Part 2 - Austro-Hungarian doctrine (August 1900 - September 1900)
For the next two months, Admiral Mansfeld sent a hundreds and hundreds letters and made even more telephone calls to get a grasp of the state the navy was in. If there was one thing the Monarchy excelled in, it was bureaucracy. There were numerous research teams working on dozens of projects but they were not coordinated in any way. While the majority was based either in Trieste, Pula or Fiume, there were research teams also in Vienna, Budapest, Wiener Neustadt, Linz and Zagreb. To improve their coordination and mutual communication, Mansfeld immediately ordered for all the research teams that are not in coastal cities to rebase to Vienna and Budapest.
However, his main activity was elsewhere. He called for several meetings with officers, both old and new, to talk about the very concept of the Imperial and Royal navy. Should it defend the coast? Should it seek out and destroy enemy fleets? Should it attack merchant shipping? And do we have enough money for it? Mansfeld wanted to know their opinions for their expertise may play crucial role in the future.
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Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Trieste | Admiral Mansfeld addressing young officers |
However, another threat was imminent; one far more sinister than Italy with all its ships. Social democrats.
Mansfeld immediately departed for Vienna. His goal was clear - to prove to the ignorant politicians that should doom come to this Monarchy, it will be from the outside, carried by large ships of foreign nations and not from the hungry or desperate citizens inside. He knew damn well that while citizens might be desperate sometimes, they never bring 12 inch guns with them. Unlike the Italians. And it was his goal to persuade social democratic government that the only way to prevent this is to have the mast on which the red-white-red flag is flying taller and stronger than anyone else. And that it costs money.
The Admiral, in his blue overcoat, with the
Knight's Cross of Military Order of Maria Theresa and the
Signum Laudis proudly pinned on breast, and with three other Navy officers approached the delegation composed of members of both the Austrian Parliament and the Diet of Hungary:
"Meine Herren, I will speak shortly and harshly. The times are hard. Our treasury is not in a happy state. I know.
Don't get me wrong, I do understand that the poor need help. I should know. There were times when I had no money to pay my butler and he often had to go to sleep with an empty stomach. I had only the deepest sympathies for the men. When my daughter was getting married, the dowry I could give her was not the most spectacular. Hell, there were even times I had to buy Inländer Rum instead of imports. Nevertheless, we must not forget that every dumpling and every schnitzel we give to the poor is a piece of coal and a piece of ammunition that we take from our sailors! This navy, this fleet, is the force on the frontier of the Monarchy. We fight so you might live without ever seeing war. We fight for broad white Viennese boulevards! We fight to preserve the freedom granted to us by our limited suffrage! We fight for the Kaiser! And we cannot fight empty handed!
I ask you, gentlemen, to reconsider your decision and to give those Krönen back to the Navy. You may not want to spend the funds on the Navy now, but there will come a time when you will wish you had. But then it will be late. Spend money now and go to sleep with a clear conscience. Or take from the naval budget and know that you have undermined the very foundations this Monarchy stands on.
I have just one more question for you, gentlemen: "Would Tegetthoff come back victorious from Lissa had he been given but wooden washtubs?" Hardly. All I ask is: don't force us to sail in washtubs. Take from the poor and build the mightiest fleet there ever was!"
The politicians looked at Mansfeld in silence. Then the whole crowd started cheering.
"Glory to the Kriegsmarine," they shouted.
"Long live the Kaiser," they shouted.
"Screw the poor," they shouted. The Navy was saved this time. However, foreign press took note of this extraordinary meeting and soon Austro-Hungarian embassies all around the world were bombarded with letters explaining concerns about the sudden warmongering in the social democratic government. But the politicians slept calmly, knowing they made the right choice.
With the budget saved, Mansfeld boarded a special train dispatched by the military from Vienna Nordbahnhof and departed for his new home at admiralty in Pula. Once there, he invited all the officers he spoke to in the previous months to hold a debate that would shape the Kaiserliche Kriegsmarine for years to come. He presented them with four concepts that he worked on without a pause ever since he arrived to Pula. These were:
1) Battleship focused fleet
Battleship fleet aims to maintain powerful battleline made out of battleships (obviously). It uses destroyers and light cruisers to screen the battleships and neglects heavy cruisers as their role would more or less overlap with battleships. It can accumulate quite a lot of Victory points as it should dominate most of the battle types except for Destroyer skirmishes and Cruiser battles. Battleship fleet aims for a decisive battle where it can win the war in one mighty blow. The same of course goes in reverse - a disaster at sea is much more difficult to overcome than with a fleet that uses more indirect approaches. The most obvious downside is, of course, that battleships are expensive to build and also expensive to maintain. Given the Austro-Hungarian position, all ships will be built in short range + cramped accommodations versions to improve their combat capabilities. This approach requires steady investment in enlarging the docks to be allowed to build ships of larger displacements.
