Test Budgets

[Tanthalas]

My aproach to ships is proly going to be similar to the one Charles is taking, although now that I think about it im likley to go turret crazy

[ctwaterman]

Its a nice balanced approach relying on proven technology with a few well lets test a Coles Ericson turret and see how it performs for 5 years.

Given my huge interior river frontage with Hostile Native Tribes, hopefully peacful Confederation of Northern States and well how does one go about describing Texans ?????   Mexico is across the Gulf of Mexico and they might be useful trading partners if "Santana" the self described Napoleon of the West is removed from office permanently or is safely burried... and we are checking to make sure....

[Sachmle]

Just don't forget that the Ohio river locks and dams weren't finished until 1929. The Louisville and Portland Canal was done in 1830 and the Davis Island Lock and Dam was finished in 1885, but after that you're looking at a while before you can sends ships the whole length without unloading one and reloading it onto another at the lower/higher level, let alone moving warships around the length.

[ctwaterman]

Not a problem I think most of the area north of where the Locks are today is not my territory the lower Ohio in Kentucky is me north of that is not me.

I think for now both of us view the rappids as a nice way to make sure the river isnt used as a potential invasion route.  Not that I really want to invade my largest trading partner *I am not insane like Germany in Both World Wars* but its just one less thing to worry about.  Besides... the rappids make it harder for smugglers to avoid both our nations customs houses.

Why Sir whatever is in those 80 whiskey barrels and without a customs or tax stamp from either of our nations....???

[Desertfox]

Mexico is across the Gulf of Mexico and they might be useful trading partners if "Santana" the self described Napoleon of the West is removed from office permanently or is safely burried... and we are checking to make sure....

Who???  ;) He is dead, killed of a while back.

I am just going to spam monitors from 1865 onwards, with a few armored frigates sprinkled here and there.

[Carthaginian]

Following the U.S. N. recipe for success?

Burkespam to the frickin' moon!!!

[Korpen]

Following the U.S. N. recipe for success?

Burkespam to the frickin' moon!!!

Well, monitors can be quite effective as long as one do not ask too much of them.

For the drydock sizes I honestly just flipped through a book I have that has a collection of warships (mainly battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers, escorts nd aircraft carriers) from 1860 (Warrior and Passaic-clss monitors) through modern day so I simply went through writing down lengths, beams, and drafts along with rough tonnages and so I ended up picking wht I thought was a decent range of sizes.  Oh well maybe I'll go back and revise that part.  Only problem is that I don't have a lot of excess upkeep capacity. 

You do not need to increase their cost; 10m+ is far deeper then necessary until after ww2, so you can lengthen them by around 20% just by reducing the depth capability of the drydock.

As a guideline VERY sleek ships have a B:D of 2,5 -1, for most ships it is usually over 3-1 (and even that is quite extreme). So there is never any reason to have dry-docks with a depth more then 2,5 its width.

[Carthaginian]

Sleek ship?
With a 2.5:1 L:B ratio?
I think you have your English words wrong Korpen. A 2.5:1 ratio is a very FAT ship, not a sleek one. A sleek ship would be a 10:1 L:B ratio or something similarly long and thin.

[Korpen]

Sleek ship?
With a 2.5:1 L:B ratio?
I think you have your English words wrong Korpen. A 2.5:1 ratio is a very FAT ship, not a sleek one. A sleek ship would be a 10:1 L:B ratio or something similarly long and thin.

For the love of...
Read what I write instead of  seeing one letter and then making the meaning up yourself!
If you look at my post again you see that I never mention length at any time.
Hint: B:D might have something to do with Beam:Drought...

