-A special thanks to Shurik, who developed the history of this AU and will be working on additional information about the economy, and who is also currently brainstorming maps and flags. We will be working collaboratively on this AU, I will handle the weapons and ship design/engineering part of it, and will also attempt to draft some info on army organization and equipment. A map and flag will be added as an edit to this message, and the additional economic/military info is coming up soon!
For centuries, Hispaniola has been a tortured island.
Initially, a Spanish Colony, French pirates settled on Tortuga, and later on the heavily neglected western shores of Hispaniola itself.
Following the course of recognized history, this French occupation resulted in Spanish recognition of French rights to administration of the western third of Hispaniola in 1697, with the Treaty of Ryswick.
The seeds of the Caribbean Federation were sown in 1791; when slaves and free people of color began a rebellion against the ruling French Authority, but were placated with the abolition of slavery in the colony in 1793.
Closely connected with the then-raging French Revolution, the ideals of equality as espoused by the Republicans resounded with the lower two of the traditional Saint-Domingue castes: the Free People of Color, and the Slave population.
Rising rapidly through the ranks of the rebellion, one, François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was heavily inspired by the 1789 publication of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, by the National Assembly of France. Needless to say, the colonial slave-holders of Saint-Domingue were reluctant to take the implication of the Declaration to heart, and began pressing for independence from newly Republican France.
Fearful of what atrocities slave-holders would enact, if freed from the constraint of French administration, the seeds for malcontent and the revolution were sown. To the chagrin of the upper levels of Saint-Domingue society, the French National Assembly granted freedom to all slaves on April 4, 1792. This did not satiate the demands for justice by slaves already in full-scale revolt, however, and to protect her economic interests, the French Legislative Assembly dispatched *2,000 soldiers and a diplomatic delegation.
In a show of shocking support that rocked the world, the soldiers were dispatched not to quell the Slave Revolt, but to prevent the slave holding class from siding with the British or Spanish; thus depriving France of the economic interests in Haiti.**
(*In another world, 6,000 troops were dispatched to suppress the slave revolt, of whom two thirds would die from disease and a horrifically brutal war would have enormous and disastrous consequences for the outcome of the Haitian Revolution.
** France had already shocked the world by outlawing slavery in 1792, so this would be the logical next step. )
Despite the best attempts by the soldiers to protect both the interests of the slave owners and the slaves and free colored people’s best interests, a civil war would rage on for another 6 years before a settlement would be reached. With only intermittent support due to the raging situation in France, support for the forces garrisoned there would be sporadic at best. This was particularly problematic, in 1793, when France declared war on Great Britain.
Enraged with the (tacit) French support of the slave rebellion, slave owners threw their lot in with the British, who supported by the Spanish from Santo-Domingo, attempted to occupy Haiti. With French soldiers heavily backed by the Free Black population and a Slave Rebel Army, the fighting was particularly intense; but ultimately successful in maintaining Haitian freedom from occupation.
It was in this conflict that Toussaint Louverture rose to significant prominence. In recognition for the highly significant role played by Toussaint, and the Black population of Haiti, Napoleon granted near total independence to Haiti and the government under Toussaint in 1801. However, the recognition was merely an attempt to reassert control over the colony, and order were dispatched to the French military to capture Toussaint, and send him to France.
Disillusioned by the dictatorial regime of Napoleon, the French forces refused to betray their allies from numerous engagements against the Spanish and British, and rejected the order.
The deception heavily cost the French government credibility in Haiti, and de-facto independence was established in 1801.
With the 1803 sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States, Napoleon lost interest in the failed ventures in the Western Hemisphere, and the loss of Haiti to the French government was finalized. Equally disillusioned by the increasingly violent and dictatorial regime of Napoleon’s France, under Toussaint, the new Haitian administration (with the support of the now stateless French forces) underwent a period of significant social and economic upheaval. Recalcitrant slave owners were given the unenviable option of either integrating into the new Haitian country, or leaving. Many chose to emigrate to Louisiana and the southern United States, while many other were able to negotiate settlements with their former-slaves; and some were even placed in positions of significant administration over plantations to which they had formerly been Lords.
Political separation from France was furthered with the Napoleonic reinstitution of slaver in colonies in 1801~1803; further driving a wedge between the former slave-owning population.
Despite intense pressure from the southern states of the United States, recognition of Haitian independence by Washington DC led to rapid establishment of relations and commercial ties. Meanwhile, with the fall of Napoleon in 1815, France entered a century of political instability. Meanwhile, Anti-Napoleonic-Pro-French sentiment remained strong in Haiti, and relations were restored in 1816; including restored economic relations. This, along with growing relations with the United States, led to an explosion of Haitian economic success.
Heavily inspired by Haitian slave success, and in the face of embarrassing Spanish failures in Haiti, Cuba underwent her own revolution, beginning in 1812, with the Aponte Slave Rebellion.
