Rule The Waves 3 - A Graphical Experiment - Complete

We have not yet received an offer of peace from the enemy, but what if we do? We should hold out for a peace with concessions.

---

The Italian Job
Without warning, most of the Italian fleet packs up and leaves the Mediterranean. They sail through the Gibraltar Straight and, briefly, tailing observers are concerned they will be headed for the relatively undefended ports on the North-West coast. Then they turn South and begin the long sail towards the Cape of Good Hope. It would seem they are heading to attempt to relieve Eritrea, but have been unable to pass through the Suez Canal presumably due to tensions with the British. We dispatch a protected cruiser squadron to tail them and to reinforce the ships stationed in Djibouti.

In an engagement in August of 1953, Majesteux is hit at the very opening of the battle and loses both her main turrets. She's kept on the line for AA fire and as a command ship, but without her 350mm guns she is functionally useless as a Super Cruiser. Veterane takes just as many hard hits, both cruisers forced to disengage and head for ports in Greece. However, a second group of Super Cruisers under a separate command continue the engagement and by the end of the day both the Cristoforo Columbo and the Pompeo Magnio are heavily damaged and have returned to Italian ports for repair.

In the wake of this series of vicious battles, hard manoeuvres and a gentle blockade of the Italian ports, we are surprised beyond belief when the King of Spain declares that the Armada Espanola will be putting to sea to assist the Marine Nationale. Their six modern Super Cruisers and small carrier force will be a great boon to continued operations against the Regia Marine. We also will not be unhappy about the 98 submarines that join the war.

---

Expeditionary Failures
Sadly, the French forces in Eritrea are pushed back and forced to retreat. Fortunately this news is far, far overshadowed by the news that the crew of the minelaying submarine Triton have scored the greatest victory of the war thus far: a full spread of torpedoes into the flank of the Italian Super Cruiser Claudio Druso which sinks the bloated cruiser.

The Triomphante and the Indomptable, our two most modern Super Cruisers with their massive 375mm guns finally see real surface action in October, engaging a pair of Italian Super Cruisers accompanied by a mixed small cruiser squadron. At a range of 18 kilometres, the two fine ships sink an Italian cousin, the Claudio Tiberio, before retiring from enemy air cover under the cover of darkness. An older Super Cruiser, the Marcantonio Colonna is heavily damaged before it was able to withdraw, as were several large Armoured Cruisers.

The Spanish ask if we should formalise our mutual war making with an alliance and we cannot help but remember the previous sham alliances we have been subjected too. We answer that we will be co-belligerents and support them, but we will not ally with them. They seem undeterred, their forces sinking the Italian Super Cruiser Cristoforo Columbo in a night action.

---

It is February of 1954, and the Marine Nationale needs a new carrier. The growth of Heavy Jet Fighters and Jet Attackers means that our current large carriers cannot operate them, not even the 28,000 ton Neptune class. What should we build?
[ ] A 52,000 ton Super Carrier capable of operating over 100 jet aircraft, as well as protecting itself against enemy air attack.
[ ] A 42,000 ton Large Carrier, with armoured decks and hangers, capable of operating 50 large aircraft.
[ ] A 40,000 ton Large Carrier with space for 72 aircraft, protective measures and good speed.
[ ] A 32,000 ton Carrier with capable of operating around 56 large jets while maintaining an AA battery equivalent to other designs.
[ ] Write-in an alternate offering. Note that a carrier must be larger than 30,000 tons to operate HJF's and JA's.

What should we build? A 52,000 ton Super Carrier capable of operating over 100 jet aircraft, as well as protecting itself against enemy air attack.

---

Carrier Force
We begin the design of a new warship, a carrier of heretofore unseen size. The La Fayette-class will be a 52,000 ton monster, the largest ship ever built by the Marine Nationale even compared to the largest Super Cruisers which are currently operating in the Mediterranean. 150,000 horsepower of oil-fed turbines will drive it at thirty knots, a 65mm box of armour around the magazines and sixteen 75mm auto-loading anti-air guns studding the flanks of the flight deck. It will carry 112 jet aircraft, enough for even the heaviest of carrier-capable jet aircraft and while it will not have the angled flight deck of smaller carriers (architects concerned about hanging that much weight over the side) it will still be capable of spotting almost sixty aircraft at a time.

The first missile attack in French naval aviation history comes in February. A trio of medium bombers flying out of Nice make an attack on an Italian Destroyer group, though they have no successes. A shame, but not surprising given the experimental technology at work and the small targets attacked. We shall have to try to find them a better victim.

First the Spanish join the war, now the Americans. It would seem that the Italians have angered enough of the world to turn this war into a vicious beat-down. Their seventeen Large Carriers, including the largest carrier in the world (USS Bouyant, 59,000 tons) and the twelve more they currently have in the yards will surely be helpful to the war effort. We again refuse the offer of an alliance, as helpful as it would be, terribly mistrustful of the Perfidious yanks.

---

Total War
The Italian Duce announces in a long and rambling speech that if this war is to continue then it will be a total war, a grinding industrial war, and the Italian people will not surrender until such a time as their enemies are in Rome. If that is what they want then that is what we will give them - a starved, ruined Italy with French troops occupying the Vatican. We must remind the commanders of the Armee not to shell St Pauls too badly. They respond with a request for a diversion of funding which, given the successes we have had at Sea, we have no choice but to accede to.

The first successful missile attack occurs in May, as three patrol planes out of Durazzo fire on an Italian formation including a Super Cruiser. After action reports clearly state a missile and several torpedo hits, but there is no indication from intelligence sources in Italy that any such impact occurred. We will have to wait, it seems, for the first success of this new technology.

A minor party in the Italian government wonders idly to a French spy whether or not peace would be possible. Our man offers the party line - that total war means this war wont end until the Duce or the French President is dead, and yet somehow what comes from this tiny conversation is peace. We can only assume that the Americans are to blame.

---

Peacetime
Things are quiet for several months after the peace. There is little we can do in the wake of the post-war budget cuts but we do lay down a single massive Super Carrier. We receive the plans for the Soviets newest Super Cruiser, primed for the ongoing fighting with Japan in the Far East, the Marshal Timoshenko. She is remarkably lightly gunned for her size, but is nonetheless capable of 33 knots.

It is January of 1955 and in three months the first of our Neptune-class Large carriers will join the fleet. We will then have the budget for at least one major program.
Which one should we run?
[ ] Build a second La Fayette Super Carrier
[ ] Build a series of Medium and Missile submarines to re-equip our decimated submarine forces.
[ ] We should refit and rebuild our older ships to ensure they have a long service life ahead of them before the next war.
[ ] Write in.