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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 15:20:04 GMT
Letter: Fraye, Higginbottom and Stutz LLD For George Westinghouse 119 Vanderbilt Park Rd, Hyde Park, New York 25 November 1888 Misses Irene Goss Davenport Tesla DME 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass BNY Dear Miss Tesla: In answer to your questions; 1. Yes, American Shipping Lines has contracted with the Union Iron Works for two ten thousand ton displacement cargo passenger vessels for the China trade. We are tired of paying passage fees to the British for the Chinese contract labor you insist we import to complete Phase Four. 2. We abandoned the Bremerton Shipyards venture when the labor troubles brewed up at the Roslyn mines. We cannot afford to become embroiled in that stew of politics. It reeks of nothing but poor publicity for us. We do regret that the Northern Pacific Coal Company misconstrued our advice in the matter and sought to "take the law in their own hands". Silas Everett Higginbottom LLD. For Mister George Westinghouse. ================================================================================ Letters: 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass 30 November 1888 For George Westinghouse (Personal hand delivery by Bashon law firm courier) 119 Vanderbilt Park Rd, Hyde Park, New York George: I enclosed the letter that I received from Fraye, Higginbottom and Stutz. Please tell me that you did not allow those "gentlemen" to advise the Northern Pacific Coal Company to bring in strikebreakers and armed company police? Your covalent; Irene Davenport Tesla DME BNY ================================================================================= 119 Vanderbilt Park Rd, Hyde Park, New York 2 December 1888 For Irene Tesla (Personal hand delivery by hired Pinkerton courier.) 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass Irene: This is the first news, I had of this. I swear I never authorized it. I will take steps to correct this situation as best I can. Do what you deem necessary from your end. Please keep me advised? George. ================================================================================ For George Westinghouse (Personal hand delivery by Bashon Law Firm messenger.) 119 Vanderbilt Park Rd, Hyde Park, New York 10 December 1888 Misses Irene Goss Davenport Tesla DME 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass BNY George: You asked me to advise you as to steps I have taken in this matter? a. I have, through certain tame deputies with the New York Bar Association, caused it to be known that Mister Silas Everett Higginbottom has engaged in unethical and possibly criminal practices as an attorney. I have no fear that he will disclose any of our business, as he has the choice of spending the next twenty years in prison as opposed to simple disbarment. Such assurances I have from the New York Attorney General. b. With the current derailment of Phase Four, pun intended, in Washington Territory, for the present, I have shifted to plan bee. Of necessity, I have made two purchases. One purchase is the Union Iron Works of Potrero Point, San Francisco, California. This is not ideal, as I have not desired to remote-operate on the West Coast, so far from where one of the executive board of the ACME could easily pop in for a personal inspection of what goes on in one of our sub-concerns. c. Now that we have a shipyard on the West Coast, we of course need a shipping line to use the ships it produces. As the cockamamie malfeasants of Fraye, Higginbottom and Stutz, had not thought through this segment of their errant bungling, it was left to me to further invest in the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. I expect to be reimbursed for this outlay, George. Tesla Laboratories and the Donovan Group do not operate shipping lines. That is Ameriship business. d. It must be obvious that your part in this matter, must be to secure the mail contracts and subsidy for the China trade in the Shanghai concession and with the Japanese and Korean treaty ports? It is the only way we can compete with British Transpacific and the New Zealand Line. Your covalent; Irene. ================================================================================ Edoardo Masdea (Translated.) ================================================================================
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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 15:34:00 GMT
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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 15:43:15 GMT
The Schmidt Ruben has a lot of problems: a. weight of rifle. b. complexity of the bolt. c. expense of manufacture. The qualities of the Swiss rifle are that it comes with a ballistician's designed metal-cased bullet, which has numerous immediate mechanical advantages and operational characteristics for a rifle as a weapon system in 1890. The takedown is very simple for a complex-action straight-pull system. The rifle requires many more cleanings per use than a Krag or a Mannlicher. Despite the drawbacks, this was a soldier-friendly gun and met the American requirement for a top-off capability for a loaded magazine-fed rifle. For practical terms; in its choice as an option, consider that the American army was a pack-mule frontier gendarme army (logistics) and a small one which was mostly a dragoon army of professionals that would have to train a large militia of enthusiastic volunteers; that is as one German called them: "a mob". I would look at the Mannlicher 1890 as another option. Its chief defect was that it, too, is complicated and expensive to make. The straight-pull bolt iI would look at the Mannlicher 1890 as another option. Its chief defect was that it, too, is complicated and expensive to make. The straight-pull bolt is superior to the S-R for the size and weight which results. However, when the Mannlicher was disassembled, it became an annoying field strip in itself, that would and could be easily reassembled with the internal spring and firing pin installed backwards. It had a nasty tendency to jam in travel if inserted into the rifle mis-assembled that way. That problem can be trained out with long service professionals, but remember the American militia system in 1890? It was a mob. Two weeks a year camping and maybe a weekend a month at the local armory for a social get-together does not create a competent infantryman or a competent army. s superior to the S-R for the size and weight which results. However, when the Mannlicher was disassembled, it became an annoying field strip in itself, that would and could be easily reassembled with the internal spring and firing pin installed backwards. It had a nasty tendency to jam in travelif inserted into the rifle mis-assembled that way. That problem can be trained out with long service professionals, but remember the American militia system in 1890? It was a mob. Two weeks a year camping and maybe a weekend a month at the local armory for a social get-together does not create a competent infantryman or a competent army.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 15:54:58 GMT
