WesWorld

Germany, Q1/25 News

1 January 1925

The Reichsmarine has laid down the Ersatz Arcona , a light cruiser that takes full advantage of Germany’s 8,000 t limit on such ships. The ship will be well protected and armed with eight fifteen centimeter guns in four turrets.

The vessel is, however, most notable for its extremely heavy torpedo armament: no less than sixteen H08D T2 torpedoes in four quadruple carriages. Little is known about the torpedoes, which are believed to still be in the testing phase. The designation suggests that they are sixty centimeters in diameter and eight meters long, with a wet heater propulsion system. The original H08D T1, designed in 1912, carried a 210 kg hexanite warhead to a distance of 6,550 yards at 36 kts.

“In the absence of submarines, modern battleships, or aircraft, we are turning to other forms of delivering killing blows to battleships”, Admiral Anton Wegener, the Reichmarine’s commander in chief, said today at the ship’s steel-cutting ceremony in Cuxhaven.

A second ship, Ersatz Niobe , will be laid down later this year, and two more - Ersatz Medusa and Ersatz Nymphe - will follow in 1926 as the Reichsmarine replaces a large block of cruisers laid down at the turn of the century. The ship’s actual names won’t be revealed until they are launched.

19 January 1925

Sentencing hearings for President Ebert have been delayed. Lawyer Ernst Sauckel asked for a postponement, citing the fact that Herr Ebert is ill.

The presiding judge, Karl Schoemann, agreed to delay proceedings for up to three months if necessary.

22 February 1925

An unlikely partnership has been formed to investigate the potential of commercial production of synthetic hydrocarbons from coal. Gathered at the Technical Institute in Rheinau were Minister of the Economy Joseph Wirth, representatives of three coal producers, Drs. Freidrich Bergius, Franz Fischer, Hans Tropsch, as well as representatives from two American oil companies and the Empress of India.

Minister Wirth said, “We are gathered to announce a joint effort to commercialize hydrocarbon production using domestic coal resources. Dr. Bergius has been developing a very promising process since 1913, while Drs. Fischer and Tropsch are completing a second, separate process. With a wide array of support now available to these gentleman, we hope to make the step up to commercial production within the next ten years.”

The Empress of India, the Rana, commented, “Germany and India find themselves in the position of having tremendous coal reserves but precious little oil. Making use of that coal to replace our dependence on foreign-produced oil will ensure a continual source of fuel for our economies and our defence, and just as importantly, guarantee that the enormous sums of money spent on fuel remain in our own economies.”

1 March 1925

President Friedrich Ebert has passed away at the age of 54. A spokesman for the Ebert family confirmed that the president had been suffering from tuberculosis for some time.

The son of a tailor, Herr Ebert became involved with the Social Democratic Party over twenty years ago. Despite his socialist leanings, he generally supported both the war effort and the monarchy, accepting leadership of Germany after the kaiser’s abdication only after it became evident that the alternative was a revolution.

Herr Ebert’s role in shaping the Germany of today has been controversial; he signed the crippling Treaty of Versailles, used right-wing thugs to suppress left-wing uprisings, yet was ineffective and fortunate to overcome the Kapp Putsch of 1920.

A state funeral will be held in Berlin in three days time.

At an emergency session in the Reichstag, Finance Minister Hans Luther was elected to serve as acting president until a general election takes in four weeks’ time.

28 March 1925

A full slate of candidates are in the running for tomorrow’s presidential election:

Otto Braun Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Dr. Heinrich Held Bavarian People’s Party (BVP)
Dr. Willy Hellpach German Democratic Party (DDP)
Gen. Paul von Hindenburg German National People’s Party (DNVP)
Dr. Karl Jarres German People’s Party (DVP)
Gen. Erich Ludendorff National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP)
Dr. Wilhelm Marx German Centre Party (DZP)
Ersnt Thaelmann Communist Party of Germany (KPD)

With so many candidates, it is considered unlikely that any will gain the 50% of the total vote needed to win - making a second election likely for later in April. Most observers believe that Drs. Held and Hellpach, and General Ludendorff, will garner low numbers, leading to a reduced slate in a run-off if it should take place.

Otto Braun, currently Prussia’s prime minister and Dr. Wilhelm Marx, the present Justice Minister, are expected to split the moderate vote, while General Hindenburg and long time Prussian politican Dr. Jarres will contest for the right-wing votes. Herr Thalemann is expected to poll about the same as the KPD’s results in October’s Reichstag elections, with little likelihood of making an impact on the rest of the country.

In case anybody was wondering, President Ebert did in fact die on 28 Feb 25, essentially under the same circumstances as presented here.

