“It would be foolish to believe otherwise.” Churchill said. “We are now set for a much different war than what we expected.”
“Butterflies?” Erlang asked, an eyebrow arched.
“Lots of them.” Frederick replied.
“I suppose the President ought to meet with your Prime Minister.” Hereford proposed.
“Our system is much different from yours, politically.” Churchill replied. “Our most senior civil servants are aware of our visitors,” he indicated Winston and Don, “but our political leadership are not. Nor, should they be. I would propose liaison offices be established in each capital, outside the normal embassy rigmarole.”
“What of higher strategy? How can we coordinate that?” Hereford protested.
“We cannot. In fact we should not too much. The situation facing us, which we will face, will be different from the one predicted. As long as we are agreed on the broadest possible outlines, an Anglo-American alliance, a Germany-first policy, and generous peace the rest can be decided on that foundation based upon the events as they present themselves.”
Hereford was about to object again, but Doctor Frederick preempted him, “Pending the approval of the President, I think we can agree on your proposal.” He reached out and shook the hand of the future Prime Minister.
“Done.” Both Winstons said together.
“Perhaps some friendly corporation will be willing to set up some offices for our use,” the American time-traveler said.
“If our version of this war is any indication, communications security will be critical.” Don pointed out.
“I know of only one code that is both secure and fast enough. We, we Americans, will have to find some Navajo codetalkers.” Winston answered.
Erlang’s face brightened, “I read a book about them once.”
A naval officer entered the room and handed Churchill a note. “Gentlemen, Captain Raleigh informs me we have passed the sea buoy and set a course for warmer waters. We now have a few days to talk together in complete security, it would be foolish to waste this chance” He pulled out a heavy ledger book and opened it to display a handwritten page. “My Oversight Committee has asked me to review these notes with you both; I hope Captain Hereford would be good enough to act as secretary for this most unusual meeting of minds.” Churchill waved the two time travelers into chairs on either side and produced a silver bucket covered with a white linen napkin. Reaching under the covering he produced a bottle of champagne and with expert hands poured four glasses. “He is to plain speaking and clear understanding” he announced. “First order of business is aero engines.” Churchill began.
“Our designs are more advanced, and more capable of improvement than yours.” Don said undiplomatically.
“The Mustang would have been worthless without the Merlin engine: Frederick agreed. “We might as well begin licensed production in the US at once.”
“Have you Americans begun work on the turbine engine?”
“I don’t think so, how is Frank Whittle doing?”
“They tell me he has plenty of funding this time around.”
“How about the famous British radars?”
“Not ready yet of course, but soon enough. We are already setting out an air-defense network based on ground observers, the radars will fit right into that in time. We also expect radio navigation devices to be fielded in fairly short order.”
“We have used our airmail service to refine our blind-landing system, that will be expanded into a real night-flying or perhaps night bombing aid,” the American said. “All I know about radars is something called a ‘Cavity Micrometer.’”
“Yes, something like that. ‘Cavity Magnetron’ I think. We have one ready for you take with you I am told, Production examples will be coming your way in short order. I see a problem here.”
“What’s that?” Doctor Frederick asked as Churchill poured more wine.
“We seem to be developing two incompatible navigation aids, surely it would be better to have one system for radio, radar, whatever as much as we can.”
Hereford interrupted, “Best not to be too darn clever. Two radars, codes, two whatever gives the bad guys a more complicated problem.”
“Also it give us two tries to develop an ideal system,” Churchill added. “Still, we will do what we can to coordinate our developments. Let us turn our attention to the shipyards, we are counting on miracles of production from the Americans.”
Again Commander Hereford took the lead, “We are very proud of our merchant marine program. The Liberty ships are already coming off the slips in some numbers. We have designed them to have quite a bit of commonality with the LSTs Winston keeps harping on. The other amphips are too different come out of the civil program,” he added.
“What else are you planning?” Don asked.
“We will have some number of landing ship docks, LSDs.”
“A bit of clarification,” Churchill demanded.
“Like a cargo ship, but with a well deck in the back. It can carry the landing craft across the open water to the area of the attack. That way we can avoid needing a nearby port. Also they will bring our amphibious tractors and tanks where they are needed.” The American throwback said. “Anything new in your shipbuilding program?” He asked.
“The Royal Navy will be much more focused on antisubmarine missions. Our Royal Marines will also be equipped for larger-scale landings, nothing like yours of course.” Don explained.
“And your carriers?” Doctor Frederick enquired.
“We have already built our first angled-deck type, others will be retrofitted. I guess you have done the same?”
Both Americans nodded.
“We will need some help with steam catapults and arresting gear. We simply have too little experience with that sort of thing to catch up in time.”
“We will be pleased to provide blueprints and examples of whatever we have.” Hereford spoke with authority. “Perhaps you could send us some officers for a long-term familiarization?”
“I suspect you will see them in less than a month.” Churchill replied.
“How about submarines?” Don asked his American counterpart.
