Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
- Thread starter fester
- Start date
- Status
Story 2715
Behind the Water Line, Netherlands January 4, 1945
"Three potato's, two leeks and six hundred grams of bread..." The young woman sighed. She had collected today's ration for herself and her younger sister. It was not enough. It had to be enough. She could only hope that the snare traps would snap themselves shut on a squirrel or a rat to add a little bit of protein and more calories to their diet.
"Three potato's, two leeks and six hundred grams of bread..." The young woman sighed. She had collected today's ration for herself and her younger sister. It was not enough. It had to be enough. She could only hope that the snare traps would snap themselves shut on a squirrel or a rat to add a little bit of protein and more calories to their diet.
Story 2715
Colmar, France January 5, 1945
Dawn broke. There was silence except for a few birds that were looking for shelter from the harsh morning wind. They chirped and tweeted even as the wind pushed them around.
To the west, the low thrum of engines became louder. As the clock neared eight in the morning, the first of hundreds of twin engine medium bombers and quad engine heavy bombers flew over the town. Just outside of the city was a trio of fields marked with very large crosses painted on the ground and search lights blasting photons into the sky. The lead bombardiers made necessary adjustments as squadrons entered their bomb runs for crossroads, artillery concentrations and command posts across the Rhine. Above and ahead of the bombers were hundreds of fighters looking for any German pilot brave or dumb enough to challenge them. The few experten were dangerous but they would often be swarmed. The bulk of the remaining Luftwaffe fighter force were pilots lucky to have a hundred hours in any type and unlikely to get to two hundred hours marked in their log book.
Soon the earth started to shake as the bombers emptied their bellies.
Another stream of twin engine aircraft made a dogleg fifteen miles north of the city. A brigade of paratroopers would soon drop to secure the southern flank.
Even as the paratroopers were leaving their aircraft, every gun in the 1st French Army started to fire. The lighter guns were flinging smoke to cover dozens of Dukws making an amphibious crossing of the river. The heavier guns were firing high explosives first at pre-planned targets and then once the Germans started to react, against whatever the spotters in the dozens of Piper Cubs could see.
By nightfall, thirty six thousand men and two hundred tanks were across the river.
Dawn broke. There was silence except for a few birds that were looking for shelter from the harsh morning wind. They chirped and tweeted even as the wind pushed them around.
To the west, the low thrum of engines became louder. As the clock neared eight in the morning, the first of hundreds of twin engine medium bombers and quad engine heavy bombers flew over the town. Just outside of the city was a trio of fields marked with very large crosses painted on the ground and search lights blasting photons into the sky. The lead bombardiers made necessary adjustments as squadrons entered their bomb runs for crossroads, artillery concentrations and command posts across the Rhine. Above and ahead of the bombers were hundreds of fighters looking for any German pilot brave or dumb enough to challenge them. The few experten were dangerous but they would often be swarmed. The bulk of the remaining Luftwaffe fighter force were pilots lucky to have a hundred hours in any type and unlikely to get to two hundred hours marked in their log book.
Soon the earth started to shake as the bombers emptied their bellies.
Another stream of twin engine aircraft made a dogleg fifteen miles north of the city. A brigade of paratroopers would soon drop to secure the southern flank.
Even as the paratroopers were leaving their aircraft, every gun in the 1st French Army started to fire. The lighter guns were flinging smoke to cover dozens of Dukws making an amphibious crossing of the river. The heavier guns were firing high explosives first at pre-planned targets and then once the Germans started to react, against whatever the spotters in the dozens of Piper Cubs could see.
By nightfall, thirty six thousand men and two hundred tanks were across the river.
Story 2716
Mulhouse, France January 6, 1945
To the north, the ground routinely shook. Almost a thousand guns had been firing for the past day. The air was never calm as fighters strafed, bombers dropped long strings of high explosives, and spotter planes redirected artillery and air strikes. An endless line of trucks carrying men and ammunition forward and the wounded to the rear had only stopped twice due to accidents at key crossroads near the front.
Now, the Polish First Army began its part. Every gun it controlled was aimed at a box three miles long and two miles deep. The machine gun platoons of six battalions fired long strings of bullets with a tracer round every third shot. The green and red strings kept the assault companies in line. Between the battalions, anti-aircraft gunners fired their twenty millimeters and forty millimeter cannon to keep the battalions on a steady front. The battalion and regimental mortar teams were laying down thick smoke on the far bank even as the engineers engulfed the near bank in fog. By mid-morning, four battalions had secured their initial lodgements, another had landed four hundred yards downstream from the target, reinforcing a succcess while the last battalion had been forced off its beachhead. Success was being reinforced while the sole failure point had linear sheafs of 155 millimeter shells holding back the German counter-attack until the last of the wounded could be evacuated.