Historically, General Hindenburg was not a candidate in the first presidential election of 1925; Dr. Karl Jarres was put forth by both the DNVP and DVP. However, Jarres' stock seemed to really rise because of his resistance to the French in the 1923 occupation of western Germany. Since that didn't happen in Wesworld, Jarres has less profile, and the DNVP has gone fishing elsewhere for their candidate.

I'll post the election results sometime over the weekend, as a reply to this thread.

On a side note, I want to send one of the K-class cruisers on a lengthy cruise somewhere. Anybody interested in a visit, let me know and we'll touch base for a Q2 news item.

Lengthy? Will Yokosuka do?

Atlantis would be happy to welcome the German's for a visit. Perhaps a fleet reveiw somewhere in the world is overdue?

The Philippines would be more than happy to welcome a Reichsmarine cruiser and crew to Manila for a port visit.

A visit to Murmansk, followed by a voyage on the Northern Sea Route? The Arctic is lovely in the Summer. Icebreakers are available...

Did Admiral Graf Spee reach South America in Wesworld? That might deturmine if Chile would harbor a German vessel or not.

Ithekro, my assumption would be that Spee's voyage went as historical. How this affects your decision is up to you, but even a "No way, Jose" lets us define our starting relationship and maybe get a soundbite out of the trip.

Admiral K: a most intriguing idea - let me see if I get any takers in the Americans or Africa, before I commit to the "Over the Top" route.

A close vote, but the yeas have it. It has been decided to allow the German vessel to port in Chile. If nothing else it will give the local naval staff a chance to observe what sort of technology is in use in central Europe these days. It has been over 10 years since the last German naval vessel came to these waters.

This is beginning to sound like a round the world trip, NE passage and Cape Hoorn ;-)

If you´re sailing Cape Hoorn you could also pay a visit to Uruguay if you like....

Good news, btw. That coal thing could be interesting for the SAE too.

Very well then. The course is set.

Starting on 1 July 1925, the light cruiser Karlsruhe will sail to Murmansk, then take the "Over The Top" route to Petropavlosk and on to Yokosuka and Manila.

She'll sail on to Honalulu, then to San Francisco, and south to Lima and Valparaiso before rounding the Cape and coming back up to Port Stanley (if Gravina's OK with it), Bahia Blanca, Montevideo, Rio (whoo!), somewhere in Atlantis(without a map I can't say where), Lisbon, le Havre, Amsterdam, and home.

This will probably span into Q4. I'd better lay out a timetable soon.

If anybody would like to do a little story outside of the usual "ship pays a visit" variety, contact me via PM. I'm open to most suggestions, provided that Karlsruhe's destruction isn't one of them.

Light cruiser Karlsruhe will have support of seaplane tender Rigel for her passage of Northern Sea Route. While severe pack ice conditions are not anticipated, Rigel's eight aircraft will be useful for scouting safe routes avoiding icebergs. Passage from Murmansk to Petropavlovsk is approximately six thousand nautical miles.

Well heading for Atlantis from Rio you'd have two choices, Illisus on the Northern side of Lyra largest of the Atlantian Islands which is located just south of the mainland or you could sail to Lycabettus which is on the South Western tip of Atlantis.

This reminds me that I need to post what I have for a map.

Quoted

Port Stanley (if Gravina's OK with it)

I´ve no problems with it. It´s Always interesting to see what´s the latest thing the germans have come up with...

With approximately 98% of the votes counted, it is clear that the presidential election has produced no winner. Projected totals, based on existed data, predicts the following results:

Paul von Hindenberg (DNVP): 35.3%
Otto Braun (SD): 23.8%
Wilhelm Marx (DZP): 21.5%
Karl Jarres (DVP): 6.1%
Willy Hellpach (DDP): 4.9%
Ernst Thaelmann (KPD): 4.2%
Heinrich Held (BVP): 3.5%
Erich Ludendorff (NSDAP): 0.6%

Acting President Hans Luther told assembled reporters, “As no candidate took the required 50% of the popular vote, a run-off election will take place on April the twenty-fifth. Nominations will be required no later than April the eleventh.”

There are reports already that DNVP supporters are canvassing the smaller parties for their support. Merely adding the DVP numbers to the DNVP vote would have earned General Hindenburg a strong 41.4% showing, greatly improving his odds of winning the run-off.

Meanwhile, the Weimar Coalition parties are meeting behind closed doors to discuss strategy. It is evident that Herr Braun and Herr Marx split the moderate vote, and it is presumed that the SD and DZP are now negotiating some way to jointly back one of the two candidates.

A wildcard in the run-off will be KPD leader Ernst Thaelmann, who has already stated his intention to run in the April 25 vote. Were he to withdraw, it is thought that the more moderate members of the KPD might shift their votes to the SD/DZP candidate, possible making a crucial difference when the votes are tallied.