We finally have a new heavy cruiser hull and that means I can get to work on a new supplemental class to the existing County Class ships. There’s a fair amout of humming and hawing but I’m pretty happy with the result!
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Captain of the 1st Company: Treefrog
Lieutenants: Armande Christoph
Veteran Sergeants: 1stplaceonion, LCG Canyon, Welshy
Sergeants: Jackie, Twitchyknees, Alerik Rahl, paga1985s, Haytor, King Memphis
Veterans: Telemonian Dan, Sunless Sky Nova, Threadoflength, Darth Vendar.
Battle Siblings: Jacky Chan, nagebenfro, scurvekano, Cpt Graftin, Icd, Iroey, Zadrias, JT Bismarck.
source
Brother munro what about a battle crusier called the territory class?
I can’t wait for the 40kt/h super battlecruisers. As inefficient and unreasonable as they are, it’s probably the thing I love the most when I play British campaigns
saw an HMS New Zealand, you could also add out provinces as ships 😀
I like the City class more than the County class. They're more traditional heavy cruisers (whereas the County class you made is more of a light battlecruiser lol).
Sadly no HMS Scunthorpe 😢
05:22: Game clock 15:36: BC 15" hits CL Main Belt Partial Pen: 813.2 dmg; CL lost 6 crew. That's a friendly fire incident. The episode is 91 minutes long and now I have to write up an Admiralty Report.
Admiralty Report: 15” shell hit on HMS Hotspur
To: First Sea Lord
From: Preliminary Board of Inquiry
Date: 12 February 1923
Re: Battle of the Otranto Strait, Phase Two, Interception of the Italia and thirteen Transports, and the hit on HMS Hotspur by HMS Furious.
My Lord,
It is the finding of this board that on the 10th of last month the gunnery officers and fire direction officers of HMS Furious laid fire on a Cigno class 9.7 thousand ton armed transport immediately in front of HMS Hotspur when there were at least half a dozen other transports in the convoy clearly in sight and nowhere near HMS Hotspur. A 15” shell hit HMS Hotspur on her main belt, fortunately failing to penetrate, but still killing or wounding six sailors and causing significant damage to the light cruiser.
It is the opinion of this board this is obviously negligence on the part of officers aboard HMS Furious. We recommend that a full board of inquiry be called with witnesses summoned, either at Valletta or in London, to consider disciplinary action or the calling of courts martial on the matter.
Your Servant;
L. A. Hartop-Harrop
Admiral Sir Lawrence Hartop-Harrop
IH-so-nah-mee probably… had a Japanese neighbour once & got fed up with her laughing at me, but I forget most of her lessons anyway :p. ( YA-ha-gee, ZUY-ka-koo, the fun comes with a "u" later in the word – they tend to just disappear – so Suzuya is more like SUZ'ya :p I can't imagine how badly most of us butcher Japanese lol )
Is it me or are AI magic hits getting worse – or more magical – with every patch?
09:38: Nicely done Admiral Munro. Good to keep the French pacified for now.
34:57: How exactly does this constitute a 'Minor Victory"? Does the damn save file forget just how strong Italy was two years ago?
War with China
The Times: 8 March 1923
Be Careful of Your Friends
The Chinese puppet state of the Empire of Japan has thrown off their master’s strings. The Empire of Japan is at war with the Republic of China. And Japan has called on us to declare war on China in turn. The Government, after a heated debate in Parliament, has agreed and now the Republic of China is at war with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Empire of Greater India and their protectorates and allies.
France, Germany, and Russia have sent communiques complaining of British high-handedness. The United States, Austro-Hungary, and Spain have sent messages of support. Japan of course is greatly pleased, but even the Republic of Italy supports our position.
Peace with the Republic of Italy
The Times: 3 March 1923
The Long War Started by the Kingdom of Italy has Ended.
After twenty-seven months of war with the Kingdom and then the Republic of Italy the Italian government has agreed to the counter proposal from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Empire of Greater India. Proposing a base offer of $3.75 billion in reparations, the Italian government agreed to relinquish their colonies of Ethiopia and Southern Algeria, which after all are now landlocked and surrounded by hostile territories. Brief consideration was given to asking for Albania, but with no mechanism to transfer ownership over to the Hellenic Kingdom this idea was discarded. In the end the Admiralty position prevailed, with Sardinia and Eritrea secured the peace would come at the transfer of the protectorates of Ethiopia and Southern Algeria and $3.15 billion in reparations.
