WesWorld

June 16th, 1929
The conference on revisions to the Cleito Treaty concluded today here in Copenhagen. The conference’s main result was the introduction of Germany into the treaty system, as well as Australia. Secretary of State Hull described the talks as “complicated but not overly contentious” and Secretary of War Dern said that the changes to the treaty would have little impact of United States naval planning over the next few years. Secretary Hull praised the delegates for allowing Germany to enter the treaty framework, saying that the Weimar government has done a tremendous effort in rehabilitating world opinion of Germany in the wake of the war. “Clearly, Germany is ready to take its place in the community of peaceful nations and the United States is ready to welcome them.” There are reports that there were several meetings during the conference between German and American officials and further negotiations may occur next month in Washington when German Foreign Minister Stresseman visits as part of his planned world tour aboard the airship Graf Zeppelin. Apparently there are hopes that the talks will lead to improved trade relations and other exchanges between the two countries. The battleship Pennsylvania will transport the American delegation back to New York within the week.

June 29th, 1929, Lakehurst New Jersey
There was great celebration here today as the German airship Graf Zeppelin arrived at the Naval Station after its trans-Atlantic crossing from Atlantis. Her captain for the voyage was the famed Hugo Eckener, who brought the Navy’s airship Los Angeles across the Atlantic to Lakehurst in 1924. German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresseman was one of the ships passengers, arriving for talks in Washington as part of his round-the-world good-will tour. Secretary of State Hull met the Minister at Lakehurst before they left for Washington via rail. The airship’s voyage from Atlantis was faster than expected due to Herr Eckener’s “riding” the clockwise winds around the Bermuda High located in the central Atlantic. The Graf Zeppelin first arrived over the U.S. at Miami and flew along the coast, over Washington, and as far as New York City before turning for Lakehurst. The airship will make a tour of the Midwest after the negotiations conclude. She is scheduled to visit the Goodyear-Zeppelin facility in Akron, and will also make a stop in Detroit at the invitation of Henry Ford, who has built a large mooring mast there. Mr. Ford and Herr Stresseman will reportedly discuss possible business ventures in Germany. Following the Midwest tour, the airship will head west towards the Navy’s airship base in California, newly renamed Hoyt Field in honor of the late Captain of the airship Susquehanna which was lost over the Midwest last summer. Herr Eckener has said that he has little concern about the flight cross country. He stated that the Graf Zeppelin is the strongest airship yet built and should have no difficulty with the journey.
The Graf Zeppelin over Washington. The Los Angeles and Graf Zeppelin in the hanger at Lakehurst.
July 4th, 1929
The German-United States Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed today in the White House by Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Foreign Minister Stresseman of Germany as President Roosevelt looked on. The treaty calls for peaceful cooperation between the two countries in economics and technological exchanges. A major aspect of the treaty calls for the United States to sell supplies of helium to Germany for use in her commercial airship program. Currently, foreign sales of helium are limited to only Atlantis under the Helium Control Act. Congress will have to amend the act to permit sales to Germany, but most observers do not believe that there will be much opposition to such a change. The United States will also reduce tariffs on German products coming into the country and Germany will do likewise. It is believed that the treaty will also provide for extensive scientific and technical cooperation between the two countries. There has been considerable interest in German technological innovations in recent years, especially in diesel engines. The treaty also provides for limited military cooperation, including exchanges between service academies. Germany is also reported to be interested in studying American practices as they relate to naval aviation and aircraft carrier design.
Reportedly, Herr Stresseman had wanted the United States to reconsider its refusal to join the League of Nations, but current popular and Congressional opinion makes that highly unlikely. After the signing ceremony, Herr Stresseman joined the President and other members of Congress and the Administration for Fourth of July celebrations, including aircraft flyovers and the evening was capped off with a tremendous fireworks display over the Washington Monument and the Mall. The German Foreign Minister will leave for a tour of the Midwest tomorrow, making stops in Akron and Detroit, before traveling to California to prepare for the trans-Pacific leg of his round-the-world tour.

July 6th, 1929
The Graf Zeppelin arrived in Akron today for a visit by German Foreign Minister Stresseman and officials of the Zeppelin Company to the Goodyear-Zeppelin Airdock where the Navy’s airship Akron is under construction. Talks on planned trans-Atlantic commercial services are expected. Goodyear has already made preliminary plans for a commercial version of the Akron design. The German delegation will travel next to Detroit for meetings with Henry Ford and other industrialists.

July 8th, 1929
The city of Detroit came to a standstill today as the giant German airship Graf Zeppelin flew overhead before landing at Ford Airport in Dearborn. Reportedly the Germans had expressed some doubts about using the unusual mast design, which is intended to have an airship dock over one hundred feet up, at the top of the mast, then be lowered to the ground on a rail built into the tower. The German delegation then toured the Ford factory before entering a series of meetings with Henry Ford and several other industrialists in the automotive and steel industries. The Graf Zeppelin is expected to depart for the west coast tomorrow.

July 12th, 1928
The Graf Zeppelin landed this evening at Hoyt Field north of San Diego, completing its trans-American flight. The German airship is the first airship to dock here since the Susquehanna left last year on its voyage to the North Pole and was lost on its return voyage over Kansas. The voyage across the desert Southwest was reported to be relatively uneventful and many passengers reported that the scenery was breathtaking at times. The airship will remain at Hoyt Field for an undetermined amount of time in preparation for its trans-Pacific flight. Herr Eckener reportedly wishes to conduct some maintenance on the engines and other areas of the ship before the long flight over the Pacific. The Navy has sent the airship tender Wright to Samoa to act as an intermediate stop on the trip to Australia. Naval personnel will travel on the flight to help the German crew dock with the ship.

