No Light Fleet Carriers and More Fleet Carriers - Effects on the Smaller Navies

Could the USA offer to subsidise the operating costs of a RAN and a RCN aircraft carrier.

It is certainly cheaper than operating an additional 1 - 2 carriers yourself, after you taking into account manning costs and the other costs associated with the screening + replenishment vessels needed. If the RAN, RCN, and the Dutch Navy continue operating carriers into the 1970's / 1980s it is possible that each country could cooperate with a replacement design & build.
 
Could the USA offer to subsidise the operating costs of a RAN and a RCN aircraft carrier.

It is certainly cheaper than operating an additional 1 - 2 carriers yourself, after you taking into account manning costs and the other costs associated with the screening + replenishment vessels needed. If the RAN, RCN, and the Dutch Navy continue operating carriers into the 1970's / 1980s it is possible that each country could cooperate with a replacement design & build.
Unlikely, but they might pay some of the extra fixed costs such as buying the extra aircraft needed for the larger air groups through MDAP.

I remembered that I had downloaded the official history of Canadian naval aviation to 1962 and had a skim through parts of that earlier today. It mentions that the Canadian built Trackers supplied to the Dutch were paid for by MDAP and ITTL the Americans might be prepared to pay for twice as many so that the Karel Doorman of this TL can have a larger air group. AFAIK the (IIRC) 75 Avengers supplied to the RCN in the 1950s were paid for by MDAP. ITTL they might be prepared to supply more for free and pay for the extra Trackers and Sea Kings required so that the Canadian Audacious class carrier could have an air group as large as the American Essex class carriers.

Another way they would be able to help is to train the air and ground crews, which I suspect the Americans did anyway IOTL, but on a smaller scale. AFAIK the RCN naval aviators were originally trained by the British FAA, then from the late 1940s to the late 1950s they were trained to wings standard by the RCAF before doing their specialist training at HMCS Shearwater the Canadian Naval Aviation's main shore base, BUT after that AFAIK they were trained by the US Navy, which again AFAIK included operational conversion on USN Tracker and Sea King training squadrons. I don't know, but I suspect that the same applied to the Australian and Dutch naval aviators. Can anybody confirm or deny that?
 
Dutch and Aussies got a LOT of training from UK. After all 870 Sqdn is in RN squadron lists (originally) as are all the Aussie sqdns. The initial Lynx aircrews for the NL were trained in UK.
 
Dutch and Aussies got a LOT of training from UK. After all 870 Sqdn is in RN squadron lists (originally) as are all the Aussie sqdns.
That's partially because the RN divided its block of squadron numbers into sub-blocks for different roles and nationalities as the RAF did. E.g.
  • 850-859 seem to have been reserved for RAN squadrons in about 1950, but I haven't found evidence to back it up. Only 850 and 851 were used and they didn't re-number 805, 808, 816 and 817 squadrons.
  • 860-869 were reserved for Dutch squadron during World War II, but they only used 860 and 861. The Dutch formed 9 other naval squadrons, but they were numbered No. 1 to No. 9 Squadron. There were also Nos. 320 and 321 Squadrons, which were originally Dutch manned general reconnaissance squadrons in the RAF.
  • 870-879 were reserved for RCN fighter squadrons in about 1950. In May 1951 No. 803 Squadron was re-designated No. 870 Squadron and No. 883 Squadron was re-designated No. 871 Squadron.
  • 880-889 were reserved for RCN ASW squadrons in about 1950. In May 1951 No. 825 Squadron was re-designated No. 880 Squadron and No. 826 Squadron was re-designation of No. 826 Squadron.
However, the RCN also had squadrons numbered in their own sequences, i.e. VX-10, VH/HU-21, VU-32 (ex FRU 743), VT-40 and HS-50. After Unification some of these squadrons were allocated unused RCAF numbers instead of giving them numbers in the 870-889 series. E.g. when HS-50 was split into 2 squadrons in July 1974 the new squadrons were HS-423 and HS-443, when in my opinion HS-870 and HS-871 or HS-881 and HS-883 would have been more appropriate. In July 1972 HU-21 became HT-406, when a number from the 870-889 series or even better 743 because it was a second-line squadron would have been more appropriate.

Many years ago I did some research using the British Navy Lists from the early 1950s to the middle 1960s. Each list included the officers, ships and air squadrons of all the Commonwealth Navies including the Indian Navy, Pakistani Navy and what was then the Royal Ceylon Navy. From them it seems that all the navies were trying not to duplicate air squadron numbers and the squadron numbers of their surface warships.
 
I assumed so, that's pretty much why all big British carriers: Malta, 1952, CVA01 and Ark/Eagle ideas are put up.

However the likes of Canada and the Netherlands are likely marginal carrier operators, I don't know what crises Canada's carriers participated in but IIUC the Dutch only used their for one crisis cruise, to Australia as part of the Indonesian takeover of West Papua in 1961. I'd also suggest that Brazil and Argentina wouldn't operate British carriers if they weren't 2nd hand and very cheap, which only leave Australia, India and France and long term operators.

Not that the way things panned out was the best, I think it would have been better for the RN if some combination of Glory, Ocean, Pioneer, Theseus, Triumph, Perseus and Leviathan were instead completed as a 3rd Audacious and 5th Centaur. I'd be happy to forego 4 or 5 of these light fleets to get 2 bigger carriers which will serve for longer in both the Fleet role and Commando role.
With hindsight I think that building the Colossus and Majestic class was a mistake in the first place because of their small size and because of the low weight limits of the aircraft they could carry so they became obsolete before their hulls and machinery wore out.

