by Hall, Gerald
“The Royals did not want to sail in Britannia because they wanted to experience exactly how our sailors live while at sea, not sail in luxury aboard the Royal Yacht. Prince Charles is very interested in naval aviation. So he wanted to spend some time aboard Ark Royal. Besides, Britannia is too slow to keep up with even the fleet support ships.” Captain Roger Stewart replied.
“Isn’t there a concern that these ships could end up in a combat situation and place their ‘passengers’ in peril?”
“I’m sure that Admiral Harris already has contingency plans in place to ensure the safety of the members of the Royal Family that will be aboard his ships. After all, they are among the most heavily armored ships in the world. They will also not be facing other battleships, especially since only the Americans, French and Italians have any battleships now. Even the last of the German, Japanese and South American battleships have been decommissioned.
I rather doubt that the Americans or French will be sailing their capital ships anywhere near where our task force will be going. The Italians’ sole remaining battleship Italia, has only left the Mediterranean once since it was launched. Even then, it made it only as far as the Red Sea before returning back to port.
Besides, if something does happen out there, it is highly likely that we will end up gaining support among the voters. That would mean that we could finally get the funds from Parliament to bring our forces back up to a much more viable level.”
“We bloody well need to. Did you hear about the latest intelligence concerning Jerry’s new naval construction?”
“I know that they have been building a hell of a lot of bloody big destroyers. Have we learned about something new that the Germans are also building?”
“Yes, we have. Jerry has laid down a pair of new cruisers. Our intelligence says that they are slightly larger than their Hippers. But most importantly, they are supposed to be their first warships to be designed from the keel up to be armed primarily with guided missiles. They are going to have a relatively light gun armament, thought there is a rumor that they will be armed with a single eight-inch naval rifle with an automatic loader to significantly increase its rate of fire. They will also have at least two surface-to-air missile launchers and several anti-ship cruise missiles.
The Germans appear to also be constructing two new fleet aircraft carriers that are modified versions of the Graf Zeppelin, but larger in size and equipped with an augmented air group in addition to the latest in air defense weapons.”
“It sounds like Jerry is getting serious about power projection. But where would they be wanting to extend their power to, Sir?”
“The answer to that question is very simple. Africa.”
“Why Africa, Sir?”
“If you have been keeping up with news reports, the Germans have been investing heavily in African mining concerns. Jerry has also been sending contingents of experts to assist, including armed security ‘experts’ to protect their investments in the vicinity.
How long do you think that it will be before the Germans decide to set up security arrangements with the local governments and seize effective control? A lot of these areas that the Germans have recently invested in also used to be German colonies before the First World War. An aircraft carrier can have a lot of influence over an area in a way that a gunboat or even a battleship could not.”
“I see your point, Sir. So you think that the Germans are becoming expansionist once again?”
“It is quite possible, though not like what happened two decades ago. Poland and Czechoslovakia are both independent now. But they have both signed non-aggression pacts with the new German government. Russia has been neutered by the Germans as a result of the war as have France and all of the Low Countries. None of them are legally conquered German territory, but they all are still unable or unwilling to cross the Germans in any way, economically or militarily. Even with the significant reduction in size of the German military compared to its peak in 1939, it is the most powerful force on the European continent due to its modern equipment, high degree of training and battle experience.
We can probably match it, but neither of us wants to fight another all-out war, nor can we afford to.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing us build some new cruisers either. Our battleships with all of those new weapons are damned impressive certainly. But they are expensive to for us to operate. We only have a very limited number of them also. It will be very hard for them to be in as many different places at the same time where we might want them. Battleships are also essentially impossible for us to replace as well.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven:
Cavill Shipyards
Derby, Western Australia
January 9, 1958
Sarah Cavill walked through the door into Alex Portman’s office. The Chief Naval Architect for Cavill Shipyards was startled at the young woman’s unexpected arrival.
“Hello, Miss Cavill. What brings you here today?”
“I wanted to personally bring you the good news. We just received an order from the Indian Navy for three modified Bandfish-class hunter-killer submarines.”
“The export sale has been approved the Minstry of Defense already?” A surprised Alex asked.
“Of course. I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t have the deal already in hand, Alex. I know that you will want to let your people know the good news.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. I am going to need to go over all of the details for the modifications and set up the production schedule right away. But I’m sure that everyone here is going to be totally stoked about this.”
“It will be good to get back into the business of shipbuilding once again. We have been doing a fair amount of upgrade and refitting work, but it just isn’t the same as building ships from the keel up. Hopefully, we will be able to shake all of the rust off of our skills pretty quickly.”
“With all of the experience that our people have had over the past several years building large steel cylinders for our Sea Dragon rockets, they would be right at home building three new submarines for the Indian Navy.” Alex replied.
