another German merchant ship in the Indian Ocean. The Las Vegas had far greater success, claiming four sinkings in the waters of the East Indies and Bismarcks. Meanwhile Courageous successfully drove the Fürst Bismarck back into port, keeping the German raider from any sinkings for the month.

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After the Battle of Helgoland, Admiral MacCallister met with his British counterpart, Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and agreed to refrain from attempting another surface battle unless the German HSF could be lured into a lopsided engagement against both Home Fleet and the Cascadian Expeditionary Fleet. When the Hochseeflotte aggressively maneuvered into the North Sea, the Cascadian fleet did not give battle, and Jellicoe's ships could not arrive in time before the German fleet retired for Kiel.






September 1916

Despite the indecisive nature of the war so far, the strain on Germany was growing. British pressure had effectively closed off German access to Dutch, Belgian, and Danish imports. German purchasers were having to compete with increasing British and Cascadian orders for Swedish iron ore, strategic purposes meant to bolster the two nations' military construction while denying vital iron to German industry. The French Assembly narrowly denied a new bill sponsored by the French colonial lobby that would have made it easier for the Germans to purchase material through France. Austria-Hungary saw decreasing exports as peoples across that disparate state began stockpiling after news broke that the Emperor Franz Josef was in failing health. Fears of civil war in the Habsburg domains dominated the European diplomatic scene, with the Germans frantically attempting to broker a compromise between Franz Ferdinand and Tisza to prevent said civil war.

With prices climbing due to these repeated shocks, the German populace held a new series of anti-war demonstrations in several industrial cities.

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The Cascadian Navy was embarrassed when the new cruiser Vancouver reported her crew had finished their working up, and then days later returned to port due to unexpected difficulties with the condensor.

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The Royal Navy issued an offer to purchase licenses for Cascadian Q-Ships. The offer was accepted.

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Naval Ordnance reported new lengthened torpedoes were ready for deployment with the fleet.

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The German U-Boats claimed three more sinkings for the month. In the Indian Ocean the Juneau sank another German merchant. Britain's own anti-commerce operations contributed eight more sinkings or prizes for the month.

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The German Pacific Squadron, led by the battlecruisers Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Lützow, launched a devastating night raid on the base at Chuuk. During the confused night engagement that followed the destroyers Harriet Tubman and Benito Juarez were sunk. The pre-sovereign battleship Dauntless took a torpedo hit and limped back to the safety of Chuuk Lagoon. Two minesweepers and a transport ship were also sunk by the German forces, which took moderate to heavy damage to their destroyers but only light damage to the two raiding battlecruisers.

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The German raid set off a row in the Admiralty. Naval Intelligence had failed to track the location of the two German battlecruisers and Rear Admiral Anthony Larsen had moved the new battlecruisers to Manila, believing the German ships were relocating to Sumatra. At the insistence of Admiral Garrett and other officers, a shakeup was instituted in the Pacific naval staff to prevent further errors of this kind.

Two more medium-range subs were ordered to replace war losses.




October 1916

The Anglo-Cascadian alliance took a slight hit with the expiration of the research-sharing agreement between the two Navies. Negotiations for a wartime extension failed due to disagreement on certain salient points. Naval Secretary Santiago wired First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill on the matter, stating that even with the sharing agreement over, the two Navies should continue to share information pertinent to the war effort. First Lord Churchill agreed.

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The cruiser Seattle was commissioned. The Apache and Richland reported that their crews had finished their working up trials.

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The old pre-sovereign battleship Relentless was forced into port with condensor trouble.

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With reports from Vienna indicating that the old Emperor might die at any time, Berlin felt increasing concern over the start of an Austro-Hungarian civil war upon his death due to the irreconcilable differences between the heir and Hungarian leadership. The peace party in Berlin also felt stronger due to the recent Cascadian naval setbacks and believed that this might prompt lighter terms from Portland.

The Germans thus sent another peace offer, offering to withdraw from Mozambique as part of the peace deal.

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But the Germans underestimated the spirit in Portland. Though the naval setbacks had been annoying, the lack of any significant losses had failed to dent the nation's faith in the Navy prevailing in the end. The increasing economic pressure on Germany was in clear favor of Admiral Garrett's proposed strategy of supporting the British in a blockade and starving Germany out. The Cascadian delegation in Switzerland was given instructions to, in conjunction with Britain (and Portugal), offer peace only upon German agreement to demilitarize Sumatra and vacate the Marianas.

In response to this, the German government breathed defiance. The Kaiser addressed the country, declaring "I will stake my throne, my honor, and my life on this principle: not one inch of German land shall be ceded!"


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Cascadian designers introduced a new invention known as hydrophones, which could be used to listen for the sounds a submersible would make while underwater. This would permit for the easier detection of such ships.

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The cruiser warfare was a draw. Las Vegas continued her raiding career with three more sinkings in the East Indies. The Fürst Bismarck, meanwhile, raided off the Cascadian coast, claiming three merchant ships while dodging the Intrepid and other coastal forces.

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Early in the month the Walla Walla and Stockton engaged the München off the Liaotung Peninsula. The Stockton took several hits from the German cruiser, losing a number of her turrets. But her luck ran out, with both cruisers bombarding the München over the course of several minutes until she began to sink at 1553.
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The new heavy cruiser Navajo was dispatched to Northern Europe with orders to raid German shipping getting around the blockade efforts.



November 1916

Another submersible was lost during the month. For the German U-Boats, it was a slim month with just one sinking. The Juneau and Las Vegas continued their successful raiding careers, sinking two German ships in the Indian Ocean and four in the waters of the East Indies and Central Pacific, respectively. The Fürst Bismarck continued its own raiding spree, successfully evading Cascadian cruisers during the month and claiming two more sinkings. This was another sting for the Admiralty's prestige and there were numerous wires sent to the cruiser commanders on their inability to catch the marauding German armored cruiser.

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A German attempt to isolate one part of the Home Fleet backfired, costing the Germans the pre-sovereign battleship Braunschweig.

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But this was nothing compared to the blow Germany suffered late in the month. On the 21st of November, the wires went out from Vienna: Franz Josef of Austria was dead. His grand-nephew Franz Ferdinand was now Emperor.

In Hungary the news was greeted with deep suspicion and frustration. Franz Ferdinand had offered little hope to the Hungarians of getting to sustain their special advantages and powers. He was committed to a federalist course to reconcile the Empire's disparate nationalities. The Hungarian Premier, István Tisza, refused to allow the desired reforms to be debated in the Hungarian legislature. With a majority vote of the legislators, he threatened to forbid Franz Ferdinand's coronation as King of Hungary if Ferdinand did not agree to sign a concordat swearing to leave Hungary's political institutions unaltered.

Within days Franz Ferdinand's response was clear: no. He would insist on reforms. Popular gestures of support for his proposals appeared in the non-Hungarian regions under Hungarian rule and prompted both counter-demonstrations and Hungarian crackdowns of the minorities.

As news of these developments entered Germany, panic over the loss of food from Austro-Hungarian sources began to set in. The reduction in exports from that nation increased to levels that spiked food prices throughout Germany.



December 1916

With the crisis in Austria-Hungary worsening, the increase in food prices prompted another series of peace demonstrations in Germany. Several anti-war parliamentarians went as far as to say Germany should be willing to abandon its Pacific colonies if it was necessary for peace.

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The Cascadian sub force was reinforced by four new commissionings: the Adder, Searaven, Mako, and Squalus.

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The Cascadian sub force outperformed the German one narrowly, with three sinkings to the Germans' 2. The Juneau claimed another victim in the Indian Ocean and Las Vegas continued her exemplary service, sinking four German merchantmen in her patrol zones. The Germans' two best raiders continued their own service, the Victoria Louise claiming two Cascadian merchants near the Philippines and the Fürst Bismarck continuing to embarrass Cascadian home water commanders with another two sinkings.

The latter ship's success caused another dip in relations with Mexico, as several newspapers accused the Mexican Empire of allowing the German raiders to refuel and re-arm in defiance of international law. The Mexicans rebuffed the protests with their own protestation of innocence.

The Gneisenau added to the German count with a Cascadian transport being caught and sunk a hundred miles from Chuuk.


The British fleet managed a series of successful raids in the North Sea that damaged German installations and cost them several transports.

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On December 20th, the CRS Bakersfield briefly engaged two German cruisers near Samoa for a late afternoon action. Despite being outnumbered the Bakersfield put in the superior showing, heavily damaging one German cruiser and inflicting some damage on the other before breaking off from the action at nightfall.

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Two new submersibles, the Grayling and Viper, were ordered to replace war losses.

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With the naval budget increased by the war, and in light of losses to the destroyer force in the Battle of Chuuk, Admiral Garrett approved the final contract with Burleigh & Armstrong to produce four new destroyers of 1500 tons displacement. The design called for 34 knots as a max speed with an armament of five 5" guns - three along the centreline with a superimposed forward gun and two midships on the sides - and three triple torpedo mounts along the centreline.

The new ship was dubbed the Harriet Tubman-class. Four were ordered: Tubman, Juarez, Garibaldi, and Franklin.

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Garrett Home
West Portland, Oregon
25 December 1916



There were no holidays in wartime.

Granted, even in peacetime there was always someone on duty at the Admiralty. Usually it was personnel who volunteered. But during wartime, the Admiralty ran like it did every other day. Wires came in constantly, whether it be updates from England or the continued efforts to track the German raider making such a fuss in the eastern Pacific.

This was why it was already dark when the Admiral returned home, with just a few hours to spend with his family. He arrived just as the Christmas meal was being finished. Rationing was non-existent at the current time, seen as both unnecessary and likely to fuel the anemic anti-war movement Senator Flagg and the Socialists were still trying to fan into the strength it had known in the last war. There would be no barriers to a large Christmas meal.

I wonder how Raffie enjoyed his Christmas, the Admiral pondered upon stepping out of the winter rain and into the door. Mei Ling was waiting for him, taking his umbrella and helping him out of his raincoat. "Dinner is about to come out," she said.

"Excellent. I am famished." He walked toward the main hall. "I'll be down in a minute."

A quick trip up the stairs and to the master bedroom allowed him to shed his uniform and replace it with a casual home suit. By the time he went downstairs and into the dining room, the food was already being brought out by Mei Ling and the family cook, Laurie.

Rachel was waiting at the head of the table. The table was wide enough to accommodate two seats at the head and end, allowing the Admiral and his wife to sit together. Along one side down from the Admiral was Thomas, his wife Anne-Marie, and their son John. "Grandpa!", the boy shrieked joyously. He charged from his chair and embraced the Admiral.

"Gaaampa!", a higher, much younger voice squealed. John's sister Marie, barely three, scrambled up to him as well.

"Ah! Children!" His back protested as he lifted them up. "Merry Christmas!"

"Where've you been?", John asked precociously.

"At work, my boy. At work. A war on and all."

"Have you heard from Uncle Raffie?!"

"Yes, I have."

"How many Germans has he blown up?!"

His grandson's macabre question caused the Admiral to chuckle. "Not many. Your Uncle Raffie is only in battle when the conditions are right for us, my boy."

As he brought his grandchildren back to the table, he noticed those sitting down from Rachel. Sophie was beside her mother, smiling quietly as she did. Reaching her twentieth year, she had become a lovely young lady in her own right. Larger than her mother, but with the same structure to her face and build that Rachel had enjoyed at her age. She was in a modest blue dinner jacket with a white vest underneath, a matching blue dress going down to her ankles. A modern lady of learning, just as her parents had become.

