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It depends. It might still be a coincidence, as Liverpool has a few less savoury areas.
 
I stand by what I said on the outcome of the referendum, but until and unless that particular horror scenario comes to pass, I intend to continue. Though Highland Regiments and the like will feature less.

EDIT: So, what on the two spoilers in that infobox?

Andrew Tennant? That couldn't possibly be The Tenth, now could it? ;)

Also, I'm currently working on a story that also features a reformed British Empire (just letting you know before it shows up in AH.com, since that idea was indeed inspired by this gem), (somewhat better than OTL) USSR and (get this) Holy States of America. :p

Marc A
 
I was tempted to make him the Tenth, but it's bad enough that there's something of a Butterfly Net around Mr. Arnold, who is not quite his OTL counterpart, but an ATL brother who has the same talent.

Looking forward to that story.
 
Hmm, not sure whether I can cope with a world without Beatles (or at least our Beatles), but Lennon scoring film music? Nice.
 
A world without the beatles(well the beatles i enjoyed growing up) is a bleak one indeed.

hmm i think i may need to re-read this again, i seem to have forgotten some things.
 
Finally caught up with this. Just... BRILLIANT. Also, I tried sending you something through PM but it said your inbox was full.
 
Sorry for the long silence, but work has been bloody murder.

Bad excuse, I know, but the one I have...
 
wow. This is still going? Talk about endurance and commitment. You've been updating this AAR longer than I've been a member...
 
What's more, the update is finally done!
 
Going to post it as soon as I get off from work.
 
Chapter 369

17th June 1943


The British Task Force entering the dangerous waters north of Borneo was light, and though no one had said so officially, it was because someone on high, probably the CinC himself considered this mission to be a fool's errand, but at the same time Commodore Gordon knew that it was also of vital political importance to be seen to penetrate into those waters. What he didn't know was that Admiral Cunningham had needed little convincing to add a surface sweep to the submarines that currently attempted to cut the Island's supply lines north.

It was in essence a diversion and an attempt to draw Japanese forces to the north of the Island, away from the places where Cunningham actually intended to effect a landing, hopefully making the Japanese believe that the landing was farther north or that there would be no invasion at all with the Allies going straight for the Philippines.

It was ridiculous of course (though Cunningham wouldn't find out until after the war that it had taken the CIGS, Sir John Dill, almost half an hour to convince Churchill that it was a bad idea during a meeting the year before. The Prime Minister hadn't seriously entertained the idea since, but had, with some merit behind his idea, insisted that it be included in the deception plan.

Anything that force the Japanese to stretch their resources between five possible fronts and over almost half the world was a good thing, as it made things easier overall.

Not that this would have been of much comfort for the crews on the ships even if they had known, but they didn't, so all they could was grumble about those with more braid than they, knowing that even their Commodore wasn't happy about it all.

The ships were darkened, so he couldn't actually see the rest of the Task Force.

It consisted of Exeter, Cumberland, Southampton, Enterprise, Leander in cruisers, supported by the Destroyers Hotspur, Electra, Foresight, Agincourt and St.James. A potent force and one that had the advantage that all the ships were equipped with RDF, which was why Gordon didn't really fear a night engagement against an equal force. No, what he feared was daylight and the inevitable air attacks.

“Sir, flash from Electra. 'Six contacts, two larger, ten miles NNW my position. Request orders.”

Gordon turned at walked to the map table. He silently cursed as it confirmed what he'd already known. If he didn't turn right now, the Japanese would manage to cut him off. And it had to be Japanese. He knew his was the only Allied surface force this far east, and it couldn't possibly be American this far west.

“Flags, make to squadron...”

Gordon hated using the wireless this close to enemy territory, but at night, blinkers would be even more revealing to any would-be observers, and at that range it was likely they had been spotted already anyway.


~**---**~

'FLAG TO SQUADRON:

POSSIBLE ENEMY FORCE 11SM DETECTED NNW

COME TO HEADING 270, SPD 15. FORM LINE AND PREPARE FOR BATTLE. DEST FORM VAN'


Aboard HMS Electra the message had been received, and even as he had his ship go to flank speed to close on the squadron and form line in the midnight darkness, her commanding officer had to admire the speed of Exeter's duty wireless operator.

His ship was only two miles to the north of the rest of the squadron, so it did not take her long to close on the rest of them, and soon she was in position with three of the other Destroyers. Only St.James between the cruisers and Borneo as an insurance.

