Japan AAR 1890 take 2

[mrchuck]

Dec 1892.
Banzai! We have taken Sakhalin.

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Also the Diet has increased funding, so time for a slightly better CA at 9500 tons. This is the same basic template as the Itsukushima class, but with speed 21 kts, slightly heavier belt and deck, and two more 5" secondaries.
I'm going to build two of these if possible.

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Battleship engagment. Interesting because they don't seem to have any left hereabouts, and the Generator says they'll only have 2 CL. Curious and almost certainly a lie. I'll accept and check it out.

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It is in fact 2 CLs, and another annoying stern chase. Will retire if I can't get some early hits.

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(cont)

[mrchuck]

I let them speed away after 2 hours. No point smashing my engines for this small-fry.

And they have given up anyway. So, a short, victorious war. For the loss of one CL, we sank 8 Bs, 3 CAs, and 3 CL, and picked up 11P in two years.

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Let's not get too cocky.
The naval budget is reduced, but not much. Since I don't want Kamchatka--I can't spare anything for FS--I'll take the money instead.
China has also settled right down, so the fleet goes into reserve and we'll plot our next move.

[mrchuck]

Mar 1893.
Commenced building two new CAs. This puts the budget very slightly in the red, until the earlier starts complete.1

Feb 1894.
Commissioned the first new CA, and developed Destroyers. Unfortunately with our current tech we can't build anything useful on 300t.

Mar 1894.
Designed a new CL class with 22kts but otherwise unchanged Matsushimas.
We need this speed edge to chase down other cruisers.

Apr 1894.
Things are too quiet.

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Sep 1895.
Things are still far too quiet. In this time, nothing much has happened.
--Alliance with USA
--developed 11 -2 guns
Commissioned two new CA, and commenced two Kakos. This is closer to what I regard as the ideal CA for this period.
Salient points: battleship main guns (11", but I prefer 12) and CA secondaries (7", but I prefer 8), 22 kts. belt 4.5 (I prefer 5.5)
This sort of thing seems to acquit itself well in both cruiser and battleship engagements. JA tech does not permit construction of exactly what I want on the tonnage I have, but it's close enough.

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[mrchuck]

Jun 1896.

Still nothing much happening, but yard size is now 14000 so I can build a useful B finally.
She has 4x 11", 8x 5", 18 kts, 11" belt.
Undergunned and under-armoured but should still have a useful working life.

Sep 1896
Commenced two Fusos as above.

Dec 1897.
Finally, a war. USA our ally is at war with Spain--and now we are too.

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However they have no presence in this part of world, so nothing much is still going to happen.

Mar 1898.
Commencing some DDs because a 300 tonner is now almost useful.
Designing and commencing two new CL which are more of the same but with slightly thicker belt.
Most of my designs will be incremental for a good while yet. It will time to start scrapping some 1899 designs soon. They can't be usefully upgraded in the main, and it's not worth it where I can.

May 1898.
War ends inconclusively. I need to make some trouble somewhere.

June 1899.
STILL nothing happening.
New B design, a six gun. I get pretty good milage out of these; others may have a different opinion.

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Oct 1903
No interesting occurrences. Seriously thinking about abandoning this AAR since there is no A to R.

Feb 1904.
After 12 very boring years, war with Russia again, thanks to USA.
Is this sort of hiatus supposed to happen?
Action stations...next time.

[mrchuck]

Mar 1904
Battleship action.

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Right on dawn: man the guns!

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6.55: Opening moves. One detached B--marked for destruction.
Six more to the NE: let every man do his utmost...

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7.03: First torp hit.

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(cont)

[mrchuck]

And another torp hit. Probably done for.

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Interesting. These enemy ships all seem to be quite old designs. What have they been doing for the last 12 years?

7.09: CL charge is having the desired effect of breaking up their battle line. And...getting another torp hit.

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7.10: Another Poltava struck by torpedo.
I think you can see where we're going with this.

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(cont)

[mrchuck]

7.12: both the Poltavas are probably scrap iron now.

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7.15: in the last three minutes, two more torp hits.

I think that's enough for now. Time to retire.
7.43: Heading home. At least three Bs sinking, two more damaged. We're off to a great start

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Scoreboard: 3 Bs sunk, two heavily damaged for one DD.
A good day's work! +2P

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