Any interest? These are snippets of a TL I'm working on...
September 4th 1940
150 miles West of Bordeaux, France.
The lad from communications stuttered – Halsey supposed her couldn’t blame him. “Sir – the Navy Department just sent a message. They’ve done it sir!”
“Done what son - and who did it?” Halsey growled.
“The British, sir. Declared war on us, Sir.” The boy – he couldn’t have been more than 20 – held out a flimsy to the admiral.
Halsey slipped on some glasses and read it. “Be advised that at 04:30 this morning, the British ambassador delivered a declaration of war to Secretary of State Cordull Hull. Execute unrestricted warfare against the British Empire and its allies. Stout hearts.
Interlude
“OK, what do we know?”
LEXINGTON’S CIC had a large standing map of the North Atlantic. The US Second Fleet’s position was marked with little blue flags. Little blue flags that were still a hell of a lot closer to the coast of France than the East Coast of the United States. Red flags marked the position of known British forces. Green forces marked the position of known Italian forces. And dark grey marked the position of the Kreigsmarine. Most worrying of all, a cluster of purple flags marked the passage of an IJN task force transiting Gibraltar. The remains of the French navy – a cluster of light blue flags - was north of the Azores, fleeing west to America, carrying the French government-in-exile.
Interlude
The LEXINGTON was shrouded in oily smoke as fires burned on the hanger deck. The British bombs that burst through the flight deck had wreaked terrible damage, and Halsey knew, despite the best that damage control could do, the ship was probably doomed.
“Sir – reports from VF-33’ screamed the radio man.
‘Read it’, ordered Halsey.
‘Large numbers of Japanese planes headed your way STOP 30+ bombers and 20+ fighters STOP Engaging STOP Best luck.’
‘How many Wildcats are left?’
‘3, Admiral’
Halsey stared at the plot. Cornwall was 300 miles to the East, and Nova Scotia on the other side of the Atlantic. The Japanese had clearly transited both Suez and Gibraltar with the permission of their British allies. No way out then.
‘Sir’
Halsey turned, expecting another catastrophe.
‘Message from Admiral Spruance, sir. Task Force 2.1 has reached Norfolk.’
Cheers erupted on the bridge. It had worked. The American Army was home from doomed France. Home to safety – to rebuild – to form the cadres of the 150-division force Halsey knew was in the works– and to come back stronger than ever.
None of which changed LEXINGTON’s circumstances at all. Even if the LEXINGTON had been undamaged, the air wing was shot to hell, the bad guys had eight carriers closing in on her, and there was no where to run. Halsey stared. The one thing the battles in the Atlantic had proved was that carriers were the future of warfare – a lesson not lost on anyone – US, British, Japanese or German. Heck, the Italians and French knew it too.
The US Navy had three carriers. The LEXINGTON, the SARATOGA and the tiny LANGLEY. YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE were almost ready, and HORNET would be along soon. For about the millionth time, Halsey cursed the delays in their construction. RANGER was in Pearl Harbor – and probably stuck there now too. The Japanese and British knew this as well as Halsey did. Halsey suspected that they also knew that US shipyards were laying down CVs as fast as they could. Their strategy was clear enough – nip the growing USN CV force in the bud. That was bad for LEXINGTON, but not so bad for her escorts.
Halsey let out an explosive breathe. So this is what it felt like to commit suicide. He turned. ‘Message to commodore McCain. My orders – go to radio silence and make best course for any US or Canadian port.”
He turned to the helmsman. ‘Make your course due east. We’ll go right down their throats.
Interlude
The mood in the meeting was somber. Midway was gone. Hawaii wasn’t in immediate danger, but it was increasingly difficult to reliably supply. In the Atlantic, the combined RN/IJN/Regina Marina – plus whatever the Kriegsmarine could spare – dominated the surface.
Though not directly threatened, the United States could not aid the USSR – and it was clear that if the USSR went down, the United States would face the armed might of the United Kingdom, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan with naught to help it aside from Canada, the Free French, and some warlords in China.
FDR blew out a long column of cigarette smoke. He looked Admiral King in the eye, but he spoke to General Marshall.
‘General Marshall, the current strategic priority must be opening a line of communication to the Soviet Union. This means a reliable line where we can supply the USSR with aid to fight our common enemies. What can we do?’
Marshall shrugged. “Mr. President, the geography hasn’t changed. Vladivostok is the reliable Pacific port. Given how far away it is, and the fact that we’d literally have to conquer Japan to make it a viable port, it isn’t an option.’
Grim faces, but Marshall had spoken the truth. He continued, ‘Murmansk is closed half the year, and Leningrad – assuming the Soviets can even hold it – is even harder to get to than Vladivostok. The Med is an option if we can magically clear Gibraltar or Suez, but Turkey is another bottleneck - assuming it's even allowed to maintain its independence. Running the Dardanelles really isn’t an option in that case. Persia is – but it is literally the other side of the world.’
‘Mr. President, if I may?’ Roosevelt nodded at King, who continued. ‘There is no option – none at all – until and unless we defeat the surface forces of the Royal Navy, Italian Navy, and Japanese Navy. Right now, they heavily outnumber us. We do, however, have one great strategic advantage.’
Roosevelt perked up. Advantages for the United States were almost unknown concepts in these meetings.
“The Panama Canal, sir. This is what I propose…’
Mike Turcotte