Clad in Iron: Carolines 1885 Dev Diary

Started by totemgam, March 12, 2019, 07:03:53 AM

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totemgam

Clad in Iron: Carolines 1885 Dev Diary #1 - Spanish warships

The construction of a large series of steam frigates and broadside ironclads in the 1860s put Spain among the foremost naval powers, but in subsequent years economic problems and political instability led to a complete loss of occupied positions. After a decade, the Spanish fleet is very outdated and could no longer protect the national interests of the sea. The situation prevailing in Spain by the early 1880s was very difficult. The country has just ended devastating civil wars and revolutions. Therefore, in 1880, the Spanish government took the first steps to restore the former sea power. The problem was that there was very little money in the treasury, and the Spanish shipbuilding industry was very outdated. For this reason, by 1883 a series of small 250t colonial gunboats was built in Spain (1st right). These first iron ships for the renewed fleet were not very successful. After the construction of a series of larger 550t  iron gunboats in 1885 (2nd right), it became clear that the Spaniards were not able to design modern warships. Therefore, in the UK were bought small 1000t iron cruisers (3rd right). When Germany attempted to annex the Caroline Islands in 1885, Spain could send only 4600t wooden frigates (4th right) and 5700t wooden ironclads (5th right) to Oceania as capital ships.



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Gusington



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totemgam

Clad in Iron: Carolines 1885 Dev Diary #2 - White, grey, black

We are very strange guys and we are interested in strange questions. For example, we want to know in what color scheme the Spanish and German warships were painted in Oceania in 1885 during the Carline Islands crisis. There are three possible answers to this question.

Usually for service in hot climates, the ships of the great powers were painted in a white and yellow version, when the ship's hull was white, and all other parts were yellow-orange.



The second option could be the so-called combat paint, when the hull or the whole ship was painted in gray or gray-blue color. This method has been known since the time of the American Civil War. In 1885, France was at war with China and part of the French ships were painted gray-blue.



The third color of the ship was the usual black and yellow Victorian type with a black hull and yellow masts and superstructures. We know for sure that the Spanish squadron assembled in Europe for the campaign on the Pacific Ocean was painted in the Victorian scheme.

This was described in Spanish newspapers in 1885, but we did not find such information about the German ships. But in the photographs of 1889 from Samoa, where only the hurricane prevented the battle of the German and American colonial squadrons, we see that the German ships have black hulls and yellow-orange masts and superstructures.



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totemgam

Clad in Iron: Carolines 1885 Dev Diary #3 - Ejército de Filipinas 1885

So, we read a little (actually a lot) of books about the Spanish Philippines and the colonial armed forces. We collected such interesting data on the number and composition of the Spanish colonial army: in 1884, the Ejército de Filipinas consisted of 576 Spanish officers and 31 Native officers, as well as from 1960 Spanish soldiers (1302 artillery men) and 9631 Native soldiers. It turns out that the Philippians themselves had to maintain the power of the Spanish crown over the vast archipelago.

The Filipino native soldiers looked something like this:









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Gusington

Interesting - I do not know much about this.


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We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

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PanzerFaust

Hi Totem Games, when do you expect to release this one?

totemgam

I dare to suggest that it will take 2 months.

totemgam

Clad in Iron: Carolines 1885 Dev Diary #4 - German colonial squadron in Asia-Pacific

From the beginning of the 19th century, the Asia-Pacific region fell into the sphere of trade interests of the European and North American authorities. German shipping companies also participated in trade with East Asia. As early as 1822, the Prussian state company Preußischen Seehandlung began regular deliveries to China.

It soon became clear that it was difficult for German sales agents in China without military support from their homeland to conduct business. Only after the creation of the Prussian Navy was it possible to defend German trade. From 1869, German squadrons from several ships visited the region for specific purposes, after which they returned to Europe.

With the creation in 1871 of a single German state to ensure national interests in the East Asian and South Pacific regions, an East Asian squadron of cruisers of the Germany Imperial Navy was created. At this time, the German Navy did not yet have its own bases in the Pacific. Ships during the repair and supply of fuel had to rely on foreign ports, which often entails a long wait and high cash costs. When Germany acquired colonies in Africa and Oceania in the 1880s, the cruiser squadron was still based in the Chinese city of Yantai (formerly known as Chefu or Chefu) and until 1897 did not have its own repair base.

The basis of the colonial forces of the German Navy were wooden, composite and iron gunboats, corvettes and frigates. A total of 12 gunboats (about 500 tons), 10 corvettes (about 2000 tons) and 8 large masted iron cruisers-frigates with a displacement from 2,800 to 4,000 tons were built in Germany in the 1870s – 1880s. If necessary, the colonial forces can be strengthened by the seagoing ironclads from Europe.




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Gusington



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totemgam

#9
The attention of enthusiasts of naval history is usually riveted to the largest and most powerful ships — during the times of the steam fleet they were ironclad battleships. Without a doubt, these war machines used the latest technologies of that era, but even the richest industrial powers could not build a number of ironclads sufficient to send them to every corner of their empires. In addition, in peacetime, such ships could not fight pirates and insurgents, support land operations from the coast, or ensure control of long-range possessions. Here a completely different type of ship was needed - inexpensive to build and maintain, which could sail without naval bases and coal stations for months. To control the overseas colonial empires, the Western powers needed ships with sails and steam engines.

In the 1880s, there were only two ports in all of Asia and Oceania, where a modern ship could be repaired - the British Hong Kong and the Japanese Yokohama. The situation with coal stations (where it was possible to replenish the fuel supply) was no better, so the demand for sailing-steam gunboats and cruisers in the European and American fleets remained stable and high. In the event of any conflict with the inhabitants of Asia or Oceania, European traders and officials demanded that their governments urgently send a gunboat or a cruiser. Such a course of action got its name - "gunboat diplomacy". When the situation became very serious, wooden, iron or steel steam frigates and cruisers of the colonial powers were rushing to the scene.

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Gusington



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FarAway Sooner



totemgam

#13
We start testing and working on the balance.






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