Letter: For Mister Peter Donahue Union Iron Works of Potrero Point, San Francisco, California 1 January 1889 From Mister John Howell C/O Bu-Ord Munitions Factory Number Four 1520 Capella S, Newport, Rhode Island Mister Donahue: Regarding your inquiry as to my requirements for Naval Construction Contract 115-17, and the inspector general: a. Do not worry about building the aeliophiles, motor generators, wire spools, or the launch tubes. These will be railed out to you as government issued items to be directly installed by you. Follow the instructions in the provided documentation and or ask Mister Robert Cushing for advice. You should have no trouble with the matter since a team of monkeys could do it. I know this to be true, for I have done it with the monkeys issued to me as my work force here at Goat Island. b. You may rest assured that the inspector general will be out to greet you to the way we do things in the government. Your halcyon days of free-wheeling and dealing when you could sell dubious warships masquerading as merchantmen to the Russians are over. You now work for the United States. Remember that. As to what the company can now expect, now that you are under “new management”? I can write you what I have observed as I have dealt with ACME. a. The “Executive Board” sets policy with occasional outside advice. Their guidance I have found to be rather strict with a view to profit and moral business practices. Bear that the “moral business practices” part of their management style is as important to the board as the “profit”. b. New contracts and products will be necessary and it is expected that you will undertake such explorations and excursions upon your own book. This, however, as you will discover in the new circumstances, requires you to enfold these endeavors into the overall scheme and objectives of the American Consortium of Manufactured Electrics. c. Beware of Misses Irene Tesla. She is that “guidance” and “moral business practice” which drives ACME in the successful pursuit of “profit”. I hope this satisfies your inquiries Mister Donahue. Your servant: John Howell, director Bu-Ord Munitions Factory Number Four ================================================================================ Letter: To Mister John Howell C/O Bu-Ord Munitions Factory Number Four 1520 Capella S, Newport, Rhode Island From Mister Bradley Fiske, MEE C/O USS Charleston 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, New York Greetings John: I know nothing much of Benjamin Tracy. I do know something of Redfield Proctor. I also know the mind of that gentleman, Benjamin Harrison, so I can predict for you what national military policy might become in some small measure. I expect and predict that the army will be modernized. Harrison distrusts that organization’s tendencies to maintain its routine predictable bureaucratic hidebound conservatism, based on his dour Civil War experiences with the Regulars who always did it the 1848 way. His latent recent antipathy to how Cleveland has abused the army as strikebreakers and bully boys in “union-busting” will drive the man to take the army out of police work and restore it to its proper function as the sword of the republic in war. It is part of “how” he won the election. Imagine that? A republican sides with the “free labor” against the “slavocrats”. Cleveland should have seen that one. Redfield Proctor is another matter. He was not shot at, nor did he lead troops in direct combat; as Harrison had and was. He was more of a staffer who was safe enough back in the rear, but yet close enough and competent with his eyes to see how maladministration, poor logistics, timid generalship and rotten equipment robbed the fighting forces of their deserved triumphs over the rebels. He, most certainly, will bring that variant experience to the army. Expect him to push the Upton Reforms hard. As for the navy, I am in the wilderness of speculation. If Harrison picked the man, Benjamin Tracy, to be of a like mindset to Redfield Proctor, then expect a major shake-out of the commodores’ club. It may be that we shift in maritime policy from a harbor defense police force, as Cleveland and Whitney sought to make us. I have been of the Hamilton school of navy policy as you know. I am aware that you are of the Jefferson school in the matter of naval affairs, much as you have invested yourself and your career in torpedoes and mines and with such enthusiasm as you have shown for your rams. I warn you, John, that we need at least some presence upon the world ocean to protect our third age of oceanic commercial renaissance. We cannot protect our renewed shipping with sail and steam “ peace cruisers” which are aught a recipe for ridicule and ineffectiveness. We do not have to chase after the colonial imperialists for empire, but when we are caught between them as they go after our flagged vessels, we must have some “sharp teeth” that those brigands will at least notice. Torpedo rams do not have the same caveat or presence as armored cruisers for this purpose. I am not such a nimrod as to imagine that we can attain the naval stature of France or Russia upon the world ocean, but like our good friend, Alfred Mahan, desires: we could at least give Brazil a good thump and make Spain respect us? Those are my thoughts. With regards: Mister Bradley Fiske, CDR MEE USN ===================================================== Diary of SGT William Fritch 2 February 1889 Went about the morning routine with B-troop. The exercise this morning was the usual parade field formations of file, columns and so forth. Our range time was cancelled as Major Houser could not issue us ammunition for target practice. He was most sarcastic when I respectfully pointed out that our troopers needed real bullets for real target shooting. I could not march them out to the range and have them make the motions and yell "bang" in lieu of an actual discharge of shot from their rifles. He said: "The quartermaster has issued us just enough bullets to shoot the occasional rustler or small band of Indians who jump the reservation during this fiscal year. I have twenty cartridges per man for six hundred men total. That is twelve thousand cartridges. You and I know, it takes one hundred cartridges to make a trooper a passable marksman. How do you expect me to issue you ten thousand cartridges?" Major Houser's army logic was irrefutable. I could not muster an effective rebuttal, so I saluted and changed the day plan to conform with army reality and logic. Lieutenant Edwin Postman fell off his horse and broke his neck. The circumstances were predictable. I advised him not to polish and grease his stirrups, but let them rust and rough up for purchase in the mount and dismount. But he was West Point and knew better. Of course, the horse panicked and stomped him for good measure. So, not only is the army out the price of a Lieutenant, which the taxpayer paid to semi-educate, but the army is down a good war horse for that beast was shot for killing a man. Those animals are quite expensive to train to the required standards. I suppose I should add the cost of four bullets wasted into the fiasco, since the troopers assigned, had difficulty aiming at and shooting the horse. In a perfect end to this perfect day, we have been assigned an anthropologist to accompany us, to observe our comings and goings. He is formerly of the 15th Lancers of the British Indian Army. I know this man from a stage coach trip we shared in the recent past; Brandon Croyden Wycliffe. With some bad luck, on our next patrol he may participate. It would be an excellent opportunity for me to see if he is as I originally estimated him to be; or if he could possibly measure up, as will be required of a man, in this country.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 16:35:55 GMT
I back-included a series of helpful citations into the previous post to aid the reader to better understand the situation as it develops in this next post. This is kind of timeline important. HMS Calliope. USS Trenton. SMS Olga ===================================================== From "Proceedings": ===================================================== In the real history, there was much shrugging of shoulders and mutterings of: "The sea is the sea." ; but as to the preventable human factors that could have mitigated the disaster, the HMS Calliope, an indifferent cruiser of the British navy drove home to the Germans and especially to the Americans that a rinky dink third rate British STEEL ship, with fairly unreliable engines as its main propulsion, was able to head into the teeth of a typhoon, put to sea and ride the storm out with powered maneuver and only so-so seamanship, while steam and sail WOOD ships built within the same era, were trapped within the lagoon and were driven into each other and onto the reefs with major loss of life and severe damage to the Americans. The Germans demonstrated colossal bravery but futile Baltic Sea seamanship and so lost their entire fleet. They did not understand or know how to handle Pacific typhoons. The Americans, via experience, might have been better ship