To her side was Gabriela. Twelve years old now, she had recently cut her hair to be almost boyishly short. Her dinner suit was also topped by a dark blue jacket and matching green vest, with white trimmings - the national flag was perhaps the inspiration for her appearance.

The final seat on that side was taken up by Georgia, Raffie's suffering wife. The dainty, wispy young lady was clearly trying to force Christmas cheer into her countenance while her husband was a world away with his ship.

"Raffie sends his best," the Admiral informed them all. "Admiral MacCallister and Admiral Jellicoe held a Christmas banquet for the officers, so he has dined well, have no fear of that."

"If only he were home and dining with us," Gabriela sighed.

"Duty calls to us all," Thomas remarked sadly. He looked to his father. "The press say the war is becoming a stalemate, Father."

"It's a war of containment," the Admiral answered. "The press wants big flashy battles to excite the reader. But we are not in this for headlines, we are in this for victory, and that means the steady course. If the press gets the battle it wants, it means either the Germans have erred, or we have."

"Let's not talk of the war," Rachel insisted. "It is not the day for it."

"Agreed," the Admiral concurred. He held his wife's hand. There was color in her face again and that lifted his heart. Her afflictions of the prior few years finally seem to have passed. But her mood showed how deep her concern was for Raffie. She wanted the war over and her son home.

If only the Germans would yield, it might be true, the Admiral pondered. But he knew the Germans were not yet feeling the bite of the blockade, and had reason to have faith in a victory. Until that faith was gone, the war would continue. After the two prior conflicts, there was no other way for it to go.
”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 1917

The cruiser Seattle finished working up for active duty.

As part of the continuing alliance, the British approved allowing the design for their superior 4" guns to be licensed to Cascadian builders.

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Reilly & Collette informed Naval Artillery that they finished work on an improved 14" gun model.

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The submersible war continued with three ships sunk by Cascadian submersibles. Two Cascadian subs and one German sub were sunk during the month.

The raiding war also went in Allied favor. The Juneau claimed another German ship in the Indian Ocean and the Las Vegas continued to savage German shipping in their Pacific colonies, claiming three sinkings. The British contributed with sinkings across the world in the attempt to completely impose the blockade on Germany. By comparison, only the armored cruiser Gneisanau managed a sinking off the coast of China.

The Germans were starting to face a severe lack of shipping in the Pacific. Small yards built in Sumatra to support German Pacific shipping were slowly putting out servicable merchant craft, but the predations of the Cascadian and British cruisers were overwhelming their capacity for such construction.

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On the 24th of January the Cascadian Expeditionary Fleet made a large-scale sortie into the Baltic Sea.

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A portion of the Hochseeflotte went into action against them, including two of the new Prinz Adalbert-class battlecruisers. These vessels were short-range ships built specifically to dominate the North Sea and Baltics against enemy forces, using four triple turrets of Germany's best 15" guns. This made them functionally superior to the Aurora and Artemis, and again Admiral MacCallister decided to err on the side of caution, holding off a full engagement until his battleships came up.

Nevertheless the two sides' battlecruisers did the bulk of the fighting. In the ensuing gunfight, the Cascadian fleet got the better of the Germans, although neither side managed a sinking. The German Prinz Adalbert sustained moderate damage from the fire of the Cascadian ships. With the Cascadian fire showing itself as more accurate, and the numbers in the engagement clearly on their side, the German force retired to their Baltic ports. Admiral MacCallister, wary of where the other section of the Hochseeflotte was, did not pursue and retired from the Baltic.

The result was a tactical Cascadian victory, with the superior performance of the Cascadian gunners, but strategically it appeared to be a draw. Only the events of the following months would imply that the Allies had prevailed in that way as well. Or, rather, that the Germans had missed their last opportunity to forestall a punishing and effective blockade.

1303 enemy spotted partly cloudy

1420 Enemy BCs engaged, Prinz Adalbert class (best ones, 12 15" guns). BBs still coming up.

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A new submersible, the Moccasin, was laid to replace wartime losses.

SS Moccasin laid

A rebuild of the Vancouver-class was ordered to take advantage of the new light directors. The newly-finished Seattle was sent back to the yards for director refitting.

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In Cascadia new elections were called by a vote of Parliament after an appeal from the Democratic Party, citing the National Constitution and the four years since the 1913 election. President Lakeland had no choice but to accept as the Constitution made no allowance for stopping elections in war time.



February 1917

On the 2nd of February, the Hungarians issued an ultimatum to Vienna - either Franz Ferdinand would recognize all existing Magyar privileges in Hungarian territory, or Hungary would declare independence. The Hungarian armed forces mobilized in preparation for conflict.

Germany frantically sent their diplomats into operation, trying to prevent the coming civil war, but the Austrian and Hungarian positions were simply incompatible. Franz Ferdinand was committed to federalization - the Hungarians were committed to their special status. By the end of the week the Austrian government had called full mobilization and declared Hungary in revolt.

As the civil war began, the pinch was felt in Germany. Food prices, already high to the point of being intolerable, spiked yet again. The working classes of Germany were threatened with starvation. The SDP began to call for Germany to begin immediate peace negotiations and to give concessions to the Allies to avoid "further suffering". But the German government refused.

Instead, it decided to put its army into operation. The German Army had little to do with the predominantly naval war, with British and Cascadian superiority at sea forbidding any reinforcements to Germany's colonies. Now it had an enemy: the Hungarians, and starvation. If the German Army could tip the war in Austria's favor and crush the Hungarians, Hungarian wheat would again flow into Germany.

By the end of the month the German Army would be marching, even as anti-war demonstrations and strikes began to reverberate throughout Germany.

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Cascadian officers made a proposal, in conjunction with the British, to help Karl Liebknecht return to Germany to foment a socialist revolution. As happened with Trotsky in the prior war, the response of the military establishment was to not only reject this, but to insist on Liebknecht's incarceration as a security threat.

(Author's Note: My choice in this event has very simple logic: dude, free prestige point!)

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The U-boats were out in force again, sinking four Cascadian ships, with one German U-boat being sunk in the North Sea by Cascadian destroyers.

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The British and Portuguese thwarted a renewed German offensive in the interior of Mozambique with a pre-emptive attack.

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The Vancouver and Richland exchanged fire briefly with German ships in the North Sea, but the winter rainstorms in the area interfered with aiming and the two sides lost visual contact in twilight.

Enemy spotted after 2 minutes

Some shots fired. Twilight falls, all visual contact lost due to rain

The onset of the Austro-Hungarian Civil War nearly severed Germany's external lifelines. These were completely severed on the 25th of February. Lenin, in reaction to Germany's preparations to join the war against Hungary, announced Soviet support for the Hungarian "war of liberation". This stunned some Soviet leaders, as the Hungarians were known to be fighting for their own privileges and not an advance to socialism, but Lenin justified his decision on the grounds of long-term considerations. Hungary might remain under the sway of a bigoted aristocracy, but if Germany was driven to collapse by the war and starvation, the way would be paved for Communist revolutions across Central Europe.

The immediate result of the Soviet announcement was a complete cessation of all grain shipments from Russia to Germany. With the French curtailing their own shipments under British and Cascadian pressure (joined with the internal pressure of revanchists who wanted an opening to reclaim Alsace) and the Scandinavians lacking the grain surpluses necessary, Germany could no longer import the necessary food to sustain their population. The Anglo-Cascadian blockade, once only partially-formed, was now in full effect and capable of strangling Germany's lifeline to the rest of the world.

(Note: This is why I added the Austro-Hungarian Civil War. Even though my fleet and the UK fleet were superior to the German forces in Northern Europe for at least a year before this point, only in this in-game month did a blockade effect actually begin.)

The lingering war was providing some impetus to Senator Flagg's anti-war efforts, and the arrest of Liebknecht provided an additional spur to drive the Socialist-aligned trade unions to demonstrations and strikes.

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March 1917

Engineering experts reported testing for water wall furnaces was nearing completion.

Naval damage control experts finalized approval for the procurement of improved firefighting equipment, having tested the gear conclusively.

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The two submersible fleets each claimed two sinkings for the month. British forces added several of their own as the blockade of Germany came into full force.

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Another inconclusive action in the North Sea occurred on the 6th. The battlecruisers Warrior and Reprisal chased a German Liepzig-class cruiser until they made contact with the Prinz Adalbert-class battlecruisers.

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The Warrior took several hits from the Prinz Adalbert, while the Reprisal landed her own on the lead ship. Faced with three enemy ships, the two outmatched Cascadian battlecruisers managed to disengage from the battle without any ships lost, but the Warrior was heavily damaged in the battle and took heavy casualties to her crew.

North sea cruiser action - Reprisal and Warrior with escorts, March 6th 1450

Enemy spotted, chased north, Liepzig-class

Prinz Adalbert-class ship approaches, shots exchanged.
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Despite the German tactical victory and the Warrior being forced into the yards in Britain, the blockade was not broken.

The fighting in Hungary was swinging toward the Austro-German forces, with engagements in Slovakia forcing the Hungarians into retreat. But the Hungarians were still holding their lines in the west and successfully put down a pro-Empire revolt in Transylvania.

The Germans suggested to Vienna that bringing Romania into the conflict at the price of ceding territory would win the war more quickly. But the government of Franz Ferdinand feared the result of handing away that territory in apparent dire straits and refused the proposal.

Meanwhile the Red Army began its own partial mobilization, with Russian officers and guns already rolling through the Carpathians to aid the Hungarians.


April 1917

The Cascadian Navy League successfully financed a massive subscription of over fifty million dollars on behalf of the Navy, with the promise that the funds would go toward building a new battleship.
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Food shortages in Germany were becoming increasingly-severe. An appeal to the French to allow imports again was crushed in the Assembly by the influence of Clemenceau.

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The Germans got the better of the Allies in the month's submersible raiding, sinking three ships to just one by Cascadians, with another Cascadian sub being lost. The cruiser Frauenlob also claimed a victim in the waters of Southeast Asia.

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Another German attempt to challenge the Allied blockade led to a battle between the British and German battlecruiser squadrons. The Derfflinger and Furious were lost in the engagement, a tactical tie but a strategic Allied victory, as the Germans could not afford the loss to their outnumbered fleet as easily as the Anglo-Cascadian forces could afford the loss of Furious.

Nevertheless, Admiral MacCallister did not want to risk losing a ship as well, especially after nearly losing Warrior. When a cruiser action seemed possible in the North Sea, Cascadian ships drew back and avoided battle. MacCallister and Admiral Sir John Jellicoe agreed to focus on the blockade and to avoid battle unless the Germans were completely vulnerable.

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In the Pacific, newly-appointed Admiral Lewis probed German defenses in Guam. He kept his combat ships off and sent in the minesweepers Pacific Sun and Dirigo to test German reaction times. Nothing came of the battle.

(Seriously: WTF. The game RNG really went bonkers when I accepted that Coastal Raid. It only assigned me two freaking minesweepers. Again, WTF?!)

Using the funds from the Navy League's subscription drive, Admiral Garrett approved the laying of a fourth Titan-class battleship, the Champion.

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The 1917 Parliamentary elections had few surprises. Flagg and his followers made minimal gains and the ruling Liberal-Democrat Coalition kept enough seats to stay in office.

A by-election in Upper California reported one particular result of interest in Portland.



