[X] More Bearn-class carriers, updated for the most modern technology
[X] Something else - write in: Try and pick a fight with Austria
If not the Bearns, I'd suggest we make a 3800 ton DD with the armament of the Dupetit-Thouars. We should be able to squeeze a helideck, 4x5", a twin-armed SAM launcher, and 4 missile tubes on that tonnage.
[X] More Bearn-class carriers, updated for the most modern technology
[X] We should take war as it comes, and fight it in our own ways.
Certainly won't say no to another few Bearns if we can get them in the budget, though I can see the appeal of some more Montcalms. Not sure picking a fight with someone else entirely is the best idea though, when we're likely to end up in a fight with a German-allied Italy soon anyway going by that tension chart.
What should we build?More Bearn-class carriers, updated for the most modern technology What should our Foreign Policy be?We should take war as it comes, and fight it in our own ways.
Everything changes
In January we lay down a fourth Bearn, the Duquesne, as the first part of the second tranche of fleet carriers. The government promises aid to the Americans, should they join a war with Japan, and in return they join an international force attempting to resist the German occupation of Bougainville. This is a frustrating expansion of their holdings in the South Pacific, but of no real concern strategically. The Jean Jacques Rousseau also enters refit to bring it in line with the other carrier of its class, the Republique Francais, reuniting the two ships in efficacy and design for the first time in decades.
A new, more liberal government, suggests reducing naval spending to introduce additional social reforms into France. We agree, with the understanding that our politics will also be liberal, cautious and un-warlike. This does mean, however, that the Duquesne will be the last carrier for some time despite being ordered as her sisters are coming into service. #
Rumours fly that the Royal Navy and the ReichsMarine have been circling each other in the North Sea while the German ally Italy insists on sailing around Sardinia despite protests and warnings. The US and Japanese Navy have come almost to the point of clashing in the Pacific, air wings flashing their insignia at each other, and Austria Hungary is even now looking across the Adriatic with hunger. It would seem that the latter half of this decade is to be one of conflict, whether we like it or not, and in the midst of all this an anti-German rebellion breaks out in Norway.
War!
But not for us, not yet. Britain and Germany go hot, missiles flying but no decisive action being had as of yet. The Hawks in government manage to swing an increase to the naval budget in the face of this, raising tensions with both Italy and Japan. Rather than using this budget to lay down more ships, we use it to activate the entire fleet, all our air bases and the submariners. We will not be caught short at war.
In the North Sea, British aircraft sink the German carrier Sandersleben, losing the small carrier HMS Emperor and the Armoured Cruiser Norfolk in the process. The latter was one of the most modern mid-tonnage armoured cruisers in the world, equipped for anti-air and surface-to-surface combat.
We have somehow managed to get through '75 without being dragged into some horrible war.
We have a budget, and we're clearly soon to be at war. Choose an area to focus on:
[ ] Submarines and sub-chasers
[ ] Minelayers and sweepers.
[ ] Anti-air warfare platforms.
[ ] Other, write-in
Our large sets of small budget destroyers from a succession of navy ministers with a bad reading habit should go a long way towards covering our submarine warfare needs - we should ensure the air threat is also sufficiently dealt with
I having a tough time with this one, since while we have laid down a bunch of ASW ships both in a few dedicated classes and a bunch more multirole ones, the same can't be said about our submarines.
I think I'm going to vote for those and hope we focus more on the subs than the chasers. We've got our new carriers hitting the water soon if not already, and the Montcalms mixed into the SAMs we've already got on our Suchets and Poignards.
We have a budget, and we're clearly soon to be at war. Choose an area to focus on:Submarines and sub-chasers
The Last Minutes
With war creeping ever closer, it is an easy decision to take to lay down additional submarines. From January of 1976 we begin laying down two missile armed submarines every month with a view to bolstering the fleet by at least ten boats. We seem supported in our decision to do so as Italy honours its alliances and joins the German war against Great Britain. However, the Naval Secretary seems insistent on interfering - suggesting twenty new destroyer hulls is what we need for the coming conflict. At least we will never want for another minesweeper. We lay down four each of the La Combattante and L'Alcyon-classes to begin with.
