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The First Battle of Ryukyu
(August 1914 to September 1914)
RIS Louth, part of the ill fated China Squadron
(August 1914 to September 1914)
RIS Louth, part of the ill fated China Squadron
"Go and I shall follow."
- Captain Lohan's last signal
On 4 August 1914 the Far Eastern possessions of the Irish Empire were represented on land by aproximately 42,000 soldiers and at sea by the China Squadron: the pre-dreadnaught battleships Mucha and Meabh and the protected cruisers Louth, Carlow and Leitrim. On paper the China Squadron was a relatively strong force. In reality the ships were elderly and obselete and their crews were not composed of the finest officers and men who were busy crewing the dreadnaughts and battle cruisers back in Ireland. Mucha and Meabh in particular were ancient; veterans of the 19th century that few had ever expected would be sent to sea again. Meabh indeed was so short of trained crew that the men of three Irish gunboats charged with patrolling the Yangtze River found themselves drafted to man the aging battleship.
Upon recieving news of war Vice-Admiral Henry O'Sullivan took his entire fleet out of the port of Shanghai and steamed east with orders to intercept the Japanese blockade of Korea. O'Sullivan, a lifelong navy man was fifty-seven, walrus moustached and no one's idea of a great admiral. Unfortunately he was the senior Navy man in the Far East so it had to be him. At least Mucha (O'Sullivan's flagship) and Meabh could boast 12-inch guns; sufficent to scare off the weaker Japanese vessels. His three cruisers were not much younger than his battleships and would be no match at all against modern Japanese light cruisers; heartbreakingly beautiful in their tropical white paint though they might be.
On the morning of 7 August O'Sullivan arrived in the waters off Ryukyu. To his enormous relief he had recieved word via-wireless that reinforcements (including the battle cruiser Patagonia and three modern light cruisers) were steaming to Zhangjiang to link up with him. Unfortunartely they could not be expected for at least three weeks so the China Squadron would have to defend Irish interests alone until then. O'Sullivan - anxious not to challenge the Japanese in their home waters decided to make for Cheju to wait out the arrival of Patagonia. So a little before noon the China Squadron turned north.
The weather was glorious summer sunshine and visibility was excellent. At one o'clock the first Japanese ships were sighted: the light cruisers Fujijama, Tsukuba and Kasuga escorting a flotilla of transports. O'Sullivan had stumbled across Vice-Admiral Maruyama and his fleet and the Japanese lay between him and Cheju. For a long moment the Irish admiral hesitated. His own cruisers were severly outclassed in weaponry and speed by the Japanese ships but the lumbering Irish predreadnaughts might make it equal. Eventually he decided to press the attack, figuring the odds were in his favour and it was better to make for Cheju rather than reverse course and face unknown and possibly more formidable Japanese ships.
The First Battle of Ryukyu, August 8/9 1914
From the beginning Japanese gunnery was excellent; on her third salvo Fujijama scored a direct hit on Leitrim forward turrent knocking two of her four 8-inch guns out of action. Louth was luckier but was still hit a half dozen times during the first twenty five minutes of the combat. It was Carlow however that recived the worst of the fight. Duelling with Kasuga (a crack gunnery ship) Carlow was hit again and again. A half hour after the start of the battle she began to limp out of line, her decks aflame and a pronounced list. She didn't get far: her engine room flooded and Carlow drifted to a stop. Her crew would have little choice but to take to the boats and scuttle the ruined vessel.
Meanwhile Mucha and Meabh were trying to make range with their massive if ponderous guns and had starred to fire salvos. Towering waterspurts suddenly sprung up by the Japanese cruisers and finally not long before three o'clock Kasuga was hit, damaging her rear guns. Maruyama had knocked one Irish cruiser out of action and badly damaged another but he still had the predreadnaughts to deal with, so counting on his superior speed he lto face Mucha and Meabh. Fujijama, Tsukuba and Kasuga steamed head on, braving the Irish guns and launched their torpedos. The attack succeded beyond his wildest dreams: both Irish battleships were hit.
Mucha lurched hard to port and took in over a thousand tons of water but kept aloaf. Her sister was not nearly so lucky. Meabh was hit twice and immediatedly began to list. Her Captain Stephen Lohan signaled O'Sullivan that his steering and engines were damaged. And worse news was to come: on the horizon two dark smudges had appeared, smudges that could only be Japanese warships quite possibly even the Japanese dreadnaughts. With his ships already severely damaged O'Sullivan would have no chance.