Despite the Spanish Constitution of 1812, which brought sweeping liberal political and commercial policies into being, the success of the Haitian Revolution and the successful reconciliation of race relations, the Cuban revolution swept to power. Initially, the revolt suffered badly from lack of popular support; however the revolt swung in favor when Ferdinand VII returned to the thrown in 1814 and surprised many of the 1812 Constitution’s policies. This was furthered, when Simon Bolivar, fleeing an assassination attempt to Haiti. At the urging of then-president Alexandre Pétion (successor to Toussaint), Haitian forces worked with Bolivar, and staged a successful landing in Cuba; securing final independence in 1816. Then, with Haitian and Cuban support, Bolivar returned to Venezuela in 1817, and fulfilled his promise to Pétion to free Spanish American slaves.
In 1821, a desperate Spanish attempt to retake Cuba and reestablish a Spanish presence in the Caribbean beyond the weak Santo-Domingo/Dominican Republic, and secure a vital steppingstone for support against the independence movement in Mexico was launched.
France, in a similarly desperate attempt to expand and reassert influence in the Caribbean, came to Cuban aid, along with Haitain support, and not only was the Spanish invasion of Cuba defeated, a further crushing blow was struck against Spain with the Haitian invasion, and annexation of, Santo-Domingo; uniting the island of Hispaniola under Haitian rule. This had the tri-fold result of (1) establishing, once and for all, the permanence of Haitian and Cuban independence, (2) sounding the death-knell of Spanish influence and colonial holdings in the Western Hemisphere, and (3) cementing the international diplomatic legitimacy of and independent Haitian and Cuba.
The following decades saw the economic growth of the two Caribbean nations through their close relations with France, and increasingly contentious relations with the United States. Despite recognition, the South continued to strongly oppose US recognition of the “Slave Nations”, and Washington’s refusal to sever relations with the two nations accused of “…continuously fermenting revolt and exerting a destructive influence on the established order of society in the Southern States…” has been cited as just one of the many factors leading to the American Civil War.
When war in the United States broke out in 1861, both Cuba and Haiti were among the first nations to declare their support for the Union cause. Instrumental to this, was Cuban support for Union blockade efforts against the Confederate States. While blockade runners profited from the dearth of goods in the Confederate States, the CSA Navy turned part of its attention to the nascent Cuban and Haitian naval forces. Comprised of little more than armed sloops and dated merchant vessels, Confederate ships, so vulnerable to Union action, were able to wreck havoc with the Caribbean nations’ naval forces. Historians cite CSA fixation with action against these states as being among the factors accounting for their loss to the Union in 1865. Resources which could have been used in the fight against the North were diverted in a number of raids against Havana, Port-au-Prince, and other ports used by the Union to further strangle commerce into the CSA. While ultimately, no permanent damage or invasion was enacted against the two islands, the damage received during the years of the American Civil War left a permanent impact on the psyche of the nations. Working closely with the newly reunited United States, and with French investment, the Haiti was the first foreign nation to buy a United States built, sea-going Ironclad vessel. Further investment saw a rapid build-up of Caribbean ship-building capability.
Both Haitian and Cuban relations with Britain continued to decline as their support for anti-colonial rule saw uprisings and revolts (with varying degrees of success) rise up in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and throughout the Lesser Antilles. By 1870, Jamaica and most of the Lesser Antilles had risen up and declared their independence with varying degrees of Haitian support.
However, not all was smooth going for the two nations. While reconciliation between White and Black Haitians had seen moderate success, many felt that the French and White Haitian population retained too much indirect influence over politics through their control over the economy. This was fermented into revolutionary fervor with the arrival of the Communist Manifesto in the late 1860’s. Beginning in the less well integrated Spanish side of Hispaniola, Communist revolution swept the Island, spilling into Cuba. However, the revolution was intellectual, rather than military. With recently independent Jamaica and the Antilles being among the most ardent proponents of a unified Caribbean State under the guidance of a utopian, Communist government, the movement spread and engulfed the intellgencia population throughout the Caribbean states. With massive popular support, the spirit, if not the letter, of Marx’s dream came into being.
Despite the incredible popularity of the work, several aspects of the Manifesto were not so eagerly adopted. The deeply religious population completely rejected Communism’s strong advocating of Atheism; and with many still holding vivid memories of the brutal and bloody path to independence; a peaceful approach to a Communist society was favored over a violent overthrowing of the upper classes.
Piece by piece, plantations, factories, shipyards, the banking sector, and eventually, much of the economy was nationalized and brought under the central authority of the State.
The Spanish American War saw a second major leap for the naval power of the Caribbean; as Havana quickly sided with the United States in the Spanish-American War. An expeditionary force was dispatched to aid American actions in the Philippines, and significant (although, ultimately failed) support for the US’s actions against Poncho Villa in Mexico. Both of these actions saw the Haitian navy humiliated by the Spanish; although time and again rescued by United States assistance. A reestablished commitment to blue-water capability was re-affirmed; although some time in coming…
By 1904, the Communist Community of Caribbean Nations was established, with headquarters in Havana. The economic power of the Community was solidified in the international with significant Community involvement in the financing, engineering, and construction of the Panama Canal. Community naval failings in the war with Spain had cemented the notion that the Community required a presence in both major oceans; and through cooperation with the United States, a fleet dedicated to action in the Pacific was born.
