A Tirpitz WI scenairo

Just an odd thought that came to me this afternoon:

Background: as a butterfly/offshoot from Zheng He's Alternate Indian Ocean TL

What if, during the summer of 1943 several larger US carriers were deployed to Scapa Flow en-route to the Pacific to act in concert with the RN to take out Tirpitz ? (yes, you could say they took a wrong turn at Albuquerque ;-) ).

The reason I'm suggesting Zheng's TL is due to the increased cooperation between the RN and USN during 1942 where King isn't as Anglophobic due to the obvious results of cooperation between the navies in the Indian Ocean.

Then, I'd add one more action before they head through Suez...WI, the carriers launched fighter sweeps from locations off of the Netherlands in conjunction with a daytime air raid? (I know this may be a bridge too far as far as the USAAF and Navy cooperating...but you might have one or two of the old Indian Ocean types hanging around)

Anyway, throwing this one out there to see if anything sticks... (and Zheng, this TL would begin in June or July of 1943)...
 
So you are looking for something like OPERATION TUNGSTEN only with US help (USS RANGER and some other carriers) and it takes place in summer 43 instead of April 44?
 
Major US victory at Coral Sea lets Wasp stay in the Atlantic to support Torch landings. Afterwards she, Ranger, HMS Furious perhaps and a couple Sangamons raid Norway.
Bringing an unarmored carrier close to the Netherlands would be viewed as very risky. What would the strategic goal of the raid be?

The Suez part could result from Wasp and Essex assisting an earlier Sicily invasion (The Run for Tunis went better due to Wasp getting the invasion off to a better start).
After Sicily, they transit Suez with a couple British carriers to stir things up from the Indian ocean.
 
So you are looking for something like OPERATION TUNGSTEN only with US help (USS RANGER and some other carriers) and it takes place in summer 43 instead of April 44?

That's what I'm thinking about, but with the first two Essex class carriers and perhaps two Independence class as well...I'm just thinking about putting up an immense amount of aircraft...put a couple of dozen Dauntlesses over a fixed target

Major US victory at Coral Sea lets Wasp stay in the Atlantic to support Torch landings. Afterwards she, Ranger, HMS Furious perhaps and a couple Sangamons raid Norway.
Bringing an unarmored carrier close to the Netherlands would be viewed as very risky. What would the strategic goal of the raid be?

The Suez part could result from Wasp and Essex assisting an earlier Sicily invasion (The Run for Tunis went better due to Wasp getting the invasion off to a better start).
After Sicily, they transit Suez with a couple British carriers to stir things up from the Indian ocean.

What I'm looking at is the idea of supporting a major 8th AF raid into Germany by getting carrier based fighters a couple of hundred miles closer, hit the Luftwaffe from a different direction with a very large force...try and reduce casualties of the 8th and Bomber Command by going after Luftwaffe fighters on the air and ground as well...

I like the idea of adding the British carriers through Suez...maybe an earlier start of the BPF/TF 57...
 
If the Netherlands isn't a strict requirement, perhaps a carrier dive bomber attack against Kiel.
If the earlier attack on Norway is productive, the Wallies might get bold and attempt to take out a couple capital ships in Kiel. Success could allow the Home Fleet to free up a couple more ships for the Med or Pacific.
 
What is the Pacific situation that frees up Essex and Independence classes for the Atlantic?

are you familiar with Zheng He's Alternate Indian Ocean timeline? This is an offshoot following Zheng's anticipated stop point around December 1942...the IJN is getting stretched and has taken more losses than ITL and the situation between the USN and RN is much more cooperative, USS Robin is serving with the Pacific Fleet so a 60-90 day carrier diversion can be made to work....
 
What is the Pacific situation that frees up Essex and Independence classes for the Atlantic?
Working American torpedoes could do it.Those two big Japanese Carriers wouldn't get away at the Coral Sea,the Yorktown wouldn't have been lost at Midway and the Imperial Japanese Navy would have taken a serious beating at Santa Cruz.
 
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