Interactive History V: The Duel of the Sea

[Franconicus]

Kraxis,
how do you manage to motivate so many people to participate in your Interactive. Amazing! Congrat!!

Please do not base your choices on Operation King Kurt, but be advised that I am keeping it in mind. We might get a chance to do it later.
I think we have to have a strategy if we want to win. Just choosing the alternatives wont get us very far. The boundaries are too tough. So could you give us all likitations, so we can discuss a plan?

[King Kurt]

Can I echo Franconicus - I do enjoy these interactive histories - shame that work gets in the way!!

Can I ask a question to the Interactive masters - how do you work out what happens next? Do you work out a consequence for each option? Do you have a storyline as a background? Do you just react to the combined thoughts of the participants? It struck me that it would be great to relate this to a game of some sort - not necessaryily a PC game - to give some more unknowns.

Keep up the good work boys - and Kraxis - my apologies about the interest in the Thames, I saw it as a sideshow or a bit of colour alongside raids on the channel ports, but people just seem to have become swept along with it - who knows, they might even have the German Fleet sailing in line past Big Ben!!

[Kagemusha]

A so far but a minority of two wants the two dreadnoughts to stay with the Finns (could that have an impact on your voting Kage?)

Ahem..My thoughts are only concerned to those forces that landed in Finnland and their safety...

[Doug-Thompson]

Sorry I didn't get in on this much earlier.

1 C: Do a raid on Dover or the scandianavian convoys with either a fast battlecruiser force or a slower stronger battleship group.

I'd go for the Scandinavian Convoys. Trying to shell Dover would run right into the "spider web" flying-boat anti-submarine patrols off the Belgian Coast by this point in the war, and suprise would be lost.

2) B: Scale down usage on wireless.

Ships can be attached to landline telegraph and telephone communication while in port. There was never a good reason for all that chatter.

3) B: Keep them at home for the time being.

By the end of 1916, Zeppelin reconnaisance had compiled a record of being seriously spotty.

4) B: Keep them at home.

If anything, I'd strip old ships of usable crew. Attaining numerical superiority is impossible by any means. Surprise, secrecy and speed are the only ways to really get anything accomplished. Also, by this time many of the navy's best officers were at sea in the U-boat war.

5) B: Let them stay, they are some of the oldest ships in the active fleet.

As I said in #4, material parity cannot be attained.

[Stig]

it's over m8

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Yeah we already won so whatever we did worked.

[Kraxis]

Btw guys, you might want to keep an eye on this thread for a while yet.

I might have been able to secure some nifty little flash maps of ships moving... Currently I will keep the source hidden until it might be ready (in case it won't be, then it would be unfair).

[Peasant Phill]

Thanks Kraxis, that would be great.

[Kraxis]

Kraxis,
how do you manage to motivate so many people to participate in your Interactive. Amazing! Congrat!!

Please do not base your choices on Operation King Kurt, but be advised that I am keeping it in mind. We might get a chance to do it later.
I think we have to have a strategy if we want to win. Just choosing the alternatives wont get us very far. The boundaries are too tough. So could you give us all likitations, so we can discuss a plan?

I did not wish to keep you from formulating future plans, not at all. But all choices need to be taken in the immediate context aswell as a more broad future context.

So formulating plans, and trying to keep them secret (good idea) but at the cost of intelligence and then blundering out might not be good for the near future.

Mind you I am not picking goods and wrongs here as that is determined by the collective answers of both teams over time. And that might answer your question King Kurt. I always have a broad plan, where do I want to go? And try to stick to it. But any specifics I always leave up to my audience. And those details might very well lead to disaster, but at times I am forced to veer from the course, for instance Antiochus' Dilemma was one such case. Usually I have 'right' and 'wrong' options but they are of course gone here, all choices have benefits and penalties.

To say it shortly, I make up each chapter as I go, each option's result being made up in advance. But there is a general guideline, in the case of Antiochus' Dilemma it was a major showdown with the Romans, but in that case the audience was a bit too intimidated.

