Keynes' Cruisers

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RyderWest

fester said:
November 13, 1941 1531 Local Time

U-81 slid silently along the outer edges of Force H’s screen, hearing ASDIC pings from terrier like destroyers guarding the Royal Navy’s crown jewels.

Kapitänleutnant Guggenberger slightly swore to himself as he checked the plot one more time. The core of British power in the Western Med had zigged away from possible torpedo range half an hour ago to launch aircraft into the wind and it looked like he would crab his way just outside of torpedo range. He thought about making a run at nine knots to take a long range shot at the pair of carriers, but if he did that, his batteries would be down to twenty percent charge at the torpedo launch. If he had no charge, he could not survive the inevitable counter-attack from the protective destroyers.

His mission was to break into the Mediterranean Sea and aid his Italian allies. Taking a low probability shot and inviting destruction of his boat would not accomplish that goal.

“Take us down to 175 feet, proceed as before at 2 knots”
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YES! Ark Royal survives!

IOTL, Ark Royal was hit by one torpedo by U-81 on this date and sank the next day.

fester said:
Now the air echelon was arriving. The pause in the desert fighting had allowed the squadron to re-equip with a new fighter from America. The Mustang Mark I with the Allison engines had just been released. The pilots had trained on their new predator, taking joy in the range and speed that such a clean aircraft had. It was faster by 150 miles per hour over their initial equipment, the obsolete Gladiator, and could easily outrun the Hurricanes that they had turned in. The pilots had success in the Mediterranean and now they were looking to have success in Malaya. War was coming but it was not here yet, so the men would train like they fight and then argue liked they trained.
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The Mustang Mark I arrives 3 months earlier, in Singapore rather than Gatwick.

4 x 20mm cannons against lightly armed Japanese fighters and bombers......... oh boy.
 

Peg Leg Pom

fester said:
His mission was to break into the Mediterranean Sea and aid his Italian allies. Taking a low probability shot and inviting destruction of his boat would not accomplish that goal.

“Take us down to 175 feet, proceed as before at 2 knots”
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Minor nit pick. A German submariner would not give an order in feet. He would use meters. 175 feet equals 53.34 meters, so suspect he would order a depth of either 50 meters or 55 meters.
 
AlanJWhite

AlanJWhite

Major Major said:
Kaleut Guggenberger had a most interesting career OTL. Will he do differently here?

Taking a Type VII Boat on a mission like that takes some skill. Onkel Karl is depending on him and the U-81.
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Skill wont matter in the end .. of 62 boats the Lion sent into the Med (despite his professed reluctance) only one was able to get back.
 

pjmidd

AlanJWhite said:
and would he use Knots ? nautical miles / hour
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He would , a knot is defined as 1 minute ( 1/60 degree ) of longitude at the equator per hour and although a non SI unit has always been acceptable for use within the SI system, it makes navigation calculations easier ( German craft on lakes and inland waterways would use km's however )
 

fester

Logan2879 said:
These butterflies are moving rapidly. But still who is commander of Force Z, Vice Admiral Tom Phillips or Admiral James Somerville? @fester?
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Phillips is still in command of Force Z. Somerville was considered but the Western Med/Central Atlantic flexible Force H is still a more important command than the deterring Force Z. If there is an active war in the Far East and if Force Z is reinforced by Med. Fleet/Force H units, then Somerville is highly likely to head East as well. But right now Force Z is probably the 4th most important command for the RN and the RN does not want to disturb the command teams for its top 3 major combatant commands (Home Fleet, Med Fleet, Force H)
 
AlanJWhite

AlanJWhite

pjmidd said:
He would , a knot is defined as 1 minute ( 1/60 degree ) of longitude at the equator per hour and although a non SI unit has always been acceptable for use within the SI system, it makes navigation calculations easier ( German craft on lakes and inland waterways would use km's however )
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AIUI you have that the wrong way round. The knot is defined as 1 nautical mile per hour but just happens to fit approximately to the equator but only approximately.

BTW a definition at the equator does not help navigation much at any other latitude. You still have to do long multiplication to several decimal places

 

pjmidd

AlanJWhite said:
Ninjaed me. NM definition varied over time and nation. Si units did not exist in 40s. Most common at that time was indeed 2000 yards as used by USN and I think the RN
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UK used the Admiralty mile of 6080ft ( defined as distance covered in an hour at 1 admiralty knot ) , US standard was 6080.2 ft, international of 1852m was defined in 1929 and used by everyone from 1970 ( US 1954 ).
 
Logan2879

Logan2879

fester said:
Phillips is still in command of Force Z. Somerville was considered but the Western Med/Central Atlantic flexible Force H is still a more important command than the deterring Force Z. If there is an active war in the Far East and if Force Z is reinforced by Med. Fleet/Force H units, then Somerville is highly likely to head East as well. But right now Force Z is probably the 4th most important command for the RN and the RN does not want to disturb the command teams for its top 3 major combatant commands (Home Fleet, Med Fleet, Force H)
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Phillips_(Royal_Navy_officer)

http://charlesmccain.com/2014/10/as...-the-full-horror-of-the-news-sank-in-upon-me/

Just hope he does a good job ITTL, then the OTL. With all respect to Tom but he is a desk admiral.
 
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