Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Kat's likely to get representatives of all the manufacturers together and have an auction, with an eyewatering minimum bid.
The von Mischener School for Extraordinary Young Ladies, also known as the Pink Judenbach. Just need to find a way of keeping Kat from injuring herself trying to stay ahead of kids 10-15 years younger than she.
FBKampfer
Banned
Itssstated its a v format and it makes no sense to use a V orientation as opposed to an H orientation.
An H engine is typically two V format engines built around a common crank shaft. What was depicted was the evolution of an opposed piston straight six diesel. Two of those built around a common crank in the most compact format possible would take on what form?
FBKampfer
Banned
An H engine is two flat engines paired together with two crank shafts geared to a single output shaft (or 4 and 2 respectively in a bit opposed piston engine), two paired V engines form either an X engine or a W engine depending on the specific orientation.
The problem with opposed pistons and V or W engines is that due to piston bank angle, an additional crank shaft, gearing assembly, and typically ancillary equipment such as exhaust and air intake porting, spark plug wiring, etc is typically required over an H engine or simple flat engine for each cylinder bank.
While all the pistons at the bottom of all banks can be attached to a common shaft, the top pistons require an additional shaft and transfer assembly for each bank.
While it's true that technically you are able to use one less crank shaft on an opposed piston Vee engine (three vs the 4 in an H engine) , the crank shaft has never been the real problem, even in the notoriously finicky DB 600 series of paired engines, or the Jumo 222. The added gearing and additional piping and wiring quickly outstrips any weight savings from simply removing a shaft.
Additionally in terms of complexity, the gearing is much more problematic than is a simple crank shaft, which properly designed and not overly stressed, will last the entire service life of the engine without needing major work.
Even in two flat opposed piston engines paired into a V format, which presumably is what you mean, the simplest way to pair two flat engines is still the H format.
I'm assuming you're imagining something similar to the Napier Saber engine, but in an opposed piston design.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Sabre
The problem with opposed pistons and V or W engines is that due to piston bank angle, an additional crank shaft, gearing assembly, and typically ancillary equipment such as exhaust and air intake porting, spark plug wiring, etc is typically required over an H engine or simple flat engine for each cylinder bank.
While all the pistons at the bottom of all banks can be attached to a common shaft, the top pistons require an additional shaft and transfer assembly for each bank.
While it's true that technically you are able to use one less crank shaft on an opposed piston Vee engine (three vs the 4 in an H engine) , the crank shaft has never been the real problem, even in the notoriously finicky DB 600 series of paired engines, or the Jumo 222. The added gearing and additional piping and wiring quickly outstrips any weight savings from simply removing a shaft.
Additionally in terms of complexity, the gearing is much more problematic than is a simple crank shaft, which properly designed and not overly stressed, will last the entire service life of the engine without needing major work.
Even in two flat opposed piston engines paired into a V format, which presumably is what you mean, the simplest way to pair two flat engines is still the H format.
I'm assuming you're imagining something similar to the Napier Saber engine, but in an opposed piston design.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Sabre
Part 78, Chapter 1183
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Eighty-Three
5th June 1956
Berlin
It didn’t take much for unrelated disasters to become personal disasters as Kiki had learned over the previous turbulent weekend. Not that the previous weeks had been particularly great.
It had started with her brother, Freddy had told their parents that he understood that he would need to spend time in the military before going to University. Then he had said that he was making the bewildering choice of joining the Pioneer Corps. On paper he was an ideal candidate for them, well educated, spoke some of the languages of the odd mix of nationalities that made up the strange offshoot of the Heer and he was open minded enough to considering joining the decidedly unglamorous service branch. The reason it was so bewildering was because Freddy could probably get anything he wanted. His choice had been to take on a role in construction and logistics.
Then the Gräfin Katherine’s Uncle had died. Kiki had no idea that he had basically been her father her entire life. It was Kat who Kiki had turned to when things stopped making sense in the past. These days Kat was preoccupied with dealing with her settling Uncle’s estate and making sure that her Aunt Marcella would be taken care of.
That was when an airplane overshot the runway and crashed after the landing gear collapsed at Tegel Airport on Saturday afternoon. Every Hospital in the city had found itself preparing for a number of seriously injured patients to start arriving, the University Clinic was no exception. Kiki had been shoved into the Hospital’s Chapel, presumably to keep her out of the way until she could be collected by Palace Security. Then the children started arriving. To the Hospital Staff, Kiki von Fischer was just one volunteer like any other. They saw nothing wrong with dragooning her into minding a dozen frightened and somewhat battered children whose parents or siblings were among the injured. Kiki had managed to calm them down enough to read to them but that was when the real trouble had started.
