News and Stories from the Vilnius Union

[The Rock Doctor]

18 April 1930

"It seems a bit unfair to be working out an Operations Plan while we're in port for a major diplomatic visit," said the captain of the Johann Encke as he nursed a brandy in the battleship's flag bridge.

"We only just received the initial notification this morning," the flag-captain shrugged.  "I would assume that somebody - whether in Johannesstadt or Wilno - aims to take advantage of our presence in the region to give the Caribbean Fleet a test."

"There isn't a lot of detail, at least not what I read earlier," Frolich's captain said.

"We'll receive more detailed instructions when we get back to Johannesstadt," the flag-captain said.  "But the basic gist is evident.  Once we've escorted the yacht clear of the area, we're to simulate a raid against the city.  If we get within ten nautical miles in daylight, we achieve our objective.  The question is how we approach the city, and what use we make of Golab and her air group."

"Not a lot of aircraft compared to Johannestadt's capabilities," Encke's captain noted.  "Plus I assume Caribbean Fleet's going to have Wrona available."

"I assume so, but no specific detail as of yet," the flag-captain said.

"Which is more yet more aircraft on the other side," Encke's captain added.

Frolich's captain leaned forward and snatched a wedge of cheese from the platter on the table between them.  "Two fast battleships and  a small carrier versus four slow battleships, four armored cruisers, and another small carrier.  They have the numbers, we have the speed.  Well, other than the Strazniks, but they can't fight us."

"They can establish and maintain contact and there won't be much we can do about that unless Golab's planes can slow one down."

The flag-captain frowned.  "With only six S.23s aboard she can't even perform a proper hammer and anvil.  We really need a larger carrier."

Frolich's captain looked at his fellow battleship skipper.  "Well there's no need for that kind of language."

[The Rock Doctor]

April/May 1930

Fleet Exercise 1930 takes place in the Caribbean Sea, generally north of the island of Boriken.

Red Force, consisting of the battleships Encke and Frolich and the carrier Golab are tasked with getting inside gunnery range - defined in this case of ten nautical miles of Johannestadt.

Blue Force consists of the battleships Wrogi, Zwinny, Nieugiety, and Dziki, armored cruisers Straznik, Husarz, Lucznik, and Kusznik, and the carrier Wrona.  In addition to its escorts, Blue Force can also make use of land-based airpower and various light forces including MTBs and submarines.

Red Force is notably faster - and can maintain that fast speed for longer - than Blue Force, but Blue Force is defending a fixed location.  Blue Force's land-based airpower is definitely a threat to Red Force, which is defended by a mere twelve fighters aboard Golab, but only once Red Force is detected in daylight hours in striking distance.

Wice-Admiral Borkowy anticipates that Blue Force is going to keep its battleships close to Johannestadt and scout aggressively with the two Strazniks and Wrona - the only Red Force capital units faster than his own battleships.  His  best guess for the two Luczniks is that they'll be watching the western and eastern approaches to Johannestadt. 

His initial inclination is to accept such a scenario, accept the Strazniks as shadows during daylight, and then make efforts to break contact at night, with the hope of slipping past the fast armored cruisers and leaving them behind for a while.  However, his senior captains propose a somewhat different plan and Borkowy opts to implement.

As the exercise begins, the battleship Frolich peels away from the remainder of the taskforce and steams west by herself before making a dogleg at nightfall.  Encke, Golab, two cruisers and six torpedo-boats steam south, straight at Johannestadt.  As expected, Wrona and Golab's aircraft make contact with each other, resulting in a ruled shoot-down of the Wrona scout by a Golab fighter.  Red Force turns southeast and prepares for an expected air strike from Wrona. 

Red Force is not disappointed.  Wrona flies off two fighters and six torpedo-bombers and begins spotting a second, similar strike.  They make contact with Blue Force, which has a CAP of four fighters airborne, and Blue Force surface ships begin evasive action as the torpedo-bombers attempt a hammer and anvil attack on the lead battleship, Encke.  Referees rule both Blue fighters and one bomber are shot down, for one Red fighter.  Encke is ruled to be struck by one torpedo, with a loss of speed of five knots. 

Critically, the Blue Force pilots - focused on not being shot down or missing their runs on Encke - do not recognize that the Frolich isn't in formation.  It will later be understood that one pilot thought that there was a cruiser trailing Encke and another protecting her starboard beam, but his peers thought the trailing cruiser was a battleship.

The second Blue Force strike arrives some time later, is greeted by another four Red Force fighters, and achieves relative similar results.  This time, warship recognition is complicated by Blue Force's change in formation:  Encke now trails both cruisers and two of the torpedo-boats start laying a smoke screen between the cruisers and the Blue strike package.

Once again, a handful of planes are ruled lost, Encke is ruled hit once, and the Blue package returns to Wrona to claim a second battleship damaged. 