Convoy Stopped in the North Sea
The Times: 18 February 1923
HMS Tiger, lead ship of her battlecruiser class, and HMS Fervent, an F-class destroyer found a convoy of nine Lothringen class 9.6 thousand ton 54 man crewed armed transports escorted by the V-10 class destroyer V-48 and the Markgraf class pre-dreadnought Hannover in the middle of the North Sea. Determined that they should not get out of the middle of the North Sea, the two Royal Navy ships attacked.
Warned by a Swedish ship that spotted them passing through the Iceland Gap, HMS Tiger had been waiting for them to arrive, low on fuel from their long journey. HMS Tiger closed on the Hannover until her 5” guns could range on her, then started pounding on her with solid hits. Hannover turned her guns on HMS Fervent as she made smoke and turned for her torpedo run. Unable to avoid the four torpedoes with speed, Hannover slowed down instead letting three pass her bow and having to take one live torpedo hit. To put a point on it, HMS Tiger dropped two 13.5” hits on Hannover, destroying a casemate gun and flooding the ship. With flooding in all compartments and nearly three hundred casualties, Hannover was gravely injured with two uncontrolled fires and one engine disabled. Hannover sank with seventy-five survivors of her 1227 officers and ratings.
HMS Tiger and HMS Fervent turned to run down the convoy the battle had brought them close to. HMS Tiger was able to sink the Kaiser Barbarosa #2, Prinz Eitel Friedrich #11, Wittelsbach XIV, Schleswig-Holstein X, and Lothringen X. The Arminius VII was abandoned by her crew and the Lauenburg X, Sachsen III, and Cormoran II surrendered. In total the German Merchant Marine lost 87 thousand tons of shipping and 369 officers and merchant seamen killed or lost at sea.
HMS Tiger suffered 24 casualties. HMS Fervent suffered 13. The V-48 made a clean escape to report his failure to the Kriegsmarine.
When You Can’t Avoid an Ambushing
The Times: 12 February 1923
It has been rumored that a certain Royal Navy captain and acting Commodore has avoided a full board of inquiry for disobeying a standing order for destroyer squadrons not to attack larger ships ‘in ambush’ but to retire and shadow the ships while reporting their movements by the intervention of His Majesty after having received a letter of thanks from His Cousin His Hellenic Majesty for the Commodore and his ships saving the HHMS Tancred. In reality the Royal Navy ships sighted the enemy too close to evade and once it was clear they could not get away they turned to engage the Miseno class Marco Polo and the Piemonte class Angelo Bassini which had survived a number of encounters with the allies for over a year.
For allied force was the Royal Navy’s D-Class HMS Duchess, C-Class HMS Concord and HMS Clacton and the Royal Hellenic Navy’s D-Class HHMS Walpole, C-Class HHMS Steadfast, and the D-Class HMS Tancred. They were pursued by the 34.5 knot Marco Polo with just the edge to catch them all strung out. So the Commodore decided to turn and fight as a group with HHMS Tancred and HHMS Steadfast still retreating.
HHMS Walpole started closest and quickly drew Marco Polo’s attention. HHMS Walpole launched her four torpedoes to intercept the Marco Polo and HMS Concord launched her two in a crossing spread. The Italians, both Marco Polo and Angelo Bassini fired spreads of torpedoes as well. The helmsmen were better than the torpedo crews, and none hit. HMS Duchess then got close to Marco Polo and fired her spread of four, with three duds and one hit on the main belt flooding the ship in four compartments. HMS Clacton was ordered in next to try a torpedo spread. Meanwhile HHMS Walpole and HMS Duchess peppered Marco Polo to keep her attention. HMS Clacton put two torpedoes into Marco Polo but they were both duds. Ah, British Manufacture. Marco Polo kept taking 5” shells and was fully flooded in her four forward compartments, with over four hundred casualties. When another compartment started flooding Marco Polo surrendered with 428 of her 972 officers and ratings killed or seriously wounded.