The Colossus class was limited to 15,000lbs (source Chesneau) and the Majestics 20,000lbs but the Audacious and Centaur classes were both designed to take 30,000lb aircraft and were capable of being upgraded to take heavier ones. IOTL in the 1950s the Royal Navy classified its aircraft carriers by standards running from A to F which indicated the types of aircraft they could carry and how good their electronics were. In terms of aircraft carrying capacity:
  • Standard A and B - Sea Vixen, Buccaneer and Scimitar - fully angled flight decks and steam catapults. Standard A had more advanced radars and electronics;
  • Standard C and D - Sea Venom, Sea Hawk and Gannet - interim angled flight deck, steam catapults for Standard C and hydraulic catapults Standard D;
  • Standard E and F - Seafire, Sea Fury, Firefly and Avenger - axial flight deck Standard E and interim angled flight deck Standard F with hydraulic catapults in both ships.
The armoured carriers, Unicorn, the Colossus and Majestic class as built were Standard E. The Audacious and Centaur classes as designed were Standard D. Eagle, Albion, Centaur and Bulwark were completed to Standard D less the interim angled flight deck, but had them fitted in refits. Ark Royal was completed to Standard C, Centaur was refitted to Standard C, Victorious was brought up to Standard A 1950-58, Eagle was brought up to Standard A 1959-64 and the smaller Hermes was completed to Standard A-Star because she was smaller and her angled flight deck was shallower.

In the Nine Year Plan of 1948 the Admiralty planned to bring the 6 Colossus class it had retained up to Standard C or D and complete the 3 Majestics it still hadn't sold to that standard also. However, that was abandoned in the Revised Restricted Fleet of 1949. The 1951 Rearmament Plan included 2 Colossus class refitted to Standard F, but only Warrior (the ship sold directly to Argentina after the 1957 Defence Review) was refitted to that standard. HMAS Sydney, HMCS Bonaventure and INS Vikrant were eventually completed to Standard C. The Dutch rebuilt Karel Doorman and Minas Gerias (ex Vengeance) to a slightly higher standard because they had fully angled flight decks.

That's why I normally write in these threads that 16 Centaurs should have been laid down instead of the 10 Colossus and 6 Majestic class. They would not have taken as long to build, but would have needed more labour and materials. That's why I also say that the Swiftsure and Tiger class cruisers should not have been built as the labour and materials used to build them IOTL are required for the upgrade of the light fleet carriers in other timelines and to build 10 extra Audacious class built ITTL instead of the 20 light fleet carriers IOTL.
 
I thought it would form the core of an American style HUK group, which AFAIK consisted of one CVS and 8 ASW destroyers, so the group built around HMCS Canada would have 8 St Laurent class frigates. I hadn't thought out its employment in detail other than it would be assigned to the NATO Atlantic Command, which AFAIK Bonaventure and its predecessors were. Plus the USN maintained 9 Essex CVS from the late 1950s to the middle 1960s and tried to increase it to 10 in the early 1960s for 5 in each in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, but the 10th CVSG was disbanded after only a year. So the furthest I had got was to effectively give the Americans the 10th HUK group built around a big CVS.

I had intended to try and get an 11th HUK group if the Dutch can find enough men to crew a full-size fleet carrier, which they might be able to do if they decommission one of the 2 big cruisers they operated in the 1950s and 1960s.
There's always a possibility of an RN escort group of ASW frigates as a wartime NATO contingency.
 
Unlikely, but they might pay some of the extra fixed costs such as buying the extra aircraft needed for the larger air groups through MDAP.

That's given me an idea of an Aircraft Carrier Alliance, where NATO nations operating small carriers pool together aircraft purchases to reduce unit costs, so the Dutch, Australians and Canadians all agree to operate Skyhawks for example and do a group order for 150 airframes instead or 3 orders of 50.
 
There's always a possibility of an RN escort group of ASW frigates as a wartime NATO contingency.
That's not necessary because the OTL Bonaventure and he predecessors operated with a Canadian escort group anyway. They built 20 fast frigates that used the same hull and machinery as the British Type 12 frigates. They also had 7 Tribal class, 2 V class and 2 C class destroyers which they rebuilt to Type 15 or Type 16 standard.
 
My bad, yes you're right. Do you envisage the RCN providing a screen around other navy's ships, or just its own?
I've been skimming through the chapter about Bonaventure in the history of Canadian naval aviation to 1962.

In 1958 she participated in the exercise New Broom VIII, which was a convoy protection exercise requiring passage from the Halifax approaches to the Gulf of St Lawrence. It began on 1st May.
For the next four days with the exception of about eight hours Bonaventure maintained two aircraft from VS 881 in the air continuously by day and night, and two helicopters from HS 50 from dawn to dusk.
Unfortunately the book does not say how many aircraft of either type was embarked at the time. However, on 20th January 1958 she embarked 10 Trackers, 6 ASW helicopters from HS 50 and one SAR helicopter from HU 21. HS 50 and VF 871 seem to have never been embarked at the same time because the she swapped the former for the latter (which had flown down from HMCS Shearwater) when she arrived at Mayport, Florida on 15th February.*

If a similar air group had been aboard during the OTL New Broom VIII then the Audacious class carrier ITTL with 20 Trackers and 16 helicopters aboard would have been able to maintain 4 Trackers in the air by day and night and 4 ASW helicopters in the air from dawn to dusk.