Garrett Home
West Portland, Oregon
30 April 1917



Admiral Garrett returned home and, after his usual change of clothes, joined his wife in the parlor while they awaited dinner. She was reading the Oreganian. Her aged, weary face was beaming with delight. "He won, dear," she said.

"Hrm?"

Rachel gave him a displeased look. 'Thomas, dear. He won the election."

Shame and guilt filled the Admiral. How could he have forgotten? His son Thomas, practicing law in the Bay Area, had been running for the provincial legislature in the Vallejo district. Once the shame at forgetting worked its way through his mind, the Admiral beamed with delight. "Wonderful," he proclaimed. "Rafael would be proud, dear."

Rachel nodded at that. "He would indeed. And so are we."

"I shall send Thomas a letter, I'll write it tonight," he promised. "Our boy, serving the Republic in another capacity."

"A far preferable one," his wife intoned.

The Admiral did not respond to that. He knew what she meant. Rafael, still at Scapa Flow, and the war still on. "They are blockaded now, dear," he said. "The war cannot last much longer."

A wan look crossed her face. "I hope that is true. I look forward to seeing us relieved of this burden."

Admiral Garrett nodded somberly. He was, indeed, looking forward to that. To retiring from the service, laying his burdens upon a successor, and enjoying his final years with his darling wife.




May 1917

The cruiser Esquimalt was commissioned. The Admiralty immediately ordered her back into the yards to be refitted with director firing gear.

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The Superb was forced to put into dock due to condensor problems.

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Tactical studies of the German fleet proved valuable to Cascadian tactical planning.

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Water wall furnaces were considered ready for implementation.

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The raiding war was slim, with just one sinking, by the German raider Gazelle, which claimed a Cascadian merchant north of Ireland.

The British bombarded Helgoland in an attempt to draw the Hochseeflotte into a trap. The damage was moderate, but the Germans refused to engage.

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A second proposal for a coastal raid was refused by Cascadian leadership, considered too high a risk for too little a reward.

Meanwhile the German fleet in the Pacific failed to follow through on plans to engage the Cascadian China Squadron.


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June 1917

The Seattle completed director refitting and was ready for service.

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Work on new 14" guns provided another breakthrough, with 14"/52 guns now ready for service.

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Cascadian submersibles claimed two German merchants at the cost of one lost Cascadian submersible. The Germans claimed no ships in the month and lost one more U-boat to enemy action. British raiders sank several light German transports off Cameroon.

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The Apache, in her first engagement, caught and sank the Gazelle south of Ireland on the 4th of June.

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Germany's war effort took an unexpected blow when Russo-Hungarian troops successfully compelled the surrender of an Austro-German garrison at Pressburg in the Carpathians. While Germany had successfully invaded western Poland and Austro-German troops were advancing in western Hungary, this failure forced a desperate re-allocation of troops that ended those two more successful offensives.
”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 LaCroix »

So we finally had a "Jutland" in December, even though at a slightly differentplace. Much ado about nothing. :D

While a boring war is what they need, I hope there will be some decisive battle, soon. Thank you for still posting.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay

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

Post by Steve »

I really need to sit down and finish this. But I'm also trying to continue writing my multiverse sci-fi project.

This war was a long, tedious conflict, with few battles that were truly decisive and a lost of missteps.

The next war (which is against a different adversary. Yes, Thanas, I finally stopped getting into fights with Deutschland :P ) is the one you'll all love, because that one had two major fleet battles, including one properly decisive combat where something like five dreadnoughts sovereigns were lost between the belligerents, as well as four destroyers, with a whole bunch of others damaged to various extents. Our VP totals were in the five digits for both sides.

*sigh* I may need to just forget the UF stories for a few days and focus entirely on this project. Get things written, then posted.
”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 »

Urgh. Lot of missteps, not lost.
”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 »

Looking forward to reading your narrative; it's always entertaining to read.

"In view of the circumstances, Britannia waives the rules."

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

Post by Steve »

July 1917

With the working class struggling for the bare essentials, the German populace took to the streets in every major German city. Troops had to be used to suppress the fiercest of the riots.

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The Shark was commissioned.

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A French agent was discovered in Naval Ordnance. The decision was made to downplay the catch and avoid giving the French colonial lobby fresh ammunition to use in re-opening Germany's foreign supply lines.

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Work on new reduction gears for naval machinery proved a waste due to inherent flaws in the proposed design.

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A team from Simnel & King revealed designs for new high capacity pumps. The Admiralty swiftly signed a contract for the new damage-control devices.

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The minesweeper Argonaut was lost to action by a U-boat.

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The month's raiding war proved fruitless for both sides.

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A convoy approaching the Philippines was attacked by German battlecruisers operating out of the Marianas.

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The Gallant and Courageous broke away from the convoy to engage.

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During the resulting battle the exchange of fire caused moderate to extensive damage to the German battlecruisers. A lucky German hit damaged the Courageous' engine plant, however, and the superior Cascadian battlecruisers were thus unable to keep the range and maintain accurate fire before the fall of night required pursuit to be broken off. Nevertheless the loss of a German destroyer and the greater damage to the German ships left the Cascadian fleet with a recognizable victory.


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A surprise counter-offensive by Soviet troops in Poland drove back the German Army from its forward position at Lodz. German officials blamed the lack of supply for the German retreat, citing worker stoppages and sabotage of the rail net. The different rail gauges in Germany and Russia proved an added complicating factor.

In the Reichstag the SDP successfully blocked a new war appropriations bill for over a week before the Kaiser managed to sway key votes with promises on government funding.


August 1917

More anti-war demonstrations erupted across Germany. German workers pleaded with the imperial government to sue for peace. "Must our people starve to keep Sumatra?!", one irate SDP representative thundered in the Bundesrat.

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A U-boat sank a Cascadian merchant ship leaving Narvik.

At a banquet in London, several British ministers, including Churchill and Lloyd George, praised the Cascadian Republic to cheering listeners. "Side-by-side, the British Empire and the Cascadian Republic, bound by common blood, march inexorably toward victory over German arrogance," proclaimed Churchill.

Ambassador Armstrong reported to Portland on the event. "At no time in our history, since the time that Cascadia ascended to the first rank of world powers, has our relation with our mother country ever been so close."

UK tension to 0

The dreaded Fürst Bismarck was interned in Batavia after running low on fuel. The Medusa, however, sank three Cascadian merchants in the East Indies, showing that Germany's Pacific Squadron was still willing to fight.

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Admiral MacCallister turned down a proposal from Admiral Phillip Wallace to raid the Baltics again. The German proposal for a naval sortie in Chinese waters failed due to the need for ships elsewhere.

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With the harvest due to come in soon, the German Empire was facing the utter failure of her offensive against Hungary. While parts of Hungary had fallen, defiant Hungarian defensive stands backed by Russian troops had made the taking of Budapest impossible. Austrian forces had proven subpar and unable to meet the needs of the operations required. Furthermore, a Soviet invasion of East Prussia had been a threatening enough possibility that thousands of German troops were tied down in that region, insufficient in number to advance themselves.

The failure of Germany's plans to feed her people on Hungarian wheat fueled further peace proposals. The abandonment of Mozambique, where Cascadian troops had arrived to assist the Portuguese and British, seemed just a matter of time. So far the Cascadians lacked the naval force to invade the Pacific holdings, but it was clear they and the British would choke the German nation to death if it did not relent. Kaiser Wilhelm vacillated between the extremes of total defiance and complete despair in victory, power in the country had been mostly laid upon the military authorities. Paul von Hindenburg and his subordinate, Erich von Ludendorff, were effectively the rulers of Germany by now, and Ludendorff was convinced that the Russian Army was thin on depth and that internal pressures on Lenin would force him to pull out of the war by the next year, dooming the Hungarian cause. He outright refused any prospect of peace and instead insisted the Hochseeflotte do what it could to attrition the Anglo-Cascadian blockade back into non-effectiveness.


September 1917

The Esquimalt finished her refitting and was ready for active service.

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The Royal Navy requested that the Cascadian Admiralty sell concept plans for secondary turrets for battleships. Admiral Garrett immediately approved the sale.

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Raider activity for the month when in Allied favor, with three Germans lost to Cascadian submersibles and only one sinking by a U-boat. The sinkings worsened the difficulties of Germany's Empire.

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The Las Vegas intercepted the Medusa off Malaya.

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Medusa seemed to prevail early on, knocking out Las Vegas' electrical power and sailing off.

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After the Las Vegas restored power she sailed on, hoping to find her quarry, and after an hour she did successfully overtake Medusa. Again damage was spread to both, with Medusa's engines crippled and Las Vegas hobbled by damage to the feed tanks allowing salt water to enter.

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The Medusa regained her motion and disabled the Las Vegas's rudder temporarily.

But try as she might, the Medusa couldn't escape. At 1705 another hit knocked out her engines again. Four minutes later the Las Vegas torpedoed the stationary raider and inflicted the final blow.

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The Medusa sank progressively from that point on.

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October 1917

The Cascadian Army proposed an increase in call-ups, to provide more troops for Pacific invasions and the battle in East Africa, with the budget to be re-allocated from the Navy. However, President Lakeland had become a committed follower of Admiral Garrett's strategy of promoting the blockade. When the Admiral opposed the proposal he sided with the Navy.

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Naval designers proposed using superimposed forward mounts on scout cruisers.

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The raiding campaign continued with a tie. Cascadian submersibles sank 2 enemy ships to 1 Cascadian ship lost to a German U-Boat. The Frauenlob claimed a sinking in the waters off Sumatra.

The German raider Arcona proved unlucky, however. She ran into the old armored cruiser Defiant while stalking the South Pacific. The Defiant sent the German ship to the bottom.

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November 1917

The new destroyers Tubman, Juarez, and Franklin were commissioned.

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The Admiralty approved the purchase of licenses for British-designed diesel generators.

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In the last action for the year, Feldmarschall August von Mackensen's 3rd Army Group successfully managed several lodgements across the Danube south of Budapest, at Dunavecse, Apostag, and Dunaföldvár. Russo-Hungarian troops failed to drive the Austro-German troops back and were forced to call off their attack, giving the Austro-Germans a necessary foothold to launch an offensive when the winter ended.

But this success paled compared to the situation in Germany. The capture of some of the Hungarian and Polish agricultural lands failed to ameliorate the hunger facing the German Empire as winter began to set in and the 1917 harvest proved smaller than hoped.

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One Cascadian merchant was lost to a German U-boat prowling the waters around Chuuk.

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The SMS Frauenlob met her end at the hands of the CRS Navajo, which intercepted her as she tried to traverse the waters of the Sulu Archipelago.

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December 1917

The submersible Salmon was commissioned.

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Naval Ordnance reported difficulties in development of a new improved ballistic cap. Admiral Garrett was heard to mutter "I tire of these scientists failing their country".

Naval planners were doing better, working on concepts for a convoying system to deal with German U-Boat and raiding cruiser attacks.

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The Cascadians and British were still doing better in the raiding war. Cascadian submersibles sank three German ships. The Germans also lost a U-Boat to Cascadian escorts in the North Sea and the raiding cruiser Niobe was interned for lack of fuel. British efforts led to several more sinkings of German ships in the Indian Ocean.

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Garrett Home
Portland, West Oregon
31 December 1917



The Admiral and his wife sat in their warm parlor, enjoying the letter that had just arrived from Britain. Rafael was indeed doing well, still. He had been transferred to the Constitution and was now a full Lieutenant, serving on the bridge of the battleship.

