Admiral Beez
Major
Sept. 1939 - HMS Courageous is hit by three torpedoes per OTL, but ITTL only two detonate, causing significant, near-fatal damage. Her escorts chase off U-29 and then take the carrier under tow. Mind you, Courageous has a long tow from her location, so we may need to reduce the level of damage so that she can get underway again.
MaritimeQuest - HMS Courageous Wreck Map
June 1940 - HMS Glorious is spotted by S&G without TSR or CAP aloft, per OTL. But ITTL, Glorious manages to launch her five torpedo-armed Swordfish. The two escorting destroyers combined with the five Swordfish disrupt S&G from accurately engaging Glorious. The carrier increases to max power, meanwhile launches her nine Gladiators to further disrupt S&G. Meanwhile over open frequency S&G location is relayed to Ark Royal's CBG. Scharnhorst is hit by a single airdropped torpedo, while Gneisenau is hit by a torpedo from HMS Acosta. Glorious is still badly hit by 11" fire, not losing power, but causing fires among the Hurricanes and wrecking the upper aft hangar and flight deck. S&G withdraw, while all five Swordfish and four of the Gladiators are shot down. Glorious burns through the day until fires are under control. She arrives at Scapa where courts martial will decide what the hell happened.
Nov 1941 - U-81 scores the torpedo hit per OTL. however ITTL, Ark Royal is successfully towed to Gibraltar.
Dec 1941 - HMS Audacity is sunk per OTL.
So there we have it, the Royal Navy has three badly damaged aircraft carriers between September 1939 and November 1941. And they've just seen their first carrier, albeit a CVE sunk by U-boat that December.
So the Royal Navy has had a little bit of luck. How, where and when do we go about repairing these three carriers? How do we see this impacting the FAA and RN in general? When these three carriers re-enter service, will there not be a shortage of personnel and aircraft because the Illustrious class are entring service at the same time?
If she's surplus relative to the availability of aircraft and trained pilots perhaps HMS Courageous gets sent stateside for repairs and then becomes a fleet air arm training unit, perhaps based in Canada? Though the training school should be located somewhere beyond the usual U-boat hunting ranges.
Does the lack of Ark Royal's sinking impact the designed redundancies and damage control systems of the Illustrious and Implacable classes?
MaritimeQuest - HMS Courageous Wreck Map
June 1940 - HMS Glorious is spotted by S&G without TSR or CAP aloft, per OTL. But ITTL, Glorious manages to launch her five torpedo-armed Swordfish. The two escorting destroyers combined with the five Swordfish disrupt S&G from accurately engaging Glorious. The carrier increases to max power, meanwhile launches her nine Gladiators to further disrupt S&G. Meanwhile over open frequency S&G location is relayed to Ark Royal's CBG. Scharnhorst is hit by a single airdropped torpedo, while Gneisenau is hit by a torpedo from HMS Acosta. Glorious is still badly hit by 11" fire, not losing power, but causing fires among the Hurricanes and wrecking the upper aft hangar and flight deck. S&G withdraw, while all five Swordfish and four of the Gladiators are shot down. Glorious burns through the day until fires are under control. She arrives at Scapa where courts martial will decide what the hell happened.
Nov 1941 - U-81 scores the torpedo hit per OTL. however ITTL, Ark Royal is successfully towed to Gibraltar.
Dec 1941 - HMS Audacity is sunk per OTL.
So there we have it, the Royal Navy has three badly damaged aircraft carriers between September 1939 and November 1941. And they've just seen their first carrier, albeit a CVE sunk by U-boat that December.
So the Royal Navy has had a little bit of luck. How, where and when do we go about repairing these three carriers? How do we see this impacting the FAA and RN in general? When these three carriers re-enter service, will there not be a shortage of personnel and aircraft because the Illustrious class are entring service at the same time?
If she's surplus relative to the availability of aircraft and trained pilots perhaps HMS Courageous gets sent stateside for repairs and then becomes a fleet air arm training unit, perhaps based in Canada? Though the training school should be located somewhere beyond the usual U-boat hunting ranges.
Does the lack of Ark Royal's sinking impact the designed redundancies and damage control systems of the Illustrious and Implacable classes?
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