Iberian News 1908

[miketr]

Palace in Madrid
Meeting of Council of State

Present:
Prince of Asturias, HIRH Jamie
Prime Minister of Iberia, Don Felipe González y Márquez
Head of the Army, General de Ejército Manuel Gutiérrez y Mellado
Head of the Navy, Almirante General Pascual Cervera y Topete
Foreign Minister, Miguel Moratinos

"Gentlemen I understand we have some type of update on the Pacific War that affects us in some way," Jamie said from the head of the table. 

Everyone looked towards Almirante General Pascual Cervera y Topete, "Yes I received message via one of our embassies naval attaché's."  Pausing to consider the best way to phrase it then shrugged and plunged ahead, "The Dutch are pissed that we are trading with the Swiss."

General de Ejército Manuel snorted in response to the announcement.  While the Prince's eye's narrowed before he looked at the Foreign Minister.

Miguel Moratinos flushed slightly in response, "This is the first I have heard of any new complaints. Nothing from there ambassador here or from ours at The Hague."

"Admiral is there anything else to this information?"  Don Felipe asked quietly. 

Wordlessly the admiral reached into a bag at his side and passed out two sets of telegrams around the table.  The he said, "The first is the initial message and the second is confirmation from a separate source.  I think we all agree that with these sources it's impossible to ignore the info."

"Stupid bastards... were trading as much with the alliance as we are with Swiss, more so.  Your yards are going to repair that Battleship this spring?"  The army's chief said.

The Almirante General nodded as he answered, "Yes that repair job is far larger than the work we are doing for the Swiss and were doing it basically at cost right now.  The real payment to be worked out after the war is over." 

"This is too much; I have had it with the Dutch child like tantrums their about to win the war!  Vienna is sure the war will end before mid summer so the Swiss repair job doesn't matter and the other shipment to Swiss won't matter either."   A clearly angry Prince announced. 

Turning to the Foreign Minister the prince all but screamed, "We are not going to put up with this get their ambassador over here right this second!  I am going to tell him to off personally and then we're going to eject him and there whole delegation from the country."

The Navy Chief interrupted, "Your highnesses I agree totally that this is an outrage, but if we let the Dutch know about this it's going to be fairly clear were the info had to have come from.  There not stupid, pigheaded perhaps but not idiots and our friends wanted this kept quiet."

A frustrated Prince picked up his copy of the messages and crumpled them into a ball before chucking it back on to the table.  "Very well you have something else in mind Admiral I assume?"

"Yes your highness it's fairly clear the Dutch were going to pull a fast one and try to intercept the material early; so perhaps the Atlantic or Mediterranean.  We already have convoys going through the Indian Ocean with French help.  I quietly confirmed that they are still going to help us." Pausing to be sure everyone was following him the Admiral then continued, "We what do is expand the convoy system to include the Med and the payment for the islands we send under a special convoy with Battleship escort out through the Darien Canal.  Our cruiser resources are stretched but I can't believe the Dutch will try anything if we have an actual warship on hand."

The Prince was thinking about the statement when the Prime Minister spoke up, "How many cruisers do we have Admiral?"

Looking briefly uncomfortable before answering, "The three protected cruisers of the Gorilla Class and 20 Torpedo Boats."

Looking up from his thoughts the Prince asked, "Is that enough Admiral to assure safe passage of our material?" 

Answering once more the Admiral said, "Assure it?  No but its all we have as all the other cruisers are in the Philippines' and the battleships can escort the other shipment.   There is no way Dutch ship can enter the Med without us knowing about it.  So the Atlantic is the problem but all the Swiss material is coming from here so if they seize anything in the Atlantic it's going for the Germans or our own use anyways."

"What do we do if the Dutch do seize something Admiral?" 

The admiral shrugged once more, "Well that's why we have the escorts; we fight.  On that point I have drawn up a more liberal set of Rules of Engagement for our ships captains if the Dutch try to stop them."
         
Speaking once more the prince said flatly, "Do it Admiral and get those Dutch war plans off the back burner.  Send  a war warning to all our holdings... and we can hope the allies win before the Dutch do something stupid." 

