1912-1990 Era War IC (Semi-Closed)

[The Manticoran Empire]

Manticoran Frontline
Manchukuo
20 July 1929

The Third Field Army had arrived in Manchukuo over the last two weeks. Or most of it, anyways. With no need to maintain secrecy, the operation had been much quicker. The ships needed were already available and the troops assembled and equipped with the supplies they would need. In total, 10 Cavalry Divisions, 20 Tank Brigades, and 72 Infantry Divisions, totaling some 3.7 million men. Another 59,000 men had been shipped over as replacements for the existing forces of the 7th Army, some 10 cavalry divisions, 10 tank brigades, and 48 infantry divisions. In total, some 6.3 million men were in place. Unfortunately, even the relative peace of the last few months was not peaceful.

About 653 Manticorans were dying or being injured every day in skirmishes across Manchukuo and GHQ wanted to see some positive news coming out of the theater. Field Marshal Ramos now found himself having to rush an offensive that, initially, wasn't supposed to be launched until August or September. However, with word of the Hoosier invasion of Shishiri and the Rachanans fighting for their lives against a Nihonese invasion, it was apparent that they would have to launch this offensive now. That did not mean that he could give his troops the best chance of success. The infantry divisions all had a 612 man Assault Battalion and he'd received more aviation forces. A total of 2,025 Model 15 fighters assigned to Third Army, Seventh Army, and Eighth Army Air Services would battle the Nihonese and Manchu air forces for dominance of the skies while 5,850 O-2 observation planes pick out targets for the 675 V-1500 bombers and the 12,000 105mm howitzers deployed by the divisions. Another 4,320 155mm howitzers were deployed by the Corps Artillery Brigades, also receiving target information the observation aircraft. The gun crews also used several techniques to locate Nihonese artillery on their own, mainly sound ranging and flash spotting, methods perfected in the Great War.

The Third and Seventh Armies would be attacking Nihonese and Manchu Forces in mountainous terrain. It would be vicious and hand to hand for much of the way but the Manticorans had attacked tougher positions. The Skartenian forts in Tamir and the Arenginian positions in Nuwe Afrikaa had given many of the officers and NCOs impressive arrays of scars and plenty of purple ribbons to mark their wounds. The operation would start on the 1st of August, behind 10 days of air operations. The last three months had seen aircraft conducting overflights of Nihonese territory, engaging in battles with Nihonese and Manchu fighters while also mapping out the Nihonese positions. Many positions appeared to be connected by caves, though airborne reconnaissance couldn't confirm that. There also appeared to be gun positions covered by camouflage nets, though this was difficult to verify and would effectively be guesswork for most guns, though some had been accurately plotted with sound ranging and flash spotting. Artillery officers did point out that the Nihonese took lessons from the Warglorians and Aclusians, so it was likely that they would have at least two alternate positions for each gun, just as the Manticorans did. The positions were dug in deep with overhead cover but a ramp at the back large enough for the gun to be towed out of by a tractor. There were also several dummy positions with false guns installed in the hopes of duping the Nihonese recon pilots. There was a good chance of that happening, though no officer or enlisted man in the Royal Field Artillery Corps would be willing to put money down on it. Anti-aircraft machine guns and cannons were positioned all around the artillery positions, which told any outside observer that while it may seem like the positions were safe, no one in the Army agreed and so they were taking every precaution they could.

Only Zero Hour would show if they had done enough.

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Wissenland
Nuwe Afrikaa
20 July 1929

The Royal Manticoran Army Air Force had collected 675 Model 15 fighters to ship to the Hoosier Air Force. Orders for another 8,450 Model 15 had been placed, enough to provide one squadron of 25 planes for each of the currently active Hoosier divisions. It was estimated that it would take roughly 41 and a half days for the L Type ships to complete the journey. 27 L Types would carry the disassembled fighters in large containers, as well as flight instructors to teach the Hoosiers how to fly and fight them. It wouldn't provide a decisive advantage, though it would definitely provide a substantial benefit to the overall battle.

[Guuj Xaat Kil]

July 16th to July 17th (Early Sunrise), 1929
Eastern and Western Artillery Positions

A slight overlook was going to be ironed out on 0300, on the 16th, as it appeared the artillery was nearly 20km away from their needed positions. Over the course of that day, artillery was moved from their current all the way to their proper positions. This took the entire day but they, with the help of the Nihonese, were able to reposition and ready the guns by 8:12 in the evening. Then preparations for the judgement that was to come, started.

"HOOSIER HOLDING BEACH STOP NIHONESE PUSHED BACK FULLSTOP" went the radio on the following day, and another call through the radio was made mere moments later to another receiver, "HOOSIER HOLDING BEACH STOP REQUESTING PERMISSION FULLSTOP" Continued the radio, then a trepidatious wait began for a response. Then, a minute later, a response is given, "PERMISSION GRANTED STOP COMMENCE OPERATION GUARDIAN FULLSTOP" And that was all the word they needed, shifting from the lines from HQ to forward scouting positions, they asked for enemy coordinates and these were given concisely and with speed.

Then hours passed, and the sun rose from the cliffs, bathing the bottom in its light. A beautiful sight if not for the distant smoke and gunfire marring its pristine conditions, but in a few moments, it would be ruined beyond repair. One minute, two minutes, three minutes pass. Four minutes, five minutes, six minutes BANG! The sound tears unprotected ears nearby asunder, not a single bang but consistent explosions throughout. A thousand shells and more fired upon the landing site, all in the opening minute, and this wasn't even the full bombardment nor the full extent of the opening bombardment.

On the western positions, upon hearing the bombardment, prepared and under 6 minutes had began their bombardment as well. A projected five days of unending bombardment from areas safe from their naval guns would occur should plans go accordingly. A hidden benefit from this was that without thorough scouting via planes, nobody would suspect that the Confederates were firing the guns.

Elsewhere, Confederate troops began to man their defensive positions and readied for the event that the enemy would break through regardless of the bombardment occurring in the distance. In the more unlikely event that they broke those defensive lines, they would retreat towards groups of secondary, and if those lines were broken; tertiary, and if they constantly broke through, succeeding lines.

[The Manticoran Empire]

VICUNA DAILY LEDGER

Volume 182, Issue 202

22 July 1929

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World

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Heavy Fighting in Shishiri as Hoosier Forces Continue Invasion

Peter Thoroughgood, AP

Brasberge, Hoosier--The invasion of the Island of Shishiri that began last Monday continues into its seventh day, with heavy casualties being reported by sources within the Hoosier armed forces.
The Island of Shishiri was catapulted into the international spotlight in 1923 by the antics of Newne Carriebean, a nation renowned for its political instability, low quality of life, and high rates of mental illness. Following several skirmishes and a short war in 1924, the Empire of Nihon occupied the northern half of Shishiri while the Confederation of Northern States occupied the southern half. Iron Guard Hoosier took control of the Carriebean territories on the mainland.
In the years following the conflict, it appeared that the next war would erupt between the Confederation and Nihon. However, the invasion of Manchukuo by the Central Alliance back in April saw the Nihonese and the Confederates join forces. Sources within the Manticoran High Command have reported that the biggest fear of strategic planners is another “Battle of the Bog,” the grueling battle that saw the Confederation blunt a concerted Western League offensive during the Great War and a battle that saw some of the highest casualties of that war.
The Island of Shishiri is very different from the Northern States so there appears to be little worry of a recreation of the Bog. However, our sources do stress that the Nihonese and the Confederates are dogged foes and that casualties will most certainly rise as the fighting continues.

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Casualties Mount in Manchukuo With no Action

Akron Davis, AP

Khanbaliq, Almaty--As the 110th day of the war passes, Manticoran casualties continue to rise, even with no movement of the frontline since the offensive stalled in early May. Partisan groups in Occupied Manchukuo have been hitting railways, truck convoys, and supply depots while the Seventh Army attempts to conduct reconnaissance of Nihonese positions in the North Indianum Mountain Range. According to official reports, casualties have surpassed 72,000 and continue to rise everyday. When asked about plans for a future offensive, Seventh Army Chief of Staff Arnór Ákason said, “Offering comment on operational plans would unduly jeopardize the lives of Manticoran soldiers, sailors, and airmen. As such, there is no comment we can make at this time aside from informing you that we are preparing for an offensive.”
Some soldiers expressed confidence in their ability to drive the Nihonese army from the mountains, recalling the ease with which the Army advanced into Manchukuo. Older soldiers, veterans of the Great War, were more somber in their predictions. One soldier even made the very morbid prediction of which of the men in his company would not survive the assault.
With the arrival of the Third Army on Saturday, the mood has greatly improved among the troops, though there is an air of tension between the men in the Tank Brigades and those in the Cavalry Divisions, reflecting the often heated debates before the war about the future of armored vehicles in the Army. It appears that these gentlemen will soon have cause to put that particular discussion to rest, one way or another.

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Fierce Fighting in Rachana as Rachanan Army Fights for its Life

Kurt Vaughn, AP

Adrillas, Rachana--Since the Nihonese landings on the 11th of May, the Rachanan Army has fought fiercely to contain the enemy, joined in the line by troops from Breyburg, Hoosier, and Aydinir. According to sources within the Alliance command in Adrillas, some 90 divisions are holding the line in Adrillas against a Nihonese force estimated to be only 14 divisions strong at this point. When asked why the Nihonese have not been driven back into the sea, Alliance sources pointed out the presence of heavy Nihonese air and naval support making counter attacks difficult to coordinate. It has been indicated that there is a major transfer of Alliance aircraft to Adrillas in order to counter Nihonese airpower.

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The Empire

Continued Mobilization Straining Rail Networks

Dwain Wright, AP

Ostland, Manticore--The mobilization of some 48 million reservists has placed severe strain on the rail infrastructure of the Empire. Despite years of planning and skilled coordination, several units, particularly in Tamir, have seen their mobilization and redeployment delayed by a number of factors, including an a later thaw in northern Tamir that left several railroads under several feet of ice and snow until late June. Members of Parliament have been flooded with demands to ease the strain in order to allow Manticoran citizens to continue their own travel. Tens of thousands of people were left stranded on the spring holidays due to the mobilization order. With the war going well and no immediate need for large numbers of replacements or reinforcements, it is considered likely that Parliament will step down the mobilization efforts in order to reduce the strain on the rest of the population.

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Nihonese Expat Murdered

Irene Samson, AP

Reikland, Nuwe Afrikaa--A Nihonese expat was murdered by an enraged mob yesterday while traveling from a supermarket in northern Reikland. The expat, who as of yet remains unidentified by police, was attacked by several men and women who beat him to the ground before binding him with rope and then hanging him from a lamp post. The man was then doused in kerosene and lit on fire while he was still alive.
This is the thirteenth attack on Nihonese expats since the war began. In all but three cases, the victims were born Manticoran citizens, not migrants from Nihon. Two of the victims, Sir Thomas Toyokazu and Sir Kyle Hiromitsu, were decorated veterans of the Great War. Sir Toyokazu (KCBM) won the Adrian Cross and a knighthood after leading an assault on Skartenian positions in Tamir in 1918, an action that resulted in him losing his left eye and his right foot. Sir Hiromitsu (GCBM, GME) similarly won a number of awards, including two ACs, two knighthoods, and the Distinguished Service Order for actions in Nuwe Afrikaa against Arenginian and Aclusian forces.
In all cases no arrests have been made, leading to outrage among Nihonese expats, many of whom served with distinction in the Great War. Violence is particularly great between communities of Aydinirian descent and it is widely believed by police that the Aydinirian government is encouraging violence against all persons of Nihonese descent, including those who are citizens of the Empire. Queen Catherine has spoken out against the violence and has put forward a $10,000 dollar reward for each of the thirteen cases, seeking information leading to arrests.

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Passenger Liner Falls Victim to Nihonese Navy

Sarah Hodges, AP

Vicuna, Manticore--The Aclusian passenger liner RMS Olympic was sunk by a Nihonese submarine during its run from Yindrai to Zeeland. The Olympic was carrying over 3,200 passengers and crew when she was attacked Friday evening. Three torpedoes hit the ship and she sank within twenty minutes. Approximately 1,100 people were able to board lifeboats before the ship sank and were later rescued by ships of the Aydinirian Navy. Some 2,100 people were killed.

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

Kriegsmarine Modernisation Initiative Stage #1-Progress Report

The progress report that entails the construction of new warships so far.
Having been ordered in 1927, the 10x Erkhart class Battleships and 2x Günther class Battlecruisers have been laid down, and are set to be completed in 1931.

High Command has also seen fit to update the design request for the Nürnberg Class Light Cruiser, set to begin construction after the new batch of battleships and battlecruisers are finished. The ship is projected to be 9,040 metric tons, with a speed of 32 knots. Despite the slightly lessened deck armour, the light cruiser will carry substantially more weapons, with:
9 × 15 cm SK C/25 guns
8 × 8.8 cm SK C/32 guns
8 × 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns
8 × 2 cm C/30 guns
12 × 53.3 cm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes
120 mines

Though initially posed to contain less weaponry, the recent attack on the Combined Fleet in the Börland theatre, whereby several larger warships were damaged and even sunk by a large squadron of a hundred Boer light bombers, has led to a significant increase in anti-air capabilities. In fact, this sudden order for these new light cruisers is apart of the Kriegsmarine's new doctrine to increase the anti-aircraft capabilities of the fleet as a whole. After action report of the battle by Admiral Müller indicated a less than optimal amount of escort ships and anti-air capabilities to be the reason for the devastation of the fleet. By committing to this order, it will hopefully solve both the former and the latter.

10 of these Light Cruisers have been ordered.

End report.

A concept image of the new Nürnberg Light Cruiser. Note that the weapons statistics of the concept shown above is outdated.

To: The Remnants of the Carriebean Nation
From: Karl Canaris, Director of Milinacht
Encryption: High
To those who are concerned,
Usually, we would reach out to your government via channels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; however, embarrassingly, established diplomatic channel to the Carriebean haven't been maintained properly for a long time, especially considering our only employee in the Foreign Affairs Office concerned with your nation was a sixteen-year-old intern who was given an internship by his uncle as a favour three years ago...

Anyhow, due to this issue, we have had to resort to alternative measures, hence Military Intelligence. I correspond with you on behalf of the Warglorian Reich. As you have heard, our recent conflict with the Traansval, Rannoria and various Indianum nations (though the latter has so far been indecisive in terms of action) has led to some problems, of which it would be in our best interests to get a third party involved.

It is because of this that the Warglorian Reich has decided to ask you for certain specialities: we request that you launch raids and attacks on the Traansval nation, the Communist Rannorians, and the various members of the Central Alliance as to disrupt their trade and generally unbalance them. Acts of "Piracy" if you will.

In return, the Warglorian Reich is willing to give you a loan of 8,317,962.13 Reichsmarks or $16,635,924 ($250,000,000 in 2020) and provide any equipment the Carriebean nation deems necessary. This inventory also includes a rather large stockpile of replica wood and sail warships and early black powder firearms, as well as replicas of other antiquities.

We hope that we can reach a speedy agreement.

Sincerely, Karl Canaris

Milinacht HQ, Tirpitzstadt, Warglorian Reich
Canaris looked at the offer again. And again. And again. He winced his eyes, to take a closer look, to see some sort of missing detail. Nothing. He turned it upside down, then right side up, then to the side, and finally looked behind it, thinking there to be some sort of cleverly hidden message perhaps. Nothing. Giving up, he then turned to the significantly taller man beside him, clad in his classic black uniform.

"Mein Kriegsminister, if I may be so bold, I understand the offers of money and even the directive of 'piracy,' but what was the necessity of mentioning the current state of the diplomatic services?"

Adler looked down at Canaris, "It'll help with our standing with them."

"But it's just an intern managing it!"

"Indeed, the nephew of the nationwide director of the Reichhygieneabtielung (Reich Sanitation Division), they'll take it as an honour."

Canaris' face scrunched up in confusion at the seemingly oxymoron statement. "And the mentions of the replicas of ancient weapons? I understand that the re-enactment industry is booming, but I do not see how that's relevant."

"Oh no, it is very relevant, they'll be extremely ecstatic at the prospect of these weapons, I'm sure they'll be especially fond of the black powder quadruple barreled revolving muskets."

"Those weapons, Herr Kriegsminister?"

"Ja."

"The ones that are 500 years old?"

"Ja."

"The ones that tend to explode after the first shots if improperly maintained."

"Ja."

"The ones that are extremely hard to maintain and were abandoned even when they were conceived because they were so unstable, they tended to blow up entire infantry battalions wielding them?"

"Mhm."

"Those weapons?"

"The very same."

".....and the sailing ships?"

"Especially the sailing ships...and the galleys and triremes too."

Canaris, at this point, lost all composure, "I'm sorry, did you say galleys and trire-"

"Sshhh, trust me, I encountered their kind before, I was Führer when they were still in Europa you know," Adler replied, "Everything is going as I have forseen."

"What the...." Canaris mumbled to himself.

The two simply stared out the window at the beautiful harbour outside; one in shock, the other in smugness at the ingenious plan that was piecing together before him.

"....how did they manage to relocate Indianum, Herr Kriegsminister?" Canaris finally asked.

"After all these decades? I still have no ficking clue," Adler replied, his eyes now looking tired and haunted, "Not one ficking clue...."

[The Imperial Warglorian Empire]

Kriegsmarine Modernisation Initiative Stage #1-Progress Report

Unfortunately, due to strange magics and religious hoodoo, the battleships and battlecruisers ordered by the Kriegsmarine have been cancelled due to a lack of modern designs.

Instead, production shall be immediately diverted to concentrate on the new Nürnburg Class Light Cruisers. As supplies had most recently been gathered in preparation to build them, the Light Cruisers shall begin construction immediately and are projected to be completed by 1932.

The construction order has been somewhat edited, however, as High Command has decided to begin the construction of three new heavy cruisers. Named the "Wargland" Class Heavy Cruisers, these ships are unusual in that they carry armaments and armour usually found on a battleship, leading to many designers calling the ship a "Pocket Battleship." They, too, shall begin construction immediately and will be completed by 1932 as well. So, seven Nürnburg Light Cruisers and three Wargland Class Heavy Cruisers.

End report.


Concept Design of the new Wargland Class "Pocket Battleships"

Gioia Tauro, Southern Sylbania
It was here that the Boer Theatre Front Combined Fleet limped back into port. Though the majority of the lighter undamaged ships continued to patrol the waters, as well as bombard Boer positions, those ships that were damaged safely arrived back in port. It was here that they would undergo repairs that would take some time to repair. It was here, that the shredded flag of the Kriegsmarine Ensign flew low.

They had lost, they were disgraces.

They would have revenge.

Tirpitzstadt, Warglorian Reich
26th July, 1929
Across the Warglorian Reich, new orders were being sent out. A large portion of ships in the Kriegsmarine was being gathered, redeployed, reorganised for a new operation. Simply in Tirpitzstadt, many Super Dreadnoughts were being gathered in preparation, as well as a lot of other ships.

The details of this new operation were top secret, however, Kriegsmarine High Command was planning to embark on a great expedition, one that would shock the world, and once more establish Wargloria as a premier global superpower. Under the request of Kriegsmarine High Command, several ships of the Sylbanian Imperial Navy were also being deployed to join in this operation.

Ships Being Gathered for Classified Operation
-21 Battleships
-5 Battlecruisers
-8 Dreadnoughts
-10 Heavy Cruisers
-20 Light Cruisers
-30 Corvettes
-104 Destroyers
-322 Submarines

Troops were also being gathered and organised, many coming from the Rannorian and Boer fronts as the war was cooling down, and negotiations were being planned with both belligerents.

[Newne Carriebean7]

Das Kapital Region
Presidential Palace
August 1st ,1929

A frenzied collection of footsteps was heard clambering up the steps to the main office of the Presidency, guarded by a stone faced Nihonese looking, naginata carbine wielding man who stood at stiff attention. The man caught his breath for a solid couple of minutes before looking the president in the eye, who had been scribbling on day to day affairs that concerned Carriebean.
“President.”
“Ah, mail’s here. Took you long enough.”
“I…had… had…to… walk…three flights…”
“Don’t give a damn, you’ll rest here while I pen a reply to this… proposal.”
“Oh you gaul don fool y’ hant seens it yets an ye gonna ‘gee toitz?!”
“Hm, The Prime Minister raises a good point, might as well read it.”
Grabbing a small piece of sharpened shit from this morning, the metallic incrusted instrument cut through the envelop to drop a small folded up letter on his desk.
Unraveling it, the message was as follows:

To: The Remnants of the Carriebean Nation
From: Karl Canaris, Director of Milinacht
Encryption: High
To those who are concerned,
Usually, we would reach out to your government via channels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; however, embarrassingly, established diplomatic channel to the Carriebean haven't been properly, especially considering our only employee in the Foreign Affairs Office concerned with your nation was a sixteen-year-old intern who was given an internship by his uncle as a favor three years ago...

Anyhow, due to this issue, we have had to resort to alternative measures, hence Military Intelligence. I correspond with you on behalf of the Warglorian Reich. As you have heard, our recent conflict with the Traansval, Rannoria and various Indianum nations (though the latter has so far been indecisive in terms of action) has led to some problems, of which it would be in our best interests to get a third party involved.

It is because of this that the Warglorian Reich has decided to ask you for certain specialities: we request that you launch raids and attacks on the Traansval nation, the Communist Rannorians, and the various members of the Central Alliance as to disrupt their trade and generally unbalance them. Acts of "Piracy" if you will.

In return, the Warglorian Reich is willing to give you a loan of 8,317,962.13 Reichsmarks or $16,635,924 ($250,000,000 in 2020) and provide any equipment the Carriebean nation deems necessary. This inventory also includes a rather large stockpile of replica wood and sail warships and early black powder firearms, as well as replicas of other antiquities.

We hope that we can reach a speedy agreement.

Sincerely, Karl Canaris

President Marvin Washvelt gripped his hands in an almost vice grip, teeth gritting for a moment before a wave of calm swept over his features.
“They’ll pay us about seventeen million dollars, which is…how much in our local currency again? Fifteen quintillion?”
“Try seventy seven septillion sais. Though if we’d be more reliable, we’d transfer it into either solid gold bars like the cemetery banks are doing or in salt or some other valuable spice that’s used as barter.”
“So say we get this 17,000,000, what would that be worth to us?”
“I’ve said this before, around 77,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Sais. Or in layments terms, enough for a very snazzy looking plantation or mansion.”
“For the love of god I thought our fucking economy was a little less shit than before. I guess that doesn’t apply to international trade or transactions where we get fucked over.”
“Right. So do we take this deal or do we opt to construct our own ships, because between you and me, having galleys seems like just a tad bit of an outdated idea..”