“More important to us in the Pacific than to you folks in the Atlantic. The ones coming into the fleet now have provisions for snorkels, we will fit them in plenty of time. Also everyone assures me I can stop harping on the torpedo reliability problem. You?”
“We are about to fit out one of our smallest subs with oversized batteries and electric motors; it is supposed to mimic the worst the Germans can do. A training target. You know it would be a shame not to have your lads take some shots at it.”
Churchill interrupted, “More, our escorts ought to train against your subs someplace away from prying eyes.”
Don nodded in agreement, “We also seem to have quite a number of older S-Class boats on hand.
Already outmoded. We are working on other uses for them. Training at least.”
Don waved away another glass, Churchill poured anyway with an evil grin. “Have we mentioned the frigates?”
“You have missiles already?” Don was amazed.
“Just guns, we expect a lot of Japanese kamikazes, so we are designating some destroyers as antiaircraft ships, calling them frigates. Each carrier will get two, then the others will be spread out where they can do the most good. Five inch guns plus a secondary battery and our best radars.”
“We have designed, or redesigned, our Hunt class as a generalist for both antisubmarine and antiaircraft work. Differing design philosophy I suspect,” Don answered. “We are calling them frigates too, just to add to the confusion,” he grinned.
Chapter 9 Ships
Frederick found the San Francisco shipyard to be a place of unsure footing, alarming noises and unpleasant smells. Cables, wooden crates and iron beams formed a maze between them and the hulk under construction. The foreman herded them through the confusion like a group of school children on an outing. They c
rossed onto the Liberty ship on a ramp so wide he did not notice the transition from ship to shore. Inside was more noise and confusion, along with the hash glare of work lights. They went up a narrow steel staircase and emerged on the deck, near the bow in an area quiet enough for conversation.
“Here she is, Ship Forty of a run of one hundred.” The foreman sat on the steel railing, looking at the odd collection of military men, tycoons and a negro secretary. The shipyard spread out behind him like a panorama. “The sections are put together on each side, then moved on rails to the center where they meet up with the power plant and keel for final assembly.” He gestured with his arms freely. “So far we have taken a month to build each one, but that will pick up now that we have the kinks out of the system.”
“Mass production? So they are identical?” Admiral Hereford asked.
“Externally yes,” the foreman conceded. “we will have variations by length. All of them are the same beam, but overall length will differ; to the eye, identical. There are a few internal differences. The reefers for fruit require additional wiring, the tankers are reinforced, this one has a Roll-on/Roll-off cargo deck.
They leave here semi-finished and go across the river where fitters put on the final touches for the owners. We do the big stuff only. The Maritime Commission has specified one design and wants 100 by October. Each yard bid on as many as they think they can build. Next year the fastest yards will get even more contracts, so it is built into the system to reward speed.”
“They look cheap,” Admiral Fish was examining the painted deck underfoot. He was accustomed to Navy teak.
“Conventional design, mostly, with all the expensive bits cut out.” The shipyard manager sympathized.
“Almost no wood or brass anywhere. No decent staterooms, no cranes on board, small crew too, about twenty. Let me show you this.” He walked aft toward the nearly finished superstructure. He stopped at what looked like a large orange pipe or oversized barrel laying lengthwise. “This is the new lifeboat.” The foreman gave it a loud slap with his palm. There was an echo from inside. He opened the round hatch.
“All steel construction, welded in fact.” Winston got a good look inside while the foreman continued to talk. “Nothing but two benches with storage underneath. But that is not the interesting part.”
“What is interesting?” someone asked.
“These are actually cheaper than the wooden lifeboats we usually use.” The man smiled. He led the visitors to the bridge. “There are major changes up here. Part of the design was to reduce the number on each watch. With a conventional ship you would expect a crew of about forty, with a dozen on watch at a time. Depending on configuration this one will need about half that.”
“How’d you manage that?”
“Lots of changes in work rules, no crane operators, so no cranes, the radios no longer require so much attention. Lots of the engine room stuff can be monitored up here. Once you cut a few watch-standers then you can get rid of the cooks and stewards who take care of them, it sort of feeds on itself. Even the galley is smaller than usual.” He led them below decks to the unfinished cargo hold.
Unable to talk near a crew driving rivets, he took them down the sloping deck to a quieter area. “Now as I said, this one will be a RO-RO, in a conventional design this would be a couple of cargo holds, you load them from the top. This one is laid out with two intertwined ramps, A and B. This way we can drop the cargo ramps, drive trucks from the dock onto the cargo deck, unload the truck right where the cargo belongs. It is supposed to be faster.”
“Can it handle my tanks?” Larry in his green uniform asked.
“I guess so sir, the plans are all from the Maritime Commission.
“So like a parking deck inside, with ramps to unload, can it land on a beach?” Winston asked.
The shipbuilder replied, “No, the Liberty ships are only suited for improved ports. The ramps we use for unloading are on the sides, not in the bow. Still, the only require a dock, not full unloading facilities.“
Admiral Hereford spoke in his official voice, “We will be visiting some amphips later in the day.
