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  1. Question: alternate start of Winter War

    How plausible would it be for the Winter War to start either much earlier (within days or at most a few weeks of the invasion of Poland) or much later (Spring/Summer 1940)? Is there really any major factor driving the date other than Stalin's whim (within that range)? What are the (reasonably...

  2. Nazi Victory Scenario: What happens to Russia?

    https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=140356

  3. Did US forces in philippines in 1941 have meaningful offensive capability?

    OK, I think we need to get more specific. On 12/7/41 the US Asiatic Fleet had SubRon 20 with 29 boats. These would be the ones available for immediate operations around the PI. By hull number these were: SS-141 to -146 "S-1" class SS-172 to -178 "Porpoise" class SS-182 to -197 "Salmon" and...

  4. Eyes Turned Skywards

    I'm quite sure there could be some situation somewhere where they'd be cost effective. However, under the present bias against nuclear anything and the limited scale of launches I suspect there is no present or near future application where it would be cost effective. Now once we really get out...

  5. Splinters - Rommel Dies At Alam Halfa

    This thread makes me smile. I wish to thank both Cymraeg for writing it and others for contributing comments.

  6. Challenge: battleship world

    And submarines date to the 18th century. The development of complex systems (and there are few more complex systems in the world than a fleet carrier) is not guaranteed to happen in 30 years. Only three nations in history have ever had true operational fleet carriers (US, GB, Japan), plus half...

  7. Challenge: battleship world

    I respect the British. I do not respect the British Parliament. Guess who writes the checks? Politicians are capable of incredible levels of illogic and self-deception over and above their general lack of touch with reality. One would think, for example, that it would be only sane and logical...

  8. US enters WW2 earlier.

    Nope. The prototype was ordered in June of 1941. Modifications were made based on combat experience, but the F6F would still have existed and been an incremental improvement over the F4F. Eh, what? As of 12/7/41 I count nine fleet and light carriers in the IJN, plus a pair of CVEs. the USN...

  9. Challenge: battleship world

    All true, though last I saw there was no budget for air wings for those RN carriers. (!?!?) Which, of course, circles back to my point: we don't need a TL where carriers are actually inferior to battleships, we only need to have one where the people who sign the checks...

  10. Sabotage operations against Japan possible?

    The OSS was quite active in the Pacific - among other things, they worked with this guy named Ho Chi Min. You might have heard of him. :-) Remember, the US put its ethnic Japanese in internment camps. The Nisei units were all sent to the ETO so they wouldn't have a chance to defect (probably...

  11. Latest Possible US Multiparty System?

    Parties exist nowhere in the Constitution. In the original version the VP was supposed to be the Presidential candidate who got the 2nd most votes - picture Bush as POTUS with Gore as his veep! The electoral college, by its nature, strongly favors having only two serious candidates for POTUS...

  12. Latest Possible US Multiparty System?

    I was actually hoping that the last election (2008) would wind up splitting both parties. IMO that is the only way you're going to get more than two parties in the US at present because if one party splits and the other doesn't, it is committing suicide. However, if a pair of hyper-ambitious...

  13. Smallpox 9/11: a TL

    What Mark E. said, plus this: there are two kinds of 'good' bio weapons. The first type is something of a weapon of war - it is highly infectious, either airborne or has multiple vectors, it has a short incubation time, has a high mortality rate, AND A VACCINE that you alone posses. You release...

  14. Challenge: battleship world

    All true - but a fighter only carrier won't REPLACE battleships, now will it? :-) Or Infernal intervention... Something that occurred to me last night; only ONE navy has actually carried Fleet carriers forward into the modern era - the USN. If Fleet carriers don't play a key role in WWII...

  15. Challenge: battleship world

    Yes, but carrier aircraft aren't automatically equal in development to land aircraft, or the RN's FAA would have had good monoplane fighters and bombers when the war broke out. Absent reasonable numbers of carriers, who's going to be developing carrier aircraft? Sure, you'll get a few here and...

  16. Challenge: battleship world

    I'd say it was more to stop the naval arms race, of which battleships were certainly seen as the key element. From there, it is a small step to 'and we all agree not to waste our money on carriers, too'. The various treaties also wound up covering cruisers, destroyers, etc. as well as regulating...

  17. Challenge: battleship world

    I was considering them as fairly successful conversions, rather than the true fleet carriers the USN and IJN got. USS Saratoga served with the Fast Carrier Force right up to the end of the war. Still, you make a good point. All THREE of the carrier navies of WWII got their start on that path at...

  18. Better urban transport and railroads instead of interstates

    Oh? How much did you pay for your car? How much do you pay to maintain it? How much is your auto insurance? You need to compare apples to apples in transportation costs. When you fly on a plane or ride a train, your ticket (plus fees) covers not just fuel, but maintenance, capital equipment...

  19. Better urban transport and railroads instead of interstates

    You don't need to enact anything - the status quo was very railroad friendly. It took a massive expenditure of wealth to create the National Defense Highways (the Interstates). It costs two orders of magnitude more to maintain them each year (on the taxpayer's dollar) than all rail subsidies...

  20. Challenge: battleship world

    I really think your best show is by treaty - have the Washington naval treaty ban carriers (OK, allow each signatory one experimental ship - Hosho and Langley aren't going to be sinking any BB's). The treaties (Washington and London) influenced shipbuilding through the end of WWII - even the...
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