Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
- Thread starter fester
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"Hot logistics, comin' through."
"We work hard, we blockade run hard."
Everybody convoy now!
You've embiggened this TL with your cromulent observations. :-D
What is happening in China in this ATL by July of 1943? The Burma Road has stayed open. The costly resource sink of the Hump airlift has not happened. More supplies are making it to Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist Chinese forces.
The Allied air forces in China and Burma most certainly have a much stronger presence in this TL. Hopefully some of the supplies being brought in including food are making it to the impoverished Chinese peasant farmers displaced by the war.
Can Chiang be convinced to launch an offensive against the Japanese army in South-East China with the purpose of driving toward Canton and Hong Kong? Would he agree to this if provided with more support including more USAAF support? At the very least I would assume that the Japanese army in China has been stopped dead and are no longer able to conduct any further large scale offenses. No Ichi-Go type attacks to capture Allied airbases.
The Allied air forces in China and Burma most certainly have a much stronger presence in this TL. Hopefully some of the supplies being brought in including food are making it to the impoverished Chinese peasant farmers displaced by the war.
Can Chiang be convinced to launch an offensive against the Japanese army in South-East China with the purpose of driving toward Canton and Hong Kong? Would he agree to this if provided with more support including more USAAF support? At the very least I would assume that the Japanese army in China has been stopped dead and are no longer able to conduct any further large scale offenses. No Ichi-Go type attacks to capture Allied airbases.
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formion
Banned
One useful thing about Lemnos is that the Allies have detailed information regarding navigation (shoals, depth etc) since it was the main logistics base for the Gallipoli campaign. A beach to land tanks can be useful. Even more useful would be the observation of the 88mm AA batteries around Moudros' port and the degree they were mobile. Moreover, the Germans had built some infrastructure in Moudros that included a pier and seaplane base and were in the process of expanding the small naval base that was utilized as a convoy port for the german convoys in Aegean.
One interesting titbit: In April 1941 apparently RAF officers were in Lemnos to survey the island for airfield development. I know this by conversations with islanders who after the German occupation smuggled the officers to Turkey with their boats. The only actual reference I could find is just a mention here
If that is indeed the case, the RAF may have already reports on the terrain in Lemnos regarding airfields. It is also worth mentioning that there is already a Luftwaffe airfield in Lemnos that was developed quickly with local labor and steel matting.
One interesting titbit: In April 1941 apparently RAF officers were in Lemnos to survey the island for airfield development. I know this by conversations with islanders who after the German occupation smuggled the officers to Turkey with their boats. The only actual reference I could find is just a mention here
If that is indeed the case, the RAF may have already reports on the terrain in Lemnos regarding airfields. It is also worth mentioning that there is already a Luftwaffe airfield in Lemnos that was developed quickly with local labor and steel matting.
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I would guess the British Commonwealth armies have pushed the IJA out of most of Thailand by now and have forces sitting near the border between Thailand and French Indochina. In TTL at this point would the Allies consider launching an offensive to push the Japanese out of Indochina? One of the reasons being to reopen the railway line from Haiphong to Kunming?
The Americans would like to be able to more easily supply the Chinese. The French would surely like to regain their colonies in SEA. But would the British be willing to commit the resources? The British have enough forces to hold their territories that they have retaken or held from the Japanese. And they may be looking at retaking British Borneo. But for supporting a major offensive into FIC?
With Allied dominance of the South China sea could an amphibious landing be made in Southern Indochina near a large port? Then from there push North to eventually link up with the Chinese armies in Yunnan. How large an operation would this be?
The Americans would like to be able to more easily supply the Chinese. The French would surely like to regain their colonies in SEA. But would the British be willing to commit the resources? The British have enough forces to hold their territories that they have retaken or held from the Japanese. And they may be looking at retaking British Borneo. But for supporting a major offensive into FIC?
With Allied dominance of the South China sea could an amphibious landing be made in Southern Indochina near a large port? Then from there push North to eventually link up with the Chinese armies in Yunnan. How large an operation would this be?
Story 2124
Homestead, Pennsylvania July 12, 1943
The mighty ladle tipped over. Red steel flowed freely. Gigantic presses began to crush the melted metal with pressures that would only be found miles deep under the earth. Workers, many of them experienced for decades, slowly adjusted the process. This was one of the most skilled tasks in the entire mill. New comers could be tasked to the coke works, or to the steel matting teams, but the press for armor plating required a decade of knowledge to know what was just right versus what was truly dangerous. That was a thin line and it was not a line that a rookie, or even a three year man could be expected to know. Six hours later, the first stage of the process to turn molten metal into a piece of armor over nineteen inches thick. This was the last plate that the Navy needed for their battle line construction program. Another six weeks worth of pours were scheduled to stockpile armor that would be needed for battle damage, but after that, the few parts of the mill that could produce everything up to battleship armor could be diverted. Cruisers and tanks still were being built in great numbers and they needed armor, just nowhere near as much as the battle wagons did.
The whistle blew, and seventeen thousand workers left the Homestead Works in under an hour as another twelve thousand workers came on for the night shift. The bars along Amity Street and 8th Avenue were soon packed as the tired, hungry, thirsty and well paid steel workers congregated to drink an Iron, talk about the Pirates’ surprising season and relax before heading home.
The mighty ladle tipped over. Red steel flowed freely. Gigantic presses began to crush the melted metal with pressures that would only be found miles deep under the earth. Workers, many of them experienced for decades, slowly adjusted the process. This was one of the most skilled tasks in the entire mill. New comers could be tasked to the coke works, or to the steel matting teams, but the press for armor plating required a decade of knowledge to know what was just right versus what was truly dangerous. That was a thin line and it was not a line that a rookie, or even a three year man could be expected to know. Six hours later, the first stage of the process to turn molten metal into a piece of armor over nineteen inches thick. This was the last plate that the Navy needed for their battle line construction program. Another six weeks worth of pours were scheduled to stockpile armor that would be needed for battle damage, but after that, the few parts of the mill that could produce everything up to battleship armor could be diverted. Cruisers and tanks still were being built in great numbers and they needed armor, just nowhere near as much as the battle wagons did.
The whistle blew, and seventeen thousand workers left the Homestead Works in under an hour as another twelve thousand workers came on for the night shift. The bars along Amity Street and 8th Avenue were soon packed as the tired, hungry, thirsty and well paid steel workers congregated to drink an Iron, talk about the Pirates’ surprising season and relax before heading home.
The Iowas had heavily protected main battery turrets, with 19.5-inch (495 mm) Class B and STS face, 9.5-inch (241 mm) Class A sides, 12-inch (305 mm) Class A rear, and 7.25-inch (184 mm) Class B roof.
Bah. 19" plate is like Kleenex to an enraged grizzly with Mod powers.
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All of a sudden I want to see that comic....
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