[SwordsMaster]

MAybe you should set up an actual command system. With a Grand Admiral, his HQ, several Admirals, and chosen ship captains....

That'd push the level of immersion.

[Kraxis]

Yes, but it would lead to a case of people arguing over seniority, 'should this person know this' ect ect... It would become a mess for me to control and would lead to people taking over themselves.

I have been in this over at the .com where we had an RPG thread where each contributor was a medieval king/leader and the big boss was the Pope. Trust me, it had to be kept at a humerous level or else people would be killing each other. There was a snowball's chance in hell to be really serious. For instance I was the High Inquisitor of Poland and a hidden enemy of the Pope (in the political game, eventually I did attack militarily) and yet I launched a crusade to Edessa while my inquisition burned across eastern Europe. Meanwhile Russia and Byzantium kept invading and reinvading each other like there was no tomorrow. It was silly to be honest, fun but silly.
Here I try to keep it as simple, yet as immersive and plausible as possible, and that is best done if we look at it from a singler person's view, at least each time (Fronconicus has shown that differing viewpoints might create interesting debates).

The window for choices is closed... I need to post two chapters so in the meantime people can upset what I write if they come and change the selection of choices. So after this post and before the next chapter nothing can impact it.

[Kraxis]

26th of February

For just over a week you have been having especially the enlisted men in the very confined areas of the ships do serious physical workouts, with competions between the ships. Boxing, wrestling, running of various distances, and most importantly football matches. At first the crews weren't too keen on this, but by now they relish at the chances to beat each other at various sports. And initially there was little noise from the revolutionaries but as the workout began to gain popularity they began to become noisier and noisier. Trying to stirr the crews they have provoked fighting in town. To the casual observer it would seem that a full scale mutiny is on the verge of happening, but you have kept an eye on the men. Officers and NCOs have kept a clear record of who has been saying what and when, and it beomes clear that the crews themselves have not been particulary revolutionary, they have merely followed the best alternative to boredom. A small core of about 57 sailors have been identified as the worst rabblerousers.
Another benefit of this program has been the physical part of the crews have become not only stronger and better (obviously) they are also getting healthier and more satisfied withtheir lousy jobs of shoveling coal or handling ammo.

You also recalled Rheinland and Westfalen. Both the Finns and the crews of the two ships didn't like this, but there was little the ships were doing in Finland. And on the way back escorted by 6 torpedoboats they stumbled into a British convoy just north of the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic. The two heavy ships quickly sent the escorts to the bottom of the sea, then the torpedoboats helped in herding the merchants to German ports. An entire convoy captured, containing steel, coal, food and timber. A valuable haul.
While the Admiralty was overjoyed, and you gained valuable influence with them, you were not. You had painstakingly made sure to keep the transfer secret from British Intelligence, but this chance encounter exposed the move. But at least the crews of the two ships got some needed training in gunnery and their moraly has soared from this 'success'.

This was only part of your large scheme to keep the British in the dark of your ideas of winning the sea, if only temporarily. The wireless messages have been kept to a minimum, and only containing unimportant reports and requests. The Admiralty while not directly against this excercise haven't been to keen on keeping this up, and you know at some point they will start to blabber out your plans once more. You are certain that the wireless is the center of British Intelligence.
Also, while you had the chance to scout out the North Sea with zeppelieners, you chose not to, to keep everything secret. As well as keepign the secondary forces in their limited service, but both forces are kept ready to deploy, especially the airships.