handlers, but when you are in a bathtub trap and the winds howl at you at 60 meters per second, a rigged sail ship will be driven, no matter the anchors and drags you rigged. You will be wrecked on the lee shore, unless you have watts with which to work and the sea maneuver room with which to point the ship into the winds and waves. You would think that there would be court martials aplenty after the board of inquiry? Why? The weather state as you can read from the "Proceedings" article was indifferently and not accurately known. The result was not preventable with any better actions than the ones taken. The truly remarkable sea people, in the midst of the chaos and uncertainty, were the Samoans who put out with dugout canoes, whilst in the middle of their civil war, to lend aid and succor to imperialist invaders who sought to use that civil war for their own benefits. American losses would have been much worse in lives without the Samoans. ======================================================== And so: Letter: From: Benjamin Franklin Tracy C/O Navy Department Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington District of Columbia 22 March 1889 To Irene Goss Davenport Tesla C/O The Bashon Law Firm PLLC 1634 K Street NW Ste 300, Washington, DC Misses Tesla; We have never met, nor corresponded, but the Honorable William Whitney, after I consulted him in this matter, informs me that you are the one person I should contact, as you have shown a particular peculiar aptitude for assistance and advice to him when this department comes under intense negative scrutiny. You are aware of the Apia disaster? At one stroke of weather, half of our Pacific Ocean presence, west of the International Dateline is gone. I will not trouble you with the details, for the analysis of causes is probably of no knowledge to a woman of your interests, but in those specific areas of your expertise, I request the following assistance: a. Recommendations as to means to improve the physical propulsive plant of our existant ships as regards engines and motors? b. Recommendations as to means to improve the communications among our ships within sight of one another, especially when encoumbered by conditions when visibility is as of darkness or in inclement weather so as that one may not see more than a quarter cable in any direction. LCDR E. C. Pendleton For: Benjamin Franklin Tracy Secretary of the Navy Obviously... FROM: I. Tesla 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass. 1 April 1889 via: Elias Mathew Vashon C/O The Bashon Law Firm PLLC 1634 K Street NW Ste 300, Washington, DC TO: B.F. Tracy C/O Navy Department Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington District of Columbia Mister Tracy: It is common courtesy to ensure politeness in correspondence, when you request assistance in any matter, no matter how trivial or how grave. I have been asked by many people for many things; but never have I been asked thusly: "I will not trouble you with the details, for the analysis of causes is probably of no knowledge to a woman of your interests, but in those specific areas of your expertise, I request the following assistance: a. Recommendations as to means to improve the physical propulsive plant of our existant ships as regards engines and motors? b. Recommendations as to means to improve the communications among our ships within sight of one another, especially when encoumbered by conditions when visibility is as of darkness or in inclement weather so as that one may not see more than a quarter cable in any direction." I should expect that you did not achieve the position of Secretary of the Navy, by being ignorant of the common courtesies or are ignorant of who I am? In this specific matter, you should consider my interests to be as far ranged and probably much more knowledgable than your own. For the lattitude of my reach, I suggest you consult Mister John Howell, and Mister Bradley Fiske, service members of your department, with whom I have dealt, who know me well, and who I respect, as to what I mean by my breadth of interests. As to the current matter; I will need the following details to make recommendations and supply assistance: a. The condition of the fleet prior to the typhoon. b. The findings, all of them, technical and judgmental concerning the officers' and crews' actions in the matter, of the board of review. c. Recommendations of that board. d. Your planned implementations of those recommendations. As you require my assistance, Mister Tracy, then henceforth correspond with me directly on this matter person to person. Do not use such a fool, as you did, to do so in your name, as you did this last time. For the ACME I. Tesla DME BNY Letter: FROM: The Honorable Benjamin Tracy, Secretary of the Navy C/O Navy Department Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington District of Columbia 5 April 1889 TO: Misses Irene Davenport Tesla DME 47 1st Ave, Boston, Massachusetts Doctor Tesla; I extend my apologies. That letter was composed and sent to you without my knowledge. Ensign E. C. Pendleton also extends his apologies and will send you a formal letter to that effect from his new posting at Kiska, Alaska after he arrives there. I cannot give you the information you requested yet, officially, as the formal findings have not been completed, nor has the board of inquiry finished its reports. I can send to you the following preliminaries: a. The fleet was in "fair condition". It was composed of sail and steam combination ships known as "peace cruisers" in the venacular. Trenton needed overhaul. Nipsic was past due replacement, and Vandalla was new repaired, but deemed also to be overage and also due for replacement. b. The officers and men were adjudged to be "excellent". There is nothing wrong with our sailors, Doctor Davenport. They acquitted themselves as expected. c. As the board has not finished its work, it has no recommendations, but I can tell you that the judgments of men I trust, steered me to the actions of the HMS Calliope as an example of where we should be as to material and as to what we must accomplish to attain that level of expectation. d. I intend to do what I can to implement the board recommendations, part of which I hope you will augment with your own knowledge in these affairs? Once again I extend my apologies and request your assistance. You will have everything I have as soon as I read it and can send it to you. Your new friend: Benjamin Tracy, Secretary of the Navy
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Post by Avatar on Oct 20, 2023 17:00:00 GMT
If you are confused by why I presented this video as part of the storyline, reader, it is because the American army sent a technical mission to Europe when the French dumped the M1886-1886 Lebel rifle upon the European scene. The Americans might have used their French political and military contacts to acquire the immediate manufacture rights, but there were some thorny issues left over from the French attempt to conquer Mexico and also a problem with the 1872 German incident that Washington and Paris both fondly remembered. Also, while the Americans were presumed to be stupid, they were not actually stupid. They had experimented with under the barrel tube-loaded repeaters in the American Civil War and had noticed that as the tube emptied, the shooter tended to lag in physical compensation as the rifle's center of gravity shifted aft. The tendency to aim high was a progressive response as the muzzle climbed. The change was slight but you know those Americans? They kept doing these crazy things like statistical analysis and post battle interviews of survivors in 1863 forward. Also, while the American guns (Henry repeaters.), had a delayer built into the tube sleeve intended to prevent a point to base chain detonation of the cartridges in that tube, if you dropped the rifle or did a parade ground drill standing of the rifle on the butt of the piece at parade rest, there was still a statistically significant chance of chaining the weapon off and turning it into a grenade. The Lebel was worse in this regard. It had no such safety feature. So, the Americans made the rounds and