yesterdays war

by gerald hall

  “However, there is one room that you can’t see right now. In fact, no one but myself is to ever go into for any reason, my dear. I have carefully ensured that the entrance to this room is hidden from view on purpose. I am telling you about this room ahead of time though because of the importance of it remaining absolutely inviolate. Please do not even tell anyone of the existence of this room either.” Harold explained with a serious look in his eyes as he looked at Dorothy. He had thought for a long time about not telling her about the room at all.

  “You don’t want me to see what is inside this secret room of yours, Harold?” She said, taken aback by his statement.

  “No, Dorothy, not even you. I love you very much. But, there are some secrets of mine that must be kept away from everyone for the sake of the entire world, I fear. I hope very much that you will understand.”

  “Why don’t you want me to see what you have in this secret room of yours? I would never do anything to hurt you or cause you problems.”

  “There are just some things that are too dangerous for the rest of the world to know about. While you just might understand, I simply cannot afford to take that chance. It is much better that you not know what is in there. I especially cannot afford for anyone else to know the contents of that room. If those were to be discovered, our world could be utterly destroyed by it.”

  Dorothy said nothing to her new husband after he had just shown what appeared to be a complete lack of trust in her. What could it be that was so dangerous and so important that Harold couldn’t even allow her to see it?

  Dorothy took a moment to think about the situation. This man had brought her halfway around the world and had offered her the opportunity of a lifetime. She was still very much in love with Harold. So Dorothy decided to not argue any further about the subject. There would be time enough for that at the proper opportunity. For now, Dorothy would focus on her new job and her new life as Mrs. Harold Cavill.

  Cavill Shipyard Main Office Derby, Western Australia September 21, 1930

  After a short honeymoon, Harold was back at work while Dorothy was getting accustomed to life in Western Australia. Harold’s plans continued to run into obstacles as he tried to create the industrial infrastructure that he felt would be needed later on. Not everyone had the same confidence in Harold’s ideas as he did. So it was frequently necessary to do some convincing.

  Harold was there in the small conference room with his chief naval architect, Alexander Portman and the manager of Cavill Propulsion Systems, George Cartwright. They were discussing Harold’s latest instructions concerning new ship designs coming out of the shipyard. There had been more than a few disagreements between the three men about this.

  “Every other shipyard in the world, with only a few exceptions, is building their commercial and military ships with either triple-expansion steam engines or steam turbines connected to reduction gearboxes, Sir. Why are we going in a completely different direction here, Mister Cavill?” George asked.

  “Because we need enough power for high-speed operations and long range. It is vital that we obtain the maximum amount of range per ton of fuel oil. We don’t know how available that fuel oil will be in time of war. It is also a certainty that modern ships will need an ever-increasing amount of electrical power as well. The electric generation system will allow for much more flexibility in powering the ship and all of its systems.”

  “These designs that you want are going to be much more expensive to construct than current designs, Sir.”

  “I understand that, though we will drive our costs down through economies of scale in the long run. I can handle the extra cost in the short run. But, if we are going to be able to build an efficient power train for our ships, we are going to have to go with a turbo-electric system. I simply cannot afford the time or resources to build the sort of facilities needed to manufacture large double-reduction gearboxes. So far the only people who have been able to do that kind of precision manufacturing have been the Americans with their vast amount of available financial resources. The applications for that equipment are also very limited as well. That limits our market and our potential profitability.”

  Actually, Harold did have the necessary information to design such precision equipment available from his computer database. But creating the facilities and finding the skilled personnel to operate them would not only be extremely expensive, but would have such a specialized application that it would be obvious that they were for the construction of warships. Large electric generators and motors would have a wide variety of military and civilian applications. This mattered particularly because Harold had carefully developed his businesses so that at the very least, they could be portrayed as having civilian applications with the exception of his ordnance works.

  In the latter case, the weapons produced there were primarily small arms and some lighter cannon suitable for naval or army use. The relative amount of earnings from that particular company were much smaller than the rest of Harold’s holdings. But the ordnance works could easily be justified as part of Harold’s corporate holdings, especially in this time period. There was always a market for guns somewhere out there.

  “Mister Cavill, you are going to have additional power losses with a steam turbo-electric power plant through the transmission of power from the generators to the electric drive motors over that of a geared system. It will be a heavier system overall.” George noted.

  “I know, but the advantages with flexibility in the power plant’s location in the hull itself, the ability to subdivide the hull more effectively and the elimination of reverse turbines should make up for most of those drawbacks by themselves. If we go for a superheated, high-pressure boiler and turbine set, we can more than make up for those power transmission losses as well.

  Remember, the Americans are going to have to worry about the additional mass displacement with their naval treaty limitations. We will have no such limitations here, especially with our civilian ship production.

