Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Simon Darkshade]

In the spirit of recent news:

Australian Nuclear Power Stations 1973/74

Jervis Bay, ACT/NSW: 4 x 500 MW
Philip Island, Victoria: 4 x 500 MW
Port Augusta, South Australia: 4 x 500 MW
Liddell, NSW: 4 x 500 MW

Woodside, Victoria: 4 x 625 MW
Port Wakefield, South Australia: 4 x 625 MW
Toorbul, Queensland: 4 x 625 MW
Bunbury, Western Australia: 4 x 625 MW
Weddell, Northern Australia: 4 x 625 MW

(Jarvisfield, Queensland: 4 x 625 MW)
(Coffs Harbour, NSW: 4 x 625 MW)
(Yallourn, Victoria: 4 x 625 MW)

Total power from the nuclear plants alone is 179,850,000 MW annually, or 179.85 TWh/245.28 TWh when current construction is complete.

In @, Australian electricity in 1970 came 77% from coal, 3% from oil and 19% from hydroelectricity. Total production was ~ 50 TWh. (http://environmentvictoria.org.au/wp-co ... 0-2009.pdf)

In SA, the @ Playford B (240) and Northern (520 in 1985) power stations would not be built , whilst the 480 MW Torrens Island and 156 MW Dry Creek gas power stations are doubtful.

Tasmania is predominantly on hydro in @ and DE, in the realm of ~83%, and had a small 250 MW oil fired plant built in @ 73/74.

WA, the 240 MW Muja coal plant would not be built, whilst the East Perth and South Fremantle coal/oil plants are redundant.

Victoria will see a great deal of change, with the 1480 MW brown coal Yallourn and 1600 MW Hazelwood plants unnecessary, the 327 MW Newport A, B and C in Melbourne being closable, and Anglesea (150) and Geelong B (100) plants going early. The expanded Kiewa Hydro scheme will yields 875 MW.

Queensland will see the 1680 MW Gladstone coal plant and 1400 MW Tarong coal plant unnecessary, along with the 1960s Callide (120), Swanbank A and B (876) and Collinsville (190).

NSW won’t need 2640 MW Bayswater, 2880 MW Eraring or the 2000 MW Liddell coal plants. The 875 MW Vales Point coal/gas plants, the 1400 MW Munmorah coal plant, of the 1960s aren’t needed, and the 300 MW Wangi Wangi coal plant can close early. The Snowy Mountains Scheme delivers 6250 MW/54.75 TWh.

A little analysis:

Most of the 1960s-1990s coal and gas plants won’t be needed. A few peaking plants and reserve coal plants using the resources certain areas (the Hunter Valley of NSW, the Latrobe Valley of Victoria and Leigh Creek in SA, with the last two being black coal areas vs the brown coal of @) will be necessary.

Northern WA and Queensland does have need for power for mining projects.

With the introduction of fusion plants to replace the core plants in WA, QLD, VIC, SA and NSW, the leap in capacity will open up major opportunities and lower costs below their historical low level.

[jemhouston]

I've got the feeling there is a lot of research in what do to with nuclear waste. Not so much storage, but secondary use is the goal.

[Simon Darkshade]

Yes and no. With the advent of fusion power, there will be less around overall. The 1st, 1.5 and 2nd generation British and Commonwealth nuclear fission power plants have avowed roles as both generating electricity and producing plutonium for their much larger nuclear weapons programme.

As of 1970, the superpower nuclear mix is 64,256 USA, 28,274 USSR and 12,432 Britain (+ 1254 Canada, 240 Australia, 234 India, 180 Israel, 120 South Africa and 12 NZ for 14,472 total British Empire/Commonwealth).

