Keynes' Cruisers

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fester

r1ncewind said:
and in TTL that submarine was not captured? or was it later?
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HMS Seal was captured in the middle of the Norwegian campaign. She was laying a minefield in the Kattegat and forced into an uncharted minefield where she was damaged and forced to the surface. There are a number of ways for the butterflies to flap...
 

r1ncewind

Okay!
Really looking forward to some opefullyh big differences starting to show up with the norway campaign and so on resulting from the more advanced preparation of the US and the follow-on effect this has had so far
 

fester

r1ncewind said:
Okay!
Really looking forward to some opefullyh big differences starting to show up with the norway campaign and so on resulting from the more advanced preparation of the US and the follow-on effect this has had so far
Click to expand...
The butterflies are warming up. But they are not producing gale force winds yet
 
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    • fester

    March 28, 1940

    A single Luftwaffe bomber was able to complete a photography run over Scapa Flow. Another was shot down by Hurricanes as it approached Rosyth.

    A British Blenheim returned to its base in the Midlands with an engine out and the copilot bleeding out. They had flown over Hamburg. Another bomber returned without incident from a flight over Emdem. Ground crews first removed the precious film canisters and then the copilot who was quickly dying.

    Fleets were being assembled, men were on the move. Either a breakout or an invasion was in play.
     
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    • fester

    March 29, 1940 Helsinki

    Arne Elo and the handful of American technical advisors that had survived the war walked up the gangplank of the passenger ship. They would return to New York. Arne’s first stop would be a great steakhouse near Times Square, his second would be the Brewster factory as he had a list of improvements needed for their fighter. Finally, he would be recommissioned into the Navy to fly fighters again.


    March 30, 1940 Rosyth

    Four large mine laying submarines laid next to each other.. Three had the smoking lamp out. Twenty five mines per rail were being loaded. HMS Porpoise would leave on the morning tide while Grampus and Narwhal needed another day to complete repairs. All were heading to the Norwegian coast and they would hold position until they received a signal to mine the ore routes.

    HMS Seal had arrived that morning. She would depart in a few days for her tenth patrol. Her men needed leave and her engines needed care. She could wait before heading to Norway.
     
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    • fester

    April 1, 1940 RNAS Hatson


    Thirteen Martlets were lined up on the runway. NAS 771 had re-equipped with the new American fighters five weeks ago. They were hot birds compared to the Swordfish they had flown from land bases. It was a major reorganization to go from being a strike squadron to being one of the first squadrons flying single seat naval fighters and it had not gone well so far. Two planes had crashed as the pilots attempted to land below stall speed. Another half dozen pilots had shown the creativity of a plodding forward from Manchester United on the attack instead of the dazzling brilliance of a midfielder going one on one against a defender along the wing.

    HMS Furious was at sea west of the Orkneys. She had two squadrons of strike aircraft aboard and another squadron of Swordfish committed to her. The Martlets would fly out and do touch and goes during the morning. Once the squadron commander and the landing officers were satisfied, carrier qualifications could begin. By the end of the week, the Admiralty wanted at least ten Martlets on board the carrier with fourteen pilots who had landed at least four times a piece. There was rumors that Home Fleet had a major operation coming up and fighter cover would be critical.
     
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    • mudhead

    fester said:
    Another half dozen pilots had shown the creativity of a plodding forward from Manchester United on the attack instead of the dazzling brilliance of a midfielder going one on one against a defender along the wing.
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    Good call - Manchester Utd weren't a sparkling side in the immediate pre-war years. But the comparison should be: ... "of Stanley Matthews humiliating a fullback along the touchline."
     

    r1ncewind

    aaalmost time for the Norwegian campaign! the one thing I have never seen is a swedish intervention, but not getting the feel that will happen here either ^^
     

    fester

    r1ncewind said:
    aaalmost time for the Norwegian campaign! the one thing I have never seen is a swedish intervention, but not getting the feel that will happen here either ^^
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    I want to read that story too but I do not know how to tell a Swedish intervention tale
     

    r1ncewind

    well, they must surely have mobilised troops at the border against finland to guard against a soviet invasion as well as against border incursion from Norway (they are afraid that the Allies will invade to stop iron ore exports to germany) so if the British do much better on the naval front and sinks a lot of german troop transports so that the fight in norway goes much better for norway, perhaps they could send troops over the border to keep both the germans And the british out?
     
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    • fester


    April 2, 1940 Oscarburg Fortress

    The regular garrison looked down at the raw recruits. They were pitiful. Most could not find their right foot from their left. Yet they would be straw holding together the bricks of the fortress that defended the capital.

    They would have to make do.

    All three heavy guns as well as the battery of six inch guns could be manned with experienced gunners. The raw recruits were the ammunition handlers and haulers.

    Three hundred of the men would be soaking wet over the next three days as they needed to lay the defensive minefield at the narrows. A single well marked channel one hundred yards wide would be cleared. The rest of the narrows where the water was at least nine feet deep would be mined. Four lines would be laid, a mine every twenty yards with a stagger so that no ship broader than a skiff could traverse the minefield in a straight line without striking at least two mines. A notice to mariners had been released that Norway had begun to mine its waters and all vessels should follow clearly marked channels. Most of the marked channels were empty space in a sea of emptiness but a few critical points would soon be mined.
     
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    • sloreck

    Norway is doing what it can and needs to defeat the Germans. OTL it was close, and if the Oslofjord is choked off as it seems to be the seaborne part of the attack will fail, the airborne attack in and of itself is not enough and if the security is improved there that will fizzle. It appears the RN is "readier" to deal with the invasion than OTL, so landings that use the North Sea are in trouble. As it appears, even if Norway falls it will take longer and cost the Germans more, and could derail future plans.
     

    mudhead

    fester said:
    April 1, 1940 RNAS Hatson


    Thirteen Martlets were lined up on the runway. NAS 771 had re-equipped
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    Correct about Hatson - I have Ray Sturvisant's The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm (Air Britain, 1984), which is very comprehensive on squadrons, COs, bases, and equipment, if you need to check anything.
     
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    fester

    mudhead said:
    Correct about Hatson - I have Ray Sturvisant's The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm (Air Britain, 1984), which is very comprehensive on squadrons, COs, bases, and equipment, if you need to check anyhing.
    Click to expand...
    The butterflies are starting to spin, so I am expecting divergences, but I will be using this offer in the intermediate future.... Are there any Norwegian crewed FAA squadrons that I can steal?
     
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