April 1942 Alternate Indian Ocean

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GTStinger

Winestu said:
I hope he sends his concerns up the chain of command or multiple chains of command (given that not just the USN are using such ships, that would be prudent and would expedite any refitting that has to be done).
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There are lots of accounts of heavy gas fumes on Dasher long before her OTL fate.
Apparently it was so bad the crew were only allowed to smoke in the open air of the flight deck.
I’m sure the issue was escalated OTL as much as it will be ATL.

Question is if there are different leaders in the chain of command; ones who will do something about the problem.
 

Colin Haggett

GTStinger said:
There are lots of accounts of heavy gas fumes on Dasher long before her OTL fate.
Apparently it was so bad the crew were only allowed to smoke in the open air of the flight deck.
I’m sure the issue was escalated OTL as much as it will be ATL.

Question is if there are different leaders in the chain of command; ones who will do something about the problem.
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I find it ironic that UK Built CVEs operated by British crews did not suffer a any similar incidents neither did US CVEs operated by US Crews. Only HMS Dasher. There maybe different
philosophies at work here: The RN relying on a safe design, the USN relying on training, supervision etc.
 

Zheng He

Colin Haggett said:
I find it ironic that UK Built CVEs operated by British crews did not suffer a any similar incidents neither did US CVEs operated by US Crews. Only HMS Dasher. There maybe different
philosophies at work here: The RN relying on a safe design, the USN relying on training, supervision etc.
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This from wiki - "The US blamed it on poor RN petrol handling procedures, the British on bad design of the stowage and handling. There were merits in both arguments, but thereafter the stowage on her British operated sister ships was reduced from 75,000–88,000 US gal (280,000–330,000 l) down to 36,000 US gal (140,000 l), and the USN reduced theirs also but not as drastically."

Obviously both sides made changes after the tragedy but I imagine Dasher herself just had some flaws, mainly due to poor quality of construction because these were to a certain extent rush jobs. HMS Archer was plagued by engine problems and was decommissioned early. Keep in mind that these were also both early model escort carriers, Dasher was part of a four ship class and Archer was part of a two ship class so the overall designs were not even considered satisfactory by either navy given how quickly both the British and Americans moved to better designs. It's probably also worth pointing out that the only US escort carrier in Dasher's four ship class (USS Charger) spent her whole career training pilots in the Chesapeake Bay instead of being used operationally. I think you have a case of rushed conversions to get flight decks into the fleet as quickly as possible led to a certain degree of trial and error and probably some poor quality control and the end result was at least a couple of ships that had some inherent flaws before the escort carrier construction programs were fully established and producing ships of better quality.

Keep in mind, I don't have anything to support the above, it's just a theory that makes sense.
 

Zheng He

2000 Hours, 16 December 1942, Near Trondheim Fjord, Norway – Lieutenant Rousselot peered through his periscope has he ordered his submarine to reverse course and return to deeper water. The Free French submarines Rubis had just deposited 32 mines into the mouth of Trondheim Fjord and now Rousselot was getting out of the confined waters he was in and avoiding any German patrol boats. Two hours later Rubis was well out to sea and headed southwest for Dundee, Scotland at six knots.
 
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Zheng He

You learn a lot of interesting things while researching a TL. OTL Rubis was a rock star mine layer of the Allied navies sinking 21,000 tons of ships (22 ships total) in the North Sea and Bay of Biscay over the course of 22 war patrols.
 

Zheng He

roachbeef said:
It's nice to see you're venturing into the Atlantic theater as well. The butterflies are really flapping their wings
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I'm trying to detail major events in other theaters that directly impact the Indian Ocean (mainly in regard to capital ship availability)
 

Zheng He

0200 Hours, 17 December 1942, Ramree Island, Burma – The Japanese troops moving north along the east coast of Ramree Island heavily outnumbered the Australian and Ceylonese troopers from Apache Company of Riain’s Raiders. That meant the primary mission of the commandoes was to monitor Japanese movements but occasionally they could not resist an opportunity when it presented itself. The latest ambush killed 12 Japanese soldiers from the 65th Infantry Brigade and like their namesakes, the men from Apache Company melted back into the landscape before the Japanese even realized they were there. For the poorly supplied Japanese soldiers there was no choice but to keep moving forward. They could not afford go off into the jungle to pursue their tormentors and their best hope lay in linking up with the battalion from the 213th Infantry Regiment dug in several miles to the north.

At the Allied bridgehead on the northern end of the island, Lieutenant Colonel William Sanguinetti was already moving south with his troops from No. 5 Commando with several detachments moving along the coast in fishing boats. The reconnaissance reports from Apache Company were excellent and it was clear the Japanese troops on the southern end of the island were trying to move north to link up with the men who were dug in to cover the approaches from Ramree Island to the mainland. Sanguinetti wanted to prevent that from happening.
 

HBsennah94

Zheng He said:
2000 Hours, 16 December 1942, Near Trondheim Fjord, Norway – Lieutenant Rousselot peered through his periscope has he ordered his submarine to reverse course and return to deeper water. The Free French submarines Rubis had just deposited 32 mines into the mouth of Trondheim Fjord and now Rousselot was getting out of the confined waters he was in and avoiding any German patrol boats. Two hours later Rubis was well out to sea and headed southeast for Dundee, Scotland at six knots.
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I believe Scotland is to the southwest of the Trondheimfjord.
 

Oldbill

TonyA said:
Doesn't anyone drink gin anymore?
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TBH, despite having sailed over most of North America and imbibed a hell of a lot of alcohol (including one party with the RN, where it was only by the Grace of God I didn't die of alcohol poisoning and ended up in Spanish Harlem at 0700, yeah, don't try to drink with the professionals....) I have never drank Gin, in any capacity. What is it like?
 

Mike D

Oldbill said:
I have never drank Gin, in any capacity. What is it like?
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Pink gin is dangerous. It's like drinking pink lemonade, you don't even realise it's alcoholic.

Right up until you've finished the litre bottle your wife bought for herself, stand up and nearly smash your head off the coffee table...
 

Patg_hnj

The Whitley Neill Rasberry Gin is pretty good, I have a bottle of Quince to try but haven't yet, a trip over to Dufftown has got me into single malts
 

Sam R.

Sloe gin is kind of close to double strength rot gut tawny, but drinkable. London gins are just vodka for southerners
 
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