1 July 1908:  Appearing in the business section of newspapers world-wide

QuoteThe Republic of Gran Colombia seeks contact with interested parties who are willing and able to conduct business on technological matters. 

Specifically, Gran Colombia seeks to acquire knowledge, samples, and information in the following fields:

-Operational experience in maintaining up to 67% of one's army in reserve status [Army Reserves 1905]

-Specimens and plans for the latest aeroplanes [HTA Craft 1906]

-Submissions for other technical information or devices, not mentioned above, are also welcomed.

We remind all that Gran Colombia's standing offer for purchase of scrap materials remains in effect, and that we are prepared to negotiate contracts of mutual satisfaction with potential sellers.

Please contact the Industrial Attache at your nearest Gran Colombian embassy, or write to Minister Sebastien de Soto at the following address...

5 July 1908:  La Prensa Nacional

QuoteHundreds gathered at the Cathedral of San Miguel for the funeral of Admiral Camilo Ruiz.  The commander-in-chief of the Armada passed away at the age of sixty-two years, following a stroke late last month.

Amongst the mourners were many of Admiral Ruiz's comrades-in-arms from the Armada, ejercito commander-in-chief General Custudio Halcon, and Defence Minister Ricardo Alizandro.  Naval officers from several other nations were noted to be in attendence.

Speaking on behalf of the President, Minister Alizandro delivered a message to Admiral Ruiz's family, praising him for his long and decorated service in the Armada.  Several Armada officers, most notably Vice-Admiral Adam Davidson, also gave eulogies, as did the family priest, Senor Alvarez, and General Halcon.

His career began in 1862 with a posting as midshipman aboard the frigate Libertador, in which he saw action the next year during the Fourth War between Gran Colombia and the Island Commonwealth.  Seventeen years after that, as executive officer of the battleship Vencedora, he fought with distinction in the Battle of the Gulf of Darien at the conclusion of the Fifth War between Gran Colombia and the Island Commonwealth.  Promoted to flag rank, he served as commanding officer of both the Pacific and Caribbean Fleets, as well as the Battle Fleet.  He was promoted to Admiral of the Navy in 1902, a post he retained until his passing.

Admiral Ruiz leaves behind his wife Gloria, five children, nine grand-children, and one great-grandchild.

6 July 1908:  La Prensa Nacional

QuoteDefence Minister Ricardo Alizandro today announced that Mariano de Irujo has been promoted to full admiral and commander-in-chief of the Armada.  Admiral de Irujo had previously administered the Armada's Bureau of Construction, and may claim credit for the recent strengthening of the nation's patrol capabilities in particular.

Minister Alizandro also announced that Vice-Admiral Santos Calderon will assume Admiral de Irujo's former position.  Vice-Admiral Calderon's previous duty was as commanding officer of the Armada's research and development bureau.  He was awarded the Liberator's Cross following his work in the October Crisis of 1904, when he produced technical analyses that presented an accurate assessment of the capability of the Eastern Kingdom's airship ordnance as well as simple modifications providing the Armada with weapons capable of taking those airships under fire.  These actions allowed the Armada to repel an Eastern Kingdom attack and expel the invaders from the island of Jamaica, leading to the peaceful and prosperous union enjoyed today.

The Habsburg Ambassador was there ...

16 July 1908:  La Prensa Nacional/b]

QuoteThe First Family has arrived in distant Pola, following an uneventful trip across the Atlantic and Mediterranean aboard the Three Palms steamer Nuestra Senora de los Viajes Pacificos.  The graceful liner's arrival prompted a twenty-one gun salute from a nearby battery, followed by cheers from a curious throng of Hapsburger civilians.

With the First Family now ashore, President Alizandro's first overseas mission began with a brief tour of the city, followed by a trip to nearby Fiume...

17 July 1908:  Fiume

The assembled mass of soldiers moved and behaved like all of the Gran Colombian formations he'd reviewed back home, so while Rey dutifully put on an appearance of being impressed, the reality was that he found the entire event a tad dull.

