Koko Kyouwakoku (Republic of Koko)

It is still a good looking design BB1987,

I like the way the did the stern 'Admirals walk' as a cutout rather than as a wraparound. Looks big enough now to have barbecues on

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

Another very impressive looking capital ship.

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Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

History update:

7.Treaty era (1923-1930)
The aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles and the Washington Naval Treaty ratification left in Koko's population the same distrust and bitterness towards the Western Powers that also grew in Japan. The measures taken them were considered by many as refusal of by the Occidental powers to consider Japan and Koko as an equal partner. This feeling was exacerbated by the relative closeness between Koko's easternmost island, Tojima, and Midway Island, located 891 km, or 480 nautical miles away. Even worse Attu and the Aleutians were just over 600km (323nm) northeast of Wasureshima. Those US possessions, which were considered by most of the population as an advantage to improve commercial relations, slowly started to be perceived as threats and possible means for the Americans to spy and interfere with Koko's sovereignty and internal affairs. This was especially true for Midway, which was under control of the US Navy, were a radio station was operational since 1903. Despite the years leading to the end of the decade were regarded as being peaceful, militarist movements started to gain support under the premises set after the end of WWI. While it started to close to Western Countries Koko enjoyed excellent relationships with Japan: Koko no Kaigun and the Imperial Japanese Navy maintained a deep affinity between them, sharing technology, training facilities and design board projects. Cadets of both navies were given familiarization tours on both Countries Academies and warships, as the command and recruiting structure remained more or less the same for both, helping to form a strong bond between the two Navies personnel. Being limited in Battleships construction by fixed deadlines (no new ships allowed before 1927) and tonnage (30.000T available unless older ships were scrapped), KnK focused it's naval building program on Cruisers, Destroyers and Submarines, which were not restricted in number, with the aim of tripling the fleet size by 1930. A secondary building program aimed at giving the Navy all the smaller and auxiliary units it needed to perform tasks that before the 1921 Bilateral Agreements were conducted by IJN units.
The only shadow casting on Japanese/Koko relationships laid in Koko no Rikugun and Imperial Japanese Army rivalry, as neither manged to achieve the same level of cooperation KnK and the IJN immediately formed. Indeed, the only thing the two armies managed to have in common was weaponry and equipment. New recruits and far-right members of the IJA still resented Koko's armed forces as they arrogated to them the sole right to defend the Empire. An Empire of which they still considered Koko beign a part of it.

I have also slighly modified the fate of the Kuchikukan 1 Class, eight of the nine units will no longer be scrapped in 1922. Their new fate will be the focus of my next post here....

F-1 Class Minelayer:

In February 1922, after the WNT ratification Koko no Kaigun was effectively an indipendent navy since five months as a result of the Bilateral Agreements of September 1921. But this it also meant it had lost most of it's auxiliary and smaller units, whose tasks had been performed by the IJN before that date. One of this tasks was minelaying.
Istantly recongnizing URSS and the United States as possible long-term foes the naval staff issued the requirement for a small fleet of minelayers to be made operational in the shortest possible time. Roughly at the same time the last eight of the nine Kuchikukan Destroyers had been decommissioned to cut the surplus generated by the Shi-Shi Kantai cancellation. Instead of scrapping them, the Naval staff immediately recongized the advisability of an extremely fast and temporary conversion. The eight ships were thus promptly saved from the scrapyards and sent to Kumoi Arsenal for conversion into minelayers. The aft 76mm gun and both torpedo tube sets were removed, with rails for 40 mines, all to be stored on deck, fitted in their place. The short range the ships possessed was not deemed an issue since it was counterbalanced by the high 30-knot speed the former-Destroyers possessed. Renamed Fusetsukan (minelayer) 1 through 8 the units were in service by 1923.
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Despite beign small, and carrying a small complement of mines, the ships served well in their temporary tasks. F-1 was decommissioned for good in December 1925 when the first Fusetsukan-9 Class unit (another converted former Destroyer) entered service, another three units left the fleet by 1928. F-6 was wrecked and lost off Miyamori on may 8th 1929. F-5 and F-7 left service in the early 30's. F-8, the last unit, soilered until 1936, operating mainly for trining and coastal duties, before finally beign decommissioned and scrapped.