He had also enjoyed the photograph sent to him. The last family gathering, in September, had seen said photo made, showing everyone in the family save for Thomas and Anne-Marie's unborn child, their third, who was not expected until March or April. He pleaded with his parents to be supportive of Georgia.

The Admiral hadn't the heart to tell his son that he didn't think much of his wife. Georgia had not taken her husband's absence well. Though she was, by all indications, remaining faithful to Raffie, she nevertheless comported herself as if her husband was not a world away in the Republic's service, attending social parties and being flirtatious with the young men present.

"I only hope she does not humiliate him," the Admiral murmured.

"You judge Georgie too harshly, my dear," Rachel insisted. "She is a good wife. But she is lonely. And she has no child to remember Raffie by."

The Admiral said nothing to that and let the conversation drop.

Soon it was time for bed. He was due at the Admiralty in the morning, after all. He and Rachel went for the stairs up to their bedroom.

When they got to the top, he noticed something, as if for the first time. Rachel's breathing was labored. Labored like it had never been before, not for this task. He looked to her with concern. "My dear?", he asked. "You look peckish."

"It is the weather," she asserted. "I should go back to Santa Barbara soon, the warmer air is better for me."

"Agreed," the Admiral said. It would mean being alone again, save for Sophie's visits. But he wanted his wife to feel better.

And he also wanted this damn war to end. He ground his teeth with frustration at the sheer obstinance of the Germans. What would it take for them to submit?

What would it take?



The state of the world's great navies as of the end of 1917:
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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 »

Alright everyone, now that I've gotten other projects out of the way, I'm going to spend the next few weeks transcribing my notes from the playthrough so I can finish the LP. :)



January 1918

The submersible Stingray and destroyer Garibaldi were commissioned.

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The Admiralty officially formed Convoy Command, under Vice Admiral Alistair Crowens, and worked with the government to begin official convoying of ships.

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A submersible was lost in the waters off New Ireland.

A steel mill fire in Oakland resulted in a steel shortage that forced critical delays to the Champion.

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The Cascadian Navy ordered two more submersibles.



February 1918

Intolerable winter conditions in Germany, having caused the deaths of thousands of people - including vulnerable children - caused a wave of strikes and anti-war demonstrations in Germany. German Army officers reported anti-war propaganda was becoming widespread in their barracks as well, leading to new regulations cracking down on such.

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Naval planners proposed improved subdivision layouts for new ships, improving survivability.

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Two German merchants were lost to Cascadian subs, which lost one of their own. The Las Vegas prevented the Danzig from attacking other merchant targets. The Hawke was lost to a German U-Boat.

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March 1918

Armoring designers from Reilly & Collette finalize design planning on new armor schemes employing inclined armor techniques.

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The German raider Danzig claims a Cascadian merchantman off Korea. Cascadian authorities protest to Japense officials the apparent use of Japanese ports by the raider.

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Admiral MacCallister again refuses the Germans a battle in the North Sea, following the strategy agreed upon between the allied admiralties for the blockade being the priority. News from Germany on the ongoing domestic difficulties of the German Empire reinforces this strategy.

The Germans launch a counter-attack aimed at Lodz and ultimately Warsaw. The Red Army is driven back along the main front.

In Hungary the lodgements across the Danube south of Budapest are enlarged by Austro-German military action. The Hungarians begin to practice scorched earth policies at Russian suggestion, denying the Austro-Germans much needed food supplies.

Austria's food situation is further tightened by Italy announcing export restrictions. While British and Cascadian diplomatic pressure was one element to this, another was Italian ambition, with the Italian government preparing an offer to Austria to resume food shipments if Austria accepted Italian territorial demands.

Despite the situation, and the virtual stoppage of all Cascadian and British trade with Austria, Franz Ferdinand retains diplomatic relations with Britain and Cascadia. Some German officials begin to use this as a backdoor channel for diplomacy, seeking Allied peace terms that could be acceptable in Berlin.


April 1918

The submersibles Grayling and Viper are commissioned.

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On the 7th of April, 1918, the German Ambassador in Vienna approaches his Cascadian and Briitsh counterparts with a new peace offer from Germany. It is more ideological substance than concessions, calling for German withdrawal from Mozambique as the main territorial concession. Sumatra and Rabaul would be de-militarized and Germany would grant near-total economic concessions to the two powers in her Pacific holdings. The Allies, it was hoped, would accept this peace and end the blockade to allow Germany to "crush the serpent of Communism in Europe".

Allied authorities, however, did not bite. Even the anti-Communist Lakeland refused to be swayed, ordering that the counter-offer be nothing less than the complete German abandonment of the Pacific. These terms are unacceptable to the German government and the peace process is stillborn.

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Simnel & King reveal studies for the implementation of reduction gears in ship machinery. Torpedo designers please the Admiralty with reports indicating they had nearly finished testing of new enhanced pressure bottles.

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The raiding war continued on the high seas. Cascadian submersibles sank 2 German ships and lost one of their number in the process. The German U-boats claimed one Cascadian merchant off Norway. The Danzig continued her predations, sinking two ships in the waters off China, while the Undine slipped out of Dar-es-Salaam successfully and sank a Cascadian merchant ship off the Horn of Africa.

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The Austro-German offensive in Hungary breaks Russo-German lines southeast of Budapest. Austrian forces manage to cross the river to the north of the city. By the end of the month the Hungarian capital is virtually encircled by the Austro-German forces. Faced with the loss of their main field forces, the Hungarians retreat from the city.


May 1918

The fall of Budapest on May 1st did nothing to ameliorate the start of a week of anti-war demonstrations across Germany. The SDP, the trade unions, and other organizations went to the streets and demanded Germany make peace immediately to end the blockade and the starvation of the German working class. In Dresden and in Berlin troops were called in to restore order; open street fighting plagued the factory cities of the Ruhr where the depleted German garrisons could not quell the violent anti-war sentiments of the factory workers.

Even the most intransigent of German leaders could not disagree with the fact of what the German nation was suffering. The Anglo-Cascadian blockade, and the efforts by those powers to shutter all of Germany's imports over land, was inducing widescale suffering across the Empire. Thousands had died of illness and starvation over the course of the winter. The failure of the peace talks in Vienna had disheartened the entire country.

The German public, having previously supported the imperialist, world-power policies of the Kaiser and his governments, now expressed their desire to be bereft of that empire to end a state of war that was crushing them. The Kaiser refused to listen to this outcry at his own peril, even if in truth he could do little for it as he had effectively surrendered his prerogatives to Hindenburg and Ludendorff.


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Nevertheless peace feelers were again sent via France. And again they failed, with President Lakeland unwilling to accept the Germans' terms falling short of complete surrender of their Pacific holdings. Admiral Garrett was among those who sided against the peace offer, pointing out it was woefully insufficient to the effort made and the relative positions of the two belligerents.

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The submersible Moccasin was commissioned.

Analysis of German cruiser design provides inspiration for Cascadian ship designers on how to fit above-water torpedo launchers onto cruisers.

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The Danzig continued to stymie the Cascadian Navy, shifting focus to the waters off Alaska where she sank a merchant ship hauling goods between Alaska and Kamchatka.

The costs of sustaining its ships on global stations proved too much for the Admiralty's accounts. Admiral Garrett approved a temporary halt to the construction of Colossus to balance the books.


Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
10 May 1918



The Admiral returned home in a sour mood. He'd spent the day in talks with Senator Santiago, the Naval Secretary, and officials from the Treasury. The war-time naval budget he had asked for had not materialized in Parliament. Now balancing the Navy's books had required the suspension of work on the Colossus, which had prompted protests from Reilly & Collette on the cost overruns the suspension would cause.

But that was nothing compared to what he had waiting for him when he got home.

He was met in the parlor by Gabriela. "Mama's sick," was her immediate reaction to his presence. "Doctor Williams is with her now."

The Admiral's heart shook at the news. He moved past his adolescent daughter and nearly stormed up the stairs. The thin, white-coated figure of his wife's doctor was closing the door to the master bedroom behind him by the time the Admiral got to the top of the stairs. He motioned to the Admiral to be quiet and approached. "Sir," he said in a low voice, "your wife needs rest."

"What is wrong?", the Admiral asked. His voice nearly tremored from his worry.

"A bronchial infection," was Williams' reply. "But Mrs. Garrett's delicate health is making the result worse. And I am concerned about…"

"About?"

It was clear Williams was worried about his reaction. "Admiral, I shudder to put such a thing on your shoulders when you are already carrying the weight of our nation's war efforts… but you must understand that there is substantial risk here. If Mrs. Garrett's bronchial infection produces pneumonia, it may be too much for her constitution. There is a very real chance your wife will not last the month."

The sound of the doctor's quiet, delicate words drove something like a knife into his heart. "You're saying she…"

"It may be best to gather family soon," Williams confided. "So that she might say goodbye before the end."

"She can't," the Admiral rasped. "The war won't last longer, then we…." He stopped the thought as he shuddered at what the Doctor had said. "Is there hope?", he managed to hoarsely say, so hoarse it was a strained whisper.

"Hope is something you still have. But I won't give you false hope." Williams nodded. "Call me if things get worse. I will return tomorrow to check up on her condition."

The Admiral moved aside so Williams could go down the stairs. After he came down, Gabriela came up. "Mama?", she asked. "Is she going to be fine?"

Gabriela saw his face and didn't his answer. She knew what that face meant, how it reflected her father's intense anguish. Tears appeared in her eyes. She began to weep.



Two more submersibles were ordered to replace war losses.



June 1918


Garrett Home
West Portland, Oregon
1 June 1918


The Admiral returned home in the same fashion as he had these past few, horrible weeks; in a hurry and with the utmost terror that he had come too late. Mei Ling, as always, was waiting to fetch his uniform coat, and joined him in ascending the stairs to the master bedroom.

Gabriela was at the door, staring off into space. Sophie had her seat by the bed where she was reading from a book of poetry, the works of Dolores Guzman that she and her mother had enjoyed since she was old enough to comprehend them. Thomas and Anne-Marie were on the other side of the bed and their children, save infant David, were sitting with them.

The Admiral went to his place by the bed. Rachel was lying there. Every breath she made, and there were oh so few of them, crackled with a weary and pained rasp that matched the pained look on her face.

Doctor Williams was across from the Admiral's place at the bed. He shook his head when the Admiral looked at him. A young Filipina stood behind him with fresh towels, clad in the white of a nurse. The two had been sleeping in the spare bedroom for several days now, after it became clear that the pneumonia had set in and wasn't going away.

The Admiral lovingly stroked his wife's graying hair. "I'm here," he said, fighting and failing to keep the tears from his eyes. "Raffie has gotten his promotion, dear." He watched her smile at that, proud in her son's success. For him, though, there was only regret and guilt and shame, and it all demanded his emotional attention. "I'm here, and I'm sorry."

Rachel slowly moved her head to look at him.

"I should have resigned," the Admiral admitted. "Years ago before the war. We would have been happy. We would have had more time. I would…"

She gently raised a hand enough to take his. "I knew long ago… that I could not let…. myself stand in the way… of your duty," Rachel said, struggling to breathe with every part of her words. "It would have... torn you apart."

"But we would have had more time," the Admiral protested. "We should have had more time."

"I… am content," she insisted. "We had… four wonderful babies." She looked over everyone. "I love you all."

