Is she going to disappear down the Vile Vortices into a alternative evolutionary track, along with HIJMS Amagi?
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Is she going to disappear down the Vile Vortices into a alternative evolutionary track, along with HIJMS Amagi?
Only the first couple as they just stopped being interesting at that point
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/keynes-cruisers.388788/page-30#post-13549114
Ramp-Rat
Monthly Donor
The Japanese are not rampaging through the Far East and Philippines, driving all before them in confusion and panic. Unlike in OTL, they are not able to bounce their foes from position to position, but are being made to fight for every inch of ground gained. Every check to their advance is costing them valuable resources, resources that they do not have to spare. Plus a lot of the kit that they are destroying, is old and effectively redundant, stuff that the British in particular were going to scrap soon anyway. And the stuff that is going to replace it, while redundant in Europe, is more than a match for anything that the Japanese have.
The British are replacing their 2lb AT gun with the 6lb gun, the 2lb is however ideal for use in the Far East. Small and light, far more manoeuvrable than its bigger brother, but able to kill any tank in the Japanese armoury. The 6in 26 cwt howitzer, which is being replaced by the 5.5 gun, will find a place in the British armoury in the Far East, as it did IOTL. Tanks that are death traps in the European theatre, such as the Matilda are completely immune to anything that the Japanese have in the way of anti tank weapons.
Both the British and the Americans are slowly gaining in strength, in spite of the losses that they are suffering. The Japanese however, their economy already stretched by their war in China, doesn’t have the depth to take on this additional burden. Every British/American ship lost can be replaced by two more modern ships. The same for troops, their equipment and aircraft, British war production is now getting into its stride, and the Americans are just beginning to flex their industrial muscles.
I would expect that the Japanese expansion to slow and eventual halt, far short of their gains in OTL. And for there to be a period of essentially static holding in place, as both sides take a deep breath, before resuming high intensity operations post monsoon season. With luck for the British, Burma will have held, and Malaysia will be clear of the Japanese by early 43. The majority of the DEI, will never have fallen under the Japanese, nor will much of the Philippines. And the Japanese from 43, will be very much on the back foot, desperately trying to hold off the Anglo American Forces as they strive to drive them out of their gains. With hopefully the Mediterranean open to transit by British convoys by late 42, and the North African shore clear, Britain will be in a much stronger position, and far better able to support its efforts in the Far East.
RR.
The British are replacing their 2lb AT gun with the 6lb gun, the 2lb is however ideal for use in the Far East. Small and light, far more manoeuvrable than its bigger brother, but able to kill any tank in the Japanese armoury. The 6in 26 cwt howitzer, which is being replaced by the 5.5 gun, will find a place in the British armoury in the Far East, as it did IOTL. Tanks that are death traps in the European theatre, such as the Matilda are completely immune to anything that the Japanese have in the way of anti tank weapons.
Both the British and the Americans are slowly gaining in strength, in spite of the losses that they are suffering. The Japanese however, their economy already stretched by their war in China, doesn’t have the depth to take on this additional burden. Every British/American ship lost can be replaced by two more modern ships. The same for troops, their equipment and aircraft, British war production is now getting into its stride, and the Americans are just beginning to flex their industrial muscles.
I would expect that the Japanese expansion to slow and eventual halt, far short of their gains in OTL. And for there to be a period of essentially static holding in place, as both sides take a deep breath, before resuming high intensity operations post monsoon season. With luck for the British, Burma will have held, and Malaysia will be clear of the Japanese by early 43. The majority of the DEI, will never have fallen under the Japanese, nor will much of the Philippines. And the Japanese from 43, will be very much on the back foot, desperately trying to hold off the Anglo American Forces as they strive to drive them out of their gains. With hopefully the Mediterranean open to transit by British convoys by late 42, and the North African shore clear, Britain will be in a much stronger position, and far better able to support its efforts in the Far East.
RR.
Re-reading through the story it seems the French base at reunion must be getting pretty crowded
Reunion has iirc 1 BB, 2 CL 6-10 other warships, 2-3 submarines plus normal merchant traffic.
Martinique is packed to the gills
Story 1106
January 31, 1942 NAS Lakehurst
The big patrol bomber lumbered down the runway overloaded with fuel and depth charges. The Germans had sunk a number of freighters in coastal waters. The bomber was one of eight taking off from just this base. Each was flying a search and destroy mission. They had a patrol box in which no Allied submarines were operating and weapons were free.
Thirty miles out to sea, another coaster was sinking. A shoal of fishing boats out of Tom's River rescued the crew who shook their fist at the Navy bomber that flew over their heads. So far the Navy had been impotent, busy but worthless.
The big patrol bomber lumbered down the runway overloaded with fuel and depth charges. The Germans had sunk a number of freighters in coastal waters. The bomber was one of eight taking off from just this base. Each was flying a search and destroy mission. They had a patrol box in which no Allied submarines were operating and weapons were free.
Thirty miles out to sea, another coaster was sinking. A shoal of fishing boats out of Tom's River rescued the crew who shook their fist at the Navy bomber that flew over their heads. So far the Navy had been impotent, busy but worthless.
Story 1107
January 31, 1942 1400 North Atlantic
The fleet split up. The great raid on Brest had been cancelled. The Grumman fighters were incapable of protecting the bombers and the losses taken in sinking Tirpitz had transformed a haymaker into a jab.
