by gerald hall
have already spent on them.”
Now Harold has another potential threat to his life that he may have to deal with in addition to
Stalin’s operatives.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Cavill Industries Corporate Headquarters Derby, Western Australia
November 14, 1938
“We just received a confidential telegraph from the Admiralty in Melbourne, Mister Cavill.” Harold’s assistant Thomas said as he opened the door to Harold’s office.
“Bring it here, please.”
Harold opened up the envelope containing the telegraph and quickly read the document. He
then thought silently for a moment before speaking.
“Thomas, I need for you to call up Alexander Portman and have him come here please. It looks
like things are going to get very busy here.”
“What happened, Mister Cavill?”
“The Australian Admiralty wants us to build another six destroyers for them. It seems that they
are very pleased with our destroyers that carry the four twin dual-purpose gun mounts. This, in
combination with last week’s order by that British shipping firm for two more of our flight deck liners
and our other existing commercial ship production contracts, we are going to be working at maximum
capacity there very soon.
It will also mean that I will need to quickly hire and train additional workers as well. I suppose
that the government has decided that they need us after all. I was very concerned after the incident that
we would not receive any more contracts from the Australian government.” Harold replied while
wondering if Churchill had anything to do with the British Cunard Line’s order for the two flight deck
liners.
Churchill had mentioned in one of their conversations on how Harold’s design could work very
nicely as an auxiliary warship for the Royal Navy in time of war. The liners could carry at least half a
dozen Swordfish for anti-submarine duties each with practically no modifications at all. A full
reconstruction of each of the flight deck liners could turn each ship into a full-fledged light fleet carrier.
It would take a lot of effort to construct the two liners prior to the beginning of the future Second World
War though, not to mention the six destroyers that had just been ordered by the RAN. “I am pleased that your worries were unwarranted. The new work will be a very good thing for
all of us, Mister Cavill.”
“Yes, it will be. I just wish that the Australian Air Ministry was as interested in our proposals.
They are still deliberating on possibly purchasing our Twin-Wasp powered Whirlwinds as well as the
military version of our large flying boats and our Dragonfly fighter-bombers. I know that we are building
aircraft that are better than anything else being offered. We also have the necessary production
facilities to build all components for an aircraft, including its engines. No one else in Australia can do
that, including the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation.”
“Perhaps the head of the Department of Aircraft Production still is holding a grudge on how you
continued to use people like me in your workforce in spite of his objections?” Thomas suggested. “Alexander Forrester certainly is a racist bastard, isn’t he? Maybe you are right. It is certainly
possible that he is one of those dipsticks who sympathized with those ‘hoons’ that invaded our home a
few months ago. But when the war comes, he won’t have any choice then. He will have to order our
aircraft because we will be able to produce the aircraft that he needs a hell of a lot better than anything
that their bloody CAC can design and build.
Sure the people at CAC can design trainers, but it will be a far greater challenge for them to real
a real warplane that is competitive with anything that our adversaries will field. I want to be ready to do
just that when the need arises.”
“That is the purpose for your ‘special projects’, Sir?”
“Yes, Thomas. Of course, I also wish to keep as many of you gainfully employed as well as earn a
reasonable profit.”
The two men then heard a knock on Harold’s office door. Thomas walked outside to the main
office area to see who was there.
“Mister Cavill, Eric Carter is here to see you. He says that it is very important.” Thomas explained
after walking back into Harold’s office.
“Go ahead and ask Eric to come in please.”
A minute later, a tall, slender blonde-haired man who appeared to be in his late twenties walked
in with an armful of rolled up blueprints and other paperwork.
“I hate to bother you, Sir. But, we have a problem with the armament onMelbourneand one of
the large destroyer designs, Mister Cavill.” Harold’s head manager for Cavill Ordnance Works quickly
explained.
“What is it?”
“We still cannot manufacture the heavy antiaircraft battery guns for the carrier. This also means
that we cannot build our own guns for one of our proposed heavy destroyer designs since it uses the
same weapons as theMelbourne’sBD Mark II mounts.
Our barrel manufacturing equipment is suitable for weapons up to 105mm in bore diameter.
This is just over a four inch diameter bore. However, the weapons that you have designated for these
vessels have a 115mm bore which is a four and a half inch bore.”
“Is there nothing that you can do to modify the equipment to produce the larger weapons?” “No, Sir. I’m afraid not. We are actually pushing the dimensional limits of the machinery to
produce the 102mm guns for the other destroyers already. It would require complete replacement of at
least sixty percent of our equipment. We would be shut down for several months for the retooling and
other modifications as well.”
Harold had not counted on this for the carrier’s armament. The French company that sold him
the gun barrel production equipment had assured him that it was capable of producing larger barrels.