Research will be focused on
armour (reduces weight of armour) and
machinery (reduces weight of engines) to make the battleships better performing,
naval guns (either allows new calibers or improves quality of already-developped guns) to allow mounting larger weapons,
turrets and gun mountings (allows more guns per turret, allows installing larger secondaries and also improves rate of fire) and
ship design (allows better turret design in allowing cross-fire capability, superimposed turrets (a turret can fire over the turret in front of it) but a lot of these upgrades can happen to only affect cruisers and thus are potentially wasted).
Torpedo technology (improves the range, speed and damage of torpedoes),
light forces and torpedo warfare (improves destroyers and light cruisers),
submarines (improves submarines, duh),
fleet tactics (improves cooperation between different types of ships and can allow mine laying etc.) and
ASW technology will be neglected.
2) Balanced fleet
Balanced fleet aims to maintain a delicate balance between the ship types, which means that it has both heavy cruisers and battleships, as well as light cruisers and destroyers for screening. To have a clearly defined role for heavy cruisers, those will be built with long range and normal accommodation to enable them to act as surface raiders (others in the typical Mediterranean fashion of short range + cramped accommodations). The main strength of this type of navy lies again with the battleships. The advantage of this approach is that should a research breakthrough appear in any area, the fleet can exploit it and accommodate ships of that type without the need to redefine its philosophy and being lighter on budget since there is not that much battleships. Since the fleet still rests on battleships, some investments in dry docks are needed.
Research will be focused on
machinery (reduces weight of engines),
turrets and gun mountings (allows more guns per turret, allows installing larger secondaries and also improves rate of fire),
ship design (allows better turret design in allowing cross-fire capability, superimposed turrets (a turret can fire over the turret in front of it) but a lot of these upgrades can happen to only affect cruisers and thus are potentially wasted),
light forces and torpedo warfare and
fire control (more accuracy).
Torpedo technology, submarines, armour, subdivision and damage control (less flooding, better anti-torpedo protection) and
ASW will be neglected.
3) Small ships focused fleet
The fleet that does not use battleships but instead relies on lighter forces, that is destroyers and light and heavy cruisers. Obviously, the advantage is much faster construction, cheaper ships (although very good heavy cruiser can be nearly as expensive as a battleship) and being able to pick fights due to higher speeds of lighter vessels. The disadvantage is that such a fleet will be outgunned and outranged in any engagement that involves large ships. It is possible to swarm a battleship line with torpedos from destroyers, but such an attack can (and does) very easily turn into bloodbath for the smaller vessels as a torpedo attack against larger ships is generally an all-or-nothing scenario. Also it should be noted that early torpedoes are generally not very menacing weapons and are meant more as a way to finish a crippled ship than a regular weapon. This of course changes with time. Such a fleet can easily replace losses and does not require heavy investment in dry docks. Due to lighter budget, it should be possible to afford additional sums to practice training in night fighting (better performance at night) and torpedo warfare (better use of torpedoes by the crews). Some submarines may complement the fleet.
Research will be focused on
light forces and torpedo warfare, torpedoes (A-H has national bonus in developing those),
machinery,
fleet tactics and
fire control
Naval guns, armour, subdivison and damage control, ASW and
hull construction will be neglected
4) Indirect approach
A fleet that does not want to fight. It should maintain a large squadrons of surface raiders (potentially building battlecruisers, ie. big fast ships with big guns but bad armour) and a large submarine fleet to disrupt enemy trade lines. The rest of the fleet is rather similar to small ships focused fleet. The advantage is having faster ships and not having to fight a superior foe directly. Obvious disadvantage is that surface raiders are very easy to lose and early submarines are very (VERY) unreliable in that they more often sink due to mechanical failures than the actions of the enemy. Other problem is that due to insufficient presence, it is rather easy for the enemy to perform a blockade.
Research will be focused on
submarines, fire control, naval guns, machinery and
ship design.
Armour, hull, subdivision and damage control, fleet tactics and
ASW will be neglected.
Academy building where the meeting was held |
The meeting lasted for several days but in the end, all these good men in the service of their good Emperor decided that the only way to transform the
K.u.K. Kriegsmarine into the best fighting force on the globe is... (to be decided)
So, yes, cast your votes. I hope there will be more than 1 vote in the end
Also, if something is not unclear about how the game works, feel free to ask.
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