Royal Navy - Mediterranean Fleet

It´s raining outside and my plans to prime the Regina Marina have gone moot. So I decided to take some pictures of the British Mediterranean Fleet of 1914 (without bases yet, still gathering raw material).  No Destroyers yet, still working on them.

The Mediterranean Fleet of 1914 consisted of a detachment of cruisers, with three Battlecruisers - HMS Inflexible, HMS Indomitable (both "Invincible"-Class) and HMS Indefatigable ("Indefatigable"-Class) - forming the backbone of the fleet detachment.

The heavily armed battlecruisers where supported by the 1st Cruiser Squadron, fielding two Duke of Edingburgh-Class Armored Cruisers (HMS Black Prince and HMS Duke of Edinburgh), one Minotaur-Class Cruiser (HMS Defense) and one Warrior-Class Cruiser (HMS Warrior).

To save money, I´ve replaced the Warrior-class ship with another Minotaur-class Cruiser, as these came in the same package as the Duke of Edinburghs. I´d have to order another 4 Warrior-class cruisers to add a single one to my fleet, and chose to substitute...

For scouting, patrol, screening and actions against smaller ships, the British also had 4 Light Cruisers in their fleet - HMS Chatham, Dublin, Gloucester and Weymouth - all of very similar design (Town-class cruisers) but with some changes. Again, I substituted HMS Gloucester, which is a Bristol-class Cruiser, with another Chatham-class (might switch it for a Weymouth-class later, don´t know yet)  - again, I didn´t want to buy another 4 or 5 Bristols just for one ship.

That´s essentially the force you see above. The British had 16 Destroyers to operate with this group, which I´ll put into two destroyer squadrons (probably represented by 4 ships) to use with Naval Thunder. This time, I actually failed in my effort to save, as I ordered all 16 Destroyers instead of only 1 pack of 8... Yeah...

Transparent Ship Basing

Hey folks,

as the naval arms race is heating up and more ships are leaving dock, I will have to prepare some Bases for them. I´m using Hallmark/Figureheadd 1/6000 ships that come with their own metal base, but I´ve been tinkering with another solution. What I´ve seen in most battlereports that feature naval gaming and painted bases is that somehow they never blend well with the background sea - either they are too dark or too light, and even if you somehow manage to blend the ship bases into your gaming table/mat, everything is moot as soon as you take your ships to another table with different background.

That´s why I´ve been looking for solutions to have the ships independant of the background waters, chamäleon style. One could just leave the ship unbased entirely, but that makes it difficult to tell which model is which ship exactly and probably confuses things for larger battles. The alternative is transparent basing:

Two test versions of transparent bases - one with waves and foam of the ship plowing through the water (Invincible)  and one completely blank (Göben).  I´ve taken several shots to demonstrate the effect under different lighting and camera angle.

You can see that the base is still visibly, but barely so - the upside is that names can be easily applied to the base, so ships can be dinstinguished even with several models of the same class in a row.

Right now, artistically, I prefer the Invincible-Option with waves of silicone and painted white foam, however, the silicone still reflects light very much and makes the base stand out a little more. I´m wondering if this effect can be reduces by applying a matte varnish? I´ve none at hand right now, but I´ll have to get some sooner or later, as the ships definitely need some varnish to survive with their painting intact.

Option 3 is to take the blank base (Göben-style) and paint stylised foam on it without applying waves of silicone for the 3d-effect. I might do another test-base with this solution...

The Improbable Case

In 1914, when Europe went to war over Austrias feud with Serbia, the Great Powers where split into two blocs of power - France, Russia and Britain more or less united in the Triple Entente and Austria and Germany on the other side.

After the outbreak of War, Naval Action in the Mediterranean was limited to the chasing of the German Mediterranean Division, consisting of the Battlecruiser Göben and the Light Cruiser Breslau, whose commander sought to escape the trap that the Adriatic Sea was for his ships and push towards Istanbul, initially under the assumption that the Ottoman Empire was Germanies ally, but later on his way informed that this was not the case. He still decided to turn towards Istanbul, hoping to bring Turkey into the war, in which he actually succeeded. Subsequently, the German ships operated under Ottoman flag in the Black Sea.

After their escape, not much of an enemy remained in the mediterranan. The Gallipoli Campaign, supported by massive Naval presence, was not much of a naval fight, and the Austrian Fleet remained at Port in Pola, massively outnumbered first by the French and British and later the Italian Fleet.

So - Why the hell should I open a blog on Naval Warfare in the Mediterranean?

Actually, the first sentence of this post is not quite correct. Or rather, incomplete. When Europe went to War in 1914, the Continent was split into two major alliance blocs, the Triple Entente, as stated above, and the Triple Alliance, including Germany, Austria AND Italy.
To everyones surprise, Italy had renewed the alliance one year earlier, but refused to honor the call to arms, citing that the alliance was purely defensive, whereas Austrias operations against Serbia, an offensive operation, where the trigger for the war.

