Recent content by MichaelWest

Of the three major European imperial powers Germany possessed the smallest and "poorest" cut of the pie yet was the largest and wealthiest of the nations. And I think that has a lot more potential than is given much thought. Frankly both London and Paris have a lot of ground to cover, Germany...

If you wanted to eliminate the "heavy" cruiser that would be the time as the politicians are driving this bus and could dismiss what their navy advisers want. We know both the USN and IJN had in mind an 8-inch armed larger cruiser to overmatch the 6-inch armed in the Pacific. For both they are...

Recall that at the time there were Cruisers, mostly the armored cruiser, and light Cruisers, something only the British and Germans built with a specific fleet battle in mind, everyone else was building just cruisers. Hawkins were up gunned light cruisers, the Germans found the light cruiser a...

I truly wonder if France would go down that path. They originated the Jeune École and seem wedded to making it work with submarines post-war. It must have been a genuine insult to Britain as the largest target by far was once again them! It certainly suggests that beneath the surface...

I think London would veto it and can make it stick. Frankly I think Berlin has no stomach to swallow the Congo, in fact they should easily be persuaded to let it go, leave Belgium, pay nothing for the damages done to her, hope to be friends one day. But I do think what hay is to be made if...

But exactly how much did the British or French develop the colonies they gained OTL? Admittedly the French badly underinvested in their colonies outside of Algeria or Indochina, and the British invested mostly in plantations or mines where profitable, but I am not seeing the investment relative...

They are all stretches, some more plausible and some less possible, but as I discussed in the Poll thread I did, Germany does not need any of this overseas stuff, take it away and you likely do far more good for Germany in the 50 to 100 year future than not. But for the narrative, a restored...

Frankly I use a naval accord to parallel the Washington Treaty and ease myself into that paradigm while also letting it form a sort of slow burn towards Anglo-German detente as potentially the AGNA did. But I do think it had a high probability of being a British condition for peace. Aside from...

As part of my own thinking on how to end the war as status quo as I can, the fate of Italy plays a role. Overall I think the Austro-Italian front is a place where status quo was achievable. Austria really has no muscle to win and Italy proved that it could not make a real break. Without the USA...

I just put up a poll about a week ago, about 50% of the votes were for Germany to get at least some of its colonies back in a "status quo" end to the war. First, I think one must accept that London cannot be forced to accept anything but it certainly has certain vital points to gain in any peace...

Without the Federally built Freeway system you retain the highway system upon which the states likely expand, obviously richer states having more and better miles than poorer states, and more miles that serve state needs first, so LA to Barstow might still get built out as a four-lane divided...

The early conversions like Langley or an Argus should give plenty of great experimental and training usage through the decade. The Casablanca-class ticks all your boxes and the only negative being their speed, and perhaps their relatively unprotected nature. Before them, I think the early...

Are we talking the dreaded hybrid Cruiser-Carrier, converted Cruiser hull, or the better converted merchant hull or a purpose design? The RN has the most obvious requirement for this light auxiliary carrier, so much so that I find the lack of them surprising. Of course the logic might be to...

Although I think Tiger is likely to remain in service, she is unlikely to see any money. And those hulls, Tiger and the older yet BCs are even older and more worn than R&R, less likely to see any modernization so that leaves Hood, a flawed proto-fast BB the Admiralty would likely love to simply...

My thinking would be that with Italy the Ottomans are not inclined to join the CPs. They likely still might close the Straits to warships and with Bulgaria Germany could affect a blockade of sorts, Italy and the A-H navies could interdict shipping in the Aegean and that really does beg the...