1ST BATTLE OF MIDWAY -: 17-21 June 1942
Greetings all. I'd just thought I'd throw this in to whet your appetite. I'd originally planned to fully finalize this before posting on this thread, but my date of hospitalization changed, so I thought I'd toss it up now, so I have something to study during my recovery. Look closely and you will see that this includes 27, yes 27 aircraft carriers! Before you blow a raspberry and assume that I've plucked these figures out of my #rs@, the scenario is an amalgam of concepts and force structure from four other timelines to form a logical, and for AAU purposes, plausible AU. I'll do my best to put these in context to establish how I arrived at this battle, and hopefully you can look at this and the referenced TL to get a less knee-jerk initial reaction. Trust me I hope you will find it enjoyable when I get it done, but regardless I look forward to and value your feedback. Tangles.
To put this in context I'll present other AU TL that shaped the context of this offering and brief synopsis of why they are relevant.
Firstly, there are the works of David Rowe, in particular his Book 3 title 'Holding the line". This is the basis of the inclusion of Allied TF58 into the 'Mare Americanus' of the Pacific Campaign. Here the Atlantic Campaign has shaped out so that Britain has been able to shake free force elements earlier, changing the shape of the DEI battle and retaining Singapore. His scenario sees 3xBB, and 3CV supporting the USN ops in Midway, though with a different Battle structure. Note the reduced threat means that the Wasp and Ranger are freed to be available for employment in the Pacific. This is basis of this element of the force structure.
Secondly, A Moscow Option by David Downing shapes the concept of battle, were the IJN becomes aware that the USN is reading their signals and Yamamoto reshapes the concept of the Midway operation to take advantage of this. I could elaborate more here on the importance of this but will save that for presentation of the actual battle thread soon.
Thirdly is the work of John Hardinge and his works on an AU where Australia and NZ are a single Dominion State of Britain and its impacts, which form a basis for my own TL.
This lastly leads to my own Nieustralis AU of which this will be a component chapter. How this shapes the force structure arises from changes to the WNT post WW1, where the BB provisions are detailed with more vigor, but less so for the carriers. Arising from this both the USN and IJN can retain four not two hulls of their existing hulls under construction. The result is both forces are starting from a higher base line force, the USN with four Saratoga's, with the addition of Constellation and Independance, while the IJN have the Tosa and Amagi ITTL. Subsequently the Junyo class is three vessels with the third vessel Oiyo added. Also, the Carrier changes mean that both Ranger and Wasp are completed as a single class prior to the Yorktown's, but with the same weakness. This will also mean that the USN will develop five Yorktown class, thought the last two Ticonderoga and Bonhomme Richard, are still nearing completion and commissioning ITTL From this flows the impact of an eight carrier Kido Butai at the start. Pearl Harbor still has only two waves of attack, but both are stronger, resulting in far more infrastructure damage, loss of the fuel storage and Submarine base for example.
The second flow on ITTL regards the Nieustralis navy (RNN). Here this force is a separate observer for WNT purposes, with its two BCs ITTL demilitarized and not scrapped. Post war it goes down the naval aviation line in conjunction to David Rowes AU, getting two Hawkins class carrier conversions as CVLs instead of the Counties IOTL. With the invasion of Manchuria in 1932 they convert their BCs to small CVs (think HMS Furious analog), and after 1937 IOT replace the Hawkins approach Britain for the T-class CV (think something between the Colossus and Illustrious, HMS Indomitable lite, single hanger, much lighter side armor etc.). This means that with the reduced tempo of the Atlantic they agitate to move greater forces to the Pacific campaign. This will result in a number of smaller carriers also in theatre and it will play its part in the scenario developing.
The result of these changes will lead to a longer and more attritional Pacific campaign, and this will represent the first of four major carrier battles in the Pacific, and by far the largest naval battle of WW2 to date.
This is the basis for the seemingly outrageous force levels involved in this battle concept. But I hope you will see that there is a logic behind the events leading to the battle detailed. If you are interested, please look at the relevant stories mentioned as a basis, and this can help frame further critique when I get back and present my offering. Have to toodle off to Sydney with my brother now and look forward to developing this frame further when I can.
