Ingenohl's Glory - 1938 In The Pacific

The Pacific Theatre 1938

Russia is helping the Chinese Communists
USA is allied to Australia
USA is allied to Holland
Japan is allied to Germany
France remains outside the alliance system
Great Britain remains outside the alliance system

By 1938 the fleets in the Pacific look to be the key to the strategic situation. While the US retains an Atlantic Fleet it has the older relatively weaker battleships and the smaller experimental carriers. Virtually all of its first-line strength is in the Pacific , mainly deployed from Cavite though a strong carrier-led force is based at Pearl. Germany's Pacific Fleet with 13 battleships operates both in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (the Persian Gulf Fleet of 7 operate in the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea and Red Sea). The German Pacific Fleet has 3 small carriers of middling age (with 1 small modern vessel with the Persian Gulf Fleet). Britain , France , Holland and Australia all have Pacific fleets to take into account. Having all but broken away from the British Empire Australia has consolidated a naval force under its independent control ; a small carrier, a couple of heavy cruisers , half a dozen light cruisers and a programme of construction of modern destroyers and submarines ; a raging debate in the Australian assembly is currently (1938) underway over funds to increase Sydney's facilities and pay for another smallish but state-of-the-art carrier. Holland, with American loans helping the expansion of modern facilities at Surabaya, has begun to significantly improve its naval forces in the area ; additional cruisers, destroyers and submarines have been sent from Europe, and construction has begun of 3 modern battleships . Holland's only carrier (the small Konigin Der Nederlanden) remains in European waters.

France . . . Recent political troubles have affected the French fleet. Added to this the incomplete modernisation and rearmament programme of the later years of Sarrail's regime and Laval's attempt to boost this upon his assumption of power, and the Pacific region has no overall strategic planning. Laval's League Nationale has begun to reshuffle units and currently the Far Eastern Squadron , mainly based at Saigon, has only a cruiser-led force and a seaplane carrier.

Britain , on the other hand is attempting to maintain an isolationist independent stance above external entanglements. She has fleets in the Atlantic (including the North Sea, Western Mediteranean and Caribbean) , Indian Ocean (including the Red Sea and Eastern Mediteranean) , and Pacific Ocean .