The TTL Bonaventure would have some other advantages over the real one:
  • She's faster and has two steam catapults that are more powerful than the Bonavenure's (and even with her hydraulic catapults could still launch Sea Hawks, Sea Venoms and Gannets);
  • There should be less landing accidents because she's got a longer angled flight deck than the real Bonaventure and it will be a fully angled one;
  • In addition to the 20 Trackers and 16 helicopters she will have 4 E-1A Tracers aboard, which were useful for detecting submarine periscopes a well as aircraft;+
  • It doesn't have to swap its helicopters for Banshees as the situation demands. There was space for both.
*This cruise which lasted from 20th January 1958 to 14th March 1958 included cross-decking with Bulwark off Bermuda on 25th February 1958. The Canadian carrier operated Sea Hawks and Sea Venoms and the British ship Trackers. After that she participated in the exercise Maple Royal I between the RCN and the British Home Fleet. This exercise and Maple Royal II, which began on 18th March 1952 were the largest peacetime naval air manoeuvres staged by the two navies.
+Before VS 880 and VS 881 converted to Trackers they had an establishment of 12 ASW Avengers and 4 AEW Avengers.
 
This is a revised version of some of what I have already posted.

Changes to RN Building Programmes 1941-45
Additions

  1. 14 Audacious class fleet carriers laid down 1941-44. IOTL 3 were laid down and one was cancelled in 1946. ITTL all 14 ships were completed. The 11 ships laid down 1941-43 would all be launched 1944-45 and completed 1945-48. The 3 ships laid down in 1944 would be completed 1953-55;
  2. 40 Battle class destroyers laid down as OTL, but all would be launched (instead of 33) and 36 completed 1944-48 instead of 24.
Deletions
  1. The battleship Vanguard. One of the extra Audacious class aircraft carriers of the same name is laid down in her place and completed in 1946;
  2. The 4 Centaur class laid down 1944-45. Two of the extra Audacious class aircraft carriers (Inflexible and Irresistible) were laid down in their place and completed in the early 1950s. ITOL the Centaur class was designed to be half an Audacious, i.e. half the displacement (36,000 tons vs 18,000 tons), machinery that was half as powerful (152,000 shp vs 76,000) and half the gun armament (sixteen 4.5" vs eight 4.5") in the Centaur class as designed. IOTL 8 Centaur class were actually ordered, but the other 4 were cancelled at the end of the war. ITTL 4 Audacious class would actually be ordered in their place, but 2 would be cancelled at the end of the war;
  3. The 16 light fleet carriers laid down 1942-43. Eight of the extra Audacious class aircraft carriers (Benbow, Cochrane, Collingwood, Dreadnought, Marlborough, Montagu, Russell and St Vincent) replace them. However, one Audacious required more the resources than 2 Colossus class, e.g. its machinery was nearly 4 times more powerful (152,000 ship vs 40,000 shp) so the resources used to build 16 Colossus/Majestic class IOTL were only enough for 4 Audacious class ITTL. In terms of steel it's 14,000 tons for a Colossus/Majestic against 36,000 tons for an Audacious (1946 design) so the steel for 2 light fleet carriers is only enough for 80% of an Audacious. Therefore other ships have to be sacrificed;
  4. The 8 cruisers ordered in 1941. IOTL: 8 were laid down 1941-44; 6 were launched 1943-45: 3 were completed 1944-45 as the Swiftsure class, 2 were scrapped on the slipway; and the other 3 were suspended in 1946, construction resumed in 1954 and they were eventually competed 1959-61 as the Tiger class. ITTL the money, labour, steel and machinery for these ships is needed to complete the 8 Audacious class ships built in place of the first 16 light fleet carriers. E.g. in terms of horse power the machinery was equivalent to half an Audacious and the difference so the machinery for the 8 cruisers ordered IOTL was sufficient for 4 Audacious class ITTL. Similarly the cruisers had a standard displacement of 8,800 tons so if the steel used for these the ships is combined with the steel for the 16 Colossus/Majestic class IOTL that's roughly enough for 8 Audacious class fleet carriers;
  5. The 20 Weapon class destroyers ordered (13 laid down, 6 launched and 4 completed). The resources go into completing more Battle class destroyers;
  6. The 16 Daring and 8 G class ordered. IOTL only 8 Darings were laid down 1945-49 and eventually completed 1952-54. The money, steel and labour saved is used to complete the Audacious class carrier laid down in 1944 IOTL, but cancelled in 1946 when she was 26% complete. IOTL she was named Eagle and upon cancellation her name was transferred to the ship laid down in 1942 (Audacious). ITTL the 1944 ship is renamed Invincible in 1946 and is completed in 1955.
Light Fleet Carriers 1945-48 IOTL and the Fleet Carriers built in their place ITTL

The 8 ships laid down 1942-43 in place of the Collossue/Majestic classs would be launched 1944-45. The first to be completed was Benbow in January 1945 and she had been followed by Cochrane, Collingwood and Dreadnought by October 1945. These ships took the place of Colossus, Vengeance, Venerable, Pioneer, Glory, Warrior, Ocean and Perseus which were completed in that order between December 1944 and October 1945. Dreadnought was completed as an aircraft maintenance ship in place of Perseus and Pioneer. Marlborough was completed in the first half of 1946 instead of Theseus and Triumph.