Intelligence has indicated that the British battlecruisers left Rosyth the 18th, and the next day spies in Scapa Flow informed that heavy gunfire was heard from the large harbour. Presumably the British were training gunnery. You are not certain where the battlecruisers have gone, though traffic in Spaca has increased. Meanwhile you got a report on the number of enemy heavy units in Scapa Flow from the 18th, and other intelligence sources indicated that three or four heavy units are currently in Portsmouth. The numbes doesn't add up, even if you consider the Australia on convoy duty there is still a lack of three to six dreadnought (the reports are shaky on the precise numbers in Scapa). Intelligence has indicated that attention has been shown to the Med., but you are not sure of that as there is hardly any need for that. They HAVE to be here in the north, but where...
As you think on it, it might be a good to find them. If they are nearby you can perhaps catch a limited force alone, and if they are farther away you might disrupt some shipping with raiders.
But how should it be done? You could attempt to scout the near sea with small forces of ships, but should those be light cruisers, torpedoboats or perhaps even smaller vessels such as minesweepers and attackboats? Scout at night ot day? Of course the zeppeliners are a choice as well.

You also think on what to do specifically with the revolutionaries. Imprisonment? Could be dangerous as the others crewmembers might get 'that' feeling back, but the Admiralty would like that a lot. A sneaky transfer to the secondary forces? Might just cause a revolution on those ships. Send them to the front? But it isn't likely that the Army will recieve them freely, you might have to pull some influence with the Admiralty.

Also, now that the physical workout has done it's primary job, you don't know if it should be continued. Yes there is still much to be gained from it, but you would also like to trained the crews at sea. Especially the crews of Hindenburg wants to get to grips with the British, even if only in training, they are mainly the survivors of Lützow lost after Jutland due to the damage she had suffered. And both Baden and Bayern are fairly untested in larger manaeuvers, though trained well enough.

So what will it be?

1) The search for the lost British units.
A) Send out ships to find them, you get to pick the composition (light cruisers and torpedoboats, small vessels for a shortrange search, heavy units to engage them... ect ect..)
B) Use the zeppeliners. Define the searcharea for them, it can be all from 'everywhere' to a single zeppeliner just looking off your harbours (remember this is not an indication that you chose badly before just that the zeppeliners are on standby ready to do their job whenever you wish it, expect them to pop up as a choice for practically every chapter).
C) Do not look at all. They should present themselves in time, also such active searches might expose something bad.

2) The revolutionaries.
A) Lock 'em up! This will likely generate influence from not only the Admiralty but also the Emperor himself. This can be very good indeed. But the regualr crews might not take to this very kindly.
B) Ship them off to the secondary forces. This way they will be gone, yet not affect the regular crews with their 'martyrdom'. But they mgiht cause revolutionary thinking in the secondary units, which are even worse off with boredom.
C) Use what little influence you have with the Admiralty to send them to the Western Front. That should make short work of them. They will never return.

3) General maneuvers.
A) Continue the physical program. Will lead to faster reloading and less tiring in battle, but little else. But you also risk nothing.
B) Set out to train maneuvers and gunnery in the close waters. Small risk of running into a few mines but also makes the fleet ready to set after any enemy force nearby.
C) You own choice, but remember nothing too complicated as you are still fairly new to the fleet as Admiral. They need to get to know you. Also each choice that is different from what ahs previously been suggested will be considered another seperate choice, effectively creating a D, an E and F and so on. You need to chose among youselves if you go with this. If all have one and doesn't agree it is up to the arguments.

[Kagemusha]

1) The search for the lost British units.B) Use the zeppeliners. Send zeppelins out to look for them but stay away from British fighters if possible.

2) The revolutionaries.C) I think the men can talk less and do more in the trenches of the Western front.

3) General maneuvers.B) Set out to train maneuvers and gunnery in the close waters.Now that the basic health is getting better we can start the training the crews in their posts.

[Kraxis]

1B... Where should they search?

[Franconicus]

[QUOTE=Kraxis][B]1) The search for the lost British units.
B) Use the zeppeliners, study the norway to scotland route C) Do not look at all. They should present themselves in time, also such active searches might expose something bad.

2) The revolutionaries.
B) Ship them off to the secondary forces. Even though I do not like that. We should send them somewhere else, to the mine sweeper for example. This are very small boats, so they cannot do much damage and the sweepers have casualties too. Maybe we can send them to small units and arrest them after a while. So nobody would notice it.

3) General maneuvers.
B) Set out to train maneuvers and gunnery in the close waters.