bought samples to ship back to the United States. That is, they bought samples from those willing to share. So no sale American from the following nations. a. United Kingdom. b. France. c. Germany. Mauser wanted to sell; but his sales representative torqued the Americans off. d. Russia was buying from the United States, not selling. That left Belgium, Italy, Norway and Switzerland. Belgium was quite happy to sell "smokeless powder" to the United States. It was this smokeless powder (Wallender), that formed the basis for American development of the 30 / 40 Government issue M1892 ammunition. The problem here was that Belgium sold the smokeless as long as they made the smokeless. What about Austria Hungary? That is the home of the Mannlicher series. The Austrians were in the same leaky boat, technically speaking, as the Americans. They might have had a gunsmith genius in Ferdinand Mannlicher, but at the time they looked for a rifle to replace the trapdoor Springfield, old Ferdie was in the middle of a nightmare trying to design in rapid fire succession three different rifles in 1888-1890 and 1892 as Austrian chemists tried to steal or duplicate German nitrocellulose single based powders. He SENT an "1888" rifle to the United States to see if there was a nibble there for a small contract (Remember, smaller army than Greece? M.), but when the rifle proved to have the similar defect as we will see in the M1893 Swiss Mannlicher carbine, that was a no-sale American. That left the Krag and the Schmidt-Ruben. The Krag was lighter, handier (Just barely.) and it was easier to manufacture (Again, just barely.). The Swiss were also a bit stand-offish and would not allow Flagler to "invest" in their home production. The Norwegians fell all over themselves to get the contract. What if Mannlicher had sent the 1890? That was the one with the rotating interrupted lugs, not the ramp lock system. It would form the basis for the Mannlicher 1895. It was not quite as good as the Spanish 1892 Mauser (Nothing was.), but second-best in this case was still rather good. And the Americans would have snatched it. Ferdie was willing to do business. Consider the changes the Americans made to the Krag to make it battle-worthy. You could expect the Mannlicher to undergo the same process. It, the Mannlicher 1890, as designed, was already so strong, it would be able to handle the first double-base powders, the Americans were developing. Neither the Krag, nor the Schmidt Ruben in any form, could do it. I really like most of the engineering that went into the Schmidt-Ruben. It was elegant. Bloke points out the problems with some of these solutions, especially bolt compression, cartridge blowout and the head space issues that occurred with even the RIMMED cartridges the Swiss used (G-90 with the paper patch). One presumes the Americans would go full metallic and apply the grease patch at the bullet tail nesting into the case. (The Krag solution invented in the US and adopted by the Danes for their rifle.) You can see the problem for the Mannlicher example, Ferdie sent to the US, in the Swiss 1890ish iteration, above; except that it added the 1888 ramp locking and that front sight mount was still included as a complete Mannlicher disaster. Could the Americans (Remington or Winchester), have fixed it in the 1890 version? Well; idiot proofing the spring and milling in an alignment stud on the bolt body was done to the Mauser clone the Americans built in 1903 after they examined and reverse engineered the Spanish Mauser in the real history. Also, idiot proofing the firing pin and spring by shape geometry (This end toward enemy.), was an American fix applied to many a weapon for "the mob" in those days. I really like both rifles with those fixes added. Also, the Americans would have affixed a zero to the front sight by welding the blade and block adjuster or pressing it onto the barrel muzzle with a bevel screw compression ring. That was standard practice. IOW, these rifles could be tweaked. But, looking to the future in this timeline and with the Lee NAVY in additional mind as the other government issue weapon, with RUBY as the default nitrocellulose powder for that weapon, which could also be army adopted, the only choice that makes sense in this fiction is the Mannlicher. The 1890 rifle is sent as the Mannlicher entry to America after the 1889 rejections, instead of Mannlicher giving up and turning toward the European customers exclusively. It could be chosen... with the fixes as I mentioned indicated. Maybe Flagler will still have to be bribed?
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:26:49 GMT
The French effort in Panama began in 1877.Letter: Irene Goss Davenport Tesla 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass 10 May 1889 The Bashon Law Firm PLLC 1634 K Street NW Ste 300, Washington, DC Elias: I have just departed the ACME Executive Board, as I set fingers to typrwriter. It was a long contentious meeting which dealt with many issues, chief of which was the measures we must take to undo the slave labor camps of the Cleveland Administration. The Harrison Administration has but the slimmest of vote margins and has no room to maneuver legislatively, or so our contacts within that administration inform us, due to an almost solid democratic voting block of senators and representatives from the former Confederate States. We, Charles, George and I, have committed ourselves to a most improbable plan to restore the condition of and priviledge to work for those condemned to the coal mines in West Virginia, through a volunteer recruitment plan whereby the condemned might come to work for us on the Canal Project that we intend into Nicaragua. Not that the work is of any less risk to life and ruin of health than the coal mines, but we can at least pay the men and enable their restored civil rights in return for the five year work contract. In the meantime, in added exchange, they can learn some trade or skill that will be of satisfaction to them and of benefit to some future employer, hopefully us after the ditch is dug. We think that five years digging the canal is preferable to the ten years they face in the mines. So: consider this a letter of instruction. Attend to that problem and then turn your attention to the rest of these matters: 1. The Alabama delegation, all of it must be removed by standard legal means. They are 100% Unreconstructed Confederates and obstruct us in Phase Four in the Southeast. 2. The Georgia delegation, both Senate and House would stand solid for us, but needs help against the Klan in their state. As long as the Klan can threaten them, they cannot break lockstep with the Unreconstructeds and must vote or face terrorism. The Pinkertons are fairly powerless in this matter. It comes strictly to the federal authority. Harrison is timid with his fragile coalition. Make the light of reason shine in the Administration, so that the federal marshalls can do their work. Turn the screws if you have to do so. 3. As Alabama, so South Carolina. 4. Virginia edit out as South Carolina. 5. Florida is akin to Georgia. 6. Mississippi is akin to Virginia. 7. Kentucky is awash with corruption. Spread money and we gain votes. 8. Texas we have on side since they know we butter their bread. They should be let alone as they will vote our way once 1. through 7. is accomplished. I know it may take at least three election cycles, but it must be done. For the last matter we discussed at the executive board: we have come to the collective realization that if we are to improve and expand our national wealth and standing for our citizenry, we must use all avenues of commerce available to us. For the past seven years this has been most addressed with our overseas trade as we have restored contacts with our former over ocean partners globally and conduct commerce with them in our own merchant fleet anewed. As the recent incidents of the SES Minneapolis and the Apia, Samoa disaster have taught us, the world ocean, where one half of our national wealth now moves and is generated, in a manner near equal to the total wealth that the British steal out of their Indian holdings, we are sore exposed to the threat of robbery, extortion to our merchant ships, and the calumny of nartural disasters to our obsolete war ships charged with their protection, upon the high seas. The pirates who masquerade as sovereign nations are free to abuse us unchecked and unanswered. This condition is intolerable. it must be addressed with the same rigor as the slave labor camps, and the legislative blockade to progress. In this third matter; I have availed me of the instruction of one Alfred Thayer Mahan on the subject to improve my cognition of it. I strobly recommend that you seek him out at Annapolis, take wisdom and when you understand his lesson as I now do, you will recognize exactly what is required here. The fourth matter is more procedural and South American in nature. 