Northern Exposure: A Very Alternate History of Canada

[dallan007]

Introduction

Hello all,

This AAR is my extremely fanciful take on an alternate history using Laffy Chan's excellent Canada mod. The story contains fairly modern takes on diversity and gender equality, mostly because I just didn't want to write about a bunch of old men huffing and puffing about the navy. An inclusive society also solves one of Canada's largest deficiencies, that being a considerably lower population than its neighbor to the south. That being said, this is intended to be nothing more than a fun and fanciful take on a navy that would never exist.

Point of Divergence


Ford’s Theater, 1865

Marie-Louise Gambon, French-Canadian, wife of a Canadian officer accompanying President and Mrs. Lincoln to a play, foils an attempt on the president’s life. Spotting John Wilkes Booth entering the balcony with a pistol, Mrs. Gambon (a former frontierswoman), wrestles the would-be assassin and eventually overcomes him by throwing him over the balcony. The incident fosters a flood of goodwill between Canada and the United States.
Mrs. Gambon becomes a popular spokesperson for women's emancipation, resulting in a rapid changing of Canadian attitudes. The United States advocates for Canadian independence. 

July 1, 1867: The Charlottetown Accords



Great Britain grants independence to the new Dominion of Canada, in exchange for guarantees of trade and support from the United States. Newfoundland remains a colony of the British Empire. The boundary between the US and the new country is set at the 49th Parallel. The United States is the first country to recognize Canada as an independent state. 


January 19th, 1868: The North Atlantic Treaty






Canada, the United States, and Great Britain sign an agreement to defend North America against any outside aggression. Abraham Lincoln signs the treaty into law on his last day as president.


1870-1880 Immigration




Progressive Canadian policies lead to an influx of immigrants from Europe, Asia and the United States. Dissatisfied former slaves, Native peoples, and even Chinese railroad workers are welcomed into the Last Best West. The increase in population provides the manpower for industrial expansion. Women are granted the vote and permitted to participate in all careers. The first female sea cadets graduate from the Naval College of Canada in 1874.


1881: The Trinity Act



Canada recognizes the native peoples as one of the three cultural pillars of the nation, alongside English and French Canada.


1890’s: Cuba Crisis and the The Spanish-American War 



US instigation of a war against Spain over Cuban independence leads to the dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty as both Great Britain and Canada refuse their support. Canada begins a naval buildup.


January 1900: Present Day

Canada stands alone for the first time in its brief history. With no active alliances for protection, the young nation must forge a navy to protect its interests.

[dallan007]

Prime Minister’s Office, Ottawa, Canada, November 14th, 1899


The Prime Minister sipped her tea and regarded her guest over the tops of her glasses, an old trick from her days as a professor of law. The practiced stare had been known to wither many a student, however there were an obstinate handful for whom it held no such power.
Such a one was the woman who sat before her now, a handsome, dark-haired, plainly dressed lady who met her gaze with a slight smile and an air of innocence, concealing, the prime minister supposed, a fiery core which, if uncovered, would be the instrument she needed for the task at hand.


“Lady Jane St. Clair." The Prime Minister began. First group of female graduates at the Naval College of Canada, first woman to participate in a boarding action, first woman to be placed in command of a naval vessel in all of history. Your list of accomplishments is impressive.”

“Yes, well, so far as being among the first to graduate from the NCC, I finished dead last in my class. And that boarding action was against a sloop full of rum smugglers.”


“Yes, I believe you shot one of them in the leg after they had surrendered?”


“Yes, I’m also a terrible shot. I wasn’t aiming for his leg.”


The Prime Minister gave her an inquiring look. Lady St. Clair shrugged indifferently.

“He looked at me inappropriately.”


“Quite right. And while we are on the subject, you were also the first female officer ever to be court-martialed. What was that for again?”


“Striking a superior nincompoop.”


“Ah yes. Such a colorful history is the stuff of naval legend, is it not?”


“Perhaps, but we are not here to prepare my biography, Madame Prime Minister. To what do I owe this audience?”


