Romanian News

[TexanCowboy]

Ah...but I thought Athens was to bust out Taugon?

Landing strip. Unfortunatly, the closest landing strip I've got is at Sofia, and that's what I have to stick with, according to the rules.

Sandbar. Unfortunatly,(or perhaps fortunatly for the Swiss), we've got a whole 'nother storyline adding on to this one that featuring the French digging ships.

[Desertfox]

But, she will pass by Romania on her way to Haiti (cover story, and Sparrow, not Taugon.)

You don't need an airfield, just any good size clearing will do.

[TexanCowboy]

NO! *Thwaps DF* ;D ;D

More fun this way....

*Returns plotting on how to take over the Australian splendid cats* ;D ;D

[ctwaterman]

The Italian Capitan of IMS Merch with TS-03 and TS-04 standing by point out that the sand bars are simply obsticles the 3 Italian Ships can Create Water  if the Rommanians have a method to store it.  If the sandbar needs to be cleared for the small boats to enter the harbor it would be suggested that High Explosives be used at high tide to create several channels for the Small Boats to land.  We are talking about Military style Landing Craft.

In addition the 3 Ships are carry a large amount of Tentage enought to support 2 Infantry Battalions and supplies for roughly 1 month.

[TexanCowboy]

Sadly enough....we have a storyline on how the sandbar gets cleared coming up in three 'sim-days' days, although it will probebly be longer, since I leave tommarrow for the boondocks. I'll let maddox post it, I PMed him it.

[ctwaterman]

12th of February 1919

Bridge of the IMS Mercy 5 Miles of the coast of Coast of Varna

Commodore Mazzini Imperial Marina surveyed the wreckage of the town and the piers through his Binoculars before him was a map of the coastline of the Bay of Varna.   Evidently he could not get his ships into the Harbor to much wreckage and debris had been swept into the bay by the Provadiiska river and until these could be cleared and a new channel dredged operating from the port simply was not an option.

There were however other options to be considered.  The Romanians wanted to try some mad scheme using parachutes to drop supplies and he would believe that would be effective when he saw it with his own eyes.  But the Village of St. Konstantin I Elena was only 4 miles up the coast and there was a passable road from the Village to the Port of Varna.

Commodore Mazzini turned to Major Figolia, first priority will be a triage and casualty collection center as well as the field hospital from hold #2.   But immediately after that we will need the 4 Trucks from the Transports they will allow us to move supplies as quickly as possible from St. Konstantin I Elena to Varna itself.

I hate to say this but it has been over a week since the explosion the worst of the wounded will have already perished we need to deal with the walking wounded and those who risk infection.  We also need to get Food and Clean water before we risk a serious outbreak of Dysentary, Cholera or even Typhus.  So lets get a moving quickly we are in a race with death.

[maddox]

Captain Le'Fatche, of the Battledigger Gargantua, watched as his ship continued clearing a channel into the blocked port of Varna from the bridge. His ship had been in an "all hand on deck" situation for half a day now, and the 15,000 HP turbines that powered the excavator were working overtime, and heating up rapidly. He knew what a risk this posed to the ship, but because of the urgency of the situation, and a few messages of 'advice' from Minister Carpet, he believed that it was called for in the situation. An hour or two could save a thousand lives, he reflected. All of a sudden, his reflections were broken by a loud explosion aft and a drenching waterspout..
Scurrying aft, he yelled at the ensign on the deck," What the bloody hell was that."

The ensign replied, "We don't know. The 100m³ just blew up. We think it was one of the unexploded 12'' shells off of the Czarania, we don't know, but they did mention something about some shells in the harbor, the divers did."

Captain Le'Fatche, irritated, and knowing he would get reprimanded for the loss of a valuable piece of equipment, yelled at the ensign, "Well, then, get out the 65m³ bucket, then. Times a 'wasting."