All other things being equal Montagu was completed in 1948 in place of Magnificent and Terrible (Sydney). All other things being equal Russell and St Vincent would have been suspended in 1946 and eventually completed in the second half of the 1950s in place of Majestic (Melbourne), Powerful (Bonaventure), Hercules (Virikant) and Leviathan which wasn't completed IOTL. However, ITTL Russell and St Vincent were completed in 1948 too.
  1. Benbow was transferred to France in 1946 as Arromanches on a five-year loan and was purchased in 1951 instead of Colossus;
  2. Collingwood was transferred to Canada and was commissioned into the RCN and became HMCS Collingwood on 24th January 1946;
  3. Cochrane was transferred to the Netherlands as the Karel Doorman in 1948 in place of Venerable. In common with the real Karel Doorman she was refitted 1954-57. A pair of 199ft BS Mk 5 steam catapults (instead of a single 103ft BS Mk 4) replaced the hydraulic catapults, more powerful arrester gear was fitted and she received fully angled flight deck. (IOTL she and the Minas Gerias (ex Vengeance) were the only Colossus class ships to receive fully angled flight decks.) This refit which was paid for by the Americans through MDAP brought the ship up from Standard D to Standard B, when the real Karel Doorman was brought up from Standard E to Standard C. The Americans also paid for the extra aircraft needed for the ship's larger air group;
  4. Montagu was sold to Australia instead of Majestic and Terrible. She was commissioned into the RAN in 1948 as HMAS Canberra in place of Terrible (Sydney).
Light Fleet Carriers 1948-61 IOTL

IOTL 12 CVL had been completed by the end of 1948 leaving 8 with the RN (including 2 maintenance carriers) after the 4 transfers. One of the incomplete ships had been sold to Australia and it was still intended to complete the other 3 by 1957 as part of the Nine Year Plan. However, it did not work out like that:
  1. In the Revised Restricted Fleet of 1949 all the existing light fleet carriers were to be discarded when the Centaurs completed, which at that time was the early 1950s and plans to complete the suspended Majestics were abandoned;
  2. 2 Colossus class were reprieved in the 1951 Rearmament Programme under which the RN would have had 6 light fleet carriers (4 Centaurs and 2 Colossuses) in 1957 plus the 4 ships that the Centaurs replaced in service in second-line roles;
  3. Powerful was sold to Canada in 1952, but Magnificent was to be returned on her completion;
  4. The 1954 Defence Review cut the fleet carrier force to 3 ships (Ark Royal, Eagle and Victorious) and light fleet carrier force to 3 ships (Albion, Bulwark and Centaur) with Hermes replacing Bulwark or Albion on completion. The 4 surviving un-modernised armoured carriers were immediately disposed of (Formidable was scrapped in 1953) but only light carrier to be discarded was the aircraft maintenance ship Pioneer. The rest went into reserve or were employed as trials and training ships.
Then the 1957 Defence Review cut the aircraft carrier force to 5 ships (Ark Royal, Centaur, Eagle, Hermes and Victorious), which were now referred to as strike carriers and 2 commando carriers (Ablion and Bulwark). At the end of 1956 the British still had 10 Colossus/Majestic class plus Unicorn:
  • Ocean and Theseus in service as training ships with the Home Fleet Training Squadron;
  • Warrior, which had recently been fitted with an angled flight deck and was about to go to the Pacific as HQ ship for the H-bomb tests;
  • Glory, Perseus, Triumph and Vengeance plus Unicorn in reserve. At this time Triumph was to be converted to a heavy repair ship (not begun until 1960 and eventually completed 1965) while Perseus and Unicorn were still scheduled to be converted to submarine depot ships;
  • Magnificent still on loan to the RCN pending the completion of Bonaventure;
  • Hercules and Leviathan still incomplete.
All but 4 of the above were scrapped by 1968. Magnificent and Leviathan were the last to go, possibly because they could carry heavier aircraft. Triumph as already mentioned was converted to a heavy repair ship and was decommissioned under the 1974 Defence Review. Of the others:
  • Vengeance was sold to Brazil on 14th December 1956. She was refitted at Rotterdam 1957-60 to the same standard as Karel Doorman in her 1954-57 refit. She commissioned as the Minas Gerias on 6th December 1960 and left Rotterdam for Brazil on 10th December 1960;
  • Warrior was paid off in February 1958. Her sale to Argentina was announced in July of that year and she sailed for Buenos Aries on 10th December 1958 as the ARA Independencia;
  • Hercules was sold to India in 1957 and completed in 1961 as the INS Vikrant.
The Fleet Carriers built in their place 1948-61 ITTL

ITTL the RN had 10 Audacious class left at the end of 1948 instead of the battleship Vanguard, 2 Audacious class and 16 light fleet carriers (8 Colossus, 4 Majestics and 4 Centaurs). Because of the cuts to the cruiser and destroyer programmes, the 7 ships laid down 1941-43 had been completed 1945-48 and the other 3 laid down in 1944 being completed at a slow rate.