In the midst of all this tension and conflict, the Germans retreat from Norway and give up on the rebellious nation, cutting their ability to control the North Sea considerably. It is easy to look at this situation and wonder whether or not the British or Americans were supporting the rebels - so we do.
We begin deficit spending to afford the twenty-destroyer program, aware that the completion of the Montcalm-class will bring us back into the green. This allows us to keep laying down missile boats as well, further bolstering our already swollen submarine force before war even begins. And it's a war that may be necessary, as the Royal Navy is suffering in Northern Europe with another carrier lost to enemy action, this time HMS Canberra.
War is Upon Us
Desperate and furious, May of 1976 sees the receipt of a declaration of war against us by the Italians. We order a great many corvettes and small destroyers onto anti-submarine and trade-protection duties, order pilots to their planes and crews to their ships. We did not choose this war, indeed we tried to avoid it, but if they insist upon it we shall make war.
Our first contact with the enemy comes on the 2nd of June, as an anti-submarine division operating in the Eastern Mediterranean suddenly receives a barrage of missile fire. The squadron, which includes two Suchet-class Protected Cruisers, returns fire against targets identified by the missile submarine Algerien. The first enemy missiles begin arriving at 0532 local, overflying and splashing into the water as RMAA and CIWS mounts dot the sky with streams of heavy tracer fire. Poignard is hit along the waterline, a heavy SSM slamming into her and setting her to burning. The cruiser Friant takes a hit in her engine spaces as well. The air is thick with countermeasures as the destroyer Oriflamme manages to down a missile with her CIWS.
A second barrage arrives at 0541 local, just ten minutes later, and already tired crews continue to fight. The destroyer Hova is next to take a hit, the missile warhead detonating in her upper works. Cosmao is also hit, and hard, a fire burning in her superstructure. She is hit twice more in the following minutes. Condor and Friant each take another missile, and the squadron turns to begin a slow run towards the port at Heraklion. The massive missile attack seems to slow around 0630, with the last few missiles sweeping in at sea level to the same response from the French warships. Nonetheless, the limping, burning Cosmao is hit again at 0650 and Captain Jugan finally gives the order to abandon ship, survivors to be recovered by the untouched Oriflamme.
At 0700 the first enemy aircraft appear overhead the squadron and despite requests for a land based CAP, none is forthcoming. No missiles hit, but it is a sign of worse to come. At 0730, Oriflamme - still taking survivors off of the Cosmao - sights the enemy fleet for the first time. Despite the obvious presence of survivors - some 350 of them - on her decks, she comes under shell and bomb attack. By 1000 hours local, she is sinking in turn. Friant is next, taking three bombs along the length of her deck and disappearing beneath the waves. Commandant Lucas is hit by a single bomb and while her captain attempts to save her, she too sinks.
The Italian LJF G.162.B
As night falls, and only two ships of the original eight remain, aircraft from Heraklion finally begin to arrive above the squadron, conducting missile attacks on the enemy fleet with darkness sweeping in. No serious damage is reported, however.
Post-Battle Assessment
While initially it was reported to the squadron commander that no carriers were operating in the vicinity - and thus he chose to prosecute the action rather than withdraw - the Italians actually had two large and two small carriers in the region with a total complement aboard of 168 aircraft. While both of the large carriers were struck by missiles from planes out of Heraklion, this came far too late in the day to make a difference to our surface squadron. The sinking of three cruisers and three modern, large destroyers, is a serious loss to the fleet so early in the war. We order all officers to be far more cautious operating in the Med without carrier support and to always be wary of enemy flat tops.
At least the British are having more luck, sinking the Italian Armoured Cruisers Venezia off the coast of South Africa. They also ask if we would like to formalise our alliance - while anxious about the meaning of such an alliance, it's hard to turn down the Royal Navies might operating in our corner. This draws us into the war with Germany, but such is the price. With Britain alongside us, we have almost equal tonnage to our combined enemies, and far, far more submarines.
How should we fight this war?
[ ] Focus on the Mediterranean - the British can manage the North Sea
[ ] Split our forces between the Med and the Atlantic, as necessary.
[ ] Focus on Germany, our old enemy.