Captain Lohan gallantly made his choice for him. Signalling Mucha (and Louth and Leitrim) to retreat he bravely turned his sinking, burning ship towards the Japanese. For the next forty minutes he would fight on while the surving Irish ships retreated towards Ryukyu proper. When Meabh foundered just 81 of her 750 men survived to be rescued by the Japanese. Lohan was not amongst them.
The battle had been a disaster for the Irish; O'Sullivan had lost a battleship, a protected cruiser and 1,215 men dead, wounded or taken prisoner. Mucha was barely afloat and it was doubtful whther she would be truly seaworthy again. Of the enemy only Kasuga was badly damaged and the Japanese had suffered 106 casualties.
A grim beginning to the war...
Viden: Indeed. 
Eams: Yes, I know it is a problem I've got to work on. I usually write updates at a rush unfortunately.
Agent Larkin: Hmm... I'd almost forgotten about Larkin till you reminded me. *scribbles notes*
Nikolai: Thanks!
RGB: Looks like I'll need it!
Eams: Yes, I know it is a problem I've got to work on. I usually write updates at a rush unfortunately.
Agent Larkin: Hmm... I'd almost forgotten about Larkin till you reminded me. *scribbles notes*
Nikolai: Thanks!
RGB: Looks like I'll need it!
You kill him and me and you will be having words.
OT: Another fine update. And words alone cannot describe my jealousy at your ability to find good pictures. The Louth is the best example I can think of.
OT: Another fine update. And words alone cannot describe my jealousy at your ability to find good pictures. The Louth is the best example I can think of.
Another fine update.
Let's see if Ireland will be as brutally savaged as Aragon was in another of your AARs.
Let's see if Ireland will be as brutally savaged as Aragon was in another of your AARs.
The Second Battle of Ryukyu & the fall of the Marianes
(September 1914)
The scuttled RIS Mucha sinks off Amami, 2 September 1914
(September 1914)
The scuttled RIS Mucha sinks off Amami, 2 September 1914
"Sack Admiral O'Sullivan - or shoot him."
- 'An Open Letter to the Prime Minister', published in the Irish Times 10 October 1914
Most of O'Sullivan's squadron had survived the First Battle of Ryukyu but his situation was beyond desperate. Mucha was scarcely seaworthy but the only docks capable of repairing her were in Zhangjiang a thousand miles to the south-west. Amami and Okinawa were useless for anything other than a refuge - and then only a temporary one. Who knew when the Japanese would land?
Fortunately Amami was in range of the powerful Irish wireless station in Okinawa so O'Sullivan was in contact with the Admirality back in Dublin. Already aware that the Indian Squadron (the powerful battle cruiser Alaska and three modern light cruisers) had left Madagascar and was steaming towards him O'Sullivan now found out Alaska would be joined by her sister ships Hibernia and Patagonia and another six cruisers. Less welcoming was the news that the Admirality was sending the Reserve Fleet - four old pre-dreadnought battleships of similar vintage to Mucha. O'Sullivan was not a first class admiral but he knew from personal experience that the elderly warships could not stand up to the Japanese.
Regardless of usefullness all of these ships were a month or more away and the pusillanimous Vice Admiral was growing more anxious with each passing day.
By 1 September O'Sullivan felt he could not risk remaining at Amami any longer in the face of imminent Japanese invasion. Several hours before dawn he raised steam and Mucha limped out of harbour escorted by Louth and Leitrim. Almost at once he made a horrific discovery: Mucha, with the damage to her engine room could make just 6 knots. Disgusted, O'Sullivan transferred his flag to Louth and ordered Leitrim to take Mucha in tow. It was a forlorn effort; within hours the Irish observed dark smudges on the horizon than soon resolved themselves into Japanese cruisers. Four of them under Rear Admiral Sato.
O'Sullivan decided there was nothing more he could to save the helpless Mucha. Transferring as many Irish sailors over as possible he left a skeleton crew of volunteers to scuttle the battleship and fled west with Sato in full pursuit. O'Sullivan in Louth, was able to evade the Japanese after running into a squall. Leitrim was less fortunate. Still in poor shape from the First Battle of Ryukyu she could not match the speed of her sister or maintain the distance with Sato's ships. By dusk she was a blazing wreck. 263 of her 433 crew survived to be rescued and taken prisoner by Sato.