He could not afford to shut down the factory nor was he willing to make the investment in larger
machinery at this point.
“I want you to go ahead and continue producing the 102mm guns with our existing equipment.
We will still need to fabricate the Below Deck Mark II mounts forMelbourne. I will simply have to find an
alternate source for the barrels. In the meanwhile, you will need to be ready to make more 102mm guns
than what we had originally planned for. We are going to have to focus on the destroyer design with the
twin four-inch, forty-five caliber, quick-firing Mark XIX mounts. Fortunately, the Australian Admiralty has
committed to purchasing that destroyer design for now.”
“Yes, Sir. I will work with our supply people on that. There is one thing that we can do to
improve the firepower of our destroyers while still using the 102mm bore.”
”What is that, Eric?”
“While we can’t readily make guns with a much larger bore diameter with our current
equipment, we can make the barrels longer. It will be a relatively simple process to design and
manufacture a four-inch high angle gun with a sixty-caliber barrel. That would significantly increase the
velocity, effective range and armor-penetration of the weapon with the standard five kilogram
propellant charge. Of course, we can improve the characteristics even more with a seven kilogram
propellant charge like the Americans use.” Eric said as he rolled out some of the blueprints that he
brought onto a nearby ta
ble.
“It looks like you already have your new gun already designed, Eric.” Harold said as he looked
over the drawings.
“Yes, Sir. I went ahead and had my draftsmen create the blueprints for the gun and mount
before I came to you. I am sure that I can build the gun and the required mount without any significant
problems. I also believe that I can still keep the rate of fire the same as with the Mark XIX. The mount
would be slightly heavier than the Mark XIX, but well within limits.”
“Very good initiative, Eric. Thank you. I think that we will have to stick with the British
ammunition though if you can design the weapon to use both British and American rounds, please do
so. You have the go ahead to design and produce four prototype mounts. If they work out, then we will
go ahead and go to full production for it.”
“Thank you, Sir. I also wanted to let you know that the development of the six-pounder
antiaircraft gun is going well. The production of the twenty-five pounder field guns for the Australian
Army has been recently completed. The extra workmen and production equipment that you obtained
for me certainly made a difference, even if half of them were ‘Sheilas’. They must have picked up very
quickly on the new electric arc welding methods that you had us adopt.”
“I’m glad, Eric. I knew that even the women would provide you with the help that you needed
when employed properly. We also use them at the aircraft assembly plant to help building aircraft there.
Now I have to talk to Alexander at the shipyard.” Harold replied.
He had found on the computer database some of the American welding methods used by their
shipyards and other heavy industries in the early and mid-nineteen forties. Harold then quietly
introduced the technology into his shipyards and vehicle factories over the past few years. The new
methods greatly improved the quality of the work and the facilities’ productivity without risking a great
change in the overall technology level. It also minimized any chance of someone noticing anything that
appeared to be out of place. The training of the new female workers in the improved welding
techniques first helped to integrate both the new workers and the technology at the same time. Harold then called up his chief naval architect, Alexander Portman on the phone. “Hello, Alexander. I know that you are busy but I need for you to work on something for me. An
alternate weapons configuration for the new light fleet carrier design will have to be drawn up. It
appears that the ship will need to be armed with either six or eight of the twin four-inch high angle
mounts instead of the six BD Mark II mounts that we had originally proposed using. It appears that the
British do not have enough mounts available to sell to us. The Royal Navy’s new anti-aircraft cruisers are
taking up all of the available supply of the BD Mark II’s according to my supply sources.” “I understand. Do you want these guns mounted on the deck edge like before, Mister Cavill?” “Yes, that would be ideal. Will there be enough space and still maintain the number of lighter
antiaircraft guns?”
“Yes, Sir. I believe so. Each four-inch mount will probably take up less space, have a less massive
support structure and be lighter overall than a BD Mark II mount. The four-inch guns will also use a
smaller gun crew to operate them. That is how we are able to fit four mounts on the same destroyer hull
that would only mount three of the BD Mark II mounts on.”
“Then let’s plan on using the four-inch mounts then. Eric from my Ordnance Works has a new
four-inch gun and mount that we are going to use on both the carriers and our new destroyers. They
promise to be more effective than the existing Mark XIX mounts. Eric is getting ready to come visit you
to show you the details on the mounts. I just hope that the Australian Admiralty will see fit to ensure
that enough escort vessels are available to protect these carriers from facing any marauding cruisers or
destroyers by themselves.”