ITTL's version of the 1948 Plan it was intended to have an aircraft carrier force of 16 ships in 1957 consisting of the 10 Audacious class and the 6 older armoured carriers, which would be rebuilt to operate heavier aircraft. However, the rebuilds would have been abandoned in 1949 leaving the Royal Navy with 9 active Audacious class carriers operating as fleet carriers (plus Dreadnought the maintenance carrier rebuilt as a replenishment carrier) under the Revised Restricted Fleet and 1951 Rearmament Programme.

ITTL I'm going to do my usual Postwar British Aircraft Carriers cheat of accelerating the development of the steam catapult so that the trials of BXS-1 are carried out in 1947 instead of 1951 and the angled flight deck trials carried out aboard Triumph in 1952 IOTL are carried out instead of the flexible deck trials of 1948. Therefore the 3 Audacious class completed 1953-55 IOTL are Standard B ships with a pair of 199ft BS Mk 5 steam catapults, a fully angled flight deck and arrester gear capable of handling Phantom class aircraft. The money spent on rebuilding Victorious 1950-58 (£20 million) and completing Hermes 1952-59 (£37 million) IOTL was used to refit 6 of the other ships to the same standard 1950-59 ITTL.

The 1954 Defence Review of TTL reduces the carrier force to 6 fleet carriers in commission, plus 3 in reserve. The cruiser Devonshire is run on as a the cadet training ship until 1955 because there was no Triumph to replace her in 1953. Similarly Implacable and Indefatigable are run on in the Home Fleet Training Squadron until the end of 1956 because there are no light fleet carriers to replace them in 1954.

Meanwhile the Australians and Canadians who had wanted to rebuild their Audacious class ships to Standard B instead part exchange them for 2 of the surplus British ships when they complete their Standard B refits.

Finally the 1957 Defence Review reduces the Royal Navy to 6 strike carriers plus Dreadnought the replenishment carrier which becomes a multi-purpose auxiliary in place of the OTL Triumph. The strike carriers retained are Ark Royal, Eagle, Inflexible, Invincible, Irresistible and Vanguard. But there are no suitable ships available for conversion to commando carriers.

This leaves one Standard B ship and the 2 Standard D ships swapped with Australia and Canada surplus to requirements. The Standard B ship is sold to Argentina in 1958 instead of the OTL Warrior. One Standard D ship is sold to Brazil at the end of 1956 and refitted to Standard B at Rotterdam 1957-60 in place of Vengeance. The other Standard D ship is sold to India in 1957 instead of Hercules, which is towed to Harland and Wolff and refitted to Standard B before commissioning into the Indian Navy as INS Vikrant in 1961.

To be continued...
 
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Alternative HMNLS Karel Doorman
Dutch Fleet Plans from the Post-war Naval Revolution by Norman Friedman


IOTL the initial post-war fleet plan was for 3 light fleet carriers, 6 cruisers and 24 destroyers organised into 3 task groups plus a fleet train consisting of a fast tanker and a fast depot ship. This force was to be built up over a decade.

The Dutch Naval Air Service was to have 60 fighters in 3 squadrons and 45 attack aircraft in 3 squadrons providing the air groups of the light fleet carriers. Ashore would be 36 four-engine reconnaissance bombers in 3 squadrons of 12 and 120 twin-engine attack bombers in 6 squadrons of 20.

The Dutch purchased the first carrier from Britain in 1948. They already had the 2 small Tromp class cruisers and 2 more under construction. They bought 4 destroyers from the Royal Navy and ordered 12 more from their own yards.

The 1951 Fleet Plan
In 1949, the Netherlands joined NATO. With the loss of the East Indies, it no longer needed its traditional overseas fleet. However, it was now integrated into an Alliance requiring powerful trade protection forces. The heavy ships already built or planned could not be disposed of, but new ASW and mine warfare craft could be ordered. In 1951, then, the fleet plan was modified to show:

6 submarines
1 carrier
2 cruisers
12 destroyers
12 large frigates
5 small frigates
7 coastal escorts
6 patrol boats
65 minesweepers
1 net layer

