AHTL:Vox Non Incerta

Resolute could hit 18 knots in 1939 just so not to slow
A lot for the troop liners could make mid 24 knots + and some upto 28 knots.

The speed is its own defense against certain threats.

If an r class battleship is being used any old carrier and most cves can be used but a lot of the time they would prefer to use the speed for a fast convoy (perhaps rendezvous with heavier and slower units for the last portion of the journey).
 
A lot for the troop liners could make mid 24 knots + and some upto 28 knots.

The speed is its own defense against certain threats.

If an r class battleship is being used any old carrier and most cves can be used but a lot of the time they would prefer to use the speed for a fast convoy (perhaps rendezvous with heavier and slower units for the last portion of the journey).

Battlecruisers and Fleet carrier?
 
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HMS Glorious under way in the South Atlantic with Force K
 
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Convoy TC2 pt 2
7th December 1939 North Atlantic

With most of the troop convoy TC2 across the Atlantic three light cruisers and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse leave behind HMS Argus and Resolute to meet six destroyers to escort the convoy into Liverpool. Unknown to the elderly carrier U-36 which is on a mine laying mission to lay the new magnetic mine in the mersey estuary spots her and her charge at 10 knots. The Captain of U-36 waits until both the elderly carrier and battleship is within 2000 yards and fires four torpedoes and dives to 150 feet incase a destroyer is in the vicinity.
 
Convoy TC2 pt 3
7th December 1939 Mersey Estuary

With U-36 firing four torpedoes from 2000 yards and HMS ARGUS steaming at 10 knots the result was never in doubt three of the torpedoes hit. One of the torpedoes fails to explode while the other two explode near the engine room. The damage to the engines cause the elderly carrier to stop dead in the middle of the main shipping channel.

A call is made to John Brown and Sons at Birkenhead for two tug boats to rescue the elderly carrier. As the carrier is dead in the water U-36 who is now at 1200 yards and got two torpedoes reloaded fires another torpedo at her. The damage control party had managed to counter flood to keep the elderly carrier afloat. With the most of the crew in life boats and two Swordfish able to fly off the carrier. The fish runs hot straight and normal hitting again near the engine room. Argus is doomed the last torpedo ruins any chance to save her.

Two of the destroyers that escorted convoy TC2 are sent to find and sink the U-boat. Onboard Resolute the survivors from Argus are brought onboard and taken to Liverpool docks for treatment. The only casualties are four of the damage control party when the fourth torpedo hits and sends two into a bulkhead.
 
Convoy TC2 pt 4
U-36 Mersey Estuary

With HMS Argus sunk U-36 leaves the Mersey Estuary and heads into the Irish Sea and home to Willhamshaven to what is hoped to be a hero's welcome. The two destroyers that were sent to find the u-boat fail to find her.
 
German interlude pt1
8th January 1940 Kiel Germany

The first of the Kreigsmarine's aircraft carriers KMS Graf Zeppelin now complete sails through the Kiel Canal and into the Baltic for sea trials under the command of Rear Admiral Gunther Lutjens. Part of his air group consists of the Arado 196C fighter, The Fi 167 bi-plane torpedo bomber and the Ju-87C dive bomber.

The design of the Graf Zeppelin is unique due to being powered by twelve diesel engines.

12th January Baltic Sea

The first training accident on the Graf Zeppelin happens when a JU-87C fails to launch. The problem occurs when the catapult jams and then launches the Stuka over the bow. Both pilot and rear gunner are killed when they are dragged under the ship and into the propellers. Rear Admiral Lutjens on the advice of the Japanese observer decides not to use the catapults till they can either be fixed onboard or when they get back to Kiel.
 
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The hunt for the Altmark pt 3
16th February 1940

Having managed to sneak through the Denmark Strait the resupply ship Altmark enters Norwegian territorial waters.
The Norwegians first search the vessel on the 15th and find nothing out of the ordinary even though the prisoners are making noise down in the hold. The next time they search the vessel Admiral Carston Tank-Nielson personnely inspects the tanker.