Yorktown and Constellation along with their escorts were heading back to Norfolk. Once there, they would quickly resupply and rebuild their squadrons before heading to Hawaii. Furious, Indomitable, King George V along with four light cruisers and eight destroyers were heading first to Gibraltar. From there, Indomitable and two light cruisers would reinforce Force H. It had been a surface combatant force only for the past two months and now it was being brought to full strength as Indomitable would replace Victorious. Furious and the rest of the force would continue around the Horn to reinforce Force Z. Soon Force Z would be renamed the Far East Fleet but the Admiralty was waiting to make that administrative change until all of the first wave of reinforcements arrived.
Finally, Wasp, Washington and Illustrious headed back to Scapa Flow. The few days at sea were primarily training time. Squadrons had been re-arranged and aircraft and their crews cross-decked to bring Wasp’s air group up to full strength excluding the complete lack of torpedo bombers. There had been talk about placing a Fleet Air Arm squadron aboard but that idea was shot down due to logistical and training difficulties. The Americans would backstop Home Fleet until Hood, Rodney and Duke of York were released from the yards.
The fleet split up. The great raid on Brest had been cancelled. The Grumman fighters were incapable of protecting the bombers and the losses taken in sinking Tirpitz had transformed a haymaker into a jab.
Yorktown and Constellation along with their escorts were heading back to Norfolk. Once there, they would quickly resupply and rebuild their squadrons before heading to Hawaii. Furious, Indomitable, King George V along with four light cruisers and eight destroyers were heading first to Gibraltar. From there, Indomitable and two light cruisers would reinforce Force H. It had been a surface combatant force only for the past two months and now it was being brought to full strength as Indomitable would replace Victorious. Furious and the rest of the force would continue around the Horn to reinforce Force Z. Soon Force Z would be renamed the Far East Fleet but the Admiralty was waiting to make that administrative change until all of the first wave of reinforcements arrived.
Finally, Wasp, Washington and Illustrious headed back to Scapa Flow. The few days at sea were primarily training time. Squadrons had been re-arranged and aircraft and their crews cross-decked to bring Wasp’s air group up to full strength excluding the complete lack of torpedo bombers. There had been talk about placing a Fleet Air Arm squadron aboard but that idea was shot down due to logistical and training difficulties. The Americans would backstop Home Fleet until Hood, Rodney and Duke of York were released from the yards.
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Story 1108
January 31, 1942 Ambon Island
Two regiments of Japanese infantry landed at a variety of points on Ambon. The Dutch colonial infantry brigade and the under strength Australian battalion were not severely outnumbered but the Japanese were attacking with well trained troops who were motivated to take risks. Over the course of the next three days, the Japanese overwhelmed isolated strong points by a combination of naval air attacks, heavy naval gunfire, and skilled infantry infiltration attacks. By February 3 , 1942, the last company of Australians surrendered to the Japanese.
The prisoners were decimated within a day of the surrender, and only a third of the Australians who landed on Ambon in December, 1941 would ever see their native country again.
The Japanese now had a foothold in the eastern Indies and Darwin was within medium bomber range.
Driftless
Donor
You created a plausible framework for a bold coup by the Allies that would alter the naval situation in the Atlantic - it just worked out differently than originally planned.
Story 1109
January 31, 1942 0630 Singapore
Half a dozen Hurricanes flew overhead. Fourteen merchants ships were in the harbor in various stages of loading and unloading. The new convoy from Bombay had arrived overnight. There were no troop ships, although 1,000 replacements for infantry units had been sent aboard the half dozen merchant ships as well as the escorts. Instead, another twenty tanks and forty guns were to be landed as well as one hundred Tata armored cars and three hundred more trucks to carry the food, fuel and shells an army needed.
On the far side of the civilian section of the port, the three ships that had arrived from Surabaya were almost completely emptied. The rice stockpiles within the colony were low as they had depended on significant imports from Thailand and Burma. Thailand was now at war with the British Empire while the Burmese supply lines were disrupted ever since the Japanese occupied and based bombers on the small airfields on the west coast of the Kra Isthmus. Imports from the East Indies could tide things over even as new supply routes from southern India and East Africa were to be arranged. Now those small ships were being loaded; rubber ingots, tin and manganese and hardwoods were the most common goods that could still be exported. Iron ore had ceased to be mined as the miners and engineers were instead working on building defensive works and maintaining airfields closer to the front. A few other ships had been sailing independently into and out of Singapore and they would continue to do so until their masters thought the risk was not worthwhile.
... something tells me that the Japanese troops that are still alive when the shoe drops on them in the Pacific Theatre will suddenly regret their prisoner handling choices, especially once the Allies get a whiff of what the Japanese have done. Well, either that, or they'll be too busy suffering a terminal case of lead poisoning/flammability/whatever.
They might also regret them later... no wait, I mean it might hang on them later...
They might also regret them later... no wait, I mean it might hang on them later...
What I've been describing is basically OTL and yes, quite a few of the officers did hang.
I suspect the real killer would have been that the RN officers and crew would have mutinied if denied regular infusions of pink gin and rum.
I think medical officers still carry bourbon on US Navy ships for "medicinal" purposes but not as a matter of regular issue.
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