Good PR for the High Seas Fleet

[Mostlyharmless]

OTL, the battlecruiser Moltke and the light cruiser Stettin visited the USA, arriving on May 30th 1912. This worried the American press which treated the ability of the HSF to send ships to America as a threat. The HSF was also unpopular with the British public at that time.

What if Moltke and Stettin had been sent earlier so that they were approximately 400 South of the Grand Banks on the night of April 14th 1912 when Titanic hit the iceberg? Both ships had good radio equipment and were quite fast. Could the PR of them bringing most of Titanic's passengers to New York have changed subsequent history?

 

[MrP]

I must say that's one of the most interesting new ideas I've seen of late! Some nifty politicking could calm down a lot of otherwise fractious types. It seems likely to be especially important given the high social status of the passengers.

 

[chris N]

In 1916 the German Merchant Submarine Deutschland payed two visits to the US. Stopping at the Port of New London , Connecticut, where it impressed the US navy at the base in Groton and latter at Baltimore Maryland.

 

[NHBL]

Facinating!

I love new and unique POD's, and also love the great ships of the Dreadnought era. This has both! Certainly it creates some great PR for Germany.

Titanic Sinks!
All saved by German Fleet!

Of course, the crowding on those two ships until the Carpathia arrives would be incredible. But, they would live. I wonder--could there be no fatalities if the Germans arrived in time?

There would be a lot of people that thought very highly of Germany in the following few years!

 

[Torqumada]

400 miles away puts them almost a full days sail from the area the Titanic sank even at full speed. That puts them more than 20 hours too late to help do more than fish bodies out of the water.

Torqumada

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

OTL, the battlecruiser Moltke and the light cruiser Stettin visited the USA, arriving on May 30th 1912. This worried the American press which treated the ability of the HSF to send ships to America as a threat. The HSF was also unpopular with the British public at that time.

What if Moltke and Stettin had been sent earlier so that they were approximately 400 South of the Grand Banks on the night of April 14th 1912 when Titanic hit the iceberg? Both ships had good radio equipment and were quite fast. Could the PR of them bringing most of Titanic's passengers to New York have changed subsequent history?

Of course, the public PR would be HUGE. OTOH, as others have pointed out '400 miles' is a long distance, so does this mean that if the German navy actually intervenes, it is some 300-400 miles away from where it CLAIMED it was going to be. I could imagine ALL sorts of theories about what they were doing there in the first place....

Was the Titanic actually sunk by a torpedo? Are the Germans spying on (shipping, Newfoundland, fisheries, Iceland, etc.)?

 

[Mostlyharmless]

400 miles away puts them almost a full days sail from the area the Titanic sank even at full speed.
Torqumada

Sorry for the confusion but I tried to put the Germans close to the Titanic. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic "At 23:40, while sailing about 400 miles south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, lookouts Fredrick Fleet and Reginald Lee spotted a large iceberg directly ahead of the ship."

 

[LittleSpeer]

i could see this being a Mini-TL
get Onkel Willie involved and you got it
Im seeing a new history were the public could keep America from going to war with the Central powers and a stalemate or even a victory on the western front.

 

[MrP]

i could see this being a Mini-TL
get Onkel Willie involved and you got it
Im seeing a new history were the public could keep America from going to war with the Central powers and a stalemate or even a victory on the western front.

I suggest a different direction - there are many theories on removing America and thus changing the balance of power, but why not use this as a PoD to increase international harmony, thus preventing or delaying the war for years? It's always nicer when people don't die.

 

[LittleSpeer]

DEMAND A MINI-TL AS I AM NOT MENTALLY OR GOOD ENOUGH AT WRITING TO DO IT!!!

 

[Markus]

OTL, the battlecruiser Moltke and the light cruiser Stettin visited the USA, arriving on May 30th 1912. This worried the American press which treated the ability of the HSF to send ships to America as a threat.

So much about quality jounalism, though they were probably fed disinformation by the USN.