As Louth steamed for Zhangjiang safety and Leitrim foundered Mucha unexpectedly remained afloat having been ignored by Sato. Captain Callaghan, disregarding his orders to scuttle his ship believed Mucha could make Amami and steered south. The stumbling pre-dreadnought was still heading in that direction when Satsuma and Aki arrived. Even under the best of circumstances Mucha would have no chance against two Japanese dreadnoughts and Mucha was half ruined as she was. After a brief exchange of fire (in which Mucha had the stisfaction of hitting Satsuma even if the shell did no significant damage) Callaghan led his crew in three cheers for the King and the first verse of 'God Save Ireland'. Then the Irish crew took to their boats and waited til the chages inside the ancient battleship went off. Slowly Mucha capsized and sank.
As it turned out the Japanese invasion did not happen - not to Amami at least on 19 and 20 September Japanese troops landed on and occupied the undefended Irish Marianes Islands. The Marianes were unimportant in economic terms but there was no denying Japan had won control of sea and raised their flag on Irish soil.
The Japanese occupy the Marianes
Agent Larkin: Thanks. Louth is actually a slightly altered picture of USS Olympia. I try to match the ships to real life ships and the US had some great looking protected cruisers. I really love naval warfare so I especially love these updates.
The other reason I use so many pictures of ships is that it is difficult to find stand ins for the Irish Army that don't look obviously British (or French or German). Luckily we are getting relatively close to the Civil War in OTL so I'll be able to use pictures of real Irish troops.
Viden: That it does! But then again this *is* the equivalent for Ireland of WWI so there will probably be a lot more hurting to come.
Eams: Heh. Hey I did end with Catholic emperors of India.
KanaX: Thanks! It's good to be back.
Louth is actually a slightly altered picture of USS Olympia. I try to match the ships to real life ships and the US had some great looking protected cruisers. I really love naval warfare so I especially love these updates.The other reason I use so many pictures of ships is that it is difficult to find stand ins for the Irish Army that don't look obviously British (or French or German). Luckily we are getting relatively close to the Civil War in OTL so I'll be able to use pictures of real Irish troops.
Viden: That it does! But then again this *is* the equivalent for Ireland of WWI so there will probably be a lot more hurting to come.
Eams: Heh. Hey I did end with Catholic emperors of India.
KanaX: Thanks! It's good to be back.
Oh I understand about about the troops. I've been trying to find pictures of 19th Century Irish regiments and the like but no success. If I had the artistic skills to alter things I would but alas....
I think you can stretch Free State troops as being standard Irish troops for the WW1 era. Might be a bit of a stretch but as long as you use the right pictures. Also if you are using Civil War era photos do I detect the possiblity of a certain "Big Fellow" from Cork making an appearance?
Also I find Japanese AI is usually terrible at invasion ideas in Ricky. Unless it's China for some reason. Thats probably why they would go after the Marianas.
Also any chance of a world map update? Partially because I'm curious and partially because I want to see just how well our respective AAR's national borders line up
I think you can stretch Free State troops as being standard Irish troops for the WW1 era. Might be a bit of a stretch but as long as you use the right pictures. Also if you are using Civil War era photos do I detect the possiblity of a certain "Big Fellow" from Cork making an appearance?
Also I find Japanese AI is usually terrible at invasion ideas in Ricky. Unless it's China for some reason. Thats probably why they would go after the Marianas.
Also any chance of a world map update? Partially because I'm curious and partially because I want to see just how well our respective AAR's national borders line up
Japan is a menace on the seas. It's almost historical, that.
And I agree, finding pictures is HARD especially as history becomes more divergent and less generic.
And I agree, finding pictures is HARD especially as history becomes more divergent and less generic.
The Navy Game
(August 1914 to November 1914)
J. G. Swift MacNeill, Minister of the Navy
(August 1914 to November 1914)
J. G. Swift MacNeill, Minister of the Navy
"Sometimes I think the Admirality is a greater threat to Ireland than Japan."
- The PM to the King after Second Ryukyu
At the start of the war the Naval Ministry had been in the hands of J. G. Swift MacNeill. MacNeill, an aimiable eccentric in his sixties had no knowledge of and little interest in the Royal Irish Navy. In fairness no one else in the NCP Cabinet could claim to be a superior expert in matters naval. Thus there was not much direction from the top when war started.