The low buzz and massive shadow of a zeppelin like beast hummed and hemmed low over the Imperial Palace for a moment or two, shaking the coffee Washvelt was drinking.
“Damnit. But! Here’s what we could use with them, put a modern twist on the old ships. Hear me out my nigger. We could put Quick firing 2 pounder and 1 pounder guns on them to give them a little bit of a modern edge, have them co-ordinate their efforts with local tugboats and place them under the command of those within the Carriebeanian population lacks a shit ton of brain cells?”
“Ah, the folks who chew gum and somehow end up with a brain by swallowing? I’d say their intelligence is enough not to have them not understand the orders we give them, but enough to have their orders be badly misinterpreted into chicken shit. They’ve got a deal. Notify the relevant channels of this.”

A nearby aide saluted before he got on a horse and rode off towards the small Warglorian broom closet that constituted the local Warglorian embassy.
The small broom closet door swung open as the ambassador was caught red handed with a big keg of rum in one hand and his mistress in the other.
“Oh! So you’ve caught me eh you Rattenscheiße, huh? That’ll teach you to fucking knock fir- WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU AND GET THE FLYING Scheiße out of here! Oh, you’re with the embassy? Yes.. I know of the embassy. Good people, weird colors. Nice kids, good with the gays.“
“Just make sure Berlin gets our response, ok you sick fucko?”

The drunken sixteen year old simply yanked the paper from the aides hands impatiently and sat down a the telegraph wire to notify Berlin of the Carriebeanian government’s response to the matter at hand.

STOP-CARRIEBEANIAN DIPLOMATS AGREE TO YOUR PROPOSAL-STOP-GET ME ANOTHER FUCKING DONUT-STOP-IT’S BEGINNING TO STINK IN HERE-FULLSTOP

While the formal communication was hastily slapped together, the President opted for a more personalized approach with a rather sweet letter.

To: Karl whatever the fuck your last name was, Canaris? Canary? Something Mexican.
From: President of Carriebean Marvin Washvelt
I remember that fifteen year old that I invited into my house for some wine, what do you mean that’s called kidnapping and underage drinking? Well since I may or may not being getting arrested, I’ll keep this long and winding so the police have no choice but to let me finish my ramblings before I’m dragged away.

Oh, the kid’s now nineteen years old? Well congradufuckinglations to him, I’ll buy him a keg of rum. Little shit. So let me see if I understand your proposal, you want us to become fucking pirates? That’s fucking awesome. Why the fuck was I not told about this sooner, I’d be the first to sail across the seven fucking seas to board some tugboat shit. Have you tried some glorious carriebeanian nose candy? I’ll send you a pound of this enclosed in this letter.

So your modest proposal is that Carriebean conducts acts of piracy against Manticorian, Rannorian, Traansvallian, or Boer and other nations, and in return you’ll give us a shit ton of money that I can spend on more carriebeanian nose candy and military warships such as a new class of pocket battleships or light cruisers to terrorize the seven seas?

Sure, I’m down with pissing off our international relations, we’ll probably attack any ship we see once our navy is organized to a less than shitty standard. I mean we’ll have to man these ships with sailors that make our reserve fleet look like they’re actually competent, and by another comparison making the active navy personnel look like they’re paid professionals!

Considering most of my reservists have little in the way of experience in naval combat, naval terms and only know what water is and actually drink it, I’ll have to reeaally scrap the bottom of the barrel in terms of Carriebeanian talent. This means “sailors” (using that term very loosely here) that I’ll throw onto warships and have them raid enemy shipping. Sure, that sounds like a great idea! You’ve got your lucky little ass a deal!

Prime Minister Marchiba Bantejø’s face curled up like milk when he had mused through the letter, enough for the centenarian to let out a half assed, but sensible, chuckle.
“You sure know how to sound like a complete and utter fucking mad man.”
“What’s there to pretending you’re sane anyways, Anyway-oh bother.” The President somewhat jovial expression was soured when the door opened, with another government aide saluting before handing a paper.
“Vicuna Daily Ledger, where the fuck did you get this?”
“Some traveling salesperson or hobo had a whole cart of them he was peddling for a few sais, I think you’d want to take a look at this, or something along the lines of that clichéd writing.” The aide said as he closed the door behind him.

“To think this day could get any better..” The President and Prime Minister murmured to each other as they bitterly yanked the newspaper back and forth, akin to children fighting for a toy. Eventually, years of not eating his fiber got the better of Washvelt, forcing it into the hands of Bantejø, who squinted hard at the lettering.
“P..Peter…Peter Thurgood-Thurough-Thuroughgood-Throwgood-Threwbad. Peter Threwbad, AP. What in the flying fuck does AP mean?”
“I believe it stands for Associated Press.” The President cockily replied.
“Ah, thanks, ya fuckin’ jackass. The Invasion of Shishiri that began last Monday-what in the unholy mother of fuck?!”
“I-I-what the fuck?! Clearly we need to pay attention to world affairs.” Bemoaned Washvelt as he leaned in his chair.

The elderly centenarian began to panic and shit himself at the same time, pacing around the room with the vigor of a man in his twenties.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck Fuck!”
“Ok, I get it, fuck is your favorite word, stop fucking swearing.”
“Are you not grasping the situation at hand?! Have you considered mobilizing at all?”
“Bitch, we’ve been mobilized in some small fashion since 1925 when we were embroiled in our own little civil war. On paper we had 25 total divisions totaling 511,000 soldiers. In reality, owing to the reduced size of our territory and difficulty in maneuvering units, the Carriebeanian Army has 15 divisions totaling 300,000 soldiers.”
“Can…can we just go with the numbers on paper, half a million men sounds better than three hundred thousand.”
“No.”
“Goddamnit. Shit of a fuckstain! Wait… yes…this isn’t even concerning me… this shitshow is all yours fucking President! Hahahaha!”
“Oh no, you’re going to be fucking tied to the anchor of this sinking ship and I’ll see to it you’re thrown overboard too!”
“I-I Wha-?”
Before he could protest, the Prime Minister was handed a military uniform as Washvelt walked upstairs to his bedroom.
“I’ll be ready in a second, and contact Potters! Tell him it’s urgent!”

Five Hours Later

A noisy beast that startled several horses and covered wagons plowed through the shit covered streets of the capital, with enough space to barely make it’s way to the front of the Presidential Palace. The first Carriebeanian automobile to be manufactured entirely domestically was a disappointing site. The steering wheel had no place in such a contraption, with the noisy boiler that powered the somewhat combustible engine hissing akin to a kettle on a stove.
In place of a steering wheel was a tiller in the front that turned the front axle, and by extension, the car. In order to stop, a heavy anchor was dropped overboard, almost always avoiding tipping the damned vehicle over. It’s engine continued to slowly whine down as knobs were turned, silencing it or at least reducing it to a sort of “idle mode”.
Removing himself as quickly as possible from the mobile deathtrap known as a Carriebeanian automobile, Minister of the Army Jackson Potters walked up the small gravel path, flanked by Imperial Carriebeanian soldiers in ceremonial attire. He could have even sworn he smelt a hint of… professionalism? The very thought filled him with a tense fear. Carriebeanian soldiers weren’t supposed to be professional!
Had he gotten in the wrong Carriebeanian automobile?
Had Carriebean begun to export the death traps abroad?

His fears soon melted away by the sight of a rather short old man with three distinct tufts of white beard hair and a taller gentleman wearing glasses and looking like Woodrow Wilson.
“Ah! President Washvelt. What’s your face!”
“I’m Bantejø, you son of a bitch.”
“Oh.” Potters replied disappointingly before whispering to Washvelt:
“I thought he was dead.”
“It’s ok, I keep thinking that too, maybe it’ll come true some day.”
Both shared a slight laugh behind the Prime Minister’s back before the three of them walked past more soldiers and into the Presidential Palace. The small party entered a lavish conference room, with bookshelves taking the place of the wallpaper that had decorated the insides of the building so far. A small collection of cigars and alcohol sat dormant in a nearby cabinet, drawing the attention of the three men, who chomped down on them before beginning the meeting.

“Alright then, now. General Potters, are you aware of the Hoosier invasion of Shishiri?” Washvelt began.
“Yes, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a major threat to us. That’s something we can all agree on.” The Prime Minister simply nodded in between puffs of cigar smoke and hacking fits of lung cancer.
“So, our army on paper is comprised of 511,000 soldiers as of our last battle draft of the various armies, however the tactical and political situation has altered vastly over that time, so many of those will have to be discounted or not relied upon for our defense.”

Potters gripped his cigar and closed his eyes grimly.
“Son of a bitch. Five hundred thousand soldiers, and we can’t rely on them?!”
“No, general. Hell, we haven’t even mobilize-“
“What?! Well that should have been done yesterday!”
“Look, general, I’m just as pissed off as you are. We’re all pretty pissed off right now. But we’ll need to look past our mistakes and focus on minimizing the damage that’s already done. We can mobilize the Capital Defense forces within a few hours and send them to plug in some gaps.”
“Let’s do that as a start and get a gun in almost every hand. I say almost because we’re going to need people to fill the bullets, construct defenses and produce the tanks fresh from the factories. Why not order fierce counterattacks with local units, is anyone opposed to that?”

All three men raised their hands.
“Agreed. This council of war will command those militias closest to the fighting to immediately march to the sound of cannon and commit to the assault. In the meantime, we shall also declare a partial mobilization for the foreseeable future and introduce legislation for a conscription draft.”
“Are we going to contact our allies?”
“Possibly, that is a strong possibility that we could call upon the Nihonese for assistance, seeing as we’ve stood by them during the Parsi Crisis. I’ll notify the relevant diplomatic channels for such a matter.”
Washvelt nodded his head at this news.
“Excellent. We were going to have to get around to that eventually anyway.”
“In the meantime while we actually kick our economy in the ass to get producing the guns we’re going to need, why not send some agents abroad to purchase foreign weaponry, I mean the Nihonese will be happy to sell firearms to our humble abodes.”
“And the Warglorians.”

“Right, it might be good policy to contact that bloke we’ve still got there to scream at those warglorians to give us guns and we’ll give them gold and perhaps a small 2 percent stake in all trees and lumber rights for the entire Carriebeanian territory upon the full liberation of the state.”
“I’m not sure how in the hell we’re going to actually accomplish that, but with what we have so far it’s a good enough lie.”
“Don’t call it lying, call it ‘stretching the truth an unreasonably long amount’.”
“You can put sugar on shit, it still makes it shit. Do you know how to feasibly conduct it?”
Bantejø shook his head no.
“Fuck. Alright, so I’ve summed this meeting up to us asking the Nihonese and Warglorians for military weapons, our units to commit to immediate counterattacks against the enemy positions within Shishiri and to begin to mobilize our forces.”
“I’ll remind you again, Prime Minister, it will take a few days to a few weeks for the beginning of half-hearted infantry assaults against the invading forces, but we’ll do what we can.”
“Immediate counterattacks may take a few days, I’m perfectly fine with that. We’ll have to engage the enemy as best we can. I don’t believe there’s anything else to be bothered with right now, so I’ll dissolve this military meeting until next time.”

PIRATE’S TALE, GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA AT IT’S BEST AND MOST HONEST!

---

WHO THE FUCK ARE WE AT WAR WITH?!
A Modest op-ed by Bob the Angry Hobo, acting leader of the opposition from January to May of 1929.

The leadership of Prime Minister Bantejø can seriously be called into question. I may just be a humble former leader of the opposition for four or five months and just munching on my own salted shit, which conveniently segways into this advertisement! Sick of dealing with cheap fucks who only buy you one Bob the Angry Hobo’s Guaranteed Shit sticks? Simply cut off their heads for a free second stick! That’s right! If you just murder some bloke from the street, you get a SECOND stick absolutely, no fucking about, free!

What a deal, which shall now Segway back into whatever the flying fuck I was talking about. Taxes? The Prime Minister? Oh yeah that fucker! I urge the construction of more capital ships for Carriebean, not only as a matter of pride, but as a matter of practicality. Not one nation, save from some shitty Indian niggers, is gonna be payin’ us some mad respect money, no sir no how.
I’ll give the Prime Minister this, he’s actively been attempting to construct warships needed for the fleet, so that’s good. That said, however, more must and will be constructed regardless of the economic malice on our people. They can starve or eat their own shit for all I care.

More battlecruisers and battleships will be constructed and manned by Carriebeanian souls. This shall also act as one driving force for our economy, in the construction and completion of larger capital ship classes.
More warships, be it smaller torpedo boats, destroyers or larger cruisers and destroyers must be either be constructed or sought out from allied nations to ensure a larger navy for Carriebean and the defense of her people. Should we exhaust the resources found on our little plot of land, we are faced with two primary options for continuing. Either we construct smaller ships to make the existing resources last longer per warship, or shall we petition our Nihonian allies to lend a few of their older warships that we can utilize? To this author, both alternatives must be actively pursued and explored to ensure Carriebean’s navy is at least subpar compared to other navies of a similar size.

---

CARRIEBEANIAN CONGRESS APPROVES MORE MILITARY SPENDING

---

Helga Coupe, Internal Affairs Press General Secretary

On Tuesday, the Carriebeanian Congress approved a plethora of legislation and bills drafted by members of the center-left Pirate party to increase military spending. Among these bills are proposals for an allocation of funds more towards rifles, carbines and artillery pieces. One of the bills is an appropriations measure which legally grants the Carriebeanian government de jure control over all monetary finances of the local population, and to withdraw from their savings in order to support the war effort. De facto, however, this policy has been met with pushback and violent riots. This is due to people wanting to live off of their savings rather than go bankrupt in order to suffice the military beast that is the government.

Other bills include the breaking up of rocks and other materials for use in concrete and building materials, which the proceeds of would go towards funding military equipment and officer’s salaries. Graveyard banks have reported several government men conveniently bribing local officials to clean out the accounts of thousands of Carriebeaners.
The Imperial Carriebeanian Navy’s accountants have reportedly been seen dancing in the streets, as the government approves over 400 million in money for the construction of new capital ships for the fleet.

The Once Proposed J-Series Battleships have officially been gifted names of Bucaneer and Privateer for Hulls J28 and J65. Hull numbers J12 and J43 have not received names as of yet, though deliberations for the names have been argued back and forth. These ships date back to 1914 in their conception, though assurances of their modern updating have made those nervous to serve on such a vessel calmer.
A new type of vessel known as the “Baby Battleship” has been gaining steam in naval circles within Carriebean. A ship like this has the speed of a cruiser and the firepower of a very annoying old lady armed with a shotgun. The irritable female ancient one armed with a shotgun is comparable to a contemporary battleship.

CARRIEBEANIAN PROPOSED “Buccaneer” “Privateer”
Type: Battlecruiser or “Baby Battleship”
Displacement: 17,900 tons
Length: 700 feet
Beam: 103 feet
Armament:
6 (2 x 3) Twin 11 inch Parrot Ordnance Cannons housed in two super firing turrets and one stern turret
24 (1x12) Single 4 inch Parrot Ordnance Cannons located with 12 on each side in individual casemates.
18 (2 x 9) Twin 2 inch light Casso Steelworks Cannons located with four on each side, another one located on the bow
4 x 21 inch torpedo tubes located in the bow

Complement: 1,295 enlisted and 105 officers for a total of 1,400 crew
Machinery and Top Speed: One Triple Expansion Engine and One Reciprocating Engine fueled with the help of 24 Bestton and Briten class wood fire boilers to reach an estimated speed of 26 knots
Armor (Belt): 5 inches
(Turrets): 1½ inches
(Deck): ¼ an inch
(Superstructure): 1¼ inches

[Breyburg]

Southeastern Indianum, Shakoyko/South Landstreicher Coasts, Breyburg
July 20th, 1929
All For the States, and the States For All I

In Shakoyoko there had been minimal action. The closest fighting of the Manchu War was at Shishri, where Breyburg was taking no part. Shakoyoko had no reserve army, nor did South Landstreicher or even Yoho Harbor. So the one Field Army, almost 1.2 million men stationed within those two states were all that were to defend the lands. Most of these men were battled hardened, fighting against the Carriebeanians twice and striking down any violent insurgencies. They had seen battle, and they were prepared to fight; “For the States!” was their motto, and they lived by it. With three Corps in Shakoyoko and two in South Landstreicher, the men were definitely ready.

Men patrolled the coasts, which were protected by repurposed Carriebeanian forts turned Coastal defense. They were outfitted with mostly older Breyburgian tech. But they still met current requirements, mostly. The local military had seen no use for them until the war. Now they were on the ready; let it be Nihonese invasion, a suicidal Carriebeanian invasion, or a Rusklandr one, they were mentally prepared.

Breyburgian artillery, installed after the annexation of Shakoyoko.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Adrillas, Rachanan Republic
May 11th, 1929

With the majority of the Field Army (4 Corps) in the hills of Adrillas, they were steeling themselves for Nihonese contact. They were to protect their Rachanan brothers to the death. Nobody in and nobody out. Another Corps was on the front lines, fighting alongside their Hoosier, Rachanana and Manticoran allies against the common enemy. They were being pushed back, but they knew they had their comrades in the hills to count on.

Breyburgian soliders waiting for the enemy to appear in their sights.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Crime Capital, Crimetopolis Warzone
July 22nd, 1929

The constant barrage of the Crime capital was bowing them in. Breyburgian intelligence’s most conservative estimate for capture was early 1930, but evidently, those estimates were to be proven wrong. Frontline officers’ estimates were that they would take the city anywhere from 1 week to a month. They’re “snail” tactics had been proving useful against a small force like this.

Status of Breyburgian invasion of Crimetopolis.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Northeastern Illinois, Crimetopolis Warzone
July 22nd, 1929

Breyburgian forces had been able to punch through the eastern side of Illinois forcing Crime militants to retreat. They had retracted forces to rendezvous at the Crime capital for one last stand. They were bracing for heavy fighting in eastern Crime Capital once they arrived to the area.

Breyburgian troops firing at retreating Crime forces.

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Shishiri
July 16, 1929

When the Hoosiers started bombardment, command knew the day had come. Nihon had superior numbers in everything and holding out had become a top priority. Food was in shortage, but would not be an issue with many Shishiri farms and the like. There was a small amount of industry on Shishiri too, deeper in the island, that could produce ammo, spare parts, and grenades in limited quantities. Holding out here would be more easy and solid than Manchuko or the Ironton. There was a large amount of coast and fishing was also possible, with the enemy lacking the manpower to be able to bombard every inch of the island every second.

When the enemy landed, Nihonese forces fought hard. Artillery guns sent landing craft to the bottom and even took shots at escorting ships such as destroyers and cruisers, dealing damage. As the landing craft continued to near, smaller guns started to open up, while the machine guns conserved their ammo. Mines sent dozens of landing craft exploding. And when they got near enough, rifles and machine guns open fire spraying death upon the enemy. The enemy struggled through land mines, barbed wire, and other beach obstacles. Wave after wave they came, and each time the defenders fought back their hardest, many positions fighting until the last man. When finally overwhelmed, the forces fell back as more troops were called into action. Soon a Nihonese strike would come.

Shishiri
July 17, 1929

A call was made to send in the infantry divisions kept in reserve. The local armored division also readied for combat. And the following day alongside the glorious Rusklandr troops, artillery began to rain down thousands of shells into enemy positions, many guns able to be out of naval gun range.

Shishiri
July 18, 1929
Night

(Co-Write Nihon and Manticore)

Enemy forces had managed to make landfall, yet a high cost. And yet once the Manticoran and transport fleets had left the enemy alone, now was the chance to strike. It was the dead of night, something Nihonese commanders had repeatedly trained for. The Manticorians would be a day away and thus the attack was viable. Now the Shinyo motorboats moved in. The thunder of artillery would help to stop the hydrophones from picking up the sound, making for good chances of success. If the Hoosiers were good with their sonar, they would see several submarines moving in from the north…

The ASDIC techs of Destroyer Squadron 12 were carefully searching the waters, listening for engine noises. The Hydrophone techs looked for similar sounds, with little success. DESRON 12 had been left behind by the fleet as support for the Hoosier Navy. 18 destroyers and a light cruiser steaming a patrol pattern just off the coast. About 20 miles away was Cruiser Squadron 17, eight light cruisers pounding away with ASDIC sets on their own course. Ten miles offshore, the sound from the beach carried on the breeze, a low rumble barely audible over the noise of a warship. But for the ASDIC techs, it might as well not exist. Sound moved differently in water, more slowly. In air, the speed of sound was 343 meters per second. But in water, the speed of sound was more than four times faster and greatly distorted by the shift from the low density to air to the high density water. Both ASDIC sets and hydrophones sat a few feet below the keel, keeping them well clear of potential interference.

One of the techs, ASDIC Technician Third Class Rolf Haraldson, detected a faint engine noise to the north. He tracked it in, confirming its bearing to be northwest. CRURON 17 confirmed detecting engine noise to their northeast after a short wireless conversation. This information was relayed to the Hoosier fleet guarding the landing zone but the contacts were too far away to confirm if they were surface vessels or submarines. CRURON 17 reported additional engine sounds from the west, but couldn’t confirm if they were friendly or potentially hostile.

The motorboats were fairly quiet compared to a full on ship, and going off of the lights of enemy ships, advanced silently in the night. As they neared their target, they would have to rely on lights from the enemy ships to attack. Only a few of these boats had been sent out, seeing as though they would have a greater chance of success against other targets. They were a good asset, being able to be launched in near proximity to the enemy from the land. Tonights attack would be a small one, with the 5th Fleet having been called off for what commanders had called a “modernization.” Whatever that meant, Private Jiro Dutchman did not care. He had been raised in Carriebean, but as he grew older, felt more inclined by the Nihonese propaganda to join the navy. He wanted to protect his country from another occupation, and liked the Nihonese promises to give freedom to the island once the war was over. Already his father was mayor and other educated natives were being allowed to take more and more power. And now he sat in a sort of suicide motorboat, yet orders were to jump out before crashing with the command motorboats picking them up. The submarine was supposed to be a distraction, an older one given to the naval force at Shishiri before the war. It was smaller and had a small crew, so not a vital asset. It’s job to hopefully lure the enemy escorts away from the heavier ships.