The four destroyers the turned on the Angelo Bassini. With their torpedo launchers nearly reloaded they closed on the protected cruiser. HMS Clacton, with only a dual launcher, was ready first, and fired on the Angelo Bassini’s starboard side. Her one hit was a dud. HMS Concord however now had Angelo Bassini right in front of her spread and got two solid hits on the cruiser just as she signaled her surrender. The ship had lost 212 of her 442 man crew.
Both HMS Clacton and HMS Concord had suffered on casualty. HHMS Tancred and HHMS Walpole suffered six each.
Convoy Interception Again in Strait of Otranto
The Times: 14 February 1923
With minor repairs completed and her crew losses replaced the Myrtle class scout cruiser HMS Hotspur led five destroyers back to the Strait of Otranto to intercept convoys going through or across it. Her escorts were the Republic of Romania Navy ship RRS Beagle, a D-class of British construction, two F-class destroyers, HMS Fareham and HMS Fennel, and two C-class destroyers, HMS Caribbean and the always in the thick of things HMS Constant. On patrol they intercepted the Piemonte class protected cruiser Francesco Nulio and the Nembo class destroyer Altair escorting a convoy of nine Porfido class 10.8 thousand ton 54 man crewed unarmed merchant ships to Albania.
HMS Hotspur directed the destroyers to form line ahead with RRS Beagle taking point, HMS Fennel, HMS Fareham, HMS Constant and HMS Caribbean following behind. They spotted the Altair ahead of them just in time for the destroyer to send an eight torpedo spread at them. Calming their panic, the commodore commanding the destroyer division to sail right into the spread and slip a gap, only to have it close when a torpedo diverged and swung towards the RRS Beagle. The Romanian ship held course and took the hit on her bow with three casualties. These would be the only allied casualties in the whole battle. The Royal Navy destroyers sailed in behind the trail blazed by RRS Beagle, nervously watching the passing torpedoes for any sign of another one going off course.
RRS Beagle tried a poorly time launch of torpedoes herself, taking some of the shine off her hard won reputation for infallibility. With flooding in two forward compartments, the Commodore commended their efforts and ordered them to retire. The Royal Navy now focused their fire on Altair, coming past the closing destroyer. HMS Fareham got the timing right on her torpedo launch, getting two hits fore and amidships and one dud out of four torpedoes. Altair was now flooding in all compartments with two engines disabled, and thirty-nine wounded. Losing her last engine and her battle against the inrushing sea, Altair sank with all 140 hands lost.
With the Altair sunk HMS Hotspur spotted the Francesco Nulio. The failure of Marina Militare ships to operate as a group has always been their downfall. The destroyers and HMS Hotspur closed on this second enemy warship, the destroyers turning to line abreast to bracket the protected cruiser. Peppering the Francesco Nulio, they finally got the critical hit. A 6” shell from HMS Hotspur detonated the Francesco Nulio’s torpedo magazine, wounding or killing thirty-one men and doing serious damage to the ship. The destroyers broke off to hunt for the convoy while HMS Hotspur closed on the crippled Francesco Nulio.
After a short pursuit HMS Hotspur was able to force the Francesco Nulio to surrender with her two hundred and thirty-nine remaining crew, having failed to make a single hit after expending 60% of her ammo.
Three minutes later HMS Fennel spotted the trailing ship of the convoy and immediately hit her in her cargo hold and wounding or killing eighteen men. This is believed to be the Giacomo Nani according to her six survivors. The next ship sunk was likely the Benadetto Brin who had nine survivors. The third ship sunk would then be the San Spiridon which had five survivors. The next merchant ship sunk is confirmed to have been the Bario which had eight survivors.
Having strained her engines to jump out of line and try to get towards the head of the column, Romolo surrendered after taking twenty-two casualties. Fama Volante III followed suit, allowing twenty-eight of her crew to survive. Clio surrendered with thirty-one survivors. Her crew prayed to San Giovanni Battista Piccolo and John the Baptist came through, the thirty righteous men on the ship surviving. The convoy leader Porfido surrendered with thirty-two survivors.
The Italian Merchant Marine had lost 97 thousand tons of shipping capacity and 305 officers and merchant seamen killed or lost at sea. The Marina Militare had lost two of their precious ships and 343 officers and ratings killed or lost at sea. The Royal Navy lost no one. The Republic of Romania Navy had three casualties from the start of the battle.
Sardinia has been Taken!
