A day at the sea
The Colonel had always loved the coast, but standing on the wrong side of the Atlantic coast made it loose all appeal. The fact that most of the Canadian coast was a frozen, polarbear-infested tundra didn’t help either. Only here in Halifax did the coast look a bit like the one of Old Blighty. He and the other Old Boys from the Club where here at the invitation of Lord Halifax, to inspect the Royal Navy. The Navy was basically the only branch of the armed forces not yet completely tained by Canadians. But even the Navy was under threat! The Canadian government had appointed the Canadian Percy Nelles as the new head of the Navy, preposterous!
The HMS Warspite firing her guns. A truly British spectacle!
Lord Halifax gave the clubmembers a tour through the harbour. The look of all those magnificent ships helped calm the Colonel down. The
Queen Elisabeth and the
Warspite formed the core of the Main Fleet, supported by the Battlecruisers
Howe and
Tiger and the Heavy Cruisers
Frobisher and
Hawkins. The second fleet, centered around the newly (Canadian) built carriers
Leviathan and
Majestic impressed Blimp a lot less. Why build a warship without 16 inc guns? Why launch a dingy plane when you can launch an enormous shell? The Canadians where so enthralled by this idea that they were busy building two more of these contraptions. Was this the reason for ships like the
Revenge,
Resolution and
Iron Duke to be put into the reservefleet, together with yet two more of these infernal contraptions (the
Argus and
Hermes)? Something had to be done.
A very unimpressive looking carrier.
After the tour through te harbour, the group settled down for a drink in the local Club. Sir Winston (the man, not the dog) was already in a heated discussion with Lord Halifax over those useless carriers:
“Siw Winston, I must pwotest. The last naval battles of the Gweat Waw have showed us the powew of aiw suppowt fow ouw fleet. Battleships awe vulnewable when faced with aiwfowces, and this bawwen land does not have the wecouwces to suppowt a lawgew fleet.”
“Nonsense good Sir, Britain has survived without those newfangled contraptions. The nation of Nelson does not need those things.”
“Gad, Sir Winston is right! If lack of recources are preventing the fleet from expanding we will simply need to capture new recources abroad from some feeble country not able to use those resources right. Such has been the British way of life since Sir Robert Clive secured Bengal in the 18th century!”
“Bengal, Bengal, you know who rule Bengal? The SyNdIeZ rULe BeNgaL!!!”
Yet again, the simple mentioning of a syndicalist state was enough to enrage Sir Neville. Even while the new treatment proposed by the good doctor Steiner seemed to work so well. A pity…
Luckily two broad shouldered chaps where present to drag the hysterical Sir Neville away. The Lord Halifax continued his conversation with the Colonel.
“And how do you pwopose to do that, Good Siw? Acquiwe new wecouwces?“
“Very simple, old bean. We simply expand the Navy first and then engage in some oldfashioned gunboat diplomacy. Lesser nations understand nothing else.”
Poor Halifax. The exile must have unhinged him quite a bit, forgetting the proper British way of diplomacy and even defending ships without large guns! The Colonel pitied the man just as he pitied poor Sir Neville. Luckily Sir Winston seemed to be in the full possesion of his full mental capacity.
“Speaking of lesser nations Colonel. The government has requested my aid in bringing new allies into the Entente. In fact, I will leave the country in a day or two. Will you accompany our mission?”
“By the queen-mothers moustace I will, Sir Winston. I need a break from all these bloody Canadians.”
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“Are we there yet Captain?”
“No George, we aren’t”.
Five minutes later…
“And now, are we there yet?”
“No George, we still aren’t”
Five minutes later…
“And now Captain?”
“Sigh. George, we are currently on a ship crossing the Ocean. Such a journey will take days if not weeks, and since we left port just an hour ago: NO we are not THERE yet!”
Five minutes later yet again…
“Are we there yet?”
“I need a drink…”
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In the next episode:
- We will find out where THERE actually is.
(A special 'Colonel Blimps British Cookie of Random Guessing (TM)' to who knows where THERE is.)
- George will make a new friend.
- Perhaps the Entente will be expanded as well.
I also want to shamelessly advertise my other AAR, ItaliAAR. It is a hybrid narrative/gamplay AAR, seasoned with a healthy dose of political intrigue. Just click the link in my Sig…