The men would not know wether this attempt was successful or not, but hoped that the threat of long range Nihonese coastal guns would force the enemy to not have spotlights or such being manned.

The men saw lights of enemy ships, and from the little light of the moon the outline of ships.

And so the force advanced, 30 boats in all rushing to their targets after selecting theirs, hoping their strike would have an effect, and at the least force the enemy to reveal their positions or waste some ammo.

At the very least reveal their position to land based artillery.

At full speed they rushed some Nihonese pilots never abandoning their craft in hopes of better accuracy. The others, jumping out of their boats right before they got too close. And from the water all Jiro could see were several explosions before being grabbed up my men on a command boat, and rushing away.

[Newne Carriebean7]

(Co-Write between Newne Carriebean and Skarten)

Another white wall of water slammed in front of the Battlecruiser Bartholomew, with Admiral Hood von Hoth taking in the rather wet conditions outside from the comfort of the command bridge. The Imperial Carriebeanian Naval fleet had embarked on a rather long journey, with the supplies still holding strong, but predictably reduced. What hadn't been counted on, however, was the dangerously low supply of food. Being the brilliant strategists the naval officers were, they had neglected to carry more than two days worth of supplies on board.

Ammunition was still plentiful, limited as it had been in the past. A very minor consolation to the Carriebeanian fleet was it’s overall commander of Hood von Hoth, who had first hand experience in losing to the Rusklandrs. Up in the crows nest of various ships, alarms, bells and whistles rang, filling the air with a confused running of hundreds of sailors throughout the fleet, manning their battlestations. 15 to 14 inch projectiles were manually maneuvered into the breeches of the gun barrels that were destined to throw them off the warships, hurtling towards unknown forces that might approach. Hoth bitterly shivered as another wave slammed over the flagship, spraying the admiral with a small drink of a couple gallons, with him gripping his carriebeanian naval cap and wringing it out.

Every sailor, including Hoth, was anxiously awaiting the order to fire. He himself was unsure if he was to give the order. He felt hesitant to say the two little words that would send men to their deaths. It was out of character for him to feel guilty about war. Had he grown a conscience, was this just some shoddy attempt for him to repent? He had no idea, though a talk with his local bishop would do him so much needed good. He shook his head, attempting to work through the fear as the fellow admirals and vice admirals looked on.

Vice Admiral Prinz von Wall gripped Hoth’s shoulder tightly.
“Admiral? Orders?”
With a slight delay, he was about to speak when flashes of light were seen on the horizon, followed by very faint booms.
“Shit, we’re within their range. All ships open fire when ready.”
The Expletive that had escaped their commanders mouth was a walking memory as the order to fire had been given, with the front fourteen inch main cannons recoiling back with sheets of steel and flame as shells were spat out. It seemed throughout the fleet you were in the process of watching a collection of children regurgitate brussel sprouts or broccoli , only instead of vegetables it was several thousand pounds of high explosive and armor piercing shells flying through the air towards their targets in response.

Enemy gunners aim proved to be true, with a smorgasbord of hits impacting the Armored Cruiser Rusted Hope, with it burning as bright as a flame with it listing. Men jumped into the water in panic, being caught in the spilling oil that ignited, killing hundreds as the surrounding ships opted to focus on the battle rather than to assist the survivors of shipwrecks or sunken vessels in combat.
Elsewhere Carriebeanian ships were having a hard time with the initial response, with the Armored Cruiser Chowder exploding in three sections, forcing one of the two floating batteries warships to attempt a hard to port turn with their anciently underpowered train engines.
As both sides closed in, the waters had ripples throughout it as the turrets on each vessle roared like lions at one another. The powerful Carriebeanian Battleships and Battlecruisers throwing their large 14 and 15 inch shells against Skarten warships of similar size.
“I think the battle’s going rather well, what do you say?”
A Carriebeanian Naval captain was heard to remark before the Armored Cruiser Barbossa’s main turret crumpled under a direct hit and was tossed into the seas with a large splash.
“Frankly my dear, you’re full of shit. Keep firing!”
Another powerful recoil from the 14 inch guns kept everyone on their feet as the battle continued as it was joined.

The Battleships of the Royal Skartenian Navy, present there for this exact type of situation, continued to fire, their turrets hurling shells at the enemy without stop. Among them, ships like the heavy cruiser of the Kasandra-Class supported them, leading barrages at the closest of the hostile vessels with their guns of lesser size. Among them, the destroyer SSK Jatyka suddenly lit up like a match, having been hit by the caribbean ships.

The Fleet continued in its efforts against the enemy who wished to break their blockade. Were they to fail, the Nihonese would be able to supply their forces in Manchukuo, therefore increasing the difficulty for which it would be taken. If they were to further push manchuria towards the cliff, they had to maintain control of the bay. The capital ships of the Royal forces, coordinating their attacks, began then an double salvo, firing one of their guns, followed by the other, allowing a more steady stream of fire.

Hood von Hoth grimaced as another salvo rocked the men within the bridge, the vibrations sounding out every slightly louder than the previous salvo. Carriebeanian Capital ships continued to bark out with their massive armaments, projectiles screaming like banshees through the air towards their uncertain targets. A Massive Column of water explodes in front of Bartholomew, with the ocean spray cooling the turrets which had been glowing red with the amount of use they had been getting.
“Signal the Blackbeard and Barbarossa, concentrate fire on the nearest enemy capital ship. The Bartholomew will lead the assault.”
Vice Admiral Prinz von Wall shook his head.
“Admiral, I must object to these tactics, as they will lead the three ships exposed to enemy fire.”
“But we shall concentrate our big gun turrets onto one ship, peppering it with intense fire to whittle the enemy down.”
“We cannot win a war of attrition, you are aware of that fact sir.”
“I know, I know. We’ve got to try something than just shooting the enemy one ship at a time.”
“Sir, those are battleships, we’re trying to shoot them with three battlecruisers,which are designed to outrun enemy battleships and sink enemy heavy cruisers, why not have the fleet conduct those maneuvers?”
“I’ve told you before, Something must be done. I have a feeling after this war concludes our naval strength will be reduced. Enemy capital ships take priority, with smaller vessels being reserved for the fire and fury of the escorting ships.”
“Fine, I’ll relent on this point sir. Signal the Blackburn and Barbarossa to concentrate all fire on the nearest enemy capital ship, turn about 20 degrees to port to bring more guns to bear on enemy!”
As a sailor saluted with the semaphore style flags being raised on top the flagpole, 14 inch guns roared, their shells flying towards the closest enemy capital ship. Inside the ship’s aft 15 inch turret, as soon as the large pointed shell disappeared down the barrels, the heavy powder bags set aside the turrets were rammed down with massive iron rods pushed in by hand by the dozen or so strong men to operate such devices with the words of teamwork. It only took a few milliseconds for everything to go to hell, with a bright flash exploding the forward turret of the battlecruiser.

On the bridge, the ship groaned with an uncanny human like sounds of agony, which suddenly made the veteran naval admiral worried. Sensing something, he yanked the Vice Admiral with him, throwing him overboard before jumping himself into the waters. As Prinz of Wall came to the surface and was about to chew out Hoth when a blinding flash and shockwave was narrowly avoided with a push of his head down into the water, being forced several meters away from the exploding flagship of the Carriebeanian Fleet. Hundreds to a cool one thousand men easily perished within twenty nine seconds of the sinking.

Both Hoth and Prinz of Wall swam around for a minute, finding a kind enough captain of the Battlecruiser Black Pearl to call home. Being helped aboard and meeting with the captain, he came to a decision to boost morale. Grabbing the various communication semaphores and flags, he hoisted the ones he needed to spell out a message which said:
“This is Admiral Hood von Hoth onboard new flagship, allied battlecruiser sunk due to enemy direct hit. Do not worry sailors of the fleet, continue to do your duties for Carriebean and her illustrious majesty. We shall survive this battle and break through the enemy, until further orders are given ,each ship is to concentrate fire on individual targets, though teamwork in gunfire and torpedoes are encouraged. That is all.”

A cheer rang through the Skartentine fleet as yet another of the capital vessels of the Carriebeanians was obliterated, as the battle raged closer and closer towards it’s climax. The warships of the royal fleet continued their barrage of steel, raining upon pound upon pound of explosives onto the enemy. Aircraft released from such battleships raged on, flying as they carried out their respective duties, gathering position, releasing attacks upon the enemy with torpedoes, and more.

Monitor ships, which were manned by the Colonial Defense Fleet of Smirsja aided them, their oversized guns delivering heavy payload despite their minimal size. The Skartenian Armada pressed on, for their resolve would lead them to the path of victory. Yet this victory would not come without a price. The SSK Paula, Heavy Cruiser of the Casandra Class, shook as their forecastle was hit by an enemy shell. By their side, yet another destroyer found itself taken out, a spiral of flames rose from the sea, the charred corpses of sailors sinking into the deep blue.

In spite of the absolute depreciation in crew morale following the loss of a battlecruiser and the flagship, Carriebeanian sailors manned their stations with uncanny dedication and skill in some instances. There was reason to be hopeful, as the command structure remained largely intact thanks to the saving of Admiral Hood von Hoth and Vice Admiral Prinz of Walls.
What brought a surprised look to the Admiral’s face was the attempted torpedo attacks against Carriebeanian warships, as the Carriebeanian air force was traditionally ignored enough to a point to have child protective services intervene against the Carriebeanian national personification for neglect.

“Are… Are those torpedo bombers?”
“I believe they are, unless that large tube of stuff is filled with raw meat, in which case I’d think our opponent’s admiral may have lost his goddamn mind.”
“Ach. Prepare the anti aircraft cannons and shoot them out of the sky!”
“ You mean the machine guns-”
“Whatever we have, use it! Understood?”
“Fine. Machine gunners port side battle stations make ready to fire!”
More alarms wailed on one side of the ship as several machine gun teams manned their sandbag positions and fitted themselves onto their weapons, firing up a symphony of rapid fire bullets into the air. The enemy continued into the attack, with a few gliding against the port side of the Black Pearl.
“Hard to Port and increase speed!”
The helmsman quickly got into the spirit of ‘turning the ship to the left as fast as he could’-mas, managing to lose a pound in sweat from the amount of rotations he rapidly did. Soon the helm shuddered as the large vessel slowly responded. The enemy torpedo bombers dropped their payloads and began to split off in different directions, with all attention now on the incoming fish racing towards the battlecruiser.
The torpedoes inched closer and closer towards the battlecruiser as Hood von Hoth held his breath, racing outside to the side of the ship as they approached more angled with the rapid movement of the battlecruiser. At the very last second, the torpedos eeked it’s way past the stern of the ship, narrowly missing.

Before Hood was about to demand the slaves bring up the champagne to celebrate, three columns of wet real estate exploded against a Carriebeanian Armored Cruiser, with several men being flung off of their battle posts into the water below.
“Helmsman, Hard to Starboard and make sure we don't collide with anything!”
With a small nod, the helmsman slowly but surely rotated the helm the other way to keep the ship steady as she went.
All this maneuvering had a terrible effect on the main battery gunners of the Black Pearl, who were frustrated in their well planned shots due to some drunk fucking dipshit at the helm of the vessel. The subsequent salvo from the ship missed a Skartenian capital ship by a ways off, the shells plunging into the sea.
The surrounding Carriebeanian Capital ships’ crews momentarily stopped firing to sound off horns in appreciation to the skipper of the Black Pearl, who humbly took a bow before coming back to his post.

The Armada of the Skartenians pressed on forward, forcing pressure on the carriebeanian enemy as they showered them with lead, fire and salt water. At last, destroyers and torpedo boats had achieved enough range to deliver their payload. Finally free, the torpedoes sped towards their targets. Many missed, careening off into the horizon to god knows where, perhaps to have an oscar-winning adventure filled with ambitious action sequences and questions about the fundamental nature of the torpedo.

The Carriebeanian main batteries shot out flames, vibrating many of the vessels in the fleet as new salvos arched in the air to hopefully slam into the enemy warships in the distance.
Admiral Hood von Hoth soon pointed out enemy torpedo boats rampaging through the main battle lines.
The enemy fish soon hit home, with column of water exploding against the hulls of four destroyers in short order, with the tactic of towing the ships in a large immobile column to force the enemy to maneuver around the obstacle’ clearly showing it’s untapped potential for brilliance. Three of the destroyers soon capsized as the men swamped off of them like flames to a moth, or was it moths to a flame? Oh fuck it. Elsewhere, the Carriebeanian Battlecruiser Scurvy shuddered and began to loose speed.
“What the fuck is the Scurvy doing? Signal it to return to formation immediately or I’ll have your fucking ass on a platter!”
A courteous salute was given to Admiral Hood von Hoth as several flags demanding the ship’s ass to return to formation were raised, with a response being a succinct “We’ve got trouble”.
The Scurvy’s hull soon dipped beneath the waves, it’s main cannons firing a defiant volley before bugles and klaxtons filled the air around the sinking ship. Men leapt off into the water, being scooped up by several well to do fishermen and carriebeanian naval deserters rowing away from certain defeat. The ship’s list worsened within a few moments as it flipped over to port, capsizing and sliding beneath the wet real estate for a final time.


“Signal the torpedo boats, engage at will, either combat enemy torpedo boats with shellfire or lure them close enough for our main batteries to do them in!”
With a snappy salute by a local flag officer, the semaphore arrayed signal was hoisted on the mizzen mast as another roar from the battlecruiser’s principal armament. Several of the escorting Carriebeanian ships rotated about to charge against enemy torpedo boats, blasting away with their miniscule front armaments while torpedos were tossed overboard and sent careening towards enemy ships.

The scene from the smaller vessels was one of absolute chaos, with a fellow destroyer captain skillful maneuvering his ship in the flame filled and smoke choked waters that infiltrated his eyes and lungs. Despite their small shell size, the crews of the destroyers were known to fight with as much ferocity as the ones manning the largest surface ships within the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy. Broadsides of three and four inch shells impacted a few Skartenian destroyers and escort vessels, riddling them with point blank fire.

Skartenian destroyers politely returned the favor by hosing decks down with machine gun fire, killing scores of men manning their posts,making the decks slippery with absurd amounts of blood that overflowed from the ships. One Carriebeanian Destroyer, the N-4, lost it’s captain, captain’s assistant and all three midshipmen classes, leaving just a commanding seaman first class to manage the blood stained corpse ship.

One unconventional tactic applied was the throwing of depth charges wrapped with flammable carriebeanian oil and lit as an improvised incendiary weapon that resulted in a brutal hammering of a deck of a Skartenian destroyer when attempted. Other Carriebeanian torpedo boats would simply fire their payloads at point blank range at Skartien corvettes and destroyers, with some men clambering aboard enemy vessels armed with pistols and hand grenades to partake in boarding actions.

As the Caribbean ships had arrived close quarters range, Skartenian naval men were quick to get to action, hails of semi and fully automatic fire being sprayed at those who attempted to board the ships, any ropes cut by bayonet or sabre. The Battleships of the Royal Navy released their firepower at near point blank, now unhindered by any chance of missing their targets. Auto cannons and machine guns fired at men and ship alike, litting up the caribbean decks.
It would be around this moment as well that the Caribbeneans would find themselves encircled, ships pounding fire at their ranks from all sides. The battle had reached its climax as men found themselves fighting face to face, bodies falling from the vessels as the boarding actions received the steep resistance of Skarten.

Shells no longer had to travel very far for them to meet their maker, with a rather brisk run towards the enemy slamming into the superstructure of the Carriebeanian warships. The point blank range of the duels resembled the old paintings of ships of the line dueling with one another. Carriebeanian crews that tossed their hooks to the sides or cast nets to grapple with the enemy had to hastily scramble aboard before they were cut, finding themselves stumbling around on the decks trying not to slip on oil, blood and shit.
The Carriebeanian Coastal Defence Ship Paxtonmoltous had the worst of the point blank fighting, with allied warships blasting holes through the main armaments of their allies just to take shotgun like waves of fire at the Skartenian vessels. The ship’s decks resembled many of the capital and escort ships of the Carriebeanian fleet, a scene of bloody decks, burning superstructures and magazines just dying to detonate. The Dual 10 inch Korp Guns let loose with as much desperation as had grasped the remaining fleet, with blood curdling cheers arising as it was observed a direct hit on an enemy cruiser.
The Carriebeanian Floating Batteries finally had a chance to let the army cannon be useful, with a mixture of shrapnel, chain shot and solid balls being thrown at the enemy in large broadsides that shook each vessel.

Yet it would be soon after that they would find out that the Skartenians intended to pay unto them any attack they delivered in tenfold, the oversized guns of monitors and steel behemoths of the battleships delivering fire upon them. They targeted the capital ships, sending barrage after barrage of ammo onto their hulls, punching holes like an office man's hole puncher.

Carriebeanian Coastal Defense Ships exchanged fire on Skartien monitors with fierce screams from their crews as the battle dragged on. Carriebeanian casualties were stacking up, owing to haphazard and halfhearted sporadic assaults via bayonet and grappling hook onto enemy decks, being mowed down by their sailor’s sudden bursts of semi automatic and bolt action fire that stacked more and more Carriebeanian marines on the decks.
Skartenian souls would fall too, but their corpses were significantly outnumbered by the hundreds of Carriebeanian dead from boarding actions. Carriebeanian Destroyers and torpedo boats would grapple and ram Skartenian ships, sometimes outright sinking their own vessels in the sudden impact, forcing an impromptu boarding assault from the crazed Carriebeaners.
And yet as every carriebeaner attempted to board a Skartenian ship, he would met with the front end of the many barrels of the royal marine force present in those ships, ready to take them down. The end of the battle ever-approaching, the rain of steel and gunpowder continued without stop, the corpses of soldiers and sailors littering the sea. The desperate attacks of the carriebean navy would prove to be ultimately fruitless, their remaining ships now completely encircled and under unending fire reports from Skarten.

Within the main gun turrets of the Carriebeanian capital ships, an endless wave of smoke obscured many of the men from their traditional posts, with them stumbling and cursing around the heavy shells and rather large powder bags that were stowed next to them. Endless amounts of enemy fire slammed into the hulls of every ship at point blank range. Armored barbettes were hurled from their mounts and tossed like cotton balls into the briny depths below. Men died at their posts from either a direct and hammering smack to their position or simply caught the senses to jump ship at the sight of fire near the magazines.

Admiral Hood von Hoth could only curse as the sounds of panicked officers filled his ears.
“Signal all ships to punch through the weakest part of the enemy’s line, this ship shall stay behind to fight a rear guard action! All cannons open fire!” The smaller section of lower 3 inch guns roared again as a series of shells flew towards a Skartenian cruiser, with several hits being noticed that started fires onboard. With the rest of the fleet, a haphazard formation was brought up with the aging Cruiser Leoponosokov, who fired their rarely accurate 3 inch and sometimes accurate 6 inch guns with a fiery vengeance at the enemy.

Carriebeanian minesweepers and minelayers soon dropped their payloads of floating mines at the approaching enemy warships on either side to secure flanks. At least, they very well attempted to in the fogged blackness where enemy ships and the sounds of very noisy capital ship gunfire filled the air while some bloke was messing around with a net in order to release several armed mines into the waters for assistance.

The surviving Carriebeanian Dreadnought Flying Dutchman roared let loose with surprisingly on the money salvoes of 14 inch shells, with the first beginning one of the new phase of operation scoring a hit amidships on a Skartien capital ship. Carriebeanian engines were pushed well past their conceived limits of propulsion, squeezing out the extra two knots granted by such an endeavor.


Like a firing squad, the navy persisted with their barrage. The battleships of the Skartenian navy fired their guns of high caliber, their shells hitting the already wounded capital vessels of the carriebeanians. Among these shells who found their mark was one that of sixteen inches, whose payload was released upon the ammo cache of the flying dutchman dreadnought, a great explosion roaring through the waters.
The cruisers, frigates, corvettes and battleships had been fierce - their shells struck deep within the carriebeanian ranks, their fleet ever decreasing, a cruiser there and a destroyer here. Yet among their line was a great space, uncovered by their presence. Yet this was no blunder - it had been left there as a doorway to victory, a way in which they could end this wretched conflict. As the enemy fleet departed towards such position, the map of the battle would have appeared to be that of an U, the broadsides of the fleet hammering the fleeing invaders.

And while many departed, it appeared that a lone ship stood firm - the titan piloted by the Admiral, Hood von Hoth. Surely an attempt to grant his men more time, this maneuver ensured only that a wave of torpedoes were clear to hit their mark, delivered by the destroyers and vessels of Skarten. Like dolphins of death, they swam at ludicrous speed, finding a resting place at the hull of said capital ship as columns of water and fire were raised, sure to have inflicted upon them irreparable damage.

Shells screamed in the air as the helmsman spun the wheel like a mad man, Hood von Hoth simply had his face reform to one of a calm demeanor. He had fully accepted his fate. He was going down with his ship. He saw little reason to save himself. The Flying Dutchman was struck again and again by fiercely accurate enemy fire, men manning their stations evaporated when explosions tore through the craft. The entire ship no longer resembled a warship, but a flaming barge of shit that would traditionally float along Carriebean’s river network. A Massive explosion ripped through the vessel, hurtling a pair of 14 inch guns from their mounts in the rear, cutting the firepower of the ship in twain. As a pair of sailors screamed that there were fish in the water, with several fiercely metallic tubes of explosives powered by an engine slamming into the hull of the warship. Nine massive columns of water tore huge gashes in the sides of the ship. The order was given to abandon the Flying Dutchman, with the Carriebeanian Main tricolor definitely waving high as the ship slipped beneath the waves.

And at the end of it all, Hoth’s face revealed a slight smile as he closed his eyes, not making any attempt to save himself before being consumed by the oceans depths and taken down to davy jone’s locker.

At the end of the Battle, Carriebeanian Forces were in full retreat, with a haphazard formation being scattered until order was reluctantly gathered. The fleet was a shadow of its former self, with less men and ships. Comrades bemoaned the loss of their friends and fellow compatriots, often through drinking the still available stores of rum onboard to remember them. While full retreat was nominally the order, the vast collection of barnacles and the exhaustive and sometimes questionable integrity of Carriebeanian machinery gave way to forced towings by larger vessels.

