Prince Philip in the Pacific: A vignette from the world of "An Oridinary Germanic"

Author's note: In Varyar's story "An Ordinary Germanic" we get a glimpse of the world where Nazi Germany still rules most of Europe in 2017. In Varyar's alternate timeline the war against Britain ended in 1940. The United States and the United Kingdom still fight a war against Japan but in this timeline the Japanese face the full might of both nations.

I posted a comment on the thread suggesting that Prince Philip, husband of Elizabeth II fought in the Pacific War. This vignette tells the story of the incident where Prince Philip's ship is hit by a Kamikaze. Think of it as something the narrator of "From the Atlantic to the Urals" and "the Ordinary Germanic" read on the internet. A sort of Easter egg for "The Oridnary Germanic".
 
From Wikipedia article: “Wartime Service of Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh”.

“In January 1945 Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten the future Duke of Edinburgh was serving aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable. Philip had been serving aboard the carrier for two years as a gunnery officer. Philip had been offered a position on the staff of his Uncle Admiral Louis Montbatten, commander of the British Pacific Fleet but turned it down. Philip stated “I didn’t want to be seen only as the Admiral’s nephew fetching him tea and biscuits”. Philip was continuing a successful naval career aboard Formidable. He had already been Mentioned in Dispatches twice, in 1942 during the siege of Singapore(1) while serving aboard a Destroyer and later in the summer of 1944 during the Marianas campaign.

“By the beginning of 1945 American and British aircraft carriers were now becoming a regular presence off the coast of Japan. The Allied forces were starting to put a blockade against the Japanese islands in effect. In November 1944 US Marines landed on Iwo Jima putting Japan within range of land based USAAF and RAF planes. Formidable left Sydney Australia on January 3rd to become a part of Joint Task Force 2 (JTF-2). JTF-2 consisted of the American carriers Bunker Hill, Wasp and Hornet. The mission of JTF-2 was to raid southern Honshu as a distraction for the invasion of Okinawa scheduled for February 19th. It was hoped the carriers would inflict damage to Japanese airfields and reduce the number of potential Kamikazes that could be brought against the Okinawa invasion fleet.”

“For this raid Formidable’s air wing would act as the permanent Combat Air Patrol (CAP) for the other three carriers. In addition to the 36 F4U Corsairs she normally carried, Formidable left her TBF Avenger torpedo bombers behind in Sydney and took aboard 14 more Corsairs (10 daytime fighters and 4 night-fighter versions of the Corsair). Also attached to the ship was a four man film to document the raid.”…………………..

“On the morning of 19 February 1945 JTF-2 was attacked by a force of 8 Zeroes and 4 B6N “Jill” torpedo bombers. Formidable’s Corsairs intercepted the Japanese fifty miles out. Four of the Zeroes and one B6N were quickly shot down. The Kamikaze attack force scattered. ………..The surviving Zeroes outran the remaining torpedo bombers which were all destroyed by Hellcats launched from Bunker Hill as an inner CAP”………….

“……………..At 1035 a single Zero struck Formidable. The fighter crashed through four Corsairs forward of the carrier’s island. Fuel and pieces of airplane were sent flying across the deck. The Zero’s engine barely missed the island and went falling over the edge of the flight deck…………..Philip rushed on deck and guided fleeing pilots and deckhands to safety through burning fires…….. Ammunition from the destroyed fighters began to cook off. As other sailors ducked for cover Philip lead a party back into the open to push a fully loaded Corsair overboard to keep it away from the fire. "

“Philip was awarded the DSC by his Uncle Admiral Montbatten in May 1945. Footage from the kamikaze attack on 19 February was used by Noel Coward for his film Against the Divine Wind, the sequel to In Which We Serve(2).”


Author’s notes:

  1. The siege of Malaya/Singapore takes the place of OTL fighting in the Mediterranean. In this timeline Britain’s war against Germany ended in 1940.

  2. This alternate In Which We Serve tells the story of a Royal Navy Destroyer from combat in Norway in 1940 to the ship being torpedoed by the Japanese in 1942. The sequel has the survivors of the original crew aboard a new ship battling Kamikazes in 1945. The film ends with the crew returning home to England to a hero’s welcome.
 
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