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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 14:20:44 GMT -6
Section 4: Destroyers and Sloops This section was based on a need for replacements rather than any foreign design. Since scrapping half the destroyer fleet some years earlier, Allington had noted that the other half was also in need of replacement before the first had been replaced itself! To deal with this issue, while not committing to another series of modified designs as with the Kennet and Tartar Classes, Allington proposed a series of 'Standard' destroyers based on a common hull.
Design A1 would have been armed with six dual-purpose 4.5-inch guns in twin mounts, four depth charge projectors, and eight torpedo tubes.
B1 would fit eight 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns in exchange for losing one quadruple torpedo launcher.
Allington was inclined to encourage debate on this. A1 was more in line with current destroyer doctrine, but B1 was clearly a superior fleet escort. The issue was whether the destroyers would serve primarily as screening forces or offensive forces.
As well as the need for more destroyers, almost all the convoy sloops ordered under Jellicoe were now worn out. This time, Allington wanted a more centralised approach to avoid having to order wartime corvette conversions as much as possible.
Convoy sloop A1 would be a large and fast (for a convoy sloop) anti-submarine escort. Their ASW fit was identical to a destroyer's, but on a much smaller and cheaper hull. Two of these could be built for every one standard destroyer. Four 4.5-inch guns would also give it some capability against surface raiders such as destroyers, and a token defence against enemy aircraft (it was hoped that a number of escorts in a single convoy might provide enough AA firepower combined to ward off air attacks).
Minesweeping sloop A1 was based on a serious lack of minesweepers in Royal Navy service, and demonstrated by the losses to mines in even the short war of 1926-27. Allington recalled that Grimsby trawlers had been trialled as auxiliary minesweepers in the Long War and proposed a series of dedicated minesweepers built on trawler-inspired hulls. Their shallow draught and (preferably) wooden hulls would protect them from the mostly-magnetic sea mines in use at the time while mine-sweeping nets, decoys, and other equipment was dragged behind the stern, like on a trawler. Allington also entertained ideas of using Drifters to Lowestoft or Gt. Yarmouth designs, but this was dismissed initially on the grounds of seaworthiness and that Drifters would need to remain largely stationary.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 13:57:36 GMT -6
Section 3: Light Cruisers Along with the Heavy Cruisers, Allington was concerned with recent developments in the USA with the 'Raleigh-Class' Light Cruisers. While Britain had just built four cruisers with six 6-inch guns in twin turrets, the US were now upstaging them with 9,000 ton cruisers armed with twelve 6-inch guns in triple turrets. With the threat of the US still real, despite the damage to the American economy following the Anglo-American War, Allington was determined that Britain must answer the Raleighs and their presumed smaller counterparts the 'Columbia-Class' (displacing 7,500 tons) with British vessels of similar capabilities.
US Light Cruiser 'USS Milwaukee' of the Raleigh-Class.
Design A1 was aimed at matching the American capabilities as closely as possible while maintaining the long-range cruising and seaplane-derived scouting capability of other British cruisers. This meant a 10,000 ton design with twelve 6-inch guns and a comparatively-heavy AA armament. Due to the marginal nature of cruiser armour to begin with, these ships (and the B-series of designs) would return to a full armoured belt.
Design B1 was to be a lighter ship, sacrificing one gun turret, one seaplane (although the hangar was retained) and range. This did not yield a serious saving in cost, however, and Allington was thus inclined to entertain alternative cost-saving measures.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 13:40:02 GMT -6
Section 2: Battle and Heavy Cruisers
This section covers two proposals of different thought processes. France had, since the 'Gloire-Class' of the late 1910s, built seven heavy cruisers of which five were armed with between eight and twelve 10-inch guns, and every other power save Germany had built five (with Germany having four). The German and Italian navies had thus far capped their heavy cruisers at 8- and 9-inch guns respectively, but everyone else had standardised on 10-inch guns. Concerned that these ships would clearly make short work of even the latest British light cruisers, and there was no practical way the 'Warspites' could be everywhere at once, Allington proposed two schemes to provide a new 'station cruiser' to confront the French (and other) heavy cruisers in the North Sea and the Pacific.
French Heavy Cruiser 'Pothuau' of 1932, the second and latest ship of the 'Latouche-Treville-Class'.
The concept for Station Cruiser B2 (B1) had been in Allington's desk drawer for some time, as a proposal for new larger cruisers to relieve the armoured cruisers and provide the most global coverage for the least number of hulls. Even then, in 1928, Allington was concerned by the size of opposing heavy cruiser guns. B2 was a development on this concept to meet the problem directly - not as flagships like the Warspites, but as cruiser-killers. The design would maximise end-on firepower by locating all main guns forward in two quadruple turrets, for eight 13.5-inch guns.
Heavy Cruiser A1 was intended less to overpower the foreign heavy cruisers, but to match them.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 11:50:28 GMT -6
I might've been more reluctant to take Iceland than you; it's not very useful to Britain within the game. Still, with tensions as low prior to the coup as they appear to be in your screenshot, I don't think too much trouble should come of it.
Personally, I prefer my destroyers to be a little slower but more heavily armed than yours are; at this stage of the game, mine are usually capable of ~32 knots and are armed with either five or six 5" or seven or eight 4" guns, and the classes between developing DP guns and developing DP main guns for destroyers somewhat often also carry a four- or six-gun 3" DP secondary battery.
As to the battleship design, I consider anything much over 20,000 yards to be impractically long range within the game, so insofar as armoring a ship for gunnery engagements is concerned I don't regard deck armor in excess of four or maybe five inches as necessary. I will also mention that magazine box affects the deck armor as well as the belt armor, so while it's 7" over the magazines it's only 3.5" elsewhere.
As to the cruiser rebuilds, if I go to the trouble of rearming the ships I tend to like superfiring over chasers (12B) rather than a superfiring pair forward since an extra gun forward is, relatively speaking, more significant than an extra gun on the broadside and since the chasers don't count against the centerline position limit, though my older cruisers also tend to have more guns than yours do. I might also have prioritized AA directors, mine rails, and perhaps additional DP guns over light and medium AA guns, as these are relatively small, slow cruisers and thus I would consider strategic utility and effectiveness in the fleet escort role to be more important than point defense capability, but on the other hand even stripping off all the light and medium AA guns probably wouldn't have freed up all that much tonnage for other uses anyways. If you have 5" DP guns, it might also have been worth discarding the 6" main and 4" secondary batteries entirely in favor of a 5" DP main battery.
As to Ark Royal's air group, bomber-heavy is period-appropriate, but I tend to prefer relatively fighter-heavy air groups, especially later in the 1930s or on small-wing carriers.
