stevep
Fleet admiral
Posts: 24,835 
Likes: 13,224
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Post by stevep on Jan 30, 2024 15:11:06 GMT
Think of something to do with the Netherlands and Belgium... It is something to do with American football, but it is unlikely to make the cousins particularly happy.
Oh of course. Silly me.
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 14, 2024 13:28:22 GMT
January 1973
January 1: Signing of the Treaty of Brussels between the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, committing them to a path of continued steps towards a full union by 1984.
January 2: Merger of the Imperial Oil Company and the Eagle Petroleum Company, with the Canadian and British entity now one of the largest oil concerns in the Empire and the wider world.
January 3: The War Office authorises the procurement and storage of new production Chieftain main battle tanks for Army Reserve and Home Guard units and for War Emergency Reserve Stocks, utilising refurbished production lines at BMC’s Royal Mechanizations and Aero tank plant in Birmingham. The day also sees the initiation of a new programme of rotational regular service for Territorial Army and Army Reserve divisions, with the 49th (Wessex) Division and the 25th Infantry Division beginning their 12 month stints after half a year of preliminary training.
January 4: A total solar eclipse darkens most of Europe, Africa and the Middle East for nearly 8 minutes, with the phenomenon observed by specially converted Concords and a special scientific cruise by the ocean liners RMS Canberra and SS Andrea Doria. More nefarious activities also occur during the eclipse, with suspected vampiric attacks spiking in the Balkans.
January 5: NASA and the USSF conducts a test launch of the Super Nova C-10N nuclear space rocket from Johnston Island, marking the first live test of the hulking behemoth, designed to transport a payload of 1000t to high Earth orbit.
January 6: The Rhodesian cabinet approves a new initiative for the provision of defence aid to Portuguese Africa as a means of securing the country’s flanks against potentially hostile entities.
January 7: Brazilian secret police begin a new series of raids against anti-government activist groups, with there being little appetite for the abatement of the ongoing campaign against radical leftist organisations after the assassination of the Emperor.
January 8: A joint Commonwealth task force consisting of South Pacific, New Avalonian and West Indian contingents and the British 38th Infantry Brigade replaces the last remaining elements of the initial intervention force in Uganda. While most disorder and resistance to the intervention and occupation has died down, certain diehard elements continue to be deemed as posing a threat requiring Commonwealth troops.
January 9: Ground is broken on what will be the 100th nuclear power plant to be built in the United States, in Castle Rock, Maine. Atomic power currently supplies 18% of American energy, ahead of hydroelectricity at 9% and behind coal with 27%, oil with 24% and gas with 22%, with the forthcoming Fusion Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s promising to completely transform the national energy equation.
January 10: Argentina and Britain sign a new defence sales agreement, including the purchase of over 100 de Havilland Tornadoes; Buenos Aires remains interested in the purchase of modern long range strike aircraft, with discussions underway with French, American and Italian firms in addition to their traditional British suppliers.
January 11: Vickers unveils its new prototype supersonic jumbo jet to the public at Brooklands, with the new VC25 Victoria, capable of carrying over 500 passengers over transcontinental ranges at speeds over 2500mph, being described as not only the successor to the VC7 and VC8, but as a ‘New Comet’ in terms of its potential to revolutionise global aviation.
January 12: An Anglo-American scientific expedition publishes a paper on its findings regarding the behaviour of lemmings, definitively refuting the erroneous belief in their mass suicidal tendencies based on their observations from the past two years on field research in Norway. The expedition, funded by the millionaire Orlov meerkat family, produced footage of some lemmings acting to block their fellows from danger and others seeming to build crude bridging structures.
January 13: The 'New City' of Middleton is formally established in Northern Buckinghamshire, joining the previous New Towns of Bletchley and Wolverton in a new entity, notable for its use of traditional architecture and legacy of the Garden City movement; a new Anglican cathedral and university are planned to be built. Middleton is the first of five New Cities scheduled to be established in Britain over the next decade, along with Telford, Boston, Richmond and Nelson to follow.
January 14: Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meyerson’s El Al jet is shot at by Arab terrorists whilst coming into land at Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome. All three of the Soviet shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles are automatically engaged by the jet’s self defence systems, with one explosion causing minor damage to a wingtip, whilst the two terrorist vehicles on the ground are swiftly engaged and neutralised by Mossad agents lead by Major David Kabakov, with several wounded terrorists being taken alive. Israel places its armed forces on high alert in response to the outrage, whilst HMS Invincible is ordered to steam towards Haifa from its position off Crete as a precautionary measure.