Once the marching-about and drills were completed, he was not surprised to be invited to inspect the troops up close.  The uniforms and weapons were exotic, the men themselves well-kept.  He nodded occasionally, offered occasional compliments in German, and finally stopped before a lean, wrinkled, older man with a considerable amount of - what did the military call it? - fruit salad on his person.

"That is an impressive display of medals you have there", Rey remarked.

"Yes, Sir.  Thank you, Sir", the Hapsburger barked in response.

"Where'd you earn them?"

The Hapsburger seemed to need a moment to determine how best to respond.  He then broke posture to use his right hand to indicate each medal in turn.  "This set was earned in Brazil.  These were earned in Spain.  This is just a long-term service medal.  This one I can't talk about.  Got these two in Tyrol in oh-five; got 'em for not shooting anybody.  Sir."

Rey nodded.  "And now you're bound for Indonesia to earn more, eh?"

"Only fools try to earn medals, Sir.  I'm bound for Indonesia to serve the Emperor and smite the Swiss, Sir."

"Right", Rey said.  "So you fought in Brazil, did you?  Gran Colombia owes you, and your comrades in arms, a debt of honor for that service.  One day we will repay it."

The Hapburgers replied, with just a hint of disdain in his voice, "There's no time like the present, Sir."

20 July 1908:  Prague

Whereas his younger siblings were deemed to young to be able to sit through the ceremony - and thus were playing games back at the hotel, under the watchful eyes of a small army of nannies - Jose Alizandro was, at eight years, considered ready to participate in a serious diplomatic occasion.  Namely the double wedding between four members of two royal families whose names Jose couldn't pronounce.

Located in the fifth pew from the front, inside the cavernous interior of a huge cathedral, he managed not to fidget excessively as the guests arrived, the wedding party made its appearance, the brides entered, and so forth.  But after an hour or so of the priest lecturing away in latin and at least five hymns, he found himself wondering if all diplomatic events were really this boring.  If so, he did not look forward to taking his father's job when he retired.

He risked a glance around.  Contrary to what he'd expected, the four members of royalty being married weren't the beautiful people he'd read about in his books.  The one prince was, in actuality, rather funny looking, and the one princess certainly did not conform to the slim, bosomy brides illustrated in his books.  He wasn't sure whether to be disappointed with these people or the books. 

Around him sat a throng of European people and a smattering of others.  The men wore fine suits adorned with huge medals, chains, and trinkets; the women wore shiny dresses and liberal amounts of jewellery.  If I collected all of the jewellery I can see, Papa could buy some more French colonies, Jose mused silently.

Up front, in the first pew, were the Hapburger royal family.  He'd met them last night at something called a "rehearsal dinner".  The Emperor seemed nice, as did the Empress.  It was puzzling that their daughter was such a pain-in-the-you-know-what.

All last night, during dinner and especially afterward, four year-old Olga had been bothering him.  She'd wanted to dance.  She'd wanted to show him paintings of her grandparents.  She'd wanted to show him her crown.  She'd wanted to dance some more.  He'd finally told her to go away and turned his back on her.  A minute later, she'd come back with a bowl of iced cream and dumped it on the back of his neck and inside his shirt. 

Rather than inflict punishment upon the monstrous little girl, both sets of parents had erupted into laughter, with his father chortling about something called "Causus Belli", and aides scurrying off to find towels and a new shirt. 

Jose had been mortified, and when he demanded an explanation from his mother later on, she'd lectured him about his rudeness and how special she was.  "So you be nice to her, young man", Mama had concluded, "Because it might be you and her getting married next time."

Jose shuddered, now, in the midst of the double wedding, just thinking about the idea...and did so, again, as Olga von Hapsburg turned around and flashed a toothy smile his way.

