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Einheit_elf

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Hello, and welcome to my first AAR, one which marks my transition from a LurkAAR to a WritAAR. This AAR is an ahistorical treatment of the Philippines. ARMA 1.2, SKIF, modified IC, resources, starting tech, tech teams and starting OOB.


51farsfsvxl__ss500_.jpg


Index

PROLOGUE
Chapter I: Storm Clouds of Independence
Chapter II: Across the Ocean

THE GATHERING STORM
Chapter III: Operation Serenity, Part I
Chapter IV: Operation Serenity, Part II
Chapter V: Strategic Overview Briefing, East Asia, Part I
Chapter VI: Strategic Overview Briefing, East Asia, Part II
Chapter VII: Weighing In
Chapter VIII: Spanish Interlude

 
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CHAPTER I: Storm Clouds of Independence


Every year from 1907, the Philippine Assembly and later the Philippine Legislature passed resolutions expressing the Filipino desire for independence.

In 1912, Philippine nationalists led by Manuel Quezon and Sergio Osmena endorsed the Jones Bill of 1912 which promised Philippine independence after 8 years, but later changed their views , opting for a bill which focused less on time than on the conditions of independence. The nationalists demanded complete and absolute independence to be guaranteed by the United States, since they feared that too-rapid independence from American rule without such guarantees might cause the Philippines to fall into Japanese hands. The Jones bill was rewritten and passed Congress in 1916 with a later date of independence.

The law, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act but popularly known as the Jones Law, served as the new organic act (or constitution) for the Philippines. Its preamble stated that the eventual independence of the Philippines would be American policy, subject to the establishment of a stable government. The law maintained the Governor General of the Philippines, appointed by the President of the United States, but established a bicameral Philippine Legislature to replace the elected Philippine Assembly (lower house); it replaced the appointive Philippine Commission (upper house) with an elected senate.

philippine-legislature.jpg



The upper and lower houses of the Philippine Legislature​

The Filipinos suspended their independence campaign during the First World War and supported the United States against Germany. After the war they resumed their independence efforts. The Philippine legislature funded an independence mission to the U.S. in 1919. The mission departed Manila on 28 February and met in the U.S. with and presented their case to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, in his 1921 farewell message to Congress, certified that the Filipino people had performed the condition imposed on them as a prerequisite to independence, declaring that, this having been done, the duty of the U.S. is to grant Philippine independence.

After the first independence mission, public funding of such missions was ruled illegal. Subsequent independence missions in 1922, 1923, 1930 and 1931 were funded by voluntary contributions.

1933 would soon bear fruit for those toiling for independence. After a bitterly contested election, Republican Herbert Hoover was reelected for a second, ultimately final term. His death, shortly after taking office would be the first of many in what was later described as the Second American Civil War.

When the dust finally settled, the United States of America was no more, a United Socialist States of America replacing it. While an offer of friendship was transmitted to the Philippine Department, the Philippines refused to recognize this new regime, instead offering asylum to any citizen of the former USA. The current situation was recognized by the colonial government as untenable and dangerous for them if the Reds were able to extend their reach to the islands. Quezon and his independence lobby from the Assembly met with the Governor General. Three hours later a visibly happy Quezon gave orders to convene a constitutional assembly.

June 12, 1934 saw the passing of the Philippine Independence Act, a move intended to legitimize the islands' de facto independence from the mainland. It was joined by Guam, an ex-US territory mostly settled by Filipinos. Significantly, it also claims territories such as Sabah (currently controlled through British Borneo) and Palau (controlled by Japan through its League of Nations mandate), citing that both were settled by Filipinos and were historically governed from the islands under Spanish rule.
 
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Promising!
 
I was planning to make a Philippines AAR after finishing my current Poland one, as there is a serious dearth of Philippines AARs. But since, judging by the first two posts alone, it seems I can hardly top this, I shall have to put my own on hold for a while. Consider me subscribed!

Einheit_elf, don't abandon this one! I've never seen a completed Philippines AAR. They all seem to get abandoned, even when they're doing well. Keep up the good work!
 
This will surely be interesting. I have never seen a Philippines AAR and will most assuredly be following this with great interest. Do you have any ideas on what your goals will be for this AAR?
 
OnFire, H.Appleby - Welcome!

