--------------
Madame President, we are here to discuss your plans to visit Antarctica.
There are some rumors circulating that you will be on the next Grand Convoy. We are unsure if any of these rumors have reached any of the Islamic embassies - or their spies.
We always sail the Grand Convoy in secrecy. We do not think that the Spanish or Liberian Navy can successfully challenge the convoy, but we do not wish to test that assumption. And so-called "pirates" have taken ships that became separated from the Convoy in decades past. The technology we take has value, which is why we separate every critical technology into two or more ships. Capturing just one has limited value.
We have three southern Greonlandic fjords where we assemble the Grand Convoy. We randomly switch from one to another - and the planners do in fact roll dice to pick which one.
All three have sheltered anchorages that cannot be seen from the open ocean - or the coastal rail line. From one of the three, the convoy will sail one evening at dusk. This reduces the risk that an off-course Islamic fishing boat will sight the convoy sailing, and radio ahead.
There will be sixteen ships in this convoy. Four armored ships with 75, 88 or 105 mm cannon, plus the new USAS Kannon and the USAS Antarctica that you and your entourage will be traveling in. The other ten merchant ships include six steel hulled and four steel framed wooden hulled ships, but all are of the modified Cutty Sark class, so they sail much the same and can keep pace.
All ships have sails and auxiliary power - although the auxiliary power varies considerably. Besides the crew and 8,510 tons of freight, 623 passengers will be on this passage. 105 crew members will emigrate to Antarctica and be replaced in Antarctica with 105 crew wishing to settle or study in the North.
Previous Grand Convoys have taken from 49 to 119 days to travel North to South, and slightly longer South to North. They are timed to pass through the North Atlantic just before the hurricane season starts in earnest.
There are no hurricanes possible within 9 degrees of the equator. The cold water currents of the South Atlantic and geography prevent truly dangerous hurricanes from forming there.
We need to create a cover story that will cover your disappearance till you are well at sea. hopefully south of the Azores. We are currently at peace - but so called pirates have often attacked at such times.
Please consider what might work as a cover story. Talk with your staff, but keep this plan from becoming known outside a small group.
--------------
As she took the special rail spur in tunnel towards the waiting Grand Convoy, her escort proceeded to tell her much of what she already knew, but she kept quiet. As Prime Minister she had approved building these two ships more than a decade before.
"The USAS Antarctica is the prototype of a new class of armed merchantmen that need not sail in convoy, although traveling in pairs or threes may be advisable once the USAS Ascension is completed.
We hope that this class of ships will create a constant flow of people and goods between North and South, instead of Grand Convoys every few years.
She is capable of sailing without sail, if you pardon the term, from Greonland to Ascension Island and possibly even to Antarctica at the slowest speed. She burns a special bio-diesel methanol mix in a slow speed diesel engine to generate electricity, which then powers the electric motors driving the screws. Much of the fuel loaded in the North comes from tree sap, distilled to remove water and then dissolved in methanol, thereby reducing the problem of burning food for fuel. Once we refuel in Ascension, we will switch to a conventional bio-diesel shipped from Antarctica.
Her sails will save fuel and often increase her speed. Yet to keep pace with the Cutty Sark class ships also in the convoy, she will to use her auxiliary motors most of the time to supplement her sails.
She has three swivel turrets, mounting twin 105 mm cannon towards the bow and two 88 mm cannon towards the stern, to discourage a stern chase. And a single rapid fire 57 mm Bofors gun just forward of the main mast. The rifling of the barrels is opposite in each pair, so they do not create torque when fired in volley. {That she did not know). The forward and aft turrets have almost a 300 degree traverse, a bit more for the mid-ship 57 mm. The masts are mounted between the two main turrets, except for the mast most forward. That mast can be tilted down over the bow and the bowspirit.