A photographer had snapped a picture of the Kiki there in the Chapel reading to the children and she hadn’t noticed. The next day it had run in the papers and Kiki had been identified as a nameless Hospital Volunteer at first in the Sunday papers. It had only been a short time before several people at a few different newspapers had seen the picture and recognized who she was. Suddenly, Kiki, her volunteerism and her ambition to become a Surgeon became the story. It also ended her ability to volunteer at the University Clinic for the foreseeable future and caused a huge argument with her mother as her father sat there unsure of how to deal with the situation.
Something that Kiki had hardly considered was exactly how she fit into her parent’s ambitions and plans. Even what her mother wanted for her had come as a surprise. It was her mother’s hope that Kiki would be introduced to Berlin Society just about the time that she turned sixteen and have her enjoy the social season that followed. If she was preparing to join the Joint Medical Service, she could hardly be expected to do that. Then there were the long-term plans, through marriage Kiki could bring Austria into the German Empire or she could be used to further cement Slovakia to Germany. The entire conversation left Kiki feeling sick to her stomach. Her mother had been planning out her entire life and never once had she asked Kiki what she might want to do.
How many times had Kat told her that she needed to take control of her own life? Countless times. The previous few days had been a serious wake up call for Kiki. If she didn’t start living her life on her terms, there were others perfectly prepared to force her to live it on theirs.
Washington D.C.
The people of California had spoken, unfortunately for Lyndon Johnson what they had to say to him basically amounted to them telling him to fuck off. Stevenson had won the Golden State overwhelmingly, however Johnson had won in Oregon. That set the stage for the messy floor fight that Truman had been hoping to avoid, a fight that had the potential to split the Democratic Party. The Republicans were already coalescing around Senator Wayne Morse from Oregon and they could smell the blood in the water. For the last eight years they had been a nonfactor in National Politics since Dewey had made such a hash of things. A split in the Democratic Party would be exactly what they needed to get back on top after years in the wilderness.
The issue for Truman was that he couldn’t spend a great deal of time on the upcoming elections. He had an education bill that he was trying to get movement on and he was getting resistance from his own party. Of course, Truman knew that education was mostly local issue, those were the terms that he was getting in opposition. The truth was that they feared that Federal money would be used to force desegregation but didn’t have the balls to use those terms. Couldn’t they see what was happening in the world around them?
The Goddamned Krauts had set off a new round of bombs deep under islands in the South Pacific. The last one had been so big that Truman’s Science Advisor had walked in white as a sheet and had nervously rattled off the numbers. What it amounted to was a single bomb that could wipe an entire city off the map. Then there was another satellite orbiting overhead. The United States had gotten several large kicks in the pants over the last few years. Instead of reacting with classic American how to, they had been withdrawing from the world to the furthest extent they could and pretended that everything would just go on the way it always had. Recent events in Mexico had revealed that the rest of the world wasn’t sitting still. It was the frustrating truth that Truman had been bashing his head against since he had taken the oath of office.
5th June 1956
Berlin
It didn’t take much for unrelated disasters to become personal disasters as Kiki had learned over the previous turbulent weekend. Not that the previous weeks had been particularly great.
It had started with her brother, Freddy had told their parents that he understood that he would need to spend time in the military before going to University. Then he had said that he was making the bewildering choice of joining the Pioneer Corps. On paper he was an ideal candidate for them, well educated, spoke some of the languages of the odd mix of nationalities that made up the strange offshoot of the Heer and he was open minded enough to considering joining the decidedly unglamorous service branch. The reason it was so bewildering was because Freddy could probably get anything he wanted. His choice had been to take on a role in construction and logistics.
Then the Gräfin Katherine’s Uncle had died. Kiki had no idea that he had basically been her father her entire life. It was Kat who Kiki had turned to when things stopped making sense in the past. These days Kat was preoccupied with dealing with her settling Uncle’s estate and making sure that her Aunt Marcella would be taken care of.
That was when an airplane overshot the runway and crashed after the landing gear collapsed at Tegel Airport on Saturday afternoon. Every Hospital in the city had found itself preparing for a number of seriously injured patients to start arriving, the University Clinic was no exception. Kiki had been shoved into the Hospital’s Chapel, presumably to keep her out of the way until she could be collected by Palace Security. Then the children started arriving. To the Hospital Staff, Kiki von Fischer was just one volunteer like any other. They saw nothing wrong with dragooning her into minding a dozen frightened and somewhat battered children whose parents or siblings were among the injured. Kiki had managed to calm them down enough to read to them but that was when the real trouble had started.
