AHC: Make A Minor Navy Larger/More Effective Prior To WW2

Inspired by Hood's best British interwar fleet thread, make a minor navy (so not France, Italy, the US, the UK, the USSR, Germany, or Japan) larger/more effective in time for World War 2. Try to keep most events as OTL. This can include neutral countries such as Spain and Sweden.
 
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The Dutch invest in their navy to defend the Dutch East Indies.

They did invest in the Navy in OTL, but had just switched in their basic strategy. Let them stay with their Submarine based defense of Dutch East Indies and expand on that. Let them build the first true electroboot instead of the germans. (could be a much bitter battle for the atlantic if the germans captured this tech (in OTL they did snatch the Snorchel from us).
 
The Royal Canadian Navy grew substantially during the war from a very small start.

Perhaps a pre-war policy between the UK and Canada that saw the RCN as playing a larger role in convoy escorting could have led to the existence of more in the way of coastal aircraft and patrol ships combined with a few more destroyers. It would not be glamorous, but it would have a clear impact on merchant shipping losses from day one of the conflict. It would also have made scaling up the RCN a bit easier.
 
Let them build the first true electroboot instead of the germans. (could be a much bitter battle for the atlantic if the germans captured this tech (in OTL they did snatch the Snorchel from us).
As with the Snorchel the Germans would ignore them until it is too late. Don't forget the Germans took the Snorchels off the Dutch submarines they captured.
 
Have Canada invest in building up a fleet of sloops and to a lesser extent destroyers to escort convoys across the Atlantic since that's the RCN's obvious primary role in any future war
 
I'd like to see the RAN maintain its Submarine Arm between the wars and possibly take over HMS Argus instead of the RN putting it into reserve, even if it requires some funding and support from the UK.
 
Have the Dutch build a couple Scharnhorst clones, the Allies would benefit from having a few more fast battleships in the first half of WW2.

Or even better (but not strictly naval) have the Dutch beef up their antishipping airstrike capacities, the Dutch East Indies are the perfect place to enact that kind of doctrine.
 
Have the Dutch build a couple Scharnhorst clones, the Allies would benefit from having a few more fast battleships in the first half of WW2.

Or even better (but not strictly naval) have the Dutch beef up their antishipping airstrike capacities, the Dutch East Indies are the perfect place to enact that kind of doctrine.
If they weren't in the N.E.I in 1940 they either get sunk at their moorings in Netherlands or worse get captured by the Germans.
 

Driftless

Donor
Even using the same roster of ships as they historically used, have the Norwegian leadership issue an earlier and clear order to shoot at any unidentified warship coming up the fjords on April 9, 1940. It's still going to go badly for the Norwegians that day, but any damage done to the invasion fleets, particularly in Narvik, Bergen, and Trondheim would really crimp German plans. The Germans needed to keep to tight timetables for success.

Another thought: instead of trading cod for the useless Caproni Ca.310 bombers; trade with the Italians for some MAS boats with the accompanying torpedos. They might have been very effective in the close confines of the fjords where bigger ships had limited room for manuever and the little boats had some rocky islands for cover.
 
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Start with a nation that already has a large merchant marine (e.g. Holland or Norway) then have them occasionally sail through pirate-infested waters.
Alternately, a net exporter like Argentina or Australia of Canada passes legislation requiring major exports be carried in Canadian-registered ships.

Alternately, you could beef up the Canadian or Icelandic Coast Guard/Fisheries Patrol to discourage poaching. When coast guard cutters start colliding with factory ships, CGs get bigger ships, maybe even seaplane tenders to extend fisheries patrols.

Perhaps some small nation decides that drug or gem smuggling is a pox and reinforces their coast guard to prevent smuggling. Perhaps the South African gov't tries to prevent nasty boys from smuggling (un-taxed) gem stones out of the country.
Perhaps the French Navy decides that they can profit from taxing alcohol smuggled from Saint Pierre, Miquelon and French Guyana to Prohibition USA.
Perhaps the Turkish Navy decides to cash in on all the opium smuggled from Afghanistan to markets in Europe.
 
Perhaps Norway could have heavily invested in Motor Torpedo Boats (for a small country that is) in the mid to late thirties. They could be manned by reservist fishermen as a Naval Home Guard. In the Fjords they should be able to raise hell with an attacker. They'd be more effective than the ancient Coast Defence ships.
 
Norway.