To the north, the ground routinely shook. Almost a thousand guns had been firing for the past day. The air was never calm as fighters strafed, bombers dropped long strings of high explosives, and spotter planes redirected artillery and air strikes. An endless line of trucks carrying men and ammunition forward and the wounded to the rear had only stopped twice due to accidents at key crossroads near the front.
Now, the Polish First Army began its part. Every gun it controlled was aimed at a box three miles long and two miles deep. The machine gun platoons of six battalions fired long strings of bullets with a tracer round every third shot. The green and red strings kept the assault companies in line. Between the battalions, anti-aircraft gunners fired their twenty millimeters and forty millimeter cannon to keep the battalions on a steady front. The battalion and regimental mortar teams were laying down thick smoke on the far bank even as the engineers engulfed the near bank in fog. By mid-morning, four battalions had secured their initial lodgements, another had landed four hundred yards downstream from the target, reinforcing a succcess while the last battalion had been forced off its beachhead. Success was being reinforced while the sole failure point had linear sheafs of 155 millimeter shells holding back the German counter-attack until the last of the wounded could be evacuated.
Last edited:
Story 2717
North Atlantic, January 7, 1945
The bow of HMS Loch Fada dipped into the wave. The few look-outs were drenched again. They scanned the sea. Behind them and to the north were half a dozen rows of merchant ships. Ahead of them was one of only seven sister ships that would be completed. The rest had been cancelled. To the south were waves and white caps that would offer great concealment to a periscope if a U-boat skipper could stand as his boat would be rocked harder than a colicky baby at forty feet beneath the surface.
The escort accelerated to get ahead of the convoy for a few minutes when she would then drift back to position as the convoy continued to Liverpool at a steady eleven knots.
The bow of HMS Loch Fada dipped into the wave. The few look-outs were drenched again. They scanned the sea. Behind them and to the north were half a dozen rows of merchant ships. Ahead of them was one of only seven sister ships that would be completed. The rest had been cancelled. To the south were waves and white caps that would offer great concealment to a periscope if a U-boat skipper could stand as his boat would be rocked harder than a colicky baby at forty feet beneath the surface.
The escort accelerated to get ahead of the convoy for a few minutes when she would then drift back to position as the convoy continued to Liverpool at a steady eleven knots.
Last edited:
another typo? LOCH Fada
and strangely that is an interesting deviation from OTL
RL saw all 4 Lochs from the '42 program completed and serving in WW2
and 24 from the '43 program were finally completed as ASW frigates (some post-VE day) with 2 more modified as support vessels
In addition 20+ were completed to a modified design with more medium and light AA. These were subsequently named for BAYs
though many were too late for the Pacific campaign
AIUI ~ 60 Loch Frigates were cancelled in OTL 45, but many of those built served through the 50s and 60s in the RN and allied navies
Last edited:
Autocorrect struck again.
I know that we have gone back and forth on me buffing up Allied ASW capacity too much too early (and after writing this for 4+ years, I fundamentally agree with your point) but given the constraints/logic of the world as I wrote it, I think the Admiralty would have seen the demand for war time open ocean escorts to be on a significant decline by 1943 for ships to be laid down in 1944 and commissioned in 1945. More effort instead would have been devoted to landing craft as well as main fleet elements.
I think if I was rewriting this from scratch, the LOCH and BAY class would be near OTL levels as the early buffs of more Treasury class cutters, their derivatives as well as the earlier CAPTAIN class frigates plus more VLR Liberators would not have happened. But as written, I think this makes sense.
Yes we have but I did not intend this post as a further instance of that debate
was intended rather as a positive comment on how much effect an earlier/more comprehensive victory in the Atlantic would have on resources for use elsewhere
(and a compliment to the kind of subtle detail you slip into so many posts 👍)
Probably true for any ASW frigates planned to be laid down in'44 but IMHO any building for the 1943 program would still be completed as AA frigates
to be used in the Far East especially given the more active British Pacific Fleet iTTL
However as always, author's choice
Brazo Zulu from a
Last edited:
Story 2718
Western Pacific, January 8, 1945
USS Enterprise accelerated away from the oiler. Her bunkers were now full and she had enough aviation gasoline aboard to keep her air group quite active for the next week. The other fleet carriers in her task group were almost topped off as well. The destroyers were refueling from USS Indiana or the slow oilers of the support group while the cruiser escorts waited their turn. By nightfall, the task group would be heading north by northeast to rendezvous with another task group of Task Force 58. Six fleet and three light carriers escorted by thirty warships, all built in the past seven years, would then raid the airfields on Kyushu to provide relief to the 7th Fleet's air defense problems.
