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Liftwood Production Commercial Fleets Naval Fleets Ship Sizes Great Britain France Russia Italy Germany United States Belgium Austria-Hungary Japan Turkey Spain Netherlands

     We're attempting here to get a rough approximation of the total amount of human-owned aerial and ether fliers in service for the year 1899. In the ten years that have passed since 1889, the large passenger vessels crossing Earth's seas have more than doubled in size, and have notably increased their speed.

 

"In 1890 there were 218 ocean steamships of 4,000 tons or over, while now 980 such steamships aggregating 5,600,000 tons constitute one-fourth of the world's steam tonnage. The hulls of 60 per cent of the world's shipping are now made of steel, compared with only 20 per cent in 1890." -- NY Times, November 19, 1900

 

     The same might apply to aerial and ether flyers, except that the supply of liftwood is limited.

 

Liftwood Production

 

     The demand by terrestrial shipyards has led to a high price for liftwood; modern harvesting methods, and military protection for the forestry operations, quickly led to the eradication of many Martian liftwood groves. Between 1885 and 1899, 33% of the known sources of liftwood have been leveled -- and much of that was the better-quality wood. Liftwood begins to lose its effectiveness after 10 or 12 years (see Biology of Liftwood, by M. Rowland, RMGS Transactions); most of the vessels constructed before 1890 are now obsolete. The establishment of commercial liftwood plantations on Mars has not yet been successful. The Colonial Office estimates that there will be very little liftwood available for fliers after 1910 or so; and perhaps even less for Terran governments, since the states not controlled by Terran nations will hold most of the remaining liftwood.

 

Commercial Fleets

 

     The Princess Alexandra was new in April 1889, Hull Size about 10, and apparently the largest vessel in merchant service at that date. By 1899, the Princess Alexandria and other early ether vessels and warships have been retired, or had their liftwood panels replaced. 

     Some ether vessels, especially those constructed by the Germans, use hydrogen gas for lift; but various technical and safety issues have limited the growth of such ships. And while the actual tonnage of vessels may not have increased, technical improvements have reduced the weight of various components, or increased their capabilities, efficiency or output at the same weight.

      For ether liners, the best available solution to the crisis in liftwood supply is to depend on orbital tenders and planetary stations to land passengers and cargo. Intereplanetary trade and travel quickly outgrew the first British heliograph stations; by 1895 several proper stations were in Earth orbit, and a station was constructed on Mars' moon Deimos that year. These stations serve both as trans-shipment points, and for the assembly of ether ship components brought up from the planet below. After the discovery in 1894 of Venusian microbes that attack liftwood, a small station was rapidly constructed in late 1895 to orbit that planet -- insurance companies now apply steep surcharges to ether vessels using liftwood systems which enter Venus's atmosphere.

     The first ether-only commercial vessels (except for a few small craft) entered service in 1896. Ether-only vessels (known as space liners in some publications) are being built in rapidly increasing size after 1897 -- space liners well over Hull Size 100 could be in service by 1904. The time required for construction of ever-larger building docks in orbit, and the design of larger and faster orbital tenders, is the main factor slowing down the otherwise rapid growth of space liners. Another advantage of building a space liner:  it doesn't automatically stop working after about 10 years.

     One typical company's ether liners:

 

Martian Brittanic Line
name	launched	size	speed	notes
not yet named	under construction	13	5	ether only
Parhoon	1896	11	3.5	ether only
Syrtis Major	1895	9	3.5
African	1898	6	3.5	ether only
Indian	1896	6	3
Asian	1894	6	3
Martian	1899	5	4	ether only
Australian	1897	5	3.5
European	1894	5	3
Venusian	1894	5	3
South American	1893	5	3
North American	1892	5	2.5

 

"These ether liners are fitted with Electric Light throughout, have Saloons and State Rooms, Music Rooms, Smoking Rooms and Bath Rooms amidships, where the least motion is felt, are amongst the largest and finest in space, and are well and favourably known for the comfort and excellent arrangements they afford for all classes of Passengers."

 

     MBL is only one of a dozen Imperial companies providing interplanetary service; and passenger vessels only make up about 25% of the tonnage of commercial ether vessels. By 1899, about 1/3 of the liners are space liners (with no liftwood or hydrogen systems); relatively few of the solar system's freighters are ether-only vessels yet.