We have been sailing the USAS Antarctica between various ports without Islamic presence for almost two years now, and she appears to be quite seaworthy. Rumors have circulated, and we are sure that something is known of her in the Azores. Hopefully enough to discourage any "unauthorized" pirate attacks.
She has a unique titanium hull, alloyed with 0.28% ruthenium for improved corrosion resistance. The ruthenium comes from processing used nuclear reactor fuel. The framing was also titanium, but with a less ruthenium alloy. Much of the remainder of the interior was built with plywood and recycled plastics from the Old World.
This light weight structure increased the cargo and fuel she can carry, and should give her hull and framing a working life of much more than a century. The interior, engines and masts will likely need to be rebuilt in a few decades.
She has a crew of 43, cabins for 80 to 102 passengers and 1,914 tonnes of cargo. All capable passengers are trained to help repel boarders, just in case.
"How much ruthenium did she require ?"
This surprised the aide, who stammered, "Three and a half tons from our nuclear fuel reprocessing. It makes the titanium almost totally resistant to corrosion. The hull, frame and plates should last for centuries."
He then continued on his rather obviously memorized speech.
The USAS Kannon is built around a single German 380 mm cannon. The Germans originally designed the gun for shipboard use but installed it in Denmark as a coastal gun. It was left behind in Denmark after the long ago World War II. Four comparable 408 mm cannons were left in Norway and all five were transferred inland from museums as the waters rose.
Nowhere in the world is there artillery comparable to the 88 mm and 105 mm cannons deployed by our Union forces except a very few left over from the Old World. The existence of these historic very large artillery pieces is, as far as can be determined, completely unknown outside the USA. With a light weight shell, this unique gun has a range of 40 km, well over the horizon. A single shell can sink any ship afloat or devaste any fortress.
.
.. more ...
They pulled out of Jamestown Harbor with the early morning sun on auxiliary power and then quickly set sail tacking southeast. For the next 27 days they sailed south, passing Tristan du Cunha in the night. Just before the Grand Convoy entered the Southern Ocean, at 39 degrees S latitude, the USAS Kannon turned back with the military escorts to Ascension - her new base when not escorting the Grand Convoy. This was far south of any known pirate sighting.
The Kannon would be docked inside a covered dock in a secondary inlet on Ascension. It should remain secret, beyond some rumors, from the Islamic powers for quite some time. Several other rumors were being deliberately circulated as well - to hide the truth amongst the false. Based at Ascension, she would be close to West and South Africa, and close enough to the Azores and Europe if needed there, or Antarctica if needed there.
The Grand Convoy entered the Southern Ocean ! Wild winds and waves that traveled around the world, without a speck of land to absorb the energy. A wild ocean for eons.
The USAS Antarctica, as planned, furled her sails and separated from the rest of the convoy with her electric motors driven by the biodiesel generators. Hard shocks rocked the ship as her bow bit into towering waves for three days till she entered the lee of the Palmer Peninsula. There the seas were still rough, but nothing compared to the wild sea she just left.
Sails were set, and she quickly headed for the capital of Antarctica, Nye Copenhagen. Named after the lost city that so many settlers left behind. Nestled on the Ronne Sea, not far from the base of the Palmer Peninsula, Nye Copenhagen was midway between Palmer and West Antarctica. An ideal location for trade as well as governance at 79 degrees latitude, nestled in the shadow on the Ellsworth Mountains on the northern bank of the Minnesota fjord - the only pass through the 4,500 meter Ellsworth Mountains.
The rain
"How much ruthenium did she require ?"
This surprised the aide, who stammered, "Three and a half tons from our nuclear fuel reprocessing. It makes the titanium almost totally resistant to corrosion. The hull, frame and plates should last for centuries."
He then continued on his rather obviously memorized speech.
The USAS Kannon is built around a single German 380 mm cannon. The Germans originally designed the gun for shipboard use but installed it in Denmark as a coastal gun. It was left behind in Denmark after the long ago World War II. Four comparable 408 mm cannons were left in Norway and all five were transferred inland from museums as the waters rose.