 

[machine3589]

I suggest a different direction - there are many theories on removing America and thus changing the balance of power, but why not use this as a PoD to increase international harmony, thus preventing or delaying the war for years? It's always nicer when people don't die.

It would take more then saving the Titanic to avoid WWI.

 

[Mauser]

Quick newspaper.

 

[Eternity]

Feasable but I would point something out.

When Titanic radioed her position she was somewhat out with it. About 20 miles I recall. In that case, I would suggest that the German ships may either stumble onto her 20 miles earlier or later than 1 hour, therefore either increasing or decreasing the time for rescuing passangers.

Another idea. What if they gattached their pumps to Titanic through access doors? They may be able to pump more water out than was comming in (In conjunction with Titanic's mumps) and save the ship?

 

[Mauser]

Feasable but I would point something out.

When Titanic radioed her position she was somewhat out with it. About 20 miles I recall. In that case, I would suggest that the German ships may either stumble onto her 20 miles earlier or later than 1 hour, therefore either increasing or decreasing the time for rescuing passangers.

Another idea. What if they gattached their pumps to Titanic through access doors? They may be able to pump more water out than was comming in (In conjunction with Titanic's mumps) and save the ship?

In my opinion Stettin and Moltke could separate to find Titanic. Unlike Titanic those two cruisers were designed to do maneuver and possessed high speed capabilities. (Moltke can go 28.4 knots if I am not mistaken) Plus, in such clean night like that, it is quite impossible to missed the bright flares or light from Titanic in such close range. They could make Titanic easier to be found.

If the Germans wanted to fixed the ship then it is plausible because there's no point pumping water out if you cannot fix the hole.

Nonetheless I think the panicked survivors would chose to be evacuated rather than staying in their ill-fated ship. The risk would be too high for them (especially those important people aboard Titanic).

 

[LittleSpeer]

Here:
The Germans get to the Titanic but it took an hour and a half to get there and get into position to start saving people. While the lifeboats in the water and people on deck are being loaded, the Germans are informed that many are still trapped inside the ship and a large rescue party(say 50 or so) is formed to try to release them. Only 5 Germans make it back to the cruisers with a larger amount of people(30 to 50). Imagine the Headlines!

Titanic Sinks!
German Cruisers on seen and rescue all they could. The heroism of the German navy was shown in that a search party of all volunteers was assembled to rescue the men, women, and children trapped beneath the decks BY THE BRITISH CREW. Only 5 of these brave men made it back with 50 scared to death passengers. A bored of inquiry has been called for by powerful Americans that were on the Titanic, and the American and German governments as to how this could have happened and the training involved in a British Run Company.

 

[Eternity]

If the Germans arrived 90 minutes after she struck the iceberg then they would still have around 50 minutes before Titanic deep-sixed. Assuming they ignored those in lifeboats initally and got alongside Titanic to allow passengers to jump over then with sufficent space for all people on board the stewards would unlock the 3rd class doors.........

Hang on, didn't I read somewhere that there were no gates to third class as seen in James Camerons film? Can't remember..... Something about a teathered mini-sub from one of the Mir submersables into 3rd class sections.

 

[Susano]

Err... hrm. I vaguely remember, in the vague mists of my memory, that there was a German coal transporter in the region which offered help, but got turned down - partly because a coal transporter would not have been appropriate for the first class passengers and secondly because it was German. Can anybody confirm or deny that? Because if its true then this has of course... implications on this scenario.

 

[birdy]

Err... hrm. I vaguely remember, in the vague mists of my memory, that there was a German coal transporter in the region which offered help, but got turned down - partly because a coal transporter would not have been appropriate for the first class passengers and secondly because it was German. Can anybody confirm or deny that? Because if its true then this has of course... implications on this scenario.

Read a reasonable amount on the Titanic including the myths and embellishments- never heard of this.

 

[Eternity]

Me neither. There was something about how it was a fishing boat that Titanic saw and not the Califorian. Released records apparantly show her in the area somewhat illegially. A few years back the Califorian's Captain's family tried to get the stain on his record removed due to this but failed.....

But nothing about German coal ships that I can recall