Unknown to the Altmark the admiralty are warned by bletchley park that the Altmark is carrying an unknown amount of merchant men from the Graf Spee. The first lord of the admiralty sir Winston Churchill sends four destroyers under the command of captain Philip Vian on the tribal class destroyer Cossack. Churchill personally tells captain Vian that if the Norwegians interfere he is to force the issue and board the Altmark but he wants the merchant men freed at any cost.
 
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The hunt for the Altmark pt 4
The light cruisers HMS Belfast and Edinburgh along with the carrier HMS Glorious to act as cover for the four destroyers under the overall command of Rear Admiral Wake Walker.

Onboard HMS Cossack captain Vian increases speed to 32 knots and to close towards the Norwegian coast. Four torpedo boats sortie from Stavanger to interdicte the RN from entering Norwegian waters. Glorious turns into the wind and launches eight Goshawk fighters, four as CAP over the covering force and the other four to cover the four destroyers.
 
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Graf Spee's resupply ship Altmark in a Norwegian fjord after being driven into Norwegian waters. Captain Vian personally lead the boarding party of the German vessel.
 
The hunt for the Altmark pt 5
Kapitain Heinrich Dau on the bridge of the Altmark which is being escorted by the RNN destroyer Garm and two torpedo boats spots smoke on the horizon. HMS Cossack moves to block the tanker but is forced to move when the Garm moves to intercept the British destroyer. Captain Vian again moves to intercept the tanker, This time the Norwegian destroyer Garm attempts to block the destroyer but decides better of it when Cossack fires two 4.7 MM shells across the tankers bow. Dau onboard Altmark orders a hard turn towards Jossingfjord. Onboard Cossack Captain Vian moves his destroyer to follow the tanker.

Mean while messages are being sent between London and Oslo. The Norwegian government is in uproar over British aggression against Norwegian neutrality, While London is screaming that the Altmark has British, French and Norwegian sailors onboard and that Germany has broken Norwegian neutrality laws by not releasing their prisoners.

Captain Vian sends a message via blinker light to the Norwegian destroyer that he is under orders to open fire on the tanker and anyone who is harbouring her as there is 300 merchantmen including Norwegians onboard. At 1500 hours the Norwegians pull back to 8000 yards and allow Cossack to close with tanker.

Captain Dau sends a message to Berlin asking for orders as a RN destroyer has closed to 3000 yards in Norwegian waters. Ten minutes later he gets a reply that he is to remain where he is as the cruiser Nurnburg is on route to escort him back to Germany with his prisoners.
 
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The first mono-plane fighter in the Royal Navy the Gloster Goshawk. Armed with four 20mm Oreklion FFL cannons it was the most powerful and heavily armed naval fighter in the world at the start of the war in Europe.
 
The hunt for the Altmark pt 6
Onboard Cossack Captain Vian and fifteen of his ships crew armed with Webley revolvers, Lee Enfeild SMLE iii rifles and two lewis machine guns are lowered in a boat into the water. During the crossing to the tanker Vian orders three of the crew to get to the bridge and take the German Captain under arrest while two more are to go to the radio room and the rest are to come with him to rescue the prisoners.

As soon as Vian and his boarding party step foot on the Altmark all hell breaks loose as a German HMG opens fire. One crewmember is wounded as the chief engineer shoves Vian to the ground. Three of the boarding part lead by petty officer Athel Smith manages to make their way behind the machine gun and kills the two men there. With the machine gun nest now silent Vian and six of the crew enter the tanker proper.

Eventually the boarding party reach the hold someone shouts are there any British below. A tremendous yell assured Vian that the prisoners are all British. Vian shouts "Come on up then, The Navy is here" a loud cheer is heard from within. On the bridge captain Dau and his first officer are under the watchful eye of a hard scots man armed with a Lewis gun and a revolver. Captain Dau and his first officer are taken from the bridge down to the deck and transferred to HMS Cossack along with the rest of the tankers crew.
 
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16th February 1940
...Unknown to the Altmark the admiralty are warned by bletchley park that the Altmark is carrying 300 merchant men from the Graf Spee.
Neither Station X (at Bletchley Park) nor PC Bruno (at Vignolles, in France, where the Polish exiles were working) was reading Enigma traffic in February 1940. The first breaks into current Enigma were made in late March 1940. Naval Enigma was not read until mid-1941.
 
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