A photographer had snapped a picture of the Kiki there in the Chapel reading to the children and she hadn’t noticed. The next day it had run in the papers and Kiki had been identified as a nameless Hospital Volunteer at first in the Sunday papers. It had only been a short time before several people at a few different newspapers had seen the picture and recognized who she was. Suddenly, Kiki, her volunteerism and her ambition to become a Surgeon became the story. It also ended her ability to volunteer at the University Clinic for the foreseeable future and caused a huge argument with her mother as her father sat there unsure of how to deal with the situation.
Something that Kiki had hardly considered was exactly how she fit into her parent’s ambitions and plans. Even what her mother wanted for her had come as a surprise. It was her mother’s hope that Kiki would be introduced to Berlin Society just about the time that she turned sixteen and have her enjoy the social season that followed. If she was preparing to join the Joint Medical Service, she could hardly be expected to do that. Then there were the long-term plans, through marriage Kiki could bring Austria into the German Empire or she could be used to further cement Slovakia to Germany. The entire conversation left Kiki feeling sick to her stomach. Her mother had been planning out her entire life and never once had she asked Kiki what she might want to do.
How many times had Kat told her that she needed to take control of her own life? Countless times. The previous few days had been a serious wake up call for Kiki. If she didn’t start living her life on her terms, there were others perfectly prepared to force her to live it on theirs.
Washington D.C.
The people of California had spoken, unfortunately for Lyndon Johnson what they had to say to him basically amounted to them telling him to fuck off. Stevenson had won the Golden State overwhelmingly, however Johnson had won in Oregon. That set the stage for the messy floor fight that Truman had been hoping to avoid, a fight that had the potential to split the Democratic Party. The Republicans were already coalescing around Senator Wayne Morse from Oregon and they could smell the blood in the water. For the last eight years they had been a nonfactor in National Politics since Dewey had made such a hash of things. A split in the Democratic Party would be exactly what they needed to get back on top after years in the wilderness.
The issue for Truman was that he couldn’t spend a great deal of time on the upcoming elections. He had an education bill that he was trying to get movement on and he was getting resistance from his own party. Of course, Truman knew that education was mostly local issue, those were the terms that he was getting in opposition. The truth was that they feared that Federal money would be used to force desegregation but didn’t have the balls to use those terms. Couldn’t they see what was happening in the world around them?
The Goddamned Krauts had set off a new round of bombs deep under islands in the South Pacific. The last one had been so big that Truman’s Science Advisor had walked in white as a sheet and had nervously rattled off the numbers. What it amounted to was a single bomb that could wipe an entire city off the map. Then there was another satellite orbiting overhead. The United States had gotten several large kicks in the pants over the last few years. Instead of reacting with classic American how to, they had been withdrawing from the world to the furthest extent they could and pretended that everything would just go on the way it always had. Recent events in Mexico had revealed that the rest of the world wasn’t sitting still. It was the frustrating truth that Truman had been bashing his head against since he had taken the oath of office.
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Methinks that Truman its going to close his government pretty much reading the Riot Act to the WHOLE of the Congress.....
A Diatribe pointing acidly how America was going down a path that unless confronted.... As the nation that once leaded, now was second fiddle to most of the European Nations in Economics, Science and Martial Arts .... As how now "the Home of Freedom" was seen as a retrograd nation that didn't respect the Human Rights of others.....
.... Truman may do that and retire from politics, so that his successor can't swept the problems under the rug and force America to finally confront what it was stopping them from reaching their full potential........
A Diatribe pointing acidly how America was going down a path that unless confronted.... As the nation that once leaded, now was second fiddle to most of the European Nations in Economics, Science and Martial Arts .... As how now "the Home of Freedom" was seen as a retrograd nation that didn't respect the Human Rights of others.....
.... Truman may do that and retire from politics, so that his successor can't swept the problems under the rug and force America to finally confront what it was stopping them from reaching their full potential........
The Empress Kira is an interesting bundle of contradictions, she is an advocate of women advancing in previously male dominated fields but she is also a product of her upbringing in which marriages are for dynastic reasons and to expand influences.
Kira has probably already picked out one of the younger Italian Princesses for Michael and has hopes that the youngest son Louis Ferdinand, can be an acceptable Consort to the Heiress Presumptive of Great Britain, Alberta.
For Truman the problem is that the American people do not think of Germany as a threat and that the past "Kraut Scare" was a phony contrived crises by the media and self serving politicians.