January 15: Execution of a pair of drug smugglers is broadcast on Filipino television in the latest manifestation of the governing regime’s increasingly strident populist approach, itself seen by some foreign observers as coming from unease over the Marcos assassination and its own longevity.
January 16: The French Parliament passes legislation against the increasing intrusion of the English language into French everyday life; the British Embassy declines to comment, as they did not wish to spoil le weekend.
January 17: Royal Israeli Air Force F-111s bomb and launch missiles against two terrorist training camps in the remote north of Syria purportedly linked with the shadowy Arab group responsible for the attempt on the Prime Minister's life. The daring raid sees them fly through Arabian, Jordanian and Syrian airspace at extremely low level at night, utilising new cloaking devices. The violation of Arab airspace sparks outrage and protests in the streets of Damascus.
January 18: The Icelandic volcano Eidfell begins violently erupting in the early hours of the morning, forcing the urgent evacuation of the population of the island of Heimay by the fortuitously present fishing fleet. The lava flow is diverted just in time from enveloping the town harbour through the intervention of the Archmage of Iceland, who called up the sea waters to solidify it. The eruption continues over the next six months, with the ash cloud causing disruption to air travel across the British Isles and Western Europe.
January 19: A second wave of Israeli retaliatory strikes occurs against suspected terrorist targets, this time in the Lebanon, with air strikes being joined by long range naval bombardment from RIN cruisers in eliminating two suspected camps north of Baalbek. The action is met by condemnation from the Arab states, with an emergency meeting of the Arab Union called in Baghdad. Immediate prospects for further escalation by either Israel or the Arabs seems unlikely for the moment, with the arrival of a Royal Navy carrier group and reinforcement of forward deployed combat air wings of RAF Middle East being very heavily telegraphed; behind the scenes, friendly diplomatic pressure is exerted upon the Israeli government by London, Paris and Washington to curtail its retaliation for the time being in the interests of regional peace and stability.
January 20: Ronald Reagan is sworn into office as President of the United States by Chief Justice of the United States Richard Nixon in front of four former Presidents, hundreds of other dignitaries and a crowd of hundreds of thousands at the Capitol in Washington D.C. The 61 year old President’s inaugural address focuses on the need to renew American economic growth and strength in the aftermath of war, the policy of living within the nation’s means, eliminating debt and cutting taxes and that the United States would once again marshal its energies and forces in the defence of freedom throughout the world.
January 21: Yugoslavia places an order for production and acquisition of at least 700 improved special variants of the Valiant main battle tank from Vickers as replacements for their current fleet of Centurions.
January 22: After a decade of consistent growth, the London Stock Exchange FT 50 suffers a 6% loss in a single day in a long awaited market crash, followed by ripple effects and similar crashes of the Dow Jones in New York, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and in Toronto, Tokyo, Singapore, Bombay and other markets. The potential of a collapse on the scale of 1929 is averted, for the moment, by the intervention of Henry Morgan, John Rockefeller, Lord Rothschild and Chairman of the East India Company, Sir William Ratcliffe, to temporarily stabilise the volatile market, but the events of the day are just the beginning of a significant market movement. Fears of recession spread across the Free World.
January 23: Broadcast of the first episode of Threads on the BBC, a British children’s television series set in a future World War Three that shows the charming adventures of a group of evacuated children in Loxley and Sheffield, amid the adult worries and tribulations of wartime. Critics hail it as managing to show that even a world war can serve as the means to convey a cheery, happy and uplifting message.
January 24: Prospectors in Park County, Colorado discover an extremely large and unique multi-mineral deposit in the mountains near the tow of South Park. Initial tests indicate the presence of one grouping of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper and uranium intersecting with deposits of coal, titanium, diamonds and rare earth minerals. The US Bureau of Mines dispatches an investigation team to explore the quite strange phenomenon.
January 25: George Foreman knocks out Joe Frazier in the second round of their highly touted clash in Kingston, West Indies, setting up a world heavyweight title fight with British champion 'Little John' Smith.
January 26: A Strategic Air Command B-70 Valkyrie crashes whilst on aerial deterrent patrol over Algeria as part of Operation Chrome Dome, with French troops moving to secure the crash site and aid US personnel in the recovery of the nuclear weapons onboard.
