What's the POD for this?As it says on the tin, really.
What could the British Commonwealth and Empire have done differently in the Pacific War to minimise defeats and maximise victories (i.e. preventing the loss of Singapore, etc.) against the Japanese?
What's the POD for this?
Not far east related really but save one of glorious ark royal or courageous, double down on taranto free up the mediteranean fleet and send an actual fleet to the far east.
The Royal Navy took the Japanese seriously as opponents from the day the Washington Treaty was signed.Allies take the Japanese seriously as opponents?
I think I've read that paper. IIRC he also wrote that Eagle should have taken part in the attack. However, I've read elsewhere that Eagle didn't take part because of a hangar fire and 6 of her 18 Swordfish were transferred to Illustrious.One of my favoured PODs - I would triple down on it plus Eagle
Illustrious, Furious and Ark Royal (Already part of Operation MB8 - the covering operation) plus Eagle could deploy 60+ Torpedo carrying bombers between them if not more - using the Skuas from Ark and Furious as flare dropping planes freeing up the Swordfish as torpedo carrying planes - the best way to sink a ship remaining to let the water in!
Dedicate the best 2 squadrons to attack Littorio and Vittorio Veneto (the main prizes) and then sufficient numbers to attack the other Battleships and some to attack the 3 Heavy Crusiers
There is a Canadian Colonel who wrote an excellent piece on the OTL attack claiming it was a Tactical Victory but ultimately a strategic failure as Britain did not take advantage of their victory and also believes that a larger attack should have been made
The Royal Navy took the Japanese seriously as opponents from the day the Washington Treaty was signed.
I think I've read that paper. IIRC he also wrote that Eagle should have taken part in the attack. However, I've read elsewhere that Eagle didn't take part because of a hangar fire and 6 of her 18 Swordfish were transferred to Illustrious.
Is Eagle not having the hangar fire a permissible POD?
That didn't stop Admiralty concentrating on preparations for a war against Japan between 1922 and 1933 and then lobbying for a Royal Navy large enough to fight the Kriegsmarine and IJN at the same time between 1933 and 1939.There was still plenty of racism among the Allies WRT the fighting capabilities of the Japanese including beliefs that they were poor pilots because of a weak middle ear.
That didn't stop Admiralty concentrating on preparations for a war against Japan between 1922 and 1933 and then lobbying for a Royal Navy large enough to fight the Kriegsmarine and IJN at the same time between 1933 and 1939.
Considering the unreliability of German torpedoes at the time Courageous being hit by duds in September 1939 might be another good one. However, neither is really within the scope of the OP.EAGLE not having that fire is a great POD although I thought the problem was issues with her aircraft refueling system that required repairs. Either, having EAGLE and ILLUSTRIOUS for the Taranto attack is great POD to start things off.
With hindsight all the seven convoys to Singapore did was provide the Japanese with 45,000 extra labourers for the Burma Railway.The main task of the surface forces of the A.B.D.A. command was initially to convoy supplies and reinforcements to Singapore. The Japanese advance down the Malay peninsula soon closed the Malacca Straits to our convoys, which thereafter had to be routed south of Sumatra and approach Singapore through the Sunda Straits.8 Between the 1st of January and the 8th of February, when it was decided that it was useless to throw in more reinforcements, the British and Dutch warships escorted in seven convoys comprising forty-four ships, many of them large troop transports. In all 45,000 fighting men of all services, besides large quantities of stores and equipment, were safely taken to Singapore during those five weeks. Considering the scale of sea and air attack to which our convoys were constantly exposed, the achievement was remarkable. Only in the last one, when the liner Empress of Asia ( 16,909 tons) was bombed and set on fire, was a ship lost. It was when escorting one of these convoys that the destroyer Jupiter scored a success by sinking a large Japanese submarine off the Sunda Straits.
Not only were military reinforcements poured into Singapore, but the desperate need for more aircraft, and especially for fighters, had to be met. The convoy which arrived on the 8th of January carried fifty-one crated Hurricanes, which were at once erected and flung into battle. Next the fleet carrier Indomitable came round the Cape to Port Sudan, embarked fifty more there and at once sailed east. They were flown off to Batavia on the 27th and 28th from a position south of Java; and most of them went straight on to Singapore. Early in February the aircraft transport Athene delivered to Batavia forty more Hurricanes, which she had embarked at Takoradi on the Gold Coast. It is not the smallest of the many tragedies which scar this terrible period that all these successful sea-borne reinforcement operations were of no avail.
I think I've read that paper. IIRC he also wrote that Eagle should have taken part in the attack. However, I've read elsewhere that Eagle didn't take part because of a hangar fire and 6 of her 18 Swordfish were transferred to Illustrious.
Is Eagle not having the hangar fire a permissible POD?