1. The business arrangements of the La Société Civile Internationale du Canal Interocéanique de Darien must be attended and our interests and rights enforced to the limit. Let the French have all the public glory of the Panama dig so long as when that ditch finally fills with water, and ships use it,l WE are the ones who hold the financial and the political control of access and use. 2. Nicaragua has a recalcitrant gentleman. His name is Roberto Sacasa. It would be expeditious if he was to be replaced with a progressive. Use Joaquin Zavala to remove him. Then remove that man with our own man, José Santos Zelaya. This is our wholey own ditch. We must have our man to front it. I would not like to Filibuster, but if needs must to finish the canal, then arrange it. Accomplish that much, Elias, and all mistakes previous are forgiven. Irene Tesla; DME BNY
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:33:50 GMT
FROM: Theodore D. WilsonC/O Navy Department; Bureau of Construction and Repair Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington, District of Columbia 22 August 1889 TO: Theodore Cramp C/O The William Cramp and Sons' Iron Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Delaware Avenue and Cumberland Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania TO: Peter Donahue C/O Union Iron Works Potrero Point San Francisco, California Gentlemen: See enclosed plans submitted with this inquiry. Can you build her? Captain Philip Hichborn. USN For; Theodore D. Wilson, Chief Constructor of the Bureau of Construction and Repair ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The William Cramp and Sons' Iron Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Delaware Avenue and Cumberland Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 30 August 1889 Theodore D. Wilson C/O Navy Department; Bureau of Construction and Repair Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington, District of Columbia Sir: Have you lost your mind? Respectfully; Theodore Cramp for The William Cramp and Sons' Iron Shipbuilding and Engineering Company ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Union Iron Works Potrero Point San Francisco, California 30 August 1889 Theodore D. Wilson C/O Navy Department; Bureau of Construction and Repair Pennsylvania Avenue at 22nd Street Washington, District of Columbia To whom it may concern: Sure can for $6,000,000.00. When do you want her delivered? Peter Donahue for UNIRON ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now for the punchline. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 47 1st Ave, Boston, Massachusetts 1 September 1889 Peter Donahue (Hand delivered by Bashon Law Firm Messenger) Union Iron Works Potrero Point San Francisco, California Mister Donahue, What have you done? For the ACME I. Tesla DME BNY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Union Iron Works Potrero Point San Francisco, California 7 September 1889 Irene Goss Davenport Tesla DME via: Elias Mathew Vashon C/O The Bashon Law Firm PLLC 1634 K Street NW Ste 300, Washington, DC I'm building a battleship. That is what I have done. I suggest you light a fire under Cramp and Sons. The navy is handing out free money. Peter Donahue for UNIRON
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:40:23 GMT
Diary of Brandon Croyden Wycliffe of 10 November 1889. Fort Thomas, Arizona – Entry made in parlor Quarters Number Four. Has it been two years since I wandered into this land of no-milk and less honey? Ah well, I have so accustomed me to this outrageous place that I can but record, as mundane, the exploits of the Apache Kid. I really must send Norman a detailed letter about this scoundrel. No wonder the Americans are utterly embarrassed. He is loose and free to cause mayhem from Fort Thomas all the way to the Mexican border, or so it is claimed. B-Troop of the US 6th Cavalry has worn out two sets of mounts fruitlessly chasing the villain. For the exploits of the Apache Kid, orient yourself on Globe, Arizona as the zero-zero and work the stage lines counterclockwise until you reach the Mexican Border. The Apache Kid. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diary of SGT William Fritch 17 November 1889 We have just returned from a fruitless expedition in search of the Apache Kid. We had some luck with Pas La Tau, but as for the Kid, we came up empty-handed. I suppose we will try to slip a patrol into the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, again, at some point, to follow up that lead. I wonder if Al Sieber will head up that fool's errand? I would not trust Sieber further than I could shoot him. I am so glad we of the 6th will have no part of such a trail and trial. Our last run-in with the Mexican Army was not enjoyable. Instead, we have been saddled with two new heartaches, we of B-troop. Tom Horn, the first, should be hung as a horse thief and murderer, but that is my private opinion. He is to scout for us as we try to accomplish in the field a tasking for our other imbecile, Lieutenant William Crozier, who is on temporary attached duty to us for thirty days. He is sent from Ordnance to ask us our opinions on certain matters. Why do we have such august company? We are to "test" in field use a pair of rifles that has excited the army, as they want soldier trials in "war service". One is the Smith Ruben, and the other I understand is called a Manlicker. I foresee and predict nothing but heartache with those two idiots among us and with this mission. Poor B-troop! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:44:22 GMT
Meanwhile: 1 January 1890 1. Latitude of 7.3 and longitude of 151.817. We anchored at 1915 ship's local time advanced from GMT 2115 advance 1 day. 2. No navigation aids noted upon transit of Pianna Passage. No pilot assistance. Port entry made by telemeter ranging and dead reckoning. 3. Atmosphere clear with no haze. Clouds 15%. Visibility to horizon reported by telemeter watch is 20,000 meters. Water calm. 4. Engine plant at 25%. Watts on demand; 5kW standby; if needed. Condition X-ray set with Yoke authorized to OOD at discretion. 5. Signals of our arrival lamp flashed at local port authority, supposedly located on Pata Island. No response. A boat to be dispatched there and whoever present notified of our arrival as per regulations. 6. Casualty of port condenser assembly under repair. Number Three estimates repair complete by 2100 ship's local time 7. Current heading: 070 off magnetic north. Deviation estimated 10 degrees. Vector: general east heading at 0 m/s. Side current drift from north at 5 m/s. Sea anchor set to maintain static berth. 8. No drills scheduled upon port arrival. 10. The stowaway in the brig will be turned over to the local port authority; if we can find anyone awake here. 11. No other ships present at this time. Notes: We are here on schedule and on time. Mission orders are to chart this place for civilian shipping layover and to negotiate if possible a lease for a coaling facility and depot. Our current charts are worthless. We had to sound our way every 400 meter cable length through. We still have no clue as to how the stowaway, a Mister Moe Howard, came to be with us. He claims two accomplices came aboard with him. We have searched twice and not found them yet. I am worried. Signed Captain Elliot Washburn.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:47:39 GMT
Some real history.
