OOC: Couldn't resist....

On the 6th floor of a non-descript turn of the century office building near downtown Richmond. The sign out front reads "Confederate Department of the Treasury".

A man wearing a green accountants visor with his sleeves rolled up has just arrived at his supervisors door. The supervisor's office faces out on several long rows of desks in the open, occupied by other men wearing green visors, and a number of women doing sums.

The accountant: "Sir, I think you need to have a look at these figures. This is the revenue projection for next year."

The supervisor's mouth drops open as he looks over the summary on the piece of paper handed to him. "Are these correct?"

The accountant: "Yes sir, we've redone the sums now twice. I even took the data down to the basement to have the CTM (Confederate Tabulating Machines) folks double check for us. I hate going to the basement. Always so loud and hot down there with all that strange equipment. At any rate, they are correct."

The supervisor: "Well, a 26% jump in revenue over a whole half year is going to raise some eyebrows, that's for sure. What about the population figures?"

The accountant rifles through the papers in his folio, producing another summary, and presents it. "Nothing too odd there. 3% annual population growth. Slightly higher than last year. I guess the Family Bill is working."

The supervisor: "Hmm. Can you please check all the data and run the sums again? Maybe take it to the basement again too? I want to be doubly sure before I send this up to the Secretary."

January 22, 1914

The appearance of the big ship on the horizon south of the construction site high on the hill of Point Loma before lunch quickly garnered the attention of the engineers and construction workers. A surveyor turned his level, which was in fact a small telescope, toward the growing shape on the horizon. It looked like a battleship. This was strange, as normally the arrival of major Confederate fleet units would be announced in the newspapers, but there had been no such announcement.

The foreman quickly shooed the crews back to work on the fortifications and observation points they were building to take the new coast defense guns planned for the point. Within an hour the great ship had covered half the distance from the horizon to the point, and now as they settled down to each lunch, the workers had a better view:

She was definitely a battleship, one of the engineers (and an amateur naval buff) remarked. As she came closer, he noticed something else strange about her. She had no main armament. Where the guns would normally have protruded from the forward turret, there were none.

As the ship passed under the point, the crew got a very good view of her, first from the bow, then from the port quarter, and eventually of her entire port side. She was distinctly a battleship, and not only was her main armament missing, her casemates appeared to be plated over as well. Along her side in 20 foot tall characters, something in a foreign language was written, alongside a wide white stripe with a narrower blue stripe down it's middle that went from the waterline to the upper deck:


(Image courtesy of Valles based on the original illustration by Carthaginian)

The engineer and naval buff identified the class of the ship though, and conclusively: "I'll be, that's very strange. That's an Oklahoma class battleship!".

The ship continued north into the channel between Point Loma and North Island which leads to San Diego Harbor. She was met as she made the turn along North Island by tug boats to attend her into the berth that had been prepared for her near the foot of 28th Street toward the north end of the naval station. By this time, many in San Diego had noticed and taken note of the unusual occurrence, and several newspapermen had gathered near to the 28th Street gate to the base to inquire as to why the arrival of a Battleship in port hadn't been announced as usual.

It took considerable effort to muscle the big ship alongside the broad construction pier and tie her up. It wasn't until well into the evening before gangways were rigged, and the welcoming party of Confederate Naval Officers, all dressed in their dress white uniforms, could go aboard. The party was lead by Rear Admiral Joseph Aeneus Hopkins, the Commanding Officer of the Fleet Construction Command in the pacific. Accompanying the naval officers were several civilians, which had been shipped out by train from Newport News.

They were greeted by the great hulking figure of the ship's captain for the voyage, a man named Ariki. Through a translator that spoke Maori, he greeted the Confederates: "Welcome! Welcome my friends. Please come see your glorious new ship!".

As the tour and technical inspection began, the Maori crew began filing down the gangplanks duffles in hand. They filed in a great mass around the drydock ajacent to the pier, south for a ways along Harbor Drive, to a complex of barracks buildings. They went in, found a bunk, dropped their duffles, then streamed out the doors of the barracks along harbor drive, crossed the street, and proceeded on their way to find food and libations in the town. Each man had in his possession a crisp new $5 dollar bill to spend that night.