January 27: The Turkish consul-general and his deputy are assassinated in Los Angeles by an aged survivor of the Armenian genocide. The 77 year old assassin is taken into custody by LAPD detectives, charged with murder and sentenced to death after a a trial that is criticised by some Armenian exile groups as being unduly influenced by the issue of U.S.- Ottoman relations.
January 28: Tokyo Police discover two drained and partially burnt corpses in an apartment, with the circumstances of the deaths being similar to an unsolved series of deaths in the late 1960s and the remnants of a haiku written in human blood on the inside of the door causing immediate alarm.
January 29: A special meeting of the British cabinet resolves, after unusually lengthy and frank debate, that no extraordinary measures need be taken in response to the stock market crash and the expected economic downturn, for the time being. Prime Minister Barton succeeds in forcing through his argument in maintaining the national economic plan and not giving in to any thought of rash measures, special addresses to the nation and other attempts at intervention; certain contingency programmes for the relief of unemployment through defence industrial spending are to be activated as necessary.
January 30: Mississippi Senator John Stennis is shot and killed outside his Washington D.C. home in an armed robbery, with the two assailants escaping with his watch, wallet and 25 cents. MPD and the FBI begin an immediate investigation, arresting two suspects within 24 hours.
January 31: Syria officially closes its border with Israel in response to what it terms as RIAF violations of its territorial sovereignty, with the ministers of the Arab Union unanimously voting to condemn the Israeli action in strident terms, calling for compensation for the territorial violation, characterising the action as a violation of international law and reserving the right for further economic sanctions as it sees appropriate. There is significant internal difference between the major Arab states of Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Iraq regarding the succour offered to various militant organisations beyond direct national control, with the current Arab paramount Sultan Faisal of Iraq declaring that. in this matter, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 13:04:49 GMT
February
February 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas.
February 2: Completion of the second stage of expansion of VFL Park in South East Melbourne, with the stadium now capable of holding crowds of well over 200,000 and extended double tracked railway and two integrated tram lines providing for swifter public transport.
February 3: King Louis is ceremoniously served a plate of the famed centuries-old Perpignan Perpetual Stew whilst on progress in Rousillon, with His Majesty graciously pronouncing the dish as ‘full of French character’.
February 4: Norwegian archaeologists claim to have uncovered the lost Barrow of the legendary Viking chieftain Hägar II Hägarsson, better known to history as ‘the Horrible’.
February 5: A Londonderry businessman becomes the first aerial motorist in Ireland to be pulled over in mid flight and issued with an on the spot fine for flying too slowly in the Fast skylane in his Ekin Airbuggy.
February 6: Seismographs in Tibet and India indicate that a very large earthquake has taken place in Western Szechuan, the latest misfortune to hit the province. Imperial troops and aircraft move to respond from Chungking.
February 7: A USAF high altitude D-21 reconnaissance drone that accidentally strayed into North Laotian airspace is shot down by an unknown new high performance Soviet interceptor, with the live footage from the drone’s cameras causing considerable consternation at USFV headquarters in Saigon.
February 8: Two Paraguayan Army patrols are ambushed and destroyed by guerrillas in the Gran Chaco, the latest example of the deteriorating security situation in the region, which is the heartland of Guevarist inspired communist revolutionary groups in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.
February 9: Soviet serial killer Anatoly Utkin is captured by local militsiya in Ulyanovsk; the official Soviet policy that there are no serial killers in the USSR continues to be maintained, with such behaviour officially confined to the degenerate capitalist West. He is swiftly tried in camera and sentenced to be taken to Belesets-13 for the experimental vivisektsiya programme.
February 10: President Reagan declines to take precipitous actions in response to the stock market crash, deciding to give it time to play out before putting in place a margin reduction and initial tax cut. The consensus of opinion in Washington leans towards this being the start of an inevitable market correction after the boom of the previous decade and that hasty interventionist measures may result in a rise in inflation that would compound the 'recession we had to have'.
February 11: Voters in Liechtenstein reject a proposal for the extension of suffrage to women.
February 12: Noted Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from his recent role as Hamlet in New York City, joins the US Army Reserve’s 149th Commando Regiment, having previously served as a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army from 1965-67.
February 13: The Royal Historical Society releases its annual report, 'The Top 5 Greatest Cities in the World', rating the world's cities upon their population, culture and happiness, amenity, attractions and wonders, which sees London come top, ahead of New York City, Paris, Rome and Constantinople, with the Byzantine Greek capital bumping out Tokyo in the aftermath of the successful 1972 Olympic Games.