     In fact, some of the older, smaller freighters formerly in interplanetary service have recently been converted to orbital tenders -- to carry passengers, freight, and construction materials up to the various orbital stations. Ether craft which depend on liftwood, and are more than 10 years old, have been hulked as portions of the various orbital stations.

     So:  this company has 68 Hull Size points in service; all British ether liners total about 816 Hull Size points; and all British commercial ether vessels total about 3264 Hull Size points. Ether vessels which carry only freight (or colonists, or troops, or livestock) are of Hull Size 2 to 6, averaging about 4. Thus there are about 816 British "freighters" in space.

     If we take the ratio of seagoing mercantile fleets for each country, relative to Great Britain and the Empire, and presume the ratio applies to ether vessels, then the total of all terrestrial ether vessels will be:

 

country	Hull Size total	lift liners	space liners	freighters
United States	404	13	3	101
British Empire	3264	79	53	816
Germany, Japan, and Italy	863	23	12	215
Scandinavian countries	428	11	6	107
Belgium, France	428	11	6	107
Russia	~250	6	0	~60
grand total	5387	137	80	1346

 

     I've substituted Belgium for Holland, given the unique position of Belgium on Mars. One Hull size point equals 100 tons mass.

     From this chart, you can very roughly say that a British liner departs for Mars about twice a week. Of course not all of them are going to Mars, they are of different speeds, not all will depart from the British territory on Earth that you're in, etc. but it's roughly so.

    Allan Line, Martian Brittanic Line, Peninsular & Oriental, White Star Line, Cunard Line, Royal Venusian Mail Line (with specialized ships) and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company are some of the British companies operating ether liners.

     The largest American ether-liner company is the Interplanetary Navigation Company, with 9 liners (three of them space-only liners); its base is at Menlo Park, New Jersey. The other seven American liners are owned singly or in pairs by smaller companies. All of the American liners receive a subsidy from the U.S. Navy, in return for being capable of conversion to auxiliary cruisers in time of war. The American Line has vessels under the British, Belgian and American flags. Another American firm, the Martian Transport Company, owns a good number of freighters and livestock vessels.

     Some notable companies from other countries:    Navigazione Generale Italiana, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Compagnie General Transplanétaires, Messageries Maritimes, Hamburg-American Line, Compagnie Belge Interplanétaire, and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line).

     Shipping rates in 1900, per ton, New York to Liverpool:  15 shillings for general cargo, 5 shillings 5 pence for bulk cargo. In 1889, general cargo costs to Mars averaged ₤1500 per ton; by 1899, the cost of shipping to Mars is down to about ₤500 per ton.

     The Russian and British governments have been negotiating, bickering, spying, fighting and conniving for control of the Himalayas, Kara Koram, and Hindu Kush ranges -- all but one of Earth's (known) mountains over 24,000' height are there. The Russians have been investigating the value of a launch facility on Mount Kauffman, in the Pamir range; but they'd be glad to do the British in the eye ... 

 

Naval Fleets

 

     With the passage in 1897 of the First Naval Law, Germany has begun a program of building large ether-only battleships, to counter British supremacy in space (and on the seas of Earth). No other nation has yet seen fit to have space-naval vessels incapable of operating in the atmosphere. The German fleets will double in size between 1897 and 1905.

     The sea fleets of the Great Powers in 1898, counting only armored ships of 2000 tons displacement or more, amount to:

 

country	tons total	rate
Great Britain	560,000	35
France	345,000	11
Russia	180,000	15
Italy	150,000	3
Germany	150,000	8
USA	90,000	10
Austria-Hungary	50,000	4
Japan	45,000	6

 

     The rate refers to the number of new ships (armored, over 2000 tons) budgeted for that year.

     20,404 merchant vessels belong to the United Kingdom on January 1st, 1899; they total 9,001,860 tons; of that number, 11,556 are sailing vessels totalling 2,287,943 tons, and 8,838 are steamers of 6,613,917 tons. Yes, we're aware that register tons and displacement tons aren't quite the same, but the difference isn't important right now.