The Dark Earth history of nuclear arsenals has been

1945: 6 USA
1950: 1148 USA, 125 Britain, 2 USSR
1955: 7862 USA, 983 British Empire (962 Britain, 21 Canada), 564 USSR, 42 France
1960: 25,357 USA, 4949 USSR, 4625 British Empire (4287 Britain, 310 Canada, 28 Australia), 369 France
1965: 40,289 USA, 13623 USSR, 6879 British Empire, 1038 France
1970: 64,256 USA, 28274 USSR, 14,472 British Empire, 3695 France

The historical levels were
1945: 2 US
1950: 299 US, 5 USSR
1955: 2422 US, 200 USSR, 14 Britain
1960: 18638 US, 1605 USSR, 42 Britain
1965: 31149 US, 6129 USSR, 436 Britain
1970: 26008 US, 11643 USSR, 394 Britain

The plutonium for the historic US arsenal was predominantly produced by the 9 reactors at Hanford (B, D, F, H, DR, C, KW, KE and N) and the 5 reactors at Savannah River (R, P, K, L and C)

Historical Weapons Grade Plutonium Production at Hanford Site (kg)
1945-1947: 493
1948: 183
1949: 270
1950: 392
1951: 288
1952: 662
1953: 838
1954: 1113
1955: 1413
1956: 2074
1957: 2662
1958: 3303
1959: 3581
1960: 4266
1961: 4449
1962: 4169
1963: 4187
1964: 4247
1965: 4208
1966: 3130
1967: 2586
1968: 1494
1969: 430
1970: 977
1971: 230

(https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/tab2.html )

Historic Savannah River Plutonium Production
1955: 553
1956: 1151
1957: 1242
1958: 672
1959: 1459
1960: 1734
1961: 1552
1962: 1578
1963: 2042
1964: 2123
1965: 909
1966: 1302
1967: 1107
1968: 1253
1969: 1382
1970: 872
1971: 836
1972: 1028
1973: 1128
1974: 1226
1975: 753
1976: 1400

(https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/tab3.html )

My compulsion to analyse points me towards the correlation between the drop off in fissile material after 1964 and the slow down of growth of the US nuclear weapons arsenal, and then the subsequent relative decline compared to the continually growing Soviet numbers.

Total US weapons grade plutonium production in @ was 104 metric tons, or enough for at least 23,000 weapons at the larger end of size of ~10lb of Pu-239

That means that DE Britain needs ~56.39 tons of weapons grade plutonium to build up to the 1970 level outlined, not counting recycling of material from retired bombs and warheads. That works out to an average of 2.24 tons/year for the 25 years, with the important caveat that not all facilities were operating from the get go.

There are a total of 4 production reactors at Windscale, 4 at Chapelcross, 2 at Rhydymwyn/former M.S. Factory, Valley in Wales and 2 in Kilrea, Ireland; and 4 at Chalk River and 4 at Saint Maurice in Canada. Even factoring in down time, problems, low years and other vagaries, that only needs an average of 180kg of w.g. Pu-239 from each; what is more realistic is a steady rise over the 1950s where ~25 tons are produced, and then a doubling to 50 tons in the 1960s.

The USA numbers come from a continued run of w.g. Pu-239 at averages of ~6500kg p.a. from Hanford throughout the 1960s, 4500kg from Savannah River and 2500kg each from further production sites at Green River, Wyoming and Clinton, Arkansas; plus an increased annualised capacity for pit production at Rocky Flats in Colorado and a mirror plant in Mooreland, Oklahoma.

[Jotun]

East Germany has the Ore Mountains too, in the DE universe?

In our universe, the uranium from SDAG Wismut was made into as much as about half of the USSR's nucklear warheads. Between 1945 and 1990, SDAG Wismut produced about 230,000 tons of uranium, all of which went eastward, about one third of all uranium used in the USSR.

[Simon Darkshade]

There isn’t an East Germany of that nature, but rather a statelet based around East Prussia/the subsequent Kaliningrad Oblast ruled by a quite unnatural Ernst Thalmann. The Iron Curtain (Iron Wall in DE), runs along the Polish border with Germany and Austria-Hungary and thence encompasses Romania (along with some very minor satellite People’s Republics in Bukovina, Galicia, Ruthenia and Moldavia).

All of the Ore Mountains uranium is thus confined to the West rather than servicing Moscow. The Reds are far, far more dependent upon Kazakhstan, which has been raised to very high priority.

[Jotun]

There isn’t an East Germany of that nature, but rather a statelet based around East Prussia/the subsequent Kaliningrad Oblast ruled by a quite unnatural Ernst Thalmann. The Iron Curtain (Iron Wall in DE), runs along the Polish border with Germany and Austria-Hungary and thence encompasses Romania (along with some very minor satellite People’s Republics in Bukovina, Galicia, Ruthenia and Moldavia).