The Prime Minister stood up from the couch and moved to her desk. Taking up a large leather-bound book labeled “Canadian Naval Registry”, she offered it to her guest.

“I would like your opinion on the state of the Navy.”


“I’m sure Sir Kingsmill would be more obliging and perhaps more agreeable than I.” Lady St. Clair said.


“I have the C-in-C’s opinion on the matter,” the Prime Minister said, a slight tone of assertiveness creeping into her words. “I require yours.”

She offered the book again, but Lady St. Clair waved it away.


“No need for the propaganda material. I am well-versed in the current state of the Navy, such as it is. I do not require Sir Kingsmill’s embellishments on the matter.”



The Prime Minister gave a slight smile. “Very well. Let’s begin, shall we?”

[dallan007]

Ships of the Canadian Fleet 1900

Oliver Class Torpedo Boat

“Starting chronologically,” Lady Jane began, “the Oliver class. A good idea and decent ships in their day, but very limited in usefulness. Undergunned by today’s standards and quite frankly, the living conditions are abhorrent. They can’t operate for more than a week or two before something breaks down, and I wouldn’t hazard sailing one of them out of the sight of land. They’d be no good in a true fleet action.”


“They are old,” the Prime Minister agreed, “but they served their purpose when built.”


“They are old,” Lady Jane said, “and it’s time to retire them.”

Creston Class Destroyer

“As you know, Prime Minister, I commanded the Creston during my second tour. They’re fast ships and well-armed, but unstable. Kingsmill ordered an additional tube be fitted, which has made them top-heavy. The main armament is even more pathetic than that of the Olivers. Those 2-inch guns couldn’t stop a whale boat, much less a torpedo boat. They need a good refitting to be useful again.”

Red Deer Class Protected Cruiser

“And what of your old, beloved CNS Lethbridge and her sisters?” the Prime Minister asked. “What do you make of them?”


Lady Jane smiled. “Well they’re smart ships with lovely lines. They’ve adequate speed, but their guns are also becoming outdated. Truth be told, we needed more of them back in my day, but now we need an updated version. 5-inch guns at least, and four torpedo tubes on each broadside. And we need more than just three of them.”

Toronto Class Armored Cruiser

“Why would the government permit these ships to be built by the Huns?” Lady St. Clair declared. “They’re over-engineered, overweight, and under-gunned. We could have built better ships at Halifax.”

Quebec Class Battleship (Pre-Dreadnought)

 

“Yes, that brings us to our battle line.” The Prime Minister said. 

“Oh yes, the pride of Kingsmill and the Kaiser's coffers, and already nearing obsolescence according to my sources.” Lady Jane began. “They’re well-armed and armored, I’ll give him that, but they will be too slow to catch the newer ships already being designed. And again, the cramped spaces make them extremely uncomfortable.” 

“Why is that an issue?” 

“If I may be direct, Madame Prime Minister, you could sail them to the South Seas if you like, but half the crews would mutiny before you got to Tahiti.” 

[dallan007]

A New Nincompoop

The Prime Minister nodded.“I see. Well, I appreciate your candor on the matter. How soon do you think you could put this to rights?” 

Lady Jane blinked like a doe in a hunter’s gunsight. 

“I beg your pardon?” 

“How soon could you put all of this to rights? How long will it take for you to give your country a navy to be proud of?” 

“Forgive me, Madame Prime Minister, but one can only imagine what the press would make of this. I’m not their most favorite person as you know. My flag rank was….” 

“Yes, a pension promotion they threw to you in exchange for your early retirement. You don’t even use the title.” 

“Exactly. I’ve neither the seniority nor the experience to be at the admiralty.” 

“You were one of the most outspoken officers ever to serve.” The Prime Minister said. “You know your ships, and you have the respect of your captains and their crews. I need someone who they will follow. More importantly, I need someone willing to break with tradition. Are you that person, Lady Jane?” 

