A True World War

One of the biggest problems that Roosevelt constantly clamored about, once he was in the White House, was the fact that while everyone knew they were fighting a world war, nobody acted as if it were the case. Once Roosevelt was introduced to the details, about how the various operations were planned, he was horrified to discover that almost no cooperation was going on between the far flung members of the Entente or, in a lot of cases, even their armies in the field failed to communicate with each other. As Theodore would go on to write, “they were all planning for this picture that they were not even looking at!” With Canada out of the way, the Confederate fleet wrecked, and a more sympathetic ear, in Paris, Theodore suddenly found himself with enough breathing room to do something about that. He did so with typical Roosevelt energy.

What Roosevelt brought to the picture was a central purpose and scheme that had been lacking before his arrival. He had established some clear goals that went just beyond the obvious, that of winning the war, and was slowly charting a path out of the conflict with something that he could sell as a victory. What Roosevelt equally realized was that, in order to get any kind of dialogue going, he would also have to leave the Allied leaders with a similar situation. If anyone tried to rub the other sides nose in a defeat, Theodore reasoned, then not only would this war go on but, it would most likely lead to many others down the road.

As much as Roosevelt would have loved to order an invasion of England, if it were even possible (and it really wasn’t), there would be nothing to be gained by such an act. Still, the British were cooperating in one aspect with Roosevelt’s personal desires. It had been the United Kingdom with which he had first sent out peace feelers and, while nothing had come of it, the act did tell Roosevelt one thing about his enemy. The British were the primary block to a peace settlement and, for that reason, it would be the British who got a kick between the legs. The Zulu had come along and given him the best opportunity for that.

It would not be in Natal where this new and ambitious operation began. It would start in the far reaches of the Pacific ocean, at Port Arthur, and in Manchuria in general. US and Russian forces would launch an all out attack on the Korean Peninsular. Entente forces were now reinforced by two US Infantry divisions that consisted of troops who were largely seasoned on the Canadian Front. The ferocity of the initial attacks were unexpected by the Japanese but, not the attack itself. Entente forces made some initial gains and did manage to the force the Japanese to fall back on Pyongyang. Even so, the attack quickly bogged down after that. The terrain in Korea is extremely difficult and if faced with an opponent who is ready and determined, and the Japanese were, such an eventuality is the most likely result.

This would have been just another quagmire except it was only really a diversion for a diversion. It was quite a bit of resources to spend on something that is seemingly so trivial. It appeared to many, particularly the US General Staff, that the wasted resources in this offensive would cripple the Entente in the following years operations. What they did not seem to get was that their President was not planning on there being any operations in the following year. It was also nothing compared to the resistance that Roosevelt was getting from his own Navy.

The real operation that the fighting in Korea was designed to effect, was something that had not happened since the start of the war. General’s Wood and Pershing had been largely responsible for this plan and, because it was two upstart Army Generals, the Navy was not on board with the concept. Fortunately for Roosevelt, he was in position to ignore his Admirals as much as he was his cabinet. He communicated directly with his man on the scene, Admiral Dewey, and issued the orders directly from the White House communications center, completely bi-passing the War Department.

This act would set up the first possible, full scale, naval battle since the Yellow Sea. It was not something the leaders of the US Navy were all that thrilled over. One miscalculation could cost them the largest portion of the Pacific Fleet and, as a result, the entire theater would have to be handed over to the Allies. This battle did not occur for several reasons and, the most prominent of these reasons, was the sudden demand for supplies that were placed on the Japanese army in Korea.

Admiral Moore found himself having to divert even more resources to supplying the Korean Peninsula as well as protecting the merchants who were doing that job. His resources were being stretched thin and, suddenly, he was alerted that a large task force of American ships had departed from Port Arthur, destination unknown. Naturally, just like Grey in South Africa, Moore found himself at the center of a bombardment of telegrams screaming for protection. Everyone, from the new Confederate authorities in the Philippines, to the City fathers of Tokyo, were convinced that they were the target of this America attack. The only way Moore could deal with this threat was to assemble his own task force and give battle. That stood in direct contradiction to his orders but, under the circumstances, he felt he must disobey.

Dewey had quite a jump on Moore and, despite this, there almost was a battle. Dewey steamed his force south, in order to confuse the enemy about his true intentions. Moore assembled as many ships as he could, in the time allotted, and departed from Hong Kong which was where he personally thought the enemy would strike. Then nature took over once again and a storm of the type that had wrecked Galveston, only called Typhoons in this area of the world, intervened. Unlike the Confederate Fleet, Moore managed to avoid the storm and even tried to use it. He followed along it’s southern edge and placed himself where he supposed Dewey would have to pass if he was heading for Hong Kong. The Americans did not show up.

The real target of the American task force was far to the east. It was a little known and unremarkable island known as Guam. It had been sold to the Confederate States in the deal they made for Cuba but, as of yet, no one from the CSA had showed up to take possession. There were exactly two Confederate Officials, both of whom were from the CSA’s State Department. They were operating out of Japan and had come to Guam so that they could coordinate the official hand off.