Below unlike the top will be publicly known

MESSSAGE TO ALL IBERIAN COMMANDS *STOP* THIS IS A WAR WARNING *STOP* HOSTILITIES COULD BREAK OUT WITH COUNTRY O1 WITHOUT, REPEAT WITHOUT FURTHER WARNING *STOP* COUNTRY O1 MAY ATTEMPT TO INTERCEPT IBERIAN CIVILIAN NAVAL TRAFFIC *STOP* TAKE ALL NECESSARY STEPS TO SAFE GUARD YOUR COMMAND *STOP* THIS IS NO DRILL, REPEAT THIS IS NO DRILL *STOP*

As an example of unforeseen consequences once the various commanders receive the war warning several military commanders on there own begin closing Iberian ports to Netherlands shipping.  This includes the Philippines', Iberian Chagos, Puerto Rico and Northern Brazil almost at once.  It will be a day or two before Madrid figures out what has happened or its scope.

[miketr]

Two days after the last meeting
Palace in Madrid
Meeting of Council of State

Present:
Prince of Asturias, HIRH Jamie
Prime Minister of Iberia, Don Felipe González y Márquez
Head of the Army, General de Ejército Manuel Gutiérrez y Mellado
Head of the Navy, Almirante General Pascual Cervera y Topete
Foreign Minister, Miguel Moratinos

"Admiral what exactly did you do?  I said a warning not to close ports."  Jamie asked.

"If I may your highness were past that..." The Foreign Minister placed a copy of the conservative daily paper, ABC on the table.

The main headline is "WAR WITH THE DUTCH!!!"

The prince and several others groaned, "Oh that is just perfect..."

"The one thing I am worried about is there hasn't been any response to the port closures from the Dutch."  Moratinos said while looking at the news article.

Don Felipe looked up surprised, "None at all?"

"None at all."

Speaking for the first time General de Ejército Manuel announced, "There committed and are going to attack.  So why give us any more warning?"

"Attack with what?" Almirante General Pascual asked and then answered his own question, "The bulk of their naval force is in the far east."

"As is ours..."

"Not exactly General, our battleline, the three protected cruisers and twenty ocean going torpedo boats are in the Atlantic.  The Dutch have stripped their homeland down to the bone.  I still can't believe they would attack us here.  Hell we could cut there supply line to the Pacific off at the knees.  Perhaps even threaten the Netherlands itself."

"Who do you think you are the Duke of Parma?"

"I said threaten not..."

"If the Dutch won't act here then..."

"Gentlemen...  Enough." The prince interrupted the military men.  "As the minister pointed out we have a local problem to deal with also."  Tapping the newspaper.

The Prime minster spoke up, "My office got a interview request from the Editor of La Vanguardia I don't think it was a fishing expedition.  I can't just sit on it either my collation is hardly set in stone."

"That Liberal rag out of Barcelona?"  General de Ejército Manuel asked with a snort.

"Yes along with several other papers even the sports tabloid El Mundo Deportivo asked for one."  The prime minister finished.

"Make something up to keep them quiet..."

"No I don't think so General." The prime minister said flatly.

Taking a deep breath before going on, "Your Highness, Admiral and General the simple fact of the matter is if this blows up in our faces my government is going to go down in flames.  Especially when it comes out we have been sitting on information."

The prince looked thoughtful before asking, "What do you have in mind Don González?"

"We release some of the information and make the port closure general.  We can't look hesitant on this issue."  Pausing to light a cigar, "I would like to do more but I am hopping if we give an appearance of strength the Dutch will back done or at least take no action and this goes no further.   Miguel ?"

The foreign minister shrugged, "We in effect told them not to bring the issue up last fall so I have no idea how they might react as no one in my ministry has had any contact with the Dutch."

The Prince turned slightly red for a moment, "And plotting to attack our shipping is what minister?"

"As I said Highness I don't know what's going through their head, we asked them to back off and so far they have.   If they do try something...  In light of our public statements in the past and whatever we say to the press now we have somewhat boxed ourselves in to a corner in terms of response."

The Prince clearly unhappy with the answer turned to the admiral, "If they won't try anything in the Atlantic or rather won't get anything out of it and we have convoys else where what then?"

The Admiral shrugged, "As I said before I think it's highly unlikely that they would risk directly confr...  On the other hand the Dutch and Swiss have being using mines a great deal.  Something else to consider."

"Very well Prime Minister do what you have to, Admiral and General continue with your own work.  All we can do is wait and see."

********

Within a day all Iberian Ports are closed to Netherlands shipping.  Emergencies will be given entry but then interned. 

[Borys]

The next day in Vienna Enrico di Runio summons the Dutch and Iberian amabassadors and offers mediation in the latest spate of Ibero-Nederlandish "misunderstandings".


OOC
"Who do you think you are - the Duke of Parma?"
LOL! Great!
But wasn't he the duke of Alba?

