[Pete Hill]

Hi Guys,
Getting back to the alternative history senario, Its one of my favourite indulgences. I like Neil's possibilities, especially. Don't let guys like Harry Turtledove see them! I actually had some fun writing a short novel based on an alternative history scenario a few years back, based on the WW2 Pacific war. I had the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbour a day later than they did so they sink the carrier USS Enterprise. Then most things go disastrously wrong for the allies. The US carrier Hornet is detected en route to deliver the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942 and is sunk by a Japanese submarine. At the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the Japanese get in the first blow and sink the USS Lexington and damage the Yorktown but their own main carrier fleet escapes un-harmed, forcing the Americans to withdraw. As a consequence, the Japanese invasion of Port Moresby goes ahead successfully, meaning the Australian army units at Kokoda are cut off and surrounded. The US PT boat that is intended to rescue General Douglas MaCarthur and his wife from the besieged Philippines is intercepted and sunk and the famous US Commander is captured by the Japanese.
Finally on June 4th 1942, the one remaining seaworthy US carrier, the Yorktown, sallies forth to do battle at Midway but is not surprisingly overwhelmed, especially since Japanese Admiral Yamamoto has also committed the two fleet Imperial carriers that were at Coral Sea the previous month meaning Admiral Fletcher is facing six enemy flattops instead of four. After the Yorktown goes down in a heavy air attack, taking Admiral Fletcher with it, the surviving American surface ships desperately attempt to close in on the Imperial fleet on June 5th. Out of nearly 20 ships, only a single cruiser, the Northampton, and a couple of destroyers escape to the east, making Midway the worst US Naval defeat in history. Admiral Spruance, commanding one of the cruiser squadrons, also loses his life along with most of the famous US pilots of the battle such as Max Leslie & Wade McCluskey. A few pilots such as George Gay and Jimmy Thach manage to escape to Midway island and are evacuated back to the mainland before the island falls to the Japanese after a massive bombardment. Aghast at the disaster, Admiral Nimitz offers his resignation which Washington accepts.
The stage is set for a final showdown and it happens in December 1942 when Yamamoto, frustrated and worried that the Americans still won't sue for peace, assembles every ship he has and launches a massive attack on Hawaii. US Admiral Halsey, now recovered from the illness that kept him from Midway, meets him with a fleet comprising nearly every ship the US Navy can scrap up including the just repaired carrier Saratoga with the carrier Wasp, newly arrived from the Atlantic, a handful of 'Jeep' escort carriers, half-a-dozen Battleships, every cruiser and destroyer they can assemble and even a handful of British, Dutch, New Zealand and Australian ships. The Battle of Hawaii becomes the largest Naval battle of Modern times.
Needless to say, it is a mighty Allied victory, albeit a costly one. Nearly every Japanese carrier goes down and Admirals Nagumo and Yamaguchi meet their demise. Even Yamamoto himself perishes when the huge Battleship Yamato is sunk in a duel with three US Battle-wagons (two of which are sunk also). Torpedo 8 survivor George Gay, now commanding a TBF Grumman Avenger squadron, torpedoes the Japanese flagship carrier Akagi. Australian ace Clive Caldwell, leading an RAAF Spitfire unit operating from Hickam airfield on Oahu, distinguishes himself by despatching four Zeros. In true Nelson-style, US Admiral Halsey is killed at the last moment as a burning Zero makes a final strafing run over the bridge of the Saratoga.
With the Imperial Navy virtually destroyed, I outlined a postscript which has the Pacific war ending seven months earlier in January 1945, minus Naval battles such as the Marianas and Leyte Gulf, as the Allies sweep north-westwards. With no A-Bomb available yet, the conventional bombing campaign fails to subdue Japan so an Allied invasion is staged in late 1944. Without MaCarthur in charge, other Allied troops, such as Australians and British, are allowed to participate.
The Allied troops advance inland through heavy fighting but the rest of Japan is spared devastation as the government capitulates, following a precision bombing attack on the Japanese army headquarters.
Well, it was a lot of fun to write but it was God-damn bloody awful so I didn't even bother to keep it. Besides, I have heard that US author Newt Gingrich is shortly bringing out a new historical series based on the Pacific War. I enjoyed his alternative history trilogy on the Civil War so I am looking forward to reading this one.
Pete