The Essex-class were able to carry S-2 Trackers and A2J Savages. While the F7F may have been intended for the Midways the final carrier qualification attempts were done on the Essex-class USS Shangri-La.
Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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Story 2864
El Segundo, California May 5, 1945
Three new aircraft had come off the line that morning. They would be checked out and then transferred to the naval test flight facilities back east. Already three other prototypes were being put through their paces, and another half dozen machines were being built. The Navy and Marines wanted this bomber and were willing to pay for it.
Other parts of the line were starting to slow down. Orders from 1944 were being completed but more recent orders had either been cancelled or delayed which was just a polite euphemism for future cancellations. The factory managers were already beginning to make decisions on who needed to be kept through a potential lean peace. Negros then women and then Mexicans unless someone had a truly unique skill that could not be readily replaced was the work order. A few white men would be let go as they had proven to be persistently unpleasant or incompetent, but within two years, the plant floor staff would look like it would have in 1939.
Three new aircraft had come off the line that morning. They would be checked out and then transferred to the naval test flight facilities back east. Already three other prototypes were being put through their paces, and another half dozen machines were being built. The Navy and Marines wanted this bomber and were willing to pay for it.
Other parts of the line were starting to slow down. Orders from 1944 were being completed but more recent orders had either been cancelled or delayed which was just a polite euphemism for future cancellations. The factory managers were already beginning to make decisions on who needed to be kept through a potential lean peace. Negros then women and then Mexicans unless someone had a truly unique skill that could not be readily replaced was the work order. A few white men would be let go as they had proven to be persistently unpleasant or incompetent, but within two years, the plant floor staff would look like it would have in 1939.
Ah the A-1 one of the finest attack aircraft ever made. If only the USN had had them at the start of the war
Story 2865
Hiroshima Bay, Japan May 6, 1945
The German naval officer looked at the bay. It was fairly crowded. The few remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy road at anchor, sitting high with nearly empty fuel tanks. The cruisers were still manned and capable to act as anti-aircraft batteries. Dozens of merchant ships, including the one that he had been on in 1939 before it sought safety in Japanese waters were tied up to the docks. Again, most were riding high. The only ships that were continually moving were the coal fired minesweepers. American and British bombers routinely reseeded minefields that denied almost every port on the Home Islands or on the east shore of the Sea of Japan. When the bombers neglected a minefield, the American submarine wolfpacks would lay their own. Many had started to go on patrol with only half the regular torpedo load because there were too few targets worth a fish.
Half a dozen ships were gnarled and mangled after they had limped into the harbor after mine strikes. They had been shoved to the far side of the harbor to be deliberate targets for ambitious bomber pilots. In peace time, they might be repaired, eventually, but now, they were merely emptied and the ship yards focused on ships that could be back at sea by the end of the year.
He shook his head. None of those ships would ever leave sight of land. The blockade was tighter than anything the Royal Navy had ever achieved in 1918 and it was only getting tighter as American destroyers and cruisers were now raiding the fishing fleets just outside the range of the coastal defense batteries. He had starved then, and millions around him were starting to starve now. All he could do was wait while his adopted home became frail and his homeland remained prostate.
The German naval officer looked at the bay. It was fairly crowded. The few remnants of the Imperial Japanese Navy road at anchor, sitting high with nearly empty fuel tanks. The cruisers were still manned and capable to act as anti-aircraft batteries. Dozens of merchant ships, including the one that he had been on in 1939 before it sought safety in Japanese waters were tied up to the docks. Again, most were riding high. The only ships that were continually moving were the coal fired minesweepers. American and British bombers routinely reseeded minefields that denied almost every port on the Home Islands or on the east shore of the Sea of Japan. When the bombers neglected a minefield, the American submarine wolfpacks would lay their own. Many had started to go on patrol with only half the regular torpedo load because there were too few targets worth a fish.