All of the Ore Mountains uranium is thus confined to the West rather than servicing Moscow. The Reds are far, far more dependent upon Kazakhstan, which has been raised to very high priority.

Ah. Thank you for the clarification.

What is Thälmann, then? A lich? A vessel for a demon?

[Simon Darkshade]

There are a number of Thalmann based doppelgangers, after the real Ernst had an accident in the mid 1960s and was crippled. He is still around, but a Strong Vigorous Socialist Leader in a wheelchair won't cut it in public. So the GDR got to be the test bunny for some rather complex Soviet arcane research that controls the monstrous doppelgangers for their evil Commie ends.

The idea came to me from many, many hours of playing Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and fighting the buggers.

So we have the paradigm of the dictator of a GDR being a Chaotic Evil doppelganger and the Chancellor of Germany literally being a Lawful Good paladin.

[Jotun]

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2? A man with good taste! I still have BG2 installed on my high-end computer, and love part three.

As long as the Herr Kanzler is lawful good in the sense that he understands the spirit of the law rather than merely its words, all is well. Rigid lawful good paladins can wreak almost as much (unintentional) evil as the worst CE necromancer.

[Simon Darkshade]

He is a sensible Paladin, not the Lawful Stupid kind; a Keldorn rather than an Anomen (the initial LN one, not the wiser LG Sir Anomen).

I too wear my BG preference openly.

I really should do a short story contrasting the types of paladin and illustrating the value of having a human touch. The one I did a few years back called House of Hell (named after and based on the 1980s Fighting Fantasy gamebook) concentrated more on the buttkicking wrath of Thomas Saxon, Templar/the current Maleus Maleficarum.

[jemhouston]

If it helps, TVtropes - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePaladin

[Simon Darkshade]

Canadian Nuclear Power Plants 1973

Lingan, Nova Scotia: 4 x 250 MW
Trenton, Nova Scotia: 4 x 625 MW
Tufts Cove, Nova Scotia: 4 x 625 MW

Point Lepreau, New Brunswick: 4 x 250 MW
Belladune, New Brunswick: 4 x 625 MW
Millbank, New Brunswick: 4 x 500 MW

Gentilly, Quebec: 4 x 250 MW
Sorel-Tracy, Quebec: 4 x 500 MW
Comeau Bay, Quebec: 4 x 250 MW
Carleton, Quebec: 4 x 625 MW
Yamachiche, Quebec: 4 x 500 MW

Pickering, Ontario: 4 x 250 MW
Darlington, Ontario: 4 x 2500 MW Fusion
Bruce A, Ontario: 4 x 250 MW
Bruce B, Ontario: 4 x 625 MW
Rolphton, Ontario: 4 x 500 MW
Thunder Bay, Ontario: 4 x 625 MW
(Wesleyville: Planned Fusion Power Station)

Silver Bay, Manitoba: 4 x 625 MW
Siglavik, Manitoba: 4 x 250 MW

Nipawin, Saskatchewan: 4 x 500 MW
Queen Elizabeth Power Station, Saskatchewan: 4 x 625 MW
Weyburn, Saskatchewan: 4 x 500 MW

Peace River, Alberta: 4 x 625 MW
Sundance, Alberta: 4 x 500 MW
Genesee, Alberta: 4 x 625 MW

Kamloops, British Columbia: 4 x 625 MW
Silverdale, British Columbia: 4 x 625 MW
Haysport, British Columbia: 4 x 500 MW

Haines, Alaska: 4 x 625 MW
Portage, Alaska: 4 x 625 MW


Hydroelectricity: 30606 MW

British Columbia
Mica Dam: 2800
W.A.C Bennet Dam: 3000
Waneta: 1000
Kemano: 800
Bridge River: 500

Quebec
Beauharnois: 1900
Manicougan 5: 1600
Lagrande 2: 6000
Manicougan 2: 1250
Bersimis 1: 1200
Outardes: 1100
Carillon: 800
Isle Maligne: 425
Peribonka: 385