Yeah, the destroyers I'm sticking with 4-inch because I have DP mounts for those and they've proven to still be useful. Once I unlock 5-inch DP guns, I'll be switching to those (this is also an issue the RN had IRL - the Tribals only had 4.5s as I recall, not the larger 5.25s used on the Dido-Class and KGVs). And yeah, the deck armour issue was something I pegged fairly recently. But, I believe I went with the 7-inch deck not due to extreme-range gunnery concerns, but to get the splinter protection on the machinery spaces with magazine box while still getting a net displacement benefit. Possibly a false economy. Most of the cruiser rebuilds were more aimed at keeping the ships in useable service on colonial stations without being utterly worthless in war, and I pretty much looked almost solely at making the designs lighter and cheaper-to-maintain as opposed to pure combat power, but you raise a good point, which I'll remember for the future. I did look at converting some of the older and smaller cruisers to AA cruisers as you suggest. The main issue there was they were relatively slow and too small for the job while mounting anywhere near a decent DP armament with 4-inch guns. There was also a bit of historical precedence involved - four twin 4.5-inch secondaries seems to have been pretty popular on British cruisers of the period. Again, I'm more concerned with keeping these 'rust-buckets' on foreign stations while I replace the 'sink-by-themselves' squadrons, so DP armament for fleet support wasn't as big a priority. I should have fitted mines though. I completely forgot about it. On the 'Comus' especially, since I had well-over 500 tons free displacement and four points of deck space left. 'Ark Royal's' Air Group can change, especially with Dive Bombers in play. Mainly this is going off the fact that so far my carriers haven't once come under air attack. Got another carrier trial planned though, so we'll see what happens.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 11:31:40 GMT -6
Section 1: Battleships
This was one of the areas of least concern to Allington. With the completion of 'St. Vincent' and 'Ushant', Britain would have a force of five 16-inch armed battleships to only three American ships of similar calibre, although Russia boasted the 'Izmail' with an armament of twelve 15-inch guns, and the 'USS Nevada' then under construction had ten 16-inch guns.
Modernisation of the Revenge-Class and Admiral-Class was briefly considered - with the main issue being that such rebuilds would cost a sizeable portion of what it would take to build whole new ships, and would not be able to keep up with the 'Camperdowns', a problem 'Trafalgar' also shared. Instead, Allington favoured replacing the Revenge-Class entirely and limiting the modernisations of the Admirals to replacing their 14-inch guns with 50-calibre weapons and fitting new directors and AA armament, with an option being sounded as modernising the Warspite-Class Battlecruisers and redesignating them as Battleships to accelerate the replacement of the 21kn battle line. Allington circulated two designs aimed at this requirement.
Battleship Design A1 would mount nine 16-inch guns in three triple turrets, with a superfiring pair forward and a single aft. Sixteen dual-purpose 4.5-inch guns in shielded twin mountings and a sizeable AA battery rounded out the armament. Allington called for a box-configuration as in the Camperdowns, with the armour reduced to half-thickness around the machinery spaces, which were separated out for survivability. Interestingly, despite being 1,000 tons heavier than the Camperdowns and not using an all-forward armament arrangement, the design worked out only marginally more-expensive to build.
There was also a drawing titled 'Super' Battleship A1. This design was slightly-less armoured and sacrificed four 4.5-inch guns, but carried twelve 16-inch guns in four triples (superfiring pairs fore and aft). Allington was himself unconvinced of the need for such a large battleship, concerned by the much greater cost and poorer anti-aircraft armament.
And by 'unconvinced', I of course mean 'heart says yes, brain says dear God no!, and wallet just gets it over with and jumps over the side railing. ' Also, yes, I do like transom sterns. Why do you ask?
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 10:39:55 GMT -6
Imperial Naval Plan, 1932We now take a slight diversion from the progress of the Royal Navy to investigate a series of memorandums and notes collected by Admiral Allington's Private Secretary - the so-called 1932 'Imperial Naval Plan'. Allington was concerned by a number of issues which had emerged under Jellicoe and during the Norwegian Campaign. These were:- The ageing nature of the Cruiser Fleet.
- The need to replace much of the Battlefleet.
- The fact that much of the fleet had anti-aircraft defences were minimal to non-existent.
- The fact that every other navy had built a considerable number of large heavy cruisers with 10-inch guns (and were continuing to do so in larger numbers than British Battlecruisers).
- The need to replace almost the entire destroyer fleet.
- The need to replace and expand the minesweeping and convoy escort fleets.
These problems indicated a need to, essentially, redesign the entire Fleet. While Allington would at no stage put this 'plan' into a coordinated policy document, he did circulate a number of design concepts, inviting feedback from the rest of the Admiralty and a selection of trusted sea commanders, which he would discuss privately with the incoming Third Sea Lord, Admiral Reginald Henderson; and the Director of Naval Construction. It is these concepts we shall examine in the following sections.
Largely because I'm at a bit of a loss where to take the designs at this point, I wanted to practice my superstructure-fu, and a little structure has always helped me with this AAR.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 7:23:30 GMT -6
The ‘Cruiser’ Years
The sudden decision to build four ‘Warspite’s’ and ‘HMS Trafalgar’ some years earlier had completely derailed the attempt to modernise Britain’s cruiser forces. By mid-1927, Britain still had the Armoured Cruisers ‘Aboukir’, ‘Bacchante’, ‘Hogue’, and ‘Euryalus’ – also derogatorily called ‘About ‘ere’, ‘But Auntie!’, ‘Fogey’, and ‘Yuri Hopeless’ – the youngest of which was still 25 years old! Their time had well and truly passed, with many battleships now capable of keeping up with them, but the Navy had scant few ships to replace them. And these were not even the only ‘veteran’ cruisers in the fleet – of the 44 cruisers in active Royal Navy service in 1927, fourteen dated from before 1910, and another two were approaching twenty years old.
Allington resolved to take immediate steps to control the situation. Designs had been prepared before the war with Germany for a new low-cost cruiser to boost the fleet cruisers but had been postponed by the outbreak of hostilities. Wartime experience and development were integrated into the design and work restarted in May, this time for a cruiser of 6,000 tons for foreign station duties.
Allington also revisited the Imperial Naval Plan. While Jellicoe had envisioned four fast cruiser squadrons concentrated across each quarter of the globe, experience during the Virgin Islands crisis of 1925 had shown that Britain was easily capable of dispatching large cruiser and battlecruiser forces to the Americas and the Mediterranean when the need arose. Allington thus resolved to cut the four ‘flying squadrons’ called for by Jellicoe to two: the Home Fleet in Britain and the Pacific Fleet, to be based at Singapore. This would put them within easy reach of India, Canada, Hong Kong, and the South Pacific. For the time being, the Pacific Fleet would consist of ‘Australia’, ‘New Zealand’, ‘Hermes’, and four ‘E-Class’ cruisers, while the Jamaica and Central Pacific Squadrons would be broken up and the older ships recalled for refits before being sent on general patrol duties.
On the matter of wartime losses, the submarine arm had suffered during the war, going from fourteen vessels in 1926 to nine by the end of the conflict. Replacements had been ordered during the war, and Allington now supplemented these with a further four boats.
Just as May turned to June, ‘Indefatigable’ emerged from her refit and entered the reserve as part of the reductions.
In June, three of the ‘Birminghams’ would enter the yards for their overhauls. The opportunity was taken to remove two of their forward 6-inch guns and relocate the other two to the centreline, one firing over the other, replacing the entire battery with more modern weapons in general. Their secondary battery was also replaced with 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns in four twin-mounts for eight guns overall. Their torpedo flats were removed and plated over, and two triple launchers placed on-deck to either beam. An AA director was fitted along with modern main gunnery directors, five 2pdr pom-poms, and eleven 20mm Oerlikons to complete the AA fit. Beyond the overhaul, the engines were unchanged, although the two middle funnels were trunked together into a single stack as an experiment. ‘Liverpool’, ‘Manchester’, and ‘Sheffield’ would all receive the modernisation.
The following month, the first two new cruisers would be laid down as ‘HMS Carysfort’ and ‘HMS Constance’. The two were a leap ahead compared to the recent ‘E-Class’, with six 6-inch guns mounted in three two-gun turrets, two in a superfiring pair forward and the third aft. Eight 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns combined with five pom-poms and eleven Oerlikons were directed by two high-angle fire control positions fore and aft to pose a formidable anti-aircraft armament. Six torpedo tubes in two triple launchers on either beam rounded out the armament. The seaplane capabilities were expanded, with a hangar added abaft the catapult. This necessitated moving the funnel for the aft engine rooms even further aft, giving the ships a distinctive appearance.