The crowd of teary-eyed family members remained quiet and accepted with nods. For a great deal of time, for hours, nothing more was said Rachel's eyes were closed and she was laying quietly, as if resting, even with every weak breath still carrying the rasp from the fluid permeating her lungs, suffocating her every moment.

When the time came, Williams seemed to notice first. But the first reaction was the Admiral's. He drew up straight and touched Rachel's face. The heart went out of him when there was no movement from her. There was no breath coming from Rachel.

Doctor Williams took out a small mirror and held it over her mouth and nose. After nearly twenty seconds he shook his head and put the mirror up. His eyes glanced about the room. "8:50 PM", he noted.

A sob only half-stifled came from the now-old man gingerly holding the lifeless hand of his beloved wife. As the rest of the room recognized what had just been transpired, sobs and weeping came from all present at the loss they had now endured.



Cascadian Expeditionary Fleet Command
Scapa Flow, Scotland, United Kingdom
2 June 1918



Lieutenant Rafael Garrett was having a good war. He had a place as a watch officer on the bridge of the Liberty after serving as one of the fleet's best-performing gun crew officers. The war was clearly going well with the enemy being starved out, with the crews constantly wagering a German collapse coming almost any day. And he had made a decent amount of money writing as a military correspondent for a number of newspapers back home, as well as being published in the Times. If things continued this way and the war ended by the end of the year, he could return home with enough money to buy a house for himself and Georgia in any port where the Navy chose to station him.

Raffie was intrigued, then, to find out why he had been summoned to HQ. The Cascadian fleet had shoreside administration offices provided by the Royal Navy, from which Admiral MacCallister and his staff directed the blockade of Germany alongside Admiral Jellicoe.

The office he was directed to was to the new quartermaster-general of the Command. Reggie Etps saluted back to Raffie upon his entry. "Close the door, Lieutenant," he instructed, and Raffie did so. Etps stood. He was the oldest Captain in the entire expeditionary force, and why he was denied promotion to admiral was still one of the little mysteries that spawned debate and speculation. Raffie himself disliked most of the claims - the idea that Etps was a German agent in the past was patently ludicrous, and he didn't even know what to think of the accusation that he was a homosexual - but even he couldn't understand why "Uncle Reggie" was repeatedly passed over by the Promotion Board.

"What might I do for you, sir?", Raffie asked, being supremely professional.

Etps leveled a pained look at him. "I thought it best that you got this from me, Raffie." He took from his desk a slip of paper. A telegram.

Raffie took it. The header indicated it came from Portland, from his father. What…
THE LORD HAS CALLED YOUR MOTHER HOME, SON. SHE SUFFERS NO MORE.

Raffie stared at the wire. He knew what it meant, and the blow struck him with the force of a shell. "N-no," he stammered. "This… this can't be… the last wire said…"

Etps shook his head. "Your father informed me as well. Your mother has passed away, Raffie. Early this morning."

Raffie collapsed into the nearest chair, staring in shock at the telegram. For so long his mother's health had been improving. But now…

Etps stood up and quietly went to his office door. With a turn of the lock and a click, he made sure they would go undisturbed, and that his mentor's bright son would not endure being witnessed as he broke into anguished, heartrent sobs.




Ship designers reported that improved calculation techniques would reduce wastage in ship construction. Work on the new enhanced pressure bottles for torpedoes was completed with successful test-firing of torpedoes with the new bottles.

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Cascadian subs claimed two more German merchant ships in the Skaggerak. One sub was lost to a mine off Helgoland.



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The Gallant and Courageous launched a coastal raid on Guam with Bremerton and Las Vegas. A German pre-sovereign battleship assigned to the Pacific Squadron was caught just after dawn to the east of the island and repeatedly shelled before it could escape. Bad weather conditions prevented the ships from being able to accurately target shore facilities on Guam without braving the minefield in the inner coastlines.

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The Navy's finances permitted the resumption of construction on the Colossus.



A new phase in the war in Central and Eastern Europe began with the fall of Kecskemét to Austrian forces. The Hungarian town was taken with the complicity of local Hungarian forces, led by liberal and conservative officers deeply suspicious of Soviet influence in the new temporary capital at Debrecen.

This treachery reverberated throughout Hungary, and would provoke a coup d'etat in Debrecen by Bela Kun, leader of the Hungarian Communists. Despite the objections of Josef Stalin, the Soviet Party Secretary sent to oversee relations with the Hungarian Communists and to command Soviet security forces aiding the Hungarians, Bela Kun's forces stormed the Diet during a session and executed several leading Hungarian officials, including Premier Tisza. Bela Kun declared the Diet suspended 'until democratic elections", and sent orders to the field for the immediate arrest of several remaining army officers of "suspect" allegiance.

This was a disaster for the Hungarian Republic, as multiple army commands refused Kun's orders, and two divisions turned away from the front to march on Debrecen and depose him. In Petrograd Lenin was incensed by "the reckless behavior of Comrade Kun" but, on Stalin's advice, did not demand his arrest. Stalin recognized that to move against Kun would completely break the Hungarian Communists. The Soviets instead made it clear that they would remain out of Hungarian internal affairs.

But this was not enough to placate the suspicions growing among some Hungarians about the Russians' purpose. As the month drew to a close, the Austro-German forces preparing for an offensive were given a reprieve from Hungarian attacks as the Hungarian field forces spied the Soviet troops warily, concerned that they were being betrayed by their Communist allies.

In Poland, German forces reclaimed Lodz, but any hope of alleviating the starvation of the German populace was dashed by a vicious Russian scorched earth campaign. The Polish population was also suffering from increased scrutiny by Soviet authorities against "Nationalist" Poles believed to be preparing to rebel against the Soviet Union in favor of Pilsudski's forces.
”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 1918

The Titan was commissioned. With 10 16" guns as main armament, she was the most powerful warship afloat at that time.

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German blueprints for the Wettin were acquired by agents.

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Technical teams with Naval Artillery informed Admiral Garrett that they had completed work on a new and improved director firing system.

Designers were finding progress on making new design calculations even more advanced than now being used.

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The Navy ordered new 1500t destroyers. The new Shepard-class destroyer was made to be a fast gunship destroyer instead of relying upon torpedo armament, with four centerline 5" guns and only two triple torpedo mounts. Her design speed of 35 knots was above anything yet attempted in raw speed.

The most important innovation was the director firing affixed to the destroyers, giving them superior accuracy. Four ships were ordered: Shepard, Crusher, Hawke, and Anderson.

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The new Tubman-class destroyers were ordered to join the blockade forces at Scapa Flow.


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A new Austro-German offensive continued the steady falling-back of Russo-Hungarian forces. The violence of Kun's coup had been a jolt to non-Communists in the Hungarian rebellion and confidence in the Soviets plunged to lows, with more defections to the Austrians proceeding from reports of further Communist atrocities.

In truth Kun was retreating from his aggressive posture of the prior month, culminating with inviting the Diet back into session at the end of the month. He felt compelled to by the remonstrations of Stalin and the clear hostility of Lenin, who declared he would consider Kun a renegade if he did not get his forces back in line. This was Kun's acquiescence to the demarche.


August 1918


German newspapers reported a new round of ration reductions that sparked even hotter public protests. The Reichstag was now unanimous in demanding peace with the Allies, as the Communist threat from Soviet Russia was considered more important by Conservatives, that the fate of a colony was not worth failing to save the Fatherland from Communism. A deputation of leaders from both houses and all parties descended upon the Kaiser, as well as his generals, to insist on immediate peace talks with Britain and Cascadia.

For the first time, even Ludendorff demurred on the possibility. But the prospect of reclaiming all of Hungary from the Hungarian collapse made him reluctant to agree to the growing list of allied demands.

Meanwhile, after three years the actual front that sparked the war was still raging. British, Portuguese, and now Cascadian troops had driven the German colonial forces back into Tanganyika, at least on the map. In truth the irrepressible Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck continued to harass and infuriate Allied commanders with daring attacks and maneuvers that kept the allied armies from overwhelming his forces. Cascadian General Peter Lundsen proposed that Lettow-Vorbeck be compelled to stand and fight by allied seizure of Tanganyika's richest areas. But while London was willing to send more regiments to the effort, President Lakeland was enjoying the relative tranquility of the homefront compared to the prior war and was not keen on sending thousands of Cascadian troops to occupy African soil that would either be returned to Germany or claimed by Britain.

The war's expanded naval orders, and new orders for capital ships from Chile, prompted an expansion of the docks at Moran Brothers in Seattle.

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The Admiralty decided to prolong the construction of the Goliath to install the new improved director firing system into the new "super-sovereign" battleship.

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The British Admiralty requested permission to purchase schematics for Cascadia's new reduction gears. The offer was accepted.

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Ship designers further improved their method of calculating the weights involved in ship design, improving the efficiency of future designs' use of weight.

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Germany's economy was becoming increasingly crippled by the blockade as the month went on, increasing the pressure on the German admiralty to Do Something about it. Pressed on the issue, Admiral Scheer proposed an all-or-nothing sortie against the British coast, with the goal of bringing the allied fleets to battle and defeating them piecemeal, or being destroyed in the attempt.

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Cascadian submersibles had a dismal month, sinking only one German ship. The British managed a few more sinkings as well.

The career of the raider Danzig came to an end off the Philippine Islands, where the Las Vegas ran her down and sank her.

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The Titan was sent back to the yards to be refitted with the improved firing director system.

On the final day of the month, Scheer's desperate "death ride" was set to begin. But as the order came for the Hochseeflotte to depart Kiel, the ships did not move; the sailors of the fleet refused to put to sea. When force seemed imminent the sailors seized control of the armories of their ships and naval base and swept over their opposition, declaring their intent to march on Berlin and demand immediate peace.


September 1918


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News of the Kiel Revolt ran across Germany. It proved to be the flame that set off a full-scale revolution; the starving workers and even middle-class Germans took to the streets to demand an immediate end to the war, both with Britain and Cascadia and with Russia over Hungary. The Reichstag, surrounded by protestors, reflected the will of their enraged people by declaring an end to all military appropriations until the Kaiser agreed to an immediate armistice.

This was not far enough for some radicals, who blamed the war on the Emperor. The SDP and its allies, fueled by the enraged mobs across the country, pushed through a resolution in the Bundesrat calling on the Kaiser to abdicate in favor of his son, and to re-write the national constitution to make the Chancellor responsible to the legislature.

The German Army was horrified by the result of such a demand. German troops were called in and the decision was to seize the legislature and imprison the SDP members and others calling for the deposition of the Emperor. This, however, sealed not only the Kaiser's fate, but the fate of the entire monarchical system of Germany. The Army troops joined the protestors and the Reichstag and declared themselves in favor of the popular uprising.

At this point, with his beloved soldiers threatening to storm his palace to force him to leave, Kaiser Wilhelm II lost all hope. He immediately abdicated and boarded a train for Vienna with his family. News of his abdication rippled across Germany and prompted local disturbances to demand the same of the other monarchs of the country, with the Reichstag voting on elections to form a new republican constitution. Within ten days of the start of the month, the entire political system in Germany had been completely altered.

The new German state also faced the need to end the war, and to end it before the people turned against them as well. Fierce debate raged during these first ten days over the subject over how much to surrender.

