ORIGINAL: JWE
Yummm .. MaryAnn. Concur YH! [8D]
Didn’t mean to sound cavalier about Downfall, hope Termie forgives me. Most of the 4000 ships would be Libertys, Victorys, Park/Forts, Sams, sweepers, sloops, corvettes, those sorts of things.
We do have lots in the box that relates to Downfall. All sorts of Brit warships, down to and including Loch and Bay type frigates, and a bunch of CLs that went back to Blighty for CLAA conversion, that likely would have shown up. Heck, we have Midways, Alaskas, Gearing Mod-1s, etc … You get monster floating docks, and a fleet train that you can organize into a traveling Port-8 + Shipyard, or two to three traveling Port-5 + Shipyards. They are all in the box (data and art). Many show up in the base scenario, but they are all available for use in the Downfall mod.
As to shipping, per se, in the regular scenario, you’ll get darn near all the “amphibious assault” assets the Brits had – Glens, Stars, Empires, Brigades, as well as the late war US assets, P2 and C4 Admiral and General classes of transports. When 12th Army Group shows up in SFO, you will be able to schlep at least an Army at a time.
Don is working on developing the sweepers, sloops, corvettes, frigates, cutters, etc .. to make things more balanced and robust. Needless to say, data and art development follow the scenario designer. Anything that Termie needs for Downfall, he gets.
Canada was to receive a CVL, 2 CL, and a full flotilla of modern "C" class destroyers from the Royal Navy, all for Pacific deployment. They were to be crewed by laying up the convoy escorts that had fought the battle of the Atlantic. The RCN was also to provide 40+ River class frigates for general escort to the British Pacific Fleet and East Indies Fleet. Somewhat more than 40 were in the process of tropicalization when the war ended and a few were already on the west coast.
The British were also transferring very large numbers of modern landing ships and craft, including the British build LST(3) - somewhat faster than LST(2). These were built by the British using different engines when US allocations of LST(2) fell short. Also the big Fairmile
Dog boats - MTB/MGB put mostly in MGB configuration. Interesting, but hard to emulate in AE, were the LCG(L). These were modified LCT with two army type 4.7'' guns (and a few light AA). They were not capable of offshore bombardment, but were to be run onto the beach and used as a stationary, instantly available, battery.
The French were also sending along a few more ships. Not too much data on them (help, anyone) but they included at least one more big destroyer, a few colonial sloops, and some escorts/minecraft.
There's also the very interesting German Standard Type "Hansa" ships. Large numbers of these were taken over by the British after Germany surrendered, given
Empire names, and sent to the Far East.
And so much more....