These forces did not include a variety of older ships, such as three ex-British destroyers, many of which remained in service throughout the 1950s.
According to Jane's Fighting Ships 1967-68 the RNLN actually had.
  • 6 submarines - 4 Potvis class completed 1960-66 and 2 Walrus (Ex American Balao class) completed 1944 and transferred in 1953. The Potvis were originally ordered in 1949 and the last 2 were to have been built as SSNs, but in the event were completed as conventional diesel-electric submarines. 2 Walrus class were laid down on 14th July 1966 to complete in about 1970 and an SSN was ordered in 1965 at an estimated cost of £17 million.
  • 1 aircraft carrier - The Karel Doorman. It had a crew of 1,462 and an air group of 14 aircraft (8 S-2F Trackers and 6 HSS-1N Seabat helicopters) with maximum capacity of 21 aircraft. According to JFS 1968-69 she was purchased from Great Britain on 1st April 1948 and commissioned in the Royal Netherlands Navy on 28th May 1948. She was reconstructed at the Wilton-Fijenoord Shipyard between 1955 and July 1958 at a cost of 25 million Guilders.
  • 2 cruisers - De Ryuter completed 18th November 1953 and De Zeven Provincien completed 17th December 1953. Their six inch guns had an elevation of 60 degrees and a rate of fire of 15 rounds per gun/per minute. JFS 1959-60 said that both ships were to be fitted to fire Terrier SAMS, but only De Zeven Provincien was converted (1962-64). The all gun cruiser had a crew of 926 and the gun-missile cruiser had a crew of 940.
  • 12 Type 47 destroyers - 4 Holland class (Type 47A) completed 1954-55 and 8 Friesland class (Type 47B) 1956-58
  • 6 large frigates - 6 Leander class completed 1967-68. These replaced 6 Bostwick class destroyer escorts complete 1943-44 and transferred 1950-51 under MDAP.
  • 6 small frigates - Wolf class corvettes built in the USA under MDAP and completed 1954.
  • 6 ocean minesweepers completed 1954-55 used as coastal escorts. These were also built in the USA under the MDAP.
  • 5 submarine chasers completed 1954-55 and used as patrol vessels. These were built in the Netherlands but paid for by the MDAP.
  • 62 minesweepers - 32 Dokkum class coastal minesweepers completed 1955-57 including 5 used as diving tenders, 14 Beemster class completed 1953-54 and 16 Van Straelen class inshore minesweepers completed 1960-62. The Beemster class was built in the USA and paid for by the MDAP. The other two classes were built in the Netherlands, but 14 Dokkum class and 8 Van Straelen class were paid for with MDAP funds.
  • 1 net layer and boom defence vessel used as a diving tender. This vessel was built in the USA, completed in November 1952 and transferred to the RNLN the following month.
  • 1 Poolster class fast fleet replenishment ship completed in 1964.
There was no change in JFS 1968-69, but JFS 1969-70 noted that Karel Doorman was officially transferred to Argentina on 15th October 1968 and renamed 25 de Mayo. Thus apart from 6 large frigates the fleet envisaged under the 1951 Plan had been completed by the early 1960s and was maintained until the late 1960s.

Dutch Naval Aviation
According to the Aeroflight website the main combat aircraft types operated by the Dutch Naval Air Service between 1948 and the early 1970s were:

9 Augusta-Bell AB204B Iroquois 1962-78
9 Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic 1969-84
88 Fairey Firefly (Mks 1, 2, 4 and 5) 1946-61
79 Grumman TBM-3 Avenger 1953-61
28 Grumman S-2A Tracker 1960-76 built by Grumman
17 Grumman S-2A Tracker 1960-70 built by De Havilland Canada
22 Hawker Sea Fury 1948-57 built by Hawker
25 Hawker Sea Fury 1951-57 built by Fokker
22 Hawker Sea Hawk 1957-64
12 Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune 1953-62
19 Lockheed P2V-7 Neptune 1962-82
1 Sikorsky S-51 1951-59
3 Sikorsky S-55 (HO4S-3) 1953-63
12 Sikorsky S-58 (HSS-1N/SH-34J) 1960-72
13 Westland Wasp 1966-81

According to Aeroflight the RNLN had the following squadrons in the period 1951-1970:
  • No. 1 Squadron. Formed in 1949 and from 1952 stationed in the Netherlands Antilles until it was disbanded in 1974. Initially equipped with Fairey Fireflies, it re-equipped with Avengers in 1957 and the CS-2A Trackers from 1960 until it was disbanded;
  • Nos. 2 and 4 Squadrons formed on Fireflies 1948-49. By the early 1950s they were ASW squadrons operating from the Karel Doorman and both converted to Avengers in 1956. No. 4 Squadron converted to S-2A Trackers in 1960 and was disbanded in 1971. Meanwhile No. 2 Squadron had been sent to the Dutch Antilles in 1959, but was disbanded the same year. It reformed on S-2As in 1962 by renumbering No. 320 Squadron and in 1969 became the OCU for the LRMP squadrons;
  • Nos. 3 and 860 Squadrons. The latter was originally formed in 1943 and was operating Barracudas when the war ended. In 1946 it converted to Fireflies and in 1950 converted to the Sea Fury. No. 3 Squadron was formed in 1950 as the Fighter OCU (probably by renaming the GVO formed in 1946 and whose functions it assumed). Both squadrons were disbanded in 1956, but reformed on the Sea Hawk in 1957. No. 3 Squadron disbanded in 1961 and No. 860 disbanded in 1964. But the latter was reformed in 1966 as the parent unit for the flights of Wasp helicopters operated by the Dutch Leander class frigates;
  • Nos. 5 and 9 Squadrons. No. 5 formed in 1951 as the home based SAR squadron (replacing No. 320 Squadron) and the next year became a training squadron for the multi-engine aircraft squadrons. No. 9 Squadron was formed in 1959 as a basic flying training squadron. No. 9 Squadron was disbanded in September 1973 and No. 5 Squadron was disbanded 6 months later;
  • No. 7 Squadron. This unit was formed in New Guinea in 1955 where it operated Fireflies until it was disbanded in 1962. The squadron was formed the same year with the AB204s and detached flights to the Netherlands Antilles and New Guinea. It took over the SH-34Js from No. 8 Squadron in 1968 and used them for SAR until they were withdrawn in 1972. However, it retained the AB204s and eventually converted to the Lynx;
  • No. 8 Squadron. It briefly existed in 1950 as a transport squadron in the East Indies. It was reformed in 1952 with Mitchells and Sea Otters (relieving No. 5 Squadron as the domestic SAR squadron). The original aircraft were replaced by Harpoons, which in turn were replaced by Catalians which were replaced by Mariners. The squadron acquired one Sikorsky S-51 and 3 S-55s in 1953. The source did not say so, but I expect that they were formed the SAR flight on the Karel Doorman. In 1960 it became an ASW squadron operating the SH-34Js from the aircraft carrier until it was disbanded in 1968;
  • No. 320 Squadron. Originally formed in June 1940 and disbanded in 1946. It was reformed in 1949 as a SAR squadron, but from 1951 to its disbandment in 2005 it was a LRMP squadron equipped with Harpoons, Neptunes and Orions, but between 1960 and 1962 it operated S-2A Trackers;
  • No. 321 Squadron. Originally formed in June 1940 and disbanded in 1946. It was reformed in 1951 as a LRMP squadron in New Guinea. It was initially equipped with Catalinas, but converted to Mariners in 1955 and Neptunes in 1961. It was disbanded in New Guinea in 1962, but reformed in the Netherlands in 1969 as a LRMP squadron operating the 9 Atlantics;
In This Timeline

