Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II

Md139115

Banned
“You’re... you’re...”

“Come on, Admiral, you can say it. I’ve heard it all. My personal favorites are the ones about how I’m living proof of the international Jewish conspiracy.”
 
Intriguing. The irony is that ITTL the British will probably perceive this "Special Relationship" as less favorable in relative terms than the OTL British-American one, but it'll probably be a better deal for the British overall. Essentially, I'm seeing it as Britain being given an opportunity to become the Shield of Europe in a serious way.

It's a mix of strategic and economic concerns. The Germans for good or ill have stepped into an international level, but they know that the expenditure of being one of the big boys in the World is BIG.

Moreover outside the North Sea close to them and the Baltic, and the Far East in the Chinese Sea And Pacific, to get into the other areas of the world its simply an intromisión in the spheres of the other powers and an overall waste of Reichmarks.

As such, it's likely that what Schmidt gave to Admiral Fraser already has the FULL approval of the Emperor Louis Ferdinand and the Chancellor....Besides the strategic plans so that Royal Navy isn't emasculated and keeps as a powerful force in the Atlantic and their Dominions, the full recognition of the areas that are the "playing pool" in a sense of the RN and the ones that the KLM would guard.... to finally Bury the hatchet that in a sense Wilhelm II waved in ignorance decades ago and starting a feud that in the modern world its pointless and a waste of time and resources that both powers need to focus on other issues far away from each other.....
 
.... to finally Bury the hatchet that in a sense Wilhelm II waved in ignorance decades ago and starting a feud that in the modern world its pointless and a waste of time and resources that both powers need to focus on other issues far away from each other.....
I agree outside of the quote. In this TL I think that the Entente will have been forced to "bite the bullet" and admit to their own failings in the run up to WWI. Like that the British themself fanned the fire in the naval race for internal (RN) reasons or how the French and Russians where not the blameless ones in all this.

As they could not blame Germany and then build on that like after OTLs WWII.
 
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred
...


Jacob pulled a notebook out of his briefcase and handed it to Fraser. The British Admiral looked like Jacob was handing him a poisonous snake.

“What is this?” Fraser asked as he flipped through the pages.

“It is what I would do if I were in your shoes” Jacob replied, “You can do whatever you want with it.”

...

And so the legend of the Codex Admiralitatis begins. (The latin's likely butchered; I used an online translator.)
A tome out of legend--the secret of German success. Read it at your peril--but is it more perilous NOT to read it?

<If you read it, and comprehend it, make your SAN check...>
 
Part 74, Chapter 1101
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred One


22nd September 1954

Berlin

“It’s not my place to approve or disapprove” Kat said as she got into bed. With the nights getting cooler she was back to wearing the flannel nightgowns that only generated electricity from the static they threw off the sheets. For Doug it was just one more example of how she changed with the seasons.

“The Emperor clearly sees things differently than you do” Doug replied, “And he wasn’t shy in calling you out on it.”

It hadn’t been an easy week for Kat and it wasn’t over yet. The Emperor had found that giving Kat flying lessons would be a fun thing to do on Saturday afternoons. When it was pointed out that Louis clearly had not heard about the problems with cats in high places, seemingly everyone but Kat had found that amusing. Then Kat had learned about the secret mission that Admiral von Schmidt had taken. In many respects it was the final rapprochement for decades of strategic rivalry going back to before the First World War, but Kat had seen a copy of the report that von Schmidt had compiled and felt that it probably gave away too much.

“The British are not stupid, if they can read between the lines it is basically an outline laying out the schedule of the entire Navy for at least the next decade” Kat replied, “It even has things like the advancement of technology factored in.”

“If it is about building up a partnership” Doug said, “Someone has to show a certain amount of trust.”

“I can understand that” Kat replied, “But I wouldn’t have shown them that much.”

“So, you are comparing international relations to our first few dates?” Doug asked. He wasn’t being completely serious and was more than half expecting her to hit him with a pillow. Instead she looked at him thoughtfully.

“I always kept a knife and a gun within easy reach” Kat replied, “I would hope that the Emperor and the Chancellor would understand the reason for that.”

“I know that is probably the truth” Doug said, “But anyone who didn’t know you would probably find it very disturbing.”

“Yet you didn’t run away when you had the chance” Kat said happily.

“I figured that you would have just shot me in the back if I did” Doug replied. That was what got him hit with the pillow.


Langley, Virginia

“Are you kidding me?” Parker said in disgust as he learned what his next assignment was going to be.

“You need to maintain your cover” Jackson Grey, Parker’s superior in the CIA, said.