Lady Jane’s eyes lowered to the floor for a moment, then she stood resolutely and squared her shoulders. 

“Very well.” She said stiffly, “I would like you to cancel the orders for the Nova Scotia, and the Vancouver.” 

“Kaiser Wilhelm will not take kindly to that.” The Prime Minister remarked. 

“With all due respect, Madame Prime Minister, if we are to be respected, we can no longer afford to rely on the kindness of others. From now on, we will order our ships from our own shipyards. I will also arrange to be situated in my new offices as soon as possible.” 

“Sir Kingsmill has offered to give you a tour this afternoon.” 

Lady Jane raised an eyebrow. “Did he now?” 

“Yes, this was his idea, you see. He gave me a short list of capable officers, listed all of their merits, told me any of them would be capable, and then said I should appoint you. He said you’re…bricky.” 

“Bricky…”  

“Yes. He also said you’d be the first Admiral of the Fleet willing to back your decisions with a…bunch of fives?” 

“Fisticuffs.” Lady Jane explained. “It seems I was able to knock a bit of sense into him after all.” 

“Yes, well, be that as it may, I hope you still have the stomach for a fight. The way things are in the world, we’re going to be in one sooner or later.” 

“We’ll be ready, ma’am.” Lady Jane said, saluting smartly. 

The Prime Minister returned the courtesy. Lady Jane turned to leave. 

“Oh, and Admiral?”  

“Yes, Madame Prime Minister?” 

“Perhaps when you retire for good, you may turn your encyclopedic knowledge to good use. An educational tome perhaps? On the world’s naval vessels? For public consumption of course.” 

The Admiral smiled. 

“Jane’s All the World’s Fighting Ships? I’ll consider it, ma’am.” 

[dallan007]

Refit and Reuse

“Is that the Lethbridge?” 

Peter Brant looked up from his drawings and saw his worst nightmare. An admiral had caught him in the midst of his doodles while there were still three dispatches left to be sent. Normally the brass never visited the telegraph office; the latest dispatches were always run up to the admiral the moment they were received. This admiral must be new. 

He shot to attention and saluted hard.  

“Mu’m, yes mu’m! Just..just a bit of drawing mu’m!” 

Lady Jane smiled and returned the salute. The boy was tall, perhaps a bit lean for his build, dark hair cropped closely, skin slightly tanned in complexion, large, almond-shaped eyes, something of a narrow chin but otherwise handsome enough. She turned her attention back to the sketch on his desk. It had been unrolled and held down with a signals book and a half-filled mug of coffee.  

“It looks like a blueprint.” She remarked. 

“Mu’m, yes mu’m…something a of a hobby, mu’m!” 

“As you were, lieutenant, before you injure yourself. And it’s ma’am as in ‘ham’, if you please.”

 

“Yes ma’am!” 

The boy relaxed slightly. He stood aside as the admiral leaned forward to examine his work.

 

“Quite accurate. But you’re missing two turrets on each side.” 

Brant swallowed hard. “I uh…I was just playing at modifying the design, ma’am.” 

“Interesting.” The admiral said. “Why delete the turrets?” 

“To...make room, ma’am.” 

“For what?” 

“Uh…well…” 

“Oh spit it out, my boy. I won’t bite.” 

“Well,” Brant said, “I saw in the latest dispatches that Russia’s protected cruisers have 5-inch guns. I just thought that if we could find some displacement, we could upgrade the Lethbridge to 5-inchers as well. Ma’am.” 

“Hmm…” Lady Jane said. “And she’d still have the same broadside as the Nadezha. What else have you done?” 

“I added two torpedo tubes on each side, ma’am. There’s enough compartment space and displacement leftover. I would have liked to increase the belt armor, but the cost in speed….” 

“You made the calculations?” 

“Yes ma’am. The math works out.” 

“What’s your name, sailor?” 

“Peter Brant…telegraph operator, ma’am.” 

“Brant? From Brantford?” 

“Yes Ma’am. I’m one half Mohawk on my father’s side.” 