USS Enterprise accelerated away from the oiler. Her bunkers were now full and she had enough aviation gasoline aboard to keep her air group quite active for the next week. The other fleet carriers in her task group were almost topped off as well. The destroyers were refueling from USS Indiana or the slow oilers of the support group while the cruiser escorts waited their turn. By nightfall, the task group would be heading north by northeast to rendezvous with another task group of Task Force 58. Six fleet and three light carriers escorted by thirty warships, all built in the past seven years, would then raid the airfields on Kyushu to provide relief to the 7th Fleet's air defense problems.
Story 2719
South China Sea, January 9, 1945
The captain looked down at his ship. The heavy cruiser was smoking. A light attack aircraft had picked its way through three layers of fighters and almost a dozen miles of flak. Its companions had been picked off one by one even as it streaked low enough to the waves that spray had to have been hitting the canopy. The cruiser had sprinted to lay itself between the attacker and its likely target, HMS Ark Royal. Even as it interposed itself, every gun aboard the ship was firing. Some shells had to have hit. But it was not enough. The light bomber had crashed into the side of his ship a minute ago.
He waited for the damage reports. He waited and then the reports started to filter up to the fighting bridge. Slight shock damage to the engine room. Half a dozen rivets popped on the seam letting in five or ten gallons a minute. The armor belt held. Most of the repairs would involve paint and perhaps an extra ration of rum for the entire crew once night fell. Until then, they had a ship to fight.
The captain looked down at his ship. The heavy cruiser was smoking. A light attack aircraft had picked its way through three layers of fighters and almost a dozen miles of flak. Its companions had been picked off one by one even as it streaked low enough to the waves that spray had to have been hitting the canopy. The cruiser had sprinted to lay itself between the attacker and its likely target, HMS Ark Royal. Even as it interposed itself, every gun aboard the ship was firing. Some shells had to have hit. But it was not enough. The light bomber had crashed into the side of his ship a minute ago.
He waited for the damage reports. He waited and then the reports started to filter up to the fighting bridge. Slight shock damage to the engine room. Half a dozen rivets popped on the seam letting in five or ten gallons a minute. The armor belt held. Most of the repairs would involve paint and perhaps an extra ration of rum for the entire crew once night fell. Until then, they had a ship to fight.
Is this what you're refering to?
Attachments
You should only worry about things where behavioral or medication changes plausibly change the timing of death/quality of life declines well before the other things that could plausibly kill or decrease quality of life.... cigarettes aren't a concern for this cruiser --- may be for most of the crew, but not the ship: _)
That logic is why we usually don't screen men over the age of 76 for prostate cancer unless we have a wicked strong prior --- minimally detectable prostate cancer at that age won't be what kills the patient.
Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines
See recommendations from Memorial Sloan Kettering on when and how often men should be screening for prostate cancer.
www.mskcc.org
Story 2720
Kiel, Germany, January 10, 1945
U-2501 slowly followed the coal powered minesweeper through a narrow unmarked channel. The hull of a training U-boat stood halfway out of the water three hundred yards south of the sleek new boat. Her older sister had been destroyed after running into a mine that had broken loose from its moorings. Seven men survived including two instructors on the fast new attack craft. An hour later, she was docked, and soon her crew was busy making her ready to receive fuel and go back to sea again with another two dozen trainees. By spring, another two dozen sisters would need crews before they could attempt to interdict the convoys that never stopped sailing.
U-2501 slowly followed the coal powered minesweeper through a narrow unmarked channel. The hull of a training U-boat stood halfway out of the water three hundred yards south of the sleek new boat. Her older sister had been destroyed after running into a mine that had broken loose from its moorings. Seven men survived including two instructors on the fast new attack craft. An hour later, she was docked, and soon her crew was busy making her ready to receive fuel and go back to sea again with another two dozen trainees. By spring, another two dozen sisters would need crews before they could attempt to interdict the convoys that never stopped sailing.
- Status