The Times: 6 February 1923
Despite numerous efforts by the Regia Marina and the Marina Militare to supply their forces on or interfere in the invasion of Sardinia operations of the Royal Marines and Royal Army have been successful. The Island is now under the protection of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Empire of Greater India.
The Fleet has been directed to support operations against the Ottoman puppet Emirate in southern Egypt. Control of this territory would allow the construction of a rail line from Cape Town to Cairo.
The Foreign Ministry has announced that they have offered to discuss peace with the Republic of Italy.
German Peace Offer Spurned
The Times: 1 February 1923
The Foreign Ministry, at the suggestion of the War Minister and the First Lord of the Admiralty with the support of their uniformed subordinates, have rejected an offer from the German Republic for an immediate truce to discuss terms of peace. With operations ongoing to remove the Hun from the continent of Africa the Government sees no reason to enact a cease fire.
In other foreign news the Admiralty has recommended against selling Courageous ’20 refit battlecruisers to Indonesia and Norway.
The French government has accepted our latest note explaining our current operations in Africa and apologizing for any friction this may be causing between the two countries. Further our explanation of our response to the new government in Belgium has been accepted.
When your Scouts Don't Report Back
The Times: 22 January 1923
Only hours after HHMS Lochnivar, HMS Concord, and HMS Duke sank two Nembo class destroyers trying to clear them from the Otranto Strait, the narrowest point between the Italian peninsula and the Italian controlled province of Albania, the Ichnusa class super dreadnought Italia attempted to take thirteen Cigno class 9.7 thousand ton 72 man crewed 3.4” armed transports across. The Marina Militare was apparently satisfied with the report from the Astore that there were only two Royal Navy destroyers in the Strait, and when she failed to report again were convinced that the Italia would face only those two ships.
HMS Furious, a Courageous class battlecruiser and the flagship of the Otranto blockade ordered her escorts to follow her into the Strait to find out what devilry the Italians were up to. HMS Hotspur, a Myrtle class scout cruiser, the destroyers HMS Dervish, a D-class and HMS Constant, a C-class followed her in. HHMS Steadfast and HHMS Tancred were ordered to hold station to ensure no ships tried to slip behind the blockade.
Sighting Italia closing on their position, HMS Furious opened the battle with a hit on one of the transports behind her at extreme range. Italia began firing back immediately. After a few salvos Italia got a hit on HMS Furious through her fore belt that killed or wounded 42 men. HMS Furious kept closing, opening up her broadside to bring all six of her guns to bear. HMS Hotspur cut across her path towards the just sighted transports, attempting to draw Italia’s attention. Italia however turned her fire on HMS Dervish and HMS Constant who were also closing on the convoy. HMS Furious finally got a penetrating hit on Italia, going through the aft belt and killing or wounding 34 men. HMS Dervish takes a 15” shell from Italia through her main belt, flooding two compartments. She is ordered to retire.
HMS Constant is now directed to close on Italia for a torpedo run, leaving the transports to HMS Hotspur. HMS Furious gets at 15” hit through the main belt of Italia, starting her flooding. HMS Furious’ 5” guns open up. Italia has lost B turret, is flooding in two compartments, and has over 300 casualties. After a few more hits HMS Furious puts a 15” shell through a casemate gun into the citadel of Italia. Another 82 crew are wounded or killed. Italia is fighting flooding in four compartments. Another salvo and now Italia is losing ground on flooding in eight compartments, with only two engineering spaces still watertight. Her structural damage is even worse, and crews attempt to shore up the ship from bow to stern. HMS Constant is using Italia’s distractions to close from astern of the battleship. But before she reached Italia HMS Furious put two more 15” shells through Italia’s hull. The battleship broke up with only 183 survivors of her 1971 crew of officers and ratings.
HMS Hotspur had caught up with the convoy and started by sinking the Asteria leaving three survivors. She tend sunk the Cigno, leaving eleven survivors. HMS Hotspur sank the Ariete leaving six survivors, then took a major hit that killed or injured six of her crew. She continued to fight.