February 14: GDR Chairman Ernst Thalmann appears to verbally stumble backwards over several different lines in his speech at the launching of the Volksmarine's newest guided missile super cruiser, Karl Liebknecht.
February 15: The USN declares an end to Operation Clean Sweep, the clearance of mines from North and South Vietnamese waters that had steadily proceeded over the last three years. The force of minesweepers, helicopters, rotodynes and hovercraft is seen as reinforcing that the task of minesweeping requires both surface vessels and aircraft.
February 16: Police in Cleveland, Ohio, responding to an urgent call about a missing tiger, discover that the fearsome beast is apparently a stuffed animal, which is returned to the owner, a young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness; one officer swears that he saw the creature transform, but is subsequently thought to be overwrought and is transferred from the Big Cat Squad to the unit investigating the Federation of Inter-State Truckers.
February 17: The Museum ship USS Constitution vanishes from her berth at the Boston Naval Yard, sparking alarm and immediate investigation by the USN and FBI. Dark magic is immediately suspected.
February 18: Economic uncertainty and a general slowdown continues across the United States, Britain and the broader Western world, with unemployment continuing to rise. In Britain, the amount of young men called up into National Service in the Armed Forces and Empire Labour Service per month is increased to reduce immediate pressure on the labour market, whilst contracts for additional production orders are signed with a number of significant defence suppliers, refurbishment of several Royal Ordnance facilities is commenced and construction plans for several new Royal Highways with special secondary purposes approved by the Ministry of Works.
February 19: Israeli naval commandos launch a predawn raid a suspected terrorist camp in the north of the Lebanon, eliminating several dozen enemy personnel before withdrawing by Zodiac to a waiting RIN destroyer. The action leads to a formal protest by the Lebanese government and a closure of the border.
February 20: The Red Army begins its largest winter exercise for five years, somewhat uncharacteristically late in the season, with over 400,000 personnel taking part in extensive war games in Archangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
February 21: Colorado journalists investigating reports of a new costumed vigilante in Denver and surrounding towns uncover no sign of the strange 'Mysterion', save for fleeting glimpses of a small figure in distant shadows.
February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine.
February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments.
February 24: Every olive tree in Spain, save for the venerable Farga d'Arió in Ulldecona, dies during the night. A strange storm around the witching hour seems to have sparked the die-off, with the wiping out of the valuable Spanish olive industry devastating the agricultural sector and leaving the nation in shock. The Spanish Inquisition begins an emergency investigation, whilst some Spanish grandees point the finger at Italy, whose trees were unaffected by the 'Second Noche Triste'.
February 25: The Miller Brewing Company cancels development of a 'light beer' after extensive research and testing shows demonstrates the lack of a market niche for a beer below the long accepted 5% abv mark, with some respondents in the 'beer heartland' of the Midwest labelling the lighter drink as an abomination dreamed up by the Anti-Saloon League.
February 26: British Rail begins experimental service of the Tracked Hovertrain on several South Coast secondary lines; whilst the technology is now mature, it does have to compete against the rival magical levitation/maglev systems used successfully on the major intercity lines and new generation conventional trains, with the result that export of a monorail version is seen as the most promising course of action.
February 27: Australian crocodile hunters report a new spate of sightings of very large and apparently intelligent saltwater crocodiles in the wilds of New Guinea, with some reports of the beasts seemingly speaking in order to entice their human prey.
February 28: The American Medical Association presents a report to the Surgeon-General calling for radical changes to the rules and equipment of football in order to prevent a danger to public health and safety, with the conclusion canvassing an outright ban or restriction upon the sport as an absolute last option should these reforms not be possible.
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lordroel
Administrator
Posts: 67,973
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Post by lordroel on Feb 24, 2024 13:07:59 GMT
FebruaryFebruary 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas. So what would be the Shiloh-class (if that is the name) air wing look like if you can. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 14:46:43 GMT
24 x Tomcats, 24-36 x Phantoms, 24 Intruders, 24-36 Skyhawk IIs, 12 A/S-3 Vikings, 12 F-111M Vindicators, 4 A3 Skywarriors, 4 E2 Hawkeyes, 4 EA-6 Prowlers, 4 RA-5 Vigilantes and 8 Rotodynes.
The Phantoms are to be replaced by VFAX, Intruders by VAX and the Vindicators by VBX. The Skyhawk II was discussed in August 1972’s post.
The variation of the extra squadron of Phantoms or Skyhawk IIs depends on the mission and fleet, with some projected as being more “fighter heavy” CVWs.