For the sake of fun and more or less balanced odds, this Blog will assume that Italy made the fateful decision to stand by its allies in 1914 and went to war against the Entente. This is an improbable case, a decision that no rational and calculating Italian leader would have made in 1914. Austria was one of Italies chief rivals, occupying Trentino and Dalmatio, areas that Italy claimed as rightfully theirs [Interestingly enough, many People in the Trentino still speak German today... maybe Austria should try to reclaim it :D].

The Balkan interests of both countries also caused quarrels between both countries, as did the Expansion of Italian overseas territory in Libya, previously owned by the Ottoman Empire, a nation friendly to Germany. The occupation of the Greek Dodecanese, with Greece being another germanophile country didn´t help either. Furthermore, Irredentists in Italy where on the rise in the chaotic first half of 1914, with growing clamour for taking back Italian terroritory "occupied" by Austria.

As no coherent data is easily available on this topic, we can only guess what impact the economic considerations had on the decision makers. Being a nation centrally located in Italy and with good access to the sea, I believe that Italies dependence on naval trade would have made a war with Britain and France a rather unattractive affair. The British could easily close the entire mediterranean for Italian Shipping, depriving the country of any seaborne imports. With the ceasing of naval trade, Italy would have been completely dependent on imports of raw materials from Germany and Austria, both of which suffered from shortages of said materials during the war.

However improbable, it is still conceivable that Italy might have honored its alliance. Even a month after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and with the crisis looming over Europe, Italy and Germany agreed that Italian troops would be sent to the Rhine to support German operations in a war with France. This was approved by the King on August 2nd, 1914, one day before the same king contacted the German government that Italy would not commit herself in a war against the Triple Entente. Furthermore, it is not quite clear who could have seized the initiative during the critical days of July 1914. It is conceivable that elements of the Italian government and general staff favoring Italies entry into the war could have exerted enough pressure during the critical window of opportunity to overcome the resistance - once at war, even the nationalist peer groups could have done little to revert the decision.

For whatever reasons Italy might or might not have gone to war, is irrelevant after all. We cannot change history and it is of no concern how probable or improbably a diversion from our timeline is, as it did not materialise. Seemingly improbably events happen all too often to waste time on judging possibilities - the fact that the possibility existed is enough, and this is clearly the case. And I guess I´m not venturing into realms of fantasy in pursuing this scenario - at least no deeper into it than anyone playing a Cold War Gone Hot Scenario :)

So, why is this scenario particularly interesting for Naval Warfare in the Mediterranean?
With Italy as one of the Central Powers, the Naval Balance would have dramatically shifted towards a situation of roughly equal capabilities. In 1914, the British Mediterranean Fleet consisted of 3 Battlecruisers, 4 Armored Cruisers and 4 Light Cruisers, as the British had drawn down their presence in agreement with France to bolster their commitment to the North Sea. France was tasked with the defense of the Mediterannean, especially the Western Basin, and had amassed most of their naval forces in Toulon. The French fleet consisted of 4 Dreadnoughts (With 2 still on their way back from Russia at the outbreak of the war - "France" and "Jean Bart" where tasked with carrying Raymond Poincare, the French president, to a state visit in Russia in late July 1914 and back.),  11 Pre-Dreadnoughts, 6 old battleships and 15 armored and protected cruisers.

These forces would have stood against 3 Italian and 3 Austrian Dreadnoughts (6 in total), 8 Italian and 9 Austrian Pre-Dreadnought Battleships (17 total) and 8 Italian and 3 Austrian armored cruisers, with several light cruisers available. Add to this the German Mittelmeerdivision with 1 Battlecruiser and another light cruiser and the allies would have been in dire need to either call in British reinforcements from the North Sea or start at a disadvantage in numbers.

This is what I take as a premise for my Naval Wargaming in the Mediterranean.
It´s a long term Project, with the buildup of forces starting now in preparation for 1914, when the hostilities should commence (not yet sure if it will start in August or if I´m driving for a quicker entry into the war). Of course, I´ll likely play some naval action before that time, but we´ll see. Projects tend to making their own schedules obsolete pretty quickly!

 Stay tuned for more!

Mittelmeerrdivision - SMS Göben & Breslau

I´m still devising my final opening post for this blog, meanwhile, for all those who happen to stumble upon this site (or view this after the grand official opening), here are the first ships fresh from the painting table. These are Hallmark / Figurehead 1/6000 ships, tiny tiny tiny little ships, but incredibly rich in detail for the scale they are. The scepticism and doubt after opening the package and looking at the unpainted ships faded quickly once I started painting. I´m awed about the skills of the designer who made the masters for these models.

So, here´s the Mittelmeerdivision, SMS Göben and Breslau.
The picture is scaled to what it looks like in reality. Other people use coins for reference, but as coins differ in size depending on your currency area, I´ve decided to put in something else for scale reference - something every wargamer uses :D

They are not based yet and I´ll devote another post later for basing, as I´ve something special in mind. We´ll see if it works out.