The Venezia Trionfante III sank next, leaving five survivors. HMS Hotspur next targeted Vega, pounding on the ship until she sank with before switching her fire to Maggiore Baracca. HMS Constant was now closing on the convoy. HMS Hotspur hit the Maggiore Baracca a dozen times before she sank with seven survivors. HMS Constant was now hitting the Ottone and HMS Furious got a 15” hit on the San Gennaro. HMS Hotspur was targeting the Brin. When she moved away from the Ottone HMS Constant shifted fire to the Corona. HMS Furious put her secondary guns on the Brin and hit the Italian with a 5” shell while putting another 15” shell into the San Gennaro. HMS Hotspur shifted her fire to the Corriera, having moved away from the Brin. The Corona sunk from fire from HMS Constant, leaving one survivor. HMS Furious shifted her 5” fire to the Corriera. All this while HMS Hotspur was taking hits from the Italian transports. The Corriera sinks with six survivors. HMS Furious 5” fire is again directed at the Brin, destroying a main gun turret, disabling #1 engine, and flooding the ship. The San Gennaro finally lost her battle with flooding, leaving nine survivors.
The Brin sinks from her 5” shelling with eight survivors just as HMS Furious put two 15” shells into Ottone. HMS Hotspur is now hitting and flooding Salvatore Pelosi III. Salvatore Pelosi III sinks with four survivors. HMS Furious has closed to her 2” tertiary range and two transports remain. HMS Constant, HMS Hotspur, and HMS Furious are targeting Ottone. The transport sinks with six survivors. HMS Furious puts two 15” shells into Ruggiero d' Lauria II leaving two survivors.
The Italian Merchant Marine has lost 58 thousand tons of shipping and 862 officers and merchant seamen killed or lost at sea. The colonial government in Albania has lost vital supplies. The Marina Militare lost their last super dreadnought and 1788 officers and ratings killed or lost at sea. Their active navy consists of one Miseno heavy cruiser and Nembo destroyers with thirteen ships under repair.
HMS Furious suffered forty-six casualties. HMS Hotspur suffered thirteen casualties from enemy action and another six killed or wounded. HMS Dervish suffered ten casualties. HMS Constant suffered none, blessed by the incompetence of Italian battleship and transport crews.
56:16: It is great to see that the A-class, with their upgraded quad 21" fast torpedo launchers still have it and are a threat to most ships.
That Didn't Go Well, Part 2
The Times: 24 April 1923
Shooting Up a Convoy
HMS Porpoise, hearing that the Isonami had sunk after torpedoing two of the Chinese warships, decided to turn and close as best she could on the convoy. Zuikaku and Yahaig were still closing and the Chinese were badly out of position. But 8.5” shells have a speed of their own, and the Ningxia’s began firing on Yahaig and HMS Porpoise. Yahaig turned back to distract the Chinese as Zuikaku forged on and got her first hit on Shaoyang, damaging her rudder and wounding sixteen.
HMS Porpoise and Yahaig were getting hits on the Chinese warships, but taken them as well while Zuikaku got more hits on the transports. Yahaig took a flooding hit aft and with most of her stern on fire she had trouble controlling it. As fire swept across her upper works the crew abandoned ship with fifty-five men getting off alive out of a crew of 574 officers and ratings.
The Ningxia’s were now firing only on HMS Porpoise, and she broke off her ‘pursuit’ of the convoy to try and get away. Smoke could no longer hide her from the enemy, and they relentless pounded at her while she fired back with her 3” guns. Zuikaku was now close enough to take 4.4” shells from the transports. But Zuikaku’s 4.2” guns were able to reply. Shaoyang ‘surrendered’ to Zuikaku, which is to say she stopped firing her 4.4” guns after taking twenty-eight casualties. Zuikaku would not be able to put a prize crew on the ship or to scuttle her. Wuwei also surrendered after taking thirty-one casualties. Quanzhou surrendered when she had twenty-eight casualties. The Xubin was sunk with four survivors, the only actually allied achievement of the day.
But Zuikaku had chosen to sail straight up the middle of the densest part of the convoy so she could fire her 4.2” guns from both sides, but this meant she was taking 4.4” fire from both sides, and getting penetrations on her extended belts. She was flooded both fore and aft in two compartment each with flooding breaching her third forward compartment. Flooding took her third compartments fore and aft and breached the bulkheads of her fourth forward compartment. With over 170 casualties she was still fighting the damage, but also still taking hits as she turned out of the convoy.