As of September of 1901, with the CSN being completely tied down in the Philippines, the exchange had yet to happen. When Dewey showed up off the coast of Guam, the Spanish flag was still flying there. US Marines ignored the protests of the neutral Spanish and hauled up the Stars and Stripes instead. Guam was barely defended by the Spanish who had no desire to go to war, so, no one attempted to stop the US Marines under the command of one George Armstrong Custer. The island peacefully fell into the hands of the United States and this was far from Dewey’s final target.

What the US Navy was doing was laying down a path across the Pacific Ocean, setting up one coaling station after another, and all at very little cost. It was Roosevelt’s desire that, when the war was over with, the US would have it’s own way to China and not have to rely on the Russians in Alaska. It was a move that had been completely overlooked by the British and one that went almost completely unopposed until Dewey met up with the flotilla that had departed San Francisco, about the same time he left Port Arthur. This second task force was nowhere near as strong as what Dewey brought to the table but, it did carry a larger contingent of soldiers and, towed three Zeppelins along with them as well. They rendezvoused, without incident, just north west of the island of Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands.

Theoretically, the nation that was called Hawaii by it’s residents, was a sovereign and independent Kingdom. In reality, it’s primary harbor, known as Pearl Harbor, was the single largest Royal Navy base in the central Pacific, and this fact made the Island nation just another possession of the British Empire. It was also the largest single threat to the US west coast and ships departing from Oahu had raided the California coast line on any number of occasions. Usually these raids were confined to coastal shipping but, with Vancouver out of the war, Pearl was now the only British base left that could allow them to do this. The base was also responsible for protecting shipping to Mexico, of which, had become far more valuable than in the pre war days.

US zeppelins were the first sign, at Pearl Harbor, that something was horribly wrong. The airships began by bombing the port facilities and managed to even critically damage a destroyer that was sitting in dry docks and under going repairs. Then the airships went after the cruisers that were anchored in the narrow channels. This started a panic in the city of Honolulu since they had heard of the fire bombings in Atlanta. They had no wish to see their city go up in flames and, these protests reached as high as Hawaii’s reigning monarch, Queen Liluokalani. She promptly protested to the British authorities and made it clear she wished for the Royal Navy to leave until they could defend against such attacks.

What kind of resistance that Liluokalani could have mounted is debatable but, fortunately for her, the British were already pulling up their anchors and fleeing the harbor, not wishing to be caught in such a narrow channel during another bombing raid. This was exactly what Dewey was hoping for. There has been a great deal of debate about whether or not the Royal Navy squadron had any alert as to Dewey’s presence but, if they did then they did not act on it. It is entirely plausible that some of the sightings by local fishermen, of American ships, did get reported but, again, the fact remains that the British either ignored them or never imagined a task force the size of Dewey’s was possible in these waters.

Thanks to the reports from the US Air Corps, Dewey was sitting in the perfect position and ready to intercept the fleeing British squadron. The US Navy cut them to pieces in short order and with almost no losses in return. The simple fact was that most of the British ships were not even ready to fight nor did they expect this kind of battle would fall upon them. A few of the British ships would escape the trap and flee right back to Pearl. It would do them no good. General Custer’s troops landed on the undefended beaches of Oahu‘s northern shores, marched over the hills in less than a day, and found an un prepared British garrison on the other side. Within three days, the Hawaiian islands would be mostly in American hands, and at very little cost.

By the time that Moore received word of the disaster on Oahu, it was too late for him to do anything about it. He did have one attractive option though. With the US task force elsewhere, he considered the option of raiding Port Arthur itself. He did have some support from Jackie Fisher but, ultimately, the plan was rejected in Plymouth and the main reasons were that Dewey’s offensive was far from the only one that the Royal Navy was dealing with. French cruisers had attacked several smaller points on the Australian coast. US raiders had struck the Confederate base at Diego Garcia. Ships were being sunk along the Indian coast line and there was now even increased activity in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. Several US cruisers had even been spotted within a few miles of Gibraltar. All of this had put most of the Admiralty in the mindset of defense. They were not interested in hearing about the reckless adventures being proposed by their commanders on the spot.

All of it was also a ruse. The main effort, the real objective of all these far flung attacks was not even thought of by the Admiralty and, because, the main objective was not really their problem. Two days after Dewey left Port Arthur, Admiral Sampson departed Boston and New York with the larger portion of the US Atlantic fleet. He was protecting a large number of transports that were loaded with the bulk of a US Army Corps that was recently released from duty in Canada, and the newly formed US 3^rd Marine Division. They met up with a smaller but similar French convoy off the coast of Africa. Their transports were full of Foreign Legionnaires and Algerian Infantry. There were also a small number of Italian vessels as well as some mountain troops from the Italian Alpini Division. It was one of the very first modern international forces to be assembled and it was a big one. This task force loaded down their bunkers with coal, at Dakar, and then sailed south for their ultimate objective.