British Light Cruiser 'HMS Carysfort'.
‘Ark Royal’ laid down in September 1927, expected to arrive in July of 1929. Her keel-laying came just as ‘Inflexible’ finished her rebuild to remove her 8-inch guns, alongside the three modernised ‘Birminghams’. ‘Sheffield’ would return to the Caribbean to deputise for ‘Leeds’, which had been stranded in Jamaica with condenser problems, so she could receive her rebuild. ‘Manchester’ and ‘Liverpool’ would replace ‘Aboukir’ on general patrol duties.
British Fleet Aircraft Carrier 'HMS Ark Royal', the first purpose-built large aircraft carrier in the world.
‘Kennet’ began sea trials in November, with her seven sister ships only six months behind her. Already a revised design was being considered by the Admiralty with six 4.5-inch guns in twin turrets and fitted with depth charge projectors. ‘Albion’ also joined the fleet, with ‘Ocean’ expected to follow in May after several months of delay caused by the war.
December 1927 would see Stanley Baldwin’s government lose a General Election. Public confidence had been shaken by the handling of the Irish rebellion and what was increasingly seen as the abandonment of the Norwegians to the Germans, leading to a victory for the Labour-Liberal coalition government of the Welshman David Lloyd George and Scotsman Ramsay MacDonald. The priorities of the new government were the expansion of municipal housing, the settling of the ‘Irish Question’ permanently, reforming the National Insurance Act, and the prevention of war. Inevitably the navy came under the spectre of cuts, though Allington was not too concerned given the international situation was calm and Britain’s position not seriously threatened by anyone. ‘E-19’ joined the submarine force just before Christmas.
Vickers presented the Mk.II Gannet in February. The Mk.II was a modest improvement on the Mk.I in terms of speed and range, both viewed positively by the Navy ahead of ‘Albion’s’ entry into active service. ‘Leeds’ rejoined the fleet, allowing her and ‘Sheffield’ to be released to general cruising duties in place of ‘Bacchante’.
March would see the laying down of the cruisers ‘Arethusa’ and ‘Amphion’ to the ‘Carysfort’ design, along with the completion of the last two ‘Kennets’. With ‘Ocean’ due to complete, attention returned to the battleship programme, with the design of ‘Camperdown’ prepared pre-war updated on the basis of wartime experience and technical improvements.
‘Ocean’ began her sea trials in May.
In July, the Air Ministry unveiled the new bomber aircraft Bristol Beaufort, with a range of nearly 500 miles and a payload of up to 2000lbs in bombs! While impressive, this was of far more concern to the RAF than to the Navy, who were more interested in the US torpedo bomber then entering service; the Republic Commando, reputed to be faster than the veteran Swordfish.
August 1928 saw the keel-laying for ‘Camperdown’. Compared to ‘Trafalgar’, she would be 5kn faster, 1,000 tons lighter, better armoured (with a magazine box 16-inches thick, providing 8 inches of protection to the machinery, and an armoured deck and turret roofs 7-inches thick). She would carry two seaplanes in her hangar to the stern, with a catapult on the quarterdeck. Her AA suite comprised of sixteen 4.5-inch dual-purpose guns in armoured turrets, seventeen 2pdr pom-poms, and 31 20mm cannon, operated by two AA fire control directors. While there were concerns over their magazine box protection, Allington defended the move, pointing out an adequate full-length belt would make the ship far too costly to build in usable numbers, and that a thinner belt and deck which were more affordable would be far too vulnerable to, among other things, plunging fire at practical battle ranges. “He who protects everything, protects nothing.”
British Battleship 'HMS Camperdown'.
The cruisers ‘Nottingham’, ‘Portsmouth’, and ‘Stoke’ were released to general patrol to allow for the withdrawal of ‘Hogue’ and ‘Euryalus’, marking the end of the Victorian Armoured Cruiser in British service.
September would see the decision made to scrap all 31 surviving ships of the ‘Doon-Class’, despite this cutting the Destroyer force in half. The intention was to continue building new destroyers, with four more ‘Kennets’ laying down that month. Supermarine would approach the Admiralty with their prototype ‘Skua’ floatplane, which the Admiralty agreed to adopt as at 116kn at was faster than the Gloster Goblin, and had longer range at 150nm, as well as being capable of carrying a 500lb bomb in addition to the Goblin’s 250lb bomb.
With the ‘Bradford’ and ‘Kingston-Upon-Hull’ both approaching their first overhauls, the two were brought in early for a modernisation. Their engines were not considered in need of replacement. Like the ‘Birminghams’, their four forward guns were replaced with a single superfiring pair. Their eight secondaries were replaced by four 4.5-inch dual-purpose twin turrets, their forward funnels trunked into a single stack and the after funnel rerouted to provide deck space for a single 6-inch gun amidships in place of the two after wing guns. The saved weight was put into fitting modern directors, including a single AA director, increasing the torpedo fit from two twins to triples, and mounting eight pom-poms and nine Oerlikons.
As 1928 drew to a close, the ‘Constance’ began her sea trials ahead of ‘Carysfort’ in the new year. January would also witness the return of ‘Bradford’, the scrapping of ‘Calliope’, and the adoption of the new Torpedo Bomber to counter the Republic Commando: the Supermarine Gauntlet.
March 1929 saw ‘Kingston’ return to the fleet, while agreement was secured for Vickers to procure the American 8-inch/50-calibre naval gun. With ‘Kingston’ back in service, the cruiser ‘Pelorus’ was scrapped. The battleship ‘Finisterre’ was laid down to follow ‘Camperdown’.
‘Cordelia’ and ‘Comus’ were taken in hand in May, receiving the now-familiar remedy of replacing the forward guns with a superfiring pair and removing the wing turrets entirely. The aft-midships gun was moved into a superfiring position on the quarterdeck, and eight 4.5-inch dual-purpose mounts were installed with director, 6 pom-poms, and 10 Oerlikons. The torpedo armament was abolished entirely.
‘Ark Royal’ joined the fleet in July, with an air group of 24 Gannets and 36 Swordfish waiting to embark for training.
In August, ‘Amphion’ and ‘Arethusa’ started sea trials while ‘Cordelia’ returned to patrol. ‘Comus’ was supposed to join her, but a miscommunication led to her being broken up in place by mistake! Someone had apparently gotten overenthusiastic about scrapping the ‘old rustbuckets’ and not realised ‘Comus’ had just been modernised! ‘Battle’ was retired as well, this time intentionally. A second ‘Ark Royal’ was ordered as ‘HMS Courageous’. The Supermarine Gannet Mk.III was introduced.
‘Ark Royal’ left Portsmouth in October for her first deployment, relieving ‘Hermes’ in the Pacific.
Construction began on two new destroyers of the ‘Tartar-Class’ in November. These ships carried six 4.5-inch guns in three twin mounts – a superfiring pair forward and one aft – as well as equipping a single AA Director and four depth charge projectors. This came at the cost of one knot compared to the Kennets, but the trade was seen as worthwhile for the extra firepower. Also that month, Royal Ordnance had been considering dual purpose mounts suitable for use on Destroyers.
British Destroyer 'HMS Tartar'.