Nowhere in the world is there artillery comparable to the 88 mm and 105 mm cannons deployed by our Union forces except a very few left over from the Old World. The existence of these historic very large artillery pieces is, as far as can be determined, completely unknown outside the USA. With a light weight shell, this unique gun has a range of 40 km, well over the horizon. A single shell can sink any ship afloat or devaste any fortress.
.
.. more ...
They pulled out of Jamestown Harbor with the early morning sun on auxiliary power and then quickly set sail tacking southeast. For the next 27 days they sailed south, passing Tristan du Cunha in the night. Just before the Grand Convoy entered the Southern Ocean, at 39 degrees S latitude, the USAS Kannon turned back with the military escorts to Ascension - her new base when not escorting the Grand Convoy. This was far south of any known pirate sighting.
The Kannon would be docked inside a covered dock in a secondary inlet on Ascension. It should remain secret, beyond some rumors, from the Islamic powers for quite some time. Several other rumors were being deliberately circulated as well - to hide the truth amongst the false. Based at Ascension, she would be close to West and South Africa, and close enough to the Azores and Europe if needed there, or Antarctica if needed there.
The Grand Convoy entered the Southern Ocean ! Wild winds and waves that traveled around the world, without a speck of land to absorb the energy. A wild ocean for eons.
The USAS Antarctica, as planned, furled her sails and separated from the rest of the convoy with her electric motors driven by the biodiesel generators. Hard shocks rocked the ship as her bow bit into towering waves for three days till she entered the lee of the Palmer Peninsula. There the seas were still rough, but nothing compared to the wild sea she just left.
Sails were set, and she quickly headed for the capital of Antarctica, Nye Copenhagen. Named after the lost city that so many settlers left behind. Nestled on the Ronne Sea, not far from the base of the Palmer Peninsula, Nye Copenhagen was midway between Palmer and West Antarctica. An ideal location for trade as well as governance at 79 degrees latitude, nestled in the shadow on the Ellsworth Mountains on the northern bank of the Minnesota fjord - the only pass through the 4,500 meter Ellsworth Mountains.
The rain
shadow of the Ellsworth Mountains, the highest in Antarctica, also made the coast around Nye Copenhagen the sunniest place - and one of the least windy - in Antarctica. Places further north may have more sun on the top of the clouds, but not as much reached the ground.
Four major rail lines radiated out from Nye Copenhagen - the Palmer Line, the East Antarctica Line that lead through the TransAntarctic Mountains between the Theil and Whitmore Mountains and two rail lines that went deep in a loop through the hinterlands of West Antarctica around deep Vostok Lake. A rail line ran along the coast north towards Palmer, the other two tracks went up the Montana fjord to East Antarctica, with one turning towards the highlands of West Antarctica. All 1.1 meter gauge like her native Iceland and Spitsbergen.
Since they arrived in late Spring, the days were already long.
Nye Copenhagen had been told of her coming, first from Greonland and then from Ascension. The AM radio of the USAS Antarctica reached a station on Palmer 31 hours before their arrival in Nye Copenhagen. The town was well prepared for the first sitting Union President to arrive in 89 years !
Not just the citizens of the capital but tens of thousands from the hinterlands had traveled by packed trains for this historic moment.
She had requested a day or two to recuperate from a rough crossing before launching on her Grand Tour - but that did not dampen her reception :-)
The President and Prime Minister, with her cabinet and several members of the Opposition, were waiting for her unsteady walk down the gangway. At her request, the Captain took the ship in slowly once in calm waters to give her more time to prepare - physically and mentally.
-----------
On the train towards Western Antarctica, she passed through arboreal forests, several times catching glimpses of Zubrons here and there. The only ungulate suitable for the challenging environment of new forests on old glacier fields in Groenland and in Antarctic.