     So the warships total weight is 8.5% of the merchant steamships weight. If we presume for the moment that this ratio holds true for liftwood-supported spacecraft also, then we get:

 

country	Hull Size total
Great Britain	278
France, Belgium	36
Russia	21
Italy	32
Germany	32
USA	34
Austria-Hungary	18
Japan	10

Does not include dirigible craft.

 

     Orbital tenders and landing craft are for this purpose considered to be "merchant vessels". The proportion of naval vessels with liftwood panels for planetary operations will vary from fleet to fleet; thus the above total is just a starting point ...

 

Ship Sizes

 

• Patrol Craft and Gunboats = Hull Size 5 or less

• Cruiser = Hull Size 10

• Armored Cruiser = Hull Size 15 to 20

• Battleship = Hull Size 30

• Ether Fortress = Hull Size 40

 

     These are just examples, ship tonnage will vary from country to country, and between classes. In the lists below, "space" designates vessels sealed to operate in vacuum, and equipped with an ether drive; "ether" designates vessels that cannot enter atmosphere (they have neither liftwood, gas bags, nor lift propellers).

 

Great Britain

 

     The "Two Power Standard" adopted by the British government requires the Navy to be able to win a war against the two most powerful foreign fleets. Since the loss of the Duke of York in 1894, the British have decided to construct space-faring warships of less mass (under Hull Size 40) than that ill-fated behemoth (Hull Size 100) and her sisters. In 1898, the hulked Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Clarence formed the cores of orbital stations above the Earth and Mars, respectively. Note that while those two vessels can no longer enter the atmosphere due to liftwood deterioration, and their main armament has been dismounted, their solar boilers remain functional, and they retain some of their lesser armament as part of the stations' defenses.

     Imperial power is represented by the threat of orbital bombardment -- the ability to quickly move immense batteries of guns between continents, or between worlds -- a menace no other nation can equal.

 

RN	type	hull	year	#
Colossus (Hercules)	space battleship	30	1895	2
Lion (Tiger, Leopard)	space armored cruiser	20	1894	3
Intrepid (Indomitable)	aerial cruiser	16	1889	2
Diamond class	space cruiser	10	1894	6
Caroline class	aerial gunboat (Mars)	5	1896	8
Champion class	space gunboat	4	1893	4
Phobos class	aerial scout	2	1894	12
Cyclops class	space scout	3	1895	6
Falcon (Vulture)	dirigible space cruiser	10	1896	2
Beetle class	dirigible scout	8	1897	4

 

France

 

     French naval policy emphasizes larger numbers of smaller vessels, and technical innovation. Defense, rather than extension of national power, drives their designs. The aerial fortress Charlemagne and the two aerial cruisers of the Gloire class were broken up in 1897 to provide liftwood for various tenders and orbital construction activities. 

 

MN	type	hull	year	#
improved Harpon class	aerial gunboat	4	1890	2
	aerial torpedo boat	3	1897	2
	space scout	2	1898	10
	dirigible scout	6	1897	4

 

Russia

 

     Without significant interplanetary colonies, Russia depends on a strong defense. While not as technologically adept as the French, balloon mines, aerial torpedoes, and vigorous anti-flyer artillery firing from the ground have all been built in great numbers to defend Mother Russia. Russian crews are not as skilled as those of other nations.

 

IRN	type	hull	year	#
Zhemchug, Izumrud	aerial gunboat	4	1894	2
Zhelezo, Stal, Bronzovyy, Latun	aerial gunboat (Mars)	4	1896	2
Zvezda, Meteor	space scout	2	1898	4
Mirny	space torpedo boat	1	1897	5

 

Italy

 

     There are not too many ships in the Regia Marina, but no colonies off the Earth to protect either; they have a mix of gunboats for blasting natives, and a couple of large ships for national pride. Their dirigibles feature a semi-rigid design. A large number of very small aerial craft, each 10 to 50 tons mass, have been constructed for rapid attacks on larger vessels; they have a very short range and are mostly deployed from naval bases.