15 minutes later, after a private glass of claret in his cabin, he went out onto the bridge, to be immediately targeted by the damage control lieutenant. "Captain, that explosion loosened some of the seams, and loosened the hull. The bilge pumps are keeping it at bay, but I desperately need men to get the damage under controle."

Captain Le'Fatche, already irritated and sleep-deprived, replied calmly, but in an irritated manner, "Man, you know that an hour or two here can make a huge difference. We have to get this channel dug. I can spare you the men from the magazine damage control, and the turret, but nothing else. Can you make due with that until the canal in is done."

The lieutenant, knowing that this would not work, but wanting to get promoted, to perhaps command one of the new Tigre DD's, a sure way to success in the fields of bureaucracy, with the combination of the army and navy, said that this would do, and walked off toward the pumps to get them operating at maximum speed.

The vibrations of the old reciprocating engines, added to the viberations of the 15,000 HP turbine out back, didn't help the damage process any. As the Gargantua, after five more hard hours of work, was just 5 minutes away from finally clearing the channel, the inevitable occurred. The strain that had accrued from all the engines at work had strained the hull to the breaking point, and it finally broke. Aft of the forward turret, were the strain of being at sea is biggest, the hull ripped like cheesecloth, sending in a rush of cold seawater. The men in the engine room  fled when the water started gushing in from the coalbunker. The starboard forward boiler, one of the eight in the ship, already stoked up to it's maximal pressure and a tad above to keep the bilgepumps going at max, couldn't take the temperature differential, and let go.
A too deep shudder was feld over a ship where the crew was accustomed to such things.
The flooding was breaking trough old, worn watertight bulkheads, where years of adding utility lines penetrated those. Even flooding was reported, and the loss of 2 boilers made the bilgepumps less powerfull, the water was winning.

Damage control did report truthfully to the captain. And he analyzed his options. Only 1 was a real option, he could complete the canal, and set her agound on the sandbar, or at least try to. The other option was to settle her right now on that same bitch of sand, making damage less, but no, lets get on with the job, Gargantua had her time and she'll prove that any expectations only could be the best. This evening she's resting at the rade of Varna.

Captain Le'Fatche looked outside the bridge. The men were cheering, as the canal was completed, but the ships bow was noticeably lower.
He yelled at the helm, As fast we can go. We have to get this ship out of the way of the canal."

Slowly, at just 2 knots, the Gargantua began to edge away from the canal. Onto the sandbar.

The gentle sliding into the soft sand wouldn't hurt a DD, but the overstrained, overloaded hull couldn't take it. The rent just aft the front 10.83" twin enlarged, ripping trough the barbette armor, shredding plates in agony, and before the water could create a fireproof shelter for the powderbags, the magazine exploded, the turret graciously trown away in a pillar of flame..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bucharesti Times
February 5th, 1919

Princess Declares Monarchy

The Princess Flowrania sends her condolences to the members of the Battledigger Gargantua, the battledigger that cleared a canal into the port of Varna, and then sank with most hands aboard. From witness on the IMS Mercy, she ran aground and exploded, but the men were at their duties to the last. She has awarded the Bucharesti Cross on Captain Le'Fatche post-humorously, and the Order of Constanta, Second Class, to each and everyone of the members of the battledigger. She regrets that this happened, and will speak to the families of the victims, if possible, after she races in the Caldera Cup Race in July.

With thanks to Texancowboy, who wrote most of this.

[maddox]

Same time, Paris.


No minister Capet, you cannot have a Bretagne for Romania. But, I'll make you a concession. 1 Danton from Tricomalee.

Thank you Premier Galpoux.

[TexanCowboy]

Febuary 14th, 1919
Varna Harbor
7:43 A.M.