-----------
The day after her landing had been left open for her rest and recuperation. It was a Saturday, so she asked if she might attend one of the five synagogues in Antarctica, but without public notice. Crowds were waiting outside her guest house, so ....
-----------
On the third day since landing, the President, Prime Minister and the Security Ministers gave her a briefing on external affairs.
We do not allow any foreign vessels to enter our waters, and we have not found any evidence of an unauthorized landing. But we would likely not find evan a small settlement for many years if they put it up a random fjord or a few kilometers inland.
The only powers with sufficient technology to possibly reach Antarctica in the South are the various states of Argent and Brazil, Southern Africa and further north in East & West Africa and maybe, just possibly, the Kiwis.
As you know, the Australians set up two settlements - at Davis on Pryoz Bay and Casey in Wilkes Land in the 2060s. We long ago incorporated Davis into our society as the port for the major river of West Australia.. The other former Australian settlement, Casey, has remained isolated. We do not have a rail line there and trading vessels only call there five or six times per year. They vote and send a representative to our Althingi, but they are a people apart, with their own language.
Kristiana asked "How many are there ?"
About 5,600 in the last census, but we believe that several hundred more are in the remote forests. So 6,000, give or take, Plus several thousand more that have moved into our cities and settled areas and their immediate descendants. Their homeland has descended into barbarism and savagery, so that tie is gone forever.
Australia itself, as you know, fell very hard to Climate Chaos and over population in the 2060s. They were already on food rationing when the Great Hunger hit and that set off famine and civil unrest, with the strong eating well. This, in turn, set off a quick spiral downward with their two Antarctic settlements being populated by desperate refugees from the chaos. Most starved, but a few survived.
Based on our coastal exploration and a few inland expeditions, Australia may have only 100,000 to 200,000 people left. Mostly hunter gatherers, and some irrigated agriculture in the formerly Snowy and Blue Mountains. Except for a few remaining mineral deposits that they did not ship to China, there is little left to attract anyone there.
Tasmania is somewhat more interesting. They are still a green land and maintained a minimal industrial civilization, based on their hydropower till 2250 or so. But that collapsed as well in a civil war. And after that, their population crashed. There may be just 10,000 Tasmanians left, maybe 15,000 or even 20,000. Like Australia, their most fearsome weapon is a crossbow made from salvaged materials.
Our expeditions have found several hydroelectric power plants that we can rebuild. The land is fertile enough, and wet enough, to establish a successful colony - either ours or someone else's. One question is what to do with the remaining Tasmanian savages.
The Kiwis are better off. The North Island has several strong sheriffs that owe nominal fealty to their King. The South Island is split into two Republics and a Kingdom. We have helped all four keep their small hydroelectric plants going and supplied semi-finished goods for domestic manufacturing. Cloth and sewing machines for example. Horseshoes and anvils and so forth. And we help them keep their rail lines running. We quite deliberately keep them dependent on us. And no weapons !
But they have little to export to us except speciality foods. Apples, butter and cheese and so forth. We have wool enough, and wheat and meat. They want more than they have value to trade for. We have considered whether to rehabilitate their largest hydroelectric dam and build an aluminum smelter and other power intensive industry there. This could forge a deeper and more permanent bond. However, the lack of unity may make that investment "complicated" with future intra-island conflicts.
The Kiwis build small ships for coastal trading and to go between North and South Island. As far as we know, not one has crossed the Southern Ocean and only a few have gone to Australia or New Guinea.
Africa is the largest potential problem, East and West Africa. ...
For the last two decades, both Argent and Brazil have been broken up into small kingdoms and republics. As such, their industrial potential and technology have been stifled. Again, both we and the North have provided assistance to keep their hydroelectric dams and railroads operating at a minimal level.
We have friendly relations with the largest coastal power, the Republic of Bahia. Since they are a limited franchise democracy, we share some values. Bahia has extensive coastal trade along the Atlantic and considerable trade across the Atlantic to Benin. Our Base Island is along that route and frequently sights sails. A few times an apparently Bahia ship, with light round shot cannon, has anchored off base Island. A warning shot or two and they pulled up anchor.