 

RM	type	hull	year	#
Leonardo da Vinci	space cruiser	8	1897	2
Antares class	aerial gunboat	5	1893	3
Gemma	aerial scout	1	1897	1
Legionarii class	dirigible scout	8	1895	4

 

Germany

 

     The Kaiserliche Marine exists to support and enforce German rule over Terrestrial, Venusian and Martian colonies, protect trade routes, and to counter British military power. Since the British can outspend the Germans about three-to-one in naval matters, only innovation and clever strategy can keep the scheme working. 

 

KM	type	hull	year	#
Kaiser (Konig)	ether fortress	40	1898	2
Dresden (Emden)	space cruiser	10	1896	2
LS-20 class	aerial gunboat	5	1896	2
LS-10 class	aerial scout	1	1895	1
LZ-60 class	dirigible cruiser (5 on Venus)	10	1894	15
LZ-80 class	dirigible space cruiser	20	1898	5
LZ-50 class	dirigible space scout	6	1895	10
Wotan (Thor)	aerial fortress	30	1889	2

 

United States

 

     Until the Spanish-American War, the US Navy had little interest in space warfare. However, the Army constructed four "aerial rocket artillery" vessels before 1889 (they are no longer in service), and most American space warships are under the control of the field artillery. Fortunately for the US, Spain had even less experience in military uses of space. 

 

US Army	type	hull	year	#
Republic	space cruiser	10	1896	1
Chester A. Arthur	armored aerial cruiser	15	1899	1
Iroquois (Mohawk)	space gunboat	5	1895	2
Jupiter (Freedom)	space scout	2	1898	2

 

USN	type	hull	year	#
Nathaniel Bowditch	long-range space survey vessel	5	1897	1

 

Belgium

 

     Uniquely for a small European country, Belgium has excellent access to liftwood. The Marine Royale is heavily involved in protecting Belgium's interests on Mars and in the Congo. 

 

MR	type	hull	year	#
Albatros	space gunboat	6	1896	1
Meuse class	aerial gunboat	5	1899	2
Iris class	aerial gunboat (Mars)	4	1895	4
Sint-Niklaas class	space scout	3	1896	2

 

Austria-Hungary

 

     The K.u.K. Kriegsmarine sees itself as in competition with the Italians. While it only has a handful of smallish vessels, they embody some interesting features -- such as a ram bow for their aerial gunboats. The Skoda Works in Pilsen design and construct almost all Austrian aerial and ether fliers, except dirigibles (of German origin). Germans and Czechs are generally in signals and engine room duties, Hungarians are gunners while Croats and Italians serve as ordinary crew or stokers; officers have to speak at least four of the languages found in the Empire.

 

KM	type	hull	year	#
	aerial gunboat	6	1897	2
	aerial gunboat	4	1899	1
	aerial scout	2	1898	1
	dirigible scout	5	1894	6
	dirigible scout	8	1886	2

 

Japan

 

     There is a small but flourishing Japanese colony on Mars; otherwise, the Japanese Navy is concerned about the Americans and the Russians on Earth. Their small ships are very advanced, and entirely constructed to British designs in British yards. The older Yashima-class gunboats are no longer in service, their liftwood having deteriorated beyond usefulness.

 

IJN	type	hull	year	#
	aerial gunboat	4	1894	2
	aerial scout	2	1898	1

 

Turkey

 

     The Ottoman fleet has several German-built dirigibles in service, with a mix of German and Turkish crews. Russia and Greece are seen as the primary threats; France, Germany and Great Britain are all more or less friendly, from time to time.

 

ION	type	hull	year	#
	dirigible scout	8	1894	3
	dirigible scout	6	1896	2
	space yacht	4	1898	1

 

Spain

 

     After their recent humiliation at the hands of the Americans, the Spanish navy is intent on rebuilding and modernizing. British engineers and designers are hard at work on proper ether ships for the Armada, and the country is desperately seeking a large supply of liftwood. German-built dirigibles make up the aerial component of Spanish power.

 

Armada	type	hull	year	#
	dirigible scout	8	1893	3
	dirigible scout	6	1896	2
	dirigible space scout	8	1897	2
	dirigible cruiser	10	1899	2

 

Netherlands

 

     The Koninklijke Marine is small but well-equipped.

 

KM	type	hull	year	#
	aerial scout	2	1892	3
	dirigible space scout	4	1897	1