Black Watch - Nice to see a fellow Filipino! Haha, don't worry about abandonment just yet, I'm actually expecting this AAR to last for a good while, one of the side effects of doing a history book type AAR. BTW, did you notice my blatant attempt to butterfly away all the crap we have to put up with since its campaign period?

History_Buff - Welcome! Since the minors in HOI2 aren't exactly as fleshed out with events, posts will be mostly flavor and some significant tech updates during the first few years.

I'm trying to play this as historical as possible, ergo I'm not going to go and mercilessly conquer every minor and micro power within reach. That said, it's my hope for the Philippines to be the perfect model of decolonialization, a bulwark against fascism, a bastion of democracy and equality in Southeast Asia(remember that it's basically me, the Japs and the various Chinese factions in the area that aren't colonialists) and all that jazz. Right now, I'm thinking that the Philippines joins the noble crusade against the Axis.

******************
Update tonight!
 
CHAPTER II - Across the Ocean


GOVERNMENT:
The Philippines is a unitary multiparty parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government, the weaknesses of a government based on the American model having been made aware to PM Quezon during his stint as leader of the Assembly.

The executive authority of the Philippines is vested in the President. However, the President normally plays a nominal and largely ceremonial role in the executive branch of government. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check on the Council of State and Parliament, he is otherwise required to act in accordance with the advice of the Council of State or of a Minister acting under the general authority of the Council of State.

The Council of State as stipulated in the 1934 Constitution is composed of the President, Prime Minister, Ministers for Defense, Finance, Trade and Industry, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, the head of the Directorate for Central Intelligence, the High Admiral representing the Philippine Navy and Marine Corps, the Field Marshal representing the Army and the newly created position of Air Marshal for the Air Force.

As of January 1, 1936, the Council of State is composed of

President Sergio Osmena
Prime Minister Manuel Quezon
Defense Minister Paulino Santos
Minister for Finance, Trade and Industry Elpidio Quirino
Minister for Foreign Affairs Quintin Paredes
Minister for Home Affairs Jose Yulo
Director for Central Intelligence Benito Ebuen
High Admiral Santiago Nuval
Field Marshal Leoncio Tan
Air Marshal Pelagio Cruz

The Parliament and the President jointly make up the legislature of the Philippines. Parliament is unicameral and is made up of Members of Parliament (MPs), half of which are elected by constituencies, each of which elects one member by first-past-the-post voting. The other half are elected from party candidate lists in such a way as to achieve proportional representation for the Parliament. Accordingly, each voter has two votes in the elections to the Parliament. The first vote, allowing voters to elect their local representatives to the Parliament, decides which candidates are sent to Parliament from the constituencies.
The second vote is cast for a party list; it determines the relative strengths of the parties represented in the Parliament. The maximum term of each Parliament is five years, after which Parliament automatically dissolves. A general election must then be held within three months.

Manila-Legislative-building-Manila-1930s.jpg


Legislative Building, 1930s

QUEZON.JPG


PM Quezon addresses the Parliament, 1935​
 
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Well, I notice you made the Philippines parliamentary, if that's what you're referring to.

And also you made the Philippines independent. I've considered modding this myself as it would give the Philippines greater diplomatic freedom. However, the free resources and blueprints the US gives are too good to pass up, so I've never done it. :D
 
CHAPTER III - Operation Serenity, Part I

RPS Langley
West Philippine Sea
May 23, 1936


You're good Andy, but you're no Red Baron. Andres Guillermo's cheeks still burned at the memory of Major Villamor's evaluation of his last training run. The line had been a simple comment, not meant to be cruel nor delivered that way, but it cut deep into Andy. I've never tried to suggest I'm that good of a pilot. He shook his head. No, you just wanted it to be self-evident and easily recognized by everyone around you. Looking out of his viewport, he could see nothing but empty ocean. While the RPS Langley had been extensively rebuilt, she still seemed like a grand old lady, coasting along. He sighed. Alarm klaxons started blaring. His flight suit already on, he grabbed his Mae West and started for the flight deck.

800px-USS_Langley_43-1193M.jpg


Walking out onto the flight deck, he saw a familiar face.

"Nakpil!" he called, "Jose Nakpil!"

Lieutenant Jose Nakpil did a double take and saw a familiar face. It could only be Lieutenant Andy Guillermo's boyish grin looking back at him.