Regards T.
Greetings all. I'd just thought I'd throw this in to whet your appetite. I'd originally planned to fully finalize this before posting on this thread, but my date of hospitalization changed, so I thought I'd toss it up now, so I have something to study during my recovery. Look closely and you will see that this includes 27, yes 27 aircraft carriers! Before you blow a raspberry and assume that I've plucked these figures out of my #rs@, the scenario is an amalgam of concepts and force structure from four other timelines to form a logical, and for AAU purposes, plausible AU. I'll do my best to put these in context to establish how I arrived at this battle, and hopefully you can look at this and the referenced TL to get a less knee-jerk initial reaction. Trust me I hope you will find it enjoyable when I get it done, but regardless I look forward to and value your feedback. Tangles.
To put this in context I'll present other AU TL that shaped the context of this offering and brief synopsis of why they are relevant.
Firstly, there are the works of David Rowe, in particular his Book 3 title 'Holding the line". This is the basis of the inclusion of Allied TF58 into the 'Mare Americanus' of the Pacific Campaign. Here the Atlantic Campaign has shaped out so that Britain has been able to shake free force elements earlier, changing the shape of the DEI battle and retaining Singapore. His scenario sees 3xBB, and 3CV supporting the USN ops in Midway, though with a different Battle structure. Note the reduced threat means that the Wasp and Ranger are freed to be available for employment in the Pacific. This is basis of this element of the force structure.
Secondly, A Moscow Option by David Downing shapes the concept of battle, were the IJN becomes aware that the USN is reading their signals and Yamamoto reshapes the concept of the Midway operation to take advantage of this. I could elaborate more here on the importance of this but will save that for presentation of the actual battle thread soon.
Thirdly is the work of John Hardinge and his works on an AU where Australia and NZ are a single Dominion State of Britain and its impacts, which form a basis for my own TL.
This lastly leads to my own Nieustralis AU of which this will be a component chapter. How this shapes the force structure arises from changes to the WNT post WW1, where the BB provisions are detailed with more vigor, but less so for the carriers. Arising from this both the USN and IJN can retain four not two hulls of their existing hulls under construction. The result is both forces are starting from a higher base line force, the USN with four Saratoga's, with the addition of Constellation and Independance, while the IJN have the Tosa and Amagi ITTL. Subsequently the Junyo class is three vessels with the third vessel Oiyo added. Also, the Carrier changes mean that both Ranger and Wasp are completed as a single class prior to the Yorktown's, but with the same weakness. This will also mean that the USN will develop five Yorktown class, thought the last two Ticonderoga and Bonhomme Richard, are still nearing completion and commissioning ITTL From this flows the impact of an eight carrier Kido Butai at the start. Pearl Harbor still has only two waves of attack, but both are stronger, resulting in far more infrastructure damage, loss of the fuel storage and Submarine base for example.
The second flow on ITTL regards the Nieustralis navy (RNN). Here this force is a separate observer for WNT purposes, with its two BCs ITTL demilitarized and not scrapped. Post war it goes down the naval aviation line in conjunction to David Rowes AU, getting two Hawkins class carrier conversions as CVLs instead of the Counties IOTL. With the invasion of Manchuria in 1932 they convert their BCs to small CVs (think HMS Furious analog), and after 1937 IOT replace the Hawkins approach Britain for the T-class CV (think something between the Colossus and Illustrious, HMS Indomitable lite, single hanger, much lighter side armor etc.). This means that with the reduced tempo of the Atlantic they agitate to move greater forces to the Pacific campaign. This will result in a number of smaller carriers also in theatre and it will play its part in the scenario developing.
The result of these changes will lead to a longer and more attritional Pacific campaign, and this will represent the first of four major carrier battles in the Pacific, and by far the largest naval battle of WW2 to date.
This is the basis for the seemingly outrageous force levels involved in this battle concept. But I hope you will see that there is a logic behind the events leading to the battle detailed. If you are interested, please look at the relevant stories mentioned as a basis, and this can help frame further critique when I get back and present my offering. Have to toodle off to Sydney with my brother now and look forward to developing this frame further when I can.
Regards T.
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