Meanwhile, the tour and technical inspection went on late into the night. The officers and civilians, most of whom were engineers, naval architects, or skilled craftsmen, pored over the ship from bow to stern. They checked that hatches fit properly. They checked that gears in the turbines had not worn during the trip to San Diego. They checked that the hull and the oil bunkers didn't leak. They checked that the burners in the galleys lit as expected. Still, what they could do in an eight hour inspection was only sufficient to scratch the surface, but no major and few minor problems were detected, and in the end the Admiral was able to report to Captain Ariki that the ship appeared to be in excellent working order. Under the bright working lights of the yard, the Maori ensign on the stern was run down, and as the Confederate officers in attendance saluted, in it's place the Confederate Ensign was run up.

By early the next morning, most of the Maori sailors had yet to return to the base from their night's entertainments, but in the navy yard, crews were already hard at work partially dismantling the main armament turrets so that the new guns could be fitted. Other crews were painting over the Maori markings amidships. On here stern the outline of the first three letters of the ship's new name "ARK" were already visible.

The Maori, most of whom hadn't slept, filed back through the barracks, and down to a pier nearby, and boarded a chartered liner to return them to Maoria. By some miracle, only five Maori had managed to get themselves in enough trouble that they had to be sprung from San Diego's jail. Still, they'd left quite the impression in the various saloons and other houses of disrepute along San Diego's waterfront.

By lunchtime Friday, Admiral Hopkins could report cheerfully to Richmond via telegram:

ARKANSAS ARRIVED ON TIME AND IN GOOD ORDER STOP MAIN ARMAMENT INSTALLATION EXPECTED COMPLETE BY APRIL STOP ONE MONTH ARMAMENT CALIBRATION AND SHAKEDOWN EXPECTED AFTER THAT STOP EXPECT READY FOR SERVICE BY END OF JUNE AT LATEST END

Ooh, sneaky.

I wish, well wish probably isn't right word, but I can't take credit for it. Paradox/Arkansas was the product of the previous administration.

Sneaky indeed! I like the fact that the guns have been removed from the picture to indicate its current status. :)
... and now it's time to dump them guns in there!

Doctor, I'd like it noted that the answer to any Colombian remarks on how, um, two-faced it might be considered to be trying to make friends while building a battleship for a rival will be met with something along the lines of, 'You never asked'.

I am willing to take further orders, by the bye. ^_^

We did indeed not ask.  But you're probably off the Christmas card list nonetheless.

February 15, 1914

President Roosevelt looked up from the memo he'd been reading. His face brightened into a wide smile. He virtually leaped from his chair and made his way to his outer office.

"Mr. Williams" he bellowed. "Would you please call down to the Navy Department and inquire as to whether Mr. Butler might come down to speak with me today? I would very much like to speak to him about this." Roosevelt waived the paper he'd been reading in the air.

Williams, his latest appointments secretary, picked up the receiver on his telephone and when the operator answered, asked "could I please have the Navy Department, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Construction." He waited a beat before a polite woman at the other end answered: "Department of the Navy, Office of Assistant Secretary Butler."

"Yes, I'm calling from the Presidents office. The President would like to know if Mr. Butler is available for dinner tonight." Again a wait. Roosevelt leaned in the doorway to his office and tapped his foot as he waited. "Yes, one moment please" Mr. Williams spoke into the phone. Then looking at Roosevelt: "Sir, we'll have to bump someone this afternoon."

"Don't I have a meeting with Mr. Wilson today? Can we reschedule him?" The President asked. Mr. Williams nodded yes, then into the telephone: "3:30 today then? Thank you." and hung up.

"Mr. Butler will be here at 3:30."

"Excellent. Thank you." Roosevelt replied, and with that, he spun on his heels and returned to his office.

Through lunch, he couldn't concentrate. He was too excited by Butler's idea. Through the afternoon, the President found himself constantly checking the time. This was the first really interesting idea to come out of the Navy Department since Secretary Mahan was forced into his leave of absence because of his health.

Butler was shown in immediately on arrival. Originally from Charleston, he was a compact man, with a full head of dark hair and a handlebar mustache, who spoke with a well educated southern accent. His eyes were bright, and his handshake firm when he greeted the President. Roosevelt waved him toward the chairs before his desk, but instead of sitting behind his desk, merely leaned up against the front. He picked up the memo.