To get a spark gap detector for a Morse code radio by 1905, the inventors are going to need tuned induction coils. And in the real history that does not reliably happen until 1895 via Nikola Tesla. Then there is the Antrionic valve, the coherer, the crystal harmonic detector (alternative to the coherer) the sliding rheostat and other electronic signal discriminators, amplifiers and isolators. The quickest messiest method in this timeline is the paired and tuned spark gap induction coils and sparkers with its horizon range line of sight transmission limit. This was the "controller method" applied to a primitive resistance circuit that allowed left and right steering to a Tesla guided torpedo ram boat in 1892. By the same token, with an interruptor and the scorched paper scroll spool printer as postulated in the above article, a telegraph system, range limited to about the same range of effect as the Tesla ram boat is possible for a Morse code message transmitter-receiver. That would be to the radio horizon by UHF. Estimate that range to be about 20 kilometers with the science and engineering of the day. Unless you develop long loop aerials and an amplifier circuit to hook up to those aerials that is; from 3 to 30 megahertz or what we now know as shortwave radio. Thank you Mister Marconi, for all of that gruntwork and trial by error. It would take a 150 meter long ship to mount such an aerial. Once Mister Fessenden does that math.
There are just too many bits and too many different pieces of the puzzle that Marconi pulled from multiple sources and put together over the course of a decade to make it work in the real history. No one source of invention and research was enough. One person could collate it, but he had to patiently wait for other human beings to publish their results before he could add their pieces to the jigsaw puzzle and assemble it all.
And even then Marconi's invention was severely limited to a crude signal send-receive setup that was in 1914 little better than his first transoceanic rigup of 1901.
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So can we get there, sooner? We will have to see, will we not?
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 1:58:43 GMT
========================================================================= Letter: From Mister Bradley Fiske, MEE C/O USS Charleston 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, New York 15 January 1890 To Mister John Howell DTS C/O Bu-Ord Munitions Factory Number Four 1520 Capella S, Newport, Rhode Island Greetings John: Congratulations on your consulting doctorate. It has been long overdue in my opinion. You asked me about my recent activities between ship and shore these past months? I do not know how much I can tell you in a letter, since much of it is confidential, and much of it I frankly do not understand. But I can generally describe to you some of my most unusual experiences without too much compromise, I think, since it is frankly a trip into insanity. I went to the facility being cobbled together by our mutual friend, Stephen, at his invitation. Little did I know I would be locked into a big barn of a room with some two dozen other fellows of similar format to me. We had been invited to play a game of sorts that resembles the old child's standby called "Hide and Seek".We were split into two groups, with one of us assigned as the guide-on for the others in our group. Not only that, but we were given staffs which we were to tag our opposites in the game in the other group, as well as a dark shaded shuttered lamp we could de-shutter at our discretion. We were instructed that we would be plunged into darkness in that room and that we were to wander about as a linear group until we encountered the other group. Then we were to tag our opposites with our staffs. We were to poke, not swing our staffs, or the tag would not count as a point. The side who tagged their opposites first and with the most tags, would win the game. We were allowed to talk to each other in that enormous, dark room. Now here is one curiosity. The room had furniture scattered randomly about in it. If one of us bumped into a piece of furniture or if we bumped into another person, we were declared a "non-player" for a specified time and then left behind our line, and thus had to either make our way to our entry door and wait by that door until the game was over, or we had to stay by the furniture we bumped if we could not find the door. In either case, we were a "non player". The other curiosity was that by the rules, the staff poking was not one tag and you were out. You had to be tagged a number of times, and this varied for which player you were. In my case, I was allotted eight tags before I was "out". Cook was given six. I think he considered himself worth more than me and argued for ten pokes, but Steve was firm; " Not all players represent equal game pieces." he explained. I think that is as much I can explain in that matter without revealing what I am sworn to keep secret. We played that game over and over and quickly learned that we could not talk in the dark as that gave us, our direction and distance, away to the other group. Nor could we shine our lamps to see about in the dark, as that gave the other group a chance to hide among the furniture and ambush us with many nasty pokes as we blundered about. We had to devise a secret means of keeping track of one another in our group, and a means of talk that was silent among us. I will not describe for you what we devised, for it is our friend, Steve's contention, that all of our club should attend his "hide and seek" room to learn this silly game. You probably have anticipated what this madness portends? Warmest regards: Bradley Fiske; MEE CDR USN. ===================================================== In case you have not figured it out dear reader, that is a war game and the object is to teach... not win. Author.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 2:07:21 GMT
Something about Arizona Territory and recent notable events.LETTER: C/O United States Post Office / General Delivery 24 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 12 January 1890 Doctor Norman Oswald Bates DP C/O The Athenaeum 107 Pall Mall London, United Kingdom My dear Norman: You have asked me what has prompted such interest in the American government in this region to develop it, and why they put such inordinate effort into this back of nowhere? It has taken me more than two years to get the story behind the story, but it came to me when, when I dicovered why the Gunfight at the OK Coral was of such regional importance. The fact of the matter was that the Clantons had tentacles of crime that stretched across this territory. They were quite centered on Tombstone, but they had confederates (In the quite Confederate sense of the term), clear across the country all the way to the settlement of Phoenix. Why was that and is that important? As you can see, the ACME has electrified the routes of railroads from the Phoenix settlement all the way to Fort Thomas along the Gila River. Where the Salt and the Gila Rivers come together... just west of there at the place named Apache Junction is the range called the Superstition Mountains and in there may be the largest gold deposit anywhere. There is a spur line aimed off that line at the aforenamed place called Apache Junction (15 on the enclosed map, M.). It is alleged that Ike Clanton might have been somehow involved in its discovery and arranged for