In April 1930, King Alexander II of Serbia was assassinated by the Bulgarian IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation) terrorist Vlado Chernozemski in Marseilles, France. Chernozemski shot the King twice with a Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol before being beaten to death by French police. The French Foreign Minister was also killed by a stray bullet fired by one of the French officers. Bulgaria publicly protested the extrajudicial killing of their citizen, incurring censure from both Serbia – who naturally objected to the murder of their King – and France, who objected to a foreign king being assassinated by foreign terrorists on their soil in an attack which saw their foreign minister killed. When asked about the incident by Lloyd George, Allington said only, “The Balkans are like a wasp’s nest – only an idiot sticks their hand in it.”
May would see the new budget come into effect. In it, the Air Ministry were asked to make cuts. The Air Ministry in turn requested to take over several Naval Air Stations. Allington agreed to a compromise where the RAF and Navy would share responsibility for all airbases, agreeing to rationalise the Navy’s land-based air requirements to accommodate RAF Bomber Command.
The Naval Air Stations at Grimsby and Rosyth were closed, while it was decided to relocate Royal Naval Air Station Roborough near Plymouth to Castlemartyr, County Cork. Overseas bases also came under fire, with RNAS Freeport, Grand Bahama; RNAS Hamilton; and RNAS Weihaiwei all being closed. The Admiralty successfully argued to maintain the Midway base, but on condition that it be reduced to a seaplane base exclusively. In return, the RAF agreed to finance the expansion of RAF Lossiemouth to take in the Navy units normally stationed on the various fields near Scapa Flow so those could also be closed.
As a result, airbases at Lossiemouth, Martlesham Heath, Boscombe Down, and Kingston were all expanded for their new joint purposes. The entire programme would take several months.
In July, the Government successfully negotiated the Anglo-Russian Entente, a non-aggression treaty designed to ensure continued peace between the two empires, with the Navy’s encouragement.
August 1930 saw the former Syndicalist Benito Mussolini appointed Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy amid major political unrest. Among Mussolini’s policies was the concept of ‘Mare Nostrum’, which proposed Italian naval dominance in the Mediterranean. With the Suez Canal being the essential lifeline for the Empire, this in particular caused Allington concern, and he successfully lobbied the Air Ministry to support new airbases at Malta and Alexandria, perhaps helped by the introduction of the Bristol Beaufort Mk.II that month. To recoup costs, the 23rd MTB Flotilla was disbanded, as were two of the 6-inch coastal batteries in Britain and a further two in Canada.
March 1931 saw the ‘HMS Camperdown’ enter service. At the same time, the Lloyd George ministry demanded another budget cut from the Navy. Allington once again complied, begrudgingly. Meanwhile, the Fleet Air Arm adopted the De Havilland Demon as a Dive Bomber aircraft. With two 16-inch gun battleships in service, the old battleships of the ‘King George V-Class’ were withdrawn and scrapped.
‘Courageous’ began sea trials in May, prompting the laying down of the third ‘Camperdown-Class’ Battleship: St. Vincent. A convention had clearly emerged for naming the 16-inch armed battleships after famous naval battles.
In July, the independence movement in Iceland contacted the Royal Navy asking for support in toppling the pro-Danish Union government. Aware of Iceland’s strategic position in the mid-Atlantic, and it’s utility in blocking German commerce raiding, Allington agreed. The coup was successful and Iceland declared independence from Denmark, violating the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union, and agreeing to grant the UK basing rights out of Reykjavik. RAF and Royal Navy personnel took over the airfield at Selfoss. The British Government came under heavy fire internationally for the act, and Allington was accused in several papers of still ‘fighting the war’ with Germany even after several years of peace.
‘Finisterre’ joined the fleet in September. November would see the laying down of ‘HMS Ushant’ after Vickers-Armstrong offered to build the ship in good time at a lower cost. ‘Iron Duke’ was scrapped in light of ‘Finisterre’s’ completion. Work also commenced on designing a new aircraft carrier to follow the ‘Ark Royals’.
Yeah, nothing can go wrong with invading Iceland! Nothing at all! Feedback appreciated!
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 26, 2021 4:39:09 GMT -6
For example, what would happen if a 20" AP shell tore into a Nimitz-class supercarrier and hit one of the reactors? In theory, nothing. The nuclear fuel used in reactors isn't the same as that used in nuclear weapons. Even basic A-bombs require specially-enriched uranium in order to produce a nuclear explosion. Furthermore, nuclear weapons work on one of two principles: gun-fission, or implosion. Gun-fission involves firing a small piece of fissile material into a much larger piece at high speed in order to cause fission (this is an oversimplification - I'm not Oppenheimer). Implosion involves surrounding the nuclear fuel with high explosive which, when detonated, compress the fuel until fission occurs. A shell-hit to a nuclear reactor would generate neither type of fission explosion. There would be a massive blast from the steam and feed water pressure, same as with any steam plant, but that would be the extent of it unless the shell managed to cause a high-energy impact between the fuel rods. Even then, the event wouldn't last long enough for a full-scale nuclear reaction, but it might cause a low-level atomic explosion. Ultimately, the biggest threat isn't an explosion - it's the radioactive material the explosion would scatter over the surrounding area (think Chernobyl on a smaller scale). Honestly though? I'm okay with nuclear propulsion being omitted from the game. Supply is already an almost non-issue late game for long-extreme range ships. On the nuclear weapon front, there is something I feel is worth pointing out to everyone: regardless of who is responsible for the employment of nukes, the fact is that any major war between nuclear-armed powers (practically speaking, all nations in the game had the technical capability) would have a strong likelihood of generating a nuclear exchange. Meaning, to be perfectly blunt, this Naval Warfare Simulation would become a Naval Warfare Avoidance Simulation.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 25, 2021 4:05:33 GMT -6
Battle for Norway
‘King George V’ and ‘Anson’ were dispatched alongside ‘Nelson’ and ‘Collingwood’ to escort a troop convoy bound for Norway in late-November. The convoy arrived without incident, but E-8 successfully attacked the German battleship ‘Deutschland’ while traversing the Bight during the night. Unfortunately, the torpedo struck the modern battleship’s torpedo protection system and caused only minor damage. Unbeknownst to either side, during the night they had passed within 10nm of one another!
Five of the six emergency programme escorts and minesweepers were launched that month, with the escorts being put straight to work alongside the ‘Greltoria-Class’ convoy sloops. ‘HMS Euphrates’ was attacked by a U-boat but was able to return to port for repairs which would take her out of operations for the next two months. Six merchants were lost to German U-boats, but British ASW efforts saw their first big victory of the war, sinking three U-boats. The ‘HMS Jed’ was laid down as the second ‘Kennet-Class’ destroyer.
8 December would see the flotilla leader cruisers ‘Delhi’ and ‘Dragon’ lead a sweep of the Broad Fourteens. The two cruisers and their destroyers encountered a German battlecruiser in the evening mist at 1539Z. Presented with an incredible opportunity to sink an unescorted German capital ship, the commander of ‘Delhi’ pushed the attack.
Unfortunately, it turned out that ‘Delhi’s’ spotters had misidentified the ship, with it actually being confirmed to be the lone cruiser ‘Bremen’. Still, a small German light cruiser operating alone was an irresistible target. ‘Delhi’ took two 6-inch shells to the engine rooms at 1620Z and was forced to turn back with the ‘Ettrick’, ‘Dragon’ taking the lead and continuing the chase.
German Light Cruiser 'Bremen'.
