Kaap Kourier

[Walter]

Those dastardly Swiss. Next time, before you know it, they'll be trying to sell to you your own battleships!!!! :)

[P3D]

The control over Keeling was handed over to Orange by the Swiss. The DKB should not sell what does not belong to him.

[ooc]
And Keeling was recaptured by the Swiss on December 15. FYI.
DKB garrisons could not get a word out, however...
Now Firanj is even more POed by those krafty heathens - in general.

[miketr]

Keeling was captured by the DKB on 21 October, there are Stürmtruppen on the island occupying it, and it is therefore already claimed by the Reich by right of conquest. Therefore the Swissmen have provided Orange with a fraudlent sale.

(It's also already been "sold" to Firanj to boot...)

Not exactly the DKB has De Facto control of the island but that is not the same thing as De Jure control.

[swamphen]

And Keeling was recaptured by the Swiss on December 15. FYI.

Grrrrr

[Ithekro]

That is correct.  With the cable's cut and the surprise attack no word got out.  I would expect them to find out either when the next supply ship arrives or when Firanji comes to lay claim.  Either way the world wouls be late.

[The Rock Doctor]

Buyer beware.

[P3D]

April 12, 1908
Kaapstad

"Let them in" - ordered minister Timmermans the colored servant. Armando de Sousa e Vasconcelos (former Portuguese governor of Mozambique), and Senator Joachim Philip de Wet entered the saloon of the villa - overlooking the sprawling city on a nice autumn Sunday afternoon.
"Mynheer de Wet, and de Souza e Vasconcelos, a pleasure to have both of you as my guests. Any refreshment before we begin?"
There were only two other guests, one Rijkaard Baradlay, a fellow senator and - more importantly - head of the Foreign Affairs commitee. The second wore the uniform of a full Captain of the Navy - Captain Vereecken, from the Ministry of Navy.
After everyone was given a drink, the servant left the important men to their own.
After a few rounds of exchaning pleasantries, the Minister stood up, got some brandy and turned to the others.
"We are here to discuss how we can exploit the current war, with the Brandenburgers' attention turned elsewhere, their dwindling naval resources are tied down in the Pacific. Declaring war on them is out of the question, and at least the hawks come to realize this, with half the Pacific countries standing in line waiting for the eventual spoils. But there should be other options available, besides a state of war. Captain, if you would summarize the current naval situation..."
"The DKB was hit the second hardest of all the warring parties. The four battleships the Kaiser started the war with are either sunk or damaged beyond repair. Depending on which source we believe, they lost between ten and twenty torpedo boats. The more important, however, is that they lost five armored cruisers total, including two the Swiss managed to defeat last week. They have another five left, not including the Scharnhorst, which was reported to be damaged by the Swiss, but the extent of which is uncertain. They have two other fast cruisers, he Blücher is undergoing repairs, and Agrival's old ship, the Sereniteit, which they managed to acquire from Peru. They have the sistership of Scharnhorst to be launched later this year, and details for the planned fast cruisers leaked out. "
"What plans the navy have to counter them?" interrupted de Souza.
"Nothing too similar. Our own battle-cruiser plans were canceled after we sold three battleships to the Swiss, as they would have used the main armament regained from scrapping them. Those guns were the best of the world when they were designed twenty years ago, and they would still be adequate for the task, after a few changes to the turrets. To counter the Scharnhorst, the navy envisioned a pair of fast battleships that caused a smaller panic in Neue Brandenburg. The second of those ships would be laid down next year. Ships similar to the middleweight DKB design are not planned, they are well behind on the list of priorities right now. The main reason is the situation of fast frigates, of which barely has any."
"I see, Captain. Continue if you please..."
"Now comes the issue of frigates. Orange has a total of 19 frigates, but only five of them capable of a nominal 24 knots speed. DKB started the war with 12 total, and finished another of the two 28-knots capable so-called Kleiner Kreuzern. One of them, the Vineta is already sunk, along with another four older ones. That leaves them with eight. Tho counter those and similar ships laid down all over the world, the navy decided that fast frigatesare of a greater importance."
"Thank you, captain. As you can see, there is a window of opportunity here, with the Austrians and the Dutch involved in the same conflict. They might provide diplomatic support after the war is over, but before that, we might be able to exert pressure on the Branenburgern. If you had any suggestions, please share..."
"Zambia." from Baradlay.
"Malgas." interjected de Souza the same moment.
"What do you mean by Zambia? Wat we can achieve without a war?"
"They turned our proposal to purchase Zambia before. But if we send some ships out into the Indian Ocean, in larger numbers that they cannot match, and start shadowing merchants, they might realize how untenable their situation is. Not enough frigates to patrol their exposed and vulnerable sea lanes."
"It is unlikely."
"Knowing their Kaiser, it is, but worth a try."
"What about Malgas?"
"We can increase the support of the Orange-friendly fraction, and make moves against DKB interests there. Or putting some of their people out of the way. As they are distracted as is."
"The French might object."
"They will be happy having the Brandenburgers booted out, their political influence
can only increase. We will have to contact them, that's sure. And... you can be a great help here, Armando."
"How so?"
"That kaffirs kingdom might not be too friendly to more Boers - like me. Your Portuguese people, however, has a much better relationship the natives, and acting through Mozambique and Angolan interests that existed before...you decided to join the Republic... would make it politically more digestible to their king."
"True. I'll see what we can do there."