---------
At aptly named Zubron, she was taken on a tour of their breeding operations (thankfully, she was spared the slaughterhouse !). Her tour guide explained "Our system was first developed in Groenland, but they have since moved to more intensive methods."
We let the heifers and steers wander the forest on their own, but we keep all the bulls here in these pens. When a heifer comes into heat, she will come towards the pens and often bellow for a bull. We let those in that we chose not to cull immediately and let them breed. After the heifer is breed, we keep her is this larger fenced ranch.
After she calves, if the calf is a heifer, we mark the calf and let them back into the forest almost immediately. If the calf is a bull, we keep them until he is old enough to castrate (She winced just a bit at this) and release them to the forest or to slaughter for veal.
A very few bull calves are allowed to develop into young bulls if they and their mothers exhibit desirable traits.
Harvest teams go from a variety of rail heads into the forest and slaughter the steers and older heifers. Unless they are very close to our packing plants, we field dress them and bring back just the meat and hides.
"And what traits do you find desirable for your bulls ?" she asked.
......
Four major rail lines radiated out from Nye Copenhagen - the Palmer Line, the East Antarctica Line that lead through the TransAntarctic Mountains between the Theil and Whitmore Mountains and two rail lines that went deep in a loop through the hinterlands of West Antarctica around deep Vostok Lake. A rail line ran along the coast north towards Palmer, the other two tracks went up the Montana fjord to East Antarctica, with one turning towards the highlands of West Antarctica. All 1.1 meter gauge like her native Iceland and Spitsbergen.
Since they arrived in late Spring, the days were already long.
Nye Copenhagen had been told of her coming, first from Greonland and then from Ascension. The AM radio of the USAS Antarctica reached a station on Palmer 31 hours before their arrival in Nye Copenhagen. The town was well prepared for the first sitting Union President to arrive in 89 years !
Not just the citizens of the capital but tens of thousands from the hinterlands had traveled by packed trains for this historic moment.
She had requested a day or two to recuperate from a rough crossing before launching on her Grand Tour - but that did not dampen her reception :-)
The President and Prime Minister, with her cabinet and several members of the Opposition, were waiting for her unsteady walk down the gangway. At her request, the Captain took the ship in slowly once in calm waters to give her more time to prepare - physically and mentally.
-----------
On the train towards Western Antarctica, she passed through arboreal forests, several times catching glimpses of Zubrons here and there. The only ungulate suitable for the challenging environment of new forests on old glacier fields in Groenland and in Antarctic.
-----------
The day after her landing had been left open for her rest and recuperation. It was a Saturday, so she asked if she might attend one of the five synagogues in Antarctica, but without public notice. Crowds were waiting outside her guest house, so ....
-----------
On the third day since landing, the President, Prime Minister and the Security Ministers gave her a briefing on external affairs.
We do not allow any foreign vessels to enter our waters, and we have not found any evidence of an unauthorized landing. But we would likely not find evan a small settlement for many years if they put it up a random fjord or a few kilometers inland.
The only powers with sufficient technology to possibly reach Antarctica in the South are the various states of Argent and Brazil, Southern Africa and further north in East & West Africa and maybe, just possibly, the Kiwis.
As you know, the Australians set up two settlements - at Davis on Pryoz Bay and Casey in Wilkes Land in the 2060s. We long ago incorporated Davis into our society as the port for the major river of West Australia.. The other former Australian settlement, Casey, has remained isolated. We do not have a rail line there and trading vessels only call there five or six times per year. They vote and send a representative to our Althingi, but they are a people apart, with their own language.
Kristiana asked "How many are there ?"
About 5,600 in the last census, but we believe that several hundred more are in the remote forests. So 6,000, give or take, Plus several thousand more that have moved into our cities and settled areas and their immediate descendants. Their homeland has descended into barbarism and savagery, so that tie is gone forever.