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stevep
Fleet admiral
Posts: 24,835
Likes: 13,224
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Post by stevep on Feb 24, 2024 14:54:57 GMT
FebruaryFebruary 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas. February 2: Completion of the second stage of expansion of VFL Park in South East Melbourne, with the stadium now capable of holding crowds of well over 200,000 and extended double tracked railway and two integrated tram lines providing for swifter public transport. February 3: King Louis is ceremoniously served a plate of the famed centuries-old Perpignan Perpetual Stew whilst on progress in Rousillon, with His Majesty graciously pronouncing the dish as ‘full of French character’. February 4: Norwegian archaeologists claim to have uncovered the lost Barrow of the legendary Viking chieftain Hägar II Hägarsson, better known to history as ‘the Horrible’. February 5: A Londonderry businessman becomes the first aerial motorist in Ireland to be pulled over in mid flight and issued with an on the spot fine for flying too slowly in the Fast skylane in his Ekin Airbuggy. February 6: Seismographs in Tibet and India indicate that a very large earthquake has taken place in Western Szechuan, the latest misfortune to hit the province. Imperial troops and aircraft move to respond from Chungking. February 7: A USAF high altitude D-21 reconnaissance drone that accidentally strayed into North Laotian airspace is shot down by an unknown new high performance Soviet interceptor, with the live footage from the drone’s cameras causing considerable consternation at USFV headquarters in Saigon. February 8: Two Paraguayan Army patrols are ambushed and destroyed by guerrillas in the Gran Chaco, the latest example of the deteriorating security situation in the region, which is the heartland of Guevarist inspired communist revolutionary groups in Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. February 9: Soviet serial killer Anatoly Utkin is captured by local militsiya in Ulyanovsk; the official Soviet policy that there are no serial killers in the USSR continues to be maintained, with such behaviour officially confined to the degenerate capitalist West. He is swiftly tried in camera and sentenced to be taken to Belesets-13 for the experimental vivisektsiya programme. February 10: President Reagan declines to take precipitous actions in response to the stock market crash, deciding to give it time to play out before putting in place a margin reduction and initial tax cut. The consensus of opinion in Washington leans towards this being the start of an inevitable market correction after the boom of the previous decade and that hasty interventionist measures may result in a rise in inflation that would compound the 'recession we had to have'. February 11: Voters in Liechtenstein reject a proposal for the extension of suffrage to women. February 12: Noted Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from his recent role as Hamlet in New York City, joins the US Army Reserve’s 149th Commando Regiment, having previously served as a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army from 1965-67. February 13: The Royal Historical Society releases its annual report, 'The Top 5 Greatest Cities in the World', rating the world's cities upon their population, culture and happiness, amenity, attractions and wonders, which sees London come top, ahead of New York City, Paris, Rome and Constantinople, with the Byzantine Greek capital bumping out Tokyo in the aftermath of the successful 1972 Olympic Games. February 14: GDR Chairman Ernst Thalmann appears to verbally stumble backwards over several different lines in his speech at the launching of the Volksmarine's newest guided missile super cruiser, Karl Liebknecht. February 15: The USN declares an end to Operation Clean Sweep, the clearance of mines from North and South Vietnamese waters that had steadily proceeded over the last three years. The force of minesweepers, helicopters, rotodynes and hovercraft is seen as reinforcing that the task of minesweeping requires both surface vessels and aircraft. February 16: Police in Cleveland, Ohio, responding to an urgent call about a missing tiger, discover that the fearsome beast is apparently a stuffed animal, which is returned to the owner, a young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness; one officer swears that he saw the creature transform, but is subsequently thought to be overwrought and is transferred from the Big Cat Squad to the unit investigating the Federation of Inter-State Truckers. February 17: The Museum ship USS Constitution vanishes from her berth at the Boston Naval Yard, sparking alarm and immediate investigation by the USN and FBI. Dark magic is immediately suspected. February 18: Economic uncertainty and a general slowdown continues across the United States, Britain and the broader Western world, with unemployment continuing to rise. In Britain, the amount of young men called up into National Service in the Armed Forces and Empire Labour Service per month is increased to reduce immediate pressure on the labour market, whilst contracts for additional production orders are signed with a number of significant defence suppliers, refurbishment of several Royal Ordnance facilities is commenced and construction plans for several new Royal Highways with special secondary purposes approved by the Ministry of Works. February 19: Israeli naval commandos launch a predawn raid a suspected terrorist camp in the north of the Lebanon, eliminating several dozen enemy personnel before withdrawing by Zodiac to a waiting RIN destroyer. The action leads to a formal protest by the Lebanese government and a closure of the border. February 