Peshwar Lancers Redux: Kingdom of Hawaii

[chris N]

Honolulu was a rapidly growing city. The King and his government were determined that it would be the best city in the Pacific.
The Government was now building a new Military complex that would house both the Army and Navy's Offices, it was estimated that it would take at least three Years to build.
It was also planned to build a new Military Academy which would be pattern after the Royal Palace.

[Archangel]

Keep it up, Chris N!

[chris N]

Hawaii had a very interesting bargaining chip in dealing with the Central American Republic. It had the ability to train the Republic doctors and nurses in the most up to date terms. Currently the Kingdom had 12 medical students and 36 nursing students. The Nurses would complete 9 months of training in Hawaii and then return to ha Hospital that was run by an Hawaiian Company.
Still the prospective students were screened to attempt to insure that no hostile agent made his or her way to Hawaii to do mischief . Manuel Ortega was one of the students that arrived he had passed a lot of the security checks in the Central American republic but this was the 19th Century not the 20th so things were not as exact. Still there was something about the Centleman that didn't seem right to the Immigration agence so his file was flagged and he was put under a watch by the Royal Hawaiian Polices Departments Special Branch. Everything seemed normal at first but then on his days off he started to visit locations near the Military affairs/ Naval department, The Armory, The Foundry and other locations. He would take notes and sometime sketch.
Interviews were made with his teachers and at first everything seemed normal but then he appeared to miss or be late for classes. Special Branch secretly broke into his residence and found a Mexican Made
Pistol and a book that at first glance seemed to be of medical notes but when examined closer the impression was that it was in code.
A worker at the Foundry was found dead three days latter. Killed by a bullet that could have come from a pistol similar to the Medical student.
Finally orders were issued to bring him in for questioning. But when the officers tried to bring him in he shot one of them to death and wounded the other. Then began a manhunt that would continue for nearly two weeks.

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by chris N

Honolulu was a rapidly growing city. The King and his government were determined that it would be the best city in the Pacific.
The Government was now building a new Military complex that would house both the Army and Navy's Offices, it was estimated that it would take at least three Years to build.
It was also planned to build a new Military Academy which would be pattern after the Royal Palace.

Unless you've taken a tour of Iolani Palace you would probably don't have an idea of what a terrible floor plan it would have for a school. The Royal Family some times slept in a house that is where the barracks were moved to.

[chris N]

My idea is to have the outward appearance to be similar but much larger and consisting of several buildings. But to be Honest I favor another design even More as you can see below. But to build the complex probably would take from between 5-10 years.

[David S Poepoe]

Originally Posted by chris N

My idea is to have the outward appearance to be similar but much larger and consisting of several buildings. But to be Honest I favor another design even More as you can see below. But to build the complex probably would take from between 5-10 years.

Unless they were building with only imported materials it should take shorter. The most prevalent stone in Hawaii is lava rock, called pohaku in Hawaiian. It was used extensively, and to a degree still is, in Hawaii. Probably a photo of Bishop Museum would be the easiest one to find that shows off this dark brown to black stonework.

Iolani Palace itself was entirely of poured concrete. I think you should consider something more in proportion to Honolulu, which may be similar in scale to Aliiolani Hale.

[chris N]

The Prime Minister looked at some of the construction Proposals and seemed to favor one that would be similar to a building that currently housed the Judicial department and the courts.
It would be larger in size and dormitories would be added to the complex.
The complex would house both the Army and Navy's Academy .

[chris N]

The Navy Ministry would be housed in a building similar in design to one that Minister Bishop was having built to house his collections. It would look live the photo below.
I would like to thank David for his suggestions for the possible design of the complexes.

[chris N]

a Look at the Military Academy with some changes

[chris N]

A Merchant ship arrived in Honolulu with dispatches from the Senior Hawaiian Naval Officer in the Western Pacific. One of the Gunboats that had been patrolling had vanished. It was long overdue. He had just completed escorting a convoy to New Zealand and had taken on fuel and was going to search the area where the ship had last been seen.
The King Kamehameha III was the cruiser currently on station as the flagship of the Western Squadron.

[chris N]

The Hawaiian Naval Department was considering taking several current merchant ships into the navy as auxiliary cruisers. One that they were looking at closely was the ex CSS Tallahassee which had been a warship during the civil war and converted back ito a merchant ship. It had the advantage of having received a complete overhaul before it was purchased.
It was purchased by the Navy and sent into the shipyard for some conversion work back into a warship. Its Provisional Name was the H(Hawaiian) Majesty Ship Lunalilo.( I am willing to consider other names).

The Shipyard had also received enough lumber from outside sources to start work on building 2 Gunboats that would be improvements on the British designed and built ships. Th first ship was designated the Pololu and the second the Pahoa 'Oilua.

[chris N]

The Prime Minister often found disheartening news come across his desk. One of the Reports was from the company that produced almost all of the metal products in the country. If an artillery piece needed to be made they were involved, if a ships engine needed to be produced they were involved. etc. They had acquired the process to make steel before the fall but in order to do it or to make anything they needed various ores, which were not available in Hawaii. It had acquired the resources from the US , Canada, Australia prior to the fall.But due to the Fall nothing was available and Canada had suffered from a winter that just seemed to hand on forever.. The Hawaiians were able to send teams onto Vancouver Island during the "summer; to mine ores such as coal, Iron and copper but that was only possible for perhaps 8 weeks a year. Central America had helped somewhat but coal remained a headache.
The foundry was reporting that even with the stocks of ore that they had they would be unable to produce everything needed. They could produce all of the equipment needed for the construction of the new Gunboat and the metal needed by the Armory to make the guns for it and the rearmed cruiser. But that would mean just two guns could be produced for Coastal defense. The rest of the steel was already committed for rifles, railroad rails, structural steel for buildings. Even with this things would be slow. Hawaii would need more imports and an expansion of its critical industry.