Carriebeanian submarines, having lost their way to the battle location and having no idea what the hell happened, first got news from their allies when they had bothered to surface in the middle of the straggling withdrawal westwards. Morale was at an all time low, while not mutinous by any means, still meant the Carriebeanian fleet, if it survived, would need a major refit in a friendly port. The Carriebeanian ships shrank smaller and smaller over the horizon before they seemingly vanished, even their long, drawn out columns of smoke proving invisible to anyone with a telescope. In the chaos of command, surviving Vice Admiral Prinz of Wall, onboard the battlecruiser CNS Flintlock, assumed a semi uniformly command chain as the de facto commander of the fleet. His only flag order to the fleet simply read as thus:

“Sailors of the Fleet, there is no time for gallant propaganda, I only asked that every man do his utmost duty to the fleet and his ship. You have all exceeded my expectations and I am thankful that we have survived.

Politicians back home will decry this as a naval defeat, I call it a humanitarian victory. Some of us have lived to ensure that most of us will live. You have performed what was expected of you, with some going above and beyond.

Our fleet, while broken, has not yet been sunk. We are still alive. All ships are to make their way to a friendly Carriebeanian or Nihonese port at the earliest moment.”

[Baharuthia]

Kreuz und Zephyrus Headquarters

The Military Depot had been trying to keep up with the outdated weapons the Warglorian Reich had given the Nation to fend for itself and arm her soldiers with. Anti-Tank Weaponries were quite pathetic in numbers in all honesty that the conversion of AA Guns into AT Guns were considered.

For that, the Military had approached the Sverian Gun Company, KruZe or Kreuz und Zephyrus, the arms factory in Selvaria had been able to produce enough weapons if given the funds and materials to. Production of up-to-date weapons had been going high as demands to renew the equipment went in.

For now, a demand of 100,000 rifles comprised of G98Bs and Kar98As had been ordered, 50,000 HAG08 and 25,000 ASG09s following suite, they had also been working on a Light Machine Gun platform that would be lighter than the current machine gun platforms as of now.

The Machine Gun would be deemed ready in a few months for testing and in the next year, mass production would begin. Naval Artillery demands were going sky high with absurd demands on the turrets of more than twice what the Reich has on their Super Dreadnoughts and Dreadnoughts.

Some of them were so skeptical whether they can build such a...an outrageous thing in mind. But well, they were the ones who’ll build it, so fuck everything else they think.

Unknown Area

Enclosed Building

"So you're telling me that the KPE is within our nation?" A certain man in black asked as a few men dressed in black uniforms nodded.

"Yessir, no solid evidence, but we are speculating this is staged by the Exilvanians."

"Exilvanians huh? Of course, they would. We have...? What? 7% of our population being Exilvanians?"

"10%. Mostly by the border. They had been eyeing out our rightful land, no surprise there considering the numbers, but due to their smaller military, it’s safe to say our current numbers would be able to hold out and possibly attack them and succeed. So, what will it be, sir?"

"...It's far too early to stage anything regarding them bastards. Given that Warglorian immigrants are still coming here and staying for the long term as we’ve been upping the infrastructure and such..."

"True...but would it not be wise to have more security?"

"...Lay low on that part."

"Understood, sir. They won't see us coming."

"You have permission to eliminate. Make sure no one lives...Trinitati Victoria."

"Trinitati Victoria."

Narvagn, Major Port City of Sveria

"Look at them ships, kameraden. Ain't they beautiful?" A Warglorian-Sverian sailor asked as two Erika-Class Super Dreadnoughts, the formerly named Großland and Golstein, renamed to the SMS(Sverian Marine Schiff) Admiral Zevanya and the SMS Admiral Diehauser.

"Ja...though…"

"Though?"

"We barely have a fleet…"

"Ahh...but it's a start."

"...Eh, how many do we have again?" They watched as some Dreadnoughts of the Berliner, Führer and Dresden Classes were placed within the massive Military Port.

"...101 Ships in total. 17 Capitals."

"Huh...nice."

"Eh, the Reich couldn't spare us an Aircraft Carrier."

"Either way, I heard they were conversions...so they're shit compared to say an actual carrier."

"Better than nothing to be honest."

"Hey! You two! Stop making love and get to your stations! You chumps can talk like lovebirds down the deck!" An officer yelled at them, making them flinch from the tone of the man.

"Aye sir! Makin' love?"

"Ain't no homo, mate." The navy bookworm shrugged, the two made their way to the ships to get to know them. Especially when they were introduced the Admiral Zevanya.
Well, at the end, they'll at least have a Navy than a simple fleet of gunboats.

Capital City, Nordmark

Tick tock
Tick tock
Tick tock

Anticipation continued as the Sverian Kanzler had been seated with the Ministers of Combat, the Minister of Justice, War, Defense, the Marshals of the Navy and Air Force.

"So we gonna just wait and hear the clock tick tocking?" Adler asked, breaking the tension.

"Well, the Commissar had been a bit on edge due to the revelation of the KPE within our borders." Christopher chipped everyone in with the news. "He's been paranoid ever since."

"Ain't we all? Just a few days in for proclamation, reports from the men had gone through about the killings."

"Twenty unmarked bodies going down the lake of Sinzlein. Where all sins are banished." Adrian came in with the numbers. "Our infiltrators had just informed us of another cell."

"Another? By Selvaria, how many are there?" Janet asked incredulously.

"Many. The killings need more men within it and we can only do so much." Adler snorted at the question.

"Can we direct any more funds?"

"No use of that, our equipment is the same as them Wikings and we are still running behind the clock. Their influence while small would be an avalanche in the making. Besides we've been laying most of our Defense Funds on warships and that is also taking in a few of the other defense budget's cuts."

"We realize that, Adler, thank you for pointing out the obvious."

"Just trying to help, mate." Minna simply looked at the Justice Minister with a deadpan gaze.

"Anyways, that aside, Adrian, your move?"

"...Exilvania had been a suspect of this conspiracy against us. Seeing how we control 10% of our population with their ethnicities, at worst we'd be at war against them. We are not ready. I do not doubt that of the Reich, but I am fearing that an ultimatum of impossible odds be given…"

"We fear that, but what of the Army?" Christopher had been anticipating an improvement in the Army.

"We have been organizing Mountaineer Divisions, we call their Corp, the Alpans numbering two Divisions in total, the Wikings numbering in one Division with the three Armored Divisions and the rest Infantry Divisions."

"...Have we gotten ourselves a new Strategy?"

"Mass Usage of Artillery as well as Armored Vehicles. So much of them, they might as well be Mobile Artillery Divisions."

"Any luck in converting some of armored platform into a...mobile artillery platform?"

"No luck, no platform big enough and we can't simply just use the Panzer I or II."

"We'll have to build something from scratch and due to timeli-I mean technical and resource complications blocked our way to convert them."

"..." Everyone gazed at the Justice Minister, who looked around somewhat nervously.

"What?"

"...Moving on...I'll see what we can do with the MAP. Classify it under a Mapping Program."

"Sir, you serious?"

"...Fine, Adrian, I'm counting on you."

"Yessir."

"And Adler, stop giving me projects of basically strapping a 105mm Howitzer on a small tank hull. We're not gonna use that thing."

"But-"

"No buts!"

"Ooh fine…" Adler slumped down before grumbling. "Piece of scheiße."

"Anything else?"

"Eh not really."

"Then this meeting is dismissed."

Reichskommissariat Sveria


Armed Forces Modernization Stage Alpa

Due to the outdated ships in service, the Sverian Government had been given the initiative to begin construction of new warships.
Navy

Orders for Scylla Shipwork Group:

1 × Nordwind-Class Aircraft Carrier - Nordwind
4 × Nordmark-Class Dreadnought - Nordmark Nacht, Fafsneer Draconum, Aglin Aegis and Westavia Kreiss
2 × Van Kruz-Class Super Dreadnought - Admiral Van Kruz and Admiral Zeigurd
4 × Cerberus-Class Battlecruiser - Cerberus, Behemoth, Pedoleon and Hydra

Nordwind-Class Aircraft Carrier

After referring to the Conversions, the Sverian War Council had deemed a full Carrier be constructed instead. The armor design will be that of a Cruiser, carrying thirty two aircrafts within the specialized hull and an additional eight on deck.

It shall be outfitted with eight 20mm FlaK autocannons and additionally three 128mm Flak guns for added firepower against both air and seaborne crafts if need be.

The Belt armor will be 60mm thick, a 20mm thick Deck armor, by the slopes would be 45mm thick armor. Its flight deck will be 190m x 40m, long and wide-wise, sortied with a single lift.

Its displacement will be averaged around 18000 tonnes, equipped with a steam engine that is equipped with twelve boilers, producing 80,000 SHP.

Its speed will be simply 30km/hour with a range of 7,500km. Housing 800 men, both pilots, officers and men alike.

Nordmark-Class Dreadnought

Referring to the old Dreadnoughts, the future warships will be equipped with the Erika-Classes' gun configuration of four turrets, two on front and back, but after few disputes.

It has been decided that the Nordmarks would house four new prototype quadruple 34cm gun mounted turret instead of the 38cm guns. But due to issues, the guns would be configured in possibly 1935 at latest.

This will add up to a total sixteen main guns, surpassing the Erika and her successors. Giving her more firepower and subtle enhance on muzzle velocity and chances of hitting the enemy, she will be given additional twelve secondary batteries of twin 128mm cannons, six on either side with additionally 4 3.7cm single cannons, 2 on either side with additional four 2cm FlaK autocannons and 6 submerged 21 inch Torpedo Tubes.

She will feature an armor belt of 300mm in thickness, 42 to 70mm Deck armor, her turrets will be sealed shut with 300mm thick armor as well as a conning tower that is 300mm in thickness. Due to new a new proposal she shall be equipped with a 'AoN' design of armor.

She shall be installed a mixed steam turbines, triple-expansion steam engines and three bladed propellers to fire up nearly 39,000 SHP. Weight speculated would be simply 29,600 tonnes full load.

She shall be able to travel at a speed of 39km/hour, travelling as far as 8,000km before running out of fuel and housing a total of 970 men.

Cerberus-Class Battlecruiser

Going far off her original older sister, the Teufel-class, she is equipped with eight 330mm main cannons, sixteen 127mm secondary batteries, eight 37mm AA Guns and 24 2cm FlaK Guns.

Her armor is strikingly thicker with the difference being the Belt Armor, Main Deck at 115mm, Gun Turrets on 330mm and Conning Tower in 270mm, causing her to be similar at 54.6km/h and her armor scheme being set to the 'AoN' scheme.

Her propulsion of around 107,500 SHP and weight of 33,000 tonnes made her somewhat quick for a Battlecruiser, she will be given a compliment of around 1,381 men and officers alike.

Conclusion

The designations of AoN and TB had been discussed with Warglorian Naval Experts, they had been theorized and reviewed by many Experts and Naval Leaders, said armor schemes had been taken as learnt from previous engagements against enemy ships. Information is classified to what the difference between the two are.

The Capital warships will be finished in four years with the four Dreadnoughts perhaps taking six due to some lack of equipment or if issues arise.
For the Aircraft Carrier, Fafsneer had been contracted to build their newly designed biplane multirole. Prototypes will arrive in a few months and will be tested on Warglorian aircraft carriers after permission to use them had been granted.

Additional Notes

Super Dreadnoughts had been pulled over to Stage Betonne, a complication arose to the Grand Admiral’s attention and had her interested in a Super Dreadnought design featuring two main gun turrets on front with smaller guns on the back. The design will retain the previous name of the Van Cruz-Class Super Dreadnought, while the previous be renamed to Project CSD-1.

Army

Orders for Hirten Panzer Works

In light of a possible war, Hirten Panzer Works had been notified of future armored vehicles as such, the vehicle will be armed with a small AT gun, mobile, able to traverse the landscape with little to no problem and be protected from arms fire.

Prototypes and Reports to be added, Designs and Prototypes to be submitted in a deadline of September 1931.

Orders of Kruze und Zephyrus

Orders including:

100,000 rifles of G98Bs and Kar98As
50,000 HAG08
25,000 ASG09

Had been submitted, numbers will be achieved in approximately a year at best. Older rifles to be slowly phased out and sooner or later scrapped for metal.

Following orders:

New Mobile Light Machine Gun using a 30 clip magazine, or a drum magazine. Said LMG Prototype had been built and ready to be tested.
Mass Production due in 1930.

Cannons of 330mm and 380mm calibers are ordered to be manufactured, under their supervision and in cooperation of Strasbourg-Schneider Artillery Arms Manufacturer. The Reich had overseen such development, a Joint Development will be built in the near future. Proposals of the Cannons had been sent to the Reich. Due time, we will possibly arise fairly quickly as a Naval Power, not in numbers, but possibly through quality…

Although Overengineering might be a thing in such a development...

Air Force

Orders for Fafnir Air Manufacturer

Fafnir Fn101 Ddraig
A Prototypical Monoplane Fighter, capable of high speeds, charged with an engine of 300HP, the plane was deduced to be capable of taking on the fastest aircrafts around. Although speculations might be different from reality, it had been fitted with twin 8mm machine guns that were synchronized with propeller blades.

Fafnir Fn102
A Prototypical Biplane Fighter, given a role of reconnaissance on aircraft carriers, these nimble fighters had been capable of dropping small bombs with a small capability of dogfighting. But are preferred to be recons than actual fighter crafts or light bombers, we shall be importing those from the glorious Reich, designs and such are still coming forth for proposals.

End of Report

[The Manticoran Empire]

"Thunder"
1 August 1929

It was just after midnight as the first segments of a 73,400 man assault wave began to leave their trenches. The men were part of the Divisional Assault Battalions, attached units specially trained to attack enemy fortifications in the pre-dawn light. The men were equipped with the new R75 variant of the M1918 Automatic Rifle, as well as the M1907/17 automatic rifle, the M1908/18 semi-automatic rifle, the M1914 Lewis Machine Gun, M1918 and M1921 sub-machine guns, M1911 pistols, and large quantities of grenades. Soldiers also carried axes, bayonets, knives, and clubs. The soldiers had to advance over a kilometer of open ground and then up mountains, about four hundred meters, to get to the Nihonese positions. They would hold their positions at the base of the mountains until twilight, when the artillery began dropping high explosive and gas shells.

The news of the employment of chemical weapons in Rachana had led to the gloves being taken off. The Empire would employ every chemical weapon they had access to. Chlorine, Phosgene, Lewisite, Tear Gas, Sulfur Mustard, Adamsite, Trichloromethyl, Hydrogen Cyanide, Hydrogen Sulfide, and several others. Activated charcoal masks were issued to the soldiers and, once the assault battalions reached their hold line, the masks were readied. The barrage would start right as astronomical twilight began and then, 30 minutes before sunrise, the masks were put on. As the sun rose, the soldiers began the trek up the mountainside and the follow on troops began their advance at a run.

The assault troops took about two hours and fifteen minutes to reach the first Nihonese positions. At the 2:10 mark, the artillery shifted their fire and the troops stormed the caves and trenches, attacking with rifles, machine guns, pistols, melee weapons, and grenades.
Five minutes didn’t give the Nihonese enough time to organize themselves. Defending fire would be sporadic, troops suffering the effects of gas, positions destroyed by shell fire, troops disoriented by repeated exposure to overpressure for over three hours. The effects of a barrage were far more than simple shrapnel wounds. The explosion forced all of the air out of the area, creating a dome of condensed air that could inflict serious injuries. First the skin tightened and the eyes pulsated, then the oxygen was forced away, often with enough force to fling the soldier several meters. If the soldiers were lucky, the shock wave killed them by pulping their internal organs and turning their brain into jelly against their skull. Those less lucky could be killed in any number of other ways. Crushed against a terrain feature, impaled on a tree branch or shard of destroyed rock or vehicle, ripped to pieces by the hundreds of pieces of searing metal. Any soldiers not killed by the blast or shrapnel could look forward to intense agony. Soldiers who survived the pressure wave would bleed from the ears and nose, coupled with severe head trauma and internal bleeding. Others were eviscerated or had limbs amputated by shrapnel. For many, the end would come in minutes from hemorrhaging. For others, slowly by exsanguination. For all of them, their last moments of life were spent in agony.

The follow on troops were about 20 minutes behind the assault battalions. Almost 1.1 million infantrymen were taking part in the following attacks, focused along a 50 mile front line. They had similar militarized M1908/18 self loading rifles, M1917 bolt action rifles, M1914 machine guns, and grenades. Thousands of guns and planes supported the attack, with bombers dropping their payloads of incendiaries and high explosives on Nihonese supply dumps. Fighters and armed scout planes swarmed overhead, protecting the bombers and using their wireless sets to relay changes to the artillery crews.

Wireless sets had first been experimented with by the Aclusian Royal Flying Corps in the years before the Great War started. By 1914, wireless sets became commonplace in large scout planes to communicate with artillery. The Royal Manticoran Army Air Corps sought a faster way and, by 1915, air to ground radios were deployed aboard several aircraft in the RMAAC and the Aclusian RFC. Development continued through the war and by 1917, semi-reliable two way communication was being installed in bombers and scout planes. Continued development during the last few years of the war and afterwards had resulted in ranges increasing from an average of 2 miles to an average of 20 miles plus. These radios now connected artillery batteries with scout planes, allowing them to adjust their fire as the infantry advanced. It was a miracle advancement that the Army often wished had existed during a number of offensives in the Great War.

The sun was still low on the horizon as the troops of the main attack force stormed the positions. The main attack force was split into 14 lines, each some 80,000 men strong. Facing a far smaller defending force, probably not much more than 90,000 in total. 90,000 men facing an attack by over one million men. A million men supported by overwhelming airpower, artillery, and with tanks and horse cavalry to exploit the breakthrough.

The assault troops attacked with rifles, machine guns, and grenades. Some troops even had flamethrowers. The artillery had done its job to perfection. Some Nihonese troops were already dead, others dying, and others fighting back as best they could with ears ringing from shellfire and heads clouded by concussions. Some of the dead had been killed by the cocktail of gases, their faces contorted in agony and their bodies covered with rashes and boils. Others had been killed by overpressure, blood leaking from the eyes, ears, and nostrils. Still others had been reduced to red smears on the ground or across trees, obliterated by a shell landing right where they stood. Even more lay as broken corpses against trees, some impaled on branches while others simply lay against the trees, lifeless and disfigured by the crushed bones. Some of the dead had managed to don their masks. Others had died before they even realized gas was being deployed. But every living defender had a gas mask on.

Well, not every living defender. Some were no doubt huddled in corners of the vast cave networks, curled up and sobbing uncontrollably. Others had probably run to other positions, fearing their forward position already lost. And still others had simply killed themselves out of the same fear. But the majority of them had donned their masks and were making their way to their defenses, their senses clearing as time went on. For many of them, it wouldn’t matter. Even clear senses couldn’t save 90,000 men from the wrath of a million.

The casualties among the assault troops attacking the first position were much lower than anticipated. The pre-attack bombardment had done its job disorienting the enemy and they had not had enough time to properly man their positions. With shells bursting around the cave entrances, sending shockwaves and shrapnel into the tunnels and positions, the smart soldiers simply got ready. Incredibly brave or stupid ones attempted to leave the caves, only to have their brief forays ended by a piece of metal or a rush of air that ripped the life from their body.

The assault battalions pushed further in, followed closely by the line battalions. As the soldiers pushed further into the Nihonese positions, casualties began to rise but the soldiers kept pushing. Grenades, machine guns, rifles, pistols, flamethrowers, axes, knives, clubs, bayonets, rifle butts, brass knuckles, even rocks and helmets, anything that was at hand was used to kill or maim Nihonese defenders as the troops continued their inexorable advance. Nothing was going to stop this advance. Nothing short of the Ragnarok would save the Nihonese devils.

[Remnants of Exilvania]

The Tsardom of Exilvania
Capital City of Vladia
Ministry oft he Exterior
28th of June 1929

Aleksandr Bogdanov had been a simple man for most of his life. Born in 1866 as the first son to a pair of poor farmers, he had learned the trade and, together with his brothers, taken over the family farm once his parents could no longer work the fields themselves anymore. It was hard but honest work and life was decent. Were it not for the discrimination by the local authorities and forced Arenginisation efforts, it could’ve even been pleasant.

Alas, it was not and when Aleksandr was forced out of his home and had to give up his family’s farmstead for a petty compensation so that Arenginian settlers could move in, he had had enough. He and his brothers joined the underground resistance movement in 1895, serving under Klemens and his vision of a free Exilvania. They bloodied their hands with that often targeting authorities but also at times civilians. In fact, the first victim of Bogdanov and his brothers was the Arenginian family who had moved into their farmstead. They came upon them at night, overpowered them and by the next day the entire family was hanging off an apple tree.

Still, the struggle for independence continued for years and Aleksandr Bogdanov lost every single one of his brothers to the Arenginians in those years. Now perhaps some would’ve lost themselves in grief over that loss. Perhaps some would’ve lost themselves in rage and demand a never ending revenge. Bogdanov however did not. For every year, every battle, every atrocity, every loss, he grew more tired of the conflict which was why he celebrated the eventual independence greatly. No more fighting. No more loss. He returned to his farmstead that day, alone and traumatized from the battles he had fought, hoping to return to a time when the world was still right and normal.

The civil war that erupted only years later and laid waste to wide swathes of the country buried that hope of his. Looting troops burned his farm and nearly left him for dead. Having lost everything yet again, he joined the Republican faction oft he Civil War, having grown a distaste for Klemens, or Tsar Klemens I as he was called now, due to the cold and cruel demeanor of the latter during the struggle for indepence. He had realized back then that Klemens was more of a powerhungry egoist than a man of his people.

But as the war went on and no end was in sight, partly due to the foreign intervention of other powers, Bogdanov realized that in order to end the bloodshed, he’d have to deal with the devil. He had been a soldier of Klemens back in the struggle for independence so he had a certain influence in the royalist faction, he had fought in the civil war on the republican side till now…and he guessed that he could also deal with the communists if only given enough incentives. His only goal had become to end the war and to end the war he figured he could use personal influence and common enemies to unite several oft he factions, whose combined might would end the war swiftly.

In short, he was the main agitator behind the Pact of Vladia, which saw the communists, royalists and republicans unite in order to remove Warglorian, Arenginian and Cthulhist influences from the country, though he never took any credit for it, wishing to remain a simple man rather than stand in the light oft he public. Given that the prior negotiations he had held which made the meeting at Vladia possible in the first place were all secret, it was an easy thing to do. And after the war ended in 1919 with the Peace of Pretzlav, he returned to his farmstead once more, rebuilding it and living the simple life, even taking a wife and having children, despite his advanced age. No, exactly because of his advanced age for he could not bear to have the line of his family end here and the farm fall into the hands of others.