“I’ll be waiting on him. Once I see what he has, I can get started with the redesign. Thank you,
Mister Cavill. This will certainly solve at least one of the remaining major issues with the new carrier.” “You’re welcome, Alex. Please let me know if there are any problems with the use of this new
gun mount. Right now, I have to start planning for another overseas trip. But, it will be a lot easier for
me to travel to conduct needed business while knowing that issues like these have been resolved.” Harold makes a mental note to have his engineers draw up plans to build new machinery that is
capable to making cannon tubes of up to 155mm. His machine shops could theoretically fabricate such
upgraded machinery using blueprints derived from existing equipment and with selected information
from his computer database. Of course, the source of the information from the computer had to be
carefully disguised before it could be given to Harold’s mechanical engineers.
But it will take time to produce the machinery, perhaps more than two years before it would be
ready to begin production. That would mean that Harold’s companies could not build heavier weapons
for the Allies before the beginning of the Second World War, perhaps even not before the Japanese
attack the Americans.
Harold sighed as he put down the phone. Things happened far more slowly in the 1930’s than
what Harold was accustomed to in his previous life. In the twenty-first century; rapid prototyping, 3-D
printing and machining and computerized design would have allowed an engineer to design and
manufacture such machinery in only a few months. But now, he had to wait for much slower and more
tedious processes to take their course.
But now, Harold had another trip to plan. The next Cavalier flight going to England was
scheduled a little over two weeks from now.
Vickers-Armstrong Shipyard Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
December 14, 1938
Harold got out of his hired Hackney at the entrance to the Vickers-Armstrong Shipyard. There, he was escorted by a pair of waiting Royal Marines to one of the building slips where a small crowd of dignitaries were waiting. As Harold approached the slip, he saw a smiling Winston Churchill waving.
Churchill had invited Harold to come visit England once again, this time under the auspices of discussing possible industrial contracts and observing a military exercise. Harold had readily accepted because he needed to visit Miles Aviation and Westland Aviation for consultations on the new aircraft that they were building. This would also give Harold an opportunity to visit his other business interests in England as well. Harold then took the next scheduled Cavalier flight to London. From there, he rode via Hackney to Newcastle to meet with Churchill.
“I am immensely pleased that you were able to make it here in time.” Winston said as he vigorously shook Harold’s hand in front of a group of high-ranking Royal Navy officers and other political figures.
In front of the crowd was the massive form of a new battleship. While Harold recognized the ship’s general form as that of aKing George Vclass battleship, he also saw some very significant differences as well.
The original King George Vhad been armed with ten fourteen-inch guns in its main armament arranged with quadruple gun turrets fore and aft and a twin gun turret superfiring over the forward quad turret. This battleship had nine main battery guns in three triple turrets, two forward and one aft, but arranged similar to that of the US Navy’s battleship USSNorth Carolina. The original secondary armament of theKing George Vconsisted of sixteen 5.25-inch dual-pur
pose guns arranged with four turrets on each side. This ship had ten of the lighter BD Mark II mounts arranged just like what the battlecruiser HMSRenownand the reconstructedQueen Elizabethclass battleships would have.
Eight octuple forty-millimeter ‘pom-pom’ mounts were located on various locations on the main and upper decks. They were supplemented by a few heavy machine gun mounts visible on the upper decks as well. But there was still certainly enough additional deck space available for additional lightantiaircraft guns to be installed. Harold knew from his history that those guns would certainly be needed once the war began, especially when the shortcomings of the ‘pom-pom’ and machine guns would become evident. On the bows, anti-spray strakes had already been added to prevent heavy seas from washing over the bows and impairing the use of the forward turrets.
“This is the lead ship of the new King George Vclass battleship, Harold. I wanted you to be here for her commissioning because of your vast contributions to her and the other four ships of her class.” Winston proudly said.
“I really didn’t do anything beyond making a few suggestions, Minister.” Harold replied. “Well, you did a bit more than that, my friend. First, those suggestions helped make this ship far superior to what it would have been if the Labour Party politicians had their way. Those are fifteen-inch Mark II guns inKing George V’s main turrets. The Mark II gun will make theKing George Vsuperior to anything that our potential adversaries might have.”
“….except for the Yamato.” Harold silently said to himself. Churchill, like everyone else in the West, knew nothing about the massiveYamatoclass battleships that the Japanese were constructing. Of course, theYamatoand her sister shipMusashiwould be eventually dealt with by carrier-based airpower, not battleship guns.
Churchill continued, “The suggestions of using this as well as the 4.5 inch dual-purpose guns have saved the Admiralty several million pounds in research and development costs alone, not to mention the savings due to the use of common guns and ammunition. You were completely right with your numbers, my friend.
At my suggestion, the Admiralty invested some of that savings into improving the engines for this vessel. Naturally, I thought of your steam turbine plant that you had purchased here in England. The technology that you were adopting was quite innovative with the use of higher-pressure, yet reliable and efficient boilers and turbines.