Keynes' Cruisers

[fester]

May 20, 1941 Washington DC

An unusual purchase order was signed. The US Navy had just issued an emergency requisition for twelve CW-21 fighters to be designated as T1C1 trainers. They were taking over the Dutch order of Demon fighters for a fleet training squadron. The Dutch had squawked until they were told that they were getting the next eighteen Wildcats off of Grumman’s lines as replacements.

 

[fester]

May 20, 1941 Norfolk

USS Sangamon, a converted fleet oiler, left the Newport News fitting out basin after minor repairs were made and the forward 5”/38 station was repaired. She had spent the past two months at sea shaking down and bringing her crew up to tolerable efficacy. Soon she would join a convoy of Marines to Iceland but before that, she had to sail to Bayonne for a squadron of Army Air Corps P-40Ds to be craned aboard. After that, her assigned squadron of F4F3 Wildcats would join her off of Long Island. Peary and Kinder would be her escorts to New Jersey.

 

[fester]

May 20, 1941 0750 Taranto

The port was becoming more active again. The conquest of Greece had limited the exposure of the port to surprise raids. A pair of light cruisers were weighing anchors to go to sea for gunnery training and then a patrol south of the entrance of the Adriatic Sea. Raimondo Montecuccoli led her sister Muzio Attendo into the outer harbor. Here the work to refloat the battleships that sank in October was almost complete. Both ships had been raised and the work to make them worthy of inspection if not repair had almost been completed.

 

[fester]

May 20, 1941 0833 Crete

The last Greek Martlet plowed into the earth. The six stubby fighters had scrambled from Maleme airfield forty minutes earlier when the radar indicated a major air raid was inbound. As soon as the last fighter departed, New Zealand and Greek infantry prepared to roll water filled drums onto the runway to deny the field to German paratroopers.

The Martletts were jumped by a squadron of ME-109’s. Two were able to break out of the furball and get among the bombers , downing three before being shot down by escorting fighters. Three other Martlets were splashed without a corresponding kill. The sixth tough Grumman survived three dozen hits as the pilot broke for the deck and fled the fight. He had attempted to get back into the bomber formation moments before each Junkers steadied to drop his bombs. One slow bomber crashed into an olive grove but German fighters dove on the Grumman and sent him into a wheat field three miles from Maleme. Two more bombers were brought down by a Bofors battery.

The airfield was a maelstrom of confusion. This time the German bombing was tight and accurate. An anti-aircraft battery was destroyed and an ammunition dump was turning into the gates of hell. An hour later, a bucket brigade had started to bring the fire under control until a trio of German fighters strafed the airfield again.

 

[Paulo the Limey]

So I'm guessing Glorious is on ferry duties in the Med, allowing Furious to reinforce Home Fleet. OTL it was just Victorious, with Force H reinforcing after Denmark Strait. A lot now depends on when the first sighting occurs, and whether they opt for air strikes first, rather than sending in the heavies. I imagine some of the VLR assets available to Coastal Command will be getting urgent order retaking them to the relevant area.

 

[fester]

So I'm guessing Glorious is on ferry duties in the Med, allowing Furious to reinforce Home Fleet. OTL it was just Victorious, with Force H reinforcing after Denmark Strait. A lot now depends on when the first sighting occurs, and whether they opt for air strikes first, rather than sending in the heavies. I imagine some of the VLR assets available to Coastal Command will be getting urgent order retaking them to the relevant area.

In my mind, Glorious is in for preventive maintenance and would be available in a week at which point Furious would have had a 2 week dry dock period.

 

[Paulo the Limey]

In my mind, Glorious is in for preventive maintenance and would be available in a week at which point Furious would have had a 2 week dry dock period.

Interesting. Just having one more deck means RN carriers are getting a slightly easier early war period, more maintenance breaks means they'll last a little longer.

Escort carriers coming on stream over a year earlier will have huge effects on North Atlantic and the med. I can see Churchill arguing for their use on the Maltese club runs, they can be covered by the fleet carriers further back, and still launch a worthwhile amount of fighters.

 

[fester]

Interesting. Just having one more deck means RN carriers are getting a slightly easier early war period, more maintenance breaks means they'll last a little longer.

Escort carriers coming on stream over a year earlier will have huge effects on North Atlantic and the med. I can see Churchill arguing for their use on the Maltese club runs, they can be covered by the fleet carriers further back, and still launch a worthwhile amount of fighters.

From the 1st post :

Finally, Senator Milton’s (D-NJ) vote had been secured when the Navy agreed to subsidize sixteen tankers for Standard Oil.

 

[Ramp-Rat]

I really hope the Butterflies are in a good mood and Hood makes it yes with damage but not a dammed great explosion and the country need some sort of win moral is the key to victory basically I'm asking that you please do not sink Hood.

One thing that would be really cool it HMS Hood sitting next to HMS Belfast on the river Thames one hell of a monument to the UKs past and indeed the Royal Navy's

Cool yes, possible doubtful, I think Hood is a touch to big to fit under Tower Bridge, and a bit large for the Pool. Not that she wouldn't look good in between Victory and Worrior at Portsmouth.

RR.

 

[fester]

Cool yes, possible doubtful, I think Hood is a touch to big to fit under Tower Bridge, and a bit large for the Pool. Not that she wouldn't look good in between Victory and Worrior at Portsmouth.

RR.

IF Hood was to survive she would have the same fate as Warspite.

 

[fester]

Interesting. Just having one more deck means RN carriers are getting a slightly easier early war period, more maintenance breaks means they'll last a little longer.