21 July 1908:  La Prensa Nacional

QuoteWith the splendid double Wittelsbach-Hapsburg wedding now concluded, President Rey Alizandro now has the opportunity to meet formally with the Hapsburger emperor and other heads-of-state.  Although detailed agendas have not been made public, it has been noted that senior military personnel accompanied the First Family overseas, lending credibility to rumors going about Cartagena that the President may be concluding a military alliance before he returns home.

Senora Alizandro and children will be touring Prag's cultural sites for the next two days in the company of the Hapsburger Empress and her own beautiful children.  The famed Naprstek Museum of art will be their destination today, and both families are expected to attend a performance of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at the Rudolfinum tomorrow evening.

Following the conclusion of their stay in the Hapsburger Empire, President Alizandro and family are expected to travel by train to Iberia for meetings and a visit with Jaime I before moving northward.

Nice! :)

Poor kid, I can feel his pain. After that experience I wonder if I can turn him over to the Swiss side, and get some revenge for getting a bowl of ice cream poured on him. I'm telling you the Austrians are devilish.

Give it a shot.  You might have to wait a decade or two for it to pay off, though.

ah yes but proper bribes of candy at that age can go a very long ways

I don't see him as the candy type, what he needs is relief from a certain 4 year old 'Terrorist' girl! Course a ride in the Zionite Ambassador's personal 30kt Turbinia might do the trick of distracting the poor kid from girl problems. Heck even NS has had girl problems.

Now's the time to use the experience I gained babysitting my two younger brothers (4 & 10!)...

"Daddy, the nice Swiss man gave me a ride in his boat.  Can we destroy the Alliance tomorrow?"

Quote from: The Rock Doctor on October 18, 2007, 06:52:02 PM
"Daddy, the nice Swiss man gave me a ride in his boat.  Can we destroy the Alliance tomorrow?"

LOL i was thinking more along the lines of daddy can i have the Pacific Fleet for my birthday...

OOC

Being a Flemish guy in Belgium, and with the Dutroux, Fourniret and Aïd Out cases, I'd rather be worried.

"Daddy, that man wanted me to ride his boat, it sounded like fun but after that my bum did auch"

OOC
Happily in N-verse such people are taken off the gene pool. Permanently and irrevocaly.
Borys

24 July 1908:  Cartagena

Admiral Mariano de Irujo felt it vaguely strange to be sitting on the other side of the desk he'd occupied for the last six years.  Santos Calderon probably shared that sense of vague wrongness, having occupied the visitor's seats more than a few times in recent years. 

On the desk between them lay next year's acquisition estimates, which de Irujo wanted to go through so that Calderon wouldn't be starting his new position completely cold.  The current year's planning table rested on one corner of the desk, available if needed, but with most of the work already underway, de Irujo considered it unlikely to be required.

"Naturally, you'll begin your term with one hand tied behind your back - the army's restructuring is going to suck up a pile of resources over the next two years, leaving us a bit in the lurch", de Irujo noted. 

Calderon nodded.  "That's even with the overall force reductions I've been hearing about.  Tough to argue with it, though.  We've got some rather long borders to watch over."

"Exactly.  One of those situations where you just nod and stay quiet", de Irujo said.  "The big ticket for oh-nine is the Triunfante class.  The design's been finalized, other than possible late adjustments; we're satisfied that the new variant addresses what issues we've been hearing from our observers in the Swiss and Brandenburger fleets so far, and politically, there's a lot of pressure to get them laid down.

"The four units of Project Gator are the next largest vessels planned for the year.  Foreign Affairs thinks they send a bad message, but the army wants them, and so does Brochado, so I think the program is safe."

"That's two projects, and you've referred to politics both times.  Just how political is this process?", Calderon inquired.

"Very.  Now that you're sitting in that chair, you'll be getting all sorts of mail from the private sector, offering to sell you stuff or demanding that we privatize the naval yards.  Politicians will want ships built bearing their state or city's name, or designed to defend their specific territory - one can only imagine how much worse it would be if these guys were actually elected", de Irujo replied. 

"Hence Brochado's endorsement...", Calderon noted.