"Andy!" he grinned "How you doing you old pirate? I haven't seen you in a while. What squadron are you in?"

"I'm with VF-1, just about ready to finish with advanced training. You?"

"I'm with VB-1. Ah, seeing you brings back some memories. Not all of them good." He grinned. "Look me up when we're back at Cubi[1]! Let's get some beers!"

"I'll see you around man" He slapped the man on the back and headed for his crate.

HA7306_F3F-1_2.jpg


"God you're ugly." He commented at the F-1[2] fighter. But he would take her over any ground school work any day. Today was going to be a relatively fun day. Air combat maneuvers, then landing training. He may be a carrier pilot in training but damn it he was a fighter pilot too!

Andy was second in takeoff order, giving him a couple of minutes more to spin up the aircraft.He heard his flight leader in the radio headset "Green Leader, standing by" He was next. "Green 2, good to go." Green 3 and Green 4 each gave their okay. As he watched the leader do his takeoff roll, he psyched himself up to do the same.

Flaps down, check. Throttle open, check. Rolling... good so far... takeoff velocity, down a hair, and whoa! Andy briefly stole a look over the side, seeing the Langley blurring, slowly becoming smaller, till she was out of his sight.

He leveled the plane out, seeing his wingman just ahead. His leader then said, his grin showing despite only hearing it over the radio "Okay gents let the schooling begin."

By the end of the day, he had logged an additional five hours of flight time. As he checked his log book, he saw that he was halfway to the required minimum of forty hours. He then saw Green Leader, proper name Major Guzman, coming up to him. Andy gave a salute.

"Good job earlier. Keep it up and you may just outrank or outlive me. Welcome to the Naval Air Service, fresh meat."

(1) NAS Cubi Point
(2) OTL F3F
 
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Well, I notice you made the Philippines parliamentary, if that's what you're referring to.

And also you made the Philippines independent. I've considered modding this myself as it would give the Philippines greater diplomatic freedom. However, the free resources and blueprints the US gives are too good to pass up, so I've never done it. :D

My hypothesis with going independent is that I don't get dragged into war with my pants down, so to speak, when the nasty Pearl Harbor event pops up. As for the resources, I've modded this, which I plan to expound on in the next update. Blueprints on the other hand, the impact is somewhat cushioned by the fact that I gave the Philippines some of the US starting techs, ones which if the US "gives away" to the Filipinos still makes sense story-wise (ship techs? Sure. nuclear research? Not so much.)
 
Chapter IV - Operation Serenity, Part 2

RPS Pensacola
West Philippine Sea
May 22, 1936


It wasn't often that admiral were outright smiling, not even in an inherently emotional land like the Philippines. However with this kind of fun, how can Vice Admiral Andrada not be happy? In a bid to increase proficiency, drive up recruitment rates and keep the Japs or anyone who wants to mess with the Filipinos on their toes, High Admiral Nuval gave the fleet an order it didn't want to refuse.

Operation Serenity was officially a training exercise. What made it so unprecedented was that virtually the entire fleet was present. There were newspaper correspondents on board most of the ships. Live ammunition was loaded aboard the ships in the great naval bases in Manila and Subic Bays. It was supposed to be like the real thing, or as real as the Admiralty could make it.

g32315.jpg


Vice Admiral Andrada sat in the bridge of his flagship, the former-US Navy, now-Philippine Navy man of war RPS Pensacola. She steamed in column formation along with RPS Houston, RPS Chicago, RPS Marblehead, RPS Trenton, RPS Memphis along with a screen of destroyers. Today, there would be live fire training on hulks scheduled to be scrapped. Foremost among them was the venerable armored cruiser Rochester.

Simultaneously, Langley's flyers would be somewhere west of Subic, getting pilots through the paces of landing and taking off from a moving slab of steel in the middle of nowhere.

He snorted. Planes were one thing, planes at sea were something else. How the heck could those tiny things sink this ship?

He gave an order, "Flags, signal ships "Turn to port and bring main batteries to bear on starboard targets""

"With pleasure sir."

USS_Pensacola_(CA-24)-14d.jpg


As he felt the 4 turrets of his flagship angle to starboard, he felt a chill. No, planes would remain very expensive scouts, mere toys to men with guns as big as these.