[chris N]

Honolulu: Mr Bishop had an unusual visitor at his office. He was the superintendent of ships. This would have been something that he thought would have fallen under the Minister of the Navy. But it seemed that in the Splitting of the Ministry of Military and Naval affairs the Position that he now held still had some say in the purchase of ships by the navy from the Merchant Marine fleet. The Superintendent it seemed did not think that the purchase of the SS Tallahassee by the navy was a good idea.
Mr Bishop allowed him into his office and asked him to explain his case. He did so and presented a written report noting that the ship would be able to carry just 1 heavy gun. It would be a waste of the Navy's money.
The Navy Minister would not listen to his case but Mr Bishop did and promised to discuss the issue with the Minister and the Prime Minister.

In a meeting with his colleague there was a difference of opinion but when Minister Bishop pointed out that only 1 gun would be able to be mounted on the ship the Navy Minister had a different opinion. He agreed that the ship would be kept as a civilial vessel but would have a naval gun installed and manned by Naval personnel when sailing into potentially hostile waters.

[chris N]

The Prime Minister was considering another potential shake up of the Cabinet as a result of the meeting between the Minister of Military Affairs and the Minister of the Navy. He could not have disputes between cabinet members. Thus it appeared that he might have to find a new Minister for the Navy. Mr Bishop was a close friend supporter or the government and the Monarchy, He had made massive contributions to the welfare of the Nation. Anyone have any suggestions for a new Minister?

[chris N]

The Hawaiian Cruiser was nearing the Marianas Islands. It was that the Gunboat was lost on its last patrol which included a visit to Guam.
So far they had not spotted any merchant ship or even any native vessel. Then just a little bit more than a two days from Guam when they happen to spot a Native fishing vessel. The Native reported having heard thunder in a clear sky several days before but had been to scared to go see what had happen. The Captain thanked them and gave them some goods as a thank you. He altered course to head to the site.

Finally near the island of Rota wreckage was spotted. It was decided to send a landing party to the island and what they discovered would shock them. On the Islands shore was the battered remains of the gunboat.
It looked like it had been smashed by something quite big.

[chris N]

Below the Island of Rota. On the Island they found graves and natives who told them of a great battle between a deamon ship and the Hawaiian vessel. The Hawaiian vessel was heavily damages and the currents brought it ashoe. Most of the crew had died then or several days latter but there were still some crew members at their village and others had been taken south to Guam.

[chris N]

Out of a crew of nearly 200 men all that remained of the crew were 34 men. The Men were transferred to the cruiser where the ships doctor began to treat them.
One of the Sailors had a picture r that he wanted to show them. He had gotten it from an instructor at the Naval school.He said that the ship looked like it.
It was taken to the Ships captain. He said to his first Lt to set course for Guam.

[chris N]

The Hawaiian Cruiser arrived at Guam. They had a conversation with the Spanish Authorities there. It would appear that The Governor General of the Philippines wanted to recall all Spanish troops and Naval Forces so as to be better able to withstand changes.
Thus without any orders to do so he ordered his Marine Commander to land all of the Ships marines. The Captain had another officer and 24 Marines plus 13 sailors from the destroyed Gunboat. The cruiser had managed to recover some of the guns that had been aboard the Gunboat.

The Hawaiian Royal Marine commander was able to recruit some of the Natives to join his force. There were two rather old guns that would be used for coastal defense. By using the sailors as well as natives he had them manned.. Some of the Marin Henry Rifles had bee recovered from the gunboat and it was decided that 16 of them would be issued to Natives that Joined his command.

The Cruiser then headed back to Nauru and from there it would dispatch world to home and to New Zealand.

[chris N]

March 1882 News had arrived in Honolulu of the loss of the Gunboat. Also arriving aboard an Hawaiian Merchant Ship was the survivors of the sunken ship. It also carried the ships guns. They would be checked by the armory
A request was made for additional forces to protect the critical source of Hawaii's revenue as well as to reinforce the outpost at Guam.

There was a terrible argument in Parliament between the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition Mr Dole. Mr Dole objected to a naval officer deciding to land forces on the Island of Guam and claiming it for Hawaii.
The Prime Minister countered that the decision was made so that the island would not be occupied by a hostile force.

Parliament then voted42 to 18 to dispatch additional ground forces. The SS Tallahassee would be carrying supplies as well as additional Marines for Guam. Meanwhile additional army troops would be sent to protect the Island upon which the Navy was now based.

[chris N]

The Prime Minister was Meeting with his War Cabinet-Minister of Military Affairs, Minister of the Navy, Foreign Minister, Attorney General and the Director Of the Hawaiian Secret Service. The Meeting clearly showed that Hawaii was now in a much more dangerous world. Attempts had been made to destroy industries critical to Hawaii's development. Now some outside power had sunk a vessel belonging to the Hawaiian Navy. Hawaii
would need more ships but its ability to build them was limited by the resources that it was able to Import. It would need much more iron ore and other minerals to continue to produce both Civilian and Military equipment.
Nearly 100+ Marines were being sent to Guam. To the critical island that helped Hawaii and other nations to produce explosives another 240 Hawaiian Soldiers were being sent.
By June of 1882 it was clear that the British Empire would be limited in what it could do.