Winston?” the admiral asked, “Come with me.”
As the other members of the little troop remained with the manager, the time traveler and his supposed boss moved away.
“See anything of note?” Hereford asked.
“I don’t really know much about ships; never been in a shipyard.” Frederick replied.
“How does it look?” he asked.
“Primitive, simple, about what you would expect. You should ask about damage control and the use of welding in the hull, that was supposed to increase speed.” Frederick made a show of writing in his leather portfolio.
“It’ll do, I suppose,” Hereford signaled to return to the group. “quantity will have a quality all of its own. We have other things to look at.”
The Landing Ship, Tank was critical for all sorts of operations in the war that Winston remembered.
He gave much attention to ensuring the Powers That Be understood that. LST-21 was the product of that effort. Lower and longer than the Liberty ship, it had two internal cargo decks. Inside, it was obviously designed to carry vehicles, the interior being about the same height as they had seen on the Liberty ship, but this time with level decks connected by a pair of overlarge cargo elevators. Bow doors covered a ramp suitable for assault landings.
“There is more to an LST than you might think,” the new skipper of the craft was very proud of his new command. “Shallow draft of course, but we have trim tanks in the stern to let us bring the bow up for a beach landing. In addition, she is a sea-going vessel. We are able to transport an entire mechanized battalion from port to shore. That means we have to feed and take care of about a thousand soldiers for more than week. Half landing craft, half cruise ship, not half bad.”
Winston was already thinking ahead. He knew the Pershing was half again as long, wide, tall and heavy as the Sherman, so each Pershing would eat up part of the footprint of four of the smaller vehicles.
Still a battalion of the smaller tanks he supposed. They went to the weather deck where the crew was painting white lines to guide the parking of vehicles. The ship boasted six double antiaircraft guns.
“The crew mans three, the troops will handle the other three. We don’t have fire-direction radars, so we have to take our shooting orders from the radio.“
“Where do these thousand soldiers bunk down?” General Orino asked.
“I said a cruise ship sir, but not a comfortable one. Our galley can feed everyone, but the passengers will have to sleep in on and around their vehicles. Still we can keep fleet speeds, so it will be an unpleasant but short experience. They’ll be eager to get back on shore, I guarantee you.”
Larry kept the commander of the ship busy as Hereford again took Winston aside. “Anything of note?
It is too late to change anything much.”
“These were very handy ships, in my time the supply of LSTs limited operations. Everybody wanted them. I remember that they were used to resupply battleships with shells. One could sit on each side and so loading went twice as fast as usual. Trust me, take however many are scheduled for production and double it. Also the major threat to these ships will be Japanese airpower. I don’t know how many guns
‘my’ LSTs had, I hope six is enough.”
“Ought to be, plus the skipper doesn’t know he will soon be getting some smoke generators too.”
“What’s next?”
“A launch will take us on a little cruise out to see the new LSD.”
The LSD was one size larger than the LST. It had a conventional bow, but an unusual stern. While the LST had a ramp to deliver vehicles onto the beach, the LSD was designed to set boats in the water. In the rear was a well deck. When ballast tanks were flooded the deck was underwater. When Winston and company arrived the deck sported a pair of tug boats.
“So you see, these tugs float off to clear the well de
ck and then we drive the amphibious vehicles down the parking deck into the water. So the LSD is ship full of boats.” Hereford was in his element.
“Why would you want to put a boat on a boat.” Winston was puzzled.
“These tugs are harbor craft. The same with landing craft, they can’t handle the open sea. The LSD
takes them from a safe port to the area where they are needed and then launches them. No muss, no fuss.”
“So where is this stuff off to?”
“Alaska, with load of tugs, landing craft, amphibious tractors, fighters and a whole lot of whatnot.”
“Fighters? They float?”
“Let me show you.”
The weather deck of the ship was flat, with the superstructure at the stern, the layout reminded Winston of a tiny supertanker.
“So a boat full of boats and an aircraft carrier too?”
“Winston, this is a ship, a ship full of boats.” Hereford feigned anger. “This is only a flying-off deck, aircraft can take off but not land. We have no hangar deck, very limited deck space. We are just transporting a half-dozen planes up north.”
“Why not fly them up there? Are the Canadians causing trouble?”
“The planes could fly up there, but would have to stop a couple of times, we are simulating their deployment to a Pacific island and letting the crew and pilots train. Either that or no pilots were available, nobody told me.” The admiral laughed.
Before they left, the visitors enjoyed lunch in the in the mess hall with the enlisted sailors. Winston noted a number of black faces, some wearing the insignia of petty officers in technical specialties.
Another welcome change.
Instead of a launch to carry them back to shore, the inspectors were offered a ride in the back of a floating truck. The load bed was full of crates and they sat as best they could. Admiral Hereford stood for the entire trip in order to maintain the dignity expected of a flag officer.
“Army business,” Larry offered with a grin, “these are very conventional five ton trucks, but the body has been replaced by floatation chambers. The LSD can carry these just like it can handle landing craft.”
Paul Adkins Page 5