The initial post-war plan is exactly the same as OTL. However, as the Americans won't sell any of their CVLs or CVEs the Dutch are forced to buy the Audacious class fleet carrier Cochrane in 1948 from the British who need the money and can see the advantages to them of the Dutch buying a British aircraft carrier and air group. It's commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1948 as the Karel Doorman.

All other things being equal the Dutch refit her 1955-58. The OTL ship had her 103ft BH Mk 3 hydraulic catapult replaced by a 103ft BS Mk 4 steam catapult, a fully angled flight deck and Dutch radars. ITTL she still received the fully angled flight deck and the Dutch radars, but she had 2 BH Mk 5 catapults, which were replaced by a pair of BS Mk 5 steam catapults with one 151ft unit in the bow and another 199ft long in the waist. As completed she would have resembled Eagle after her 1959-64 refit, but without the Type 984 radar and was capable of operating Phantom class aircraft without further modification. The extra cost is paid for by the Americans through MDAP.

ITTL the 1954 Defence Review reduces the British carrier force from 9 fleet carriers to 6 fleet carriers. Therefore ITTL the British Government lends one of the 3 redundant ships to the Dutch 1955-58 so that the NATO aircraft carrier force is larger while the Karel Doorman is refitting.

However, the TTL Karel Doorman is still decommissioned and sold to Argentina as the 25 de Mayo in 1968.

I had thought of operating her as a strike carrier assigned to the Carrier Group Two of the NATO Strike Fleet, which was part of the NATO Atlantic Command. In the 1960s she would have operated an air group of 12 F-4B Phantoms, 12 Buccaneers or A-6 Intruders, 4 E-1A Tracers and 9 Seabat helicopters.

But instead (and like the real Karel Doorman) she formed the core of a HUK group assigned to the NATO Atlantic Command. The rest of the group consisted of the 2 cruisers completed in 1953 and the 12 Type 47 destroyers. However, she would carry more and better aircraft than the real Karel Doorman.

In her original configuration the TTL Karel Doorman was capable of carrying better aircraft than the real one because the Audacious class were designed to operate 30,000lb machines compared to (IIRC) 15,000lb for the Colossus class. Therefore:
  • The Dutch acquire some jet fighters in 1950 in place of the Sea Furies that they bought IOTL. Logically they would be Supermarine Attackers, but if better American substitutes were available they would buy them;
  • They buy a higher-performance fighter, which is equipped with radar instead of the Sea Hawk. The TTL Karel Doorman will operate a flight of 4 of them until the end of 1968;
  • The S-2 Tracker went into service with the USN in 1954. ITTL it didn't enter service with the RNLN until 1960, but ITTL it enters service in 1954 in place of the Avenger. AFAIK the Avengers of OTL were supplied through MDAP and the Trackers supplied in their place ITTL were also acquired via MDAP. The Americans also supply some E-1A Tracers and C-1A Traders. IOTL 17 of the 45 Trackers supplied were built by De Havilland Canada. ITTL the Canadians would also be buying Trackers for their aircraft carriers sooner so the 79 Trackers built in place of the 79 Avengers supplied IOTL might come from the Canadian production line;
  • 32 extra HO4S-3 helicopters in 1953 to support a squadron of 16 helicopters on the Karel Doorman;
  • 32 extra SH-34J helicopters in the late 1950s to replace the HO4S-3s. The SH-34 could carry sonar and torpedoes, but the HO4S-3 could only carry one or the other.
Thus when the TTL Karel Doorman re-commissioned in 1958 she operated the standard Essex CVS air group of 45 aircraft made up of:
  • 4 all-weather fighters (a flight of No. 860 Squadron);
  • 20 S-2A Trackers (2 squadrons of 10);
  • 4 E-1A Tracers for AEW
  • 1 C-1A Trader for CoD
  • 16 SH-34J Seabats for ASW and SAR in one squadron
In the late 1960s the real Karel Doorman had a crew of 1,462 carrying an air group of 14 aircraft and the TTL Karel Doorman will require a crew of between 2,400 and 2,500. This is based on the Ark Royal in the late 1960s and the CVS Essex. According to Jane's Fighting Ships 1965-66 Ark Royal had crew of 1,632 to 1,745 or 2,295 to 2,345 with her air squadrons embarked. Meanwhile according to Jane's Fighting Ships 1968-69 an Essex CVS had a crew of 1,517 plus approximately 800 assigned to the ASW air group for a total of 2,300 per ship.