Ontario
R.H. Saunders Dam: 1800
Sir Adam Beck Station: 1516 + 500
Des Joachims: 500
Abitibi: 350
Smoky Falls: 267

Manitoba
Nelson River Scheme: 2500
Grand Rapids: 500
Brandon: 263

New Brunswick
Mactaquac: 750

Fossil Fuel: 2818 MW

Ontario
Hearn: 1200 MW (1951)

Alberta
Wabamun: 600 MW (1956)
Battle Rivers: 100 MW (1954)

Saskatchewan
Boundary Dam: 700 MW (1958)

New Brunswick
Grand Lake: 57 MW

- Further Ontario coal plants at Lakeview (2400), Lambton (1976), Nanticoke (3964) and Thunder Bay (306) will not be built due to lack of need
- In terms of oil plants, Tracy (660) in Quebec; Lennox (2140) in Ontario; Burnside (132) and Tufts Cove (500 MW) in Nova Scotia; and Dalhousie (315) and Coleson Cove (1050) in New Brunswick won't need to be built
- There is one experimental 100MW natural gas plant in BC and the Charlottetown diesel fired plant in PEI (61 MW)

Nuclear Power by Province

NS: 6000
NB: 5500
QB: 8500
ON: 19000
MN: 3500
SK: 6500
AB: 7000
BC: 7000
AK: 5000

Total: 68000 MW
TWh: 595.68

Total Power Production: 101,421 MW or 888.44796 TWh

This is up on 1990s levels of @ Canadian power generation, but the much larger population and its subsequent effect on electricity demand (and industry, exports and special project use) needs to be factored into calculations.

[Simon Darkshade]