Shipments from other nations were now arriving in earnest. While the Italian mobile hospital had set up camp 6 miles to the north of Varna, to deal with those who could walk, the supplies now flooding in from the DKB, the Baltic Confederation, France, and even the New Swiss were making a huge impact on the actual port of Varna. The French transport, Le Magnificent, had arrived just the previous day, and had barely been able to squeeze in the channel, with just a meter between the sandbar and the side of the ship. It had set up a mobile hospital near the remains of the Gargantua, and was caring for the victims, and the orginal victims that had brought it here. The DKB battleship Königsland was also in the port, using the Stürmtruppen aboard to help locate the people still trapped within the town. The New Swiss ship Athens was located on the other side of the harbor, providing food and such from its vast hold. Strangly, they let nobody onto their ship, as if they were smuggling something. Even the ESC, so recently an enemy of Romania, had provided aid, with the fresh water from their holds saving many from the long arms of chloria. Truely, this disaster had brought the international community together like it had not been for centuries.

[maddox]

The battleship Condorcet arrives, after picking up Minister Capet at Port Saïd, 2 weeks after the loss of Gargantua. The escorting Volcanos go back to their main base in Marseilles.
(The escorts worked in relais. First from Tricomalee to Djibouti. There the escorts get a good look, ressupply and move back to Tricomalee,
The Djibouti DD's take over the job, and move to Port Suez, where the BB will transfer trough the Suez Canal, and the DD's return to Djibouti after resupply. At Port Saïd the 2 Volcano's escort from the Marseilles base takes over)

Minister Capet is really enjoying the admirals quarters at the stern of the great Condorcet.

[TexanCowboy]

Could I happen to ask what the BB is for? I don't think you PMed me about it, and the only clues I have from above is

Same time, Paris.


No minister Capet, you cannot have a Bretagne for Romania. But, I'll make you a concession. 1 Danton from Tricomalee.

Thank you Premier Galpoux.

So I'm left thinking that you will donate a BB to Romania. Is that assumtion correct?

[maddox]

Call it a gift from a prospective admiror. Minister Capet is doing his best to woo a princess/Queen to be.

[TexanCowboy]

Oh.....I think charles is going to be in shock....

"Here that, ctwaterman! Bring out the Arminius!"

[TexanCowboy]

Varna Harbor
Febuary 17th, 1919
9:43 A.M.

Captain(JG) Litha Husbarna, commander of the effort to coordinate all foreign efforts in Varna, and recently promoted to Captain(JG), for his efforts, stepped aboard the Polarstern, that new Orange polar exploration ship, that had rushed south in the face of this terrible event. He stepped up to the bridge, and sought the attention of the captain. When he recieved it, he began to talk.

"The Romanian goverment, and people, thank you for the aid of your nation in the aid of the thousands of people left defenseless againist the elements after the terrible incident," began the new captain, speaking much the same as he had to the Orange captain.

Modestly, the Orange Captain replied, "We know that we may not be the largest ship here, but we hope that we can help in our own little way."

"However," started Captain(JG) Husbarna, "as you know, most of the supply ships are congregating at the port. They do not have the shallow draft needed to make it up Lake Varna to aid the people to the north. Although they were not harmed beyond flash burns, all supply has been cut off to them, and they may be suffering from lack of water and food. We think that the shallow draft on your ship is enough to get to them, and it would allow more supply then what the airplanes can provide."

"Airplanes?" said the Orange Captain. "And how would those flying contraptions do any use.?"

The Captain began to reply. "We have been using the parachute, a circular silk cloth with strings attached to the package, to slow down air to allow the supplies, dropped from the plane, to land safely. It has been appearing to work fairly well, but, unfortunatly, we can only get so many supplies on to one. If you and your ship can get up the lake, that will make all the difference in the world. Can you do it?

The Italian Captain scratched his chin and looked out toward the port. "Yes," he replied,"we will start making steam now. We must save those people, or else I will never forgive myself."

"Thank you! I must leave, I need to get a report out to Bucharesti, but I wish you the best of luck."

[TexanCowboy]

Sent out under code to Kituk Island

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