Exilvania continued to be shaken by internal conflicts over the following decade but alas, atleast it wasn’t an open war anymore. Atleast he could live his life undisturbed and watch his children grow up while his wife made yoghurt for him.

That ended in 1927. He had of course, like every good man who cared about the future of his country after having fought so long and hard for it, voted during the elections, voting fort he Farmers‘ Party, the PS, since it represented his interests the best. Hence why he was very surprised when the new Premier Minister, Imran Goludov from the PS, showed up on his doorstep. Goludov had heard of Bogdanov’s efforts during the civil war from others within his party and, since he wanted the PS to have control oft he foreign policies, wished for a skilled negotiator like himself to become the new Minister oft he Exterior. He of course also offered a PS membership and a healthy salary. At first Bogdanov was not keen on accepting the offer but Goludov was a masterful speaker afterall and slowly softened him up untill he finally relented.

Which was why he was sitting in his office in the Ministry of the Exterior now, with General Rashko Kabrov, the Minister of Defense, sitting right across from him. He didn’t like the General. Like most in the Tsar’s Men, the TK, he was a royalist loyalist through and through and had several warcrimes under his belt. Perks oft he Pact of Pretzlav which had absolved the royalists of all prior warcrimes.

„And why this sudden urgency, General Kabrov? Why for some backwards empire across the great sea in Indianum of all places? An empire at war with allies oft he Warglorians and Arenginians.“

Kabrov’s stare was cold as he merely said:

„His Majesty, the Tsar, is disturbed by recent developments within Bruslen. I assume you have heard of it?“

The declaration oft he Reichskommissariat of Sveria. Of course he had heard of it, how could he not? That development had already been coming for years. He had dutifully sent a letter of congratulation to Chancellor Christopher Adolphus as well as to Reichskommissar Joseph Tarbovün. So what had rattled the Tsar and his men now?

„I am aware. A good development in my opinion which is only to the advantage of all parties involved.“

Kabrov seemed to think otherwise, shaking his head before saying:

„Perhaps. However, as you well know, we are always on the edge of war. Afterall, your main job is to pay lip service to the Warglorians and Arenginians so their patience doesn’t run out on us.“

Bogdanov didn’t like the jab at him. It was obvious that General Kabrov had little respect for him and the man doubtlessly made a terrible negotiator. Still, in a way it was true. As Minister oft he Exterior, his main priorities were with closeby nations as well as actually establishing some form of diplomatic front, previously torn apart by civil wars and dictatorial regimes.

„Your opinion is noted General. It still doesn’t explain why I should send someone all the way to Indianum, a continent engaged in war on land, sea and air. Can you imagine the risk?“

, he replied coolly. The Kabrov of course noticed the frosty atmosphere he brought about though he didn’t seem to care, scratching his disrespectfully as he said:

„We’ll, we’ve always been making war games and the like, imagining the threat of an Arenginian or Warglorian invasion. In both cases we found that there was little we could do against them other than make it seem more costly than it is worth.

However, with this new…Sveria…we are looking at a new player. One with ancient political claims tot he region, a negative opinion of us and if necessary the backing of Wargloria. It is within our interest to eliminate Wargloria as a potential backer for Sveria so a potential war could be fought on more even terms.

To this end we think of enlisting the aid of some grand foreign power to dissuade the Warglorians from going into such a war. The Tsar believes that Aydinir, due to their old feud with the Glorarians and with anti-imperialist sentiment against Europeian great powers is a perfect candidate.“

Bogdanov had to rub his temples after that. So that was the reason? Because they thought the Sverians would be aggressive they wanted to enlist the aid of a developing empire on another continent to dissuade the Warglorians from taking care of a war right on their front porch?

„General Kabrov, have you ever thought of perhaps engaging something…closer to home? The Rusklanders could surely be motivated into protecting our sovereignity, given that one large threat to that are the Arenginians, who are mortal enemies oft he Rusklanders…and they are right next door so whatever aid they may provide is much more immediate and of much more danger to the Warglorians.“

But General Kabrov only snorted derisively, saying:

„The Cthulhist scum? Never! We showed them where they belong back in 1919. Not into our country. I do not intend to invite that scum here.“

But Bogdanov put a fake regretful smile up as he said:

„Oh my, how sad it is then that you are not actually Minister oft he Exterior but I am. Just in case you’ve been wondering, I’ve spent the last years also paying lip service to the Rusklanders. And atleast I’m not suffering any setbacks there due to terrorist attacks.“

Now it was Kabrov’s turn to turn red in rage as he shouted:

„Why you…! You…! Filthy, miserable, wretched traitor!“

Bogdanov remained calm in the face oft he General’s rage, merely stating:

„I wish the Tsarkoje Khora best of luck in the upcoming elections. Perhaps you will finally be able to form and lead an own government?

Concerning your, or rather the Tsar’s request, I will be travelling to Aydinir personally. The future does not lie just within our immediate neighbours and it will be a good exercise in learning to deal with Indianum powers.

Concerning the…tense…situation in Indianum as well as the great distance, have you put any thought towards how you wish to get me there unharmed?“

A vein was still beating on General Kabrov’s temple as he calmed down and explained from behind gritted teeth:
„The 3rd Detachment oft he Fleet will provide both transport and escort though we encourage not to see any confrontation. We leave the rest up to your ministry.

You said you would go yourself? Why? What will we do if something unfortunate happens…like your ship running onto a sea mine?“

The way Kabrov put it made it clear that he in fact very much wished for some unfortunate accident to befall Bogdanov, his mission be damned. Given the history the military had had for dealing with those they considered enemies within the state, Bogdanov clearly recognised the threat, his own expression becoming cold as he said:

„I believe your business here is concluded for today, General Kabrov. I would welcome it if you were to leave my office now so I may turn my attention towards more important matters such as planning the trip you wish to send me on.“

The moment the General had left the room, Bogdanov picked up the phone on his desk and called his secretary:

„Gospozhitsa Yakoleva, please have telegrams to the following nations‘ foreign ministries prepared, requesting docking and refueling rights in their ports for the Exilvanian Fleet’s 3rd Detachment. Include the strength oft he detachment, so 1 cruiser, 2 destroyers and I believe a submarine as well. Blame it on increased security for a diplomatic mission to the Aydinirian Empire due to the currently unstable situation in Indianum.

That makes telegrams to the Empire of Aclus, the Federation of Rannoria, the Federation of Socialist States of Traansval, the Socialist Allied States of Breyburg and finally the Empire of Aydinir.

Extend the Telegram to the Aydinirians with some polite phrases since I am intending to visit for diplomatic reasons. You know the drill."

---

The Empire of Aydinir
City of Ashayi
Approaching
1st of August 1929

Bogdanov stood at the prow of the Exilvanian Ja-1 Class Cruiser 'Tsarskoje Omraza', marvelling at the city that was unravelling before him as the ship approached it. He had never been outside of Europeia, let alone all the way to Indianum. Ah, wild, untamed, mysterious Indianum. Or well, that's how it was in the stories the babushkas told and the children made up. Indianum the faraway wonderland.

Bogdanov's expectations were low. Schools and education, newspapers too did exist afterall. A violent past and the cold, hard facts served wonders in stymieng once childish and free imagination.

He didn't turn around when he heard steps approaching from behind him. He knew to whom they most likely belonged and what they were about. A minute later the Kapitan-Mayor, commanding officer of this vessel, leaned on the security railings next to him, some puffs of smoke escaping his stereotypical pipe.

"The Aydinirians have been informed of our arrival. We've got permission to dock and a welcoming committee will expect you, Minister Bogdanov."

There was no hostility to how the officer put it. He just laid out the facts because he had to and for that Bogdanov was quite thankful. He had expected far worse after General Kabrov had left his office back then. But Kapitan-Mayor Sekretov had not treated him any worse on their long journey across the oceans. Perhaps there was a truth to the navy being more distanced from the rest of the army due to the relatively low priority it received in the armed forces' allocation of funds.

"Very well then, I will prepare myself. Can't look all unshaven and haggard before these Aydinirians."

Bogdanov turned, intending to head to his cabon, clean himself, shave himself and just generally freshen up a bit. However, before he had taken 5 steps, Sekretov said:

"Go with God, Minister Bogdanov."

He stopped for a moment, hesitating, wondering if he should say something. But ultimately decided against it, returning to his cabin without anyother word and making himself presentable there. Sekretov remained on deck, watching as they closed in on Ashayi. He inhaled one last time, puffing out a few smoke rings before emptying the contents of his pipe into the waters and stuffing it away into his pocket. He was needed back on the bridge now.

---

The welcome was neither grand nor extensive. Not that Bogdanov had really expected it to be, considering that anyone he met here was little more than some local authority or otherwise minor representative sent to greet him and then pass him on to Assurhan. Besides, it nicely sped things up. Endless formalities had never been his forte and while had learned to use them and endure them, quite painfully so at times, he had never liked them. As previously agreed upon in a telegram exchange between the two ministries, they brought him quite quickly to an airship which was supposed to bring him all the way to Assurhan in one go. He had been slightly miffed at the prospect of that as that basically denied him the chance of actually seeing something of Indianum up close now that he had finally come here for his first time...but alas, duty first.

During the flight with one of the majestic cruisers of the air, Bogdanov, who had served his country in war before but had not kept up with technological advancements in the military sector that much, had to be reassured multiple times by his Aydinirian company that there would be no Nihonese fighters to shoot them down, a prospect that really seemed to worry the Minister. Their journey to Ashayi had gone off without a hitch, most likely due to their neutrality as well as the fact that they had been quite openly and constantly broadcasting their position and identity to whoever wanted to hear it while proudly flying their flags. But here he was on an Aydinirian vessel and Nihon was quite a bit closer now. Even if Exilvania was not at war with the Nihonese, the Aydinirians very much were and he really didn't want to become an unintentional casualty in their war.

The flight to Assurhan was long but probably still the shortest route possible. Besides, it was quite comfortable, the airship truly offering any comfort a man could wish for. Bogdanov had to admit, the Aydinirians knew how to travel well. It was most definitely a more relaxed journey than back on the ship, making Bogdanov feel even more refreshed and rested by the time they finally landed in Assurhan, where the new Aydinirian Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs was supposed to be expecting him.

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Tirpitzstadt, Wargloria
July 23, 1929

The Fifth Fleet had been in Europa waters for a while now, as top secret negotiations were underway to purchase the older River and Acorn class destroyers. They had now moved on to the docking point in Tirpitzstadt, Wargloria. Now Vice Admiral Takaki Abe, in command of the Nihonese 5th fleet made his surprise port visit, under orders to discuss war plans with the Warglorians in order to coordinate possible war efforts. He was also authorized to hand over older warships he deemed obsolete so his crews could man the “new” Aclusian destroyers. The price was very fair and once the deal went through, the Fuso class Ironclad, two Kongo Class Corvettes, Amagi Class Corvette, Kaimon Class Corvette, and Tenryu Class Corvette were turned over from the 5th Fleet to the Warglorians. Which combined made crews of 1,342. Each destroyer would need around 70 men to man it. That would mean 19 of the Acorn Class destroyers each with around 71 men could be manned. There was consideration going into abandoning the gunboats too, but that was questionable. Many men today were promoted, and now would begin getting used to their jobs on their ship.

The Uji Class gunboats had better guns than the River Class destroyers, but were also slower and lacked torpedo tubes. And command in Gokyo did not want to give up the gunboats. It would mean yet another thing to discuss with the Warglorians.

In the Twelve Isles, ships were also being deployed to Wargloria as escort. (OOC: Per TTI allowance of use of his naval forces)

Rachana Frontline
July 24, 1929

By now another 10 divisions had been sent in to reinforce the attacking men. They would continue to gain a few thousand yards and then hold the line, digging into their positions ready to face attack, something the men were getting accustomed to. Yet the main mission was not doing well. The goal having been to force the Manticorians to deploy their armies and relieve pressure on the Manchuko front. While successful in luring in the Breyburgians, Hoosiers, and Aydinirians, they merely sent fresh, inexperienced men, which meant the plan was not being as successful as planned. So commanders had to move around that, and with the new reinforcement, they would declare the entire Western Army Group had been deployed in hopes of getting the Manticorians to worry enough to send over some men. Additionally, to fake the part, armed merchant ships, similar to Q-boats would move across the waves to look like transports and additionally hope to sink more enemy submarines.


Gokyo, Nihon
July 25, 1929

It was now July, but ever since in May when word got out Princess Eltaryel of Adyinir had arrived, in attempt to marry the crown prince, it marked her as a target for Nihonese officials and Kenpeitai in the region. Now Officier Fujikawa was returning home for the debriefing. In Nasaira, the country had fallen into political turmoil. On June the 8th, the country fell into revolt. All people knew was that the royal palace had been sacked and everyone inside killed. Yet what they did not know was the secret Nihonese role. In secret, some of the rebels had been armed, and a whole operation readied to take out the princess. The rebels were reminded how the Aydinirians had never been friendly sending out their pirates, and even attacking Nasaira in the times of old. Yet it did not matter. When they entered the palace it was a massacre. And in that a terrifying success. They attacked many embassies including the Nihonese embassy, whose protection force numbered under forty hired guards yet also attacked the Manticorian and other embassies of hostile nations, dealing a toll to those enemies, and despite losses, a small victory. While it could not be claimed by Nihon, the Aydinirians had lost their princess, and now their leadership weakened further, and their hopes of taking hold of Nasaira completely destroyed.

Ironton Isles
July 28, 1929

Vladimir, a young Rusklandr boy ran across the room. He lived on the Ironton with his family, and during the day, served tea to the officers in the Nihonese army garrison defending the island. The enemy’s blockade continued, yet now decisions were being made. Curious; he listened in through the thick door. He couldn’t make out much but what he heard was:

“We can’t do that!”

“... we don’t have a choice”

“But to… surrender… that would be dishonorable.”

“I object… we will fight on… not like cowards.”

“... reach is limited.”

“... nothing else we can do.”

“We will not… war like this.”

“No I agree with the plan.” boomed a loud voice, then silence.

“... be done.”

“Fine”
“... raise the flag….”

“Our men will… as we…”

“Demand to meet with their commanders to discuss surrender.”

“And then… lay down … arms … on beaches.”

“Fine.”

The boy rushed in when they demanded tea. Where the Nihonese leave them to the mercy to the Skartenians? Where they going to surrender? He did not hear the full discussion, but the parts he could make out made him concerned.

And yet the next day a call for the Skartenians to send their men to discuss a surrender was made.

What would happen to him and his family? Only time could tell.


Manchuko
August 1, 1929

The turn of events in Manchuko had sparked great happiness for both Nihonese troops longing to fight honorably, and their commanders who saw this as key to the main strategy being thought up in Nihon.

As the first line struggled to be held, Nihonese soldiers fought on fiercely firing their guns straight into the advancing enemy, who had to struggle up a mountain covered with parts of barbed wire not taken out by artillery, mines, and other improvised traps or obstacles. The enemy’s gas did little damage except to a few men who panicked, with others remembering their training as the distinct sound of gas shells were heard. The gas would being fired so close to Manticorian troops have an effect on both of them, the Lewisite and Mustard gas in which would cause injuries hours later to troops on both sides. The line struggled on the onslaught, but not once failed to find a plentiful amount of targets. It seemed they may soon be overwhelmed. Early estimates put the entire enemy force at around 800,000-900,000 men. Yet the men fought on, in hopes of dealing heavy casualties on the enemy force. Higher up on the mountains however, the 2nd line of defense readied its men should the enemy press on after capturing the first line. With the Manticorian use of gas first, that would mean Unit 731 could unleash all of its dangerous cocktails. Air battles raged overhead, Nihonese and Manchukoan fighters engaging enemy planes as AA fire joined them.

The hope was that the Nihonese and Manchukoan troops could bleed out the enemy and hopefully allow for a counterattack. Yet already locals were being trained in how to conduct espionage, sabotage, and other forms of attack as a precaution.

[The Hoosier Alliance]

Shishiri, July 1929

Iron Guard forces had managed to secure a sizable beachhead on the island of Shishiri. Hoosier divisions had dug in, preparing for a possible Nihonese counter-attack. Soon after landing on and seizing the beaches, Hoosier forces began their continued offensive. After being bombarded and returning artillery fire, Hoosier forces advanced. Artillery hit enemy positions, and infantry pushed forward to continue to break out of the beachhead. Nihonese troop numbers in the area were light, giving the Hoosiers an excellent opportunity to rout the enemy. Due to the Hoosier blockade and prevention of any supplies or reinforcements from reaching the Nihonese, it was estimated that the Nihonese could supply their forces with enough ammunition for only three or four weeks of heavy fighting. Not only that, but the Hoosier Army could receive replacements for lost soldiers. The Nihonese could not. Naval bombardments hit hostile lines that were in range, softening them up for ground assaults. Hoosier and Manticoran fighters launched from ships provided air cover, contesting possible Nihonese bids for the sky. Anti-air weapons assisted as well.

Once enough land was secured, airfields would be constructed, and fighters and bombers would make the journey to the new airstrips to provide more frequent and reliable air power.

In Rachana, Hoosier divisions joined the allied offensive meant to throw the Nihonese back into the sea. Artillery pounded Nihonese positions, and infantry engaged the foreign enemy. They would be pushed off of Rachanan soil.

A cowardly Nihonese attack on Hoosier ships blockading Shishiri resulted in a few lightly damaged vessels that had to return to the mainland for repairs. The blockade, however, remained mostly intact.

[Guuj Xaat Kil]

The Confederacy, 1929

With funds from the 1925 and 1928 Naval Orders reappearing and ships from said orders disappearing (as well as ships that weren't even built with those orders), the Confederacy- its navy to be exact- was very much diminished, something that in the opinion of the admirals, should be rectified as soon as possible. An expansion of the navy's manpower from what they called a 'measly 155 hundred thousand' into an 'acceptable' 206,500 men were planned out, and were envisioned to be completed in about a year and one quarter. These new men would be used in manning the new ships that the navy had planned for construction, namely the Dzaharlons-class carriers and the Ta'xet-class battleships; these weren't the only ships planned by the navy, they had also desired for an enlarged force of heavy cruisers, "Give us more of the Tlgunghung-class damn it" was what they had said, and they wanted about sixteen of them. Not only that, the remaining light cruisers of the navy- seen as obsolete- were to be sold off to the highest bidder after the Indianum War was concluded, and after they were sold, new ones would be built, but for now none of them were to be constructed in the 1929 Naval Plan.

The destroyer force too, would be replaced with more modern designs after the war, about 130 state-of-the-art destroyers would replace the 143 destroyers that they currently have, which would be sold off- again, to the highest bidder- and if there was a lack of buyers, scrapped. The submarine force would also be touched upon, with a total of 80 new submarines to added to the current number of 24. Then there were the unfinished Dagon-class hulls lying around, these would be converted into aircraft carriers.

It was the Dzaharlons-class carriers and Ta'xet-class battleships that were of highest importance to the admirals though, as these ships seen as 'beyond state-of-the-art' would form the backbone of a stronger Confederate Navy, one whose primary opponent was no longer the Arenginians, but the Skartenian Navy. The Ta'xet-class would be heavier than the navy's largest ship, the Emperor Lothar-class, by nearly 11,000 tons; faster than their fastest battleship, the Dagon-class by 3kts (including engine improvements for the Dagon-class); and a thicker amount of armor than all of the Confederate Navy's battleships. The obvious successor to Confederate Naval Engineering. She would outmatch any Skartenian battleship on the seas.

But it was the Dzaharlons-class that would most likely send the navies of the other powers into discussions. Perhaps the largest ship on the seas to date (if nothing larger were to be completed by 1935), if she was armed with a battleship's guns she would've made for a very formidable battleship or battlecruiser indeed, but that wasn't her function, as the admirals sought out an aircraft carrier that would be unmatched by anything the Skartenians could muster, and such an aircraft carrier they had created and presented. A whopping 71.65k tons in weight, she would be a heavily armored aircraft carrier than her contemporaries (current or predicted) as nearly 41% of her weight would be in armor. It was not her armor that shone out the most, but rather her normal capacity of a hundred planes, about 300 tons worth of them if weight was to be measured instead. She would speed along at 30kt with an immense range of 23,500nmi at 14kt, all with a somewhat enlarged and improved version of the engine that the Kthanid-class Battlecruiser used.

And to think four of each would be constructed. Some $660,000,000 would be spent, mostly powered by money that reappeared with the [REDACTED] of the naval orders.

