The Gulf of Mexico as a War Zone

[FlyingCanOpener]

...so I got a call from one of my professors who was in the midst of his once-a-decade purging of papers from his home and office. He told me to come on over and see if I was interested in any of it. Most was rubbish, but he made sure I took home this unlabled paper from the Admiralty from the 1920s about Royal Navy war plans for the Gulf of Mexico against the US (His note, not the paper's). He got it long ago and couldn't tell me how to cite it correctly, but the contents were pretty interesting.

 

I'm not sure if it's a part of a larger set of war plans against the US, but it goes into detail about potential targets in the Gulf, namely Galveston, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Tampa, and Key West. A lot of the info seems accurate (listing of the Endicott System forts is accurate), though it seems the info on attacks seem to be less grounded in reality.

 

The focus of the document seems to be a survey of operations against what it calls "the fulcrum of shipping in the Gulf of Mexico": New Orleans. The plans, which seems more sketches than anything else, outlines four potential operations (1) raid up the Mississippi River (2) landing via Lake Pontchartrain (3) landing via Lake Borgne, and (4) blind shelling of the city from Lake Borgne.

 

Operation 1 entails a small flotilla (2-4 destroyers) sailing up the 100+ miles to New Orleans, blast away at the helpless port, and scurry on out before any US units could trap them in. The British passed on this idea in 1814 for the obvious reason that there was no outlet to the Gulf other than the mouth of the Mississippi (until the Gulf Outlet was dug in the 1950s), but unlike 1814, there were neither defences on the river nor any riverine warships to give it any trouble.

 

Operation 2 describes a medium-scale landing by Royal Marines and British Army units to raid and if need be occupy the city via a landing on the Lake Pontchartrain shoreline. To me this is the most far-fetched of the four as, despite this area being completely devoid of defences, the narrows called the Rigolets could easily be held by the Americans, cutting the troops off from naval support, save a 20+ mile march through swamps and marshes. Fun. (Map of the Area)

 

Operation 3 is basically a rerun of Packehnam's attack in 1815, except this time Royal Navy units would be just off shore to provide fire support if need be. Interesting, but other than a raid, I have no clue why they would want to try to take and hold the city, unless they planned to bring ships up the river to assist in defending the western side of the city.

 

Finally, Operation 4 was designed to be a naval bombardment of the city from off of Lake Borgne. Because of the distances involved (They would be firing from 15k yards) it would be completely undirected and solely for terror purposes only.

 

I figured I'd toss this info out to you guys to chew on, considering the recent spate of alternate history topics. Feel free to hack away!

[Archie Pellagio]

is it avaliable in pdf or only your paper copy?

 

Thanks for that, i really find these sort of war plans truly fascinating, makes me wonder if we have plans to invade New Zealand "just in case"

[Paul in Qatar]

If we do not have such plans, I want a partial refund of my US taxes. (Oh wait, I pay no US taxes. Never mind.)

[FlyingCanOpener]

is it avaliable in pdf or only your paper copy?

 

Thanks for that, i really find these sort of war plans truly fascinating, makes me wonder if we have plans to invade New Zealand "just in case"

 

Only a paper copy, and my scanner's on the fritz. Sorry.

[Archie Pellagio]

No probs, just thought it might be interesting to read.

 

I wonder if we'd invade the north or south island first...

Paul, did you know about the plan to send the 7th fleet to air-evac Fank Sinatra from Sydney after he was holed up in his hotel and the unions blocked all access to his plane, refused to fuel it, fly it etc...

[Paul in Qatar]

If I recall, Ol-' Blue Mouth insulted a much-loved Australian newscaster. The ATC people stayed on strike until they directed his plane the heck out of there.

[Archie Pellagio]

If I recall, Ol-' Blue Mouth insulted a much-loved Australian newscaster. The ATC people stayed on strike until they directed his plane the heck out of there.

 

From what I understand, he called a reporter a $2 whore, then when pressed for an apology he said he wouldn't pay $1...

 

Then 174 (From memory) unions in Australia refused to let him move, everything from room service in the hotel, to ground crew at the airport...

 

There was a mildly entertaining B-movie about it a few years ago "the day we called it a night" with dennis hopper as ole blue eyes.

[T19]

I wonder if this was part of the plans Canada had that showed an invasion form the North around the same time frame.

 

 

Interesting concepts and ideas... but prone to underestimating American resistance, which means the whole thing is doomed to failure

[Paul in Qatar]

We also need to fold in the great unknown of the Royal Canadian Mounted Grizzly Regiment. .

[Sikkiyn]

I wonder, in what tone was the paper written in?

Was it a bonfied war plan or a war game?

Any mention of past events, e.g. Pakenham or Jackson?

Any mention or consideration given to the potential fire-ant hill they would sticking their arses into?

[KingSargent]

I wonder, in what tone was the paper written in?

Was it a bonfied war plan or a war game?

Any mention of past events, e.g. Pakenham or Jackson?

Any mention or consideration given to the potential fire-ant hill they would sticking their arses into?

I'm sure it was as historically accurate as the Royal Canadian Mounted Grizzly Regiment article that Paul brought to our attention.

[SILL2]

If we do not have such plans, I want a partial refund of my US taxes. (Oh wait, I pay no US taxes. Never mind.)

 

So you're not even a stakeholder? A lot of opinions/complaints for a guy who isn't even buying into the program.

[Ariete!]

If we do not have such plans, I want a partial refund of my US taxes. (Oh wait, I pay no US taxes. Never mind.)

 

I'm no tax accountant, Paul, but last I checked USians are one of the few nationalities who have the "privilege" to pay their home taxes even if working / being paid abroad (but obviously taking any double taxation into account). For certain, there is a flourishing industry of US tax advisors working uniquely for those of Sam here in the City. You might want to check with your accountant. Seriously.

[Guest JamesG123]

I wonder, in what tone was the paper written in?

 

Busy work for the Admiralty staff and intelligence types. We and probably just about every other half-way competent national militaries have whole warehouses full of plans for all sorts of campaigns, except for the ones we actually fight (Grenada, Panama, Iraq...)

[Jim Martin]

I'm no tax accountant, Paul, but last I checked USians are one of the few nationalities who have the "privilege" to pay their home taxes even if working / being paid abroad (but obviously taking any double taxation into account). For certain, there is a flourishing industry of US tax advisors working uniquely for those of Sam here in the City. You might want to check with your accountant. Seriously.

 

 

Actually, my understanding is that if you work outside the country for more than X amount of days out of a year, no income tax is due.

 

I do believe however that you're still on the hook for Social Security. Not sure though.

[Paul in Qatar]

Nope. I pay no income taxes on my local salary, but do on all my US income, pension, rents and whatnot. If you really want the details we could start a new thread.