Half a dozen ships were gnarled and mangled after they had limped into the harbor after mine strikes. They had been shoved to the far side of the harbor to be deliberate targets for ambitious bomber pilots. In peace time, they might be repaired, eventually, but now, they were merely emptied and the ship yards focused on ships that could be back at sea by the end of the year.
He shook his head. None of those ships would ever leave sight of land. The blockade was tighter than anything the Royal Navy had ever achieved in 1918 and it was only getting tighter as American destroyers and cruisers were now raiding the fishing fleets just outside the range of the coastal defense batteries. He had starved then, and millions around him were starting to starve now. All he could do was wait while his adopted home became frail and his homeland remained prostate.
Driftless
Donor
^^^ Where would foreigners fit in the pecking order for virtually every commodity and social situation, with the dire straits Japan would be facing under the current conditions? Germany and Italy are no longer allies and any other non-Japanese have become a non-productive mouth to feed, or provide no potential for diplomatically gained sustenence.
Him personally, given his social connections, like a munitions factory worker.... Other foreigners slightly better off than Polish Jews in 1942
Story 2866
Kamaishi, Japan May 7, 1945
The fifteen year old boy strained to look through his binoculars. The coastal defense battery had been fully manned for an hour when a fishing boat managed to fire flares before it was likely destroyed. There had been a string of other flares fired by the fleet of wooden wild food hunters. He put the heavy optics down for a moment, stretched his back and then resumed his search.
Finally, there were bumps on the horizon. He waited a moment and counted one, two, three, four....
He recounted. And then he called out the sighting ten seconds after the bumps became evident.
Around him, the rest of the battery started to become a buzz of excitement and fear. The old six inch guns were likely adequate to scare off American cruisers, destroyers or submarines. But against anything bigger, it would not matter. More men began to look at the point that the boy had called out. They soon confirmed the sightings and added more and more. Large ships began to change course even as smaller ships became visible.
The long naval rifles were loaded and waiting. The Type 45 15cm gun would be outranged by the behemoths but perhaps they could kill a destroyer or a cruiser. Firing solutions were being generated even if the targets were 4,000 meters or more out of range. The boy did not know if his stomach was upset from the lack of food or from fear, but he knew that he had done his duty. His thoughts were broken as half a dozen battleships opened fire on the city that the battery defended. Each battlewagon fired from only a single turret as they sought the range before beginning to demolish half a dozen factories.
Twenty seven thousand yards away aboard USS North Carolina, Seaman Jaroschek waited for orders to man his Bofors tub. The Skipper had briefed the mission to the entire crew on the 1MC --- yes, they were intending to destroy half a dozen strategic factories, but they were also looking to provoke air attacks to be eaten up by a dozen carriers worth of fighters waiting for a brawl.
The fifteen year old boy strained to look through his binoculars. The coastal defense battery had been fully manned for an hour when a fishing boat managed to fire flares before it was likely destroyed. There had been a string of other flares fired by the fleet of wooden wild food hunters. He put the heavy optics down for a moment, stretched his back and then resumed his search.
Finally, there were bumps on the horizon. He waited a moment and counted one, two, three, four....
He recounted. And then he called out the sighting ten seconds after the bumps became evident.
Around him, the rest of the battery started to become a buzz of excitement and fear. The old six inch guns were likely adequate to scare off American cruisers, destroyers or submarines. But against anything bigger, it would not matter. More men began to look at the point that the boy had called out. They soon confirmed the sightings and added more and more. Large ships began to change course even as smaller ships became visible.
The long naval rifles were loaded and waiting. The Type 45 15cm gun would be outranged by the behemoths but perhaps they could kill a destroyer or a cruiser. Firing solutions were being generated even if the targets were 4,000 meters or more out of range. The boy did not know if his stomach was upset from the lack of food or from fear, but he knew that he had done his duty. His thoughts were broken as half a dozen battleships opened fire on the city that the battery defended. Each battlewagon fired from only a single turret as they sought the range before beginning to demolish half a dozen factories.