Book Recommendation: The Sleepwalkers

Many books have been written on the whereabouts of the Great conflict that erupted in the summer of 1914 and became known as the Great War or World War 1. Though this is the first book I´ve read that focuses solely on this topic I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

"The Sleepwalkers - How Europe went to War in 1914", written by Christopher Clark, focuses on how the July Crisis of 1914 turned into the First World War. To generate a deeper understanding for the different parties in the Crisis and their views, dilemmas and objectives, Clark first focuses on the Balkan, the brewing kettle of the conflict, and devotes the first 100 pages to an investigation on Serba and Austria, the peculiarities of their political systems, rulers and interest groups.

This regional perspective is followed by a detailed analysis of the European Balance of Power, tracing the polarization of Europe during 30 years from 1887-1907, an analysis that questions the traditional motivations (especially Great Britains motivation to enter the Entente Cordiale and later the Triple Entente, which, as Clark shows in a very compelling way, was not so much triggered by the Anglo-German Naval Arms race and Germany seeking a Place in the Sun, but rather by the threat conceived by the Franco-Russian Alliance and later the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-5). He also points out that the power to shape foreign policy was fluid in the pre-war diplomatic system, with shifting key actors and prevalent factions and agents in the respective national systems.

The following chapters of the book focus on the disruptive effects of the Balkan Wars that brought the destabilization of the Balkan and the first major clash of Austrian and Russian Interest in the Balkan. In an interesting episode, Clark shows how the Austro-Russian Balkan Winter Crisis of 1912-13 almost brought about an earlier war, and though the war was averted at this time, how the crisis reduced the options of Austria-Hungaries diplomacy in 1914.

Before the book focuses on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the following diplomatic Crisis, the author takes a look at the attempts of Detente on the on hand and the lurking dangers of conflict and belligerent thinking on the other side during the pre-war years, trying to determine their influence on the coming conflict and posing the question how avoidable the Great War was.

Finally, the book devotes a chapter to th Assassination in Sarajevo, its tragic circumstances and the international reactions, before moving into the machinations of the crisis on parts of the Great Powers. Clark shows how even before the results of the investigation into the assassination had even yielded any results, the Entente powers had formed a strong narrative that there was no connection to Serbia and any Austrian reprisal against Belgrade would be considered illegitimate. He also shows why Austria took almost three weeks to step up action against Belgrade and that Entente politicians knew about the ultimatum even before it was issued, despite Austrian attempts of utmost secrecy - and how they reacted even before all cards where officially on the table...  and how Europe went to War in 1914.

Now, my personal impressions and why I can only recommend this book: It´s an awesome collection of evidence, a very critical analysis of the things that transpired in Europe during the pre-war years. Clark is a detective who has analysed the available sources very carefully. In his introduction, Clark explains the problems of historians trying to dig into the era. He cites an oversupply of unreliable sources as the most striking problem, as many countries have produced volumes of official works after the war. "Most of the official document editions produced in the interwar period have an apologetic spin" (Clark, 2012, p.xxiv). According to Clark, the same holds true for the memoirs of the involved statesmen, who have an understandeable tendency for "self-justification".
Despite these limitations, Clark delivers an outstanding piece of work, rich with critically reviewed information (Over 200 pages of sources at the end of the book, which is almost 1/4 of the entire book!).

As the title suggests, "The Sleepwalkers" is a book that is not so much focused on why the war came about, but how. Again, I cite the introduction: "This books strives to understand the July Crisis of 1914 as a modern event, the most complex of modern times, perheps of any time so far. It is concerned less with why the war happened than with how it came about [...] The question of how invites us to look closely at the sequences of interactions that produced certain outcomes. The question of why invites us to go in search of the remote and categorical causes [...] Political actors become mere executors of forces long established and beyond their control. The story this book tells is, by contrast, saturated with agency." (Clark, 2012, p. xxvii)

Not only does he achieve this goal, he does so in a very convincing manner. While reading the book I often felt that suddenly the decisions of certain actors made sense! Decisions I questioned earlier as irrational and dangerous (with the benefit of hindsight, of course) suddenly appeared as perfectly understandable once I was confronted with the decision makers perspectives during the time. What reinforces this effect is the way Clark delivers the content to the reader. Rich in anectodes and citations, the book is written in a very enjoyable language and structure. It delivers content in an enjoyable way - reading this book is fun, not work or research! - that enables the reader to immerse himself into the situation and the decisions faced by the agents of the time.

All the while, Clark does an astounding work in keeping the book analytical and neutral. While he clearly shows who was responsible for which action during the process, there is no bias or blame for any of the involved parties. The picture that remains is a murky one, shades of grey, decisions and interest of different factions and agents, that lead to a catastrophic downfall.

• "The Sleekwalkers - How Europe Went to War in 1914"
• Christopher Clark
• ISBN-10: 0141027827 , ISBN-13: 978-0141027821   (Penguin Press, soft-cover)

or

• ISBN-10: 071399942X, ISBN-13: 978-0713999426 (Allen Lane, hard-cover)

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