In the battle for the Grand Banks, all carriers of the Home Command were destroyed, along with five US Carriers and a couple of other US ships. While the US 7th fleet had taken heavy losses, what was left of the Home Command was so heavily damaged that the fleet had to be decomissioned and sent back the UK. This enormous defeat sparked celebrations in the United States, who propagated the USN as their “First and strongest line of defence”, a navy capable of defeating the RN with ease. Over the following months, the situation in the Atlantic would not improve for the Channel Pact.
Concerned with the matter, Field Marshall Van Geyte and Grand Admiral De Nil arranged an urgent meeting with the Council of the Admiralty. Specially for this meeting, the Grand Admiral and Field Marshall flew back from Birma, where they were coordinating the Eastern Front.
The following events took place June 15th, 1943, Lissabon, Portugal (Under German occupation)
“I declare this meeting officialy opened”
Admiral Sommerville looked around the room. After his merits by leading the Free Fleets in the Roses Revolution, he had been promoted to the prestigious rank of Grand Admiral of the Fleet, and Lord High Admiral of the Council of the Admiralty, officially making him the second most powerfull man in England. The two most powerfull men in the world, however, were absent as they were still making their way to the old buildings of the Portuguese Navy, where the meeting was being held.
The Council of the Admiralty unofficially played the largest role in the new British Government, effectively putting the command of the RN in command of the Empire. Aside from that, many Grand Admirals of the Royal Navy had been appointed to positions of significance within the increasingly coherent Channel Pact Head Command. His colleague Grand Admiral Down for example, a brilliant mathematician, also served as the head of the Ministry of War Economics for the Head Command.
Sommerville observed his colleagues around the long, wooden table. All of them were veteran admirals, grizzled seahawks that had survived many battles. But even they were concerned by the changing situation in the Atlantic. The RN was already stretched fighting against the massive Japanese Navy, a second open sea front would be unthinkable.
“Noble, feel free to commence”
Grand Admiral Noble, another Admiral made famous by his participation in the Free Fleet Rebellion took a deep breath and stood up. He walked towards a large map of the Atlantic that had been crudely pasted on the wall and started drawing markings indicating fleet movements on it. After he worked in silence for a long time, he turned around and sighed.
“I won’t lie gentlemen. The situation is... bad”
Sommerville waved away Noble’s dramatic opening “We know it’s bad, else we wouldn’t be here. What we need to know is what is happening in the Atlantic”
Noble pointed at a flame drawn near the Grand Banks “As you all know, the Home Command got completely mauled two weeks ago in the Mid-Atlantic by the US 7th Fleet. All carriers were destroyed, and the entire fleet has now been decomissioned in Portsmouth for being incapable of fighting. A week later, a US Battleship formation intercepted one of our Chapters en route back from Gibraltar, and we suffered another crucial defeat. We now have... strong indications that the US are actively pursuing an agressive strategy to claim naval dominance in the Atlantic, and they are winning”
Grand Admiral Down, who was in charge of all recon patrols around the Iberian peninsula responded “Recon indicates that US activity has quadripled in the last month alone. They’ve got massive carrier warfleets skulking around La Coruna, and it isn’t getting any colder.”
Sommerville looked up “How many carriers do they have?”
Noble scratched his head uncomfortably, in the manner of a person who was about to bring bad news. “22 in the Atlantic that we know of. At least 7 in port and god knows how many still in production”
“Goddamnit” Sommerville threw his pencil away in frustration. Suddenly, noises could be heard outside in the hallway, murmur and the clicking of steel-tipped boots.
As all eyes turned towards the doors, the royal glass doors were opened by an escort of heavily armed guards, followed by De Nil and Van Geyte themselves. All men in the room stood up and saluted. Sommerville chose to ignore the formalities, and walked around the table to greet De Nil and Van Geyte.
“Herr Chancellor, Prime Minister” the man said with an affirmative nod as the men shook hands. The Field Marshall’s response was short and slightly agitated, as he lanced forward towards the map.
