Keynes' Cruisers

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Story 0747
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    • fester


    September 19, 1941 Tehran, Persia

    Rumors drifted across the city faster than smoke filled the air. The Soviets were coming. The British were coming. The Arabs were coming. The Germans were coming. That rumor came from one of the finer opium dens in the city and no one believed that, the Germans were thousands of miles away while everyone else was just outside of the capital city. The Shah’s palace was empty. He had started to flee into the countryside before the ultimatum expired. He was willing to expel Axis diplomats but he was not willing to hand over every German civilian to the nearest invading army. The British would probably intern them while the Communists would probable inter them. His army had been defeated, and his country had been humbled, but he would not accede to every demand.

    The flight to safety only lasted six hours until the small convoy carrying him and his immediate family ran into a patrol from the 2nd Indian Armoured Brigade. The former Shah was soon to be replaced by his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. By afternoon prayers of the next day, the papers had been signed. Iran had become a temporary protectorate and a joint condominium of the Soviet Union and the British Empire until the end of the current war and six months there-after.
     
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    • Story 0748 Crete highway September 20, 1941
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    • fester


    September 20, 1941 Spili, Crete

    Horns honked. Brake drums protested by vehemently squeaking. The dozen live goats in the back of the Canadian Pattern truck were tossed side to side. One broke her hip hitting the sharp edge of an ammunition box. The small convoy of a dozen trucks were coming down the mountain and into a small, central valley. They had started on the south coast as the ports were rapidly being built to handle an ongoing stream of large ocean going ships instead of the coasters and fishing vessels that they had served pre-war. This was the first regular supply convoy on the partially built road. The plans said it would be a highway but that was still a dream for the thousands of laborers and hundreds of engineers building it. The track had been improved. It was either paved or gravelled the entire length and a series of switchbacks had been cut into the worst slopes. Yet, in most locations it was barely one truck wide and it would be barely passable in rains heavier than a morning mist. However, the roads were better today than they had been in May when the work started, and they would continue to get better as even more equipment was landed and more mechanical power could be applied to the problems the engineers knew that they faced.


    As the convoy stopped for lunch, the decision to roast the injured goat was made. As fresh lavender and thyme was spread on the meat, a southbound convoy of seventeen trucks and five staff cars paused in the town. Soon a soccer game developed and once it was completed, the truck drivers had their fill of the previously annoying goat before continuing their drive to Souda Bay.
     
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    • kaymay

    Many many moons ago I was on R&R in the States from Belize and like a fool nipped into a small shop and asked where I could get some fags a very painful experience one for me and two for the young American chaps who had not realised that there was a platoon of very upset British Infantry as they saw their Pltoon Sgt come flying through the window. All ended up well in the end mind.
     

    Oldbill

    kaymay said:
    Many many moons ago I was on R&R in the States from Belize and like a fool nipped into a small shop and asked where I could get some fags a very painful experience one for me and two for the young American chaps who had not realised that there was a platoon of very upset British Infantry as they saw their Pltoon Sgt come flying through the window. All ended up well in the end mind.
    Click to expand...

    Many years ago I ended up drinking with Fleetwood Sea Cadets and their RN PO's. I was the next to last American on his feet. Next morning I ended up in Spanish Harlem where one of my roommates from PR shoved "something" in my face to get something in my stomach. Long story short, I no longer drink with the RN, as alcohol poisoning is not how I want to go out. Good fun, hell of a party, but never, ever, again.:)
     
    Story 0748
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    • fester


    September 21, 1941, Monterey Bay, California

    The cruisers, if this was a real invasion, should have been firing by now. The beach defenses were thick and coastal artillery could see the array of attack transports bobbing offshore making bare steerage way. Men with ninety-pound packs atop of their life jackets were trying to scramble down the cargo nets into Higgins boats and ships boats for the transfer of the 3rd Division to the shore. A west wind whipped up the waves. Two privates fell off the net and into the ocean as they had mistimed the jump from the cargo net to the assault craft. One was rescued as he had managed to drop his rifle and most of his gear before he was dragged under. The other man’s body was never found.

    Later than planned but sooner than expected, two assault battalions were heading ashore. The training diagrams had the attackers in neat lines with mutually supporting machine guns firing from the Higgins boats as they approached the shore. Reality was different; the more experienced crews were able to bring three or four boats into tight, well-dressed formations while new coxswains and inexperienced ensigns meandered. One landing craft that was supposed to land at the center of the south beach was the first ashore at the northern edge of the north beach. Other landing craft of the first wave did not make it ashore until most of the second wave had assembled and began their final approach to the beach.

    By nightfall, two full regiments and an artillery battalion were ashore. They had managed to secure a lodgement seven hundred yards wide and four hundred yards deep against the opposition of a single California National Guard battalion. The umpires called the exercise off half an hour early as enough had been seen. If Gold Army’s tank brigades were released from the central reserve, the beachhead would be crushed.

    However, they could try again later in the week as the training exercises for the West Coast corps were not scheduled to end until the 30th.
     
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    • Story 0749
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    • fester

    September 21, 1941, east of Port Said

    HMS Calcutta bobbed in the sea as three destroyers searched for submarines and half a dozen trawlers were acting like bobbies in Piccadilly Circus. Half a dozen ships including a pair of Glen class transports were assembled two miles from the deserted beach. The 50 and 51 Commando were clambering into the LCA’s that had been craned into the sea. Seven minutes later, thirty assault craft were heading inshore at six knots. Half a mile behind them, HMS Misoa and Tasajera kept station before they began their own run to the beach.

    Each Commando landed on the beaches. Almost every assault craft was almost on time and almost where they should have been. 51 Commando landed slightly west of their desired target but most of the landing craft were able to lower their ramps and men streamed out in good order. Only minutes behind the infantry, the two tank landing ships ran aground and extended their ramps. Three dozen tanks soon rumbled ashore and began to attack inland.