Three things jolted the German leaders out of their impasse: the raising of the red banner, and Soviet flag, by the Kiel mutineers; the growing mobilization of French divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges, indicating an imminent invasion of Alsace; and the German Army on the brink of infighting and revolt. Faced with these threats, and the prospect of the Red Army and the French Army marching into German home soil, the new Republic decided to submit to the demands of the British and Cascadians and hope that the end of the blockade would restore public confidence and give Germany an edge against the Soviets.

On the 11th of September, 1918, the German Republic wired to the Ambassador in Paris to instruct him that they were seeking "any peace term" to end the blockade and the war.

The ambassadors in Paris had been briefed on what their governments expected. The British expected an immediate German withdrawal from Mozambique, major economic concessions, and reparations. As always, the Cascadian demand was for the Germans to turn over their Pacific holdings to Cascadia. The German delegation in Paris wired back to Berlin the terms, and a warning that Georges Clemenceau was already arguing for France to join the war if it continued to seize Alsace.

Another night of fierce debating gave way to tired, exhausted acquiescence. On the 13th of September, Germany officially declared it would accept the terms as a condition for an armistice if it received an immediate armistice and a lifting of the blockade.

By now the news had spread to the public. Rapturous celebrations gripped London and Portland. President Lakeland won a $20 million Cascadian fund from Parliament to fund the implementation of any territorial exchange. The German terms were accepted and the armistice was officially signed in Paris on the morning of the 15th, ending the Anglo-German War.

The negotiations for the peace would take place in neutral France. The French, while neutral, made clear their own emotional stake in Germany's humiliation by establishing the peace negotiations in the Hall of Mirrors are Versailles. The negotiations lasted through much of the remaining year. In the end, the Treaty of Versallies signaled the official end of the war, although practically it only codified the terms of the German armistice.

There was still fighting in the east, though, that would last into the next year. Germany's military commanders, and its conservative politicians, held out hope that they could at least defeat the Soviets and take more of Poland. But it remained to be seen if the populace would accept a continuation of the land war, even with the blockade lifted and grain from North America pouring into Hamburg, Bremen, and the other old Hanseatic ports along the North Sea. Anti-war protests, spurred by Rosa Luxemburg and other Socialist leaders who were pro-Soviet, continued to rock Germany through the year.

As for the peace treaty with Cascadia and Britain, as part of the series of reparations over the war, Germany turned over its newest Prinz Adalbert-class ship, the Freya, to the Cascadian Navy.


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And she signed over her Pacific Colonies, as required by Lakeland. The Marianas, the Bismarcks, and Sumatra were turned over to the Cascadian Republic, while German New Guinea was transferred to British New Guinea. It was, for the Germans, arguably the most bitter term of the peace treaty, even when considering the relative cost of the actual holdings. Their Pacific holdings had been part of the German push for weltmacht. Now the German Empire had been driven from the Pacific, surviving only in Africa.

For Cascadia, however, it was the clinching of her rising star. The Cascadian Republic was now the most powerful nation in the Pacific.
"And such was the culmination of twenty long years of struggle and strife. The price of Cascadia's rise to Pacific hegemon was four wars, many thousands of Cascadian men fallen in the fields of Lorraine, and millions of dollars out of the growing republic's treasury to field the battle fleet that, in the end, made the victory possible.

But with the price paid, the glories won, and the Evergreen Tricolor now flying over the battlements of Guam and Saipan, the jungles of New Britain, and the tropical riches of Sumatra, one in that time had to wonder what might come next. And, perhaps most importantly, how the other powers of the Pacific might ultimately react to the new heights of unprecedented power in the hands of the Cascadian nation.
" - Excerpt from "Empire of the Pacific" by Dr. Anthony Welsing, Cascadian National University (published 1953)

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With the end of the war, Parliament immediately cut funding for the military, re-distributing money to relief for merchant lines that lost vessels in the war and to the costs of taking control of Cascadia's new Pacific Empire.

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The end of the war prompted vast national celebrations. Unrest fueled by ongoing anti-war sentiments and activities was curtailed.

Unrest down to 2

Although Lakeland had been adamant on territorial concessions in the Pacific, he proved generous with the newly-formed German Republic. His anti-Socialist sentiments made him supportive of the Republic's ongoing war with the Soviets. Lakeland took the step of ordering additional troops sent to Petropavlosk-Kamchatskiy and promoted war loans to Germany for fighting "the Reds" in several circulars to the Conservative, Liberal, and Populist Parties. Cascadian ships were even offered to help get the German troops departing the Pacific colonies back to Europe for the fight against Communism. Several political leaders formed the German-Cascadian Food Relief Society to help buy wheat and other food desperately needed to alleviate the starving German population.

While German bitterness would not be alleviated by this alone, recognition of Cascadian support against the Soviets did improve relations in the immediate years post-war.

Relations with the rest of the world, save the Soviets, were splendid, but there were signs of potential trouble. The colonial lobby in Paris saw Cascadia as a threat to their Pacific holdings. And Japan was increasingly discontent with the rise of Cascadian power in East Asia. Time would shortly tell how these states would react to the rise of Cascadia.

Tensions with Germany to 1, UK 0, France 2, Russia 5, Japan 2, US 1

The Colossus' construction schedule was prolonged to install improved firing directors.

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Reilly & Colette reported that they had completed successful testing of an improved 16"/50 caliber gun model.

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The costly enhanced training regimen for the Cascadian Navy was canceled to save up budget space under the new trimmed peacetime budget.

Naval Intelligence's budget for operations in Germany was slashed.

With the victory, the Cascadian Navy began redeploying. The Expeditionary Fleet was recalled from the waters of Scapa Flow on the 16th of September. On the day of their scheduled departure, the 29th, His Majesty's Government saw them off in a ceremony. "The British Empire will remember the Cascadian heroes who shed their blood in our common cause," stated First Lord Churchill. "May your journey home be made with fair skies and calm seas, with the gratitude of England ringing in your ears."

Churchill's remarks underlined the Liberal statesman's growing enthusiasm for the idea of a grant Anglo-American-Cascadian alliance, "the Covenant of the English-Speaking Peoples", that would police the world, deter further aggression by other powers, and resist the spread of Communism - Churchill would even argue for deferring German reparation payments so long as the German Republic remained at war with Soviet Russia. And while the sentiment was initially acceptable to many, it did not account for a growing discontent in London over the Cascadians. The British Left was incensed at Cascadia's territorial expansion on anti-imperialist grounds, and the British Right were just as appalled that the British were getting only a small territorial concession - German New Guinea and the Solomons - while the Cascadians had claimed the Bismarcks, the Marianas, and the gittering prize of Sumatra. Bonar Law outright attacked Lloyd George's acquiesence on the matter of the latter, pointing out that if any power should get control of Sumatra from Germany, it should be Britain, as Sumatra could be used to threaten British shipping through the Strait of Malacca and could, indeed, provide the means to sever Britain's shipping lanes to the Far East and Australia.

But the agreements had already been made: Cascadia had agreed to concede rights on Sumatra to British companies and to not post significant naval forces from Sumatra's ports without prior consultation with His Majesty's Government. The Cascadian government, in arranging the Sumatra Territorial Government, consulted with British authorities as promised, and President Lakeland signaled willingness to restore the Sultanate of Aceh to the northwest portion of the island should Britain push for the term (they did not). Additionally Lakeland and Burgess had given the British a free hand to decide policy in Africa and, over the course of the war, sufficient troops to bring their plans potential success. Although the Cascadians had not mobilized a large army for the war, upwards of 30,000 Cascadian Army Regulars had helped in the campaigns against Tanganyika. Lettow-Vorbeck had not been brought to ground until the end of the war, but his ability to raid effectively had certainly been hindered by the Cascadian troops provided for the campaigns in East Africa. For HMG, it was simply too late to renegotiate the division of spoils from the war. That Britain chose not to take over Germany's colonies was a source of some confusion in Portland; the decision reflected the push by many in the Liberal and Conservative Parties to give Germany further incentive to continue fighting the Bolsheviks.

Re-organization of the Cascadian Navy's disposition in Southeast Asia was necessary, with some heavy fleet units being recalled and fleet patrol routes altered to protect the new holdings.

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The armored cruiser Intrepid was decommissioned and sent for scrapping, the start of new initiative by Admiral Garrett to keep the Navy's fighting power up.

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The Colossus' construction was halted to save money due to the budget cuts.

Despite the end of the war and the budget cuts, the Admiralty continued some of its planned construction program. Two new Shepard-class destroyers, the Hackett and Williams, were ordered, as were two new submersibles.


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The end of the war had been a national victory unmatched since the infant Republic had defeated the Mexican Emperor on the banks of the San Joaquin. But for one man, the victory did not feel like one…


The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
15 September 1918


The headline of The Oreganian said it all. "ARMISTICE SIGNED: CASCADIA TRIUMPHANT!" in big bold letters, with the Liberal-supporting newspaper happily touting the triumph of President Lakeland, Secretary of State Burgess, and the Liberal-Conservative Coalition Cabinet.

Admiral Garrett was sitting alone in his parlor as an early fall rainstorm seemed to herald the imminent onset of the wet season in the Pacific Northwest Coast. The gray pallor that the clouds cast upon the capital of the Cascadian Republic fit his mood as he read lines that, in better circumstances, would have filled his heart with pride.

"It would be remiss for the nation to forget the true architect of this victory. It was the strategic genius of Fleet Admiral Stephen Garrett, the long time Chief of Naval Operations, that brought the Cascadian Navy and Royal Navy into harness together for the blockade that choked the life out of the German Empire. It is remembered by this newspaper that the Admiral's long life of service to his country has been met with success upon crowning success. His every effort has been a victory for our country and a testament to the clarity of his vision and drive. It is our expectation that the Governments that led the war will not forget this contribution…"

He threw the newspaper away while tears formed in his eyes. They were not tears of heartfelt appreciation. The feeling within him was hollow and bitter.

Never defeated? Fools! I have been defeated!, his mind raged. And then his voice joined in as he roared, "This is not victory!"

He could already hear Mei-Ling's footsteps coming, undoubtedly to investigate his cry. She would find him weeping bitterly while slumped in his chair.

He had won a victory for his country, yes, and forever cemented his place in her history. But the price… the price he had paid had made this into the most bitter victory he had ever known.

Had he left the service before the war… had he retired, as he had thought of doing, as his wife had asked him to do, content in the four decades of loyal service to his country, then… then she might still be alive. Rachel might still be with him. And they would be enjoying the twilight years of their lives together, watching their children grow into adulthood and enjoying the grandchildren they had been given.

But he had remained at his post. The war had come. And in the end, it had been too late for them. Too late for her.

And too late for him.

There would be no retirement now. No rest from his labors. What would be the point? He'd already lost Rachel. He'd already lost his beloved.

The love of his life was dead. All that remained for the Admiral was his duty.




October 1918

Naval Ordnance reported success in the implementation of new ballistic caps for shells and improved racks for depth charges.

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November 1918

With the naval budget reworking complete, Admiral Garrett drove forward with a bold plan to completely refit the capital ships of the Navy. The Gallant and the Sovereign were sent into the yards for refitting work. Gallant would receive new primary and secondary fire-director gear and turret elevation gear. Sovereign would be virtually rebuilt, with the latest 12" guns, new machinery for 23 knot flank speed, and updating of the firing director and turret elevation gear.

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The refitting extended to new ships. During the month the Goliath was commissioned and the Titan finished her first refit. Immediately both ships were put back into the yards to be refitted with directors for their secondary guns and to install increased elevation gear for their main batteries.

The restructuring of the naval budget also allowed for the resumption of work on the Colossus.