As he sat in his chair, 8 inch, 6 inch, 5 inch and even 3 inch shells arced toward the row of targets.

Half an hour later, he called for a status report.

"All training barges sunk and sinking. However target Rochester still not sunk."

The Admiral was disappointed. That was rectified quickly. "Focus fire on the Rochester." All ships answered in the affirmative.

Ten short minutes later, the Rochester was observed to sink more or less evenly in relatively shallow water.

detailed_map_of_spratly_islands.jpg


The second part of the exercise was a bit more sobering. For Serenity II, the fleet was split into two parts. Blue Force, commanded by Andrada and composed of Pensacola, Houston, Chicago, Trenton and Marblehead along with most of the destroyers would be defending against Red Force, which would be attempting to land on Battle Island, an island used by the navy for practice purposes, located west of Palawan, in the Kalayaan archipelago. Red Force, composed of Langley and Memphis would be covering troop transports and providing gunfire support.

All the umpires were of the opinion that Blue Force would certainly prevail, with them having an easier objective and more firepower. Shame it wasn't the case.


Rear Admiral Alcaraz was roused from his sleep. He checked the clock mounted on the bulkhead, 5:15. He was approached by a yeoman. As he was handed a cup of the finest Barako coffee, he was handed a sheaf of papers. "Comm traffic from the last watch sir."

"Thank you. Position check?"

The navigator answered "We're around 5 minutes from Point Gesture." The admiral nodded.

Up on the flight deck, crews were doing final checks on their planes. Virtually the entire air complement of the Langley would be sent up, with the 9 scout bombers of VS-1, sent up an
hour earlier to search for Andrada's marauding battlewagons.

Leaving 2 fighters as a CAP (Blue may not have bombers of their own, but we train as we fight, as the CAG said), 9 SB-1s[1] of VB-1, 9 T-1s[2] of VT-1 and 7 F-1s of VF-1 would be coming for them.

"Admiral, it's time."

"Launch. Turn us into the wind flank speed"

As one, the scout bomber pilots raced to their planes. In minutes all 9 were in the air. They were aided by the SOC amphibians onboard Memphis, covering an area seaward of the intended landing zone.

Andrada's squadron was located by a Seagull off Memphis. Moments after, Langley launched her massed air group and the scout bombers regrouped with them.

What followed could only be described as a massacre. With complete surprise and no defenses, Langley's bombers simulated the complete destruction of Andrada's force, the troop transports safely invading Battle Island and with the carrier's air wing even helping with softening up the ground before invasion.

As Alcaraz read after-action reports, he thought about his fine warship, and how, in a year or more he'd command one befitting his homeland, homegrown, home built. Large, larger than Langley, certainly. Something to look forward to indeed. With enough carriers, he can form the forces he'd been lobbying for, with enough force to bring Poseidon himself down on anyone who trifled with them.

Several days later, lobbyists would approach the senate and propose increasing further the military's budget, with the navy obviously getting the lion's share. Analysts have deduced that this was a reaction to the perceived vulnerability of the Home Islands. It was noted by PM Quezon that the Filipinos were finally becoming more aware of their role in keeping the peace.
______________________________________________________________________________

Writing many years later, (Cmdr.) Jose Nakpil, who had been one of the flyers off Langley in 1936, would rightly state that Langley's exploits during Operation Serenity II marked the first step in the development of the Carrier Task Forces which would be so effective in the Pacific. This operation convinced naval aviators – and some gun club admirals, such as Vice Admiral Andrada – that task forces built around carriers would be of importance in the future of naval warfare.”

“The most important conclusion drawn from the Langley attack was the impossibility of stopping a determined air attack once it was launched. Unfortunately, in the years to come, this lesson would be forgotten, by certain members of the so-called Gun Club—the men who grew up worshipping battleships and were unwavering in their faith in the supremacy of the big gun. Evident to Alcaraz and to the carrier commanders who followed in his footsteps, was the reality that in any future engagement involving aircraft carriers at sea, the first carrier to locate and bomb the other would determine the outcome.”


Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Walsh, PN "GAMBLER: The Story of the Philippine Navy in World War II"

Footage from the observers' cameras were later used as stock footage into a renowned film, Helldivers. Set during the roaring 20s, it featured a love triangle between two pilots and a nurse from the base hospital, lots of air combat and camaraderie among pilots. After a devastating sneak by a cunning foe, the pilots on their own initiative locate and destroy the enemy forces. The film was a resounding success, with many praising the realistic visuals and the wonderfully written love triangle story arc [3]. With Navy recruitment booths right outside the theaters, young Filipinos and exiles[4] flocked in droves to the "fun" and "easygoing" lifestyle of naval aviators. The Navy would certainly have no problems with its expansion program now.

[1]OTL SBC Helldiver
[2]OTL BT-1
[3]VERY tongue-in-cheek
[4]Americans exiled from their homeland due to the Communist regime
 
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Strategic Overview Briefing
Staff Meeting of Lieutenant General Herrera

He looked at the mish-mash of maps stretching from one side of the wall in the conference room. Pins and small marks showed the supposed positions of troops, though information in most of it was sketchy at best. Nobody really knew anything. Of course, he mused, with all the war going on, he might need to buy a new map soon. Footsteps on wood were soon heard and he knew it would be another long afternoon.

"Good afternoon all. If we are all ready, I shall proceed with the briefing. To keep it manageable, I'll be doing it by regions. I'll begin in our own backyard and work my way west" said Colonel Santos.

"So then, South East Asia."

"Somewhat obviously, the Japs are the big players. This is followed by the Russians in the north. The Brits in Burma, Malaya, Borneo and India, the French in Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, as well as the Thais and the Portuguese. Somewhat further south, the Aussies and the Kiwis. Of course we shouldn't forget about the various Chinese warlords."

"Currently, Japan is the biggest threat to peace in the Orient. It's only been 5 years since the Japs grabbed Manchuria right under the Chinese collective noose. Since then they've been making noises about going further north and south , if you can believe that. It seems like they want the whole of East Asia for themselves. Military expenditures have been going up like it was the Meiji Restoration all over again. When the Japs come crashing in, you can bet it will be big."

"I'd like more detailed information on Japan, intentions, capabilities, projections as soon as possible. We'll have a war on our hands and I don't want to be caught unawares."

"I'll contact DCI and the General Staff and put something together."

"Hmm. And China?"

"Well, it's... interesting. We have a total of 8 main factions in play. There's the Nationalist government in Nanjing. We have Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state, in the north. A bit south of that, we have the Shanxi warlord domain under Yan Xishan. Down here, by the Pearl River Delta and in Hainan, we have the Guanxi warlords headed by Li Zongren. We have another faction of warlords in Yunnan province, with Long Yun in charge. There's the Muslim warlords over to the west. Of course we have the local variant of Communist, sitting pretty in those central mountains. We also have Sheng Shicai's Sinkiang, smack in the middle of the Soviets and the Brits. And we have Tibet."

"Tell me about Chiang's faction."

"The Generallissimo has been cooperating a lot with the other warlords in an attempt to flush the communists out of their mountain strongholds. God knows he'll try but the communists have the strength of their prepared positions, the difficult logistics, as well as their troops just being better trained and better led. Of course with that ceasefire they've concluded this is all academic. We've been reading a lot of back and forth between Berlin and Nanjing."

He took a sip of water and continued. "The Germans want raw materials, which China has, and in turn they provide industrial products, development and military organization. The National Revolutionary Army has been cooperating a lot with the Germans. As far as we can tell, they already have 8 divisions of troops kitted out to German standards."

"This isn't good. If they get their act together, we may be looking at three threats instead of two."

"Yes, but they could also become a powerful ally."

He grunted. "Let's move on. The French."

"The French are keeping quiet. There's still some discomfort with neighboring Thailand over some disputed territories. We rate the risk of war as "possible". The Thais are probably not stupid enough to actually go to war on its own hook. Their Far East Squadron is tucked away in Camh Ranh Bay as usual, with the occasional ship going to their treaty port in Guangzhouwan. We don't know if they'll pull back their two infantry divisions to Europe but for the moment the Division de Tonkin and the Division de Cochinchine-Cambodge are staying put."

"You mentioned the Thais. Follow up with them."