“I would rather prefer that they were building new boats for the Australian Navy though. At least we got the contract to refurbish and upgrade the Navy’s existing boats. That will keep them ahead of anything that even the Germans have built. ”
“I agree. But until we can convince the Admiralty in Canberra of the need for new vessels, we will simply have to rely upon export orders and rocket production to keep our division’s people busy and our balance sheets in the black.”
“Yes, I would too. I suppose that the Indians have decided that the castoffs from other navies simply were not going to be good enough anymore. We were lucky that the Germans didn’t get the contract instead. We might have had to lay off some good workers if that had happened.”
“That’s true. But we offered a much better price than the Germans did according to my sources in Delhi. I guess that the Germans were hoping that their reputation for advanced technology and manufacturing quality would allow them to justify a much higher price.”
“Perhaps so. But the reality is that the Indians are penny-pinchers when it comes to purchasing anything. The information that Judith and the rest of your siblings managed to dig up about those corrupt Indian politicians didn’t exactly hurt either. Those foolish wankers were rather quickly charged with attempting to solicit bribes from both us and the Germans.”
“Yes, it is clear that you and your siblings are just as sharp as your father was, it seems. India is a huge market, especially with the continuing troubles in China and Pakistan. I bet that the Cavill kids are already planning on selling even more to the Indian’s.”
“There are other markets too, of course.” Sarah reminded Alex.
“Yes, there are. But we have a couple of problems still. First, we still have a very limited production base. That is why we have to enter into co-production agreements for any significant production runs of our designs. Se
condly, there is still a lot of competition out there even if we build the best designs in the world.
Even so, we have teams travelling all over the world attempting to sell our designs, both military and civilian. We have some possibilities for significant sales in various countries in South America, Europe and even in Southern Africa at this point.”
“Yes, I heard about our negotiations with the South African government. That could be very profitable for us, especially since South Africa is very wealthy for its size.”
“Indeed, we could potentially sell them a wide variety of weapons to recapitalize their military. In return, we would receive a combination of cash and valuable minerals that we do not possess sufficient quantities of here in Australia.” Sarah noted.
“I hope that we do not have any complications as a result of doing business with the South African government. There are some international organizations who have begun to object to anyone doing any sort of commercial deals there because of the situation with their indigenous population.”
“I am aware of the situation. Currently, the group involved in the insurgency opposing the current South African government wants to overthrow it by force and replace it with a Marxist government. Unless someone committed to a peaceful democratic power-sharing arrangement takes control of that resistance group, I have no problem at all selling weapons to the South African government. You know how Harold Cavill felt about Marxists. His kids feel exactly the same way too about anyone trying to shove that damned political system down anyone’s throat, especially by force.” Sarah forcefully replied.
“Yes, Ma’am. That bloody well works for me too.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight:
HMAS Sterling aka Fleet Base West
Garden Island, Western Australia
January 18, 1958
The aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne, sat at the Fleet Base’s main pier just ahead of a pair of newly refitted RAN guided missile destroyers. A variety of other RAN ships of various types were also tied up at the naval base. Hundreds of their sailors were now standing at the rails, either rendering honors or simply sightseeing, towards the long line of Royal Navy warships and support vessels that slowly sailed towards the protected anchorage there.
Captain Sterling Hawthorne, HMAS Melbourne’s commander watched from the aircraft carrier’s bridge as the British task force sailed into Cockburn South as part of its world circumference goodwill mission. Melbourne’s First Officer Commander Erik Littner and Air Group Leader Commander Julian Atworth stood there next to him admiring the long line of warships. The British task force was just passing two heavy shore battery guns that still occupied the Scriven Battery that protected the entrances to Perth and Fremantle.
“That’s a damned powerful group of warships to be guarding a young prince, don’t you think Sir?” Erik asked.
“Perhaps so. But it is also a bloody effective way to demonstrate the Royal Navy’s ability to deploy a major group of warships anywhere in the world on short notice. We had no idea that the British were going to do this until it was announced a couple of weeks before they left Portsmouth.” Captain Hawthorne answered.
“I sure with that we had missile-armed cruisers and battleships. They are quite impressive, I have to admit. Ark Royal is even bigger than we are. She can also operate a larger air group than ours as well.” Julian commented as the massive Royal Navy fleet carrier slowly sailed past towards the pier. Julian noted quietly.
“Yes, but we’re armed almost identically to her. We’ve also an angled deck like her too. That allows both of our ships to conduct landing and takeoff operations simultaneously.” Erik interjected.
“There is one other thing as well in our favor. Our jets are far more capable than those de Havilland’s on Ark Royal’s deck. I just don’t know what the politicians in London have been thinking. I’m bloody well glad though that the Cavills not only build good ships but that they also build some incredible aircraft as well.”