Taxet-class, Confederacy of Northern States Battleship Class

Displacement:
57,430 t light; 61,728 t standard; 66,073 t normal; 69,548 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
850.00 ft / 850.00 ft x 109.00 ft x 40.00 ft (normal load)
259.08 m / 259.08 m x 33.22 m x 12.19 m

Armament:
12 - 16.00" / 406 mm guns (4x3 guns), 2,048.00lbs / 928.96kg shells, 1930 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline, evenly spread, 2 raised mounts
Aft Main mounts separated by engine room
10 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 108.00lbs / 48.99kg shells, 1930 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
12 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns (6x2 guns), 62.50lbs / 28.35kg shells, 1930 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, all amidships
50 - 1.00" / 25.4 mm guns (25x2 guns), 0.50lbs / 0.23kg shells, 1930 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
50 - 0.52" / 13.2 mm guns in single mounts, 0.07lbs / 0.03kg shells, 1930 Model
Machine guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 26,435 lbs / 11,990 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 200
2 - 21.0" / 533.4 mm submerged torpedo tubes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 13.0" / 330 mm 552.50 ft / 168.40 m 12.53 ft / 3.82 m
Ends: 13.0" / 330 mm 297.48 ft / 90.67 m 12.53 ft / 3.82 m
Upper: 13.0" / 330 mm 552.50 ft / 168.40 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
12.0" / 305 mm 552.50 ft / 168.40 m 38.08 ft / 11.61 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 18.0" / 457 mm 18.0" / 457 mm 13.0" / 330 mm

- Armour deck: 4.00" / 102 mm, Conning tower: 10.00" / 254 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 5 shafts, 150,355 shp / 112,165 Kw = 28.00 kts
Range 14,500nm at 13.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 7,820 tons

Complement:
2,059 - 2,678

Cost:
£22.716 million / $90.865 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 3,304 tons, 5.0 %
Armour: 28,101 tons, 42.5 %
- Belts: 8,116 tons, 12.3 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 9,341 tons, 14.1 %
- Armament: 5,163 tons, 7.8 %
- Armour Deck: 5,128 tons, 7.8 %
- Conning Tower: 352 tons, 0.5 %
Machinery: 4,618 tons, 7.0 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 21,407 tons, 32.4 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 8,643 tons, 13.1 %
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
86,424 lbs / 39,201 Kg = 42.2 x 16.0 " / 406 mm shells or 19.1 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.08
Metacentric height 6.6 ft / 2.0 m
Roll period: 17.8 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 54 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.70
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.07

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0.624
Length to Beam Ratio: 7.80 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 29.15 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 48 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 32.07 ft / 9.77 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 20.41 ft / 6.22 m
- Mid (50 %): 20.41 ft / 6.22 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 20.41 ft / 6.22 m
- Stern: 20.41 ft / 6.22 m
- Average freeboard: 21.34 ft / 6.51 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 78.2 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 130.8 %
Waterplane Area: 69,294 Square feet or 6,438 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 104 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 217 lbs/sq ft or 1,058 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.99
- Longitudinal: 1.10
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

Dzaharlons-class, Confederacy of Northern States Aircraft Carriers

Displacement:
64,509 t light; 66,362 t standard; 71,657 t normal; 75,893 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
950.00 ft / 950.00 ft x 150.00 ft x 32.00 ft (normal load)
289.56 m / 289.56 m x 45.72 m x 9.75 m

Armament:
14 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 108.00lbs / 48.99kg shells, 1930 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
12 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 108.00lbs / 48.99kg shells, 1930 Model
Anti-aircraft guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 2,808 lbs / 1,274 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 250
Aircraft carrier, capable of carrying 100 Letov Š-31 planes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 8.00" / 203 mm 617.50 ft / 188.21 m 14.70 ft / 4.48 m
Ends: 7.00" / 178 mm 332.48 ft / 101.34 m 14.70 ft / 4.48 m
Upper: 7.00" / 178 mm 617.50 ft / 188.21 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
10.0" / 254 mm 617.50 ft / 188.21 m 29.37 ft / 8.95 m

- Armour deck: 4.50" / 114 mm, Conning tower: 5.00" / 127 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 203,758 shp / 152,003 Kw = 30.00 kts
Range 14,000nm at 14.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 9,532 tons

Complement:
2,189 - 2,846

Cost:
£14.290 million / $57.158 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 351 tons, 0.5 %
Armour: 21,120 tons, 29.5 %
- Belts: 5,945 tons, 8.3 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 6,710 tons, 9.4 %
- Armament: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armour Deck: 8,279 tons, 11.6 %
- Conning Tower: 186 tons, 0.3 %
Machinery: 6,174 tons, 8.6 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 24,863 tons, 34.7 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 7,149 tons, 10.0 %
Miscellaneous weights: 12,000 tons, 16.7 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
156,207 lbs / 70,854 Kg = 1,446.4 x 6.0 " / 152 mm shells or 48.3 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.46
Metacentric height 17.6 ft / 5.4 m
Roll period: 15.0 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 57 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.01
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.13

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0.550
Length to Beam Ratio: 6.33 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 30.82 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 48 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 33.90 ft / 10.33 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 21.58 ft / 6.58 m
- Mid (50 %): 21.58 ft / 6.58 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 21.58 ft / 6.58 m
- Stern: 21.58 ft / 6.58 m
- Average freeboard: 22.57 ft / 6.88 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 59.3 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 186.7 %
Waterplane Area: 99,449 Square feet or 9,239 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 148 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 204 lbs/sq ft or 998 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 1.30
- Longitudinal: 0.92
- Overall: 1.01
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

CSS Dagon, Confederacy of Northern States CV Conversion laid down 1929

Displacement:
43,528 t light; 44,618 t standard; 50,000 t normal; 54,305 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
710.00 ft / 710.00 ft x 112.00 ft x 36.00 ft (normal load)
216.41 m / 216.41 m x 34.14 m x 10.97 m

Armament:
10 - 6.00" / 152 mm guns in single mounts, 108.00lbs / 48.99kg shells, 1929 Model
Breech loading guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread
Weight of broadside 1,080 lbs / 490 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 150
Aircraft carrier, capable of carrying 33 Letov Š-31 planes

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 17.0" / 432 mm 461.50 ft / 140.67 m 12.70 ft / 3.87 m
Ends: 17.0" / 432 mm 248.48 ft / 75.74 m 12.70 ft / 3.87 m
Upper: 17.0" / 432 mm 461.50 ft / 140.67 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead:
17.0" / 432 mm 461.50 ft / 140.67 m 34.11 ft / 10.40 m

- Armour deck: 8.00" / 203 mm, Conning tower: 11.00" / 279 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Geared drive, 4 shafts, 138,344 shp / 103,205 Kw = 28.00 kts
Range 16,000nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 9,687 tons

Complement:
1,671 - 2,173

Cost:
£8.927 million / $35.708 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 135 tons, 0.3 %
Armour: 28,028 tons, 56.1 %
- Belts: 9,106 tons, 18.2 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 9,902 tons, 19.8 %
- Armament: 0 tons, 0.0 %
- Armour Deck: 8,699 tons, 17.4 %
- Conning Tower: 322 tons, 0.6 %
Machinery: 4,249 tons, 8.5 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 10,866 tons, 21.7 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 6,472 tons, 12.9 %
Miscellaneous weights: 250 tons, 0.5 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
159,917 lbs / 72,537 Kg = 1,480.7 x 6.0 " / 152 mm shells or 68.6 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.57
Metacentric height 12.6 ft / 3.8 m
Roll period: 13.2 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 51 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.01
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.02

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0.611
Length to Beam Ratio: 6.34 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 26.65 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 55 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 50
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 0.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 0.00 ft / 0.00 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 29.31 ft / 8.93 m
- Forecastle (20 %): 18.65 ft / 5.68 m
- Mid (50 %): 18.65 ft / 5.68 m
- Quarterdeck (15 %): 18.65 ft / 5.68 m
- Stern: 18.65 ft / 5.68 m
- Average freeboard: 19.50 ft / 5.94 m
Ship tends to be wet forward

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 38.7 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 125.0 %
Waterplane Area: 58,776 Square feet or 5,460 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 132 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 136 lbs/sq ft or 666 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 1.00
- Longitudinal: 1.01
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent

1929 Naval Plan (ETC. 6 Years)

• 4 Ta'xet-class Battleships (Priority)
• 4 Dzaharlons-class Carriers (Priority)
• 2 Lagua(Dagon)-class Carriers
• 16 Tlgunghung-class Heavy Cruisers
• 130 destroyers
• 80 submarines
• Manpower expansion of 51,150 men (from 155,350 to 206,500)

[The Manticoran Empire]

Naval Order for 1930

A series of new vessels shall be ordered under the 1930 Naval Order. Among these will be a class of Aircraft Carriers of not more than 15,000 tons displacement and a class of Battleships to displace approximately 60,000 tons. There will be funding authorized for 10 Aircraft Carriers and 6 Battleships.

Talabecland Class, Manticoran Battleship laid down 1930

Displacement:
50,475 t light; 53,802 t standard; 57,684 t normal; 60,790 t full load

Dimensions: Length overall / water x beam x draught
717.80 ft / 700.00 ft x 110.00 ft (Bulges 115.00 ft) x 33.00 ft (normal load)
218.78 m / 213.36 m x 33.53 m (Bulges 35.05 m) x 10.06 m

Armament:
12 - 16.00" / 406 mm guns (4x3 guns), 2,048.00lbs / 928.96kg shells, 1930 Model
Breech loading guns in turrets (on barbettes)
on centreline ends, evenly spread, all raised mounts - superfiring
20 - 5.00" / 127 mm guns in single mounts, 62.50lbs / 28.35kg shells, 1930 Model
Dual purpose guns in deck mounts
on side, evenly spread, 16 raised mounts
Weight of broadside 25,826 lbs / 11,714 kg
Shells per gun, main battery: 150

Armour:
- Belts: Width (max) Length (avg) Height (avg)
Main: 18.0" / 457 mm 455.00 ft / 138.68 m 12.59 ft / 3.84 m
Ends: 7.00" / 178 mm 244.98 ft / 74.67 m 12.59 ft / 3.84 m
Upper: 6.00" / 152 mm 455.00 ft / 138.68 m 8.00 ft / 2.44 m
Main Belt covers 100 % of normal length

- Torpedo Bulkhead and Bulges:
10.0" / 254 mm 455.00 ft / 138.68 m 32.08 ft / 9.78 m

- Gun armour: Face (max) Other gunhouse (avg) Barbette/hoist (max)
Main: 10.0" / 254 mm 6.00" / 152 mm 10.0" / 254 mm
2nd: 5.00" / 127 mm - -

- Armour deck: 8.00" / 203 mm, Conning tower: 8.00" / 203 mm

Machinery:
Oil fired boilers, steam turbines,
Direct drive, 4 shafts, 103,734 shp / 77,385 Kw = 25.00 kts
Range 10,000nm at 15.00 kts
Bunker at max displacement = 6,988 tons

Complement:
1,860 - 2,419

Cost:
£20.568 million / $82.272 million

Distribution of weights at normal displacement:
Armament: 3,228 tons, 5.6 %
Armour: 25,152 tons, 43.6 %
- Belts: 6,319 tons, 11.0 %
- Torpedo bulkhead: 5,401 tons, 9.4 %
- Armament: 3,548 tons, 6.2 %
- Armour Deck: 9,627 tons, 16.7 %
- Conning Tower: 257 tons, 0.4 %
Machinery: 3,143 tons, 5.4 %
Hull, fittings & equipment: 18,952 tons, 32.9 %
Fuel, ammunition & stores: 7,209 tons, 12.5 %
Miscellaneous weights: 0 tons, 0.0 %

Overall survivability and seakeeping ability:
Survivability (Non-critical penetrating hits needed to sink ship):
75,996 lbs / 34,471 Kg = 37.1 x 16.0 " / 406 mm shells or 17.7 torpedoes
Stability (Unstable if below 1.00): 1.00
Metacentric height 5.7 ft / 1.8 m
Roll period: 20.1 seconds
Steadiness - As gun platform (Average = 50 %): 71 %
- Recoil effect (Restricted arc if above 1.00): 0.81
Seaboat quality (Average = 1.00): 1.02

Hull form characteristics:
Hull has a flush deck
Block coefficient: 0.760
Length to Beam Ratio: 6.09 : 1
'Natural speed' for length: 26.46 kts
Power going to wave formation at top speed: 52 %
Trim (Max stability = 0, Max steadiness = 100): 69
Bow angle (Positive = bow angles forward): 15.00 degrees
Stern overhang: 10.00 ft / 3.05 m
Freeboard (% = measuring location as a percentage of overall length):
- Stem: 29.10 ft / 8.87 m
- Forecastle (18 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Mid (50 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Quarterdeck (18 %): 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Stern: 20.00 ft / 6.10 m
- Average freeboard: 20.64 ft / 6.29 m

Ship space, strength and comments:
Space - Hull below water (magazines/engines, low = better): 75.3 %
- Above water (accommodation/working, high = better): 133.2 %
Waterplane Area: 65,048 Square feet or 6,043 Square metres
Displacement factor (Displacement / loading): 101 %
Structure weight / hull surface area: 218 lbs/sq ft or 1,066 Kg/sq metre
Hull strength (Relative):
- Cross-sectional: 0.97
- Longitudinal: 1.25
- Overall: 1.00
Hull space for machinery, storage, compartmentation is excellent
Room for accommodation and workspaces is excellent
Ship has slow, easy roll, a good, steady gun platform

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Tirpitzstadt, Wargloria
July 26, 1929

(Co-Write with Ruskland and Wargloria)

Vice Admiral Takaki Abe watched as his men worked alongside their Warglorian and Twelve Isles counterparts, making their ships ready for battle, coordinating, and joking together. Morale was high, and among Nihonese troops, they wanted to ensure they avenged their lost brothers. They all had been ordered to work in complete secrecy, and the base had been closed to civilians. Soldiers, workers, and sailors all ordered to keep their mouth’s shut. Abe slowly turned and walked back into the bunker the other officers were in. Today they would be going over the plan one final time. He looked inside and began to speak to the room filled with men of many different nationalities.

“In the current state of affairs, Nihonese and Confederate Shishiri has been blockaded by a force comprised of what we believe is the entire Hoosier Fleet. Intelligence suggests the enemy has deployed tens of thousands of troops to the island, which our men are currently engaging and successfully holding off.” he began, “The enemy fleet consists of what we believe is 29 battleships, around 30 cruisers, and 100 destroyers. They have a convoy of 800 transports that is ferrying troops back and forth between the mainland and the island, protected by 12 Manticorian battlecruisers and an estimated 90 other escorts.”

He paused. “And I believe we have 47 battleships, 11 battlecruisers, 14 heavy cruisers, 46 light cruisers, 1 unprotected cruiser, 9 protected cruisers, 12 merchant cruisers, 30 corvettes, 308 destroyers, and 384 submarines.” he finished his count, then continued on with the plan’s description, “The plan involves a large scale Nihonese ground offensive hours before our naval strike, followed by a kamikaze raid on their ships. Then in simple terms our fleet will sweep in. Capital ships and the transports are a priority target. Everything else are secondary targets to be dealt with as we go.” He nodded to the Warglorian to layout his side of the plan.

Admiral Günther Lütjens nodded. As a commander within the Kriegsmarine with a rather favourable track record, he had been given the task of commanding the greatest Kriegsmarine overseas operation since the great U-Boat campaigns of the 9-Years-War. “Kriegsmarine High Command has found that it will take a week for our respective fleets to fully organise and prepare, and another week to arrive at Shishri,” he said, “Our submarine forces, however, can be deployed much more quickly: a large segment of the Kriegsmarine U-Boat fleet has already been deployed for sometime, raiding Boer and Rannorian shipping mostly in the Europiea Sea and Deruhn Ocean, it will be a simple task to resupply and redeploy them to Shishri.”

Lütjens sipped on a glass of water, from which he then pointed on a map provided by the Nihonese, detailing naval movements of Central Alliance forces, “As aforementioned by Vice Admiral Abe, the 800 convoy ships will be the primary target of our submarine forces, destroying them will mean that Central Alliance forces on the island could potentially be cut off and crushed.”

“Though they are well defended, we will have nearly 400 submarines at our disposal for the operation: especially when utilising Wolfpack tactics, we can potentially overwhelm the escorts, and even if that weren’t the case the amount of damage and pressure that could be caused would be notable enough anyhow.”

“Our combined fleets will be split into two taskforces: part of the Kriegsmarine, the Nihonese, Confederate, and Twelve Islander fleets shall combine and advance from the north, while the other Kriegsmarine contingent and the Sylbanian contingent shall sail from the West Khartoum Sea.”

“Rather then combine our fleets, I have another plan in mind: our northern fleet will attack the Central Alliance contingent from the north, but the Kriegsmarine-Sylbanian Fleet will travel instead to the South of Shishri. From there, it will advance from the south upwards through the strait between mainland Indianum and the island, upon which it shall attack the Central Alliance fleet from behind.”

Outside, the Confederate contribution steamed into port. After a few weeks of gathering them in the Gulf of Martyrs, they had been delayed for a few days due to inclement weather, and as a result the admiral went ahead of them to catch the talks with the combined fleet’s leaders. About 9 battleships: the Leviathan-class Battleships XKW Leviathan and XKW Unbowed, the Dagon-class Battleships XKW Dagon and XKW Undiminished, the Emperor Lothar-class Battleships XKW Emperor Lothar and XKW Emperor Iohannes II, and the Emperor Iohannes-class Battleships XKW Emperor Iohannes, Warhall, and Dreadfront. Then there were the battlecruisers, the pride of the Confederate navy, which were the Kthanid-class Battlecruisers XKW Kthanid, Derbamoc, Triec, and Nunavut. All in all, 13 capital sized ships of the highest quality.

This wasn’t all that was sent, however. The naval contribution also included the Tlgunghung-class Heavy Cruisers XKW Tlgunghung, Chaahl, Hlagi, and Haena. As well as all 14 Tawts-class Light Cruisers, 72 destroyers (roughly half of the whole Confederate destroyer force), and all 24 submarines that they had.

Admiral K’ap Taan had been overseeing the smooth integration of the force into the combined fleet, and was successful in preventing any scuffles. He left shortly afterwards, entering the bunker in which the rest of the fleet’s leaders were discussing. “As for us,” he began, “We’ll be compounding any issues our enemy has with our ships.” He made a small pause, then resumed. “Apologies, but I would like to request for a quick recap about what has transpired in my brief absence?” he asked, “I was overseeing the arrival of our contribution to this operation.”

Lütjens quickly gave a summarised explanation of the plan to K’ap Taan, who nodded, but after a slight amount of thought, made a small frown. “The plan is sound, Admiral Lütjens, but have we considered the risk that we run with our southern, then western approach, and attack?” he inquired with a thought as he looked upon the map, “A discovery of our operation by the Breyburgian coastal defenses on the other side of the Shishiri Strait may be devastating to our plans. And our side of Shishiri isle has quite the rocky coasts, so we run another risk; but I am of the opinion that the latter is superior to the former, and thus our coast-hugging stratagem will still be viable.”

He stared once more at the map and the positions of the enemy fleets, noting another thing, “The risk of having the combined enemy fleet splitting up to meet our southern approach is also there, and any engagement at this particular part of the strait,” he pointed a finger at the narrowest part of the strait, “Will be quite bothersome as it’s closest to the Breyburgian coast and their guns.” He looked once more at the map, and had a small pleased smirk form on his face. “On this particular part of the strait however, we can have a favorable engagement with any enemy force trying to stop ours,” he told them as he pointed at a spit of land by the Carriebean coast, “Their T would be crossed almost immediately, and if not, we will be in the position to do so, faster.”

“Indeed Herr Taan,” Lütjens replied, “As long as we hug the Shishri coast, supported by you and Nihonese coastal batteries, the fleet should be safe. And what if they discover the fleet? The Central Alliance will have only two options: prepare to face both a frontal and rear attack by our fleets, or split off a part of their fleet to intercept ours. Either way, we still benefit, we have the numbers advantage and either way it weakens the CA fleet.”

“Could we expect any support from the island garrisons themselves, meine herren?” Lütjens asked. And in response Admiral Taan’s face became thoughtful, “Hmm, from what we have been receiving from our troops on that front, we may be able to pull out a few artillery batteries out to complement our coastal guns on that side of Shishiri,” he took a sip of water, “And we have a sizable force of planes over there as well, good for reconnaissance against enemy ships. So the answer is yes, Admiral Lütjens.”

Vice Admiral Abe nodded. “Our ground forces will be launching their assault which will most likely draw the fire of the enemy battleships, but otherwise yes, from what I hear from my Army counterparts is they can participate with coastal guns and other artillery. We also have a sizable plane force in the area. So yes, Admiral Lütjens, Nihonese ground forces will support.”

And by August 2nd, the fleet had set off with a shroud of secrecy protecting them.

[Newne Carriebean7]

Das Kapital Region
Presidential Palace
August 7th ,1929

President Marvin Washvelt swallowed hard when the telegraph arrived. He said nothing while the Admiral of the fleet Eleanor Sharp Williams anxiously sat opposite him, the rather old looking woman’s knuckles turning white in fear. The only other sound within the room was the monotonous tick tick tick of the grandfather clock opposite Washvelt in his personal office. He opened the letter up, musing over its contents with a fiery passion and anger. Taking a very drawn out breath in between his cradled cigar, he stared at Williams.
“Well, It looks like you’ve been promoted.”
“What of our fleet-“
“OUR FLEET!” Washvelt exploded, throwing anything on his desk aside in a furious sweep of the table, leaving Williams crunched up on the chair in shock at the outburst.
“Our fleet is in three main fucking parts, one of it’s outside the fucking main harbor being pussies, the other half is hiding away in Nihonese ports, the last half is at the bottom of the fucking ocean. To put it bluntly, I’m very pissed right now.”
“S…So what is it you wanted me to command?”
“Right now, you’re replacing Admiral Bonaparte. You’ll be helped by the second in command known as Vice Admiral Hugh Gordon Sydney. Welcome to the reserve fleet.”
“The-the reserve fleet?” Williams felt humiliated. She hadn’t just climbed the ranks in spite of social prejudice of the day to command the reserve fleet. She had expecting to replace Admiral Hood von Hoth.
“I was hoping I could have gotten Hood von Hoth’s position, Mr. President.”
“Him? He’s fucking about in davy jone’s locker. Damn shame. I’ll be the first to admit he wasn’t terrible, just, sometimes he was incompetent, other times he held himself together.”
Williams merely sat there with a bit of reflection, her head mired in thoughts of the new assignment she was going to be undertaking.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s going to happen to Admiral Bonaparte?”
“Forced to retire, with one small fucking pension of 2 trillion Sais, or roughly 4 cents each year.”
With that, Williams stood up and saluted, turning to leave, Washvelt opted to make some more talk with her.
“Oh, shit. I forgot one thing. Take this promotion with stride. Not many incompetent buffoons end up in our navy, but those that to tend to enjoy the reserve fleet. Just make sure you carry a tazer with you.”
“What’s a tazer?”
“Oh, shit, sorry about that, I forgot I don’t know what a tazzer is. Just use a broken glass bottle as a self defense shank and you’ll be just fine. Oh, and I’ve made up my mind to sell our coastline, so try not to damage any of it unless you want us to lose a war with those fucking Cthulluists again.”

With an uncertain look in her eyes, Washvelt merely smiled and patted her on the head. As soon as the door had sealed shut, he sat back at his desk, fumbuling around with the makeshift phone on his desk, fitting his fat fingers on the long ring, moving it from digit to digit until he managed to get a hold of the local Congressional Office.
“Paul Fester speaking, who the hell is this?”
“This is the fucking President. I’d like to know the status of the vote regarding new military spending I authored with the help of several congressional idiots that voted for me.”
“You must mean the 1929 Naval Rearmament Act or the 1930 Naval Rearmament-“
“Just send a copy of both in on my desk, please, and stop with the bitching.”
“Go fuck yourself, Mr. President.”
“With pleasure, now screw off ya bitch!”
With the satisfying slam of the rotary phone on the desk, a thin man walked into his office and handed the President a few papers.
“Hmm, Let’s see here…”

1929 CARRIEBEANIAN NAVAL REARMAMENT ACT

I. The Allocation of twenty one-million Sais for the construction of two Battleships with the hull names of I-12 and I-24, and with the following relevant naval characteristics according to the specifications laid out by the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy dockyard and naval architects.