October 1973
October 1: An early morning explosion at the Indian Ordnance Factories ammunition plant in Joydebpur, Bengal kills 16, with the relatively low death toll ascribed to the comparatively lowered intensity of night shift operations in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The Indian defence and armaments industry remains a key part of the British Commonwealth’s ongoing rearmament programme.
October 2: The Indonesian Department of Foreign Affairs issues a communique openly stating that the Republic of Indonesia should be regarded as an atomic weapons state. This is accompanied by a ceasefire proposal through the Foreign Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Djakarta to the British Commonwealth and the United States, offering to formally recognise Malaya and to pull its forces back from the border with British Borneo; no mention is made of the separate issue of Western New Guinea at this time.
October 3: Nine Soviet satellites are launched simultaneously from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR and Kapustin Yar in Russia om the early hours of the morning, with the sudden rush of activity causing some momentary concern to USSF and Royal Space Force orbital battle stations.
October 4: Interpol, in conjunction with local police forces across fifteen countries, conducts a series of early morning raids on suspected safe houses employed by international criminal gangs through to be cooperating with ODESSA and the Space Nazis.
October 5: A cassette strip in the Israeli Armed Forces main computer system in Jerusalem gets stuck whilst changing to a different program during a mid morning test, causing a systems error that triggers emergency mass mobilisation of the Israeli Army and Royal Israeli Air Force and begins activation of war measures in accordance with the Israeli War Book. The alert is rescinded after a confused 32 minutes by Defence Minister Sir Moshe Dayan and Field Marshal Yitzhak Rabin.
October 6: The World Wildlife Fund reports that the range of the wild boar and aurochs across Europe, Scandinavia and the British Isles continues to expand and recover, whilst populations of the mouflon have been identified as far apart as Portugal and Albania.
October 7: Ronnie Petersen wins the US Grand Prix narrowly over Steve McQueen and James Hunt, with Jackie Stewart coming fourth to secure the 1973 World Championship of Drivers.
October 8: The British Cabinet approves an extension of the suspension of immigration until further review in 1974, ostensibly and primarily to facilitate economic recovery through reducing pressure on the labour market, but also as it is seen as reducing the political significance of an issue that saw the Conservative Party make reasonable gains in the last general election.
October 9: Beginning of the Imperial German Army's Exercise Panthersprung 73, a coordinated response to a mechanised invasion by 3. Armee and 4. Armee, formations including units from the regular Hee, the Reserverheer and the Landwehr (formerly the Territorialheer). The new Leopard main battle tanks, Marder armoured infantry fighting vehicles and the Jaguar infantry fire support vehicles impress foreign observers and umpires alike, whilst the Flakpanzer self propelled anti-aircraft guns provide a dual role with their automatic 88mm guns; a pair of British generals remark that they are rather glad that the latter were not around in North Africa and France.
October 10: Two Mississippi fishermen claim to have been abducted from a pier on the Pascagoula River and subject to scientific investigation and probing by alien creatures in a flying saucer, only being released when the strange little green men seemed to react violently to their transistor radio playing Slim Whitman's Indian Call.
October 11: Signing of a peace treaty between Indonesia and the British Commonwealth in Singapore, ending the 10 year Confrontation that threatened on occasion to escalate into a nuclear war and saw mass deployment of Soviet and American and British troops and equipment to the East Indies. Whilst hostilities have now formally ceased, it is anticipated that British and Imperial troop strength in the Far East will need to be maintained at a precautionary level for the foreseeable future in case Sukarno goes back on his word. Progress of British colonies on Borneo towards self government and planned independence as a Dominion, on hold for the 1960s in light of the security situation, are now viewed as being able to progress.
October 12: The United States Bicentennial Commission issues its final recommendation report for the proposed celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the nation, with events to begin in 1975 with the tour of the atomic powered American Freedom Train and the anniversaries of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. This is to be followed in 1976 by a wave of national events, including Expo '76 in Philadelphia and the Summer Olympic Games in New York City, coordinated international fleet reviews and a parade of sailing ships, grand parades and fireworks displays and release of a specially made feature film.
October 13: Chile's general election campaign continues to progress forward into its final fortnight with an increasing sense of normalisation and reduced tension. The apolitical presence of the police and armed forces as maintainers of good order, rather than active participants in the election campaign, has been one part of this, along with a concerted effort by all parties to attempt to reduce the tone of alarm and heat in their rhetoric.