World War I was relatively quiet for the Caribbean Community; but the nations were far from inactive. Havana was frequently visited by Lenin, Trotsky, and other advocated for Russian communism; and the influence of Caribbean Communism is frequently cited as being heavily influential in the Russian Bolshevik movement. When they swept to power in following the Russian Civil War, relations between the two were rapidly established.
The 1920’s and 1930’s were a critical time in the development of the Caribbean Community; as the failings of the Capitalist systems in the United States and Europe with the Great Depression saw large-scale immigration from the north. Meanwhile, Socialism in the Caribbean saw the Community stand as a solid beacon of economic strength. Following the new Russian Soviet model, heavy emphasis was placed on militarization, and with Russian assistance, shipbuilding infrastructure was dramatically expanded; quickly gifting the Community with the second largest navy in the Western hemisphere.
With the eruption of the Second World War, Havana was quick to side with the Allies; and contributed to naval activities in both the Pacific, and the Atlantic. While less involved in the war in Europe, Haitian and Cuban soldiers contributed significantly in Operation Torch; with both supplies and men. In the Pacific, the Community reluctantly came to the aid of British and Commonwealth territories against the Japanese and alongside the Americans; seeing a modest improvement in British-Community relations.
However, a major coup would occur with the conclusion of World War Two, and the descent of the world into the Cold War. With their vital political and ideological ties to the Soviet Union, the Community was forced into the difficult position of choosing between the rising power of the Soviet Union, and the American led Free World. Ultimately, the decision had only one possible outcome, and the Communist Community of Caribbean Nations became the most powerful bastion of Communism in the western hemisphere.
Corresponding to holding the banner of Communism, Soviet generosity was not short in coming. Post-war Soviet rebuilding did not hamper investment into their allies’ infrastructure, and Russian engineers, money, equipment and expertise were soon on hand to dramatically expand the military capability of the Community in the form of shipyards, tank factories, and dramatic expansion of the Communities aircraft building industry. While never diverging far from Soviet designs, the Community did implement its own take on several technologies brought in from the Soviet Union…
![[ img ]](http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh593/RegiaMarina1939/S-39%20Attack%20boat_zpscg07nnwq.png)
-The CCCN Navy knew from the very beginning that small, high-speed craft carrying heavy armament where capable of crippling larger warships of major navies. This doctrine carried over into the post-WW2 era with the design of indigenous attack boats. Most of them carried torpedoes, but the S-39's where the first vessels that the navy acquired to carry missiles, in this case the famed Russian P-15 Termit missile. The missiles were carried in two single-tube launchers on either side of the boat, and were modified for effective counterbalancing. Carried in addition to the missiles, a quadruple 25-mm turret was mounted just forward of the superstructure, and an aft heavy quadruple machine gun was also mounted for limited dual-purpose use. The 25-mm guns could fire at both aircraft and surface targets, and were famed for being effective in both roles, especially with the addition of radar directors. The class was driven by dual 8-cylinder diesel engines, designed by the Cuban Engineering Bureau (CEB) and manufactured by the Caribbean National Machine Production Association (CNMPA). They power plant produced 5,000 combined horsepower (2,500 hp each) and were geared to 2 shafts each driving a single 3-bladed bronze propeller. The class consisted of 10 vessels, S-39 through S-49, and they were retained in service until the mid-1980's, with alterations in armament and electronic equipment. These changed included the replacement of the 25-mm turret with an AK-630 30-mm Gatling gun system and improved radar. They are all out of front-line service, either being transferred to the Coast Guard, after having their missiles removed, or transferred to the reserve fleet.
Specifications:
-Type: Fast attack craft/missile boat
-Length: 125 feet
-Beam: 25 feet
-Draft: 5.5 feet
-Displacement: 165 tons standard, 192 tons full load
-Speed: 40 knots
-Machinery 2 x 2,500-hp 8-cylinder CEB/CNMPA diesel engines
-Armament: 2 x single-tube P-15 Termit missile launchers, 1 x 4-barreled 25-mm DP gun turret, 1 x 4-barreled 12.7-mm HMG.
-Electronics: 1 x Surface/Air-search radar array.
Quick links
FAQ
Register
Login![[Post Reply]](./styles/legacy/theme/en/button_topic_reply.gif "Post a reply"){kind=small}
![[*]](./styles/legacy/theme/images/button_topic_tools.gif){kind=small}
![[Profile]](./styles/legacy/theme/en/icon_user_profile.gif "Profile: RegiaMarina1939"){kind=icon}
![[Quote]](./styles/legacy/theme/en/icon_post_quote.gif "Reply with quote"){kind=icon}
