Peshawar Lancers Redux: Kingdom of Hawaii Revised

[chris N]

The King decided to step into the matter by stating that he thought that the idea of electing a Prime Minister who might find himself leading a minority government was a foolish one and he would oppose altering the constitution to allow it. (I personally think that the idea is unthinkable in a parliamentary system but then Canada in the real world just did that. However, I decided that Hawaii would stick with what has worked out well and having the Majority party pick from its members the Prime Minister) Thus in effect killing the proposal once and for all.

 

[chris N]

His Majesty issued a statement that he was totally opposed to the idea of direct election of the Prime Minister. In his opinion it might lead to instability with a popularly elected Prime Minister of one Party and a Majority of the house controlled by another.. Thus he would veto any such bill. The late Admiral William Kamehameha II wrote a legal opinion on the subject some 25 years earlier when he was legal councilor to the King;s father.

 

[chris N]

The Liberal Democrats realized that there idea was now dead only by winning more seats would they gain the Prime Minister's post.. Polls indicated a lack of a shift to the other parties at least in late 1943. It was the opinion of the Poll experts that the National Conservative Party would retain a majority with perhaps retaining some gains made in the special election.

 

[chris N]

Prime Minister Robert Sterling lead his party to an overwhelming victory. The National Conservative Party took 360 out of the 500 seats in the House. The Hawaiian Social Democrat Party was reduced to 1 member in the house and the Liberal Democrats held 130 seats. The remaining 8 seats were held by independents from various parts of the Kingdom. Mr Sterling was selected as the Prime Minister by the party members. Charles B Kamehameha II was named as Chairman of the Budget Committee and Gretchen Thompson was chosen as chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

 

[chris N]

Prime Minister Sterling was now looking for solutions to eliminating the possibility of a Marxist threat ever coming back to life in the Kingdom. He was now going to return to investing in communities that had been overlooked. At the same time he wanted the Department of Defense to do a study on what was truly needed and what equipment needed to be purchased over the next 5 to 10 years. The Armed services Committee was looking at plans for a large fleet carrier which would be larger than anything ever built before.
The Prime Minister called upon former Prime Minister Katherine Kamehameha-McNamara to chair a special Blue Ribbon Commission on the Defense and Security needs of the Nation. Katherine had been out of the Political world since retirement to raise a family.

 

[chris N]

Prime Minister Sterling was now able to claim that he had matched Charles Bishop, William Kamehameha,George W Kamehameha and Katherine Kamehameha in pulling off electoral victories. A professor at the University of Hawaii admitted that the Prime Minister's popularity was quite high but pointed out that Charles Bishop and William Kamehameha both were popular through out the time that they served and even after. Gretchen was dating George Sterling the Prime Minister's oldest son. The Prime Minister offered her the post of Secretary of Defense but instead she applied for the post of Director of the Royal Hawaiian Intelligence Agency. If she was appointed she would have to step down as a member of the House But the term of office was 10 years and could be renewed for an additional 5 years. She called her Uncle and her cousin to let them know that she would be leaving the post. Katherine decided to run for the now open seat to fill the term thus returning to the Political Game. She was elected by the voters to the house and the Armed Services Committee asked her to fill the post of Chair.

 

[chris N]

Gretchen now was sworn in as the new Director of the Royal Hawaiian Intelligence Agency. Her Mother, Father. Uncle George and cousins were there for the ceremony . George gave her a book that was written by his brother. It was his experience as director of the Agency. Gretchen was now running an organization which was not Political. Its entire purpose was to monitor what was going on in the world and warn of any threats to the Hawaiian Kingdom. She was required to brief the Prime Minister and the King and the Agency would also report to the Intelligence Committee in the House.

 

[chris N]

In June 1945 Hawaii signed the Pacific Alliance Treaty Organization . The members in the organization were Hawaii, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

 

[chris N]

North American Aircraft developed the RB-25/ It was reequipped with a new engines and the new Specially developed Kodak camera . A total of 12 planes were ordered for the Royal Hawaiian Air Force.

 

[chris N]

The Royal Hawaiian Air Force was looking at acquiring a new high performance fighter plan which would be more capable than the P-40. The Hawaiian Investors had bought 40 % of North American aircraft. North American had been developing a new aircraft which might meet the Hawaiian and US needs. The question was that so far they had not found an American Engine which could provide the required Power. Hawaii's Mark Randolph Engineering had in co-operation with Rolls Royce adopted a British design and improved upon it, In late 1945 two test aircraft began trials in Nevada. After the trials a further 12 aircraft were ordered for further testing and in June 1946 the Royal Hawaiian Air Force submitted a proposal to the Hawaiian Legislative body to purchase 240 aircraft from North American with an option for an additional 79 aircraft. The USAF ordered 360 planes.