20: The Red Army begins its largest winter exercise for five years, somewhat uncharacteristically late in the season, with over 400,000 personnel taking part in extensive war games in Archangelsk Oblast and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. February 21: Colorado journalists investigating reports of a new costumed vigilante in Denver and surrounding towns uncover no sign of the strange 'Mysterion', save for fleeting glimpses of a small figure in distant shadows. February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine. February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments. February 24: Every olive tree in Spain, save for the venerable Farga d'Arió in Ulldecona, dies during the night. A strange storm around the witching hour seems to have sparked the die-off, with the wiping out of the valuable Spanish olive industry devastating the agricultural sector and leaving the nation in shock. The Spanish Inquisition begins an emergency investigation, whilst some Spanish grandees point the finger at Italy, whose trees were unaffected by the 'Second Noche Triste'. February 25: The Miller Brewing Company cancels development of a 'light beer' after extensive research and testing shows demonstrates the lack of a market niche for a beer below the long accepted 5% abv mark, with some respondents in the 'beer heartland' of the Midwest labelling the lighter drink as an abomination dreamed up by the Anti-Saloon League. February 26: British Rail begins experimental service of the Tracked Hovertrain on several South Coast secondary lines; whilst the technology is now mature, it does have to compete against the rival magical levitation/maglev systems used successfully on the major intercity lines and new generation conventional trains, with the result that export of a monorail version is seen as the most promising course of action. February 27: Australian crocodile hunters report a new spate of sightings of very large and apparently intelligent saltwater crocodiles in the wilds of New Guinea, with some reports of the beasts seemingly speaking in order to entice their human prey. February 28: The American Medical Association presents a report to the Surgeon-General calling for radical changes to the rules and equipment of football in order to prevent a danger to public health and safety, with the conclusion canvassing an outright ban or restriction upon the sport as an absolute last option should these reforms not be possible.
February February 1: Commissioning of the USN’s newest nuclear supercarrier USS Shiloh at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Fore River Shipyard, freeing up one of capital ship sized slips across the country for President Reagan’s planned defence expansion; Bunker Hill is under construction at the American Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden, NJ until mid 1974 and Valley Forge at New York Shipbuilding on Staten Island, NY is due to be commissioned in the second half of 1975. The battleships Maryland and New Mexico are approaching completion at the Long Beach Navy Shipyard, CA and the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard, PA, respectively, with 1972's commissioning of South Carolina and Arkansas at San Francisco Navy Shipyard, CA and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, NY. It is thought that these, combined with the completion of USS Ticonderoga at Newport News Shipbuilding late last year, will provide scope for the acceleration of the next projected South Dakota class and the next batch of Ticonderogas. - Given the size of fleets in DE are the USN in danger of running out of state names to use? February 4: Norwegian archaeologists claim to have uncovered the lost Barrow of the legendary Viking chieftain Hägar II Hägarsson, better known to history as ‘the Horrible’. -  February 12: Noted Austrian-American actor, bodybuilder and strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from his recent role as Hamlet in New York City, joins the US Army Reserve’s 149th Commando Regiment, having previously served as a conscript in the Austro-Hungarian Imperial and Royal Army from 1965-67. - I like him as an actor and person generally but must admit the idea of Arnie as Hamlet rather boggles the mind. February 16: Police in Cleveland, Ohio, responding to an urgent call about a missing tiger, discover that the fearsome beast is apparently a stuffed animal, which is returned to the owner, a young tow-headed type of no small rambunctiousness; one officer swears that he saw the creature transform, but is subsequently thought to be overwrought and is transferred from the Big Cat Squad to the unit investigating the Federation of Inter-State Truckers. - I have the feeling this should mean something but not catching it. February 18: Economic uncertainty and a general slowdown continues across the United States, Britain and the broader Western world, with unemployment continuing to rise. In Britain, the amount of young men called up into National Service in the Armed Forces and Empire Labour Service per month is increased to reduce immediate pressure on the labour market, whilst contracts for additional production orders are signed with a number of significant defence suppliers, refurbishment of several Royal Ordnance facilities is commenced and construction plans for several new Royal Highways with special secondary purposes approved by the Ministry of Works. - Well that will keep umemployment a bit lower but at the risk of higher inflation and of course government spending. February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine. February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments. - Would the wild west section include a bald gunslinger? I think I'll give it a miss.