‘Bremen’ had been crippled, slowing rapidly and taking hit after hit from the 5-inch guns of ‘Dragon’. By 1650Z she had been reduced to a charred, drifting hulk, and ‘Dragon’ fired three torpedoes to finally send the German ship to the bottom, followed by three more from the opposite tubes. ‘Eden’ also launched torpedoes, scoring the third successful torpedo hit on the German vessel before ‘Dragon’ signalled the remaining ships to cease fire. ‘Bremen’ sank at 1737Z.
'Bremen' crippled and helpless against 'Dragon'
‘HMS Ensemble’ joined the fleet that month, as did the remaining trawler-minesweeper ‘HMS Sabia’. Meanwhile, tests in the Solent had demonstrated the first successful launch of a depth-charge by a side ‘projector’ or ‘K-gun’. Furthermore, the DNC informed the Admiralty that thanks to experience gained from ‘Inflexible’ and the smaller carriers, he was ready to design a large, dedicated aircraft carrier, referred to as a ‘Fleet Carrier’.
December was a slow month for the Battle of the Atlantic, U-boats sinking only three British merchants. One British sub was lost.
January 1927 started with ‘HMS Indefatigable’ being called into Rosyth for her rebuild and the laying down of two more Kennet-Class destroyers: ‘Nith’ and ‘Afridi’. ‘Renown’ returned to the fleet. The Air Ministry selected the Vickers Gannet to replace the Hawker Hart as the main fighter. ‘E9’ successfully torpedoed a German battleship, though she failed to sink her. The convoy sloop ‘Swan River’ struck a mine and sank. In the Battle of the Atlantic, two British merchants were sunk in exchange for one U-boat, and it seemed as though the German anti-shipping campaign was winding down.
There was no surface action in February, as the BVM refused all opportunities to interfere with British supplies and convoys through the North Sea to the Dominions and Norway, where the German fortifications were holding up the BEF’s advance. Meanwhile, ‘Renown’ struck a mine operating off the fjords, taking her out of action until the Summer. ‘Trafalgar’ finally joined the Navy and began sea trials, as intel revealed that the Germans were in the process of building another ‘Seydlitz-Class’ battlecruiser, named the ‘Graf Spee’. This caused considerable confusion, as the Admiralty believed ‘Graf Spee’ had been sunk the previous August. It was eventually concluded that either someone had failed to pass this report on pre-war or someone had mistaken the ‘Lutzow’ (then under construction) for a sister ship which had been sunk months earlier! An AA fire control director was successfully developed that month.
The errant 'Graf Spee' report.
Four more ‘Kennets’ would be laid down in March.
On 11 March, ‘HMS Usk’ led a Destroyer flotilla to intercept a German troop convoy making for Trondheim. Contact was made at 1223Z. The British had the rear of the German convoy almost totally-undefended. The tactics were simple: charge straight in amongst the convoy, heedless of what few escorts were present, and fill the ocean with torpedoes. A lone ‘S22-Class’ Destroyer, the ‘V25’, attempted to interfere and suffered a tremendous pounding from the sizeable British attackers, who successfully got in amongst the convoy and wrought havoc.
Wolves set amongst the sheep. 8th Flotilla charges the convoy, with only 'V25' standing in their path.
By 1333Z, five German merchants had sunk, two more were ablaze, and an eighth was adrift, presumed sinking. Meanwhile, the British destroyers had sighted the cruiser ‘Hamburg’ and seaplane carrier ‘Ehrenfels’ amongst the escorts. ‘Kale’ launched torpedoes, hitting ‘Hamburg’ and driving her back while the rest of the squadron chased after ‘Ehrenfels’.
'Kale' hits 'Hamburg' with a torpedo, while the rest of the flotilla hunts down the 'Ehrenfels'. The destroyers wreak utter carnage amongst the transports.
By 1407Z, ‘Ehrenfels’ was jammed in a hard turn to starboard, burning, and surrounded by British destroyers. ‘Hamburg’, meanwhile, was drifting helplessly and only a handful of freighters remained afloat. ‘Cherwell’ had become separated from the main action and set about pulling German survivors from the water, while ‘Usk’ withdrew towards Scapa with heavy damage.
'Ehrenfels' loses rudder control and is circling directly in the path of the British destroyers, helpless.
With the ‘Ehrenfels’ apparently sinking, the British force turned to run down the three remaining transports attempting to flee to the NE.
The action had essentially ended by 1646Z, with British focus turning to search and rescue. No sign was found of ‘Ehrenfels’ before darkness.
A scene of total carnage - the sea littered with flotsam, splinters, oil slicks, and, ominously, shredded life rafts.
The ‘Battle of Alesund’ was a stunning victory for the British, with the entire convoy wiped out. The British destroyers pulled over 1000 survivors from the freezing Arctic waters, though no survivors could be found from the ‘Ehrenfels’. ‘Cherwell’ recovered the lion’s share of the German survivors: 622. So cramped was she that her captain ordered the main guns transferred off to the ‘Kale’ and a Red Cross was draped over the sides and on deck to avoid attack while the ship made its own way with the survivors to port.
Later in March, the sloop ‘Greyfvale’ was sunk by U-24 in a gunnery duel, while ‘Inflexible’ struck a mine and was put out of action for two months. While ‘Inflexible’ was laid up, in irritated Allington did an end-run around the rest of the Admiralty and straight to Tyrwhitt, “get those 8-inchers off Inflexible!” The 8-inch guns were removed and replaced with a formidable suite of sixteen 4.5-inch dual purpose guns in twin turrets. The barbette and magazine space was opened into the hangar, allowing an additional three aircraft to be embarked, and two AA directors were fitted fore and aft on the conning tower. Three more Oerlikons and a pom-pom were also mounted.
'Invincible's' rebuild, 1927.
On 24 April, another German troop convoy would come under British destroyer attack, this time in the Skagerrak. The two escorting destroyers completely abandoned their charges in the face of seven British ships, and night approached before any rescue operations could commence, the British force turning for home. All fifteen German transports were sunk, with no survivors.
The scene following another massacre...
The shocking loss of life at Alesund and in the Skagerrak was the final straw. The Spartacist government recalled all its support for Romania and called for an immediate ceasefire.
In an enormously frustrating turn of events for Allington, who had been determined to liberate Norway in the resulting Treaty of Athens, the Baldwin Government agreed to a peace without cessions. Allington would write later: “The decision to leave Norway in the hands of the Germans was the most dishonourable display of cowardice the world has ever known! All blame for Norwegian suffering from that moment on lies firmly at our feet.”
Peace...
...without honour.
In the post-war reductions, four old destroyers and the cruisers ‘Psyche’, ‘President’, ‘Pheonix’, ‘Calypso’, ‘Pallas’, ‘Badger’, and ‘Beacon’ were sold off as worn out, as was the venerable Battlecruiser ‘Indomitable’. With Britain comfortably in a surplus of battleships compared to the next largest power, the United States, it was also decided to dispose of the four 12-inch armed dreadnoughts, with ‘HMS Temeraire’ being expended as a gunnery target.
Work immediately began on designing a new class of large aircraft carrier, only 1,000 tons heavier than ‘Inflexible’ but carrying twice as many aircraft. It would be the largest aircraft carrier in the world at that time: ‘Ark Royal’.
Design sketch for 'HMS Ark Royal', May 1927.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 25, 2021 3:33:29 GMT -6
Helo carriers, eh - I like them as an ASW asset and possibly from a recon aspect if that's considered. If we have the option of converting old CVs/CVLs into 'Commando Carriers' (such as was done historically with HMS Hermes) that'll definitely be an option I use to keep some CVLs relevant late-game.