Therefore the TTL Karen Doorman required about 1,000 more sailors than the real one. But in addition to that more men will be under training ashore to provide replacements for the ship's crew and the air group. In turn more men will be needed as instructors. I guesstimate that the personnel of the RNLN needs to be increased by 2,000 men.

The incomplete figures I have for the period 1950-70 suggest that IOTL the personnel strength of the RNLN in the 1950s was around 23,000 including 4,000 marines and that during the 1960s it was around 22,000 including 3,000 marines. For example, according to Jane's Fighting Ships 1968-69 the total personnel strength on 1st January 1968 was 21,750 including 3,065 marines and 300 women.

So ITTL the RNLN requires 1,500 to 2,000 extra sailors. If they can't be raised they will have to be found by paying off other ships. This probably means that the cruisers completed in 1953 have to be sacrificed.

To be continued...
 
British Cruisers 1946-1970

Not building the Swiftsure and Tiger classes in favour of more aircraft carriers alters the history of the cruiser post-war British cruiser force.

IOTL the Royal Navy had 51 cruisers at the end of 1946 of which 19 were in full commission and one was the cadet training ship. Of the rest 2 were on loan to the RNZN, 3 were refitting and 17 were in reserve (including the 3 suspended Tiger class). This had reduced to 29 by the end of 1954 consisting of 10 in full commission and the trials cruiser Cumberland. There were also the 3 Tiger class whose construction had resumed in 1954, 13 ships in reserve and one ship on loan to the RNZN.

ITTL the Royal Navy had 45 cruisers at the end of 1946 and 24 at the end of 1954. This was because there were 6 fewer ships in reserve or under construction on both dates. The men and money saved by having a smaller reserve fleet were used to provide some of the larger crews needed by the Audacious class ships operated ITTL instead of the Colossus class.

It's 24 cruisers at the end of 1954 instead of 23 because Devonshire was still in service as cadet training ship ITTL. IOTL she was the cadet training ship from 1947 to 1953 when she was replaced by the Colossus class light fleet carrier Triumph, which had been in turn replaced as an operation warship by Centaur. ITTL she was run on until 1955 when she was replaced by the Dartmouth Training squadron of destroyers and frigates, which IOTL replaced Triumph the same year.

At the end of 1957 it was 25 cruisers IOTL and 20 ITTL. There were 8 operational, one trials and 2 RNZN ships in both timelines, but there was only one ship undergoing a major refit (Belfast) ITTL instead of 2; 8 ships in reserve or on the Disposal List instead of 9; and no ships were under construction instead of 3.

ITTL the Swiftsure and Tiger class were not built, which meant the RN had 5 fewer cruisers. Plus the Mauritius was transferred to Canada in place of the Swiftsure class cruiser Minotaur.* Therefore:
  • Argonaut, which IOTL was in reserve from 1946 to 1955 when she was broken up took the place of Superb, which IOTL was in commission from 1946 to 1957 when she went into reserve and was broken up in 1962;
  • Royalist, which IOTL was in reserve from 1946 to 1955, when she was refitted and transferred to the RNZN in 1956. ITTL she takes the place of Mauritius, which IOTL was active 1946-52, when she went into a refit that lasted until 1953. She was then in reserve from 1953 to 1960 when she went on the Disposal List and was broken up in 1955. But ITTL instead of remaining inactive from 1952 to 1965, Royalist is still transferred to the RNZN in 1956;
  • Dido, which IOTL was in reserve from 1947 to 1955 when she went on the Disposal List and was scrapped in 1958. ITTL she takes the place of Swiftsure, which ITTL was in reserve from 1946 to 1949 when she was refitted and re-commissioned in 1950. However, she was paid off after a collision with the destroyer Diamond in 1953. In 1956 she was moved from Garelock to Chatham to be refitted to the same standard as the Tiger class, but this was abandoned in 1960 and she was scrapped in 1962. ITTL Dido has the same collision with Diamond in 1953, but is not repaired and scrapped in 1955 as part of the previous years defence cuts.
These Dido class cruisers had smaller crews than the Colony and Swiftsure class ships operated in the real world and the men saved went towards keeping more aircraft carriers in commission. Similarly the 12 extra Battle class destroyers had smaller crews than the ships they were built in place of and the surplus men were used to keep more aircraft carriers in commission.

In other timelines some new cruisers were built instead of completing the Tiger class, but ITTL no new cruisers were built and the money was spent on completing the Tigers IOTL was spent elsewhere. This mean that: Newcastle was in commission 1959-66 in place of Tiger; Birmingham was in commission 1960-64 in place of Lion; and Gambia was in commission 1961-63 in place of Blake. These ships were much older than the Tiger class and as a result they were scrapped instead of being held in reserve pending their conversion into helicopter cruisers. What the money spent on the conversions of Tiger and Blake 1965-72 IOTL is used for ITTL will be described in a later post.

To be continued...

*IOTL Minotaur was commissioned into the RCN on completion in May 1945 and the aircraft carrier Warrior was commissioned into the RCN in January 1946 also on completion. ITTL the Audacious class carrier Collinwood (built in place of Glory and Warrior) is completed in May 1945 and commissioned into the RCN. Mauritius isn't transferred to the RCN until January 1946.
 
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