De Irujo said, "Exactly.  And he's also part of the reason for Project Piranha happening, though he's not the only governor backing it.  We're planning on six of these boats, just like their larger ocean-going cousins.  It should ease the worry of anybody concerned about Confederate coastal battleships running up the Orinoco to shell Ciudad Bolivar."

"By the same token, a lot of local politicians believe that our coastal battery program is in response to their pressure for such defences.  Truthfully, it isn't.  If somebody wants to send in a battlecruiser for a high-speed shoot-and-scoot attack on the fish-processing plant at Grand Cayman, there's precious little a few 140 mm guns can do about it.  However, if that same somebody wants to anchor an invasion force offshore, land troops in the town and use it as a beachhead for an invasion, a few 140 mm guns and supporting weapons could make a real hash of those plans", de Irujo noted.  "So, really, we're doing this because we and our ejercito colleagues aren't terribly interested in making it easy for somebody else to execute an amphibious assault on our more strategic cities."

"Do the politicians know this?  The mayors and governors?"

"Hell, no", de Irujo replied.  "Ignorance can be bliss."

"And the K-class torpedo-boats?  I see no political angle there", Calderon commented.

"There isn't one.  Despite being a substantial improvement over the J-class, they're seen as just replacing some of the old boats", de Irujo agreed.  "That being said - if you can spin a project as something that improves existing force levels - rather than increasing them - you're more likely to get Finance's nod of approval.  With the exception of their analysts - who understand matters and are less likely to object to our thinking - they're not going to look past the designation of a class and the number of hulls to be built.  This is how we sold them on the Westmoreland and Galapagos class cruisers:  eight new cruisers to replace seven old and one sunken cruiser.  Never mind that they're twice the size, twice as powerful, and considerably faster."

"When you say sunken cruiser, do you mean Puerta Espana?  I thought Puerta Espana II was her specific replacement", Calderon objected.

"We started down that road, but decided to position her as a technological test-bed for turbines instead.  Otherwise, we risked being pressured into just buying another surplus Cod-class relic", de Irujo replied.

"I see", Calderon said slowly.  "Dare I ask about Project Eel, then?"

De Irujo smiled thinly.  "The politicians and bureaucrats don't know about that one.  Nor, ideally, will they.  The Minister and his counterpart in Miscellaneous Affairs conjured that program together, and the decision-making has been done strictly at the cabinet level due to some of the diplomatic considerations associated with them.  Personally, I'm not terribly keen to go forward with it, but the cost is minimal, and the potential upside not insignificant.  So, in such cases, we agree and get Miscellaneous Affairs on our good side in case we need a favor from them later."

"Is it too late to turn down this job?", Calderon asked plaintively.

OoC:
Wow... that's a lot of secret projects. ;)

IC:

To: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gran Colombia
From: State Department, CSA

TELEGRAPH LINES TO GC RESTORED STOP PRESIDENT PROPOSES SUMMIT TO DISCUSS SPHERES OF INFLUENCE IN CARIBBEAN STOP SECONDARY PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING POSSIBLE MUTUAL DEFENSE AGREEMENTS FOR NATIONS OF WESTERN HEMISPHERE ALSO DESIRED STOP WILL ALSO CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES OF ROHAN AND USA FOR THIS PURPOSE STOP APPRECIATE YOUR OFFICE RECOMMEND DATE/TIME FOR MEETINGS WHEN PRESIDENT RETURNS STOP GOD SAVE DIXIE SENIOR DIOS AHORRA GRAN COLOMBIA END

Project Piranha isn't a secret, I just haven't referred to it by name very much.  It's that riverine torpedo boat I posted a while back. 

Gator's only secret so I have a new design to post when we finally roll around to 1909.  Eel, however, may not see light of day for some time.

IC, following a day or two of internal consultations...