Displacement: 20,030 tons
Dimensions: Length Overall x beam x draught
635 feet x 98 feet x 32 feet
Armament:
18- 15 inch guns (9x2)
20- 3 inch guns in single mounts
10 -2 inch guns in single mounts
12-21 inch torpedo tubes
22-.303mm Machine Guns for Anti-Aircraft Defense
12- D/P 1 inch guns for Anti-Aircraft Defense
Armor:
Belt: 7-14 inches
Deck:0.5-0.7 inches
Turrets: 10 inches
Bulkheads: 3 and 9 inches
Machinery:
20 Coal fed Boilers
2 Reciprocating Engines
1 Turbine engine
3 Propeller Shafts for a top speed of 21 knots
Complement: 903 enlisted and 97 officers for a total of 1,000 personnel
Cost: 10,060,000 Sais per ship for a total cost of 20,120,000 for both warships

II. The Allocation of an additional eleven million Sais for a Class of fifty O-class destroyers with the hull names of O-1 through O-50, and with the following relevant naval characteristics according to the specifications laid out by the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy dockyard and naval architects.
Displacement: 1,400 tons

Dimensions: Length Overall x beam x draught
320 feet x 27 feet x 12 feet
Armament:
4- 4 inch guns in single mounts
2- 3 inch guns in single mounts
1 -2 inch guns in single mounts
6- .303mm vinegar machine guns in single mounts
20- Depth Charges
Armor:
Belt: 0.9 inches
Deck:0.1-0.4 inches
Turrets: 0.3 inches
Machinery:
4 Coal fed Boilers
2 Turbine engines
3 Propeller Shafts for a top speed of 30 knots
Complement: 105 enlisted and 95 officers for a total of 200
Cost: 215,000 Sais per ship for a total cost of 10,750,000 Sais

III. The Allocation of an additional fourteen million Sais for a Class of seventy P-class destroyers with the hull names of P-1 through P-50, and with the following relevant naval characteristics according to the specifications laid out by the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy dockyard and naval architects.

Displacement: 1,200 tons
Dimensions: Length Overall x beam x draught
345 feet x 34 feet x 14 feet
Armament:
3- 4 inch guns in single mounts
1- 3 inch gun in single mounts
8- .303mm vinegar machine guns in single mounts
30- Depth Charges
20-Mines
Armor:
Belt: 0.7 inches
Deck:0.3-0.5 inches
Turrets: 0.5 inches
Machinery:
3 Coal fed Boilers
2 Turbine engines
3 Propeller Shafts for a top speed of 28 knots
Complement: 112 enlisted and 88 officers for a total of 200
Cost: 197,000 Sais per ship for a total cost of 13,790,000 Sais

IV. The Allocation of an additional fourteen million Sais for a Class of one hundred Q-class destroyers with the hull names of Q-1 through Q-100, and with the following relevant naval characteristics according to the specifications laid out by the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy dockyard and naval architects.

Displacement: 1,300 tons
Dimensions: Length Overall x beam x draught
309 feet x 27 feet x 18 feet
Armament:
3- 4 inch guns in single mounts
2- 3 inch gun in single mounts
4- single 21 inch torpedo tubes with a total of 20 torpedoes carried
12- .303mm vinegar machine guns in single mounts
10- Depth Charges
10-Mines
Armor:
Belt: 0.6 inches
Deck:0.4-0.5 inches
Turrets: 0.5 inches
Machinery:
2 Coal fed Boilers
1 Wood fed Boiler
2 Turbine engines
3 Propeller Shafts for a top speed of 31 knots
Complement: 106 enlisted and 74 officers for a total of 180
Cost: 173,000 Sais per ship for a total cost of 17,300,000 Sais
The total overall cost to this expansion of the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy has a price tag of 63,300,000.00 Sais and is estimated to take a minimum of four years for completion.

“This looks, Promising, but we’re going to need more. I’m still a bit sore that we’re spending seventeen fucking million Sais for a class of destroyers. We could better invest that money into other parts of the military, such as our air force.”
“Wait, we have an air force?”
“That’s the joke. I’ll sign off on this for now, It’s a start. I might not get every ship I wanted, but it’s a start for the Imperial Carriebeanian Navy. We’re going to need a metric shit ton of rebuilding, that’s for damn sure.”

44th Cache Militia

Flanks General 2nd Class Henry Tithington fitted the slew of rounds into his bolt action rifle, pulling the bolt back with a satisfying, mechanical sound that the gun made. Looking around at the small pond of tents that formulated the makeshift military base, he peered over the horizon.
Flanks General 2nd Class Kitter Hillsburg mounted on his horse as the second makeshift military force continued on it’s long march. As both commanders opted to ride alongside each other, a natural conversation began.
“I’m pretty thrilled to be back in the command seat. I was only twenty seven years old in 1870, which makes me ninety two years old.”
“I…Didn’t you die in the 1870s?”
“I’m not sure, probably, but I was brought back by the hand of god. It was a…unique experience.”
“Speaking of unique experiences, what’s the overall plan for our attack?”
“Uh…Er…Uh…Well, you see…It’s all quite simple…. You just take those men and….. do the… thing with them. You know, the soldier mcshoottheshitoutofeachother thing?”
“You have no idea how to command your forces do you?”
“Not a damn clue, but I’ll figure it out. I love being appointed for political reasons, I’m the mayor of several villages!”

“That may explain several things, why this force is lead by incompetence. I have a slightly better plan of attack, we march up to the enemy and fire massed volleys of musket-I mean rifle fire. Then we’ll throw our calvary at the enemy, firing their guns and slashing their swords at the enemy. Then we’ll charge in with the cutlass and bayonet.”
“So…we attack the enemy with our boomsticks.”
“For the love of Cthullu, yes! Jesus fucking Christ you’re so dense!”
“That’s the way I like it.”
Suddenly, the gentle and joshing banter of the two men was oh so rudely interrupted by enemy shells slamming against several trees and the wooden fences, sending splinters hurtiling towards the ranks, cutting down a few dozen men instantly. Almost at once the force lost all semblance of cohesion , with militia members looting the corpses of their dead comrades while others began to shovel into the ground for a rudimentary trench.
“All men, dig in and prepare to receive the enemy! They’re going to be coming-“
Another shell exploded above the rear of the army, spraying shrapnel down upon them, ripping dozens to hundreds to shreds within a few seconds, the screams echoing throughout everyone’s ears.
“Fuck that order, calvary, with me, we’re going to charge at the enemy, swords and pistols drawn!”
A fierce trumpeting was heard as a small force of two hundred men on horseback charge against the unknown enemy, revealing themselves to be entrenched and with thousands of flashes. There was no time for a poetic death for Tithington, with a flash of light ripping his helmet off of him, throwing him off his horse from the recoil of the shot and slamming down onto the grassy knoll. As the men hastily dug their trenches, more enemy artillery rounds opted to interrupt the digging, blowing large holes in the cue of men working with shovels that demoralized the milita to a point where they began to run away.
“Retreat!”
“Let’s go back home!”
“Fuck this shit I’m out!”
Of the two thousand militia members that embarked on that makeshift offensive, only twenty nine would stagger into a hotel room, exhausted and bloodied from their first taste of combat. Such a sight was all too common from the makeshift, “make it up as you go along” type offensives ordered by President Washvelt. Merely serving to throw away young men’s lives, the contention with the president was increasing offensive after failed offensive.



Prime Minister Marchiba Bantejø

To: The Confederacy of Northern States
From: President of Carriebean Marvin Washvelt
Upon recent depression in looking at my country’s pitiful coastline, given our status as a virtual city-state, we have opted to sell this coastline to your nation. Why yours? Well, we tried to talk to the Skartiens but before the ink dried on that offer, someone realized that selling your country to a nation that’s actively at war with you is bound to be a fucking bad idea.
As such, we’ve decided that the Northern States would be best suited for our coastline, given the fact that our naval efforts are oddly concentrating on constructing via the interior and our system of still controlled miniature river ports.
However, for this offer to be approved, you must also help us construct our new fleet, with our new order of 220 destroyers and a pair of battleships being a bit too much for our lone dockyards to scrape together. Should you have any warships that might need some tender love from Carriebeanian sailors, our government is more than happy to purchase a few vessels outright at an appropriately overpriced sticker.

Empire of Nihon
Carriebeanian Imperial Navy flagship, Battlecruiser CNS Flintlock

The local fisherman who had been on pleasure cruises took some note at the sight of large warships slowly filtering their way into a Nihonese inlet. The Massive Carriebeanian tricolors that snapped to attention at the high masts, propelled by the shivering and chilly fog like winds that would wisp and wind through the mountainous region.

Vice Admiral Prinz of Wall’s skillful maneuvering and general handling of the surviving fleet was no small feat in of itself, requiring strenuous co-operation and many flag signals to actually pull off the withdrawal and loop around the Skartien fleet, sailing past them, avoiding Snowy Bay in its entirety and managing to find themselves near their ally of Nihon.
It had bluntly obvious to inside and outside observers that the Carriebeanian forces, given their long history of incompetence, was going to be outmatched, outnumbered, outmaneuvered and outgunned, yet Admiral Hood von Hoth had insisted on helping out his allies. The initial plan had been to rendezvous with the reserve fleet that was carrying the Carriebeanian Expeditionary Force and escort that for a landing to assist the Nihonese in Manchukuo.

The Carriebeanian ships were fresh with the heavy battle damage the fleet had suffered by Skartien shells and torpedo hits. The six remaining Armored Cruisers huddled in two groups of three, with a few torpedo boats maneuvering around to act as shuttles for various crew members that opted for a transfer or some shore leave, which was generously granted by the captains of each ship.
The Battlecruiser Galleon had suffered a rather large hit near amidships, with the awful smell of burning corpses and gunpowder still lingering in the air, haunting those that had to maneuver around the battle damage. Almost every ship suffered a few impacts, with just three destroyers reporting no battle damage at all. Also surfacing was the fleet of seven Carriebeanian Submarines, who had only gotten to the battlefield late, with no chance in firing their armaments at the enemy.

Ammunition and coal wise, the fleet was wise to leave in a rush as it had been, with several captains reporting the lack of ammunition onboard. In one instance, a carriebeanian destroyer had just three rounds for each of it’s four guns remaining, and only two torpedoes. One of the small lucky signs was the sight of two Carriebeanian freighters that had been carrying ammunition slated for their Nihonese allies.
After some “convincing” and bribing of them, they agreed to offload their ammunition loads, enough to resupply all guns onboard three armored cruisers, eight destroyers and the Battlecruiser Galleon. Coal and fuel, was a different matter, with some Carriebeanian foraging parties looting Nihonese homes for their coal, though these actions were swiftly punished by a government not wishing to be “pirates towards the honored Nihonese”. The gifts of large rice bags by the locals was enough to boost morale a tad.

On the deck of the Listing and leaking Flintlock, several sailors gathered near each other, all huddled in several groups as a series of cards was placed on the oak timbers, each player looking attentively towards their respective cards in between the hoots and hollers of the massed crowds of sailors near them. Seaman 2nd Class Linda Byrd Montgomery nervously shuffled her cards around, staring at the pair of bearded gentlemen next to her, all smelling like something had crawled up their asses and died several times over.
With a sly grin, she revealed her hand of twenty one, flabbergasting the two men next to her, armed only with a jack and one ace. With cheerful glee, she scooped up the pot, several sailor’s personal mementos from home, a few crumbled up Carriebeanian Sais and some golden stamped coins hastily made and traded by a few enterprising and swindling Nihonese who hoodwinked the Carriebeaners.

“Ah, the pots all mine you fuckers! All mine!”
“O-Oh bossman that ain’t right, fookin Monty.”
“Oh piss off Char- go eat a salt lick you fat fuck!”
A quick sucker punch to her face and the crowd of sailors worked their way into an allout brawl over the winnings, with several knives slicing a few sailors, spilling yet more blood on them. The cacophony of swings, curses and screams soon died as an officer stood on top of the 14 inch main gun turret and fired a shot from his colt revolver sidearm into the air to restore order.
“Motherfuckers! Is that anyway to behave on this ship?! All of you are reduced pay for taking part in such an ignominious display for a Carriebeanian Sailor. One of you will be cooked alive for the rest of us, sorry, we’re just plum out of food for you. Back to your posts, immediately!”
With several disgruntled murmurs, Montgomery reluctantly walked back to her post within the hull as a gunner for the side three inch mounts.

Meanwhile, within the bridge of the Flintlock, Vice Admiral Prinz of Wall gripped his trusted pipe and exhaled a deep cloud of tobacco, biting down on it a handful of times before turning to the small gathering of captains he had requested an audience with. Seventy year old Captain Rango Rexville Favius of the Galleon sat idly within his chair, whacking away with his small knife at the table, filling it with various incisions and marks. Captain Joseph P. Fischer of the Pirate was twiddling his hands in-between his rather moppy looking white beard, picking at all the encrusted stuff that seemingly grew from his eyelids in a disgusting manner. Captain Horace Greeley of the Hook was carefully studying navigational charts, seemingly unaware of possible conversation. The commander of the flagship, Captain Eugene von Endor was leaning back in his seat, looking intensively at the ceiling fan, a collection of two slaves tied to the roof of the bridge that spun around in a circle blowing rather smelly “wind” down upon the men.

“What a fucking disaster.. Almost twenty ships sunk, we’ve failed to break through the enemy’s blockade near Manchukuo and have not yet rendezvoused with the transport fleet.” Endor began, with a slight nod of approval from Fischer.
“We never had contact with the transport fleet, with the president’s brilliant strategy being for us to ‘bump into them’. Bump into our transport fleet in a couple hundred thousand yards of wet real estate? I think the president held our naval skills in far too high a standard for that to be possible. That’s quite a summary of such a complicated state of affairs.”
“Complicated? How is getting our ass kicked by the Skartien Navy complicated at all? Our sailors, or at least our bureaucrats have proven to be incompetent.”
“Have you not taken into account possible reasons as to why our transport fleet would fail to appear? They were most likely caught in the cross hairs of large capital ships of some country we’re at war with, possibly Aclus or Breyburg.”
“That may be a contributing factor to our defeat. I mean during that battle I had two flagships sunk from under me. Now, if I don’t mind asking, why not include Harrison?”
The four captains looked out at the large Baja California, the last of the old veterans of the Carriebeanian Navy, in that it had survived combat against the Nihonese, Rusklandr and now Skartien Navies. By all accounts the vessel was a salted and battle tested warship, to say nothing of the other remaining capital ships of Carriebean.

“Captain Harrison politely turned down my offer of the council of war, might just be mad that He managed to survive a battle which he was doomed to die in. Hell, Hoth managed to meet his kisser, Harrison’s still commanding that old piece of work.”
“That old piece of work is our most powerful vessel that’s survived through the grace of plot armor and good old luck.”
“Well, he’s damn good at commanding that thing. So, do we know what ever happened to the transport fleet?”
“There has been a preliminary report that was telegraphed in indicating a skirmish with the main Manticorian line of battle upon them leaving harbor.” Endor replied.
“Wait, wasn’t the transport fleet under the loving arms of the reserve flee- oh for fucks sake! Those sorry excuses for sailors probably jumped overboard and abandoned ship when the Manticorians opened fire on them. Fucking pussies.” Favius cursed.

“But they didn’t really have anything to actually fight back with effectively, given their heaviest vessel was an 11,100 ton armored cruiser. That was just the reserve fleet engaged for about fifteen minutes, managing to successfully withdraw back into harbor, with the Manticorian fleet not really wishing to pursue such a scrappy, shitty, fleet. The enemy apparently held large capital ships, given the reports of 16 inch holes from direct hits to gun turrets or gun emplacements.”
“So there was absolutely nothing our reserve fleet could manage against such a withering assault. It’s a good thing their commander was able to successfully disengage his forces out from being annihilated by the enemy.”
“That’s really the best outcome we could have hoped for. The reserve fleet’s commander was overtly cautious and was able to pull his ships out from a fucking trap.”
“I still think he’s a fucking coward!” Favius belligerently crowed.
Vice Admiral Prinz of Wall simply grabbed several lit cigars and fit them into his mouth, a sly grin forming around the several tobacco products.
“A smart coward. Makes no sense to selfishly die, though…”
“Hood…”

“Yes…Hood…I propose a toast. To the toughest incompetent son of a bitch I ever had the pleasure of serving under. Hood. You were the man I looked up to, literally and figuratively. You had your moments of pure insanity, but you pushed hard for the navy, and I mean hard. Day after Day you cried for more battleships and armored cruisers outside of Congress and Parliament. You phoned or threatened to kill several politicians that would dare vote against increased military spending.

Your face was one of pure joy when you commanded that torpedo boat, moving your way up the ranks with influential friends. Soon you found yourself in your most powerful position at the start of the 1910s, fighting bravely in battles against the Rusklandr, Nihonese and Manticorian fleets, even as Carriebeanian soldiers died in the thousands. If you opted to go into the army, I’d say we might have won that first war with Ruskland! Ironic, now Ruskland, or rather the Northern Confederacy, is our ally and we’re fighting against the Skartiens and Manticorians. Politics makes strange bedfellows to say the least.

Throughout all of it, he seldom held in his own personal opinions, often telling whoever was in earshot of what he thought of various policies. He could have had a career in politics, perhaps one day end up President. If he failed, I might succeed him and think of a political career as President of this shitty city state. All in all, he was… he was my friend. Sure he may have had a sense of humor unbecoming of an officer, but he was my friend. This old warrior, and these even older warriors, raise a toast to you good sir. To Hood.”

All three men filled their shot glasses to the brim with brandy, raising them high into the sky as slight tears trickled down Prinz von Wall’s face.
“To Hood!”

[The Manticoran Empire]

2 August 1929
Office of Naval Intelligence Headquarters
Signals Interception and Decryption Division
Vicuna, Middenland

Wireless traffic was notoriously unsecure. Unfortunately, it also happened to be the most reliable way to communicate at sea. Especially for large fleets. It was, of course, possible to sail without using wireless transmissions. The Nihonese were presumed to do it quite often, given the lack of signals traffic around Nihonese convoys. However, other navies did not and it was an especially bad idea to have four fleets, all with different languages, signal light codes, and signal flag codes, to sail under radio silence. And it was all of this coordination that SIDD had intercepted and decrypted. It had been easier than they had anticipated. The four fleets each had different encryption codes. Warglorian, Sylbanian, and Twelve Isles codes were relatively well known, though some of them had changed since the Great War. Rusklandr codes changed so frequently that SIDD was completely sure that they changed them daily. Nihonese codes, however, had received a great deal of attention from the codebreakers in the last several years and they'd been able to break several, though they watched for changes.

However, all these different code systems meant that the combined fleet that had just left Nihon couldn't rely on them. Warglorian codes translated to Warglorian. Sylbanian codes translated to Sylbanian. Islander codes translated to Islander. Confederate codes translated to Rusklander. And Nihonese codes translated to Nihonese. Five different navies sending five different codes in five different languages. In order to coordinate and communicate, they had to simplify it.

And they had done so, which let the Manticorans know about the fleet's departure. It wouldn't be until the 4th that the submarine patrols confirmed the departure at their check in. Until then, all SIDD could do was intercept and decode signals. It was up to the boys in Analytics to figure out what the signals meant and if they were accurate.

---

Analysts were a breed unto themselves. Quiet and often alone, they were also fiercely intelligent and had unnerving powers of observation and deduction. And the Royal Manticoran Navy Office of Naval Intelligence prided itself on having the best analysts in the world. They Great War had taught the Empire a lot about intelligence, particularly the necessity of analyzing data gathered from various sources. It was analysis that could mean the difference between countering an enemy blow and being sucker punched by the feint. Many of these analysts had cut their teeth against Skartenian and Arenginian counterintelligence units during the Great War and they'd seen plenty of fake signals traffic. It was actually one of the first developments of the Great War, following the realization that radio waves could and would be intercepted.

Honestly, no one knew which side used the trick first but it was such an obvious trick that everyone used it. All that had to be done was send a signal that gave orders to a unit to execute an action. That unit would then respond with acknowledgement that they had received the message and then, some time later, announce that the orders were being carried out. The enemy would then react. If the message ordered an attack, they would stand to. If it ordered a retreat, they would attack. In every case, there was always a second message, heavily encrypted or sent via a wired connection, that instructed the unit to disregard the wireless order. If the wireless ordered an attack, then the wired signal would call it off. If it ordered a withdrawal, it would be called off and a stand to ordered. Then, the enemy would stand to for hours and face no attack or run right into a well prepared defending force still in their positions.

It was the prevalence of these fake-outs that had lead the Manticoran intelligence community to focus enormous sums of money into developing analytical capabilities. And now these analysts were studying the messages that had been intercepted to determine their veracity. It took them most of the day but by nightfall, they'd determined the messages to be reasonably truthful. Only submarine patrols could prove it, however.

---

13 August 1929
Outside the Straits of Good Hope

S-193 had spotted the combined Warglorian-Sylbanian fleet late on the 13th. At first, Commander Roland hadn't believed what he was seeing. But after watching dozens of ships pass in front of him, he'd been forced to realize that a major Nihonese operation was underway. He also had to accept that he wasn't going to be sinking any Nihonese merchant ships on this patrol, since ONI would want to know about this pronto. And so he'd turned around and sailed away until he was about two hundred miles away from where he had spotted the Nihonese. Safely in the middle of the ocean, he sent an encoded radio message to headquarters in Ceylon and Shishiri. Warglorian and Sylbanian forces had just left the Khartoum Sea and were sailing for Shishiri.

