The Rainbow. A World War One on Canada's West Coast Timeline

[NHBL]

Princess Charlotte has earned her keep many times over. What are their chances of making it to American waters, either in the sinking ship or the small boats?
Great stuff...and the officer that arranged to get the subs should get a promotion or mentioned in dispatches. Of course, now the cruisers are aware that the subs are very real.

 

[Driftless]

With the shot to the bow, I'm guessing Princess Charlotte can only make headway - at best, depending on how the water-tight doors, bulkheads and such are set up. Maybe the sub gets another shot with the stern tubes?

Otherwise, time to creep to the American side of the bay, and call it quits.

 

[ferdi254]

Now the two subs are located and easily avoided. The Charlotte was a very good vessel but sinking her will not hurt German war making ability.

Damage just piles up.

 

[Pete55]

Now the two subs are located and easily avoided. The Charlotte was a very good vessel but sinking her will not hurt German war making ability.

Damage just piles up.

Honestly, this may save the lives of the german crew on princess Charlotte in the long run.

When they lookout called "ships", I wondered if it wasn't the Izumo. That would have been a bad day.

 

[weasel_airlift]

Honestly, this may save the lives of the german crew on princess Charlotte in the long run.

When they lookout called "ships", I wondered if it wasn't the Izumo. That would have been a bad day.

Or, playing with subs that close to the border, hitting an American...

 

[USS_Ward]

When they lookout called "ships", I wondered if it wasn't the Izumo. That would have been a bad day.

But would have been a great day for the Entente.

 

[Nick P]

I've got to ask a potentially silly question here. How do they know what each town has by way of industry?

Was there some sort of directory they are going by or is it pure chance?
I can't imagine a crack team of German spies crawling all along the coast of a far away land on the other side of the world building up a list of targets just in case war breaks out.

 

[weasel_airlift]

I've got to ask a potentially silly question here. How do they know what each town has by way of industry?

Was there some sort of directory they are going by or is it pure chance?
I can't imagine a crack team of German spies crawling all along the coast of a far away land on the other side of the world building up a list of targets just in case war breaks out.

Their Austrian pilot knows the area, which makes good sense. He's been leading ships in and around all these inlets for years.

 

[HMS St.Lawrence]

Gotcha!

This story is good, and it is getting better every chapter! Thank you for this YYJ

 

[Driftless]

Now the two subs are located and easily avoided.

At the same stroke, that knowledge also makes those subs in effect, mobile minefields.... in narrow waters. IF the Leipzig and Nuremburg try to avoid the subs AND stay out of US waters, that limits their course choices

 

[YYJ]

I've got to ask a potentially silly question here. How do they know what each town has by way of industry?

Was there some sort of directory they are going by or is it pure chance?
I can't imagine a crack team of German spies crawling all along the coast of a far away land on the other side of the world building up a list of targets just in case war breaks out.

Yes. The German attacks are not random or just lucky.

Nurnberg is at first plying the northern shipping lanes from Prince Rupert with only a general idea of Canadian ports, and some intelligence reports on the state of the navy and fortifications, until they come inshore looking for coal and capture SS Prince Rupert, in the chapter entitled An Unexpected Turn. Serendipitously, Hungarian born Lieutenant Radl, the Second Officer of the Prince Rupert, has a personal grievance with his captain and decides to switch to the Central Powers cause. Radl is familiar with BC waters, particularly the Inside Passage, from sailing ships through them for years.

When planning the demolition of the infrastructure of the town of Anyox, they use a map taken from the manager's office, in the chapter entitled Critical Node.

Radl's knowledge informs Nürnberg's attacks on Prince Rupert, and down the north coast in the chapter entitled We are not Visigoths.

Nürnberg and Leipzig both receive orders in the Chapter entitled Don't Tread on Me to meet with the German trade commissioner from Vancouver in Barclay Sound, but they are not told why. When they finally arrive in the chapter entitled A Patient Man, they discover that the German trade commissioner has brought a father and son team of German born coastal pilots who wish to serve the fatherland.

Together Radl, Trade Commissioner Meyer, and the Muellers provide their knowledge when the attack on southern British Columbia is planned in the chapter entitled Any Other Surprises? And of course the three pilots, one on each of the attacking German ships, guide them through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Strait to their targets.

 

[Wet Coast]

Together Radl, Trade Commissioner Meyer, and the Muellers provide their knowledge when the attack on southern British Columbia is planned in the chapter entitled Any Other Surprises? And of course the three pilots, one on each of the attacking German ships, guide them through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Strait to their targets.

What happens to these people will have a potentially major effect in Canada. If they are captured and any of them are Canadian citizens then they will swing for treason but the greater effect would probably be in the expat German community in Canada. It would "prove" to the public at large that the German community is not to be trusted if even long time residents and citizens could go over to the enemy and the same sort of hysteria that led to the Japanese internment camps in WWII may well come into play.

 

[USS_Ward]

One thing is for certain, i hope the pencil pushers back in Ottawa see this as a need to grow the RCN. It's obvious they can not rely on Britain or the RN while the Brits are busy across the Atlantic. Also with WW1 hitting close to home, i can see some Americans enlisting in the Canadian armed forces.

 

[Pete55]

One thing is for certain, i hope the pencil pushers back in Ottawa see this as a need to grow the RCN. It's obvious they can not rely on Britain or the RN while the Brits are busy across the Atlantic. Also with WW1 hitting close to home, i can see some Americans enlisting in the Canadian armed forces.

True. I bet this brings some big time private american donations to the RCN too.

 

[e of pi]

Does it, or does it just bring focus on efforts to ramp up the US Navy...which after all was right there the whole time reminding the Germans to stay out of American waters?

 

[Deckhand]

Now the two subs are located and easily avoided.

Not really, Haro straight is pretty narrow and the only way south. If the German cruisers want to try for Esquimalt they will have to run the torpedo gauntlet. Of course they know this now, and may call it off and run north. Hopefully one of them gets impaled on Ripple Rock.

 

[Dilvish]

With the shot to the bow, I'm guessing Princess Charlotte can only make headway - at best, depending on how the water-tight doors, bulkheads and such are set up. Maybe the sub gets another shot with the stern tubes?

Otherwise, time to creep to the American side of the bay, and call it quits.

That torpedo hit should also widen the damage incurred from avoiding the first torpedo. Assuming the forward boiler room, etc., wasn't among the part of the hull hit directly by the blast.

Would CC-2 (?) be able to reload and put another torpedo into Princess Charlotte? The Canadians might just want to finish off a crippled raider.

 

[NHBL]

Finishing the cripple ight not be worth the torpedo, even if the ship doesn't sink.
Torpedoes are limited, and the crew and ship sitting out the war in the USA is just as effective as the crew feeding fish or in a POW camp, and the wreck as a future dive site. Princess Charlotte is done like dinner. (If the crew might get picked up by a cruiser and returned to duty, sink it, though.)

 

[Pete55]

If the sub can put another fish into her it's got to be worth it. The Canadians have enough torpedoes for the actions at hand, and it ist like they need to save them for a later campaign. Use them up; the only real concern is that a surface attack run might lead to a couple shell hits still, and with the small size of the sub a single hole or two would likely cripple it.

 

[Driftless]

What happens to the Princess Charlotte IF it is able to limp to the US and manages not to sink in deep water in the process? I'm assuming the USN seizes the ship - in the near term. But what would happen to the ship later?