In statements to the national press and to the Parliamentary committees on naval affairs, the Admiral acclaimed the need to overhaul the Navy now that the war was over. Old hulls needed to be reworked for new jobs or, if such was not financially or physically feasible, decommissioned and scrapped.

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Another four Shepard-class destroyers were ordered: the Kaiden, Daniels, Moreau, and Adams


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December 1918

The 1919 Naval Refitting Plan in the Admiralty goes into effect with immediate orders for a mass decommissioning and scrapping of old surplus warships. Among those vessels sent to the scrappers were all four pre-sovereign battleships of the fleet - Fearless, Relentless, Dauntless, and Victoria, the armored cruisers Defiant and Reliant, and the raiding cruisers Juneau and Las Vegas.

The Juneau is ultimately the only ship of the group saved from the scrapyards, as her namesake city raised the funds through popular subscriptions by city residents and former crewmembers of the plucky old cruiser to purchase her and tow her into the harbor to become a museum ship.

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Financial considerations require the brief suspension of Sovereign's comprehensive rebuild.

To further save funds, the Constitution, Independence, Warrior, and Reprisal had their activities reduced to a level only sufficient to maintain partial crew readiness for action. Admiral Garrett defended the move on the grounds that war was unlikely for the next several years.

Additionally, Admiral Roger MacCallister announced his intention to retire. Although he had been awarded the Cross of Victory 1st Class for his effort in the war, many of his subordinates and superiors felt that he had behaved with excess caution during the actual battles of the war, denying the Navy any hope of a decisive naval victory that might have ended the war more quickly. Admiral Garrett invited him to a retirement dinner at the Admiralty and praised his work in maintaining the blockade and solid relations with the Royal Navy.

His replacement as commander of the Battle Fleet was Vice Admiral John Litchfield, who picked 2nd Battle Squadron commander Rear Admiral Phillip Wallace to be his Chief of Staff. Both men were promoted one grade to match their new positions.

Additionally, the old 500t and 600t destroyers of the Hull and Blake-classes were ordered into mothballed status. Admiral Garrett supported a new report from the Office of Naval Design and Procurement calling for the old ships to be relegated to coast patrol and sub-hunting duties in any future wars if they were not scrapped..

Constitution, Independence, Warrior, Reprisal ordered into Reserve Status. Hull and Blake-class DDs mothballed.

To continue the bulking of the Navy's destroyer fleet, another two Shepard-class destroyers were laid: Pressley and Donnelly. Additionally, two more submersibles were ordered to further replace wartime losses.
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The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
25 December 1918


Everything was as it has always been. The tree was up, candles and lights for the holiday, presents readied and exchanged. Christmas had come to the Garrett Family and, for the first time in four years, it had come with Rafael present with his wife.

But now there was another face missing, and this was one that wouldn't be coming back.

They tried nevertheless. Gabriela, with her hair now cut almost scandalously short, was as lively and boisterous as she could be. Sophie was striving to stand in as hostess with the same elegance and poise her mother had managed in her prime. Anne-Marie helped as much as she could given her need to watch her children, especially the infant David who, as infants often did, alternated between sleeping and crying. Georgia was radiant and blissful now that she had Rafael on her arm. Whatever problems the war had caused with their marriage, his return with the Constitution had smoothed them over.

But nothing could hide the fact that this was the most somber family Christmas in years.

What else could it be, this first Christmas after Rachel's death?

The family was assembled at the table as always. The Admiral sat at its head, his usual place, and to his right sat Sophie, acting as lady of the house. Blessings were given and the meal commenced. The talk highlighted the end of the war and Raffie's return; his awaiting a position at the Naval Staff College prompted Thomas and Anne-Marie to invite Raffie and Georgia to live in Vallejo if it came to pass, since the College was located at Mare Island.

"How are you doing in the provincial legislature?", Raffie asked his younger brother.

"It's been an education," Thomas answered. He scratched at the edge of his eyepatch.

"Will you run for Parliament?", Sophie asked him.

Thomas turned his head toward Anne-Marie, who was fussing with little David to get him to eat. "I've promised not to uproot everything until David is a little older," he admitted. "I won't run before '20, if I do at all."

"And what about you, Sophie?", asked Raffie. "You're out of school soon, right? Found anyone yet?"

She smiled gently at that. "No. Nobody worth my time," she said. "And I've actually been thinking of traveling to Europe soon. Now that the war is generally over, I'd like to see some of the cities grandfather served in and maybe write about them."

"My sister, the lady of learning," Rafael remarked. "Send me what you write and I can see if any of my editors are interested."

"I may do that."

For a moment there was no further conversation. Gradually it dawned on the others that the Admiral had barely touched his food.

"Father, what about you?", Rafael asked.

"Hrm?"

"Well…" Rafael gave a worried look to his siblings. "I remember Mother writing that you intended to retire when the war is over. But everyone in the fleet is saying you're staying on."

"I am," he answered simply.

The table went silent.

It was the Admiral who broke the silence. His children deserved to hear it from him.

"I told your mother I would retire at the end of the war," he explained. "And I had intended to retire at the end of 1915, had the war not intervened."

"But you won't now?", Thomas asked.

"No. Now that your mother is gone, there is no point," the Admiral informed them. "I will remain at my post until I am no longer capable of performing my duties."

"But…. Papa, you deserve to rest," Sophie insisted. "Living through the winters here can't be good for your health. It's what took Mama."

"The grandchildren would love having you living in Vallejo," Thomas added.

"Perhaps. But my decision is made. I'm not retiring yet." His voice was curt. Unintentionally so. But he wouldn't let himself question this.

"What about me?"

Everyone looked to Gabriela.

"What is it, Gabbie?", the Admiral asked.

"Don't I matter to you too?", she asked. "If you retire, we can go live somewhere nicer. We can travel."

"You have schooling to finish first," he reminded her. "Then we'll talk about travel."

Gabriela frowned and looked away. She looked hurt. "Does your job matter more than I do?"

Again, silence descended upon the table.

"You are my daughter, Gabriela, and I will always love you," he said. "But I have a duty to the country, and to the Navy."

"And that's more important, isn't it?", she said. Her voice was harsh now. "Maybe you should just be honest and say that the Navy is more important than your family. It's how you treated Mother, after all."

"Gabbie!", Sophie hissed.

Gabriela let her utensils clink in her half-finished plate. "I'm not hungry," she grumbled, standing up.

"You have not been excused," the Admiral grumbled.

An almost mocking tone came from Gabriela's voice when she asked, "Then may I be excused, Admiral?"

The old man closed his eyes and sighed. "Yes," he said weakly. "You may."

And before her startled siblings and sisters-in-law, Gabriela stormed out of the dining room.

After she was gone, the Admiral opened his eyes again, as if it were okay to do so. He looked over his wounded family. "Gabriela has your mother's fire and my stubbornness," he said. "And losing Rachel has been difficult for her. Please, pardon your sister." He set his fork into the cut of goose on his plate. "After all, it is Christmas."
”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.

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

Post by Eternal_Freedom »

Sweet, I made Vice-Admiral. Given the hint you've dropped about a very nasty war in future, why do I have a suspicious feeling that I may wind up as Commander, Battle Fleet? And (knowing you) wind up having Superb lost in action?
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:Sweet, I made Vice-Admiral. Given the hint you've dropped about a very nasty war in future, why do I have a suspicious feeling that I may wind up as Commander, Battle Fleet? And (knowing you) wind up having Superb lost in action?
Well, it's a war game... and there are over 10 years left in it... and I've usually managed a war about every five years. :P
”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 »

As long as I get an enemy ship under my guns that then goes down, I'm fine with wars :D
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 »

January 1919

The snubbing of American Ambassador George L. Whittaker by President Lakeland - over Whittaker's anti-British and pro-German speech after the end of the war - caused a diplomatic row between Washington and Portland.

US tensions to 2

As part of the ongoing peacetime fleet modernization program, the Apache was ordered in for refit with new firing directors, turret elevation gear, and to replace her 4" guns with the newer models licensed from Britain. The Sacramento was brought in to receive a similar refit package, save the changing of guns.

On January 18th, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Hall of Mirrors. Germany officially relinquished her Pacific holdings to Cascadia and was made to pay reparations for damages to Cascadian shipping. The knowledge that the war was well and truly over, and that Cascadia had achieved the goal of driving the Germans from the Pacific, fostered good will in the country, such that the social conditions of Cascadia had been quieter and more restful than they'd been in nearly two decades.

Unrest to 1

Image


February 1919

The Colossus was declared finished and ready for commissioning. The Admiralty immediately orrdered her into the yard for firing-director and elevation gearing refit.

Image

Design teams reported difficulties in the necessary elements of a new system of power training and elevation for naval gun ammunition systems.
Image


Burleigh & Armstrong provided schematics to the Navy for new light coastal torpedo boats. These motor torpedo boats could pose threats to larger vessels in close coastal conditions.

(Up until a very recent version of the game, this tech was completely useless, as the MTBs weren't including for building. Even now they are, IIRC, extra defenses you can order for a specific base/port.)

Image


Delays in the construction of the Shepard occurred.

Image

Budgetary restructuring allowed funding for Sovereign's reconstruction to resume.


March 1919

The Goliath, Titan, Courageous, and Gallant finish their reconstruction work.

Goliath and Titan Courageous Gallant finish reconstruction

Image
Image

Two more submersibles are ordered to continue post-war replenishment of the sub fleet.



April 1919

The Garrett House
West Portland, Oregon
4 April 1919


The last day of the week had come, and with the winter rain season starting to clear the Admiral… still had little to do, or little he wanted to do, at home.

He arrived and found Mei-Ling waiting. She took his coat as always. "Mrs. Laurie is preparing dinner," she said. "Gabriela has gone to Senator Talverda's home for the evening."

"Right," he murmured. She often went there. It was starting to make the rounds in Portland society that Gabriela had been essentially adopted by the Senator since Rachel's death.

It wasn't entirely wrong.

"And a wire has come for you," the housekeeper added. She gestured to the basket. "It is from Thomas and Rafael."

"Thank you, Mei-Ling. I shall be in the parlor." The Admiral picked up the note from the telegram company. "Oregon Telegraph Co." was printed above the top. He didn't read the body of the message until he sat down.

He put the message down and sighed. When Mei-Ling returned, bringing with her a tray bearing his dinner, he decided to indulge her clear curiosity. "It was from Raffie," he said quietly. "Georgia is bearing a child."

"Wonderful news," the Chinese woman said. "I am happy for you, Admiral."

He smiled weakly at her. "Thank you, Mei-Ling." He reached over and picked up the paper. The peace negotiations between Berlin and Moscow had failed. Germany, still rocked by protests, was nevertheless eating again, and the German Republic was continuing its war alongside Austria against the Soviets and Hungarians. A second article remarked on German diplomats meeting with Polish national leaders in Paris.

But that was Europe. In the Pacific, all was quiet. The Marianas had been organized as a Cascadian Territory like the Carolines, as had the Bismarcks. Sumatra was currently under a Provisional Appointed Government while Cascadian officials met with delegations of local Sumatrans to decide the island's ultimate political fate. This wasn't 1899 anymore, and Cascadia could likely afford to hold the island in a way they couldn't have held the Philippines just twenty years ago, but the polls were clear; Cascadians were okay with turning small sandspit islands in the Pacific into insular territories, but large islands with local populations could only be held with imperial power, and Cascadians did not want a literal empire.