Australia itself, as you know, fell very hard to Climate Chaos and over population in the 2060s. They were already on food rationing when the Great Hunger hit and that set off famine and civil unrest, with the strong eating well. This, in turn, set off a quick spiral downward with their two Antarctic settlements being populated by desperate refugees from the chaos. Most starved, but a few survived.
Based on our coastal exploration and a few inland expeditions, Australia may have only 100,000 to 200,000 people left. Mostly hunter gatherers, and some irrigated agriculture in the formerly Snowy and Blue Mountains. Except for a few remaining mineral deposits that they did not ship to China, there is little left to attract anyone there.
Tasmania is somewhat more interesting. They are still a green land and maintained a minimal industrial civilization, based on their hydropower till 2250 or so. But that collapsed as well in a civil war. And after that, their population crashed. There may be just 10,000 Tasmanians left, maybe 15,000 or even 20,000. Like Australia, their most fearsome weapon is a crossbow made from salvaged materials.
Our expeditions have found several hydroelectric power plants that we can rebuild. The land is fertile enough, and wet enough, to establish a successful colony - either ours or someone else's. One question is what to do with the remaining Tasmanian savages.
The Kiwis are better off. The North Island has several strong sheriffs that owe nominal fealty to their King. The South Island is split into two Republics and a Kingdom. We have helped all four keep their small hydroelectric plants going and supplied semi-finished goods for domestic manufacturing. Cloth and sewing machines for example. Horseshoes and anvils and so forth. And we help them keep their rail lines running. We quite deliberately keep them dependent on us. And no weapons !
But they have little to export to us except speciality foods. Apples, butter and cheese and so forth. We have wool enough, and wheat and meat. They want more than they have value to trade for. We have considered whether to rehabilitate their largest hydroelectric dam and build an aluminum smelter and other power intensive industry there. This could forge a deeper and more permanent bond. However, the lack of unity may make that investment "complicated" with future intra-island conflicts.
The Kiwis build small ships for coastal trading and to go between North and South Island. As far as we know, not one has crossed the Southern Ocean and only a few have gone to Australia or New Guinea.
Africa is the largest potential problem, East and West Africa. ...
For the last two decades, both Argent and Brazil have been broken up into small kingdoms and republics. As such, their industrial potential and technology have been stifled. Again, both we and the North have provided assistance to keep their hydroelectric dams and railroads operating at a minimal level.
We have friendly relations with the largest coastal power, the Republic of Bahia. Since they are a limited franchise democracy, we share some values. Bahia has extensive coastal trade along the Atlantic and considerable trade across the Atlantic to Benin. Our Base Island is along that route and frequently sights sails. A few times an apparently Bahia ship, with light round shot cannon, has anchored off base Island. A warning shot or two and they pulled up anchor.
---------
At aptly named Zubron, she was taken on a tour of their breeding operations (thankfully, she was spared the slaughterhouse !). Her tour guide explained "Our system was first developed in Groenland, but they have since moved to more intensive methods."
We let the heifers and steers wander the forest on their own, but we keep all the bulls here in these pens. When a heifer comes into heat, she will come towards the pens and often bellow for a bull. We let those in that we chose not to cull immediately and let them breed. After the heifer is breed, we keep her is this larger fenced ranch.
After she calves, if the calf is a heifer, we mark the calf and let them back into the forest almost immediately. If the calf is a bull, we keep them until he is old enough to castrate (She winced just a bit at this) and release them to the forest or to slaughter for veal.
A very few bull calves are allowed to develop into young bulls if they and their mothers exhibit desirable traits.
Harvest teams go from a variety of rail heads into the forest and slaughter the steers and older heifers. Unless they are very close to our packing plants, we field dress them and bring back just the meat and hides.
"And what traits do you find desirable for your bulls ?" she asked.
......
No comments:
Post a Comment