Overnight, there are a couple of skirmishes between Red Force and Blue Force and a Red torpedo-boat is ruled sunk in the chaos, having gotten too close to the Blue light cruiser Svir and her modern battery of 150mm guns.  Blue aircraft are scheduled to launch a strike after sunrise the next day, and the Blue battleline works out its final tactics for dealing with the two much more dangerous Encke-class ships:  Basically, offering up the older Nieugietys as initial targets and hoping that the two Wrogis are able to inflict some damage by the time the referees rule the Nieugietys have been pummeled out of action.

However, the Carlotta Frolich has adjusted her course and sweeps toward Johannestadt, working up to twenty-seven knots by 0300 hours.  In nighttime conditions, with lights extinguished and Blue Force not expecting her to be there, she sprints undetected through the pre-dawn gloom, unobserved by a submarine four miles southwest.  A Blue korweta fails to spot the battleship bearing down on her until a blinker light advises her that she is sunk.

At sunrise, Frolich is thirty-two miles north of Johannestadt.  She is spotted within five minutes by a motor torpedo-boat, at which point she's thirty miles away.  Another five minutes pass before the sighting report reaches Wrogi.  The Blue battleline has been cruising northeast in anticipation of a possible surface action, and must now reverse course and come to flank speed to address the new threat. 

Frolich simply bores in at flank speed, moving too fast for submarines to intercept her and bringing too much firepower to bear on the surprised patrol and light forces in her way.  The armored cruiser Lucznik makes a best effort to intercept from the west, but the surface action is ruled to be as lopsided as her own defeat of an Iberian battleship many years earlier.  With Blue light forces attempting frantic and uncoordinated attack runs in the face of the unyielding battleship and her heavy secondary battery, all seems lost.

Until a transmission from a shore-based referee rules that Frolich has run into a minefield, fourteen miles north of the city, striking one.  Frolich's captain, knowing there are no actual mines to worry about, maintains speed and heading.  This gamble does not pay off, with a second strike and then a third ruled - supposedly, this third one knocks out power while Frolich is less than twelve miles out, and less than two miles from her objective.

Aboard Encke, Wiceadmiral Borkowy greets this news with a single word - "Bullshit" and orders a course change to the northeast while his flag-captain composes a more diplomatically-phrased message that Red Force concedes.

[The Rock Doctor]

5 July 1930

The House of Vasa announces that Prince Wiktor and Lady Aspas are expecting a child in October.

13 August, 1930

In an exercise in the southern Baltic, the recently commissioned aircraft carrier Centaury launches eight fighters in quick succession in response to an incoming "enemy" air raid.  Unfortunately, the fighters do not gain sufficient speed and altitude to actually intercept the attack, which is a formation of twin-engine level bombers operating above the effective ceiling of the carrier's lighter guns.

Aggressive, evasive maneuvering by the carrier's commanding officer is judged ineffective and the carrier is ruled "sunk" by the onboard referee.

28 September 1930

The House of Vasa announces that Prince Wiktor and Lady Aspas have welcomed their first child, a boy, a bit earlier than expected.  Mother and child are in good health.

The Union's lively gambling industry had allowed for betting on several possible aspects of the child's birth, including his or her sex, date of birth, time of birth, place of birth, and name.  Given that the young prince had three male and two female cousins, the majority of bettors incorrectly wagered that the newest royal would be a girl.  His birth in Vilnius was the expected scenario and offered no significant winnings to the vast majority of bettors who wagered as such.  For every person who placed money on "10:00 PM to 10:59 PM" for time of birth, approximately twenty-three did not.

The odds had favored a boy being named for his grandfather, the deceased Sigismund VIII, but in fact he is christened Fryderyk Jan Ali.  His godparents are named as Kapitan and Missus Jan Blaszczak.

The infant is now fifth in line to the Amber Throne, behind his cousins Piotr, Casimir, Edyta, and his own father.

14 October 1930

Construction is now fully underway on the armored cruiser Elear, the fourth and last of the Rajtar class.

Armed with eight 250mm/55 guns, with a top speed of 32 knots, and with sufficient secondary and light guns to fend off torpedo and air attack*, the class is considered more "right" for the trade protection role than the earlier Straznik class.  Sketches of the class have also captivated many amateur naval enthusiasts who admire their long, lean lines**.  Indeed, one armchair admiral's column in the Gdansk Globe and Anchor has dubbed them, "The Wolfhounds of the Seas".

It is generally expected that a follow-on class, laid down in or around 1933, merely update the Rajtar design - dual purpose guns, more anti-aircraft guns, perhaps a bit more space allocated for future growth.  That class would likely replace the aging but graceful Lucznik class, now dated but not outright obsolete.



*One hopes.
**This group does not include Prince Piotr, who opines to all who listen that they're too small and under-armored and would really have preferred follow-ups to the Czarownik class. 

[The Rock Doctor]

7 January 1931

With the battleship Herschel mere months from completion - and with it, a full quartet of 400mm armed battleships - the Vilnius Union Navy announces major changes in its naval deployments, to take place in early 1932.

Battle Squadrons 5 and 6 (the Nieugiety and Wrogi class battleships plus the four Patowmeck class light cruisers) will transfer from the Caribbean Fleet to the High Seas Fleet.

