WesWorld

July 1
The Bulgarian Navy has started construction of a new two thousand ton fast destroyer, to be named Drazki, after the most famous torpedo boat of the pre-Great War Bulgarian Navy. Admiral Dimitar Dobrev, the commander-in-chief of the Navy and captain of the original torpedo boat Drazki, was present for the occasion.

July 10
The Bulgarian Navy is participating in joint naval exercises with the fleets of Romania, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Konteradmiral Nikolay Avramov, the commander of the Navy's First Battle Squadron, issued the orders to weigh anchor in the early hours of July 10th. The Varna, accompanied by old cruiser Stara Zagora and ten torpedo boats, stood out to sea to rendezvous with the Turkish and Polish fleet units. [See Romanian News for more.]

July 26
Tsar Boris and Tsaritsa Ioanna have begun their tour of Europe on the way to attend the coronation of Queen Bethanie in Coldmere, and the coronation of Prince Andre Poniatowski as the Polish king on August 7th. The couple will travel first to Bucharest, Romania, to meet first with the Romanian king before proceeding to Warsaw. They will then travel to Lithuania to view the rebuilding efforts underway following the end of the late war. The Tsar and Tsaritsa will board the battleship Varna, which will be paying a port call to Lithuania. After leaving Lithuania, Boris and Ioanna will attend the Coldmere coronation before heading home, making a brief stop in the Netherlands.

The first leg of the royals' trip will be made by air. Tsar Boris has recently renewed his pilot's license, and has reportedly taken the controls of the aircraft on several occasions when traveling abroad.

August 4
The First Battle Squadron has departed for the Baltic. Two hundred Lithuanian naval cadets, attached to the Bulgarian Navy as an officer and seaman training exchange program [1], sail aboard the various ships in the fleet.

August 17
The Bulgarian Army has been conducting extensive trials of several French armored vehicles, with an eye towards future purchase. Army generals were reported to be highly impressed, but noted that they have already spent most of the Army's acquisition budget for 1936 on Atlantean tanks, Belgian trucks and utility cars, and Czech artillery.

[1] Bulgaria is sending officers to learn armored tactics in Lithuanian tank schools and units; Lithuania is sending sailors from their naval service to be trained in the Bulgarian Navy.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
After leaving Lithuania, Boris and Ioanna will attend the Coldmere coronation before heading home, making a brief stop in the Netherlands.

The first leg of the royals' trip will be made by air. Tsar Boris has recently renewed his pilot's license, and has reportedly taken the controls of the aircraft on several occasions when traveling abroad.

Where they are most welcome. For my part, I only send disposable personnel by air.

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
Where they are most welcome. For my part, I only send disposable personnel by air.

Yup, though that's historical. Tsar Boris enjoyed flying and was checked out on several different planes including the Ju52.

Sometime in July, at Bulgarian Naval HQ in Sofia

"Gentlemen, please sit down," Admiral Dobrev ordered. He waved his hand towards the chairs, and the assembled officers took their seats. Five of the six Bulgarian flag officers were present, with only Konteradmiral Avramov, the current commander of the Battle Squadron, being away. [1] In addition, General Stefan Tsanev, the Minister of War, was sitting in on the meeting, as were several of the most senior captains on shore assignment.

The most senior of the admirals present, Vitse Admiral Stoyanov, headed both the naval design board and the Bureau of Naval Operations. Dobrev expected that, when he finally retired, Stoyanov would be promoted to the Naval commander-in-chief. Vitse-Admiral Porozhinov, a well-mustachioed and energetic man, commanded the fleet itself, though for the moment his position was primarily a shore assignment. Two Kontra-Admirals, Radoev and Kalyandzhiev, commanded the Bureau of Logistics and Ships and the Bureau of Personnel and Training, respectively. These were all highly trusted men, the most experienced in the navy. (Which, for the Bulgarian Navy, wasn't entirely saying much.)

"My aides will be distributing folders to each of you," Dobrev said. "If you could please open to the first page. Of course, everything said here is secret." As the officers opened up their folders, Dobrev continued. The old admiral had long since passed the days of sea command, but his mind was still sharp. [2] "You may review item one at your leisure, but I shall summarize. General Tsanev's staff has compiled this report for me, discussing the Army's considerations for the defense of our borders and how the Navy can aid in that endeavor. He has provided several recommendations, and we have compiled an action plan, which you will see as Item Two. Please turn to this section."

Papers rustled for a few moments before Dobrev continued. "As you will read, we will be continuing as planned under the 1934 Naval Program, but we will be making several small changes to our force structure and overall goals. The first of these changes is listed in Item Two, Section One. Effective in September 1936, there will be a new administrative division within the fleet structure. Rather than all ships reporting directly to the Bureau of Naval Operations, we will instead place much of the general administrative work in two lower commands: the Black Sea Command and the Danube Command. The Black Sea Fleet will be a Vitse-Admiral level command, and the Danube Flotilla will now be a Kontra-Admiral level command. The Bureau of Naval Operations will oversee both divisions."

Eyebrows went up amongst the kapitans present for the meeting - the news clearly meant Dobrev was going to make a seventh admiral's position available for new promotion... hopefully their promotion.