October 14: Opening of a new War Office military ration production plant in Colchester, with an annual capacity for two million cases of 12 General Service Ration Packs (each containing three meals and an accessory pack), joining the current private manufacturing plants operated by Vesteys Foods, the Imperial Food Corporation and Associated British Foods in Leicester, Bristol and Reading and the other HM Government operated facility in Preston. Modernisation and improvement of the Army's field rations (not least of which with the provision of more and better meat and increasingly varied menus) has been highlighted as one of several key priorities in improving the life and conditions of the British 'Soldier of the 1970s', in addition to development of new barracks and military housing and increases to pay, pensions and benefits.
October 15: The USAF, US Army and USN begin joint operational testing of the new AGM-125 ‘Tomahawk’ supersonic cruise missile, along with the first test flights of the new production F-111K long range strike bombers by USAF and USN test squadrons in California and Florida.
October 16: Egyptologists uncover a hitherto unknown series of secret passage leading to a mysterious chamber deep within the Great Pyramid, with their arcane observation insects and delving spells indicating the presence of what appears to be an image of the stars on the farthest wall.
October 17: First flight of the BAC P.96 experimental triple sonic ‘super fighter’ at RAF Filton. It is one of a number of aircraft being considered for the interceptor/battlefield fighter mission by the Air Ministry as the RAF looks to the new challenges of the 1970s and 1980s.
October 18: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip arrive in Sydney, Australia for an official royal tour culminating in the formal completion of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectrical Scheme after 25 years of construction employing over 200,000 workers.
October 19: Release of The Last Crusade, a motion picture of the story of the British abolition of slavery and suppression of the slave trade, from William Wilberforce's historic Slave Trade Act of 1792 to the Slavery Abolition Act of 1815 and the Royal Navy's subsequent suppression of the Atlantic slave trade, starring Robert Powell as Wilberforce, Jeremy Brett as William Pitt, Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington, Anthony Hopkins as Sir Henry Brougham, Malcolm Stoddard as Thomas Clarkson and Christopher Lee as the Earl of Liverpool.
October 20: The House Un-American Activities Committee announces a new round of hearings into suspected communist infiltration into American cultural institutions.
October 21: Orion 6 begins its initial burn en route from the Uranian system to Neptune.
October 22: British Telecom begins operational roll out of a mobile telephone network across London after the completion of construction of a series of 'cells' centred around arcanely enhanced radio telephone transceivers.
October 23: The United States maintains its position as the most visited country in the world, narrowly ahead of France. Spain, Britain and Austria-Hungary round out the top five, followed by Italy, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the newly emerging Japan.
October 24: Initiation of a public relations campaign in the United States sponsored by the Arab Union aimed at raising the profile and repute of the Middle East confederation in the eyes of the American public, which still seems to view the Arab world as a faraway exotic entity rather than a discernible modern partner.
October 25: Naturalists from the University of East Africa confirm, after a five year study in the Congo, that the reclusive Mokele-mbembe is a separate species, with their paper confirmed by Tarzan.
October 26: Former Premier Salvador Allende's Popular Unity coalition (made up of the Socialist Party and its Communist Party allies) are defeated in the Chilean general election, with the Democratic coalition (Christian Democrats, Liberals, United Conservatives, Radicals Christian Democratic and PND) winning in resounding fashion 54% to 32%. Francisco Sanfuentes is invited by the King to form a government as Prime Minister.
October 27: A small meteorite the size of a cricket ball falls through the roof of a man's garage in Canon City, Colorado, damaging his almost-completed model of USS Montana and leading to an inquiry as to whether he might be able to sue the Federal Government for 'failing to protect my garage from those little green Commie Space Nazis from Uranus'; he is informed that the prospects of legal success in such an endeavour would be quite slim, but is mollified by the gift of $500 in exchange for the meteorite by USSF Commander Tony Nelson.
October 28: Final flight of Project Dark Gene, a joint 'black' aerial reconnaissance programme by the CIA and the Imperial Persian Air Force aimed at locating and testing gaps in Soviet radar coverage of their southern border. Its utility has been superceded by the Have Gray program.
October 29: A vacationing American nun and an elderly Scots grandmother from Chiselton join forces with the visiting young students of Grange Hill Secondary Modern to foil a plot to fix the results of the Grand National pigeon racing championship and in the process, free former League of Nations Secretary-General Daj Hammarskjold from a bewitched elevator.
October 30: The United States Department of Transport issues a report stating that the 64,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System are on schedule to be completed by 1980.
October 31: Simon Wiesenthal announces that a team of volunteer Jewish commandos has successfully tracked down and captured the notorious Nazi war criminal Hans Landa in an unspecified country, and transferred him to a Royal Israeli Navy guided missile destroyer.