its discoverer's murder to hide the secret location which he may have ascertained or inveigled. There is a yet coincident thorny ongoing legal issue down to the present tied up in that absurdity of a situation which involves a chicane named James Reavis. But he is of a separate issue; as I believe the current territorial governoe, Lewis Wolfley, intends to solve it by railroading "Baron James" into Yuma prison presently. That seems to be the American government's solution to its problems. Either the obstructionist winds up breaking rocks under the Arizona sun with a defective mallet, or he is army chased into Mexico, or a law officer shoots the man down on some trufling pretext. And then the governor resigns soon thereafter before the scandal tracks back to him while or when he is called to account as I believe will happen to Rolfley as it did to Fremont. About Fremont: to make the complicated, simple, there is a bit of smoke about that affair eleven years ago. John C. Frfemont, the then territorial governor, may have imported the Earps into Arizona territory to expedite the departure of the Clantons in relation to this and other sundry matters as pertaining that fogged up the establishment of "law and order" as the Washington government desired it. The slaughter of fifty "Cowboys" over the paltry theft of six army mules back then, hardly stands up to inspection, Norman. They, the Washington authorities, wanted the wrong people in power gone and the right people installed to replace them. I have promised you a screed upon the Apache Kid, which smacks of more American corruption, but it has taken me two years of digging just to flesh out the interesting tale of the OK Corral. You will have to wait a month or two until I have the Kid's story. Your friend in the land of the Gila Monsters; Brandon Croyden Wycliffe, ESQ. OM FRS. ====================================================== Diary of Brandon Croyden Wycliffe of 14 January 1890 Today we rode ahorse somewhere along the Gila River searching for the assorted scoundrels who escaped with the Apache Kid during the Kelvin Grade Massacre. It was a most ridiculous official excuse. Those fiends are long since fled into Mexico and I do not clearly understand Sergeant Fritch's Mendacity in this matter. I actually suspect that this expedition was a jolly jaunt to wear out the seat of our guest, Lieutenant Crozier, to sort of remove the shine from his trousers, as we used to do to and about our own subalterns in the 15th Lancers back in the day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diary of SGT William Fritch 17 November 1890. We are in the mountains enough this day, near to Safford at the juncture of the San Simon and Gila Rivers, to field trial the Smith Ruben and the Manlicker. Crozier and the Englishman have been swapping lies with each orther, and thus they have been out of my hair, as stay-behinds in camp while 2nd platoon and I pretend to chase the escaped Apaches, who have been a nuisance in these mountains to the ranchers down in the valleys to the immediate south. We should have left those two idiots behind, and done our stated business without them, but both have "pull" and in the case of Crozier, he comes with the rifles as an observer. We tracked three of the six escapees over rough ground andf finally caught up with them as they tried to water the horses they rustled from rancher Stephens of the A Diamond. This was a perfect opportunity to test the rifles as it was an impromptu water hole ambush and precisely the kind of work for which our army requires these rifles to perform. Private Robert Hayes had the Manlicker and I had the Smith Ruben, we being the two best shots and carbine handlers in the patrol. Both rifles we put to work in the real world and not on the range as those parade ground soldiers back east have done. I can record my impressions after the fact. Private Hayes took two shots to put down his man, and I needed three to down mine. The third Apache escaped, though Hayes shot him in the back. I seriously doubt he will get far when we track him tomorrow. I want a day of Arizona sun to gentle him down as a fresh wounded Apache is just about the most dangerous man alive. He will be easy to find. But to the rifles. Hayes said the Manlicker sticks in the slide of the bolt and that he hates the ladder sights. I agree with those defects, and with the finicky tricky takedown of the rifle for post action strip and field clean. It is a complicated little thing. My Smith Ruben, with its much bulkier and smoother bolt and carrier arm, was slick as glass. It had the same Crozier-styled ladder sights, which Hayes and I both hate as to its fiddlesticks complexity to clockwork everything in before you shoot. It, the sight, should be point and shoot ramp style sights with a blade forepost and aperture or wedge V and a simple left right slide for windage as Buford designed that style sight for the Trapdoor. It works. Just slide the ramp up to the yardage indicated, that you estimate; slide left or right for your windage. Line up on your man and pull the trigger. We do not have time for finicky nonsense in the immediate fight. As for other things I note and record; the Smith Ruben fired the same exact bullet as the Manlicker, but I noticed that my carbine kicked into my shoulder a lot more and the bullet drop was alarmingly greater, throwing off my aim more than I observed with Private Hayes and his Manlicker. This accounts for why I needed three shots to Hayes' two. Both of our men were about three hundred yards distant. All three Apaches jumped ahorse and galloped at first reports and misses and all three Apaches were at a fair speed almost at four hunded yards which is probably the limit of these carbines. Hayes and I worked off three shots, and the results was that I hit my man by luck through the heart from the side as I led him like a bounding deer. Hayes, as I previously wrote, hit his first clean between the ears as he was climbing aboard his horse, which I attribute to Hayes' keener eyesight and the Manlicker's smoother recoil and Hayes' sighting along the notch and blade of the Crozier sighrt which he flipped down and used like I should have used mine a la Buford. My third shot was the one which killed my man. Three seconds. Bang, bang, bang. The defects of the Smith Ruben aside, it works like a greased boxer engine with smooth rapidity. Hayes took five seconds for his three shots. With the stickier bolt, it allowed or rather forced a pause to sight in and pull the trigger. This may be an unexpected advantage of the Manlicker, along with its longer barrel from the boltface which allows more time for the cartridge burned gas to expand inside the tube and impart more speed to the bullet. It has a notably FLAT trajectory for a carbine. The Manlicker is almost a point and shoot weapon at ranges twice that of a Trapdoor and as yet half again such to the Smith Ruben. In sum, if asked my opinion, we should go with the Manlicker or something very like it, and learn to teach our troopers to live with the stripdown and clean after battle. The simpler Smith Ruben may be easier to clean, but I suspect that a DEAD trooper will not care about that ease of cleaning. Longer range and better flat line shot accuracy wins hands down in my book.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 2:32:43 GMT
