Hot Air Balloons for Artillery spotting

I think that the sun once had a rocky- metalic core but during ignition that was vaperoized and the gasses are now a part of the sun.

6L6 wrote:I think that the sun once had a rocky- metalic core but during ignition that was vaperoized and the gasses are now a part of the sun.

No, that's not what stellar formation theory says. A proto-stellar molecular cloud is massive enough that the gas and dust all collapse at the same time into the proto-star. The dust never condenses to form a rocky core because the heat of contraction becomes high enough to vaporize it before it gets a chance.

Now, a brown dwarf can probably form around a rocky core, and it is possible that brown dwarfs can form independent of other protostars.

SWM, you could be right----- maybe

Steelpoodle wrote:Perhaps this has been mentioned but hot air balloons for spotting make sense for the army and navy of the Charisian empire. Better artillery co-ordination and harder for privateers to attack convoys without being seen well in advance. Even without telegraph ability the signal flags and message drops would work.

RFC has explained why convoys, and convoy protection was the most efficient use of naval ships smaller than line of battle ships. He had this to say about the strategy of "blockades".

RFC wrote: Okay, the Tarot Channel is 300-plus miles wide at the narrowest point. Assume a visual horizon of 20 miles. That means you'd need fifteen ships abreast to cover its width, assuming they could keep perfect station on one another, it never got dark, and there was never any fog or rain. Oh, and you'd have to have multiple lines of pickets to pick up anything that got past the first one. And your pickets would have to be fast enough to catch each individual raider they intercepted without making holes in the picket line other raider might sneak through. And ---

Now consider; if we tether a hot air balloons to schooners, and that extends the visual horizon to 40 miles, and we position our schooners to cover an eighty mile section off the coast of Desnair. A 1000 mile by 80 mile area could be observed by 50 schooners. If we combine the schooners with the new City class ironclads. Then we have a force that we can signal that has the speed advantage to bring any observed ships to battle.

So, if it is so easy, why are the pirates off the coast of Somalia so hard to stop. The problem is that the ships in the Arabian Sea are fishing boats until it is proved different. But Charis can say that if the ship is from Desnair it is a commerce raider.

Using balloons and steam powered ships is a force multiplier, whether used to protect convoys or blockades. The limits will be how fast the City class ships can be deployed.

James

JRM wrote:

Steelpoodle wrote:Perhaps this has been mentioned but hot air balloons for spotting make sense for the army and navy of the Charisian empire. Better artillery co-ordination and harder for privateers to attack convoys without being seen well in advance. Even without telegraph ability the signal flags and message drops would work.

RFC has explained why convoys, and convoy protection was the most efficient use of naval ships smaller than line of battle ships. He had this to say about the strategy of "blockades".

RFC wrote: Okay, the Tarot Channel is 300-plus miles wide at the narrowest point. Assume a visual horizon of 20 miles. That means you'd need fifteen ships abreast to cover its width, assuming they could keep perfect station on one another, it never got dark, and there was never any fog or rain. Oh, and you'd have to have multiple lines of pickets to pick up anything that got past the first one. And your pickets would have to be fast enough to catch each individual raider they intercepted without making holes in the picket line other raider might sneak through. And ---

Now consider; if we tether a hot air balloons to schooners, and that extends the visual horizon to 40 miles, and we position our schooners to cover an eighty mile section off the coast of Desnair. A 1000 mile by 80 mile area could be observed by 50 schooners. If we combine the schooners with the new City class ironclads. Then we have a force that we can signal that has the speed advantage to bring any observed ships to battle.

So, if it is so easy, why are the pirates off the coast of Somalia so hard to stop. The problem is that the ships in the Arabian Sea are fishing boats until it is proved different. But Charis can say that if the ship is from Desnair it is a commerce raider.

Using balloons and steam powered ships is a force multiplier, whether used to protect convoys or blockades. The limits will be how fast the City class ships can be deployed.

James

The potential problem with the balloons would be reliability in rough weather. IIRC, while some times of the year are better than others, that whole area can be truly nasty. I know I wouldn't want to be riding one of those things in a force 4 gale.

Don

n7axw wrote:
The potential problem with the balloons would be reliability in rough weather. IIRC, while some times of the year are better than others, that whole area can be truly nasty. I know I wouldn't want to be riding one of those things in a force 4 gale.

Don

Hi Don,

When I read in Burton Folsom Jr's book "New Deal or Raw Deal" that one of FDR's many business failures was buying a line of dirigibles to fly from New York to Chicago, I thought what a chump, the weather is going kill the dependability of his service. Needless to say, airships never replaced airplanes.

Starting in 2004 in Iraq, and 2007 in Afghanistan, the military made extensive use of observation balloons. The afghans say that they are always in the sky unless it is windy or raining. In WW I the spherical balloon was replace with a kite balloon because the kite balloons were more stable in windy conditions. What is windy? I don't know.

Of course I don't have any personal experience with foul weather. I live in Honolulu where it is never too hot, or too cool, and the trade winds usually blow at 10 to 20 mph. That is except for every other decade when a hurricane swings by.

James

JRM wrote:So, if it is so easy, why are the pirates off the coast of Somalia so hard to stop. The problem is that the ships in the Arabian Sea are fishing boats until it is proved different.

A major part of the problem is the unwillingness of "Western" politicians to give their navies useful Rules of Engagement and excess consideration given to the "ooman rights" of the Pirates by those self-same politicians.

What is needed is a return to the concept of the "East Indiaman", a heavily armed merchant ship that can defend itself backed up by the navies of all maritime trading nations.

A friend's grandfather, formerly a Merchant Navy Engineering Officer told tales of the "China seas" between the worldwars where he said that cargo nets were strung loosely along the railings from the derricks and that the companionways had a steam pipe discharge, from the "dry header" placed to "discourage boarders" with the control valve on the bridge and of keeping Tommy Guns in aan accessible locker where customs etc. knew where not to look.

We are too "civilise these days to deal properly with the floating vermin of the trade routes.

chrisd wrote:

JRM wrote:So, if it is so easy, why are the pirates off the coast of Somalia so hard to stop. The problem is that the ships in the Arabian Sea are fishing boats until it is proved different.

A major part of the problem is the unwillingness of "Western" politicians to give their navies useful Rules of Engagement and excess consideration given to the "ooman rights" of the Pirates by those self-same politicians.

What is needed is a return to the concept of the "East Indiaman", a heavily armed merchant ship that can defend itself backed up by the navies of all maritime trading nations.

A friend's grandfather, formerly a Merchant Navy Engineering Officer told tales of the "China seas" between the worldwars where he said that cargo nets were strung loosely along the railings from the derricks and that the companionways had a steam pipe discharge, from the "dry header" placed to "discourage boarders" with the control valve on the bridge and of keeping Tommy Guns in aan accessible locker where customs etc. knew where not to look.

We are too "civilise these days to deal properly with the floating vermin of the trade routes.

Hi Chris,

You are absolutely right. You would think that the U.S. at least would support 2nd Amendment rights on the high seas.

My original reference was that we surpass the ability of observation balloons today with satellites, radar, and air surveillance. If our ships can't get where we need them so quick, probably our armed helicopters can. You would think that mopping up 18th century pirates would be a snap.

James

6L6 wrote:SWM, you could be right----- maybe

I guess I should have explicitly put on my planetary science hat. Before I became a librarian, that's what I did for a living.