    By mid-afternoon, the exercise had halted. The initial objectives had been achieved and the landing procedures were far cleaner on this, the fourth practice landing than they had been on the first and second tries. Supplies were still arriving on the beach in a haphazard manner but every man had food and water throughout the day and the tanks were able to be fueled five hours after landing.

    Trucks collected the landing force and brought them back to the Delta as the Navy policed the beach and worked to reload the transports. By midnight, the force was steaming back to Haifa where the new tank landing ships could be repaired and final changes to the basic operational plan could be completed.
     
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    • Story 0750
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    • fester


    September 22, 1941, Hong Kong

    USS Houston had spent the past week tied up at the Royal Dockyard in Hong Kong. English officers had been ferried over to her every morning as they tried to impart their hard, combat learned lessons to their de facto allies. Some of the advice had been well received as Houston had been stripped of all flammable materials excluding the chaplain’s pulpit. Engineering officers had spent all day Tuesday discussing the best way to isolate and reroute power from damaged pathways. Wednesday and Thursday had the snipes and black gang checking valves, tagging junctions and install by-passes. The British had tried to convince Captain Rooks to repaint the ship to a camouflage scheme but he declined as Houston had already scheduled yard time at Cavite for that job.

    Now the heavy cruiser was slowly steaming past Devils Peak. HMS Devonshire was waiting for her fifteen miles outside the harbor for a morning of exercises capped off by gunnery drills.
     
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    • RyderWest

    fester said:
    September 22, 1941, Hong Kong

    USS Houston had spent the past week tied up at the Royal Dockyard in Hong Kong. English officers had been ferried over to her every morning as they tried to impart their hard, combat learned lessons to their de facto allies. Some of the advice had been well received as Houston had been stripped of all flammable materials excluding the chaplain’s pulpit. Engineering officers had spent all day Tuesday discussing the best way to isolate and reroute power from damaged pathways. Wednesday and Thursday had the snipes and black gang checking valves, tagging junctions and install by-passes. The British had tried to convince Captain Rooks to repaint the ship to a camouflage scheme but he declined as Houston had already scheduled yard time at Cavite for that job.

    Now the heavy cruiser was slowly steaming past Devils Peak. HMS Devonshire was waiting for her fifteen miles outside the harbor for a morning of exercises capped off by gunnery drills.
    Click to expand...
    Those lessons will help Houston not be set on fire.....
     
    Driftless

    Driftless

    Donor
    RyderWest said:
    Those lessons will help Houston not be set on fire.....
    Click to expand...

    Some lessons need to be re-learned I guess. Commodore Dewey had his ships stripped of as much flammable material as practical while his force was leaving Hong Kong for Manila Bay back in 1898.

    During the first day at sea, Gridley began the grim task of preparing his ship for combat. Sailors performed musket and cutlass drills, sanded the decks, and bound the masts with anchor chains. The crew also tossed overboard all wooden furniture, paneling, books, and even pinups to reduce the risk of fire during battle.
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    ExScientiaTridens

    Every little bit helps, but virtually everything but the steel burns; both topside and below decks. The paint on the bulkheads and overhead ignites and creates toxic smoke. Bedding, uniforms, cordage, electrical insulation...

    Immeasurable benefit from focus on real-world problems in damage control during combat. Propulsion, steerage, electrical power distribution, fire fighting and stability. Focus the mind and training on specific measures which pay the biggest benefits and identify problems that quickly threaten the ship. Every measure that helps change the officer/crew mentality from peacetime flagship to wartime fighting ship should not be wasted.

    Huge gain from improved damage control procedures. Maintaining power to the pumps and critical systems, isolating fuel line ruptures, internal communications, flooding and counter-flooding, quickly establishing water-tight integrity around hull penetrations, and fire fighting. Training, training, training...

    Perhaps she will meet a fate different than Sunda Strait? Improved damage control would not save her there.
     

    duckie

    Yes, but the Paint is prio 1. Sailors don't strip the old paint layer before repainting. In older ships the paint layer could be very thick. By removing all paint, you not only reducing the fire hazard but you also reduce the topside weight as an added profit.

    Taken from a very Funny Alt.History on France Fight On - HMAS Una II by Mark L. Bailey (https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/francefightson/hmas-una-ii-t1095.htmlxxxx (remove xxxx))

    Captain Rodhesvenski, to be blunt it’s
    obvious that New York Navy Yard just wanted you gone. That gave you a bloody
    awful refit. Paint over rust, did not fix your forced lubrication system on the
    engines, shoddy welding on your new gun tubs for your quadruples, lots of
    shabby work and shortcuts. Worst of all, they just added one more layer to the
    near-inch of paint you have built up in most internal spaces. That’s deadly. She’s
    a fire trap. On the good side, they did a very good job converting your ship
    from coal to oil and retubing your old boilers and condensers. That… would have
    been difficult for us. Now, I can help with the heavier parts of it, but it’s
    you has the raw manpower to strip paint internally and chip and paint
    externally and do all the really time intensive work. No joke, there’s maybe
    three or four hundred tons of dried paint aboard and it all has to come out.
     

    sloreck

    The amphibious drills by the Brits and the US Army show that its the old story of practice, practice, practice. The problem with the US Army was OTL they did zero for amphibious warfare until 1938/39 at which point the translated the Marine doctrine publication in to "Army" and began training using USMC instructors to begin with. here it looks like they have been taking things more seriously/sooner as this exercise seems to be more than was done at this time OTL. The Brits have been at war, and also these are Royal Marine units so intrinsically more oriented towards this sort of work, also it looks like fewer elements were involved there.
     
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