Escort carriers coming on stream over a year earlier will have huge effects on North Atlantic and the med. I can see Churchill arguing for their use on the Maltese club runs, they can be covered by the fleet carriers further back, and still launch a worthwhile amount of fighters.

More importantly, it is one more fast deck. ARGUS was sunk in TTL and not OTL but she was barely useful as anything other than a training deck and a ferry.

 

[kaymay]

I say that though Warspite had one hell of a war and deserved saving Hood was the country's darling and was viewed as the ultimate in British sea power some how some way I think the public would realy want her to be saved.

 

[fester]

I say that though Warspite had one hell of a war and deserved saving Hood was the country's darling and was viewed as the ultimate in British sea power some how some way I think the public would realy want her to be saved.

The economics of having 40,000 tons of high quality scrap steel rusting in Rosyth will overrule sentiment, IMO

 

[Ramp-Rat]

The economics of having 40,000 tons of high quality scrap steel rusting in Rosyth will overrule sentiment, IMO

Sad but true, much as I would love to see Warspite and Hood on display in Britain, with Ajax not Belfast in the Pool of London. While Achilles is in New Zealand, as a memorial to all the brave men from there who served. The fact is we British just don't have the same attitude towards old ships that others do.

RR.

 

[Unknown]

All the New Zealanders and Greeks have to do is ensure that a certain hill does not fall to the German paratroopers in Crete...

 

[Butchpfd]

Cool yes, possible doubtful, I think Hood is a touch to big to fit under Tower Bridge, and a bit large for the Pool. Not that she wouldn't look good in between Victory and Worrior at Portsmouth.

RR.

How about docked at Rosyth?

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Sad but true, much as I would love to see Warspite and Hood on display in Britain, with Ajax not Belfast in the Pool of London. While Achilles is in New Zealand, as a memorial to all the brave men from there who served. The fact is we British just don't have the same attitude towards old ships that others do.

RR.

While you're preserving ships I nominate Her Majesty's Victorian Ship Cerberus currently rusting away 3/4 underwater as a breakwater.

 

[fester]

May 21, 1941 Over Bergen, Norway

The Spitfire pulled away. 27,000 feet below the fast, anorexic fighter two large ships were steaming out of the fjord. Prinz Eugen led Bismarck. Half a dozen destroyers, minesweepers and torpedo boats were ahead of the raiders.

Within minutes of the Spitfire landing the film had been pulled to be developed and hours later, alerts were going to every command. The break-out was not longer a possible threat that Home Fleet had moved to contain, but now it was real.

 

[fester]

May 21, 1941 Norfolk Virginia

“Sir, we’ve received a telegram from Washington. Bismarck is attempting a break out into the Atlantic”

Admiral King paused and collected his breath. His command was in a position of war except that his political superiors could not call it a war. His units could only fire in self-defense even as they placed themselves into position as combatants over the past several months aiding the Royal Navy. Neutrality was still official American policy but it was a farce of a neutrality. His ships routinely cooperated with British and Canadian authorities to route convoys around suspected German units, his patrol aircraft frequently broadcast in the clear locations of “unidentified” submarines, and his heavy units would soon be escorting a reinforced Marine brigade to Iceland in order to free up the British garrison for combat against the Germans. He was commanding a fleet at war without shots being fired.

“Captain, are there any details about what Old Navy wants us to do?”

“Of course, Admiral, there are always details” his chief of staff said with a hint of sarcasm borne of frustration at the odd position the US Atlantic Fleet was in.

“They want us to protect American and neutral merchants, protect the freedom of navigation and offer any assistance to any nation that is hunting down raiders and pirates all without placing our ships at significant risk, so the same wishes today as yesterday.”

“Very well, let’s see what we have available to help our English friends”

“The Battle Force is dispersed. Until North Carolina and Washington are ready, I would not want to risk any of our older battleships against Bismarck one on one. Texas and New York are in the North Atlantic near Greenland, Arkansas and all of BatDiv Three are in the Roads getting ready for the Iceland convoys.


The carriers are our best source of assistance right now. Constellation is with Texas and New York, Ranger at Argentia and can go to sea in twelve hours. Yorktown is in the North Atlantic. Wasp is under repair in New York and is at 3 days availability. “

“Very well, we don’t have any battleship killers at sea right now, nor can we get any to the North Atlantic before Home Fleet finds and kills Bismarck. What we do have at sea are battleship finders. We will help the English find the raiders and let them kill him themselves. Send signals to Constellation, New York, Texas that they are to proceed to a patrol station south of the Denmark Straits. All sighting reports of all unidentified foreign warships are to be sent in the clear. They are not to fire unless fired upon. They are to make their identity clearly known to all ships, lights radio, horns etc. Yorktown and her task force are to support the closest British convoy in order to allow the Royal Navy to release that heavy escort force. If German ships break out into the Atlantic, Greenland based forces are to keep the Denmark Straits under observation so the Germans can’t crawl back home while Yorktown is to aggressively patrol for raiders. Alert all patrol wings of this information. Send a telegram to the British Embassy’s naval attaché with relevant information. “

“Aye sir, I’ll have orders for you to review shortly” Captain Badger saluted smartly and turned to make Admiral King’s vision of the Atlantic Fleet going to war without firing a shot a reality for another day.

 

[fester]

May 21, 1941 2254 local time north of Crete

HMS Abdiel was steady withdrawing back to friendly air cover. She had laid 150 mines on a likely approach of any Italian support fleet two hours ago, and would do the same later in the week.