Twenty seven thousand yards away aboard USS North Carolina, Seaman Jaroschek waited for orders to man his Bofors tub. The Skipper had briefed the mission to the entire crew on the 1MC --- yes, they were intending to destroy half a dozen strategic factories, but they were also looking to provoke air attacks to be eaten up by a dozen carriers worth of fighters waiting for a brawl.
Story 2867
Kena, Czechoslovakia, May 8, 1945
The platoon leader moved slowly as he called an orders' group with his squad leaders. Ten minutes later, the leaders of an infantry platoon from the Pennsylvania National Guard, were gathered by a tree. Lt. Jaroschek broke the news -- two privates were dead. The jeep that they had been driving back from Prague had been t-boned by a deuce and a half. The MPs had determined that all five men in the vehicle had been hammered. The other three men were in surgery with a chance of one of them being coherent tomorrow morning.
The platoon and the company were restricted to camp until further notice.
The platoon leader moved slowly as he called an orders' group with his squad leaders. Ten minutes later, the leaders of an infantry platoon from the Pennsylvania National Guard, were gathered by a tree. Lt. Jaroschek broke the news -- two privates were dead. The jeep that they had been driving back from Prague had been t-boned by a deuce and a half. The MPs had determined that all five men in the vehicle had been hammered. The other three men were in surgery with a chance of one of them being coherent tomorrow morning.
The platoon and the company were restricted to camp until further notice.
According to what I read in “Downfall,” four battleships could fire off as much high explosives as the average B-29 raid.
Also, there is a real psychological negative affect of seeing enemy ships roam up and down your coast at will (at least in OTL Japan).
What is the British Pacific Fleet up to. Has the RAF Tiger Force arrived in theatre yet.
Dominating the South China Sea, support the siege of Hong Kong and occasionally raiding French Indochina.
RAF has several Lancaster squadrons in theatre with plans for more but only plans at this time.
Story 2868
Frankfurt, Germany May 9, 1945
"Just why were they working on that?"
The engineer shook his head. He had spent the entire morning speaking with a dozen German prisoners, all but one engineers and the last one was a production manager for the project. The entire scheme had some elegance to it. But there was no logic to it. Anything that the Germans could have produced in the next year would have been less effective and more expensive while using key materials that they were short of. Simpler machines that were already in production could have done the job at least as well in 1945 or 1946 as this dream project.
As the engineer took his smoke break, he continued to think. The ideas the Germans were exploring weren't bad. they were just peace time projects where skilled workers could worry about detailed work and rare elements with exceptional quality control. They were good ideas in a bad time. By the end of his second cigarette, the engineer was determined to tag most of the prisoners for another round of conversation with a larger exploitation team.
"Just why were they working on that?"
The engineer shook his head. He had spent the entire morning speaking with a dozen German prisoners, all but one engineers and the last one was a production manager for the project. The entire scheme had some elegance to it. But there was no logic to it. Anything that the Germans could have produced in the next year would have been less effective and more expensive while using key materials that they were short of. Simpler machines that were already in production could have done the job at least as well in 1945 or 1946 as this dream project.
As the engineer took his smoke break, he continued to think. The ideas the Germans were exploring weren't bad. they were just peace time projects where skilled workers could worry about detailed work and rare elements with exceptional quality control. They were good ideas in a bad time. By the end of his second cigarette, the engineer was determined to tag most of the prisoners for another round of conversation with a larger exploitation team.
Attlee giving the Soviets a working jet engine did more for the mig jet than the German scientists did
The subs bit almost certainly since they'll war prizes. The really interesting short term big ticket item is the 3 Italian battleships that ended up being war prizes including the 2 litorios since they decided who got what with coin tosses. As you can imagine that leaves the butterflies for them to get one of them a distinct possibility
Paternas
Donor
Because the engineers did not want to get conscripted in the army? A lot of the late war wunderwaffen had a strong element of that in them.
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