The Irish Admirality was not in much better shape. Ironically the cause was the very growth of the Navy over the past decade. Dreadnoughts, battle cruisers and light cruisers had slid off the slipways almost as fast as crews could be trained. The shortage of trained officers was becoming a serious problem and nowhere was the problem worse than at the top of the tree. In 1914 Ireland, posessing more capital ships than America and France combined had fewer experienced, active duty admirals than either. In August 1914 the Chief of Naval Staff was Admiral Joseph O'Donnell, hero of Pamlico Sound. O'Donnell at least did have experience but he was not far off seventy and there were suspicions in some quarters that he was past it mentally and phsyically. Certainly he'd never personally commanded any of the more modern ships in the fleet.
On the first day of the war O'Donnell ordered the China Squadron into the Yellow Sea, reassuring MacNeill that O'Sullivan would not take the fight against superior forces. After some debate O'Donnell wired the Indian Squadron - the powerful battle cruiser Alaska and her three cruisers to steam to join O'Sullivan. MacNeill suggested sending the four old battleships of the Reserve Fleet but this O'Donnell overuled on the grounds that the pre-dreadnoughts were too slow, consumed too much coal and in all likelihood would not be needed - the hero of Pamlico Sound did not expect much from the Japanese who had no naval tradition worth speaking off. His minister accepted this advice and that was that.
The news of the First Battle of Ryukyu shook the Irish Navy to its foundations. O'Donnell at once ordered the Reserve Fleet to China after all - and after pressure from MacNeill sent the remaining battle cruisers. In September news of Second Ryukyu and the loss of the Marianes sent moral in the Admirality plumettiing but at that point both O'Donnell and MacNeill could grimly point to the departure of reinforcements.
RIS Lucien: she and her sisters would not be leaving Irish waters.
One point of bitter debate remained: the Atlantic Fleet. Three dreadnoughts (Lucien, Brian Boru and Edward Bruce) and the two most modern pre-dreadnoughts (Orla and Aoife) made this the single most powerful unit in the navy and there were a lot of calls to use them. The Admirality, from O'Donnell on down shuddered at the idea and closed ranks at the idea. The idea of loosing an Irish dreadnought to a Japanese mine or torpedo was enough to make the Goverment sweat too so despite calls from the opposition and press the dreadnoughts stayed at anchor in Cobh. The big guns of the battle cruisers would be doing the heavy lifting at least for now.
The Navy was already building two new battle cruisers. Now two more, a dreadnought and two light cruisers were authorized - more than enough to replace O'Sullivan's losses. The only problem was that none of these vessels would be ready till 1917 but even so the propaganda value of photographs of the huge steel vessels was immense. Let the public see Irish industry at work.
One thing the Goverment was determined to move on at once was the shortage of officers. Funds were lavishly poured into enlarging the Naval Academy in Galway and a recruiting campaign swept 10,000 new officers above the usual intake*. Ireland had the ships and hopefully she would now have the men.
*In game terms I promoted 10,000 new Officers.
Viden: It is. When I said the equivalent of World War One I meant that it was for Ireland, not for the world as a whole.
Agent Larkin: Michael Collins might appear. And not him alone.
Oh I'm sorry there are no map updates just yet but I'll get working on them soon.
RGB: Tell me about it! In this update the part of RIS Lucien will be played by HMS Dreadnought.
I purposefully bootsed the Japanese to make them something of a challenge at sea.
Nikolai: Damn straight. Oh congrats on being declared fan of the month - I meant to post on that thread but it slipped my mind.
Agent Larkin: Michael Collins might appear. And not him alone.
Oh I'm sorry there are no map updates just yet but I'll get working on them soon.
RGB: Tell me about it! In this update the part of RIS Lucien will be played by HMS Dreadnought.
I purposefully bootsed the Japanese to make them something of a challenge at sea.
Nikolai: Damn straight. Oh congrats on being declared fan of the month - I meant to post on that thread but it slipped my mind.
Hmm... Now I'm going to have to start guessing on who else could show up. Dev? Cosgrave? Barry?
Providing that Japanese society has developed in a fashion roughly similar to OTL, it would be interesting to see what would happen to it if Ireland managed to first weather the storm and then turn the tide against the Japanese and win the war.
10,000 new officers. Bold
As for leaving the Atlantic squadron in the Atlantic, all I can say is that there is no kill like overkill.
As for leaving the Atlantic squadron in the Atlantic, all I can say is that there is no kill like overkill.