At that moment, a quartet of Australian Hummingbird tilt-wing transports flew overhead and then landed nearly simultaneously on Melbourne’s flight deck. A few seconds later, the transports disgorged over fifty heavily-armed Australian marines in full combat gear.
“I was wondering when our Marine contingent was finally going to come aboard. I have to admit, it would have been far simpler for them to have simply walked up from the dock however.” Captain Hawthorne said with a sigh.
“You know how our Marines are. They like to make a dramatic entrance, especially after they hired those former American Marines as trainers a few years ago.” Erik chuckled.
“I suppose that they want to show off to the Royal Marines that I’m sure are on board Ark Royal and King George V to provide security for the Prince of Wales.”
“Probably so, Julian.” Sterling answered with a sly smile.
“Of course, the British have Hummingbirds aboard a couple of their ships too, Sir. I’m sure that they could use their tilt-wings to transport Royal Marines around just as we do.” Erik responded.
“I know. In fact, I’m sure that they have had considerable practice doing so. But we still own more Hummingbirds and CH-3 transport helicopters than the entire British military, courtesy of the deals that we have made with Cavill Aviation. I believe that our air wings are still more capable at this time.”
“I have to agree with you on that part, Sir. How long are the British planning on staying at HMAS Sterling before they leave to go to their next stop?”
“Only a couple of days, then they will be proceeding to Hong Kong to visit the British colony there.” Captain Hawthorne replied.
“Aren’t they worried about the Chinese civil war still going on, Sir?” Erik pensively asked.
“I guess not. After all, they do have that company of Royal Marines with them. Those are some very elite troops, as you know.”
“Will those Marines be with the Prince during the entire time that he is off of the carrier, Sir? It is hard to believe that they would be.”
“Probably not. But they can be deployed fairly quickly when needed.”
“That is all well and good. But there are over four million Chinese there on Hong Kong. What if a couple hundred thousand of them decided to riot near where the Prince is going, Sir?”
“Well, let’s hope that someone has enough sense to get His Majesty the bloody hell out of there before his security team can get overwhelmed.”
“I pray that we never find out whether or not they do, Sir.”
“In any event, we will not be sitting idly by while all of the festivities occur. The good news is that we are going to be sailing out towards China with Admiral Harris and his warships to participate in joint maneuvers. It will be good to practice again with major units of the Royal Navy.
Chapter Thirty-Nine:
HMS Ark Royal
Hong Kong Harbor
January 24, 1958
“The Royal party is now preparing to depart the ship, Sir.” Ark Royal’s First Officer reported as he looked down at the ship’s boat preparing to cast off from the side of the aircraft carrier.
“Very good, Mister Collins. Now, we just have to wait and hope that nothing unpleasant happens for the next few hours until we can get the Prince and the First Sea Lord back safely onboard.” Captain Stewart responded.
“At least, Admiral Harris has not gotten underfoot a great deal during this operation.
“There is that. He is preparing to retire from the service in the near future anyway. This operation is to be his swan song after so many years in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy. There are a few rumors out there saying that perhaps he has stayed in uniform a few years too long. There are some questions about his mental acumen at the current time.”
“Perhaps we are going to end up being the de facto commanders of this little operation, whether we like it or not. The flag captain is probably going to have his hands full with Admiral Harris if indeed he may not be capable of effective command of his faculties any
longer. I know John Danforth. He’s a good man, but I don’t think that he really wants to try to command this task force, especially with all of the changes that have been made to our ships and capabilities.
John came up during the big gun era. That’s why he is in command of one of our remaining battleships. But he is still trying to feel his way around this entire guided missile business. I came up with the Fleet Air Arm and even flew a couple of the early jets. I have a very good idea of how to employ Ark Royal, even with the new jets and defensive armament.”
“That is very good to know, at least in regards to your ability to handle all of these new ‘toys’ that you now have to work with.
A small flotilla of boats sailed away from Ark Royal, King George V and several other warships towards the main passenger arrival pier. Aboard the largest of the ship’s boats were the First Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten and the young heir to the throne of the House of Windsor.
“Look at all of the people out there cheering, Uncle.” Charles said as he looked from his car in the middle of the motorcade.
“Yes, Your Majesty. They are very happy that Hong Kong has remained an island of calm amidst the storm of the civil war that is occurring in most of the rest of China.”
“This looks like it is going to be a lot of fun for us here.” The Prince of Wales replied.
His security force, nor the Hong Kong police guarding the motorcade route, could not see the more than two dozen armed Chinese waiting along the route. These men had carefully hidden themselves among the cheering crowds. They also knew that they were nearby a point where numerous fireworks were being fired off in celebration of the Royal visit.
Their plan was to take advantage of the noise of the fireworks to conceal the sound of the attackers’ own weapons. But these mysterious assailants had other measures that they were going to use to confuse the security guards protecting the motorcade route and the cars themselves.