  Therefore, we can afford the extra mass. Even so, I am certain that with the use of superheated steam in the 650 to 700 psi pressure range, our power plant will be compact enough to save a significant percentage of the additional mass that you are concerned about. The power plant will also burn fuel far more efficiently so that our ships will have a longer operating radius as well.” Alexander explained.

  “I have seen some information on high pressure plants like that before. They will still be a challenge to design.” George replied.

  “I am certain that you will succeed. I will provide you with whatever additional information that I am able to obtain on this technology to assist you with your work, Mister Cartwright.”

  “Where do you want to build the land test unit, Sir?”

  “We will set the equipment up inside the electrical power station near Derby. I will arrange for construction to begin on an expansion to existing structure under the auspices of increasing electrical power production at the plant.

  Of course, we will be connecting our new high-pressure steam plant’s turbines to the power station’s unused electrical generators. That way, the power that we produce while we are testing our new steam plant can be put to good use throughout this area and support our cover story to the rest of the world. We don’t want the wrong people to get too curious about what we are doing.”

  “If we are going to test the entire system properly as it would be when installed in a ship, it will mean that we will have to use oil-fired boilers, not the coal-fired units that you have currently at the power station, Mister Cavill.” George explained.

  “I am fully aware of that, Mister Cartwright. I will secure a good supply of fuel oil in time for your tests, I assure you.”

  “That will solve one problem. But we still have a lot more to deal with.” Alexander said.

  “I know, Gentlemen. But I brought both of you here because both of you are very talented. I have complete confidence that you will be able to find solutions to all of the
problems that you see now or might encounter later.”

  “Thank you, Sir. We take pride in the work that we do.” Alexander replied. It certainly felt good to be acknowledged by one’s employer. Of course, Harold Cavill paid very well, especially to his top performers.

  “Now, Alexander. Please tell me about the new fast cargo ships that I asked for.”

  “The specifications that you gave us were quite interesting. I believe that my designers and I have come up with a satisfactory standard design that can be lengthened for additional cargo space if desired. The design’s engine room is also suitable for either steam or diesel propulsion units.” Alexander replied while pulling out a set of blueprints from a large set of wide, flat drawers.

  He laid out the large sheets of paper onto a table and then began to point out certain elements of the mechanical drawings to Harold.

  “Sir, you can see here how we have laid out the ship with a common engine room block that is large enough for either multiple diesel-generator units or a pair of steam-driven turbo-generators. There are actually four separate rooms in side-by-side pairs. But they would use a common electric motor design whether diesel or steam is used to generate the power going to the motors. The cargo and passenger blocks can be expanded by extending the length of the keel when the ship is laid down.”

  “What is the gross tonnage range for this ship?”

  “We can build vessels based on this basic design ranging from eight to fourteen-thousand tons. I also want to mention that depending on the engines installed, the maximum speed would range between eighteen and twenty-four knots.”

  “That appears to be exactly what I wanted. Give me an estimate of the cost and construction time to produce two of the long hull versions of this design. They will need to be diesel-electric powered with a maximum speed of twenty-two knots. They will also need to carry enough fuel oil for a transpacific voyage plus the normal reserve.”

  “Do you want these ships to be pure cargo ships or combination of cargo and passenger vessels, Mister Cavill?”

  “Since we still move quite a few people by ship, we should plan to accommodate up to one hundred passengers in addition to the normal crew. Otherwise, plan on these ships being primarily cargo ships. That will require the usual cranes on deck to move cargo. Plan also on additional subdivision within the hull to increase survivability in case of an incident.

  “Is there anything else that you want, Mister Cavill?”

  Harold thought for a few moments. He knew that there would be times where it would be advantageous to be able to offload large cargos even without a regular port facility being available. There was a design for a ship that used something like a well deck to carry lighters or shallow-draft barges loaded with cargo. Then, the ship would ballast itself to flood the well deck so that the lighters could carry the cargo to shore. It would also be very suitable for amphibious military operations as well.

  Harold then began to describe the concept to Alexander who listened very intently before responding.

  “I would imagine that we could do something like that with the long hull design. It would take some extra time to design it, especially with this well deck and ballasting system of yours. Is there anything else, Sir?”

  Just one other thing for now, Alex. I would like to also have reinforced points on the deck in these locations for all of the ships based on this design.” Harold said as the pointed to several spots on the blueprints.

  “We can do that without adding to much extra cost or tonnage to the design.” Alexander confidently said.

  What Harold didn’t say was the purpose of those reinforcements on the ships’ decks. While he knew that this could never be a true warship, Harold fully intended for this design to be able to defend itself in wartime against aerial and surface threats. He already foresaw the ship design being adaptable to a number of roles beyond a mere cargo ship. When the war would begin, this new ship design would be in demand for transporting troops and supplies quickly to the war zone.