February 24: Every olive tree in Spain, save for the venerable Farga d'Arió in Ulldecona, dies during the night. A strange storm around the witching hour seems to have sparked the die-off, with the wiping out of the valuable Spanish olive industry devastating the agricultural sector and leaving the nation in shock. The Spanish Inquisition begins an emergency investigation, whilst some Spanish grandees point the finger at Italy, whose trees were unaffected by the 'Second Noche Triste'. - That's taking economic competition a bit far.  February 26: British Rail begins experimental service of the Tracked Hovertrain on several South Coast secondary lines; whilst the technology is now mature, it does have to compete against the rival magical levitation/maglev systems used successfully on the major intercity lines and new generation conventional trains, with the result that export of a monorail version is seen as the most promising course of action. - I'm not sure how a tracked hover-train would work given that the basis of an hovercraft is it avoids contact with the ground. Or am I misunderstanding the use of the word tracked?
February 27: Australian crocodile hunters report a new spate of sightings of very large and apparently intelligent saltwater crocodiles in the wilds of New Guinea, with some reports of the beasts seemingly speaking in order to entice their human prey. - Sounds distinctly nasty.
February 28: The American Medical Association presents a report to the Surgeon-General calling for radical changes to the rules and equipment of football in order to prevent a danger to public health and safety, with the conclusion canvassing an outright ban or restriction upon the sport as an absolute last option should these reforms not be possible. - Would help improve safety.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 24, 2024 14:56:28 GMT
24 x Tomcats, 24-36 x Phantoms, 24 Intruders, 24-36 Skyhawk IIs, 12 A/S-3 Vikings, 12 F-111M Vindicators, 4 A3 Skywarriors, 4 E2 Hawkeyes, 4 EA-6 Prowlers, 4 RA-5 Vigilantes and 8 Rotodynes. Thanks. February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine. February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments. A certain theme park i would love to visit but will wait until some bugs are worked out. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 15:16:13 GMT
Steve, 1.) They have a further 14 unused state names as of 1973, with 12 Iowa and Montana class names to be recycled once those ships are retired. (West Virginia, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Vermont, Utah, Lincoln, Maine, Jefferson, Franklin, Hawaii, Sequoyah, Wyoming; Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, Kansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Georgia) 2.) Hagar is worth a mention. 3.) My intent worked then. Through magical means, the Austrian accent can be changed in some films and plays. 4.) The main part is a reference to Calvin and Hobbes, with the last bit referring to the 1978 Stallone movie F.I.S.T. (a Jimmy Hoffa/Teamster fictionalisation). 5.) Spending isn’t changing appreciably for now. The plan is to control any inflationary effect through dampening wage agreements in concert with the unions, interest rate control, using the slack built into the system (now that there is no debt), and creative Treasury policies. The general aim is to ameliorate this rather inevitable and anticipated recession whilst keeping the means to really intervene ready, should they be needed. Spoiler: They won’t be. Q1 will see -1.2% and Q2 -0.9%, with a recovery in Q3 and 4. Unemployment peaks at ~1.56% in June. 6.) Good pick up on Westworld. 7.) It isn’t the Italians; the olive issue will have ramifications. 8.) The Tracked Hovertrain: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracked_Hovercraft9.) It is indeed. Someone is messing around with crocs… 10.) Indeed. We shall see what occurs. Simon |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 15:20:15 GMT
24 x Tomcats, 24-36 x Phantoms, 24 Intruders, 24-36 Skyhawk IIs, 12 A/S-3 Vikings, 12 F-111M Vindicators, 4 A3 Skywarriors, 4 E2 Hawkeyes, 4 EA-6 Prowlers, 4 RA-5 Vigilantes and 8 Rotodynes. Thanks. February 22: Construction begins on a new historical theme park in Delos, Texas, featuring attractions based on the Wild West, Medieval England, Ancient Rome, the Golden Age of Piracy and The World of 2001, which are to be cleverly simulated using applied sophisticated illusion magics and costumed robotic androids, all controlled by an intelligent reactive supercomputing engine. February 23: Lockheed-Martin begin testing of an experimental low observable radar avoidant ‘stealth’ aircraft at Turner AFB, Groom Lake, Nevada. The revolutionary craft has a triangular shape and utilises active camouflage through innovative materials and new, complex arcane enchantments. A certain theme park i would love to visit but will wait until some bugs are worked out. 1.) You are welcome as ever. The Shilohs/Ticonderogas have larger air groups as C4I, particularly computers, have advanced sufficiently to make them possible. 2.) It is still under design, so bugs may not necessarily occur in the fashion some might anticipate. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 24, 2024 15:23:28 GMT
Thanks. A certain theme park i would love to visit but will wait until some bugs are worked out. 1.) You are welcome as ever. The Shilohs have larger air groups as C4I, particularly computers, have advanced sufficiently to make them possible. I assume there will be bigger carriers in the pipleline after the Shiloh-class. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 15:49:02 GMT
There have been 12 Enterprise class. Now there will be at least a dozen Ticonderogas, which will be built over the 1970s, 80s and 90s. They are the generational equivalent to the Nimitz class of @. In 1973, do we think that what would become the Ford class was even a distant plan? No.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 24, 2024 16:00:00 GMT
There have been 12 Enterprise class. Now there will be at least a dozen Ticonderogas, which will be built over the 1970s, 80s and 90s. They are the generational equivalent to the Nimitz class of @. In 1973, do we think that what would become the Ford class was even a distant plan? No. So will they be Post Panamax Ships, to big to go true the Panama Canal. Also what is the closest the British have compared to the Shiloh-class. |
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 24, 2024 16:09:25 GMT
Ticonderoga class.