[Bernard Woolley]

October 29: A vacationing American nun and an elderly Scots grandmother from Chiselton join forces with the visiting young students of Grange Hill Secondary Modern

Would that be Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski and Super Gran along with the kids from Grange Hill? I guess the girls from St. Trinians were busy making sure the proper Grand National wasn’t fixed?

[Simon Darkshade]

Right Gran, different nun - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_Nun
Although, both nuns are originally from Chicago, FWIW. I’m saving up Father Dowling for a crossover with Father Brown and younger versions of Morse and Jack Frost.

I described it elsewhere as:
“Super Gran and the Flying Nun, along with the kiddies of Grange Hill, foil an appropriately wicked (yet not mortally dangerous) scheme and rescue Dag, who was in Britain on a speaking tour. A zany plot line was the stuff of many children’s programmes of the era, so this event reflects them going off in the background of (a more serious) everyday life.”

[Simon Darkshade]

October 1973 Notes
- The Indian Ordnance Factories make up a significant and growing part of the global military industrial complex of the British Commonwealth, sitting behind only Britain and Canada in import
- After the end of the Vietnam War, Sukarno and the Indonesians have been looking for an exit ramp to deescalate the undeclared war with the Commonwealth over Malaya and Borneo, as the halting of falling dominos has changed the outlook for the area, and the Reagan Presidency is already putting the screws on. It comes with an open acknowledgement of what has been known for some time - that Djarkata has the Bomb - and a clear separation of the 'Northern issues' and that of Western New Guinea
- The Soviet launches are just straightforward satellites, and effectively an @ event, but in the cooler conditions (no real detente here), it leads to a momentary frisson of concern
- ODESSA remains an international threat, albeit on a very different level even to other international terrorists
- Israel experiences an 'accidental mobilisation moment' due to computer error, but the matter is resolved before the process really swings into effect. A lot of men are alerted at work or through the radio, causing significant traffic issues as they try and rush home or directly to mobilisation bases, so that this accident turns into a learning experience
- Wildlife recovery comes from some earlier awareness of conservation measures, as well as the wider expanses of less settled/wilder terrain allowing for larger natural population growth
- Steve McQueen's racing career continues to prosper
- The suspension of immigration was initially just intended as a means of confronting unprecedented (for postwar DE Britain) levels of unemployment, but now has the side effect of being a politically popular measure that can also cut into one of the issues where the Conservatives were able to make advances on in the last general election. For the most part, all three major parties share very similar approaches to the largest questions of how Britain should be run
- Panthersprung 73 is an example of how far the Deutsches Heer has come in the last decade, both in terms of equipment and structure. The DE Leopards are very much more akin to Leopard 2s with a 125mm gun and the Marders carry a 25mm autocannon, whilst the Jaguar IFSVs are very similar to a tracked AMX-10, being a tracked vehicle with a slightly rear set 105mm turret. The Flakpanzers are effectively a German Otomatic, just with a fully modern 88mm automatic gun; the heavy SPAAG seems to be having a little bit of a renaissance in the early 1970s, with other types including the British 3.75" Whirlwind, the US 90mm Skysweeper, the Italian 90mm Otomatic, the Swedish Bofors 75mm and the Soviet 85mm
- The Pascagoula Abduction Incident has a different ending thanks to Slim Whitman
- Borneo (Sarawak, Brunei and British North Borneo) can now advance towards its own self governing future
- Some of the features of the US Bicentennial celebrations are a bit different, such as the Olympics, a full World's Fair/Expo and an atomic powered train
- Chile's election campaign is fairly heated, but controlled, with the security forces hanging over both Right and Left like a Sword of Damocles
- The new ration plant in Colchester is one of several industrial facilities being built up in Essex and East Anglia as the area diversifies; additionally, having facilities separated across Britain does make sense in a strategic view. The 'Soldier of the 1970s' programme will have some other interesting outcomes
- The AGM-125 Tomahawk is rather different to the BGM/AGM-109 of @, being Mach 3 missiles with a range of 1375 nautical miles, replacing the Regulus II in USN service, and intended to be fielded in ground, air and sea launched versions by the Army, Air Force and Navy. The F-111Ks are the latest variant of the now extensive F-111 family, being a long range strike variant that is being dangled at the Japanese and Germans
- Something strange is deep within the Pyramid...
- The BAC P.96 is more of a bridge to a future fighter than one in and of itself
- An expanded Snowy Mountains Scheme is completed in full a year earlier than @
- The Last Crusade is an interesting motion picture that deals with the broader sweep of history moreso than an indepth character study of, say, Wilberforce, and has a rousing final 30 minutes of action off the coast of West Africa, similar in some respects to one of the final scenes of 1997's Amistad
- HUAC turns its gaze inwards, after being focused without for the last decade or so
- Orion 6 heads out for Neptune
- BT begins putting one of the first cellular networks into operation
- The most visited countries is only slightly different from @, where Spain was in the lead over France at this point
- An Arab PR campaign isn't the worst idea at this point, with their image not yet really tarnished in Western eyes in any substantive way
- The story of the Mokele-mbembe is going to be an interesting one
- Allende ends up losing the General Election after being dismissed from office, which was always on the cards given that the Opposition coalition simply had the numbers over the Popular Unity alliance. Now follows a change of government and policy, but no murders, repression or crackdowns; not that bad of an outcome
- The Canon City meteorite is an @ event, embellished with a slightly eccentric quote. Note how the size of the meteorite is described
- Dark Gene is no longer needed, with other, longer range aircraft with, ahem, 'special characteristics' able to carry out similar missions (in other places as well as Persia) without having the same profile on radar
- The Flying Nun and Super Gran team up with the youngster from Grange Hill to save the day, and the Daj
- An earlier completion to a larger Interstate Highway System is simply a function of more intense work over 1953-1973, being one of the drivers for a very small part of US economic growth over those two decades
- Hans Landa's capture is interesting, particularly in regard to his transfer to a waiting destroyer. The country he was captured in isn't specified, but could be determined...