“No time for pleasantries gentlemen. I’ve got an Eastern Front spanning over 8.000 miles waiting, uprisings in Ukraine, and an Empire that desparately needs running.” Van Geyte took a differently coloured crayon and started drawing on the map. Confused, Sommerville looked at De Nil, who was obviously amused. Chuckling, he whispered “Jetlag. Laurence doesn’t like flying” before moving forward to join him.
The Admirals were more surprised by the two men that that had followed De Nil and van Geyte into the room: Donitz and Tirpitz, two Grand Admirals of the Kriegsmarine. De Nil nodded and presented the men
“Gentlemen, these are Chief of the Navy Donitz and Grand Admiral Tirpitz of the Kriegsmarine, who are here to help us coordinate the Atlantic war.”
Still focused on the board, Van Geyte sarcastically commented “You might have noticed Raeder has been relieved of duties. This is because he has unfortunately recently deceased due to a fatal illness: Being part of late Hitler’s SS”
All men sat down and discussed the situation. De Nil was the first to explain
“Let me put this simple: We cannot beat the USN alone. This is why Donitz and Tirpitz are here, because we need to set up a coordinated naval strategy in the Atlantic. After our defeat in the Grand Banks, we have barely 11 carriers left, three of which are still seriously damaged. All of them are needed in the Pacific, so we’ve got absolutely zero heavy guns to put here in the Atlantic”
“And what about the Reserve Fleets?” Grand Admiral McLeon responded
“Sending light cruisers and destroyers after the USN? That would be suicide. No, we need a coordinated strategy and large focus on airforce. Laurence, fill them in”
Van Geyte had returned from the board and sat down, explaining “We’ve already decided that the occupation of the Iberian peninsula will be ceded to the British Army in two months, to improve the communication with Gibraltar. I have ordered the entire Kriegsmarine currently ported in Italy to rebase to Lissabon, and prepare for the Atlantic war. Donitz?”
Donitz was obviously less lingually gifted than the other men in the room, who spoke both German and English fluently. With a broken accent, he explained that Germany was gearing up it’s naval industry to focus on the construction of Germany’s naval speciality: Submarines. Germany was planning to construct a massive fleet of over 600 submarines, to attack the USN head-on. “If dey Aymerucans want to command above sea, we shall command under sea!”, as Donitz put it.
On the same day, the Council decided to erect a special brand of the Channel Pact Head Command, called the Channel Pact Naval Command, consisting of the department Coordinated Pacific Front and Coordinated Atlantic Front. British occupation forces were slowly seeping into Spain to allow the transfer of control, and the UK began rebuilding it’s lost ships. Along with that, the Luftwaffe and Royal Airforce began expanding their Naval Bombing detachments, to aid in the Atlantic War. The Channel Pact nations had been hit hard, but were far from beaten. On the meeting, De Nil made one final, important remark.
“Aside from the matter, I have just conversed with the engineers at the Order of the British Navy. I have commissioned the construction of a new warfleet, and approved of new schematics for a set of carriers the likes of which even the Americans have never seen. They think they have bested us on the field of carrier warfare, but we will prove them wrong”
“What is the name of this class?” Sommerville responded
“The India-Class. I have commissioned the building of one ship specifically, a ship which I will dub the HMS Sovereign”
All men in the room caught in conversation abruptly stopped their chatter and looked at the Grand Admiral astonished. Many knew the Admiral from before, and remembered that the Royal Sovereign was not a name without meaning. It was the name of the battleship he commandeered in the Colonial Wars”
“Why would you name it after your own ship, Vincent? The Sovereign has been scrapped long ago.”
The Grand Admiral leaned back, and commented “I am a man of nostalgia. I will dub this carrier the Sovereign, because I intend to commandeer it, and with that the entire warfleet. I will, myself, take control of the Atlantic Command when it is done and spearhead the war against the Americans.”
The room grew silent in amazement. The men could not believe what they had just heard. De Nil returning to the seas? After all these years?
Van Geyte frowned upon so much sentiment and commented “Admirals, always the same.”
The Sovereign, ship of Grand Admiral De Nil, in 1923