Composition of TF34

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I've been thinking about TF34 and what the compliment of ships would be. Clearly "anything that can float and make it back and forth across a late autumn Atlantic Ocean" would be a qualifier, but just for fun I looked at what military vessels might be pressed in to service.

This might dovetail into my "Proceedings for December 2000" I may write one of these days, but for now, bear with me.

First of all, we have the USS John Hancock, DD981. Assuming she made it this far into the war by dint of able crew and captain and not that she was laid up somewhere due to massive damage, then pressed into service in the last for TF34/OpOrd Omega, she ships with 19 officers and 315 crew. The fighting spaces on a ship are tight, so I doubt if any personnel who responded to OpOrd Omega will be on board, save for possibly newborn infants in the sickbay and high-ranking officers.

The weapon compliment for the ship is as follows:

2 x 5 in (127 mm) 54 calibre Mark 45 dual purpose guns
2 x 20 mm Phalanx CIWS Mark 15 guns
1 x 8 cell ASROC launcher (removed)
1 x 8 cell NATO Sea Sparrow Mark 29 missile launcher
2 x quadruple Harpoon missile canisters
2 x Mark 32 triple 12.75 in (324 mm) torpedo tubes (Mk 46 torpedoes)
1 x 61 cell Mk 41 VLS launcher for Tomahawk missiles

The Tomahawk cells may be empty at this stage in the war; hell all of the missile tubes may be empty. But I can't imagine they'd be out of 5in or 20mm.

I thought about what the Navy might be scraping the barrel to put afloat in 2000, and cast my thought back to WWII (or younger) reserve (non-fighting) ships. Crater-class Liberty ships still existed in the 1980s (indeed a few still exist today, in addition to two held in pristine condition as museums but we're Twilight:2000's alternate future!). Most were struck and scrapped from 1964-1974, but some (below) were returned to the Maritime Shipping Commission


Cassiopeia
Celeno
Phobos
Draco
Mintaka
Murzim
Caelum
Giansar
Alderamin
Appanoose

Each of these can carry approximately 500 troops "and vehicles", so if you delete the vehicles perhaps 1000 or so troops could be carried...?

Anyway, their armament was as follows:

• 1 × 5"/38 caliber gun
• 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun
• 2 × 40 mm guns
• 6 × 20 mm guns

and while in storage I doubt if the guns remained on, at least a few would be refitted.

However, these ships are problematic: if they are still in operable condition and wouldn't require more refitting than is feasible in a practical manner, given that using the bunker oil TF34 intends to for its trip home, the USN may want to keep them to form the backbone of a rebuilding Navy, moving relief supplies and evacuating people where the ships can reach.

Also, the ships may have been kept in storage in San Diego which I believe is a smoking crater at this time.

If they were dispersed to various shipyards, there's the question of getting them around the horn (I'm assuming the Canal got hit very hard and is unusable these days) if some were on the west coast. Possibly some were at the Navy shipyard in Jersey, but that's gone.

Ultimately I think most of the shipping is going to consist of cargo ships of various stripe that were already in Bremerhaven; I doubt the Mercedes-Benz company is going to be in any position to protest when a shitload of 1998 "S" series coupes and sedans are tossed overboard to make room for the valiant American allies.