Judging by the RDF returns, the Japanese had spotted them now, as they had increased speed on their original course, trying to catch the British formation in disarray or at least identify them beyond reasonable doubt. The British on the other hand knew that it was beyond unlikely a friendly formation was coming at them. Still, there was no reason to take undue risks and so he ordered star shells to be readied for the forward 4.7inch gun.

He also knew that the likely Japanese were heavily outnumbered, and judging by the orders that the flag sent next, so did the Commodore.

With the rest of the squadron, Electra turned East-North-East and reduced speed to five knots, in an obvious effort to lure the presumed Japanese in and to preserve their superior tactical position. The Captain knew that unlike the Japanese, Gordon didn't have to fight. In the end, even the sheer presence and reports of Allied ships in this region would do the trick and that was the ultimate goal, not so much to actually sink Japan's vast host of cruisers.

For a time now he had nothing to do but wait and watch on his RDF plot how the two forces drew closer and closer. Then however the Japanese (for he was convinced that was what they were) crossed the invisible line of no return, the one where even 'full astern' and the wildest squadron turns wouldn't take them out of range without the British getting at least several salvoes off.

In daytime at least. Further signals had made it clear that the Commodore intended to open fire at six-thousand yards, far closer than usual, but the distance would allow them to illuminate the scene using Starshells, and RDF-guided fire would be far more accurate at that range.

Eleven-thousand yards.

The Japanese still approached, even though they had to have spotted the British formation by now, but they still advanced in coloumn formation. Why didn't they form line?

Nine-thousand yards.

Now the Japanese realized that something was off about those ships. They one of the Destroyers raced ahead to investigate, and The Captain believed that they were maybe not certain about their identity. It made sense, because unlike the Allies, the Japanese had more than one formation of ships in this area, a number of them being small-ish convoys of a cruiser and a few Destroyer-Transports to run men and supplies south.

Seven-thousand yards.

The Destroyer was well within the range of the main batteries of the cruisers, and even Electra's own main guns could easily reach twice the distance.

“Flags,” St.James said, “Make to flag: Request permission to open fire.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The Destroyer was at roughly five-thousand yards when HMS Exeter gave the answer The Captain had desired. With a thundering roar and fire tearing the night apart, her main battery opened up at the Japanese cruisers, now at roughly nine-thousand yards. Long for a night action, but of course the secondaries aboard Exeter fired their starshells.

Technically, they weren't even needed, as the first RDF guided shots were only a few dozen yards short, something quickly corrected for the second salvo, and now all the cruisers were in range.

Only Exeter and Enterprise had it though, but St.James could only spare them a fleeting glance.

His battle was something else entirely.

“A hit!” someone yelled when one of destroyer shells that were fired in great mass now was rewarded by s red-ish flash of light roughly where the Japanese Destroyer was supposed to be.

This exclamation was followed by a WHANG as a Japanese shell impacted somewhere forward of Electra's forward most gun. The Captain picked himself up from the deck and wiped away the worst of his bleeding nose with the sleeve of his uniform, at the same time as his guns thundered again as if nothing had happened. Later he would find out that the shell had destroyed both forward anchors, but had done little other damage.

On the Japanese side, damage was more severe. The forward Destroyer was a burning hulk, having run afoul of several shells from Hotspur, one of the Cruisers was on fire aft and slowing after a shell from Cumberland had started a fire.

It wasn't one-sided. St.James was listing badly, Enterprise and Exeter had taken several hits.

Formation was going to hell quickly. Electra's RDF was still working, and it showed why. The Japanese Destroyers had moved as if for a torpedo attack.

“Hard to port!” St.James yelled, even before he saw the torpedo tracks.

~**---**~

'The Battle of North Borneo was only the first of about a dozen vicious cruiser actions that were fought in the area over the next nine months. Each for their own reasons, neither side was willing to risk anything bigger in the area. The Allies because of the air threat, the Japanese because most of their capital units were engaged elsewhere. Four of their seven remaining Fleet Carriers remained in the Philippines to ward off any potential American attacks, two were in port for repairs or on the way there, and one, Akagi, was stationed in Formosa along with two Light Carriers to guard against any Allied advances, a job she would do until the Battle of the South China Sea.