Ships in class:

F-1 (ex DD-2) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1925
F-2 (ex DD-3) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1926
F-3 (ex DD-4) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1928
F-4 (ex DD-5) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1928
F-5 (ex DD-6) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1931
F-6 (ex DD-7) Converted 1922-1923 - Wrecked 1929
F-7 (ex DD-8) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1932
F-8 (ex DD-9) Converted 1922-1923 - Decommissioned 1936

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

I really like this AU with very high standard of ships unsurprisingly

Would it be possible to show a map of the location of Koko in relation to the pacific powers, I would have thought that its location out in the pacific might seriously affect the strategic balance as it will cut down on the range needed to cross the Pacific (island hoping) and may block any trip from PH to the PIs.
This may change war plan orange and the WNT ratios wanted by Japan/US ?

This map should roughly show Koko's relative position in the Pacific Ocean.
http://i.imgur.com/EZ3469W.jpg
The archipelago is not in the way of War Plan Orange routes (http://blog.usni.org/wp-content/uploads ... 7/Wpo1.GIF) but yes, it is quite close to them since Midway was one of the stops and a possible skirmish area. I didn't dug deep into the early 1900s so there might be flaws up to the WNT (althoug, at least until 1918 KnK was quite a small navy, even in 1922 it's nothing near to what it will be at the start of the Pacific War), but I do want Midway and the Aleutians to be strategically more important than they were in real history (especially Midway). Island hopping tactics in the southrn pacific might not be affected much though, Koko and Japan are roughly equidistant from the Solomon Islands. There will be more naval battles to be fought, obviously, but that's what I want

Shimo class Icebreakers:

Another major necessity for Koko no Kaigun were icebreakers. With half of the archipelago extending northwards more than Hokkaido did in Japan (Shinjima beign almost at the same latitude of Petropavlovs -Kamchatka- and Attu -Aleutians-) winter ice was an issue that hampered the year-long operations of norther ports. For this reason in 1922 the Naval Staff ordered a fleet of four icebreakers to be built exclusively for Navy use. Built at Shionseki Shipyards between 1922 and 1924, The ships were pretty much like the japanese Odomari, with the exception that the upperdeck extended all the way to the stern on overhangs and that the bridge structure was slightly different, having the upper level enclosed with roof and windows.
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The four ships were named Shimo (frost), Ryuhyo (icepack), Hyozan (iceberg) and Hokkykou (north pole) and rispectively based at Miyamori, Hokuto, Sado and Mizushimo. In 1937-1938 the ships were refitted with a completely enclosed stern and a newer bow, two single 25mm and two single 13mm machine guns were also added to the 76mm AA gun originally fitted on board. Ryuhyo was gutted by fire during the refit and declared a total loss, so it was decommissioned and scrapped in 1938. Cause of the fire was never discovered, so even to this day there is still speculation if, and if so why, the fire was the result of an act of sabotage.
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The three remaining stisters served during WWII. Shimo was scuttled by her crew on December 15th 1945 during Koko uprisings when IJA soldiers tried to seize the ship, effectively blocking the entire garrison on Heian. The two surviving sisters served a few more years after the end of the war, initially it was planned to transfer them to the Coast Guard, but both units were quite worn-out, so both were decommissioned for good in 1950 and later scrapped.

Ships in class: (laid down-launched-commissioned - fate)

Shimo 1922-1922-1923 - Scuttled, December 15th 1945
Ryuhyo 1922-1923-1923 - Destroyed by fire 1938
Hyozan 1923-1923-1924 - Decommissioned 1950
Hokkyoku 1923-1923-1923 - Decommissioned 1950

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MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB

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