[miketr]

IC Madrid waits on action from the Hague

OOC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Farnese%2C_Duke_of_Parma

Was far more successfull Governor of the Netherlands than...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_%C3%81lvarez_de_Toledo%2C_3rd_Duke_of_Alba

Who was something of a butcher.

Michael

[maddox]

Paris, offices of premier Paixhans.


"WHAT, you must be kidding.  The Iberian newspapers are drumming up a call to war?"

[miketr]

OOC Lets see, scandal-mongering (check), sensationalism (check), jingoism (perhaps) or other unethical or unprofessional practices (printing a story off of rumor and guess?  Check) by news media organizations or journalists. 

Yellow journalism, isn't it grand?

[Borys]

OOC
Ahoj!
I combined the two into a single person :)
Borys

[Desertfox]

Hmm I have some captured Dutch ships, maybe I should start using them...

[miketr]

Hmm I have some captured Dutch ships, maybe I should start using them...

Hmmm....  Wow that would be evil....

Thumps the bad Swiss / Pirate for naughty ideas... 

[miketr]

Biography of the Emperor of Iberia, Jaime I.

Jaime was the only son of Carlos, then Duke of Madrid, and of his wife Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma. He was born at Vevey in Switzerland, June 27th, 1870.

Jaime was educated by the Jesuits first at the Collège de Vaugirard in Paris and then at Beaumont College in Old Windsor. He then attended the Theresian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt in Austria.
In 1896 Jaime received a commission in the Russian Army. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Guards Regiment of the Grodno Hussars. 

During 1898 while on leave in Munich Jaime met Princess Mathilde von Bayern of the Wittelsbach Family.  The two became close and it is rumored that Jaime proposed but pressure from the Spanish Government and Mathilde own family caused the engagement to be broken off.

In 1902 Spain was plunged into the red terror and a number of areas rose in revolt.  With Austrian support Carlos raised the standard of Carlism once more in Spain.  Jaime along with his uncle Alfonso joined Carlos in the campaign to restore legitimate Bourbon line to the throne of Spain.  The fighting dragged on till 1903 when it was ended by treaty and Spain was split along the old fifteenth century lines and the Kingdom of Aragon is restored with Carlos as its king and Jaime as heir apparent.  The campaign saw Jaime taking personal part in the fighting.

With the Carlist fortune undergoing a massive reversal Jaime once more proposed to Mathilde and this time the marriage went forward.  In late 1903 the couple was married in a lavish ceremony in Barcelona's Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia.  October 10th 1904 infante Fernando de Bourbon y Wittelsbach was born and baptized in the same cathedral as his parents wedding

1905 saw both Spain and Portugal plunged into chaos once more.  At which point Carlos was able to bring order to the situation and the union of nations known as Iberia.  Jaime over time had taken a more active role in support of his father's government.  When the new constitution was issued for Iberia, Jaime played a key role to bring it about.  Carlos had ruled Aragon as an absolute Monarchy by divine right.  Jaime was able to make the case that the ideas of the seventeenth century might no longer work in the twentieth; in particular over a newly unified nation that had been subjected to war in all of its parts within the last 10 years. 

The year 1906 would see the prince dealt a personal blow.  His wife the Princess Mathilde has been fighting lung problems for many years was stricken with a severe case of pneumonia.  She died that fall while trying to recover at an imperial residence on the Mediterranean coast.  Her body was interred in the Bourbon family crypt in Madrid.  The princess was just short of her 29th birthday when she died.

By 1907 Jaime had become a key fixture of the Iberian government and would see this role increased when that fall the Emperor became ill and in turn died.

Emperor Jaime besides his Iberian titles also pretender to a number of other ones.  These include the following.

Jaime has a claim to the title eastern title, Emperor of the Romans as he is descended from and is the successor of Ferdinand II of Aragon. Ferdinand received these rights as de jure Roman Emperor by the last will and testament of the ultimate Palaiologos claimant of the Byzantine Empire, Andreas Palaiologus, a nephew of the Emperor Constantine XI, who was the last to actually reign in Constantinople and was killed in 1453.  A number of others also claim this title.

Claim to the title of King of Jerusalem.  This crusader title passed down from Brienne Family line as kings of Cyprus and to its many successors.  The Spanish Bourbon claim to the throne is through King Louis XIV who laid his own claim to the title that has been kept up by the Spanish Bourbon line.  A number of other royal families and even the Pope also lays claim to the title.