Gas turbines are interesting - I imagine they'd represent a sizeable weight saving and reliability boost in game.
For me, I'm excited to play around with Missile frigates/destroyers/cruisers and indulging my fantasy of a fleet of CVA-01s. :rofl:
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 24, 2021 14:28:54 GMT -6
Sinking the ‘Graf Spee’.
The gears of the Admiralty quickly turned to the task at hand. Two new convoy escorts were immediately ordered, to be converted from existing trawler hulls at Grimsby, while a further four minesweepers were also ordered as converted drifters from Lowestoft. Construction of ‘HMS Trafalgar’ and ‘HMS Ocean’ were suspended in order to finance the emergency programme as the Grand Fleet once again assumed its war station at Scapa Flow.
The opening months of the war were not to be quiet ones. Immediately on the outbreak of hostilities, Allington argued for an expeditionary force to be deployed against the Spartacist forces in Norway. The Kingdom of Norway had been racked by social unrest a decade earlier, during the ‘Long War’, allowing the recently-installed Spartacist regime in Germany to overthrow the parliamentary government and elevate the communist wing of the Norwegian Labour Party (DNA, Det Norske Arbeiderparti) to power under German ‘protection’. Sense then, the German government had established airbases at Trondheim, Narvik, and Bergen, as well as several coastal fortifications. However, British blockade of Germany would ultimately depend on closing the Shetland-Norway gap, securing the anchorage at Scapa Flow, cutting off Germany’s steel imports via Narvik, and liberating the people of Norway from the austere totalitarianism imposed by Berlin. It would also force Germany into a major engagement on Britain’s terms; something Allington was keen to see happen before the BVM could practically prepare and while Britain still held an advantage in large-calibre capital ships and before the Destroyer force suffered any serious casualties in anti-submarine warfare operations. The opening moves of the war would be made in the Norwegian fjords.
Admiralty Intelligence on German-controlled Norway, 1926.
Such was the hope. However, before the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) could leave home shores, the Navy would be called upon to escort Convoy HC-1 (Halifax – Cork) through the Western Approaches, as reports indicated German naval units had successfully ran the Denmark Strait just before the outbreak of war and intended to interdict the large formation of merchantmen.
On the 9 August, ‘HMS Warspite’ led ‘Australia’ and the carrier ‘Inflexible’ 30nm off the Irish coast. At 1557Z, a Gloster Goblin floatplane from ‘Queen Amelie’ reported sighting three German surface ships, including a Battlecruiser, steaming north approximately 100nm SSW of the convoy. Sixteen Swordfish were ordered to sortie from ‘Inflexible’, taking off at 1700Z.
The Swordfish engaged the enemy at 1815Z, scoring three torpedo hits without casualties before returning to ‘Inflexible’. With night approaching, ‘Inflexible’ launched a follow-up strike with its remaining four Swordfish, taking off at 1904Z. The second strike failed to locate the enemy, with one aircraft crashing while attempting to land in the darkness.
Meanwhile, 50nm West of the German squadron’s last reported position, submarine ‘HMS E-9’ sighted the light cruiser ‘Bremen’, seaplane carrier ‘Ehrenfels’, and battlecruiser ‘Graf Spee’, the latter limping at under 10kn and down by the stern. All three of the air-launched torpedoes had hit her, overwhelming the torpedo protection system, flooding the torpedo flats on both sides, one of the boiler rooms, and warping one of her propeller shafts. Through arduous, dedicated work on the part of her crew, ‘Graf Spee’ had brought the flooding under control by 2232Z.
Then, just before midnight, Commander Christopher Markwell sighted the crippled battlecruiser through ‘E-9’s’ periscope. With the seas perfectly flat and the moonlight illuminating the 35,000-ton ‘Graf Spee’ against the night, calculations were made and the order was given: “Tube One, Loose!”
Minutes later, a column of water rose up the side of ‘Graf Spee’ amidships, and a geyser of steam and spray erupted from her after funnel as her deck heaved up. No sooner had ‘Bremen’ shone her searchlights on the battlecruiser when ‘Graf Spee’ begin rolling inexorably to port, men grabbing anything that would float and leaping over the side before, inevitably, she capsized. Germany’s newest battlecruiser, the pride of the BVM, slipped beneath the waves while ‘E-9’ silently slunk away.
Such was the shock of ‘Graf Spee’s’ loss to the BVM, the Germans made no attempt to oppose the Grand Fleet when it escorted the BEF to the shores of Stavanger and Narvik later that month. Meanwhile, six British and Commonwealth merchants were lost in the North Atlantic to U-Boat attack, as the Battle for the Atlantic began.
The next engagement of the war would occur on 8 September, with the 9th Destroyer Flotilla led by ‘HMS Goldfinch’ conducting a sweep of the Broad Fourteens. The Submarine ‘HMS E-5’ was stationed just off Borkum at the mouth of the Ems, on the lookout for German warships bound for the Bight.
At 1820Z, with dusk approaching, ‘Goldfinch’ sighted three warships approaching from 12nm off Texel. 9th Destroyer Flotilla had just stumbled upon a German destroyer force of six vessels, including two of the decrepit S-22-Class and several of the more-modern but slower Luchs-Class.
Throwing caution to the wind, the Destroyers clashed in the onrushing night, loosing torpedoes and shells in all directions. ‘Basilisk’ scored three 4-inch shell hits on one of the S-22s, before the whole formations turned in sequence into the German line, ‘Basilisk’ switching her fire to one of the German ‘Luchs’.
In the ensuing melee, ‘Goldfinch’ took serious damage and slowed to 18kn, while one of the S-22s lost rudder control and turned away towards Emden. Opting to try and finish off the stricken destroyer rather than continue the action with the larger German force, ‘Goldfinch’ detached to return to Harwich with ‘Colne’ while the rest of the flotilla gave chase.
Unfortunately, the two Destroyers kept close to land and sailed straight back into the German force, which had turned around to support their own damaged ship. 9th Flotilla re-engaged to allow ‘Colne’ and ‘Goldfinch’ to escape to the north, exacting a heavy butcher’s bill as one Luchs-class was brought to a halt off Vlieland along with a Mowe-Class 3 miles NW.
By 2200Z, the German force – reduced to three ships in strength – finally slipped away into the darkness, the action having brought both ‘Basilisk’ and ‘Fury’ down to 27kn. The British continued the pursuit for over an hour without contact before turning back for home.
The Germans had lost the ‘Tiger’ and ‘Falke’, with the former being reduced to a twisted hulk by the combined fire of ‘Basilisk’, ‘Fury’, and ‘Ettrick’ and the latter laid low by the ‘Doon’, ‘Boyne’, ‘Ettrick’, and ‘Eden’. British training in the past year towards Gunnery and Night Fighting had paid off with interest, though ‘Zulu’ and ‘Fury’ had taken a mauling in the process. Questions had been circling in the Admiralty over whether to replace the 4.5-inch gun in the next class of Destroyer with a 5-inch weapon. The Action of 8 September seemed to confirm, however, that the 4.5 was still a savagely effective Destroyer armament.
Later in the month, the light cruiser ‘Endeavour’ began her sea trials. As German cruisers had been reluctant to leave port in the preceding month, it was decided to allow her the necessary working-up period. Meanwhile, the old B-Class cruiser ‘Bellona’ struck a mine while escorting troopships to Norway and sank. Five further merchants were lost to U-boat attacks and the ‘Hamburg’ broke out into the North Atlantic to sink three more ships herself.