QuotePLEASED TO HEAR OF RESTORED TELEGRAPH SERVICE STOP BEST WISHES IN SPEEDY TERMINATION OF SOCIALIST AGITATION STOP PRESIDENT LOOKS FORWARD TO SUMMIT BUT SUGGESTS SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER DUE TO OWN TRAVEL SCHEDULE END

2 August 1908:  Off Ciudad de Jorge

From the charthouse of the mail packet Olivia, Hugo Narvartes had ample opportunity to watch the airship putter over Cuidad de Jorge and out to sea.  It wasn't the first time he'd seen one of them aloft, but he still felt a bit of awe, and envy, in witnessing the sight of men in flight.

The government had been operating a pair of small airships here for about a year now.  The aerodrome, located to the south of the city, was an army facility, and consisted of two hangers, a mooring mast, and a few office buildings - Hugo had gone out sight-seeing the last time the Olivia had put into the city for a few days, so he'd seen it first-hand.

From what he'd heard, the government was mainly testing the utility of the A-1 and A-2 as reconnaissance platforms.  He presumed this meant that they'd go out, look around, and report back on what kinds of ships were where; the tracking and communication exercises with locally-based Armada vessels remained classified and wholly unknown to him.

No doubt the military would develop an offensive capability to the airships in time, taking them from peaceful airborne behemoths to airborne killers.  Urban legends said that the troubles of 1904 had included the attempted bombing of the Armada from one or more airships (or even an airborne Armada, if certain people were to be believed), and some of the newspaper reports from the Pacific War hinted at similar activity over there.

It seemed wrong to Hugo that such a technological and scientific marvel would be perverted to such an end...but to be fair, the general population seemed to only view them as curiosities at best.  He'd spontaneously engaged various folks in Ciudad de Jorge in airship-related conversation during his visit, and had heard a range of opinions from, "Those are my tax dollars sputtering overhead", to "If God had intended for Man to fly, He surely would have provided Man with wings." There hadn't been much enthusiasm.

He sighed as the airship vanished into clouds; Manaus, the packet's destination, was about fifteen hundred nautical miles distant, a week's travel.  With luck, he'd be back off Ciudad de Jorge in two weeks, and might see an airship again if he was lucky and the military happened to be operating one that day.

Something tickled Hugo's mind at that point.  He looked down at the chart table, shuffled maps until he found a map of the entire nation. 

"Hmm", he murmured. 

The helmsman glanced over to him.  "Something wrong?", the younger man asked.

"What?", Hugo replied.  "No, just thinking.  Sorry."

He picked up the calipers, traced out the packet's route, and wrote down the distance - fifteen hundred miles would do for now.  He then placed one tip at Ciudad de Jorge and the other on Manaus itself:  about seven hundred fifty miles, as the crow flew.

"Or the airship", he muttered.  This time, the helmsman ignored him.

The packet would cover the fifteen hundred mile course to Manaus in seven days at an average speed of nine knots (taking into account a current of a knot or two working against them in the Amazon).  An airship could cover the seven hundred fifty miles, at a cruising speed of thirty knots, in...just over a day. 

Would there be a niche market for airship-delivered mail between Ciudad de Jorge and Manaus?  He wondered.  It would be of more use to businesses, really.  The average Juan didn't need mail delivered across hundreds of miles in a day, but corporations might find it useful.  The government might also, depending on circumstances. 

But wait, there were other routes into Manaus these days.  The Pimichin canal was open, and that was about an eleven hundred mile route - but the river steamers wouldn't be averaging more than eight knots up the Orinoco and the upper tributaries of the Rio Negro.  Call it a six day trip, then, assuming a few hours' delay at the canal itself.  Maybe more if the steamers had to stop for coal on the way.

There was also the railway to Puerto Enrico.  He knew nothing about the workings of trains, but had to think that it'd take at least two to three days for mail to arrive in Puerto Enrico from the Heartland - and then another two or three days for a river steamer to run it downriver to Manaus.  A minimal saving in time over the usual marine route.

Silently, he asked himself again:  would there be a niche market for airship-delivered mail between Ciudad de Jorge and Manaus?

He answered himself:  Maybe...