The Chinese Republic lost 213 officers and merchant seamen, with one ship sunk and four seriously damaged. The Chinese navy took 165 casualties. The Imperial Japanese Navy took 1182 casualties with another 113 men taken into the tender mercies of the Chinese. The Royal Navy lost 108 men killed or seriously wounded.
That Didn't Go Well, Part 1
The Times: 24 April 1923
We May Need Better Cruisers in the Pacific
The Imperial Japanese Navy convinced the Royal Navy attaché at Tokyo to persuade the Admiralty to authorize the Hong Kong station to send a cruiser to join two Japanese Kaikoma class 19.5 knot armoured cruisers, Zuikaku and Yahaig, and one Urakaze class destroyer, our old friend Isonami, on a deep raid into the Yellow Sea to destroy Chinese convoys in the area. The Hong Kong station assigned the task to the Tribune class semi-armoured cruiser HMS Porpoise.
The only ship capable of speed, the Isonami charged ahead to scout the smoke spotted to the west. She sighted three ships which were clearly Chinese Ningxia class warships which immediately turned to open their broadsides and fire on the Japanese destroyer who immediately made smoke. Closing on the Chinese ships, Isonami lined up for a torpedo launch. Just as she launched she took an aft belt penetration that started flooding two compartments aft. The Nanchong took one torpedo on her stern that damaged her rudder and wounded thirteen men. HMS Porpoise finally came in range of the enemy and started firing her 3” and6” guns. The Zuikaku and Yahaig were still closing. Isonami was trying to pull away from the Chinese battle line, taking 2.4” fire as she went.
Detecting the transports, HMS Porpoise signaled her intent to close on them and let the Zuikaku and Yahaig deal with the Chinese warships. The signal may have been garbled in translation. The Chinese however fully understood HMS Porpoise’s intent, and put an 8.5” shell through her main belt, taking out a casemate gun, fully flooding three compartments amidships, and wounding 38 men just as the cruiser sighted the first two transports. All three of her boiler rooms were flooded and the ship was on her auxiliary diesel engine, with her speed rapidly falling. HMS Porpoise signaled the location of the convoy and her intent to retire
.
Zuikaku and Yahaig now took up the chase of the convoy as Isonami, her torpedoes nearly ready, closed on the Chinese warships again. With the destroyer closing in on them the Chinese turned all their guns on the Isonami. The torpedo officer on the Isonami swung his launcher at the last minute, targeting the Fengtian. Now flooded below her main tower, Isonami watched the spread approach the Fengtian. She got one hit out of four, damaging Fengtian’s rudder and wounding twelve men. With flooding spreading forward into another engineering space Isonami had two engines disabled and nineteen wounded. Somehow Nanchong managed to sail right into another of Isonami’s torpedoes, taking more flooding and fifteen casualties just as Isonami lost a main gun and twelve more men. Isonami sank from flooding with 131 of her 147 man crew.
Cruiser Duel in South China Sea
The Times: 18 April 1923
Based on reports from our Japanese allies HMS Medway, a River class light cruiser, entered the South China Sea from her station at Penang and searched for the Ningxia class Chinese warship Jilin. Spotting smoke to the south east she went to 31 knots and began to close. Two minutes later she sighted the Jilin, headed away. After a ranging shot the HMS Medway hit the Jilin with her one of her next two 7” shells, damaging the ship’s secondary tower and wounding two men. Jilin started firing back with her six aft point 8.5” guns. HMS Medway was getting a few additional 7” hits but they were failing to penetrate the enemy’s armour. Jilin was simply missing, firing only two rounds at a time, not able to salvo with six guns.
Finally HMS Medway got in range with her 3” rapid firing guns, and began to pepper Jilin. A 7” shell took out a secondary gun on Jilin, wounding nine men. As HMS Medway came up on Jilin’s starboard more of her port side 3” battery were able to target the Chinese ship. Jilin had lost her secondary tower and over one hundred of her crew but she was still combat capable and not yet flooding. As HMS Medway came into torpedo rang Jilin consistently turned her stern to the British cruiser to deny her a good target. HMS Medway committed to a stern chase, bringing her bow into line with the Jilin. Jilin finally got a hit on HMS Medway below her aft fire control director, starting a fire on the ship. Jilin’s next 8.5” hit went clean through HMS Medway’s stern, opening the ship to flooding which was easily controlled. A third 8.5” hit failed to penetrate HMS Medway’s main belt. The whole time HMS Medway was putting 3” and 7” shells onto Jilin with no penetrations.