"The Black Sea Fleet will continue to operate as organized under Vitse-Admiral Porozhinov, with Kontra Admiral Avramov remaining in command of the First Battle Squadron. Kontra Admiral Radoev will be temporarily assigned to command the Danube Flotilla until he retires in January; he will oversee the construction of the new ships and the formulation of a new riverine warfare strategy. Now please turn to item three in your folders. This has the details of the planned Danube Flotilla."

Amid the rustling of papers, someone gave a low whistle of appreciation. Dobrev ignored it, letting the officers skim through the executive summary. Once the men had finished, Dobrev continued. "As you can see, our current plan calls for the construction of five new river monitors of four hundred tons burthen each, and five two-hundred ton riverine patrol craft. According to the current state of the budget, these ten vessels will all be completed by December 1937 or earlier. The Design Board has already determined the designs for both vessel types; we will be working from the designs of the German riverine fleet."

"What about lighter craft?" Kontra-Admiral Radoev interrupted. "The Maximillian-type monitors and the Habordansky-class RPBs are good, but I think we should also be looking into even smaller but more numerous craft..."

Stoyanev fielded the question. "We will be looking into that quite closely, yes, particularly in light of the next topic."

"We'll move on to that now," Dobrev said. "General Tsanev's report asked for a closer study on Army-Navy cooperation within the Danube theater. In that vein, the Army has agreed to the joint creation of the Naval Rifle Regiment, to be operated under the Navy's control, to support possible operations on the Danube."

There was a buzz which ran through the assembled officers. "An expansion of the Marine force?" someone asked.

Tsanev interrupted. "No, a Naval Rifle Regiment. It will be drawn from the Army and will be trained to our requirements, but it will be placed under the command of the Navy, to work alongside your Danube River Fleet. The regiment will be responsible for supporting your ships from the shore, just as the ships are responsible for supporting them."

Dobrev nodded. "Correct. Of course, should we be faced with war to the west or north, God and saints forbid, the Danube Flotilla will fall under the overall command of the Army anyway. With that particular thought in mind, I'd like the Design Board to look into some troop-carrying barges and some high-speed river gunboats for pinprick support."

Vitse-Admiral Porozhinov looked troubled. "You say this is in addition to the call for the 1934 Naval Plan, correct?"

"Yes," Dobrev answered. "The plan remains the same."

"What about Ersatz Sofia, sir?" Porozhinov asked.

Dobrev put on his glasses. It was an inevitable topic, really: ever since Dobrev had accepted Radoev's recommendation to scrap the predreadnought battleship Sofia, the big-gun advocates of the navy had made it a point to bring up Ersatz Sofia, an armored ship to replace her. "Ersatz Sofia is not part of the 1934 Naval Plan, nor have any of the designs moved out of the concept stage. I'm deferring the Ersatz Sofia topic to the 1938 Naval Defense Review and the 1939 Naval Plan."

General Tsanev, not privy to the internal debate, raised an eyebrow. "Ersatz Sofia? What is that?"

"The planned replacement for the old battleship Sofia, General," Porozhinov answered, before Dobrev could interject.

"The theoretical replacement," Radoev corrected. "The idea is still in the earliest stages of discussion, and it's not the Design Board's highest priority."

"Which is why we should have looked into that three years ago," Porozhinov retorted. "My recommendation from last year, of course, still stands."

"That'll never happen on my budget," Radoev shot back. "That beast of a design would have run us five billion leva before we got her done - six years using two-thirds of our budget! Better to put those resources to more minelayers, more subs, more torpedo boats..."

Tsanev leaned forward. "Do you have time to brief me on any realistic Ersatz Sofia plans?"

Radoev looked panicked for the shortest of moments before recovering his composure. "My design committee is still putting together concepts," he said quickly. "They should be done in two weeks. Would you like to schedule a briefing so Kapitan Sarafov's team can present their concepts?"

"Please," Tsanev replied. "I think the Tsar also might want to attend, so perhaps waiting until mid-September would be best."

"Very well, General; I'll have the design committee prepare a briefing." Radoev glanced over towards Porozhinov, as if to say Look what you got me stuck with!

"I'd like to see these concepts as well," Porozhinov said taking the other admiral's glare stoically.

"Moving back to the topic at hand, then," Dobrev said, regaining control of the meeting. "We need to move on to the topic of bases and infrastructure for supporting the Danube Flotilla..."

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Current Plan for 1937:
- RM-1 Krum
- RM-2 Boris
- RM-3 Kubrat
- RM-4 Omurtag
- RM-5 Knyaz Alexander
- RPB-1 Kliment Turnovski
- RPB-2 Petko Karavelov
- RPB-3 Stefan Stambolov
- RPB-4 Johan Ehrnrooth
- RPB-5 Konstantin Stoilov

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Notes
[1] Kontra-Admiral Avramov is, at this time, participating in the naval exercises with the PRJ and Turkey.
[2] Admiral Dobrev commanded the steam torpedo boat Drazki during the Naval Battle of Kaliakra, thus being one of extremely few Bulgarian naval officers with actual combat experience.