That very cover had caused Parker to get a bit of static when he had called his parents after he had landed in D.C. a week prior. They were completely confused about exactly what he was up to. His father going so far as to asking him if he had broken up with a girl and was suicidal or something. As far as they could tell Parker had joined the Army and then gotten into auto racing. They just had no idea why he had done it and he couldn’t tell them that he had joined the CIA.

Now, he had just learned that he was going back to Fort Meade where he would be changing oil and having Jonny chewing him out for some minor infraction. A crash course in auto-mechanics and immersion lessons in the culture of the U.S. Army.

“It will be better than before” Grey said, “You got promoted to Corporal, everyone knows about the race that you and Casey were a part of and there is this.”

Grey handed him a full color brochure from the Ford Motor Company that was advertising the new 1955 Ford Anglia “Rally” Model. Most of the changes and improvements that Jonny and Parker had made to the car were now part of the production model. Even a few that Jonny had wanted but couldn’t get, like the four-speed transmission.

The slogan across the top of the page read; Ford stands for First On Race Day.

Then below that.

The Anglia ran the most grueling rally race in the world, the Silk Road Rally Race. More than 6,000 miles across every sort of landscape, high mountains, torrential rains, scorching deserts and wide plains. Compared to that, your commute is nothing. Drive one of the most dependable cars in the world.

“Is this a joke?” Parker asked, “We didn’t come in first.”

“I got news for you” Grey said, “No one gives a shit. Sure, next year Ford is expecting a championship trophy but to go six thousand miles and come in second by a fraction of a second is the sort of thing that people will be talking about for decades and you had better believe it sells cars. Mr. McNamara at Ford, who I know that you and John Casey met with said that interest in the Anglia spiked after you were in the news.”

“I don’t see what the actions of the CIA have to do with an auto company” Parker replied.

“It provides you and Casey with an easy cover” Grey said, “And Ford gets the visibility. The car is seen, and most people don’t know you from Adam. You also got yourself into places that no official agent of this Agency could have gotten into.”

Parker sat there blinking for a few seconds. That was cynical and self-serving for all parties but somehow it was working.
 
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And so the legend of the Codex Admiralitatis begins. (The latin's likely butchered; I used an online translator.)
A tome out of legend--the secret of German success. Read it at your peril--but is it more perilous NOT to read it?

<If you read it, and comprehend it, make your SAN check...>

Then Kat had learned about the secret mission that Admiral von Schmidt had taken. In many respects it was the final rapprochement for decades of strategic rivalry going back to the First World War, but Kat had seen a copy of the report that von Schmidt had compiled and felt that it probably gave away too much.

“The British are not stupid, if they can read between the lines it is basically an outline laying out the schedule of the entire Navy for at least the next decade” Kat replied, “It even has things like the advancement of technology factored in.”

I suspect that the recurrent theme in Whitehall, first with Fraser, then the rest of the Admiralty it will be that they will read the booklet once. Then will do it again, while blinking owlishly...then read it for a THIRD time, but this time with having several aides running the ENTIRE Night, getting reference documents, encyclopedias, and TONS of Coffee.

Then at the dawn of the next day they will have produced a MASSIVE documented analysis of the "booklet"....each adding multiples pros and cons but most sharing the viewpoint and even adding their derivation of the booklet's content. Copies to be sent to the First Sea Lord, the Lord of the Admiralty, to the Prime Minister's office and the King.


...then they will promptly go to the nearest Bar...and proceed to get themselves VERY drunk while crossing themselves over a few times....because its the ONLY way in that the Admirals could shake off the shivers because reading that Booklet ramped up the fear of the bloody Spider to 11......For the Admirals, the "Spider of South China" its the kind of enemy that you simply DO NOT WANT to cross blades with.....If not ask the Japanese.....

...There will be celebrations certainly when Schmidt finally retires in Whitehall....
 
I suspect that the recurrent theme in Whitehall, first with Fraser, then the rest of the Admiralty it will be that they will read the booklet once. Then will do it again, while blinking owlishly...then read it for a THIRD time, but this time with having several aides running the ENTIRE Night, getting reference documents, encyclopedias, and TONS of Coffee.

Then at the dawn of the next day they will have produced a MASSIVE documented analysis of the "booklet"....each adding multiples pros and cons but most sharing the viewpoint and even adding their derivation of the booklet's content. Copies to be sent to the First Sea Lord, the Lord of the Admiralty, to the Prime Minister's office and the King.