The only way that the American people will be shaken from their complacency is for the metaphorical bombing of Pearl Harbor to happen.
Kira has probably already picked out one of the younger Italian Princesses for Michael and has hopes that the youngest son Louis Ferdinand, can be an acceptable Consort to the Heiress Presumptive of Great Britain, Alberta.
For Truman the problem is that the American people do not think of Germany as a threat and that the past "Kraut Scare" was a phony contrived crises by the media and self serving politicians.
The only way that the American people will be shaken from their complacency is for the metaphorical bombing of Pearl Harbor to happen.
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Part 79, Chapter 1184
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Eighty-Four
17th June 1956
Kiel
After spending the last three months of his career using up unused leave Jacob was back in Kiel one last time as the Grand Admiral of the High Seas Fleet and Fleet Air Command. All that was left was the changeover ceremony and he would go into retirement. One of the things that Jacob had done during those three months was complete his autobiography, the carefully edited and redacted version was headed for publication. The unedited, unredacted manuscript had been slapped with the highest classification and wouldn’t see the light of day until the year 2006. By then the hope was that it would only be interesting to historians and scholars, no one else. Jacob knew that was a not going to work. When he had edited the copy of the manuscript, he had made sure to allude to several things that were behind those blacked lines of text. In fifty years, Jacob knew that he would be long dead and the State Archives would have the public clamoring for the book that would effectively rewrite the history of the first half of the twentieth century.
Just in case the State tried to change the rules he had placed a copy of the original manuscript in a safe deposit box in Zurich. A legal firm that he had on retainer was in possession of the only key. Their instructions were to open it and publish the contents without knowing exactly what it was in 2016. Jacob had picked the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. The first battle he had participated in.
Putting on his uniform coat, then came the process of putting on the medals, the Grand Cross of the Pour le Mérite at his throat, a series of carefully ordered sashes over his shoulder to go with the stars pinned to the front of his coat. The Order of the Black Eagle had to go on top, followed by the French Legon of Honor and the Dutch Military William Order. He needed to have an aide assist him with it all and it was something he would not miss. However, the fact that he held those medals had played a large role in him being selected to be the head of the new European Space Agency.
The finishing touch was the bicorne hat that was a traditional part of the dress uniform of a Grand Admiral, a relic of the Nineteenth Century that he had been unable to dispense with despite considerable effort on his part. Jacob looked at himself in the mirror as he put it on and felt ridiculous. It was helped by him being able to see Esther behind him in the reflection, she was trying hard not to laugh.
“You always look so dashing in that dress uniform with the gold buttons, blue wool and medals” Esther said, “Then you put on that hat…”
With that Esther could no longer contain her laughter. In a few minutes he would have to go out and formally hand over his Command to Admiral Ernst Schirlitz, newly appointed Grand Admiral of the Fleet. And the icing on the cake was that his wife found the whole thing terribly amusing.
It was just as well he was getting out when he was. He had needed Nessa to explain to him the technical aspects of the advanced thermonuclear device that had been set off deep under an atoll in the Marshall Islands. What Nessa had told him had been sobering. The conversation that had followed had been equally informative, exactly what Nessa thought of what was happening with the projects she had started years earlier. It was when she had mentioned seeing the diagrams and plans for what had become latest device in a Chicago warehouse after they had been drawn up by a madman. While Nessa said that she wasn’t able to bring herself to join the protests outside her University, she had concluded a long time ago that the toys had become too dangerous for the children to be allowed to just play with them anymore.
The needs of the Kaiserliche Marine were changing as well. It should not have been a surprise that the smallest units in the Fleet had been the most active with Destroyers, S-Boats and even converted fishing Trawlers were seeing the most use in the Pacific. Keeping the shipping lanes open and relatively free of piracy and smuggling had turned out to be a very involved process. Konteradmiral Junge had proven equal to the task so far. The Taiwanese, Koreans and Vietnamese were looking to build Navies of their own and they had been very generous in what they were offering Jacob to come consult for them to further their efforts. They were smart enough to know that it wasn’t necessarily money that he was after. It would also help take pressure off the Pacific Fleet eventually.
As he made his way down the stairs of his house, he saw that Sarah and Nessa were waiting in the parlor. They had come up from Berlin with their families so that they could be here for this.
“Off to fight the Spanish Armada Poppa?” Sarah asked, her voice full of mirth. Working closely with John Elis at the V8 Club had clearly had a negative influence on his oldest daughter. It seemed like she always had a flip answer or wisecrack these days. This time though, Nessa had her hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh. That decided it for Jacob in that instant. The instant he was done with the formal reception that would follow the changeover, he was burning the hat.