Attention in the navy had been turning towards a new generation of destroyer even before the outbreak of war, but with destroyer losses a certainty, the programme was accelerated, and the ‘HMS Kennet’ was laid down in October. Armed with four 4.5-inch guns and eight torpedo tubes in two quadruple launchers, she had a top speed of 35kn, a spacious hold for depth charges, a central rangefinder, and an AA suite of four pom-poms and Oerlikons each. Full production would be postponed, however, until the completion of ‘Trafalgar’ (which was now resumed) and the refit of ‘New Zealand’.
British Destroyer 'HMS Kennet'.
‘Australia’ and ‘Indefatigable’ scrambled from Rosyth to escort ‘Inflexible’ on 6 October. Room 40 had intercepted radio messages that a German convoy had departed Wilhelmshaven with escorts for Stavanger, Norway, loaded with troops and supplies to reinforce the besieged garrison there. ‘Inflexible’ was to ensure those transports never arrived.
Sixteen Swordfish launched from ‘Inflexible’ at 1740Z. It was already dark where the Transports were believed to be transiting, and it would be night when the aircraft returned, but ‘Australia’ and ‘Indefatigable’ were under strict orders not to risk a night engagement with German surface units and so would not pursue the convoy into the dark. The search proved fruitless, as Room 40 intelligence had reported the German actions hours too late. By the time ‘Inflexible’ was in range of the predicted target position, the convoy was already 30nm further north, well outside the search area – especially in the night.
A week later, ‘New Zealand’ rejoined the fleet. Meanwhile, a German peace envoy was dismissed due to unreasonable demands. ‘E-16’ torpedoed and damaged a German cruiser, with E-10 doing the same to a battleship, while a German U-boat sank the ‘HMS Mosquito’ – the first British destroyer loss of the war. ‘Queen Amelie’ foundered in the North Sea after striking a mine. Four merchants were lost to the U-boat arm as the Battle of the Atlantic continued, and two more British subs were lost. Germany may have started seeking peace, but this war was by no means over as Autumn turned to Winter.
*** Well that was a whole load of nothing!
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 24, 2021 11:10:01 GMT -6
‘Tyranny is Tyranny’
March 1925 would see Fareham praise the navy’s diligence with regards to new cruiser construction, allowing Jellicoe to justify suspending ‘Endeavour’ and ‘Ensemble’ for a few months to free up funds.
In May, Russian troops crossed through Manchuria and into the northern half of Korea, ostensibly to protect Russian interests in the region. With a major conflict with Germany on the horizon, Jellicoe urged restraint – unless Japan reacted with hostility to the Russian move, Korea was not an area of vital interest.
June saw the Virgin Islands dispute erupt into a fully-blown crisis, when the US Battleship ‘USS Florida’ threatened to fire on the cruiser ‘HMS Manchester’ off Christiansted. ‘Manchester’ had been making a port call to the Danish settlement and on departure passed through the disputed fishing zone. The incident sparked recriminations on both sides of the Atlantic, and when consulted by the Foreign Office, Jellicoe advised reinforcing the Jamaica Squadron with ‘Warspite’ and ‘Indefatigable’, but otherwise taking all steps to resolve the matter by diplomatic means, without sacrificing the guarantees made in the Treaty of Fredricton. Meanwhile, Ordnance reported the successful testing of a new 50-calibre 14-inch gun.
July 1925. With war with Germany seen as imminent, Jellicoe authorised the refit of ‘HMS Revenge’ to fit a new AAA suite of twelve 4.5-inch dual purpose guns, nine 2pdr pom-poms, and twenty Oerlikon 20mm cannons, as well as replacing the 14-inch 45-calibre rifles with the more modern 50-calibre weapon recently developed. The hope was that all four ships of the class could be brought in for modernisation before the outbreak of hostilities. The ‘HMS Emerald’ began her sea trials alongside the freshly-converted ‘HMS Inflexible’.
August saw the ‘HMS Hermes’ almost become the centre of an international scandal, as the wife of the French naval attaché was caught in a compromising position with one of the British officers at a state banquet aboard the carrier! Fortunately, the incident was quickly covered up, with the Admiralty censuring the officer involved and quietly shipping him off to an Antarctic research expedition.
August would also see the ‘HMS Australia’ commission. With the completion of further E-Class cruisers, she would be sent to form the Far East Squadron at Singapore.
In September, the first of Jellicoe’s aborted submarine programme commissioned – E-13 and E-14. Meanwhile, tensions with Germany tipped over the edge. War was inevitable.
Jellicoe had steered the Royal Navy for the past ten years. He had overseen the recovery of the destroyer forces from the ‘Long War’, the introduction of the latest generation of battlecruisers, and the early emergence of the aircraft carrier as a weapon of naval warfare. However, the Admiral was now 65 years old and more than ready for retirement. While some in cabinet argued against his departure with war imminent, Jellicoe stated that he, “could not, in good conscience, place the fleet in danger by remaining in a position of authority when I know full-bloody-well I’ve been here too long already.”
Attention turned to looking for Jellicoe’s replacement. While Tyrwhitt was the ‘heir-presumptive’ so-to-speak, he argued he was better placed remaining Third Sea Lord for the time being, and that as little disruption within the admiralty as possible should be afforded. Tyrwhitt thus nominated a relatively-fresh, strongly opinionated officer who had just completed a tour at the head of the Mediterranean Squadron, Vice Admiral Terrence Allington, 2nd Viscount Harwich. The son of the late Viscount George Allington, who had administered the navy between 1899 and 1908, Terrence Allington was by now a seasoned commander, who had been aiming at the position of Vice Admiral, Aircraft Carriers of the Grand Fleet when Jellicoe offered him the post of First Sea Lord. Allington had done a brief spell as Director of Naval Construction under Tyrwhitt in between 1918 and 1920, and had kept apprised of the fleet’s situation. Arriving in London to assume his new post in November 1925, Allington summarised his immediate policy thus: if Germany wants a war, give ‘em one!
November saw ‘Enterprise’ join the fleet, along with ‘Eagle’. Unfortunately, in sea trials ‘Eagle’ proved unable to reach her design speed of 28 knots.
The ‘HMS New Zealand’ finally left the fitters after months of delays in January 1926, beginning sea trials. While it had been intended to send ‘New Zealand’ to the Central Pacific Squadron as flagship, Allington had mandated that she be retained at home for the time-being due to the threat of Germany.
Four ‘Tom Roper-Class’ convoy sloops were also launched that month, having been ordered under Jellicoe during the Irish crisis.
In February, ‘Royal Sovereign’ and ‘Royal Oak’ were taken in hand for their modernisations. ‘Australia’ was also brought in, to replace her single dual purpose mounts with twin-mounts, also receiving 12 2pdrs and an additional 2 20mm Oerlikons. Design work began on the ‘Albion-Class’ aircraft carrier, based on experience from operating the ‘Hermes’, ‘Inflexible’ and ‘Eagle’, the first of the class being laid down in April.
Refit programme summary for the Battlecruiser 'HMS Australia'.
New British Aircraft Carrier 'HMS Albion'.
The main innovations in the ‘Albion-Class’ were a squared-off flight deck for improved seakeeping, a movement of the dual-purpose battery into four twin gun turrets in sponsons below the deck, and a slightly improved AA battery.
In May, Vickers offered to build a second ‘Albion-Class’ carrier at a reduced cost. This offer was accepted, with the new ship being named ‘Ocean’.