...then they will promptly go to the nearest Bar...and proceed to get themselves VERY drunk while crossing themselves over a few times....because its the ONLY way in that the Admirals could shake off the shivers because reading that Booklet ramped up the fear of the bloody Spider to 11......For the Admirals, the "Spider of South China" its the kind of enemy that you simply DO NOT WANT to cross blades with.....If not ask the Japanese.....

...There will be celebrations certainly when Schmidt finally retires in Whitehall....

Later, differnt interpretations of the Codex Admiralitatis will proliferate among the inner cabal.

Schmidt retiring will make people wonder, "Why now? What's he planning that makes him want to retire?"

When he does die, count on at least one special ops team being sent to make sure that he's REALLY in the box. Some might want to add some holy water and the like, or otherwise make sure that he does not come back!

If Schmidt really wants to play games from beyond the grave, he should leave instructions to spread rumors that he wasn't in his box.
 
You know who this really stuffs and reaffirms is NOT a top dog anymore? The French. Singlehandedly upgrading the Royal Navy like this makes it really clear Europe is an Anglo-German continent. It's just one more way for Jacob to piss on the French.

While the US is not going to go start wars with the Europeans for kicks, Britain protecting the Atlantic allows Germany to focus on protecting against a resurgent Russia, which could well end up being TTLs 2 bites at the Big Bad at the rate things are going.

What'd be really fun is if Britain discovers and develops all the North Sea Oil. That could add quite a lot to the picture, especially if the Americans or Russians start messing around in the Middle East.
 
Schmidt retiring will make people wonder, "Why now? What's he planning that makes him want to retire?"
Knowing things, the day after he retires from the KLM's leadership, the Chancellor and Louis Ferdinand will put him in his final, but most legendary job....to be the head of the Multinational Project to send a man to the Moon...because if there its a man in Earth who can pull it.....its him.....
 
Even when Shmidt retires you know that everyone and their brother is going to wonder how he's puppeting his successor, and you know that the brits at least will not doubt the codex exists. MI-6 missions to steal the codex for the next fifty years anyone?
 
Even when Shmidt retires you know that everyone and their brother is going to wonder how he's puppeting his successor, and you know that the brits at least will not doubt the codex exists. MI-6 missions to steal the codex for the next fifty years anyone?

And when they steal it, wonder, "Is this the real Codex?"
 
Knowing things, the day after he retires from the KLM's leadership, the Chancellor and Louis Ferdinand will put him in his final, but most legendary job....to be the head of the Multinational Project to send a man to the Moon...because if there its a man in Earth who can pull it.....its him.....

The moon? Where's your sense of ambition?
 
Even when Shmidt retires you know that everyone and their brother is going to wonder how he's puppeting his successor, and you know that the brits at least will not doubt the codex exists. MI-6 missions to steal the codex for the next fifty years anyone?

They'll be thinking the same thing for decades after his death too.
 

FBKampfer

Banned
*kicks in door to Lord of the Admiralty's office* Sir, there's a mutiny! The men say that bastard von Schmidt isn't really dead. They're saying he faked his death to pull another one over on us!


*fire crackling in the background, a chair faces out the windows onto the courtyard, but there's only silence*

Sir?

*Chair turns around to reveal Jacob sitting in British Naval uniform, wearing a clearly fake mustache and monacal with no glass in it*.
 
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The main thing facing the major powers military leadership is the lack of a "Big Bad" and the civilian beancounters do not see a reason for massive expenditures on things they feel there is no need for.
Germany under the leadership of The Grand Admiral has a plan for the next twenty to thirty years and a roadmap past that will be able to adjust to changing circumstances and technologies.
The United States will continue its tradition of its original mission of keeping the seas open for American trade and commerce, plus it will develop its own nuclear deterrence to counter Germany's program.
ITTL the United States faces a lack of friendly ports that they can use for operations, they will be able to still make port calls its just they are going to pay more for them and it is going to be cash on the barrel head before they can drop anchor and as always American Sailors will be welcomed at every Liberty Port especially on Pay Day.
The United States Navy is going to push for larger Nuclear powered ships such as Aircraft Carriers that can go on long range missions without having to be replenished at ports.
 
Yeah, the US's situation would make nuclear escorts more desireable.

There might even be nuclear not-BB's. I figure with a nuclear plant it is easier to squeeze out DD like performance out of a BB hull than getting a reasonable compromise of endurance, mission capability and resilence out of a nuclear DD hull.
(Let's not forget that the US might have not twigged onto underway replenishment - what reason did they have so far?)
Hell, there might even be a aviation BB which carries (almost) all the helos you'd get in a OTL taskforce in a single hull.
(Let's not forget that there haven't been the large scale nuclear testing programms of OTL, IIRC they only realized what an underwater nuke does after the test)
 
Part 74, Chapter 1102
Chapter One Thousand One Hundred Two


26th September 1954

Potsdam

“Every year, it’s the same thing” Kiki said as she made it clear that this was happening under protest, “Can’t we use last year’s picture, there is no way that people will know the difference.”