 

[chris N]

A Special RB-25 flew from Ireland to the Ukraine. There it landed and was refueled for a photo recon Mission over Russia. The RHAF aircraft flew at high altitude taking pictures and then turned south. It landed at an Austrian Air base in the Middle East and refueled again, Landing at Malta to take on more fuel before returning to Ireland.

 

[chris N]

The Prime Minister submitted the Military budget to the house and the Liberal Democrats exploded as the cost. The new Admiral William Kamehameha Class of Carriers was part of the budget as the design had been approved by the Navy and phase I of construction would begin in 1946 if the go ahead was given. The Admiral William K. would be the largest warship ever built.

 

[chris N]

The House approved funding for the Navy by a vote of 370 to 130. Among the items approved was funding for the aircraft carrier, construction of 6 new destroyers, 2 submarines and 4 support ships. Next to be taken up was funding for the Royal Hawaiian Air Force and then would come the army.
The biggest items in the budget was funding for the P-51 re-designated the F-51, the RB=25 and advanced funding for a new long ranged bomber the Boeing B-29.

 

[chris N]

Paul Kincaid was called by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations and asked to head a delegation to the Republic of Turkey . He was to try to reach a settlement regarding borders with the new nation of Kurdistan and with the Austrian Empire. His safety was guaranteed by the Turkish President. Paul's father was not sure that it was a good idea. The Royal Hawaiian Intelligence Agency had doubts also but had arrangements with the Austrians to send in a rescue force should the need arise.

 

[chris N]

Paul Kincaid had reached a settlement with both the Kurds living in Turkey, the Turkish Government , Austrian Empire and Armenia.

 

[chris N]

In 1946 the Government of Hawaii offered to deploy a Regimental Combat Team to Kurdistan to serve with the Americans. General Eisenhower urged the President to accept the offer as he could use the additional manpower. President Roosevelt accepted the offer and the 3rd RCT arrived by ship. The RCT consisted of 3 infantry battalions of Infantry ,1 battery of of 105mm Howitzers and 1 company of M-24a2 tanks. The RCT stayed until the spring of 1949 when it was withdrawn to Hawaii.

 

[chris N]

The Hawaiians and the Kurdish Army carried out joint patrols. One time the Hawaiian Unit with 5 Kurds came under fire from Turkish forces and had to request fire support from some American 155mm guns. Hawaiian P-51 aircraft arrived and bombed and straffed the hostile position. This allowed an Hawaiian reinforced Platoon to move up and apply pressure on the Turks. Prime Minister Sterling received a request for additional Hawaiian forces and a Company of Pershing tanks was sent

 

[chris N]

In 1949 the Hawaiian Forces were withdrawn from Kurdistan. Prime Minister Sterling was hospitalized and a crisis was seen as the deputy Prime Minister post was vacant. Charles B Kamehameha II agreed to temporary take the post but refused to permanently remain as Prime Minister. Thus everyone tuned to Katherine McNamara Chairwoman of the Armed Services committee. Katherine had the advantage of having served as Prime Minister in the past. He oldest son had entered the Naval academy.

 

[chris N]

Charles B Kamehameha II returned to chairmanship of the Budget Committee. His father had requested that he retire from the House and come back to the Bank . The father was not up to running the bank and his son agreed that he would leve the House after Katherine got adjusted to being Prime Minister again.

 

[chris N]

Katherine McNamara traveled to the palace to present her credentials to the King. She also brought with her the resignation of the man to whom she was replacing and of her cousin Charles who had resigned his seat in the House to become the new Chairman of the Royal Bank of Hawaii. The meeting lasted 45 minutes and the King announced on radio and tv that K Mrs McNamara was the duly elected Prime Minister of Hawaii and that she had the confidence of the King. He then went on to say that he was sadden to announce the resignation of Charles B Kamehameha II from the House. Charles had been an outstanding member of the House and had guided the budget through many time. He would be leaving to take over the Royal Bank of Hawaii and both the King and Queen wished him well.
William Marlowe would become the new Chairman of the Budget Committee.