Finally HMS Medway got the flooding hits on Jilin she need. The Chinese warship started flooding in all compartments. With only 345 of her 575 man crew at their stations her damage control was down 50%. Jilin sank just as she put a shell through HMS Medway’s main belt flooding two compartments. Jilin had seven survivors. HMS Medway took 61 casualties.
Challenging China in their Home Waters
The Times: 13 April 1923
HMS Perth rendezvoused with two Japanese Urakaze class destroyers, Tachibana and Hatsuyuki at a predetermined point in the East China Sea. From their moved into Chinese waters for hunt for transports moving along the coast. Tachibana sighted three Wuhan class 7 thousand ton 41 man crewed 4” and 3.5” armed transports moving seemingly without escort. Closing on them the Japanese destroyers began to hound with their 4” guns and herd the transports north-east, waiting for HMS Perth to close and trying out their two twin 20” standards torpedo launchers. Tachibana got one hit out of four on the Xinxiang, starting her flooding. Hatsuyuki hit Wuhan with one of her torpedoes, also starting the transport flooding.
As HMS Perth closed and began to pepper the enemy with her 3” guns the Zaozhuang surrendered to the Royal Navy ship after losing her #3 engine and her bridge and captain. Zaozhuang had twenty-two survivors. After taking a 3” hit from HMS Perth the Wuhan surrendered to the cruiser with twenty-four of her crew still alive. HMS Perth put a 6” shell into Xinxiang which convinced her to surrender with twenty-two survivors. In total the Republic of China lost fifty-five officers and merchant seamen with their three transports displacing a total of 20 thousand tons.
Upon questioning by our Hong Kongese translators the rescued crews claimed they had been escorted by a Chinese Navy warship, the Jiangsu, but that she had fled at the sight of closing smoke on their position.
The Imperial Japanese Navy took four casualties on the Hatsuyuki and five from the Tachibana from hits by the transports, primarily by the Zaozhuang. The Chinese transports did not fire on HMS Perth.
Meeting Our New Enemy
The Times: 7 April 1923
The Republic of China Navy consists mostly of their Ningxia class warships. With a designed displacement of 10,546 tons, a top speed of 23.5 knots obtained by burning oil in induced boilers vented through four funnels providing steam to geared turbines creating 25,127 induced horse power with a cruise speed of 14.8 knots. Six twin 8.5”/40 mark 3 gun turrets laid in a hexagon with two on the centerline fore and aft and two wing turrets on each side are the main battery backed by two triple 5.3” gun turrets mounted between the wing turrets on each side but with no torpedoes, they have a heavier armament than our old Argonaut class armoured cruisers but displace less. They have a Krupp IV 5.2” main belt and a 2.1” main deck with 11.6” armour on their turret faces. It is truly hard to try to type these ships, as the Chinese seem to have a design and doctrinal philosophy all their own.
Two of the Ningxia class, the Guangdong and Hunan, tried to escort a convoy of four Dingxin class 11 thousand ton 83 man crewed 3.5” armed transports through the South China Sea to their protectorate of Sarawak adjacent to our Protectorates of Brunei and North Borneo from which the Royal Army is attacking the Chinese. The Royal Navy had already dispatched a light force out of Singapore and Darwin to patrol the South China Sea which intercepted the Chinese. Led by the Interceptor class fast protected cruiser HMS Intercessor, along with the recently renamed Tribune class semi-armoured cruiser HMS Atlantic, was accompanied by a destroyer squadron consisting of the G-class HMS Glowworm and HMS Gurkha, E-class HMS Empire and HMS Express, D-class HMS Dextrous and HMS Dauntless, and the A-class HMS Amazon.
The cruiser division broke up to close at top speed. Dextrous, Express and Empire formed the first destroyer division. Amazon, Glowworm, Dauntless, and Gurkha formed the second division. They all closed on the enemy smoke. HMS Dextrous sighted the enemy transports but with no sign of their escorts. As the Royal Navy ships closed the Ningxia was seen fleeing the convoy, menacingly pointing their guns backwards including their 360 degree forward turret. 360 degree turrets allow a warship to quickly change tact and still have their turret fire on the new broadside. To have one aft indicates a desire to close on the enemy and fight with all guns. To have one forward indicates a desire to run from the enemy and fight with all guns.