“Kristina love” Klaus Voll said, “Your mother, who I don’t need to mention is the Empress of our fine country and holds the power of life and death over me, said that you would be the most difficult of her children when she hired me. Do you really want to see what will happen to me if you mess this up?”

Something about the look on Kiki’s face suggested that she would be fine with that, even if Voll wasn’t overstating what Kiki’s mother might do. Then she was distracted as the hairdressers who had accompanied Voll to the Summer Residence found yet another tangle in Kiki’s hair. They were trying to make some semblance of order in the mop of brown curls that Kiki had.

“The Princess really should keep this braided if she wants it to be more manageable when it is down” One of the hairdressers said to Voss, only to have Kiki shoot them a dirty look in the mirror.

Kiki had overheard her mother talking with Voss earlier and describe her as being absolutely impossible when it came to her appearance. In the strange way that Kiki’s birthday was celebrated she once again had found herself in the awkward space between. The party for her thirteenth birthday had been the month before but it wouldn’t really be until Christmas day, six months later that she turned thirteen. Every year it seemed to get worse and it effected how people treated Kiki depending on the time of the year. Of the adults only Gräfin Katherine truly seemed to understand, she had said that being Kiki’s age was really awful and she was right.

“It’s not the only thing here that will not do” Voss said darkly, and Kiki’s eyes were drawn to the garment bag that he had brought in with him. “Don’t worry Kristina, as much as Katherine has infected you with her ethos, it is both fashionable and actually the sort of thing that you might wear.”

Kiki didn’t understand what the big deal was about. Her mother wanted her to dress like the fairytale princess that she was decidedly not. The angriest that her mother had ever been with her was at the start of the summer before the incident in the church and she had broken her nose. Kiki had opened up her wardrobe and given the clothes that she had never worn to Vicky and Ria. Kiki’s little sisters had been delighted but most of those clothes had been presents and worth far more than she had ever realized.

Mostly, Kiki preferred to dress for the weather when she wasn’t at school. Dresses when it was hot and trousers with suspenders when it was cold. She also liked wearing the army coat with Joint Medical Service patches on it that Kat had given her as a birthday present. Joining the Joint Medical Service as soon as she could was Kiki’s personal ambition since she had toured one of the hospital ships that was the namesake of her sister Ria, much to her mother’s distress. Aurora had said that it was something that she would like to do as well, Zella said that they would lose the romantic notions of that very quickly. She had kept article from the newspaper where one of the Generals of the Medical Service said that they would love to have her when she was old enough.

“Ouch” Kiki exclaimed as one of the hairdressers found another tangle, interrupting her thoughts.

“Sorry, Princess” The hairdresser said, “I’m trying to be careful.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

Today was the day for the annual family photograph of the Royal family. Mostly it was a matter of getting all the children ready and in one place before they messed up their clothes or wandered off. The boys were wearing itchy wool suits that while the height of business formal, were not what they would choose to wear.

Victoria and Marie were wearing simple cotton shifts powder blue and yellow respectively, having them wear matching clothes was a mistake that no one wanted to make twice. Once they had reached an age where they had noticed that people had a difficult time distinguishing between them, the two of them had decided that matching clothing was something that would only happen on their terms. Like in the last couple years Gia had joined them, this year she had her ward Anya with her. The Russian girl was over joyed to have an extended family of sorts and she was helping Gia come out of her shell. Kat really did hope that Gia would finally take a chance on an adult relationship and depend on others for her personal happiness.

Kira had said that she had needed to call in professional help with Kiki. Kat had thought that she had seen Klaus Voll around earlier. Kiki shared Kat’s perspective about fashion, the less time she thought about it, the happier she was. Voll had accused her of influencing Kiki along with countless other women in that regard. Today, she was watching the proceedings with detached amusement as the photographer and his assistants were trying to get everyone in the same place at once with the expected amount of success. It really was like watching any other family.

That was when Kiki finally made her way out. She was wearing a white blouse and a dark blue skirt, formal sure but it actually looked like something that she might decide to wear on her own. Her hair had been brushed out and actually looked somewhat styled as opposed to the unruly mop that it normally was.

“You look halfway civilized today Whippet” Kat heard Freddy say to her as they were gathering for the photograph only to have Kiki elbow her brother in gut.
 
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