The engagement lasted almost four hours, and it taught the Japanese that their vaunted night-fighting skills had become obsolete in the face of ship-board RDF. Throughout the action, British gunnery was more accurate, though the battle was far from one-sided. When the surviving Japanese cruiser and two of the Destroyers, all heavily damaged, withdrew northwards and fire ceased, HMS St.James had sunk, HMS Leander was in sinking condition and would be scuttled with torpedoes by Electra and Hotspur and Foresight, while managing to reach Singapore eventually, would be declared a CTL after hitting a sea-mine on route.

Strategically the battle did not have any significant impact on Allied or Japanese naval deployments, but it was the first of the string of engagements and skirmishes that would break the Japanese cruiser force and lay the groundwork for the battles in the coming years after which the Imperial Japanese Navy was broken as a fighting force.

For the Japanese the impact was much greater. It broke their own belief in their night-fighting tactics. However, without the electronics industry the Allies or the Americans had at their disposal, and for what RDF sets there were, Air Defence and the Army had first call, so there was little they could do to change the situation. By late 1944 most capital ships had RDF sets of their own, but the IJN never managed to proliferate them among it's lighter units as much as the Allies.

In the even longer term, those actions also preserved the cruiser in the ranks of the Royal Navy beyond World War Two until technology made the modern missile-cruiser concept possible.'

From the introduction to “Jane's British Cruisers”


tbc
 
Trekaddict

Excellent to see an update and the start of the wearing down of the Japanese cruiser force. It should make it even more impossible for the Japanese to get oil out of Borneo, which is probably their only source at this point.

A couple of syntax queries:
a) The section about 'it' being a bad idea that Dill had to persuade Churchill not to try. Not clear what actually it is, but think a direct assault on the Philippines? Also from what I know of Churchill I would suspect Dill thinks himself lucky if it only take 30 minutes to talk Churchill out of one of his bad ideas.

b) While the St James is a DD you have it referred to a couple of times as if its a person. I.e. “Hard to port!” St.James yelled, even before he saw the torpedo tracks. - Suspect that should refer to say the captain of the ship?

Anyway, thanks again for the update.

Steve
 
And thus the Japs had their own Matapan :p
 
stevep Yeah, the Japanese are between the British rock and the American hard place, and they have already started serious over-stretch, but won't realize that until another few months down the line. The Battle of the South China see is going to be TTL's Phillippine Sea, in that afterwards I never saw any Japanese stacks of significance, i.e. larger than two or three ships.

Syntax: Yes, The assault on the Islands and yes, the Captain.

Kurt_Steiner
After a fashion, yes. The Japanese cruiser force was whittled down over time. As far as I can tell, neither me nor the American AI ever managed to force the Japanese Heavies and BCs out to do battle. I kept encountering small stacks of them, never more than a couple of ships and their escorts, before that too stopped after the South China Sea. I can only presume that at some point the Americans sunk what was left.

That being said, I am seriously looking forward to writing up the Battle of the South China Sea. In the AAO-verse, it rivals Trafalgar in it's legend, because it was lager than Jutland, Dogger Bank and Kristianssand put together and it destroyed the IJN as any sort of threat.
 
Got to admit I'm a bit worried about this South China Sea battle, you've been building it up so much for so long I worry you're making a massive rod for your own back! How can so epic a battle not have an equally epic description?

That said I'm sure you'll pull it off, I just hope it doesn't involve you needing Butterfly sized gaps in which to write it...
 
Well, it will be TTL's equivalent to Leyte Gulf, basically where the IJN is destroyed as a fighting force. It will, of course, involve overly complicated Japanese plans, lots of explosions and even a few sunk British capital ships. :)
 
Well, it will be TTL's equivalent to Leyte Gulf, basically where the IJN is destroyed as a fighting force. It will, of course, involve overly complicated Japanese plans, lots of explosions and even a few sunk British capital ships. :)

trekaddict

Scandalous!:glare: How the hell did that happen? Sounds like it won't be as one-sided as OTL:( but then Britain doesn't have the same resources as the OTL US and does have a small distraction in Europe.;) Who do you have playing Admiral Byng?

Steve
 
Byng won't be joined by anyone. Their Lordships won't be happy, but in the end they traded a few ships for most of the IJN.
 
Byng won't be joined by anyone.
Well of course not, Byng's problem was cowardice not getting a few ships sunk. Pour encourager les autres and all that