Scouting Squadron 4 (the Lucznik class armored cruisers and two Magdala class light cruisers) will also transfer from the Caribbean Fleet to the High Seas Fleet.

Battle Squadron 1 and 2 (3 Angstrom class battleships, 3 Magdala and 1 Bug II class light cruisers) will transfer from the High Seas Fleet to the Caribbean Fleet.  The exception is BB Angstrom herself, which will be under a refurbishment in European waters for the better part of the year.  Remaining units of the class will cycle back to Europe for refurbishment in the coming years, leaving the Caribbean Fleet with three battleships on an ongoing basis.

Scouting Squadron 3 (2 Rajtar class armored cruisers and 2 light cruisers) also will deploy from the High Seas Fleet to the Caribbean Fleet.

At this time, it is expected that a new Scouting Squadron 6 will be stood up in 1932 as the remaining Rajtar class enter service but it is not yet clear where they will home-port.

[The Rock Doctor]

14 January 1931

The palace's games room was not empty as he'd expected, so Wiktor asked, "How's the academy?"

Piotr lifted his cue stick away from the snooker table and shrugged.  "Alright so far."

"Thought you'd be more enthusiastic about it than that," his uncle said, heading for the bar.  "Want something?"

"Am I allowed something?" the heir to the throne replied.

"Within reason, sure.  You're almost fifteen."

Piotr thought about it for a moment.  "White wine, then?"

"White wine it is," Wiktor agreed, first examining the other options before him.  "You been writing the princess?"

"We've exchanged letters a couple of times.  She's in the same position as me, more or less so we compare notes."

"Complain about the rules, the teachers, the other students..." Wiktor suggested, pouring out a brandy for himself.

"Some of that."

"Your grandmother thinks you're smitten.  Your mother thinks she's smitten," Wiktor said.  "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Piotr said.  "It's...we didn't get off on the right foot.  I annoyed her, she annoyed me.  And the families were, with all due respect, annoying us both."

"Fair," Wiktor said.

"But she's smart, we share interests, so...like I said, I don't know."

Wiktor popped a cork out a bottle and poured a small goblet of wine.  "I can understand that.  I had the same reaction to your aunt - and to Shirin - when I met them."

"Mother and father weren't like that," Piotr noted.

"No, they were..." Wiktor considered his words a moment, "Your mother was absolutely drawn to your father from the moment they met.  I wasn't, your aunt wasn't.  It doesn't sound like you are, and that's okay, actually."

"Is it?"

"Of course."  Wiktor came back and handed the boy the goblet, then sipped his own booze.

"Can I ask for some advice?"

"Sure."

Piotr had a sip, then pursed his lips.  "Anacaona said that if I wanted to marry her, I'd have to hit a target at thirty kilometers."

"I'm not a ship guy, Piotr," his uncle said after a moment.  "Is that even possible?"

"Capital ship guns can, with modern fire control, conceivably hit targets at those ranges," the boy nodded.

"Okay?"

"Assuming I want to marry her, how do I interpret the part about me hitting the target?" Piotr asked.  "Do I need to be in command of the ship?  Or of the gun?  Or a member of the gun crew?"

"Did you ask her?"

"No, I was a bit flustered."

"You could ask her."

"I could."

"Do you want to ask her?" Wiktor continued.

"I don't know."

"No, of course not," Wiktor sighed.  "Okay...well, I guess my take would be this:  If she wants you to hit the target, you've got to be in command of something along the way.  Could be the gun.  Could be the gun director thing.  Could be the ship."

"Right."

"So that points to a career path either specializing in gunnery or a more general command track."

Piotr nodded.  "That's what I was thinking."

"I feel like the academy and the family would want to steer you towards the command track so you have more experience in leadership," Wiktor added.

"Probably."

"So what's the soonest you could be in a position to command a ship capable of hitting a target at thirty kilometers?"

"Well I might not have to command the ship.  I could just be in charge at the time of the shooting.  Like as the senior gunnery officer or executive officer or something," Piotr noted.

"The question stands..."

"If it's a monitor, maybe a decade?"

"Okay," Wiktor said.  "And do you think Anacaona's done that thinking as well?"

"She might've just been impulsive at the time," Piotr said.  "But she would understand it now if she thought about it."

"Okay.  So if you want my take, it's this:  She's not looking for a quick answer.  She doesn't want one.  You and she both know you can't give her one.  And from her perspective, there's no pressure to do so, either - she's not going to inherit the Aztec throne and there will be several people in line before her.  What she's looking for is for you to excel in something that matters to you both - and in the meantime, grow up, live life, and see the world while you can."

Piotr considered that.  "I'm the heir.  There'll be pressure on me to marry and have kids."

"At some point, yeah."

"What do I do then?"

"You do what you think is right for you," Wiktor said.  "You'll never have the power you seem to think you will.  It's not how the Union works.  But who you love, and who you marry, is absolutely your decision to make.  Don't let go of that."