Legitimist claimant to the vacant French throne through his ancestor Philip V of Spain the first Spanish Bourbon king and his grandfather Louis XIV King of France.  As such Jaime has among his styles Jacques de Bourbon, Duc d'Anjou.  The claim came into effect with the 1883 death of Henri, comte de Chambord and the extinction of the senior French Bourbon line.  Then Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne Juan, Count of Montizón the Grandfather of Jaime accepted the claim to the French throne without pursing the title in anyway.  The claim passed down his line to Jaime today.  This claim is of course disputed by other Legitimist's and Orléanist claimant because of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht that settled the War of Spanish succession where Philip renounced his rights and those of his descendants to the throne of France.

Claim to the throne of King of the Two Sicilies.  This claim stems from the second of the Carlists, Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin (1818 – 1861) Jaime's Great Grandfather.  Carlos succeeded to his fathers claim to the throne of Spain following his father's abdication in 1845.  After the unification of Italy in 1847 and the abdication of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies line of their royal dignities to King of Sardinia Vittorio Emmanuele II; Infante Carlos said the Scilian title instead defaulted back to the Spanish Bourbon line of which he was legal heir.  The Infante Carlos like his father was a strong believer in the divine right of kings and felt that that the democratic nature of the Italian unification disqualified the Bourbon-Two Sicilies line.  Also Spain of course had its own long history of involvement with the Italy.  OOC: of these claims this one is totally made up by me but with the changes of the N3 world I think it tracks.

OOC2: The Aragon and the following Iberian government have never used these titles in official or diplomatic dispatches.  There use is limited to the Spanish House of Bourbon.

[Borys]

The funeral of Carlos I was very well attended by royalty. If somebody bothered to look - and there were people whose busines it was to look - then they would had noticed parallel droping out of view of the Habsburg Emperor Stefan and the de facto ruler of Bavaria, Prinzregent Liutpold.

http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=1343.msg12449#msg12449

[miketr]

Arsenal Naval de Cartagena

"How the hell did something like this happen?" A red faced Almirante General Pascual Cervera y Topete asked.

The various bureaucrats and engineers tried to turn invisible under the admiral's glare.  After a few moments one of the engineers spoke up, "Sir it's the imported turbines, boilers and other fittings for the engine machinery."

The chief of the navy clearly annoyed answered shortly, "Care to expand on that statement?"

The engineer flushed briefly and then continued on, "Ah... you see we miscalculated."
"I thought you said there was something wrong with the engines and now you made the mistake... which is it man."

"The new armored cruisers are to have 48,000 SHP engines for 24.8 knots at normal load, Sir." Another engineer put in.

Pascual looked at the new voice, "I am aware of the details, that figure is constant to all major designs for the cruiser."

The first engineer said, "You see the German machinery delivers 20.66 SHP per ton." 

Tapping the table Pascual just raised an eyebrow in response...

The two engineers said almost together, "We assumed machinery that would deliver 16.52 SHP per ton."

"This sounds familiar, very familiar gentlemen."

"Yes Admiral, a very similar error occurred with the Henrique o Navegador Armored Cruisers..."
"One that we caught very quickly I might add."

The admiral looked at the bureaucrat that just spoke up and said nothing before looking back at the engineers.

"So it's a difference in weight of nearly 600 tons but the difference in weight will not affect the ships trim in any major way."

"Bottom line it gentlemen what negative effects are we looking at here?"

The engineers looked at each other, "Well none Admiral."

"And the 5th design changes are because?"

"Well we thought we could make use of the extra displacement."

For the first time Pascual didn't look ready to cut someone's head off, "What sort of changes are we looking at?"

The led engineer, handed over a sheet of paper.

AC-1907-E1 (main belt 10" from 8", ends and upper belt 5" from 4" and +2.3" from 2" armored deck)
AC-1907-E2 (Increase cruise speed from 10 knots to 12 knots, effectively 5,000 more nm at 10 knots)
AC-1907-E3 (Increase main belt height to 16.73" from 10.73")
AC-1907-E4 (main belt 9" from 8", ends and upper belt 4.5" from 4"
Increase cruise speed from 10 knots to 12 knots, range goes to 8,800 nm, effectively 3,000 more nm at 10 knots
Increase main and end belt height to 11.73" from 10.73")

The led engineer spoke up again, "Also we can make the changes without any meaningful additional delay."

"Very well gentlemen the staff will look over the changes and get back to you quickly.  At the same time I want some type of new system in place to make sure problems will NOT occur again."

[Walter]

... Unless I read something wrong...  but don't you mean feet (') with the belt heights instead of inches (")?

[miketr]

Yah...  thickness in inches and height in feet.

Michael

[miketr]

Iberian Chuvosa, Bom Liete Island

June 29 - NSS Launceston caught in port by French warships, interned.