---

14 August 1929
Manticoran Grand Fleet
Ceylonian Islands

The message had arrived an hour ago. For Admiral Rollins, it was incredibly disturbing. According to Signals Intelligence, the force from Khartoum wasn't alone. A larger force had sailed from Tirpitzstadt almost a week before the combined Warglorian-Sylbanian fleet. If they were taking least time courses to Shishiri, it would be only another four or five days before they hit Shishiri from two directions with almost 42% more capital ship strength. Which, of course, meant his own fleet could never make it. It would take thirty two days for them to reach RUSKLANDR Shishiri, never mind the landing zones that had to be this forces target.
He forced himself to lean back in his chair and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did. He was still for just a moment, his mind working overtime to try and solve this predicament. It was simply impossible for his fleet to make it to Shishiri in time to save the landing force. The most he could do was order them to yield the island, which he doubted would be popular with the Hoosiers. He also doubted the Hoosiers would listen to him, given the way the Queen had tried ducking out of the war. He pulled himself up short at that thought. For the love of the Gods he was a Queen's Officer. He had no business second guessing her. But, at the same time, it had set the Fleet in general and himself in particular at loggerheads with their allies. The Aydinirian military leaders on Ceylonia had made THEIR opinions on the matter abundantly plain to him. And it didn't change the fact that his only real option was to tell them the island was untenable. Which, from where he sat 8,600 miles away, was a fact.
He stopped himself. He couldn't help Shishiri, no. But he could help Aydinir. The Aydinirian Battle Fleet was under blockade, which meant that 20 capital ships were trapped and unable to help the war effort. Rollins himself had 62 and he could count on 24 more from Breyburg. That gave him 86 ships. If they could time the operation right, they could add the 20 ships of the Aydinirian battle fleet. Given his own fleet's relative position, it would be most logical for him to sail to relieve the Aydinirian fleet first. However, that could be easily detected by the Nihonese. On the other hand, if he sailed around the outside of Nihon, on a near direct course to Drakwald, he could then turn towards Breyburg, uniting with the Breyburg fleet before falling upon the Nihonese force supporting the invasion of Rachana. The Nihonese would have 25 days to react to his departure from Ceylon, meaning he risked the Nihonese launching an attack on Ceylon. However, they couldn't do that without drawing ships away from his intended targets. From his rendezvous with Breyburg's navy, it would be only 5 days before he reached the Nihonese landing zone in Adrillas. As such, he had an excellent chance that the Nihonese would either still be divided, allowing him to defeat the Nihonese Battle Force in detail, or would combine either at Adrillas or Nirah to sail for Ceylon or to meet him, allowing he to decisively beat the Nihonese fleet either at Adrillas, at Nirah, or later at Ceylon. In any case, it would be best to make that final decision after reaching Breyburg.
He turned to face his desk and began to type out the orders on his typewriter. It would take close to a week to get his commanders briefed, his crews recalled from furlough, his ships fueled and supplied, and to coordinate with Breyburg and Aydinirian forces. And if it worked, it would more than make up for the loss of Shishiri.

[Shahinay]

Assurhan, Aydinirian Empire
25th of June 1929


Eric Stewart gazed down on the city of Assurhan as his zeppelin descended towards the Aydiniri capital. He was arriving in the country on a state visit after being invited by the Aydiniri Empress. Deciding it was time to strengthen relations between the two Indianum powers, Stewart jumped at the chance to visit his southern neighbor. He had never been to the mysterious nation and was curious at what he may find there.
Once landed, Stewart led his small band of personal guards and assistants down the ramp and towards the greeting throng of Aydiniris. As he approached them, a smile on his face, Stewart gazed at the buildings in the distance.

Beautiful, Stewart thought, returning his attention to the waiting group of foreigners, but it's not Indianapolis.

The Hoosier were greeted on the airstrip by the captain of the Imperial Guard and his men, who saluted them in the Aydinirian way - by swiftly putting their fists to their hearts. After all, who is better fit to greet soldiers than other soldiers? With all due honors they escorted the Hoosier to the limo.

Whatever impression the airstrip and the middle-size city around it made on the Empress’ guests, that was only a beginning. Unbeknownst to them, Aydinirians had a special route developed, leading from the airstrip to the Imperial Palace. It was meant for foreign dignitaries and led through the most representative and impressive parts of Assurhan and its surroundings. Through at least 30 minutes of ride, the Hoosier passed besides gardens and monuments of ancient glory, buildings decorated with Aydinirian caligraphy and stone reliefs depicting triumphes of the empire and mythological or erotic scenes.

For the whole time, the upper part of a mesa-like structure loomed over the roofs, surrounded by sky-touching peaks of the Annunaypar Mountains. This mesa was covered in countless domes and minarets, with enormous Imperial Palace and the Grand Temple standing on the top. Temple’s main tower was also the city's highest building, rising over 300 meters above the city’s base.
They passed the First Circle of the ancient walls, with two massive sculptures of war elephants protecting the gates. They moved higher and higher, through the new, asphalt covered streets, soon passing the the Second Circle of walls. They were made of white and red granite, decorated with the scenes of war - charging horses and elephants, heroes and emperors, triumphant legions and their enemies, lying broken under their feet and begging for mercy.

As the delegation moved upwards this mountain-city, the Hoosier could see the sea of buildings below. Morning sun shined, illuminating the city and bouncing off the domes, covering everything in an orange hue. The bells rang and priests started singing, calling the faithful for the morning prayer. In fact, the entire journey to the center of Assurhan was a carefully directed spectacle, made to inspire awe and wonder.
Then, the limo reached the Third Circle - this time the walls were made of red granite and white marble, covered in intricate reliefs of erotic acts and pleasures of flesh. After passing the gates, they finally reached Airahbān, the highest part of Assurhan. Within a few minutes they stopped in front of the stairs leading to the Imperial Palace.

Eric Stewart gazed out of the limo he and his guards rode in as they passed much of the Aydiniri city. The old city had quite the story to tell. Ancient art and carvings caught his eye and he studied it all as best he could. He was particularly taken by the artwork of ancient battles, either real or mythical. He was a true student of history, and it was one of his life goals to learn as much of the ancient Indianum civilizations as he could, which naturally led him to the study of much of the Aydiniri past. Thus, he was not particularly surprised when lewd and sinful carvings appeared on his way to the Imperial Palace. Aydiniri views on sexuality were too...liberal, for his taste and moral beliefs. Such art wouldn’t last long in Hoosier.

After passing the throngs of worshippers of false gods, Stewart was finally face to face with the Aydiniri palace. Following some of his Iron Shirt escorts, and being followed by the rest, Stewart began to ascend the steps to the palace, ready to meet with the so called “Divine” Empress of his southern neighbors.

4 days later...

Assurhan, Aydinirian Empire
29th of June 1929

When the Exilvanian delegation arrived on the airstrip around a dozen kilometers from Assurhan, it was already evening. While there was very little unnecessary ceremonial present during the first welcome in Ashayi, this time the Aydinirians were going to resompensate for that. The Exilvanians were greeted by Tālaivchahtish Dhrāyaxaren, new Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs and successor to Eltariyos Sûrennah, martyred at St.Osloverg by the Nihonese. After a while of formal greetings and introduction, both Ministers and their men moved towards the black limo. When they were about to get inside, another airship rose into the sky.

- “It seems the Iron Marshall of Hoosier is leaving. He was in Assurhan for a couple of days, with diplomatic delegation” - one of the Aydinirian officials said, with a thick accent.

With that, both groups set off and made their way towards the city, going pretty much by the same route traversed not long ago by the Hoosiers. This time however, the setting sun colored everything crimson red, while dark shadows danced on ancient reliefs and stone figures. The bells rang and priests started singing, calling the faithful, this time for the evening prayer.

Soon after, Bogdanov stood at the entrance to the Throne Room.

Adrillas, Rachana
1st of August 1929

After the Nhonese landed on Adrillas' southern coast, Rachanans began slowly retreating north, towards the Sierra de Grazalema mountain chain. That's where the Imperial Army stood, on highly fortified positions, overlooking the plains between them and the coast. In Aydinirian eyes Sierra de Grazalema seemed to be mere hills in comparison with the mighty Annunaypar Mountains of the Empire. It was a very rocky terrain, yet peaks were just a few hundret meters hight. Once again Aydinirians took seemingly very passive and defensive approach, staying at their positions and only a few times making small scale attacks, with mostly fresh and low-quality troops. More action was seen only in the sky, where the Aydinirians still possessed air superiority over inland areas. Even as the Hoosiers began their counteroffensive, the Aydinirians waited. Many people worried, while the Nihonese most likely rejoiced in this inactivity.

Nihonese were to believe in their own overwhealming strenght and their enemy's weakness. It was a long term strategy, which was in work even many months ago, when the Nihonese were fed with false military intel about the strenght of Aydinirian armies in Rachana and the willingness of the Empire to protect its ally. Traansvalan commissars provided informations to the Nihonese, detailing how low in number, quality and morale Aydinirian troops really are, how Aydinirian words are in fact just a propaganda. How Rachana was for them just a pawn. All of that directly prepared by AQSA. The Nihonese clearly took the bait and even paid Traansval - a profitable exchange.

In the meanwhile, behind the lines and unknown to the enemy, massive preparations ensued. Roads between Aydinir and Rachana were full, as neverending lines of men marched west, with them trucks, tanks and armoured vehicles. In the trucks huge supplies of eatables and ammunition were being transported, but that was not the only thing. More and more of the Liquid Fire appeared in the field magazines, with new experimental flamethrowers and Liquid Fire granates, as well as large quantities of gas masks.

For the news have quickly spread of the Nihonese usage of war gases. Some even claimed chemical and bio weapons were used. Disease and pestilence were traditionaly seen as the worst signs of evil in Aydinirian culture, the manifestation of the ruinous powers of Arhish and the Ŝur̄anaya. As such, any possible usage of bio weapons, or chemical weapons, was seen as low and cowardly by most of the Aydinirian command. It was thus very fitting the Nihonese and their unholy Imposter seemed so keen to use them.

42 divisions of Anzhaurvan Tarhyôdani (Army Group Center) were for some time now being transported to Rachana. Among its ranks some highly disciplined and experienced units, which spearheaded Aydinirian conquest of Sirvanska. And now, the time has finally come. Khamanvan Rozhodras (Operation Royal Lion) started.

1st August 1929 all radios in Rachana broadcasted an important governmental transmission. The Royal message. King Shanrhain first adressed in Aydinirian the imperial and Rachanan troops and his subjects, with Queen Azaneth speaking soon after in Rachanan. The promice was made, to drive out the hated invaders back to the sea. And then, to bring war on their own homes. A promice of retribution.

And as those words were being spoken, a massive, coordinated and surprising attack was launched from both east and west. A pincer movement, attack from both flanks via the open plains, with the use of Aydinirian air superiority and experienced and more mechanized divisions. In the same time parts of Aydinirian forces would join Hoosier counteroffensive, engaging the enemy in Sierra de Grazalema and tying him up in that region. Nihonese forces were to be cut off from the coast, trapped and surrounded.

Slant eyed devils will burn in the fires of Justice.

Gokyo, Nihon
July 25, 1929

It was now July, but ever since in May when word got out Princess Eltaryel of Adyinir had arrived, in attempt to marry the crown prince, it marked her as a target for Nihonese officials and Kenpeitai in the region. Now Officier Fujikawa was returning home for the debriefing. In Nasaira, the country had fallen into political turmoil. On June the 8th, the country fell into revolt. All people knew was that the royal palace had been sacked and everyone inside killed. Yet what they did not know was the secret Nihonese role. In secret, some of the rebels had been armed, and a whole operation readied to take out the princess. The rebels were reminded how the Aydinirians had never been friendly sending out their pirates, and even attacking Nasaira in the times of old. Yet it did not matter. When they entered the palace it was a massacre. And in that a terrifying success. They attacked many embassies including the Nihonese embassy, whose protection force numbered under forty hired guards yet also attacked the Manticorian and other embassies of hostile nations, dealing a toll to those enemies, and despite losses, a small victory. While it could not be claimed by Nihon, the Aydinirians had lost their princess, and now their leadership weakened further, and their hopes of taking hold of Nasaira completely destroyed.

Timor, Nasaira
1st of August 1929


When the rumors of Princess Eltaryel's death spread across Nasaira, Jarist majority of the island of Timor rose up in wrath and anger, similar only to the reaction those rumors caused inside of the Empire. Revolutionaries were overthrowed and themselves executed, just like the late Emperor of Nasaira. Things however took a really unexpected turn when on 1st of August, sole and damaged Aydinirian ship appeared on the southern shores of Timor, docking at the port. From it, exhausted, Prince Eltaryel and the Nasairan Heir appeared, with the remnants of the old Nasairan Imperial Court and loyalists from the capital, as well as several remaining members of the Aydinirian delegation and guards.

News of the miraculously survived Princess and Heir spread like a wildfire, reaching Assurhan, which reacted sending funds, resources and those men the Empire could spend. In the same time after hearing that their rightful heir still lives many Loyalists rose up, perpetuating the cycle of revolution, and took controll over many islands of Northern Nasaira, including parts of Ubril, with Timor as the center of the Loyalist occupied part of the country.

But how did the Aydinirian Princess and the Nasairan Heir survived and escaped from the bloodbath of revolution?

Comming soon in a co-write between Aydinir and Aclus!

[TENNOHEIKA BANZAI NIHON]

Gokyo, Nihon
July, 1929

While the forces on the landing grounds that had broken out and fought against a fierce Hoosier strike, back at command they were getting mixed reports. It was said a large Aydinirian force was coming, from reports from spies, collaborators, and what had been intercepted over the wire. It was much easier than expected. The Aydinirians had sent word to the Hoosiers, Rachanans and messages back and forth from Rachana to the capital. Aydinirian code had been worked on heavily for the past few years and the men of the Kenpeitai had been able to break several, despite watching for changes. The Aydinirian code was much easier to crack and monitor than that of the Manticorians, who’s systems always seemed state of the art.

They were able to get a rough detail of the enemy force. They believed 50 Aydinirian divisions were making their way up from Aydinir to support Rachana, and with such numbers, command knew to expect an offensive. It could have been a fake out, but sources on the ground were suggesting there were columns of Aydiniran forces advancing.

Rachana
August 1, 1929

When the Aydinirians attacked on the first, the Nihonese troops were ready for them. Defenses were solid and the enemy sent their men, in their weakened state having just marched so far, and with many forces delayed, a much more weakened strength. The men had just marched for 30 to 40 days and were now expected to fight! These were supposed to be the Aydinirian’s best, but they had only fought a fake army. These Nihonese men however had served in the Obakata (Overculture) Intervention, Manchuko Expedition, the First Karabian (Carriebean) War, the Rusukurandajin (Rusklandr) Incident, and Parusu (Parsa) Crisis. Their commanders had even more experience, having served in the 9 Years War, fighting alongside the Aclusians and Warglorians. They were ready to fight this relatively inexperienced force, and ready to crush it with superior tactics and weaponry.

So when the Aydinirians attacked, they were met with fearsome artillery, and gunfire, mines, and traps. They would to say the least, suffer very heavily. The poor fools thought their gas masks would save them from the chemical weapons. But it however did not protect them from the effects of the mustard or the lewisite. The other gas being used to great effect was the phosgene oxime, which is toxic by inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact.

Ryukyu Islands
August 2, 1929

The Ryukyu had seen 6 fresh divisions and more supplies shipped over under heavy escort, as the men prepared for the full defense of the Ryukyu, while new divisions completed training and were being deployed to serve in the defense of Nihon.

[Skarten]

Negotiations
28th of July, 1929
Ironton Isles

The sound of writing creeped through the room, a man in a detailed attire filling a large paper form with a rather exquisite-looking pen. The man in question was an admiral, one Leonard Czaj, who had been left in charge of the blockade of the Ironton isles as the battle fleet had begun it's long haul towards the eastern lands of Indianum, to their colony of Smirsja, to be more exact. They had most likely arrived by the time he wrote that paper - after all, it had been more than enough time for such.

On his theater, though, the situation had been as calm as one could be in the middle of war. Planes from the mainland aided by his vessels bombarded the islands without mercy, ensuring a steady pace of pressure was maintained on them. Their enemy's supplies were bound to run out at some point, after all.

Suddenly, the door to his quarters were opened. A grunt in a far more practical uniform saluted the man, and began to speak. "Admiral, we have received communication from the Nihonese on the island. They are calling forward discussion for the terms of surrender. Our reconnaissance has also confirmed this to be true, as the white flag has been raised by their part."

Slowly, a smile crept upon Leonard's face. There it is - he thought to himself. They have at last given up. Their supplies must have been exhausted. This is good - a surrender means no lives wasted in an attack, even if we would have inevitably won it. He rose up from his seat. "Very well - contact the enemy. Tell them that we shall meet their commanders at land. Agree on a landing place for the discussion, and we'll keep a close eye on the situation." Saluting, the soldier took his leave, the commander left to wonder about this turn of events.

State of Matter
2nd of August, 1929
Smirsja

In these last weeks, the scenario in the colony had changed. Following the Battle of Snowy Bay, the blockade of their enemies south had been shown itself as rigid - no ship would supply the Nihonese, and such rule would be enforced with an iron fist. Even more so with the arrival of the Skartentine Battle Fleet, ready to aid the brothers in arms with naval matters and send all who dared to attack them to the bottom of the ocean to have a talk with the fishes.

Furthermore, reinforcements from the mainland had arrived together with this force. Over a million soldiers, approximately, ready to fight in the name of the country. Together with the fresh recruits trained from the local population pool, the number of soldiers ready to enter the frontlines and aid their comrades who already were there rose to two million, approximately. With the ports of the colony fully working and friendly nations to the east, this would prove to be a relatively easy force to supply.

On the cabinet of commanders, the situation was rather joyful. The arrival of reinforcements, as well as the latest developments in the theater meant that the war tilted more and more towards their side. There had been talks between the men who planned such things of the possibility of an offensive - one to take on a heavier role in the war effort. Or perhaps, it would be chosen by these officers to simply remain in their places, to starve the enemy out much like their predecessors of centuries ago would have in rejection to particularly costly maneuvers - only time would tell.

[The Hoosier Alliance]

July 1929

Preparations for the opening of a second front on the island of Shishiri were well underway. Plans for the invasion of Shishiri had been developed and reevaluated years before, first as an essential precaution most militaries take in the event of war with just about anyone, and then had the dust brushed off of them and updated as war with Nihon become more likely. Now that war with the Nihonese Empire was well underway, the plans for Shishiri were being altered to suit the situation better.

A second front to take the island was being prepared. Soldiers on the coast of Hoosier were mobilizing, ships and transports were being readied, and landing positions were being selected. With such a high concentration of Nihonese forces on the Hoosier soldiers currently on the island, the second front would mean fewer Nihonese would be able to respond to the new front, or soldiers would be taken from their current engagements to shore up defenses. Either way, it would be suitable for the invaders.

Naval elements in the region would bombard several locations all up and down the Nihonese coast to cast doubt on where a new front would be located if they grew suspicious of such an event. On the day of the invasion, bombardments would target the actual landing site.

Many precautions were taken to prevent the Nihonese from learning of the plans. Highly encrypted messages were used to relay orders for the invasion. In contrast, poorly encrypted fake messages were sent, detailing troop and supply movements to reinforce the men on the current front, as to lead the Nihonese astray if they grew suspicious.



Manchuko, August 1929

Hoosier forces had dug into defensive positions with their Skartenian allies on their joint front with the Nihonese. Even as they dug their trenches, set up artillery positions, and created fall back positions, the Hoosiers made ready for an offensive against enemy lines. Elements of the Hoosier Army crafted plans for taking key Nihonese positions and breaking through their lines with concentrated artillery fire and infantry assaults. Millions of men sharpened their bayonets and made ready for the soon to come order for the grand offensive. Assault teams armed for specialized close-quarters combat would take the field at the beginning, many armed with shotguns, grenades, and other weapons suitable for this very situation. They would break the Nihonese and slaughter every single one of them.

[The Manticoran Empire]

"From the Seas"
22 August 1929

Admiral Rollins had completed his preparations and the fleet had sailed that morning as the sun rose over the horizon. They turned west-northwest before settling into their travel formation. He’d left the two St. Esther class ships behind. Being 23 years old, they were the slowest ships in his force at only 21 knots, though that had been blistering for when they were commissioned. Unfortunately, their machinery just wasn’t up to scratch. The Navy’s building programs didn’t leave much room for modernization and it didn’t help that neither ship belonged to a squadron anymore, being an attached battle division. So he’d left them behind. It had let him form his battleships into their squadrons very evenly, though. Ten Battle Squadrons six ships deep and about a kilometer between them. Once the battle was inevitably joined, the squadrons would shift to line astern, turning and increasing from the 10 knots travel speed to 22 knots, matching speed with their slowest units before meeting the Nihonese, who would hopefully be in a position where they could not withdraw without abandoning their older ships. However, ONI sources indicated that the Nihonese force at Adrillas was their older ships, which would make them limited to a speed no greater than 18 knots, four knots slower than his own fleet. The Breyburg fleet may limit the force to 20 knots but if so he’d just have to be a bit more sneaky. He’d make that decision closer to the day. For now, he sailed.

---

A man in nondescript business clothes entered the Confederate Embassy. He was a regular attendee, being an official liaison between the Manticoran State Department and the Embassy. That was, however, just his cover. His true loyalties were to the Office of Strategic Services but no one outside of the Ambassador, the Secretary of State, and the Chief of the OSS knew that. To everyone else and in all documents, he was a liaison. He walked briskly through the lobby, bypassing the receptionist with a nod and a quick greeting in Rusklandr. He’d had plenty of practice over the years and while his accent was foreign, his pronunciation was nearly perfect. He passed several guards, greeting them all the same way, occasionally stopping for idle small talk. It was all a carefully choreographed dance. He never rushed. Even when he had urgent information to pass, he walked with purpose but was sure to greet those he passed, even make conversation with the guards and workers he knew. All of it was carefully engineered to divert suspicion and make him less interesting. It also gave him plenty of opportunities to catch tails.
After several minutes, he reached the Ambassador’s door. It closed behind him and quick pleasantries were exchanged. Those would be the only words audible to any outside that office for the rest of the conversation was spoken in hushed voices. Five minutes later, almost on the dot, he said his farewells and walked out of the office. He retraced his steps, bidding farewell to guards and embassy staff as he passed, before leaving the Embassy and stepping into his chauffered car. His job was done.

(The following was written with the input and approval of Guuj Xaat Kil)
His visit resulted in a quick message wired from the embassy to the Confederation. Meetings were held and new orders were cut before being wired to Shishiri. More meetings and refinement of the orders before they were wired to the Confederate fleet and Admiral K’ap Taan. The Admiral could feel his subordinates eyes on him as he read the wire. He turned to face the signalman and ordered him to remain silent about the contents of the wire before turning to the others and informing them that the message was a routine advisory for him alone.