[Darman]

Revised:

Army:                                              Cost         Upkeep
31 reserve fortress citadels............... 31.00....... 1.55
20 mobilized fortress citadels............ 20.00....... 10.35
3 regular infantry divisions................ 30.00........13.50
9 conscript infantry divisions............. 90.00........ 18.00
4 reserve infantry divisions................ 40.00........ 2.00
2 regular cavalry divisions.................. 20.00........ 9.00
2 regular siege batteries.................... 4.00.......... 0.80
3 conscript constable brigades........... 6.00.......... 0.30
2 conscript depot brigades................ 16.00........ 3.20
2 conscript engineer brigades............ 16.00........ 3.20
ARMY SUBTOTAL............................. 273.00....... 60.55

Navy:                                                Cost           Upkeep
3 Drydock 70mx18mx10m................. 22.68.......... 2.27
2 Drydock 100mx20mx12m............... 28.80.......... 2.88
5 Drydock 90mx18mx9m.................. 43.74........... 4.37
55,000t support NS Newport............. 11.00........... 1.10
25,000t support NS Providence.......... 5.00............. 0.50
20,000t support NS Halifax................ 4.00............. 0.40
20,000t support NS Boston............... 4.00............. 0.40
40,000t support NS New York City...... 8.00............ 0.80
20,000t support NS Great Lakes......... 4.00............ 0.40
15,000t support NS Portland, ME........ 3.00............ 0.30
15,000t support NS Portsmouth, NH... 3.00............ 0.30
20,000t support NS Philadelphia.......... 4.00............ 0.40
25,000t support Unallocated Cities...... 5.00............. 0.50
2 mobilized monitors (2,000t each)...... 4.00............ 0.40
5 active monitors (2,000t each)........... 10.00.......... 0.50
25 active gunboats (1,000t each)........ 25.00.......... 1.25
5 mobilized Protectors (5,000t each).... 25.00.......... 2.50
5 active Protectors (5,000t each)......... 25.00.......... 1.25
5 mobilized Raiders (3,000t each)........ 15.00.......... 1.50
5 active Raiders (3,000t each)............. 15.00.......... 0.75
10 reserve Frigates (2,500t each)........ 25,000......... 0.50
2 reserve citadel battleships (7,000t)... 14.00........... 0.28
1 reserve broadside battleship (9,000t) 9.00............. 0.18
5 mobilized colliers (1,000t each)......... 5.00............. 0.50
14 active river boats (500t each)......... 7.00............. 0.14
NAVY SUBTOTAL.............................. 324.81........... 24.37

Research Institutions (3 with upkeep of $5 each)........15.00

Army Subtotal.................................... 273.00......... 60.55
Navy Subtotal..................................... 324.81......... 24.37
Research Institutions............................. 0.00........... 15.00
                                        TOTAL....... 597.81......... 99.92
                                        Surplus...... 402.19......... 0.08

I made my drydocks smaller and got rid of the really tiny ones.  It give me a total of ten drydocks with only 9 naval bases (Naval Station=NS). 
I also have a question about my colliers... I threw them in simply because I wanted some way to give my Protectors and Raiders coal while they're in the Pacific (I have always had this vision of the New Bedford whaling fleet traversing the globe in search of whales, thus obviating the need for warships to protect them).  The colliers aren't intended to be mobile naval bases, they simply provide coal and a limited supply of food for the vessels away from home on long cruises, is that an acceptable use of them? 

[snip]

Or you could ask your friendly vodka-chugging commrads... ;D

[Tanthalas]

Or you could ask your friendly vodka-chugging commrads... ;D

Generaly in the past Tenders were used basicly how Draman is imagining them.  That said the other option is to ask someone like Snip or me that is in the region in question to provide limited basing for your ships on a short term basis.

[ctwaterman]

The need to resupply Whaling Ships with food and fuel to help render down the whales were the first reasons for the establishment of whaling stations many of which latter became Coaling stations once Coal became a power source.

[Korpen]

The need to resupply Whaling Ships with food and fuel to help render down the whales were the first reasons for the establishment of whaling stations many of which latter became Coaling stations once Coal became a power source.

Those were auxiliary functions. The first, and main, reason for whaling stations were as processing plants for the caught whales. It was in the station ashore that the Blubber was boiled to oil and other parts of the whale carcass were prepared.

[Carthaginian]

In the accounts I have read (which are admittedly limited to American vessels working at long distances from home ports) most of the processing took place at sea. There was a large 'stove' for rendering the oil, framework from which to suspend the whale while butchering, and large holds in which to store the oil... in addition to davits for a large number of harpoon boats.



As the prey was closer in Nordic nations, there might have been more processing done ashore, but an American will always picture a 'factory ship' like the Essex when we think of a whaler.