It builds a coastal defense force based around MTBs and fast minelayers replacing its older MTBs, gun boats and obsolete coastal defense ships - capable of enforcing its Neutrality

Have the British sell them the design for the Vosper British Power Boat 60 ft MTB and have a force of between 12 and 4 MTBs and 1 or 2 minelayers at every major location along the Norwegian coastline

60 British made and Norwegian made MTBs and 9 fast Mine layers - 3 rebuilt modernized Draug Class (the Tubes and some guns are landed allowing them to carry 60 odd mines) and 6 modern Sleipner class built as fast minelayers were increased in size over the original design and whilst retaining the planned armament is increased in size to allow it to carry up to 108 mines and the ability to rapidly lay them.

The force is largely complete by Sept 1939 and was first tested on the 16th Feb 1940 when the Altmarck a German Supply ship with 300 British and Allied POWs taken from ships sunk by the Graf Spree was forced to stand too at Jøssingfjord by a British Destroyer (HMS Cossack)

The Altmarck had been investigated several times by the Norwegian navy at the behest of the British but the crew had informed the Norwegians that the vessel contained no POWs.

The British not satisfied by this intercepted the Altmarck in Norwegian waters and was threatening to storm the vessel.

At this the Norwegian navy deployed 8 MTBS and 2 of the new Sleipner class Destroyer - minelayers and threatened to intern both vessels.

After a terse stand off the Norwegians agreed to allow the British to send an unarmed boarding party to inspect the German ship alongside Norwegian officers which the Germans were obliged to allow.

During the inspection the British insisted on checking the holds where the 299 POWs were discovered.

This placed the Norwegians in a sticky situation politically as on one hand the British had entered Norwegian waters and on the other hand the Germans while technically not breaching international law as POWs could be transported through international waters but the spirit of the law was intended for situations were no other option was realistically available i.e. use of the Panama canal - which was not the case here 'and' the transporting ship had to advise the Neutral nation which could then decide if they would allow it or not (which was not the case) had lied to them.

The up shot was that the Norwegian Admiral acting on his own initiative ordered the Prisoners released and ordered the Cossack to leave Norwegian waters and then on the 17th Escorted the Altmarck out of Norwegian waters (as far as the Kattegat) - a result that pleased no one.

But it did prove that Norway could defend its Neutrality robustly if necessary.

Hitler became worried that Norway might stop deliveries of Iron Ore and that the Norwegians would side with the British in any future situation decided to invade Norway and the planning of the invasion of Norway started that week.

A plan that would see this small navy make an impact on world history out of all proportion to its small size.

Footnote: The term "jøssing" in Norwegian is today used to describe a situation (usually in politics) were a person makes the correct decision even if the results might not be favorable to them.
 
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Driftless

Donor
(snip)
Or even better (but not strictly naval) have the Dutch beef up their antishipping airstrike capacities, the Dutch East Indies are the perfect place to enact that kind of doctrine.

Did the Dutch develop the doctrine of coordinating their air forces specifically with the submarine forces in the DEI, or am I remembering someone's AH suggestion?

Even if that wasn't historically done that could be a useful idea. Give their estimable sub fleet more eyes, as well as being able to deliver an aerial punch of their own.
 
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I'd like to see the RAN maintain its Submarine Arm between the wars and possibly take over HMS Argus instead of the RN putting it into reserve, even if it requires some funding and support from the UK.

I'd prefer the Hermes, IIUC there was talk of us getting it in 1942, but the inconsiderate IJN ruined that for us.

A batch of destroyers would be nice too, we only had a half flotilla of 5 V-W class ships of the 'scrap iron flotilla'.
 
There were a number of proposals after WWI for the maintenance of a significantly expanded Canadian navy (and proposals for a generally stronger military [some discussion of which]) but ultimately these fell on deaf ears as Canada's leaders fell back on the age old adages of "Britain will do the real fighting in any war" and "the militiaman's can-do spirit". Somehow make Canada take its interwar military seriously (acquiring the West Indies creates a new naval commitment? No UK-US naval treaties results in Canada being pressured to have a navy worth its name?) and Canada likely enters WWII with at least a couple cruisers (Destroyers and other escort vessels can be built up during the war as per OTL).

On another note, if the allied powers allow the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to to keep the navy it inherited from Austria-Hungary then Yugoslavia has quite the navy which is either captured in port or may be able to break out of the Adriatic to join up with the British in the wider Med.
 
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