The destroyers simply blasted away at the convoy as they closed on the Chinese warships. They sunk the Hualong with seven survivors of her 83 man crew, Putian with nine survivors. Yang-Yingju with nine survivors, and Dingxin with nine survivors. In total the Chinese Republic lost 43 thousand tons of shipping and 298 officers and merchant seamen killed or lost at sea. The Royal Navy had yet to take any losses despite one 3.5” hit by Dingxin.
HMS Dextrous opened fire on the Chinese warships, getting a hit off the aft belt that wounded four men. As the destroyers they began to get more 5” hits on the Guangdong. When HMS Dextrous came along side she sent four 21” fast torpedoes at the Guangdong. She got two live hits and one dud on the Guangdong which finally began to flood in seven compartments. The flooding took hold and Guangdong sank with 477 of her 575 complement of officers and ratings.
As HMS Dextrous brought her division across the bow of the Hunan she turned away, allowing HMS Amazon to turn and box the Chinese warship in as the cruisers closed. HMS Amazon launched her four torpedoes at the Hunan and got at least two live hits with one torpedo passing astern. Hunan was flooding in all compartments with her bow and stern fully flooded, had lost both towers and her aft turret, and had taken over 100 casualties. Hunan sank with twenty-eight survivors.
As the leader closing on the enemy HMS Dextrous took twelve casualties. HMS Glowworm, following HMS Amazon in on the Hunan, took three casualties.
As a result of the battle the Admiralty has ordered the Singapore Fleet to Sarawak to start a second front in the liberation of the province from Chinese rule.
The City Class Heavy Cruiser Fills A Gap
The Times: 13 March 1923
Originally conceived as a 10” armed ship, the Director of Naval Construction finally agreed that the new class of heavy cruiser, a type first conceived by the Royal Navy in the County Class, would be armed with twelve 9”/50 guns mounted in triple turrets on the centerline ABXY. A very convention design disparaged by the MEME committee, the new City Class will also carry a secondary armament of four triple 4”/40 gun turrets on the superstructure and six triple 3”/45 guns turrets. Eight underwater torpedo tubes, four on each side firing 21” fast “British Made” torpedoes round out the armament.
Oil burned in balanced boilers vented by one funnel provide steam to power geared turbines operating at 119.4% efficiency to provide 113,366 indicated horse power to three type IV shafts turning for a max speed of 32 knots to match the Country and Admiral Classes giving a the Cities a range of 11,289 nautical miles which lets them also operate with the County and Admiral Classes. The 1073 officers and ratings are provided standard quarters. Krupp IV armour is laid in an all or nothing scheme to a maximum thickness of 12” on the 9” turrets, 10” on the main belt and 5” on the main deck.
Build time is 19 months with a two month commissioning. The original order of ten was increased to twenty from supporters in Parliament and the Navy of the heavy cruiser concept who have been very vocal in their support for the City Class as designed. Costing $114,685,800 each with a projected monthly maintenance cost of $6,594,434 the City Class will be the first class built for the Royal Navy whose total cost will breach a billion at $2.29 billion in all. This fact has been the source of extreme complaint in certain newspapers and amoungst liberal MPs in Parliament.
The Ships of the class will be: HMS London, HMS Birmingham, HMS Edinburgh, HMS Dublin, HMS Cardiff, HMS York, HMS Leeds, HMS Glasgow, HMS Manchester, HMS Liverpool, HMS Sheffield, HMS Bradford, HMS Bristol, HMS Plymouth, HMS Leicester, HMS Conventry, HMS Doncaster, HMS Nottingham, HMS Brighton, and HMS Sutherland.
Complaints have arisen from Adelaide to Zanzibar, Cairo to Capetown, Darwin to Dehli that the dominions, colonies, and protectorates have been ignored in this list of names. Not since the construction of the Dominion Class has the Royal Navy noted the contribution of the many nations of the Empire. Conservative MPs have suggested the best solution would be to build a second tranche of 20 ships when the first twenty complete to honour the contributions of these important cities to the Empire.