One editorial did concern the Admiral. It remarked on a recent protest by the Japanese Ambassador to "Cascadian hegemony" over East Asia. He darkly wondered if anything would come of that, or if it was the usual complaints by some Japanese over the outcome in 1910.

He continued reading, and the night would turn out much as any other night for the last ten months. He would do his paperwork, read until 2100 or so, and then retire to bed, and hope he would get used to sleeping alone.



The submersible Tarpon was commissioned. The Sacramento and Tacoma rejoined the fleet after refit work.

Image
Image
Image


The French Government offered compensation for a chance to examine the new design calculations being employed by the Cascadian Navy. In light of France's cooperation with the blockade against Germany, the Admiralty agreed to support the deal.

Image

With the Friday Harbor-class minesweepers wearing out, a new class of minesweepers, Settlers' Creek, was contracted out to several naval builders across the country, including a small yard in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. Six in total were ordered by the Admiralty.

Settlers' Creek-class minesweeper developed, modified from Friday Harbor-class. Six ordered

The Cuttlefish, the experimental coastal submersible that became the first of the capable Cascadian sub force, was decommissioned. The Navy received a cash payment for the ship from a Citizens' Group that chose to preserve the ship in a naval museum in Oakland.

Image


May 1919

The Salmon joined the sub force.

Apache, Vancouver, and Richland returned to service.

Image


Vickers offered the Admiralty licensing rights to their latest 6" guns. The Admiralty accepted the offer.

Image
Image
The Repulse went to the yards for outfitting with new fire director geer and turret elevation gear.

The Bakersfield rotated back home from the South Pacific Squadron for a refit, to receive new guns, fire control-directors, gun elevation machinery, and a rebuild of the ship's engine machinery.

The Vancouver refit included new guns, director firing gear, increased gun elevation, and above-water torpedo mounts.


In Eastern Europe, the Soviets' collectivization efforts led to a series of peasant revolts and resistance, linked as well to a growing anti-war movement. Lenin was forced to bring troops back from the front.

Unfortunately for him, the Germans were ready for a new offensive, and as they marched, so did the Polish patriots of Pilsudski. Under a new agreement in common with Emperor Franz Ferdinand and the German Republic, Pilsudski and the Polish nationalist movement rose to fight the Soviets. The Germans and Austrians would recognize the rebirth of a free Poland and Germany would grant it transit and port rights in Danzig if Poland failed to keep Lithuania at the end of the war. Austria agreed to local Polish rule for Krakow and the rest of Galicia-Lodomeria in exchange for continued military manning rights at Przemysl and other fortifications in the Carpathians.

Further south, Austro-German troops launched a series of new offensives that, while not violently successful, did tie down the Russo-Hungarian forces severely. This left them vulnerable to a development later in the campaign.


June 1919

The new destroyers Anderson, Hawke, and Crusher were commissioned.

The Champion's construction was extended to install the newer director-firing gear.

Image

The Colossus finished her refitting.

Image

Image

The Titan and Gallant-class ships were ordered to home ports and given reduced operational schedules as part of the Admiralty's attempt to preserve the budget for the ambitious naval refitting scheme. In line with the refit and reconstruction program, the Superb was sent to the yards for the same reconstruction Sovereign was getting.



On June 20th, 1919, the Kingdom of Romania joined the War of Hungarian Independence.

Against the Hungarians.

The Germans had finally succeeded in pressuring Franz Ferdinand into the desired Romanian cession, pointing to their own growing need for peace and the prospect of a Socialist uprising against the German government if the war didn't end soon. Franz Ferdinand agreed to turn Transylvania over to Romania as soon as the war was over.

The war proved beneficial to Romania: the Soviets had not prepared adequate defenses in Bessarabia, and with the support of German troops slipped into Romania via the restored Austro-Romanian border, the offensive on that front quickly drove the Soviets back to the other side of the Dniestr.

Meanwhile the 2nd Romanian Army and 12th German Army marched into Transylvania. The Hungarians and Soviets scramble troops to meet the threat and seem to briefly hold back the attack with the help of hastily-prepared fortifications. But a key group of installations near Cluj are broken by the timely actions of German combat engineers, led by Lieutenant Erwin Rommel, and the lines are broken by the end of the month.

For the Soviets, the war approached disaster levels when, on June 30th, German and Nationalist Polish forces marched into Warsaw. Pilsudski declared the birth of the Polish Republic and offered the restoration of the Commonwealth to his Lithuanian "brothers" should they rise up to join the fight.
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"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.

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

Post by Thanas »

Not sure if the creation of a free Poland makes much sense unless Germany cedes really large amounts of territories to them - I mean all the industry is pretty much in Silesia (German, and Germany would never surrender it willingly). Without Silesia and with only local rule in Krakow - but not holding the fortresses like in Przemysl - all this does is leave a Poland that is independent only in name but in reality merely a puppet of Germany/Austria.

EDIT: Also without France entering the war the German Empire most likely would not have faced starvation at all, as it would have been able to keep up agricultural production as the young men and farmhands would not have been missing. But it is only a game after all.
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Thanas wrote:Not sure if the creation of a free Poland makes much sense unless Germany cedes really large amounts of territories to them - I mean all the industry is pretty much in Silesia (German, and Germany would never surrender it willingly). Without Silesia and with only local rule in Krakow - but not holding the fortresses like in Przemysl - all this does is leave a Poland that is independent only in name but in reality merely a puppet of Germany/Austria.

EDIT: Also without France entering the war the German Empire most likely would not have faced starvation at all, as it would have been able to keep up agricultural production as the young men and farmhands would not have been missing. But it is only a game after all.
Yeah, pretty much the game claims hunger and stuff happens to countries that are being blockaded... even if it doesn't make sense. Hell, I'm sure the damn thing would do the same if I blockaded the US (not an easy feat).

I tried to rationalize it in the logic of the game as "France are being dicks", and because I was certain I remembered reading that even pre-WWI Germany was a food importer (just like Britain, really... IIRC much of Europe imported food even then). So between France being dicks to them, the blockade, the British doing their usual armtwisting of the neutrals, and then Lenin cutting the grain off and the Hungarian uprising... I figured that'd justify it.

That and the game was really wonky about the blockade.

As for Poland, my logic from an in-universe perspective is that the German Republic doesn't want to absorb millions of Poles, but doesn't want to let the Russians keep that big salient toward Germany's eastern provinces either. So a Poland sans Silesia and Danzig (basically interbellum Poland minus Danzig and the Corridor plus that little bit of Silesia they received after WWI, but with interbellum Lithuania joined to them) is their goal, too weak to be a threat but just enough of a buffer to give Germany time to stop a resurgent Russia. Detachment of the rest of the Baltics and Finland is a secondary goal. And to keep the Romanians in the fight, they're backing their claim on Besserabia.

If you think this is twisting things, though... I'm still wondering how the fuck I'm going to justify my last war in 1928-1929, it just makes so little sense geopolitically speaking... :evil:

But I've got a while before that. And the war coming up in 1924. Aka the Fun War, because it's got the two really big battleship fleet battles I got to fight in this playthrough. :D

And this time it wasn't against Germany either! :D
”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 »

I don't end up fighting Britain do I?
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:I don't end up fighting Britain do I?
Hrm... how to answer that... :twisted:
”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 »

Oh you bastard :D
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:Oh you bastard :D
I'm not saying the Brits turn on Cascadia. I'm just sayin' that I'm not telling anyone who I have the big BB battles with. :D
”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 »

Bah humbug! I do get to kill some battleships though?
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 Thanas »

Steve wrote:As for Poland, my logic from an in-universe perspective is that the German Republic doesn't want to absorb millions of Poles, but doesn't want to let the Russians keep that big salient toward Germany's eastern provinces either. So a Poland sans Silesia and Danzig (basically interbellum Poland minus Danzig and the Corridor plus that little bit of Silesia they received after WWI, but with interbellum Lithuania joined to them) is their goal, too weak to be a threat but just enough of a buffer to give Germany time to stop a resurgent Russia. Detachment of the rest of the Baltics and Finland is a secondary goal. And to keep the Romanians in the fight, they're backing their claim on Besserabia.
"That little bit of Silesia" would never have been ceded by the Germans, nor would they have ceded one bit of Posen (Poznan). So yeah, not really sure how to justify that. And a detachement of the Baltics....would most likely result in their annexation given that they have a strong German minority. Not sure if that is feasible either though given the war exhaustion. Yeah, I don't envy you your task.

BTW if there were no western front there is no way Russia would have lasted more than one year, maybe two. Certainly not until 1918.
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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 Simon_Jester »

I suspect that To Rule the Waves is a lot better at simulating sea wars than land wars. ;)
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Re: Let's Play "Rule The Waves" w/ Steve's Custom Country "Cascadia"

Post by Steve »

Thanas wrote:
Steve wrote:As for Poland, my logic from an in-universe perspective is that the German Republic doesn't want to absorb millions of Poles, but doesn't want to let the Russians keep that big salient toward Germany's eastern provinces either. So a Poland sans Silesia and Danzig (basically interbellum Poland minus Danzig and the Corridor plus that little bit of Silesia they received after WWI, but with interbellum Lithuania joined to them) is their goal, too weak to be a threat but just enough of a buffer to give Germany time to stop a resurgent Russia. Detachment of the rest of the Baltics and Finland is a secondary goal. And to keep the Romanians in the fight, they're backing their claim on Besserabia.
"That little bit of Silesia" would never have been ceded by the Germans, nor would they have ceded one bit of Posen (Poznan). So yeah, not really sure how to justify that. And a detachement of the Baltics....would most likely result in their annexation given that they have a strong German minority. Not sure if that is feasible either though given the war exhaustion. Yeah, I don't envy you your task.

BTW if there were no western front there is no way Russia would have lasted more than one year, maybe two. Certainly not until 1918.
No, I meant that the little bit of Silesia is not part of the "Poland" created in this world. Poland is basically the Russian and Austrian bits, with the Austrians having the right to base troops in Galicia-Lodomeria, and potential gains in the Baltics to offset any failure to take additional territories further east. Unlikely to be popular in some circles (and on both sides of the line), true, but a pro-German Pilsudski is more useful than having to deal with millions more Poles when Germany's already suffering political instability from the switch to a republic.

The land war didn't start until 1917, and with the Russians already having land experience from the 1908-1910 war, plus a year or more of time to build up for the conflict.

Not that they're a match for Germany - once the Germans got going by 1919, freed from the blockade, things went to crap for them. It would've been worse, I imagine, if the French weren't clearly on the fence of "attack Alsace".

I admit I could have just ignored these bits (mostly), but then I'd be handwaving away all of the tensions and problems in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and I'm hoping to use some of the political issues to explain things that happen toward the end of the decade when the game handed me a war that I didn't want and which didn't make a lot of sense anyway.

Plus, even if I'm not going to heavily cover it, I am setting up a WWII analogue of sorts that eventually comes post-game, which will be referenced in the epilogues and influence the lives of the Admiral's children and grandchildren.
Simon_Jester wrote:I suspect that To Rule the Waves is a lot better at simulating sea wars than land wars. ;)
Heh, it's idea of land wars is "spawn occasional events giving VP to one side or the other reflecting ground combats, even if the two antagonists have no land borders!" I mean, my very first playthrough as the US? I was at war with Italy. I got ground combat events even though there was nowhere that our armies could fight each other!
”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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