Lady Jane nodded. “This is what you do in your spare time?” She regarded the Naval College ring on the boy’s finger. “What was your focus at NCC?” 

“Naval engineering, ma’am.” 

“So naturally they put you in signals. I’d put in for a transfer if I were you.”

“I’ve tried, Ma’am, but the bureau…” 

“Ah yes…’Your skills are essential in your current assignment, and we encourage you to do your utmost for the good of the service, et cetera, et cetera, signed the Bureau of Personnel Mismanagement.” 

“Something like that, ma’am.” 

“I suggest you try again, Lieutenant.” 

“But I’ve tried four times, ma’am.” 

Lady Jane fixed him with her eyes. 

“I suggest you try again.” 

“But ma’am, my CO won’t….” 

“Lieutenant, you just gave me a plan that will keep my old ship from the breakers yard for another few years….” 

Brant’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re Lady Jane!” 

“Am I? Thank you for that stunning piece of naval intelligence.” 

Brant lowered his eyes in embarrassment. 

Lady Jane sighed. “Lieutenant, you are obviously a bright boy with some talents. But, in case this is not clear to you, I will repeat myself one more time. Try. Again. That. Is. An. Order. Are we clear?” 

Brant stood to attention again. “Clear as daylight, ma’am.” 

“Good lad.”  

She rolled up Brant’s blueprint and tucked it under her arm.  

“Now, in exchange for putting in a quiet word with your CO, I’m confiscating this. If you ever want to see it again, best be sure you’re not late for your first day at the Naval Architecture Office.” 

“Thank you, ma’am.” 

“Oh don’t thank me, lieutenant. I expect you’ll find the NAO just as frustrating as this old place. Carry on.” 

Brant waited until the sound of the admiral's footfalls faded down the corridor. He collapsed into his chair, relieved to have survived the encounter. He turned his attention to the three dispatches on his desk and dutifully tapped them out to their destinations. Then he sipped his cold coffee and gazed out of the window at the harbor below. One of the Crestons lumbered by on her way to sea, her forward decks and torpedo tube awash even in the relatively tranquil seas of the harbor. She was too top-heavy, too wet forward thanks to the added weight of the new tube and other additions. Brant stared for a moment, then grabbed a blank dispatch form and began to make some sketches. The forward torpedo tube had to go, that much was certain, and those 2-inch guns were ridiculous. She needed a 3-incher somehow, but how? Maybe see about refitting the old engines with the newer,  lighter designs he'd heard about? Would that do the trick? What about her speed? She could already make a blistering 28 knots, but did she really need to be that fast? Brant started making some calculations.

Between his sketches and more dispatches, it was a good three hours, and very near the end of his watch, before in a panic he remembered that he needed to get his transfer request filled out. 

[dallan007]

Fleet Exercise, North Atlantic, December 12, 1902

“What the hell is wrong with you, Martin?”


Lady Jane stood on the open bridge of the Shawinigan, observing the mock battle through her binoculars. Off the destroyer’s starboard bow, one of her sister ships, the Creston (Phillip. E Martin commanding), had been cut off from her squadron and was running pell-mell for her life, pursued by the Blue team comprised of the new light cruiser Kootenay, the older light cruiser Lethbridge, and the destroyers Gibsons and Comox. The ships were firing blanks to simulate their attack. Lady Jane could see the puffs of smoke emanating from the Kootenay’s guns as she opened up on her hapless prey. Behind her, the Lethbridge shifted slightly out of line to draw a bead on the Creston, adding her new 5-inch guns to the fray.


“Umpires report the Creston sunk by gunfire, ma’am.” a nearby signals officer said. “Kill awarded to the Kootenay.”


Captain Dawes of the Shawinigan snorted derisively. “Serves him right. That was poor ship handling if I may say so, admiral.”


“You may.” Lady Jane said. “A blindfolded chimp could have steered a better course than that.”


“Blue team flagship signals turning to pursue enemy formation, ma’am.” The signals officer said.