They aren’t too big to go through the DE Panama Canal, which had its lock extension completed during WW2 (1600ft x 200ft x 70ft). The Ticos are ~1529ft.
The RN Ark Royals are the broad equivalent of the Enterprise class of the USN. The first batch (Ark Royal, Eagle, Invincible and Hermes) were 125,000t, the second (Victorious, Formidable, Illustrious and Indomitable) a bit larger and the third group (Indefatigable, Implacable, Unicorn and Centaur) are larger still. The next class, intended to replace the Maltas, will be larger again.
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stevep
Fleet admiral
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Post by stevep on Feb 24, 2024 16:28:22 GMT
Steve, 1.) They have a further 14 unused state names as of 1973, with 12 Iowa and Montana class names to be recycled once those ships are retired. (West Virginia, Alabama, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Vermont, Utah, Lincoln, Maine, Jefferson, Franklin, Hawaii, Sequoyah, Wyoming; Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Montana, Kansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Georgia) 2.) Hagar is worth a mention. 3.) My intent worked then. Through magical means, the Austrian accent can be changed in some films and plays. 4.) The main part is a reference to Calvin and Hobbes, with the last bit referring to the 1978 Stallone movie F.I.S.T. (a Jimmy Hoffa/Teamster fictionalisation). 5.) Spending isn’t changing appreciably for now. The plan is to control any inflationary effect through dampening wage agreements in concert with the unions, interest rate control, using the slack built into the system (now that there is no debt), and creative Treasury policies. The general aim is to ameliorate this rather inevitable and anticipated recession whilst keeping the means to really intervene ready, should they be needed. Spoiler: They won’t be. Q1 will see -1.2% and Q2 -0.9%, with a recovery in Q3 and 4. Unemployment peaks at ~1.56% in June. 6.) Good pick up on Westworld. 7.) It isn’t the Italians; the olive issue will have ramifications. 8.) The Tracked Hovertrain: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracked_Hovercraft9.) It is indeed. Someone is messing around with crocs… 10.) Indeed. We shall see what occurs. Simon
3) I was thinking less of his accent than the idea of Hamlet as a hulking bulk of muscle.
4) Ah should have remembered that.
7) I suspected it wasn't hence the emote. Assumed that something dark was at work magically and presume we will find out more later.
8) Ah thanks. I was thinking when tracked it referred to actual wheels running on rail tracks but see what was meant now.
9) It wouldn't be a Dr Moreau would it?
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Post by simon darkshade on Feb 25, 2024 9:27:10 GMT
Steve, 3.) That was precisely my intent, creating the jarring imagery. Truth be told, this is a fairly old trope, going back to an Easter Egg in the film of Jurassic Park 2, which had a cinema advertising poster for Schwarzenegger in King Lear in the background and Arnold playing Hamlet in a dream sequence in Last Action Hero.  4.) As we move into the 1970s proper, there is scope for more characters from notable comic strips to get a mention. 7.) Time will tell. Someone could have an interest in rupturing relations between Western countries… 8.) It is an interesting little technology, but as alluded to in the Feb 26 event, it is kind of made obsolete by mag lev. I’ll have a think on whether there are any left field applications, but super fast trains are a fair bit more advanced in DE. 9.) Not exactly… |
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