  Harold had also incorporated various features that would make this ship ideal for a fleet support ship like the GermanDithmarschen-class vessels that would later be built to support their navy during the Second World War. But most importantly, the ship was easily adapted for the role of escort aircraft carrier. In fact, it was faster than virtually any escort carrier built during the Second World War, making the ship a useful supplement to fleet aircraft carriers. The capability to carry a sufficiently potent defensive armament was a vital feature of these ships in the more military roles as well.

  But for now, Harold was going to use the ships himself as part of his own small shipping line. That way, he could control the ships, test the designs and have the means of securely shipping out products to his customers without the prying eyes of others seeing what Harold was doing. To the rest of the world, Harold would simply appear to be adding to his financial and industrial empire.

  Chapter Twelve: Harold Cavill’s Home Derby, Western Australia September 22, 1930

  “They are all dead! Those bastards finally went ahead and blew it all up. Oh, Judith, what can I do?” Harold mournfully cried out while in the middle of one of his all too common nightmares. Dorothy had been growing increasingly worried.

  “Harold! Are you alright, Sweetheart?” she asked ask Harold continued to cry out and thrash in the midst of this latest nightmare. She was finally able to wake him up after a few moments. Harold’s eyes flew wide open and he quickly looked around the room for a few seconds before Dorothy was able to calm him down.

  “What happened?” “You were having another one of your nightmares, Sweetheart. I had to wake you up because you were obviously in a very bad way.” Dorothy said as she held Harold close in her arms.

  “I’m sorry, Dorothy. I guess that I woke you up too.” Harold sheepishly responded. He wasn’t aware of just how intense his nightmares had become.

  “Did you serve in the Great War, Harold? I have heard that a lot of the men who had been in the trenches had nightmares for years afterwards.”

  “No, I didn’t. I was elsewhere at the time and was unable to enlist.” Harold answered without telling the real reason. He had been born nearly one hundred years after the end of the First World War.

  “I wonder what happened then? There is so much about you that I don’t know still. You’ve lived such an incredible life obviously, sweetheart. But I do love you very much, Harold. You know that, I’m sure.” Dorothy said, trying to reassure her husband.

  “Don’t worry, Dorothy. I’ll be alright. It’s just a bad dream. We all have them from time to time.” Harold said.

  “I still worry though, Sweetheart.” She replied, kissing Harold on the cheek as they lay together on the bed.

  Harold was worried too. Would his nightmares reveal his secret to Dorothy, he wondered? Unfortunately, Harold didn’t know of anything that he could do about them.

  Neither of them mentioned Harold’s nightmares the following morning at breakfast. Instead, the conversation was about Harold’s other relationships.

  “I was looking at the envelopes in the mail yesterday, Harold. You correspond with some very interesting people, Sweetheart. I had read about Winston Churchill in the newspapers back in England. He was a very controversial person, I remember.” Dorothy commented as she ate breakfast.

  “I know. If you have strong views on any subject, you are bound to stir up the passions of the people who have a different opinion. Winston Churchill certainly has many strong views on a variety of subjects.” Harold said with a quiet chuckle.

  “So you are friends with him as well as the former Prime Minister of Australia. It is little wonder that you have some many visits by politicians, Harold.” Dorothy replied with a smile.

  “Well, most of those visits here by politicians haven’t exactly been welcome. They either want money from me or they want to meddle in my business practices. There have been some politicians that I have met with who are interested in working with me on
my terms. But there haven’t been too many of those yet.”

  “Does that include that former Prime Minister? I think that his name is Billy Hughes. People around here refer to him as the ‘Little Digger’.”

  “Yes, Prime Minister Hughes and I do share some common goals. He wants Australia to have a strong defense and to be able to stand up for its own interests in the world. This even includes our national interests separate from that of the Commonwealth.

  But we certainly don’t agree on everything, Dorothy. Billy has been a committed advocate for organized labor and is considered by many people in this country to be a socialist. The labor unions can be beneficial to the workers in some areas. But left unrestrained, the unions’ demands always become excessive. The unions often fail to consider the long term effects of those demands, even if it means destroying the very companies that employ their workers.

  Prime Minister Hughes is also an adherent to the ‘White Australia’ policy. That does limit my ability to bring in good people from outside of Australia to help build my businesses. At the same time, this policy is a major element of the discrimination being perpetrated against the Aborigines here as well.”

  “Why do you think that the Australian government supports such a policy? It seems terribly racist.”

  “I believe that involves more of a fear of the cultures from other areas of the world than of the actual color of their peoples’ skins. They are afraid that people who are not white Europeans will bring in different ways of doing things and different beliefs. They are also afraid that immigrants from places like Asia and Africa will not assimilate into the prevailing Australian culture which is based on European culture and Christianity.”

  “What do you mean by ‘assimilate’?” Dorothy asked.

  Harold quickly remembered that some of the terms that were being used in the mid-twenty-first century, were not necessarily used in the time that he had gone back to.