WI "The final countdown" happened?

Bearcat

Banned
The Nimitz should head into the West Pac after dealing with Pearl.

There are a limited number of useful warships (CVLs, BBS and CAs) and several invason convoys to target. The Borneo convoy at Miri around the 15th / 16th. The Lingayen Gulf convoy around the 21st / 22nd, and the Legaspi one around the same time, maybe a day earlier. Then maybe shipping in the Gulf of Thailand.

Wake isn't an issue. Without Hiryu and Soryu, it still has a few Wildcats, and with everything else going on, the IJN probably folds that hand.

By Christmas Eve, it'll be time to get the hell out of Dodge. Aviation fuel is running low and the carrier's magazines are getting thin. Hardly matters: Japan's whole operational plan has been shredded and used for toilet paper.

MacArthur gets called home to 'xplain to Lucy about losing his air power. Since the PI will hold, he never becomes a media hero (anymore than pre-war anyway).

Even if Nimitz takes no additional role in the war, it is already a Japanscrew of epic proportions.

But of course she will. When we take the Marianas. And Iwo. And Okinawa. And finally, when its time to make Hirohito bear the unbearable.

As for Berlin?

Advice to Adolph: bring marshmallows... :eek:
 
The Nimitz should head into the West Pac after dealing with Pearl.

There are a limited number of useful warships (CVLs, BBS and CAs) and several invason convoys to target. The Borneo convoy at Miri around the 15th / 16th. The Lingayen Gulf convoy around the 21st / 22nd, and the Legaspi one around the same time, maybe a day earlier. Then maybe shipping in the Gulf of Thailand.

Wake isn't an issue. Without Hiryu and Soryu, it still has a few Wildcats, and with everything else going on, the IJN probably folds that hand.

By Christmas Eve, it'll be time to get the hell out of Dodge. Aviation fuel is running low and the carrier's magazines are getting thin. Hardly matters: Japan's whole operational plan has been shredded and used for toilet paper.

MacArthur gets called home to 'xplain to Lucy about losing his air power. Since the PI will hold, he never becomes a media hero (anymore than pre-war anyway).

Even if Nimitz takes no additional role in the war, it is already a Japanscrew of epic proportions.

But of course she will. When we take the Marianas. And Iwo. And Okinawa. And finally, when its time to make Hirohito bear the unbearable.

As for Berlin?

Advice to Adolph: bring marshmallows... :eek:
Sorry, I should have been more specific in my last post. What I meant was not that targets like Truk be pulverized, but beaten down so they lose their OFFENSIVE potential. This will be all the 1941 USN Pacific Fleet needs to sail to the Philippines' easy relief, though the Prince of Wales and Repulse will still be lost. I can't really see Admiral Phillips believing this "Nimitz" story in time to take proper action to save his ships. Admiral Kimmel may even prepare a special Task Force, with Army help, to retake Guam. If Yelland goes along with the idea, it'll be a walkover.

Adolph? Absolutely. Best to keep quite about the Nimitz until Addie's DoW though...:p
 
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How many tactical nuclear weapons?

To the Phillipines or directly toward Japan?


One scenario, knowing the time storm is coming, the Nimitz launch a nuclear weapon or two at the Japanese fleet, doesn´t destroy the entire fleet but the devastating attack on Pearl Harbour is prevented.
Japan, later Germany and the Soviet-Union(through Richard Sorge), becomes aware that nuclear weapons are not only possible but may already exist... :D
 
What impact would the future people have on the development of jet engines and carrier operations? The Navy dictated that all fighters and bombers in carrier service be taildraggers. ITTL, would the experience of the future people in CATOBAR ops change the Navy's tune, possibly bringing aircraft such as the P-63, on the decks of the Essex's, and the P-61 and B-25 on the Nimitz's deck?
 
How many tactical nuclear weapons?

To the Phillipines or directly toward Japan?


One scenario, knowing the time storm is coming, the Nimitz launch a nuclear weapon or two at the Japanese fleet, doesn´t destroy the entire fleet but the devastating attack on Pearl Harbour is prevented.
Japan, later Germany and the Soviet-Union(through Richard Sorge), becomes aware that nuclear weapons are not only possible but may already exist... :D
I doubt Yelland's training will allow him to launch nukes on his own. But (as noted on my previous posts) there is MAJOR heavy lifting to be done NOW to prevent years of campaigning to drive the Japanese out of the SW Pacific if they are allowed to dig themselves in. Maybe a "Hashirajima Raid" to destroy what they haven't already destroyed at Pearl, the Central Pacific Basin, and the SW Pacific?
 

burmafrd

Banned
I am trying to remember if at that time our carriers still had in their weapons loadout the nuclear depth charges? Those things were not well regarded in the navy for obvious reasons. The nuclear torpedoes were hated even more. They were the navy equivalent to the Davy Crocket.

One must remember as of 1980 we were prepared for a full nuclear war both strategic and tactical. Our army had nuclear artillery shells, and Lance Rockets with nuclear warheads.

The critical problem for the Nimitz is the special spare parts that are hard to manufacture even in 1980. On the other hand the drawings and specs are there so that its a matter of creating the necessary metal blends for the parts; the ship itself has extensive machine shops so that the actual fabrication could be done there if necessary. The hardest part will be the casting of the steel blends; that would need to be done onshore somewhere after figuring out how to do it. Likewise with the electronic spare parts, though that era's electronics are nowhere near as high tech as todays are. It would take some time but nothing all that difficult. Probably one to two years at most to figure out how to make everything needed.

She was refueled starting in 1998 so that obviously would not be a problem for a long time.
 
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