"Mr. Butler, I understand now why Secretary Mahan speaks so highly of you. This idea, it's brilliant!"

"Thank you Mr. President, I'm glad you like it."

"So tell me again about the idea?"

"Mr. President, it is quite simply, to send our newest and best ships on an around the world voyage. The squadron would include the Battleships Oklahoma and Arizona, the three Hatchigibee class Cruisers, both Charlotte class cruisers, and the large fleet oiler Spruce. All told, 8 ships. The idea is to demonstrate that we can reach worldwide if required, to impress our friends and hopefully give our enemies pause for reflection in the process. We would, of course, make a number of stops along the way."

"Yes, I see here, you already propose Maoria, Japan, the DKB, possibly New Switzerland, Orange, possibly New Zion, various stops in the Mediterranian, including Italy and France, of course, then across the Atlantic to Boston, New York, and home. A question though: why just those eight ships, why not more?"

"Sir, the main reason is that we don't want to diminish our defensive capabilities too much. These ships will be a long way from home for much of their voyage."

"Yes, of course. Sending the whole fleet around the world would be very expensive too. How soon could we set sail?"

"Sir, we'd need only a month or two worth of preparations to assemble and outfit the ships.  I think we could have them ready to depart by May. We could wait, I suppose, and have Arkansas join them as well."

"I think it best not to rush Arkansas' trials, don't you Mr. Butler?"

"Of course, Mr. President."

"Still this is a fine, fine idea! I'm quite excited about it. Draw up the orders and have them sent directly to me." This was a slight violation of the bureaucratic process, but the President was fully aware of what he was doing, especially since he'd purposefully neglected to appoint a new Secretary of the Navy, even though it was clear that Secretary Mahan was unlikely to return.

"Yes, thank you Sir."

As he showed Butler out, Roosevelt decided that he'd found his new Secretary of the Navy.

OOC: If you have any interest in stories surrounding a visit from the CSA's Around the World Squadron, just let me know.

February 18, 1914

The Atlanta Journal

Governor Colquitt of Texas Confirmed as New Vice-President

Richmond -- The Confederacy finally has a new Vice-President. In a process that took more than a year, required a Constitutional amendment, and saw several names floated in the press and one nominee rejected on the floor of the Senate, President Roosevelt's compromise nominee was finally confirmed late tonight by a narrow 25 to 15 margin in a vote that required 24 votes. Only three Republicans and all the Senate Democrats voted for Governor Colquitt, himself a Democrat.

Colquitt, considered a hawkish Democrat, and lauded for his efforts to modernize infrastructure in Texas, especially in the Galveston/Houston area, was widely credited with stabilizing cotton prices in 1912. He is also well know for his fight against prohibition in Texas. He was generally seen as the best compromise candidate, after it became clear that Senate Democrats would confirm no Republican for the position.

Congressional Democrats celebrated the completion of the confirmation process, calling it  in a statement "the finest example of the Democratic process at work." The White House had no comment at press time.

New Zion is most interested in this planned CSA world trip. If the CSA wishes to stop in New Zion, they will be most welcomed.

*begins setting up underwater cameras and training people in the use of ultra small cameras...* ;D

Quote from: Desertfox on October 21, 2008, 03:05:23 PM
New Zion is most interested in this planned CSA world trip. If the CSA wishes to stop in New Zion, they will be most welcomed.

*begins setting up underwater cameras and training people in the use of ultra small cameras...* ;D

I'm not sure how I got that modify button all over the place. Sorry about that...

Before I managed to inadvertently modify Foxy's post, I was replying that the CSA's fleet isn't known for it's speed or for that matter underwater torpedo tubes, so I'm not sure there's all that much to learn down there.

The CSN goes around the world to see big ships?  :P  ;)

edit: forgot the smileys

The Republic of Peru indicated that it would be happy to host and refuel the CSA fleet calling in Callao during the world trip.

It's the Great White Squadron...

I'm shocked that there is actually a vice-president again.

Sounds to me like GC is planning to do something about that. :)