Kaap Kourier

[P3D]

"Messierurs, as we all know, we are to discuss how we can spend the taxpayers' money the most efficiently." After the chuckles, Minister Garassy continued. "The liaison to the Ministry of Finance is present " nodding to two bureaucrats sitting next by the table" so they could advance with the financial planning for the next year. Could you summarize the current status of the fleet, Admiral?"
"The brief war with Italy" started Admiral Zuigenbrogge " and the escalated tensions more or less rewrote the naval planning. Instead of building fast frigates, we had to start an ad-hoc korvette and submarine program, using existing designs, and managed to give every single large shipyard naval orders, to the great satisfaction of the Parliamentary Representatives. Design work on an emergency korvette was not finished until the short war was over. Instead of the frigates, we bought two expensive cruisers from Russia. Last year, two additional cruisers were laid down. The latter were essentially a lengthened version of the latest battleships in service."
"The latest two battleships are on sea trials now. This gives Orange the battleline strength of four ships with 13.5" guns and two with 12" guns capable of 23kts. Two older battleships are not really fit for first-line duty, against 14" and 15" guns. The two mentioned cruisers under construction, in theory, could join the current battleline."
"What is the situation about the Russian battleships? As I undertood it from the last briefing, such ships would be deployed against Italy in case of war" intejected one of the Finance bureaucrats.
"It is still under consideration. Those ships would need some refit, even an extensive reconstruction. The Italians were reluctant to get first-class battleships into the Rift Sea, and to counter their old pre-Arcadias they'd suffice. In case they were bought, the most ambitious reconstruction plan envisions installing new engines, bringing their speed up to the battleline standard, with the two oldest Orange battleships getting similar treatment. On the other hand, such would take the place of new construction - or the Russians might just decide to keep the ship at the end. But that would still leave Orange wanting in modern battleships, especially in four or five years."
"Thanks to the war program, Orange now has sufficient number of korvettes, not as if we could not do with more. To complement the cruiser force in commerce protection and raiding, four somewhat unique ships were laid down. They are using diesel engines for cruising, but they have traditional steam machinery - adapted from a korvette design for higher speeds. It is envisioned these would act in support of the existing six cruisers."
"In a meeting before the war, you mentioned the ongoing work on the development of the 16" gun " noted the minister . "That  is, Orange could lay down much better ships  in 1917 than in '15 or '16."
"Indeed. Messieurs, I am indeed proud that the first time in its existence, the ORN could lay down ships that are better than  anything afloat or under construction. The question is of course finance and resources. There are three primary designs considered. The first is a truly economy version, as far as battleships go, similar to the latest French programs, with two quadruple 16" turrets. Besides firepower, this would have only marginal improvements over the current battleships, but won't be significantly larger or expensive. Then there are two bigger ships, both about the size of the current largest French, Baltic or Colombian  ships. One has three turrets, and improved armor compared to the economy one. The other is capable of 29kts, a possible counter to the latest planned French battlecruisers. Or whatever the Brandenburgers will be building. And there are the really monstre versions outlined only for the sake of completeness, but they are surprisingly not as efficient in how much tonnage they  need to bear each turret".
"Which design would be proposed in the 1917 budget?"
"Allocation plans are already made. f the Russian deal fails to materialize, I don't see a possibility for the cruiser - the 29 knots - version."
"What about submersibles? Are there plans to repeat the 1915 building frenzy?" asked the other man from Finance.
"There was a huge number of them built last year, and the accelerated training program could not really get into gear during the war, so there were serious manning problems last year, which forced the Navy to withdraw the eight old petrol submarines into reserve, which were later sold to Ireland, and are currenly undergoing an overhaul before they are delivered. Our first submersible is already assigned for training duties only. As far as I can tell, the Orange Republic has the most modern submarine fleet. And only Gran Colombia has 1000t boats besides Orange. Regarding the boats sold to Bharat, we are still provided some limited operational information through our advisors. They surveyed the damage assessment on one of the submarine that was damaged by a French depth charge and provided some assitance in the repairs.  Lessons learned will be incorporated in the next design. Communication is provided by our troop ships that are still shipping some refugees to Tortugas.
Submarine construction will be decreased to provide building capacity to other light crafts, but continue in order not to let building expertise deteriorate. This was decided after the navy had some quality issues with several the boats built by the smaller shipyards that haven't done such work before, but these were straightened out during the shakedown, even if it took longer for some of the boats. "
"What about naval aviation? That seems to be the rage of today."
"We started experiments wth the frigate Kimberley. As those ships have their combat power significantly reduced in the last few years, we might want to look for alternative ways to utilize them."

[P3D]

Kaap Kourier

May 02, 1916

Gaius Marius Camilla, the emperor of the Italian Empire passed away. He was reigning over an empire that is only a shadow of glory of the Roma known from history books. With a country that is far from being the most developed one in Europe, he nevertheless tried to expand its colonial borders on the expense of Egypt and New Zion, with only a few thousand square kilometers of desert to show for the effort. He also managed to maneuver Italy into the French Sphere of Interest in order to secure European borders. This is despite the great dichotomy of the continually shrinking French Empire and Italian expansionist ambitions overseas.
His greatest political success, however, was bringing the Holy See back to Vatican from the centuries long exile in Avignon.
He is mourned by the Italian nation, two sons, two daughters, sixteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Due to the political differences between Pretoria and Roma, the Office of the president issued only a short statement, expressing condolences to the closest family members.