Over New Mexico
July 16th, 1929
The Battleship Texas departed Norfolk today for sea trials after the completion of an extensive reconstruction to modernize the Navy’s oldest operational Battleship. The ship is virtually unrecognizable as her former self, with an entirely new superstructure consisting of twin tripod masts replacing her cage masts. The ship’s coal fired boilers were replaced with an oil fired system, along with new engines and fire control, as well as improvements to deck armor and torpedo protection. There is much speculation about the extensive series of aerials rising from both masts. Official Navy spokesman say it is part of a new long-range radio system. However, some naval experts think it may be some form of detection system, or possibly some sort of defensive system. Rumors have been fueled by the involvement of the eccentric scientist Nicola Tesla, who was seen frequently at the shipyard in Norfolk. During the Great War he proposed a plethora of various inventions ranging from long-range detection systems to “Death Rays”. Few took his ideas seriously at the time.

The Texas as she left Norfolk for trials.
July 17th, 1929
In response to Germany’s request for proposals for a new tank design, the US Wheel Track Layer Corporation of Rahway, New Jersey has submitted its M1928 fast tank design. Designed by J. Walter Christie, the M1928 carries a 37mm main gun fixed forward, along with a machine gun. Christie’s unique suspension system gives the design almost unprecedented speed, over forty miles per hour on its tracks, seventy miles per hour on wheels with the tracks removed. The U.S. Army had expressed interest in the design as well, but decided not to formally evaluate the design for a variety of technical and financial reasons, though there are also reports that Christie proved very difficult to work with, often refusing to adhere to Army requirements.

August 19th, 1929
Several US aeronautical firms have expressed interest in the Filipino request for proposals to build a factory in the Philippines. Boeing, Martin, Douglas, Keystone, Chance Vought and Curtiss have expressed interest in the project. The newly formed Grumman company of Long Island has also expressed interest but is seen to have an outside chance, at best.

September 23rd, 1929
The Pacific Fleet is in final preparations for its South American tour prior to December’s war games in the Gulf of Mexico. The fleet is expected to leave San Pedro on October 20th and will make stops in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil before heading for Key West. The fleet will return to the Pacific via the Panama Canal around the end of the year. Units of the Atlantic fleet are also to participate in the maneuvers, along with forces from Atlantis, Mexico and Chile. Several other nations have accepted the U.S. invitation to send observers.

Wow! Those are not only interesting but also very inspiring news. I really love the fact that you use so many pictures/photos to support your articles. That´s very welcome...

Give us more!

Being a Long Island native, I have to take a moment and root for Grumman.

July 23rd, 1929
The Graf Zeppelin began the first stage of her nearly 6,000 mile voyage to Australia this morning. She is expected to arrive in Samoa in about seventy-two hours, depending on the prevailing winds. There she will moor to the tender Wright for refueling before heading on to Sydney. Commander Charles Rosendahl is leading a Navy team that will assist in the ship-board mooring, a procedure new to the Graf's German crew.

July 26th, 1929
It seemed as if all of Samoa was lining the harbor here at Pago Pago to witness the arrival of the German airship Graf Zeppelin this evening. The mighty airship is making a stop here to refuel before going on to Australia and then Asia. The airship tender Wright is serving as a temporary base in the harbor while the zeppelin replenishes its fuel supply. She will resume her voyage tomorrow and is expected in Sidney by the 29th.

The Graf Zeppelin moored to the Wright at Pago Pago.

Great post, Canis. I assume future USN refits will be removing the cage mast from service?

Eventually. The older, lighter cages will be the first to go as FC equipment is modernized. I plan on replacing the cages on the "Big 6" and Lexingtons as well in the late 30's as was planned prior to WW2.

I wonder what Tesla could have possibly done. My hunch is on a primitive form of surface wave OTH radar, simply because of the way the two antennas are seperated. It'd definately give the USN a major advantage if that's what it is.

*Player Knowledge only* My intent is for it to be a primitive version of radar. Telsa began talking about it as early as 1900, and in 1917 wrote a rather detailed article on the subject and many later radar developers credited him with laying the groundwork for radar. Allegedly, Thomas Edison was able to persuade the Navy that Tesla was basically a crackpot and they showed no interest in his radar idea during WW1. There were early Navy tests in the 1920's which proved the concept of radar was sound, but it didn't really take off till the mid 30's. I'm speeding things up a bit...granted, the system may fail in a horribly messy manner, freeing up tonnage for new construction! Its certainly going to have teething problems and Tesla, being in his seventies now, and not entirely sane, may not be entirely up to the task. At best it should give me a five year boost compared to OTL. With the air threat being a bit more advanced in WesWorld, perhaps the countermeasures will be too.

Maybe I should get Marconi to patent his idea...

Quoted

With the air threat being a bit more advanced in WesWorld, perhaps the countermeasures will be too.

I've found a few Italian weapons that should be fairly effective in this regard.

The Germans patented 'radar' in 1905.

IIRC The British looked into the concept of a 'death ray'. I think it was Tizard who had someone work out the power necessary to raise the body temperature by 1 degree (enough to give a pilot a fever) from a mile away. It required too much energy to be feasible to do this let alone kill someone. This guy was then sent along to see Dowding who took him out to the experimental sound mirror (that faced Paris) to get his thoughts on that project. It was there that the 'death ray' guy recalled a friend who had worked for the post office experimenting with radio waves bouncing them off the stratosphere (a repeat of a similar experiment by Americans). They found some radio waves came back much quicker than they should have. They concluded that this was reflection from planes flying in and out of a nearby airfield. So the start of radar development was the conjunction of the sound mirror with radio and the need to detect planes.

Cheers,