[The Rock Doctor]

New Switzerland isn't the only carcass to be picked over, eh?

[Carthaginian]

Methinks that there will be a lot of buzzards circling by the end of 1909. That seems to be about as long as the original combatants can continue before resource exhaustion sets in and they can no longer mount enough of a force to strike at each other in enough force to do any good.

Predictions:
Invest in Japanese and MK stocks, and try to scoop as many natives out of Africa as possible before Orange expands. ;)

[Tanthalas]

I tend to agree that everyone will be picking at the original combatants.  hmmm might be a good time to add some jews to my Empire...

[Desertfox]

Im telling you there are plenty of pickings around...

[P3D]

Im telling you there are plenty of pickings around...

I think Tanthalas' planned actions would not go well in Phoenix at all...

[Korpen]

I tend to agree that everyone will be picking at the original combatants.  hmmm might be a good time to add some jews to my Empire...

Feel free, there is no nation of matter that would think bad of you for doing so.
In fact the Netherlands would be happy to help... :)

[P3D]

Kaap Kurier, June12, 1908

Naval exports - and shares - on the rise

After the rebuilding of the Gloire, and delivering submarines to France, Orange shipbuilding industry is securing more export orders. Timar&Roth Werf Kaapstad NV, and Oos-London Werf NV announced orders for a large number of dive boats for an undisclosed foreign country. Also, Gieterij Johannesburg NV is in negotiating to supply a large amount of 12"-caliber naval guns, considered the most reliable in its class by gunnery experts. For the political sensitivity of the deal, the company refrained from naming the costumer. One can only speculate that they are destined to one of the warring parties.

[P3D]

July 1909

"Armando, how advanced is your Malgasi operation?" Foreign Minister Timmermans turned to his guest.
"We have bribed the chieftain who is holding the territory around the Brandenburger Enclave. We have already selected the agents provocateurs who would incite an unrest in the bars frequented by the DKB ships personnel. Whatever so-called security forces of the kaffirs would be engaged elsewhere, and the small DKB Police force was not increased adequately when the port population doubled after the war started. There are some small details left, but our people are waiting only for the word from Kaapstad."
"Great, because I want you to cancel it."
"What?" Seeing the bewilderment on his guest's face the minister repeated himself in Portuguese.
"Postpone it indefinitely, if you prefer." Then he switched back to French." The Kaiser was the most receptive of our repeated offer. We are sending a secret delegation to Brandenburgia to finalize the details in two weeks. We also offered to take whatever representatives they are sending from Zambia and Ostafrika. The navy will provide ships for travel, as all the Orange passenger liners are making a killing profit over the Atlantic. The ships would travel the long way around, just to make sure. We don't know whatever foolishness the Swiss would commit."
"They won't like it, to say the least".
"Definitely. Personally, I was getting annoyed by repeated Swiss requests to enter the war to bail them out. We could not afford another land war in Afrika, and a naval showdown with the Austrian and Holland. Or alienating France just after our relations warmed up."
"How much are we paying?"
"About our current annual budget. Still cheaper than entering the war at this time would be."
"Can we afford that?"
"We will stretch the payment for five years. Demobilizing a few corps into reserve status, cutting into the naval modernization plan, and canceling some tax incentive would make up the money."
"Den Haag will love the deal too, one less neighbor in Africa to worry about."
"They might not see it in that way..."