LETTER: 1350 Euclid Avenue, Suite 1000, Cleveland, Ohio 7 February 1890 Misses Irene Davenport Tesla 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass Irene: I do not know why I had to ship it to Boston when it should go to Newport, but as instructed… You will receive this week by NYCR conveyance one complete prototype electric propulsion unit for an automobile torpedo sans warhead. The nickel-iron cells were most difficult for us to fabricate into the cylindrical power module. I do not quite trust that Iron Eagle Manufactory assembled the gill-cooler channels in the battery cage in due accordance with the diagram as provided by Mister Howell. If they did, I do not understand how those things are supposed to work as they seem to flow sea water around the battery and create a lot of unnecessary drag. I am not sure that Charlie Millwood put the steer unit together quite right, either. Was he supposed to put those pendulums at cross angles to each other or did Mister Howell mis-draw that feature? And where is the gyroscope? I thought a Whitehead used a gyroscope to prevent rollover? I can tell you that the whole thing weighs in at near a ton. It is long with a caliber to diameter of 12.5 to 1 which makes it almost like a pencil in final shape. How is that thing supposed to swim? Anyway, we left a void assembly for Mister Tesla to install his drive motor aft of the battery. I wish him a lot of luck squeezing it in among all those rods and cams. I do not see how he is supposed to mount a 50 kilowatt motor in such a small cluttered space. Your friend Charles F. Brush ===================================================== LETTER: From: Bureau of Ordnance: Navy Department 17th Street NW, Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, District of Columbia 10 February 1890. To: Mister Bradley Fiske, MEE C/O USS Charleston 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, New York Mister Fiske; You are herebv and forthwith directed to procure one electric logarithmic adding machine for immediate use by this department. William M. Folger Bureau of Ordnance Actual ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER: To: Mister Elias Mathew Vashon for Misses Irene Davenport Tesla One Lincoln Center Suite 43 110 West Fayette St Syracuse, NY From: Montgomery Sicard for; Benjamin F. Tracy; Navy Secretary Navy Department 17th Street NW, Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, District of Columbia 10 February 1890. Sir: (Upon receipt and perusal, please destroy.) You have asked a whole series of questions. Some of them I cannot answer. The reasons I will give for each question as I either answer or abate the issue for those questions I can answer. a. Are we committed to the program? I think you refer to the stated public policies of the previous administration? The best answer I can give; is that it is the president who proposes and Congress which authorizes. All else is in the public record; insofar as the policies we have. b. As to how we intend to let contracts, I must refer to the answer I gave in a. The Congress has the power of the purse and until we have the authorizations in hand, we have no power to let those contracts about which you inquire. c. With the funds we have as carryover, from the last budget, we can and will commit to the Driggs, Schroeder and Seabury tender at the price bid for three complete sets. d. Cramp and Sons are free to bid on any contract we open for bid that they are qualified to service. Obviously, if there is no budgeted Congressional authorization, and no money allotted; then there is no contract. e. Will there be a need for services from Tesla Laboratories? Refer to d. as to the answer. Your servant: Montgomery Sicard for Benjamin F. Tracy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Mister Bradley Fiske, MEE (Letter to be read and destroyed after delivered by Bashon law firm courier.) C/O USS Charleston 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, New York From: Mister Elias Mathew Vashon for Misses Irene Davenport Tesla DME 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass 14 February 1890 Sir: Why do you need an electric logarithmic adding machine? And does such a thing even exist? With regards: Mister Elias Mathew Vanson LLD for Misses Irene Tesla DME BNY ====================================================== To: Mister Bradley Fiske, MEE (Letter to be read and destroyed after delivered by Bashon law firm courier.) C/O USS Charleston 63 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, New York 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass 22 March 1890 My dear Brad: Done. I, Tesla. DME BNY 47 1st Ave, Boston, Mass 22 March 1890 Mister Elias Mathew Vashon LLD One Lincoln Center Suite 43 110 West Fayette St Syracuse, NY Elias: Mister Tracy wants this matter handled in a legally expeditious and non-public-noticed manner. Find a tame Congress person and expedite the law. Irene Tesla, DME BNY ======================================================== What did the naval general staff, disguised within the Bureau of Navigation, produce? Quite a plan. Tracy just doubled what William C. Whitney originally intended.
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Post by Avatar on Oct 23, 2023 2:40:46 GMT
Real history... and As you can see the Americans had a messy and very much politicized and inordinately incompetent arrival to a service rifle. This is where we are driving... in this alternate history. Essentially it is a proto-Lee Metford for US service but with Springfield Trapdoor Rifling, maybe a straight pull action, and a tangent ramp aiming sight. We will get there. SGT William Fritch will make sure of it. ========================================================================== Computing Firing TablesGuess what kind of a mechanical analog calculator do you need for artillery ballistics tables if you do not have the hundreds of trained women calculators to make those differential calculations manually? The US Census Bureau just happened to have one originally prototyped in 1880. With a little tweaking (Irene Goss Davenport Telsa patented it in April 1890 in this timeline.) the Proofing Ground at Aberdeen can be running firing tables calculations five times faster than the major competitor Europeans could with their archaic "human based" methods. Once someone understands shots out flight times *(Fiske) and matches it to ranging, then one gets a "predictor". =========================================================================== What about that torpedo?Putting aside, the usual wrong science applications extolled that the BBC usually includes in its "reports" on what it considers exciting developments, here are the actual takeaways for that battery technology now being introduced, as Edison did and does for electric cars, into this timeline: a. the nickel-iron battery is heavy. b. the nickel-iron battery is large by volume, and by large I mean a lead acid battery based 18 inch diameter torpedo would be 1/2 the normal size of the nickel iron one. So Charles Francis Brush who has been using nickel-iron battery technology for experimental electricity backup storage now for three years for some of the ACME wind generator electricity producing farms in upstate New York and who is about to export it across the United States, especially to the GREAT PLAINS, wrote his letter to Irene Goss Davenport Tesla. He warned her of what to expect and what the drawbacks to the battery powered torpedo were likely to be. That still would be okay. Our friends the Swedes will make a slightly premature contribution.
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