17th June 1956
Kiel
After spending the last three months of his career using up unused leave Jacob was back in Kiel one last time as the Grand Admiral of the High Seas Fleet and Fleet Air Command. All that was left was the changeover ceremony and he would go into retirement. One of the things that Jacob had done during those three months was complete his autobiography, the carefully edited and redacted version was headed for publication. The unedited, unredacted manuscript had been slapped with the highest classification and wouldn’t see the light of day until the year 2006. By then the hope was that it would only be interesting to historians and scholars, no one else. Jacob knew that was a not going to work. When he had edited the copy of the manuscript, he had made sure to allude to several things that were behind those blacked lines of text. In fifty years, Jacob knew that he would be long dead and the State Archives would have the public clamoring for the book that would effectively rewrite the history of the first half of the twentieth century.
Just in case the State tried to change the rules he had placed a copy of the original manuscript in a safe deposit box in Zurich. A legal firm that he had on retainer was in possession of the only key. Their instructions were to open it and publish the contents without knowing exactly what it was in 2016. Jacob had picked the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Jutland. The first battle he had participated in.
Putting on his uniform coat, then came the process of putting on the medals, the Grand Cross of the Pour le Mérite at his throat, a series of carefully ordered sashes over his shoulder to go with the stars pinned to the front of his coat. The Order of the Black Eagle had to go on top, followed by the French Legon of Honor and the Dutch Military William Order. He needed to have an aide assist him with it all and it was something he would not miss. However, the fact that he held those medals had played a large role in him being selected to be the head of the new European Space Agency.
The finishing touch was the bicorne hat that was a traditional part of the dress uniform of a Grand Admiral, a relic of the Nineteenth Century that he had been unable to dispense with despite considerable effort on his part. Jacob looked at himself in the mirror as he put it on and felt ridiculous. It was helped by him being able to see Esther behind him in the reflection, she was trying hard not to laugh.
“You always look so dashing in that dress uniform with the gold buttons, blue wool and medals” Esther said, “Then you put on that hat…”
With that Esther could no longer contain her laughter. In a few minutes he would have to go out and formally hand over his Command to Admiral Ernst Schirlitz, newly appointed Grand Admiral of the Fleet. And the icing on the cake was that his wife found the whole thing terribly amusing.
It was just as well he was getting out when he was. He had needed Nessa to explain to him the technical aspects of the advanced thermonuclear device that had been set off deep under an atoll in the Marshall Islands. What Nessa had told him had been sobering. The conversation that had followed had been equally informative, exactly what Nessa thought of what was happening with the projects she had started years earlier. It was when she had mentioned seeing the diagrams and plans for what had become latest device in a Chicago warehouse after they had been drawn up by a madman. While Nessa said that she wasn’t able to bring herself to join the protests outside her University, she had concluded a long time ago that the toys had become too dangerous for the children to be allowed to just play with them anymore.
The needs of the Kaiserliche Marine were changing as well. It should not have been a surprise that the smallest units in the Fleet had been the most active with Destroyers, S-Boats and even converted fishing Trawlers were seeing the most use in the Pacific. Keeping the shipping lanes open and relatively free of piracy and smuggling had turned out to be a very involved process. Konteradmiral Junge had proven equal to the task so far. The Taiwanese, Koreans and Vietnamese were looking to build Navies of their own and they had been very generous in what they were offering Jacob to come consult for them to further their efforts. They were smart enough to know that it wasn’t necessarily money that he was after. It would also help take pressure off the Pacific Fleet eventually.
As he made his way down the stairs of his house, he saw that Sarah and Nessa were waiting in the parlor. They had come up from Berlin with their families so that they could be here for this.
“Off to fight the Spanish Armada Poppa?” Sarah asked, her voice full of mirth. Working closely with John Elis at the V8 Club had clearly had a negative influence on his oldest daughter. It seemed like she always had a flip answer or wisecrack these days. This time though, Nessa had her hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh. That decided it for Jacob in that instant. The instant he was done with the formal reception that would follow the changeover, he was burning the hat.
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The hat is for real, the photograph is of Alfred von Tirpitz wearing one. It just seemed the sort of thing that becomes a tradition, much to the chagrin of those made to take part in it.
One would think that it would be more satisfying to get a hunting Shotgun and spend a few cartridges reducing the infamous hat put on a pole's top to kibble....
Silly uniforms are a strong military tradition, though it's difficult to beat the Greeks.
Yes. Those are real.
Yes. Those are real.