"Yes sir. Thai Army: 2 infantry divisions, one of garrison troops. They are keeping very quiet and we think they'll just stay isolationist. The Thai Navy is composed of two ancient "coast defense ships" which are glorified protected cruisers. However they are taking control of 2 light cruisers from Italy soon. We're countering that with our own Ciudad de Cebu-class light cruisers. Also note that they don't have any significant expeditionary transport force. Their air force is staying in friendly airspace. Nothing to note."

"All right, thank you Colonel. I'm running late for a meeting. How does 0900 tomorrow sound?"

"0900 tomorrow it is sir."

"See you then."
 
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Strategic Overview Briefing
Staff Meeting of Lieutenant General Herrera


"Now then Sir. The British Empire. With colonies in Hong Kong, Borneo, the Malayan peninsula, Ceylon and of course the Raj, it is quite vast and powerful. Except that's a lie. From what we can piece together, they are actually stretched quite thin."

"We'll start with the Royal Navy. They have two main deployments, first we have the China Station in Hong Kong. From what we can tell, the threat lies in HMS Eagle, the sole British aircraft carrier in the Far East. They also have a light cruiser, some destroyers and several submarines. They are mostly concerned with trade protection in the West Philippine Sea and keeping up lanes of communication. Over in Trincomalee, we have the East Indies Station. 4 cruisers and some destroyers are all that the Royal Navy has in the Indian Ocean. Of course we musn't discount the nearby Dominions of Australia and New Zealand. Together they bring around 6 cruisers, several destroyers and significant transport capabilities."

"The British, though they try to keep us in the dark about these things, don't actually have mobile forces east of Rangoon. With nothing but garrison troops in Singapore and Hong Kong they can hold, but they can't conquer. In Burma and India proper, they have at least 12 divisions. That's not counting any divisions from Australia, New Zealand, Nepal and Bhutan."

"Okay, the Dutch." the General said.

"While we've been hearing about reports of discontent within the East Indies natives, the Dutch seem to have things under control. From contacts in their government, we know that they have a modest military expansion program on the docket. They're projecting 2 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and several modern destroyers and submarines. Their army air corps is impeccable. Well trained with well designed aircraft. Their army has roughly 3 divisions total in their colonies and they have enough transports to get at least a division of them wherever they need to go."

"Lastly the Portuguese."

"Not a threat. At all. They're just sitting tight in Macao, East Timor and Goa. They have little but garrison forces in their colonies and those are enough to prevent rebellion not invasion. No ships, no aircraft."

"All right. Good brief."
 
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How many exiles are there in the Philippines in total? Anybody we know?
 
I'm supposing the influx of American refugees from the Second American Civil War provides justification for improving the Philippines' starting techs, tech teams, military, and IC. What did you change Philippine starting IC to, I wonder?
 
H. Appleby - Roughly 50,000 civilians made it out of CONUS. That number doesn’t include those in the military or those already living in the islands as of The Fall.

Black Watch- Yeah, I changed the PI’s starting IC to 25 base IC. I’m not entirely sure how fair it is though. In any case, it’s an alternate history anyway. :)
 
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CHAPTER VII - Weighing In

scan0034-1.jpg


High Admiral Nuval walked down the corridors on the top floor of the Marsman building, a quick 30 minute drive from his quarters at the Sangley Point naval base. While the building was adequate for the Navy Department’s current needs, he couldn’t wait until the new Navy Department building was completed. Approved as part of the new planned capital, he had recently seen the designs presented by the architect, a certain Juan Arellano, and approved immensely. He soon reached his office. The large office windows overlooked the harbor. He would miss this view though. From the window he could see the ships of the Home Fleet filing into the harbor, the carrier and the cruisers off to their berths near Cavite, the destroyers near Manila and the subs and PT boats proceeding slightly north to Mariveles.

On the way in he nodded at his secretary, a man of forty. The yeoman leapt to his feet and followed his admiral into the inner office. It was a Monday morning, and Nuval had a pile of mail on his desk. His yeoman got him a pot of tea and a cup. While the choice of drink was something uncommon in the islands, he prefered it to the coffee native to his country. He settled into his chair and reading first through information copies of data sent each morning and evening to the various commands of the Philippine Navy, then came the official mail from within the Navy Department, the Home Fleet and the Ministry of Defense. He then came across the Manila Times.

"AQUINO DEAD: Benigno Aquino Sr. was summoned for a Parliament hearing into alleged graft and corruption regarding the acquisition of the new Independence class aircraft carriers when his car was ambushed and subsequently riddled with bullets. The perpetrators remain at large."