June saw the ‘Euphrates’, ‘Exeter’, and ‘Elephant’ begin sea trials, along with ‘Australia’ returning from her refit. ‘Echo’ followed her sister ships in July, with ‘New Zealand’ trading places with ‘Australia’ for refit.
‘Royal Oak’ and ‘Royal Sovereign’ completed their modernisations in August, just as Greece called for British aid against Romanian aggression. Allington, certain that Romania was acting with German support, advised the Foreign Office to offer Britain’s full support.
Allington’s concerns proved justified, as two weeks later the Bundesvolkluftwaffe (BVL, German Air Force) began launching bombing raids against the royal palace in Athens.
On 23 July 1926, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced in Parliament:
We stand now, in this hour, at the greatest test in the history of democracy. Last month, I told the Junior Imperial League at Kingsway Hall, that if we in this country make a mess of it, we will surely fall to tyranny. Whether that tyranny comes from the left or the right, tyranny is tyranny. Can we then, as the birthplace of freedom and modern democratic civilisation, turn our back on Greece, the cradle of all Western civilisation and all democracy, while the communist menace falls upon her? In Luther's words “we can no other.” We were there when the Spanish galleons made for Plymouth: we were on those bloody fields in the Netherlands when Louis XIV aimed at the domination of Europe: we were on duty when Napoleon bestrode the world like a demi-god. We can no other. So help us, God. It is my regrettable duty to inform the House that this country is now at war with Germany.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 22, 2021 16:20:58 GMT -6
That being said, you could just as easily argue the only reason Repulse and PoW were vulnerable to the Japanese was because most of the escorts they should have had were tied down fighting Germany and Italy, so yeah... Complicated. Going with the counterfactual scenario where Germany held onto its major surface units until it could stage an operation using all of them in a single force complicates that further, as I do not think it is necessarily the case that Prince of Wales and Repulse would have been released for service in the Far East had Bismarck not already been sunk - if Bismarck and Tirpitz are potentially operating together, and especially if Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are also potentially involved, then Britain needs to keep an answer to that ready, but the only British capital ships both fast enough and powerful enough to serve in that role are Hood, King George V, Prince of Wales, and Duke of York, and maybe Renown and Repulse in a pinch or perhaps one of Anson or Howe if they can be rushed into service like Prince of Wales was. Hood probably still needs a refit badly if it's not being rebuilt in mid- to late-1941, Duke of York is just entering service in the third quarter of 1941, and Renown and Repulse really don't compare that well with Bismarck and Tirpitz so if they're involved then it'd preferably be against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau rather than against the heavier German battleships; Anson and Howe don't historically get into service until ~mid-1942 and so even if one gets rushed into service like Prince of Wales did I don't think that any time much before the end of 1941 is particularly plausible. Yep, as I said - any consolidated sortie by the KM's battleships would have been a lot more costly than what the RN actually experienced: in reality, the Germans gave Britain a best-case scenario by not consolidating their forces into even a single fleet-in-being, but separating them into lone units where they could be destroyed individually by overwhelming force.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 22, 2021 15:03:57 GMT -6
2"/1" turret armor is pretty ugly for 8" guns, but then again there's probably not much else which would be practical for them given the limitations of conversions and the ship's original characteristics, especially since stepping back from Eagle's 30-plane complement on a larger carrier would have been difficult to justify in character when you'd just decided that Hermes' 20-plane complement was inadequate. The only major change to your conversion design which I might have seriously entertained would have been to retain whatever the original design speed was (26 knots? I'm guessing this was a slightly-modified Indefatigable, but I didn't see its original configuration when I quickly reviewed the thread) since that would probably have made for a slightly-cheaper conversion with a larger air wing or for a much cheaper conversion with a similar air wing, but that runs into the "Hermes had to run away" problem when it comes to justifying that decision in character, and if you're going to pay for new engines anyways then you almost may as well make it more compatible with the CVLs.
As to the CVLs, I might consider reducing the maximum thickness of the belt and deck armor or implementing a magazine-box scheme for them if I were going to build more of them; small carriers are much less worth armoring than big carriers due to their lesser innate resilience, and a 2.5" belt is probably fairly marginal even against 5" guns so the only big advantage I see to their current armor scheme is that the 2" deck armor is splinter-proof whereas a thinner armor deck would merely be splinter-resistant. This is a large part of why I usually stop building battlecruisers in the 1920s; I don't like thin-skinned capital ships, but I also don't really find design speeds of 31 knots or more (which allows battlecruisers with more than 12" or 12.5" belt armor) sufficiently worthwhile to justify the cost on a capital ship and so as a result my ~27-knot battlecruisers and ~21-knot battleships of the 1910s construction programs generally get replaced by 27- or 28-knot fast battleships in the 1920s construction programs. Sometimes I'll build some 31-knot battlecruisers with six main guns and a heavy magazine-box armor scheme in the late '30s or the '40s as a "cheap" alternative to all-up fast battleships with eight or nine main guns and heavy uniform armor schemes, but by that point a lot of major battles are starting to be decided by air power (and even so I've never been particularly happy with such battlecruisers).
As you say, 2"/1" is painful on 8" guns, but to be frank I have absolutely no intent of leaving those guns in place. First chance I get, I'm yanking them off and using the space for something useful. Like planes. Still, out least I got that requirement out of the way before I built a brand new fleet carrier (which I still haven't unlocked in 1926). As far as the CVLs go... actually you're right. I was going to counter that magazine boxing the armour would leave the machinery spaces vulnerable to splinter damage, but the weight savings may allow me to up the protection enough to keep the reduced-thickness at atleast 1.5". The main reason for trying to offer serious protection (I usually don't bother beyond splinter protection) is because I can't actually build large carriers yet, so I don't want to lose the small ones if I can avoid it. It's probably a false economy, but I laid out from the start that I was going to commit the same kind of mistakes as were made historically, rather than use the benefit of hindsight. And yes, Indomitable is a modified Indefatigable. I don't think I posted a deck plan of her, but I'd imagine I'd have mentioned any changes in the text. She certainly wasn't any faster than 27kn.
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Post by babylon218 on Feb 22, 2021 14:44:57 GMT -6
Much is made of the loss of Hood to Bismarck, but let's consider that for the loss of four German battleships over the course of the war (Bismarck, Scharnhorst, Tirpitz, and Gneisenau), Britain lost the HMS Hood. That's, honestly, a pretty good trade. Had all four German battleships sortied out in unison, British losses to direct surface action could have been a lot steeper. Fortunately, that never happened. /tangent In point of fact, the British Empire lost HMS Hood, HMS Repulse, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Barham and HMS Royal Oak. However, it can be stated that 80% of those ships were old WW1 designs, with less effective protection and lower speed than would be achieved more modern designs. Edit: After further thought, I'll remove HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales due to those being sunk by the Japanese forces. It still leaves a 4:3 ratio which isn't exactly one-sided. I was referring to those ships lost to German surface action, though I'll grant on those terms I probably also shouldn't count Tirpitz and Gneisenau, since they were sunk by the RAF. On those terms though, I probably also wouldn't count Barham - though she was sunk by a German submarine, she was only in that position because of the war with Italy. That being said, you could just as easily argue the only reason Repulse and PoW were vulnerable to the Japanese was because most of the escorts they should have had were tied down fighting Germany and Italy, so yeah... Complicated. My main point, in any event, was that the German surface fleet had far less of an impact on that of the British than it would have if they'd been concentrated instead of deployed separately at different times, sufficient to allow the British to single them out.
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