“Very well. Follow them if you please, Captain Dawes.”


The Shawinigan accelerated and trailed behind the blue team’s ships. Further towards the horizon the Red team, now down to the light cruisers Medicine Hat and Red Deer and the destroyer Ladysmith, had come about and were closing with their opponents.


“Looks like Commodore Tremblay is spoiling for a fight.” Dawes said.


Lady Jane nodded, recalling Sabine Tremblay as a quiet and studious plebe that rarely spoke except to answer a question (always correctly) in her classes.


“Her blood is up now. She hates to lose.” Lady Jane said.


The two officers watched as the fleets closed to firing range and kept going, each side unloading simulated shots at the other.


“Is it just me,” Dawes asked, “or are they playing chicken with protected cruisers?”


“Signal from Blue Flagship . Y R A F.” the signalman reported. “I uh…I think that was for Red Team, ma’am.”


Dawes and Lady Jane exchanged surprised looks.


“’You Are A Fool? “ Dawes said, translating the signal, “That’s damned unprofessional. Jack needs to learn his manners.”


“Signal from Red Flagship now, ma’am,” said another officer. “F. U.”


“This is not going to end well.” Lady Jane said.


The two opposing formations turned to parallel each other, exchanging broadsides as they went. The Red formation turned away too starboard and the Blue flagship followed, her bow slipping behind as she negotiated the wider turn.

Lady Jane muttered under her breath. “No, Jack! No! Don’t fall for it!”


Four red flares were fired from the Red flagship, indicating the launch of four torpedoes from her port side.


“Umpire reports Kootenay struck by two torpedoes.” The signalman said. Then, a moment later. “Umpire scores Kootenay down by the bow and sinking. Kill awarded to Medicine Hat.”


Lady Jane hurled her binoculars over the side.


“Idiot! Nincompoop!”


“Well, that leaves Shaw in command of Blue.” Dawes said. “Will he try to break off?”


They watched as Shaw swerved the Lethbridge to port, avoiding the now stopped Kootenay and widening the distance. He showed no sign of disengaging, but rather continued simulated fire against the Red team’s formation.


“Umpire calls three hits on Medicine Hat. Umpire scores Medicine Hat afire.”


Lady Jane leaned over the railing of the bridge, her eyes fixed on the Lethbridge, her former command. To Dawes, she reminded him of a spectator at a horse race.


“Come on, old girl, you can do it!” she cried.


“Umpire calls two hits on Red Deer.”


Dawes offered Lady Jane his binoculars.


“He’s closing the range again, admiral.”


And then, a moment later...


“Umpire reports one torpedo hit on Lethbridge. Umpire scores Lethbridge slowed to 14 knots.”


Dawes watched in mild consternation as his binoculars were sent in a high arc into the North Atlantic.


“Umpires calling time, ma’am.” The officer said. Dawes admired the man’s poise before the infuriated admiral. “Victory awarded to Red Team.”


“Did they sink the ‘bridge?” the admiral asked.


“No ma’am, they scored her as damaged only. Same for the Medicine Hat.”


“Thank you, lieutenant.”


“Well,” Dawes said, “That should give the armchair strategists something to chew over for a while.”


Lady Jane nodded in agreement.


“The new torpedoes are deadly. And our guns are still inaccurate. If we close in to get hits, we take a fish to our hull. If we stay at range, we can’t get hits.”


“The ships need some kind of underwater protection. “ Dawes said. “and something must be done about our accuracy. More gunnery practice?”


“Better guns as well.” Lady Jane said. “And better shells. And powder charges. Until then we need to rethink our tactics.”


Captain Dawes nodded. "My torpedomen will be pleased. I'm sure your man at the NAO will be pleased about how his new cruisers are performing."

"The boy has a talent for design, to be sure." Lady Jane said. "I'm wondering what he'll come up with next."

She turned to leave, then hesitated.


“Sorry about your glasses, Captain.”


Dawes shrugged. “They were an old pair. I’ll charge some new ones to the admiralty.”