-Manila Times, May 26, 1936

He put the paper down. I can only imagine how the man on the street is taking this, he mused. Near the bottom of the pile was an official looking Manila envelope from the Home Fleet, larger than the others. Andrada or Alcaraz?, he wondered. The code number in the corner indicates that it came from Langley. Alcaraz then, he thought. He started to read.

MEMORANDUM
RE: AFTER-ACTION REPORT, OPERATION SERENITY

CLASSIFIED - TOP SECRET

1. INTRODUCTION
A. This document covers experiences of the naval air group of RPS LANGLEY during the duration of OPERATION SERENITY from 23 May 1936 to 28 May 1936. It includes a summary of events, a synthesis of experiences, and recommendations based on said experience.

2. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
A. RPS LANGLEY departed Cavite Naval Base under orders to proceed to Point GESTURE on 21 May 1936. The ship and her escorts were designated RED FORCE and ordered to defend a beach landing against a hostile surface force designated BLUE FORCE. RPS LANGLEY arrived at Point GESTURE on 25 May 1936.

B. Upon arrival at Point GESTURE, naval aviators conducted reconnaissance of the area, mock attacks on the Malampaya Range Complex and touch and go's, at a rate of an average of two sorties a day. Normal training munitions expenditures were reported.

C. Serenity II began 26 May 1936. Scout bombers of VS-20 locate BLUE FORCE, steaming in line formation. VT-1, VB-1 and 6 planes from VF-1 are launched. Torpedo planes of VT-1 were able to concentrate on RPS Houston and RPS Chicago. While Houston was able to dodge the torpedos, Chicago was "sunk" with one hits on her bow and one amidships. Chicago was declared sunk and ordered to Palawan. Dive bombers from VB-1 were then able to dive upon Marblehead and Houston. Houston takes a bomb on her No. 3 turret and was declared damaged. Marblehead was struck by two bombs and declared sunk. The strike force heads back to RPS LANGLEY.

He flips towards the end, curious at the young officer's remarks.

3. SYNTHESIS OF EXPERIENCE
A. While adequate to daily patrol operations, the current air group of RPS LANGLEY is inadequate to a battle situation. The ship currently carries thirty-six aircraft in the mix of nine F-1, nine T-1, and eighteen SB-1. In comparison, a standard Air Force bombing squadron contains sixteen aircraft and is not expected to provide its own fighter security, nor perform combat air patrols.

B. The inability of RPS LANGLEY to keep sufficient aircraft airborne at all times to provide a combat air patrol in appropriate weather conditions leads to increased vulnerability to air attack.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS
A. RPS LANGLEY is ill-suited to expansion of her air group. However, new fleet construction should include both modern combat aircraft and a larger capacity air group organized along similar lines to an Air Force Squadron with additional strength to reflect the difficulty of replacement at sea.

B. It is recommended that naval aviation be used en masse. The cumulative effect of two carriers is greater than the effect of two single carriers, simply because combat air patrols can be overlapped.

C. Pilot training is a vital portion of crew readiness. Pilots need to be capable of operation in all climates and conditions both on land and at sea. The establishment of a separate pilot training command from the Army Air Corps is imperative in order to produce qualified naval aviators rather than relying on the current standard of makeshift training procedures at sea.

D. Attached, in Appendix "B," is a proposed training scheme for future aviation operations, from basic flight training to yearly fleet exercise.

5. CONCLUSIONS
A. Based on the experience of OPERATION SERENITY, there is a need for better aircrew training, an expanded air group, and combined task forces with multiple aircraft carriers. If any concerns are raised regarding the above recommendations, they may be addressed to the undersigned.

CAPTAIN BERTRAM COOPER
COMMANDER, AIR GROUP, RPS LANGLEY

Endorsed:
CAPTAIN MILES BROWNING
CAPTAIN, RPS LANGLEY

VICE ADMIRAL RAMON ALCARAZ
SQUADRON COMMANDER, TF 1
 
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That's nice! Very Deco.

In any event, I'm talking about Dugout Doug and his adjutant.
 
H. Appleby - Ah! I'm actually putting something together, set during the Second American Civil War, with Dugout Doug's ultimate fate being revealed. :)