August 5th, 1914 -Tunguska event at Scapa Flow

August 5th, 1914 (i.e. Britain and Germany are now at war) - a Tunguska event occurs at Scapa Flow, destroying the British fleet, and giving Germany naval superiority.

What next?
 
Probably the Brits retract their declaration of war on Germany and France and Russia get beaten.

What do you expect?

How about a thread where a surprise infection kills everyone wearing a German uniform in 1914?
 
We can move it back a month or two, to make it too late for a retraction.

But would the Germans want a retraction, after all they have a historic opportunity
 
A Tunguska event at Scapa Flow would wipe out all of Scotland and cause a giant wave in the north sea heading straight to Norway, Netherlands and Germany.

Also, ASB.
 
We can move it back a month or two, to make it too late for a retraction.

But would the Germans want a retraction, after all they have a historic opportunity
Germany didn't really want to fight Britain at the start of the war, and had actually hoped the British would stay neutral, so I expect the Germans would be fine with a retraction. France and Russia are their main enemies/targets for expansion.
 
I'm not sure about the dispersal of the Royal Navy at the time but they would still have their Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranian Fleets/Squadrons/etc dispersed around the globe.

I also seem to remember hearing that a large part of the Royal Navy was kept at the ports inside the Irish Sea, though I can't remember if it was supposed to be before or after the Battle of Jutland
 
I'm not sure about the dispersal of the Royal Navy at the time but they would still have their Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranian Fleets/Squadrons/etc dispersed around the globe.

I also seem to remember hearing that a large part of the Royal Navy was kept at the ports inside the Irish Sea, though I can't remember if it was supposed to be before or after the Battle of Jutland

CDurham

I think that was in mid-late 1914 and early 1915 because there was a fear that Scapa was vulnerable to sub attack. Unfortunately at the time of this proposed event most of the fleet would have been at Scapa. Not to mention as said you could say goodbye to a lot of Scotland and Norway and probably other areas, depending on which way the tsunamis go.

Steve
 
How is it ASB? Tunguska happened in real life.

Some AH'ers believe that asteroid impacts belong in the ASB ghetto
(buried amongst the ISOTS and "Galactica vs Powerpuff Girls" scenarios).

IMHO, random smites are borderline ASB but having the Barringer
or Tunguska impacts hit elsewhere; or changing historical near-misses
( http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php/pods/natural_disasters/asteroid )
into strikes to discuss the socio-economic effects is reasonable enough...
 
Germany didn't really want to fight Britain at the start of the war...


Chengar,

Which, of course, is why the 1,800 ton Hamburg-America Line excursion steamer Konigin Louise left Heligoland painted in the colors of the British Great Eatern Railway with 180 mines aboard to mine the mouth of the Thames on the evening of August 4th hours before the British ultimatum expired.

She laid her first mines by dawn on the 5th and the RN light cruiser Amphion with a couple destoyers sank her by noon of the same day.


Bill
 
Chengar,

Which, of course, is why the 1,800 ton Hamburg-America Line excursion steamer Konigin Louise left Heligoland painted in the colors of the British Great Eatern Railway with 180 mines aboard to mine the mouth of the Thames on the evening of August 4th hours before the British ultimatum expired.

She laid her first mines by dawn on the 5th and the RN light cruiser Amphion with a couple destoyers sank her by noon of the same day.

Bill
There's a difference between wanting to fight and being prepared to fight; once it was clear Britain was entering on the Entente side Germany did everythint they could to win, but they would have been quite happy if Britain had just ignored the conflict.
 
Jellicoe was described as the only person who could lose the war in an afternoon. The comet would have this effect as the Pre-Dreanoughts were not much use however the cruisers could still effectyively defend much of Britains trade routes as the Germany Fleet was largely designed for operation in the North Sea which they would have dominated
 
The UK would be forced to seek peace as the HSF is superior to the remnants of the British fleet.

Without BEF intervention the Von Schlieffen plan may very well succeed. As the British could sell to both sides the UK would remain a creditor nation. London remains the world financial capitol. Rapid US industrial growth during WWI would be lessened

The UK will attempt to persuade the Ottoman Empire to remain neutral. This may delay the Ottoman entry into the war. Italy may join the war on the side of the Central powers (30%) to press claims for Nice, Savoy, With the Ottomans in the war Germany will attempt to entice Japan into the war against Russia. If both the Ottoman Empire and Japan are at war with Russia then Russia will be cut off from external supplies.
 
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