Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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After the curb stomp the USN and RN gave the IJN, there is no need for the Montana class. Same for the Alaskas.
In this timeline, construction on the USS Wisconsin was suspended (currently floating in the Delaware River with a 30 man caretaker staff to keep the rust minimized) and the Montana class has seen the design work stopped. The two Alaskas that had steel cut in 1941 are still under construction at modest priority.
Resources are shifting due to changing circumstances. Primarily the USN knows that between the ships already built and what is still in the funded/prioritized pipeline, they don't need more big-gun ships before the post-war period. Instead they need landing craft, fleet train and submarines. There are significant resource constraints and ending the resource suck of new battleships makes the resource allocation problem a whole lot easier.
Some weren't really loony given the times. Six guns instead of nine is plenty for shore bombardment, and AA missiles are not a bad thing to bring along. The ship is much more survivable than anything else in the event of enemy missiles or guns shooting back.
The aft barbette is a great place to keep the missiles, and as technology advances, an old ship can still shoot a new missile. Also, she can keep up with the flat tops until they are all replaced with nuclear powered ones.
It depends just how far along the construction is.
Where'd you get that print? That's a keeper! I just put it into one of my folders. I had some buddies, shipmates, who served on BB's, either when they were in the USN or via an exchange program. Every Gunnersmates dream, to be part of a big gun shoot, at least I got some time in on the 5"38 and others....
I stumbled onto it a long time ago, and didn't note where it came from. Sadly, I've only seen the battleships stuffed and mounted.
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It seems to be one of this person's painting's: http://www.artbywayne.com/
Go Naval Art Entrance->Naval Art Gallery->Battleship Conversions->Battleship Conversion 1, and the painting is the one labeled "Evening Star," though the one on the website has a plane flying overhead.
Donald Reaver
Donor
Does anyone recognize this ship? My wife picked up 3 boxes from the auction a couple weeks ago and had this in it. The frame is metal do not want to pry it apart.
SsgtC
Banned
HMAS Melbourne of the Royal Australian Navy. Taken between 1955 and 1967. The giveaway is the White Ensign she's flying.
THANKS! I love this site--some gorgeous stuff.
I found a less practical thing that someone might do--once again, saved long and long ago. THIS is pure foolishness...
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Does the Rescue of the Danish Jews still happen ITTL? IMO, I would guess so; I don't want this TL to eliminate one of the most awesome and heartwarming moments in Danish history (the YA book Number the Stars (1) is about this event)…
(1) I read that book when I was in middle school; it's a good historical fiction book...
(1) I read that book when I was in middle school; it's a good historical fiction book...
Story 2125
Christmas Island, July 13, 1943
The flying boat landed in the lagoon. Ten minutes later seven dishevelled sailors from a small merchant ship that should have been scrapped five years earlier but had been kept in service and barely afloat due to the war were safely on the pier. They had been at sea in a wooden life boat for the past three days after their ship was swamped by a large wave in a storm that they had not been able to avoid.
They were the excitement for the month at the rear area base.
The flying boat landed in the lagoon. Ten minutes later seven dishevelled sailors from a small merchant ship that should have been scrapped five years earlier but had been kept in service and barely afloat due to the war were safely on the pier. They had been at sea in a wooden life boat for the past three days after their ship was swamped by a large wave in a storm that they had not been able to avoid.
They were the excitement for the month at the rear area base.
Please refer back to this post:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...uisers-volume-2.451883/page-193#post-19367405
Story 2126
July 13, 1943 Loyang, China
The Japanese patrol was not expecting trouble. The Chinese army was tentative in its patrolling and any contact often became a massacre. The local conscripts were often poorly equipped, seldom armed to a standard that would not have embarrassed the victors of the siege of Port Arthur and scarily thin. The three hundred Japanese infantry men had left their base three days ago on a loot-all, kill-all, burn-all mission. Five men had been wounded. Two had been gored by an ox dragging a supply cart forward when the big beast was surprised, the other three were wounded during a failed ambush near a village that the lead platoons then burned to the ground.
Four hundred yards in front of the point man, a freshly arrived regiment waited. Men waited behind patty dikes, machine gunners shifted slightly as belts of ammunition were held up from the dirt to keep the guns clean and the firing mechanisms working. They were ready. The divisional artillery had been allocated to the regiment. Corps level support had been set to support the attack. Everyone waited as the Japanese advanced.
Twelve eighty-one millimeter mortars and a battery of six eighteen pounders that had first served during the 100 Days and then had served the Indian Army well during the fighting in Burma began to fire. The Japanese patrol was not expecting artillery fire. In any other theatre against any other opponent, the barrages were fairly light, but the shock of actual artillery being used properly in a walking barrage caught the patrolling infantrymen by surprise. Men who should have been on the ground and finding cover before the first shell exploded were scythed. Even as the chaos of the ambush began, the Chinese infantry regiment's riflemen and machine gunners began to fire.
The Japanese patrol was not expecting trouble. The Chinese army was tentative in its patrolling and any contact often became a massacre. The local conscripts were often poorly equipped, seldom armed to a standard that would not have embarrassed the victors of the siege of Port Arthur and scarily thin. The three hundred Japanese infantry men had left their base three days ago on a loot-all, kill-all, burn-all mission. Five men had been wounded. Two had been gored by an ox dragging a supply cart forward when the big beast was surprised, the other three were wounded during a failed ambush near a village that the lead platoons then burned to the ground.
Four hundred yards in front of the point man, a freshly arrived regiment waited. Men waited behind patty dikes, machine gunners shifted slightly as belts of ammunition were held up from the dirt to keep the guns clean and the firing mechanisms working. They were ready. The divisional artillery had been allocated to the regiment. Corps level support had been set to support the attack. Everyone waited as the Japanese advanced.
Twelve eighty-one millimeter mortars and a battery of six eighteen pounders that had first served during the 100 Days and then had served the Indian Army well during the fighting in Burma began to fire. The Japanese patrol was not expecting artillery fire. In any other theatre against any other opponent, the barrages were fairly light, but the shock of actual artillery being used properly in a walking barrage caught the patrolling infantrymen by surprise. Men who should have been on the ground and finding cover before the first shell exploded were scythed. Even as the chaos of the ambush began, the Chinese infantry regiment's riflemen and machine gunners began to fire.
At first I thought that this was Napoleon's Hundred Days and was really confused that artillery from 1815 would still be used in 1943.
I have heard it said that the Chinese forces were usually rated at 1 level below their actual 'call sign' in effectiveness - so a Regiment would be a Battalion and Corps level support would be 'Divisional'
That from what I can tell from the above was no longer the case on July 13th 1943!
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