[jemhouston]

The

Israel experiences an 'accidental mobilization moment'

hopefully will be lessons learn moment like the Hurricane Rita evac from Houston. This happened after Katrina hit New Orleans, so people who normally would evac did. I got out early, so I wasn't caught in the I-45 and I-10 gridlock.

I did delay my return since i-45 between Houston and Dallas ran out of gas.

[Simon Darkshade]

It wasn’t just the traffic jam side of things, which unfortunately would be inevitable in a very small country with fairly minimal non-car transportation options, but the fact that some men were headed home to grab their uniform and rifle, whilst others were headed for designated barracks or mobilisation points. In other words, a multi-directional flow, rather than a controlled one

The nature of an emergency mobilisation will mean that it can come at any time. In terms of contacting the men through their homes, work and every radio channel, television station and air raid siren, it was a success. The issue to be resolved is working out how to channel over 600,000 men through major cities effectively and efficiently, and fundamentally, work out where they should go.

I believe that, from here, the following steps would need to be taken:

1.) First and foremost: Phased mobilisation alerts, rather than calling 'Red Rover, All Over', with certain units given priority in Phase 1, then follow up forces in Phase 2 and further supporting forces in Phases 3 and 4. The Royal Israeli Air Force, certain individual Army reservists, frontline Royal Israeli Navy mobilisation elements (specifically the Royal Israeli Marines) and the 9th-12th Divisions of the Army go first; then the 13th-16th Divisions, further individual reservists and corps troops and certain Navy units; then the 17th-24th Divisions, individual battalions, brigades and regiments and remaining parts of the Navy. The RIAF gets priority as it is the quickest to react and longest ranged force among the three
2.) The current policy of reservists keeping their personal weapon/service rifle at home is to be continued, given that the call can come at any hour of the day (This is different from the @ IDF policy, but is a different IDF)
3.) If the call comes during the work day, SOP is to go directly to their designated mobilisation centre/barracks
4.) The traffic management problem to be run through an intelligent super computer until the optimum solution can be reached
5.) As part of that, certain main roads and highways to switched to one way Military Service Routes; extra trains put on by Israeli Railways; and the Tel Aviv subway and tram network services to be coordinated
6.) From that overall picture, overall plans worked out based on ~200,000 men in Tel Aviv, ~100,000 in Jerusalem, ~50,000 each in Haifa, Beersheba and Ascalon and smaller contingents in Hebron, Gaza, Nazareth, Eilat, Nablus/Neapolis/Naples, Acre, Tiberias, El Arish*, Shiloh, Bethel, Ashdod, Caesarea, Samaria and Jericho
7.) All men to be clear on their routes and alternate routes to mobilisation points
8.) This process to be reflected in operational planning, simulations and exercises to test it
9.) Further transport routes (road and rail) to be built to reflect the learnings from this process, and reserve buses to be acquired
10.) The whole process to be coordinated with British Commonwealth and United States forces in Israel (in the Negev and Sinai) so that any improvements/rationalisations to fit Israeli requirements don't end up clashing with those of the allies

[Simon Darkshade]

November
November 1: South Vietnam formally annexes the Paracel Islands, with the cruiser Saigon and three destroyers conducting exercises around Phú Lâm Island in coordination with the small garrison on the islet.
November 2: The Times carries an article on 'The Curious Revival of English Folk Music', profiling its increasing popularity amongst younger people and the innovative use of modern electrical instruments to create original songs on traditional themes from folklore and present modern versions of traditional ballads. The article takes a generally approving tone, although comments that some of the names may tend towards the obscurantist, giving the examples of Steeleye Span and the Spriguns of Tolgus.
November 3: Release of 1917, the latest picture in The Great War series, telling the story of the pivotal year of the First World War, ranging from the hard fought British victories on the Western Front at Arras, Messines and Passchendaele, the capture of Baghdad and Jerusalem and the breakthrough at Cambrai to the French suffering on the Aisne, the Austrian victory at Caporetto and America's great triumphs on the Meuse. John Mills as Sir Douglas Haig attracts further plaudits for his performance, but it is Lee Van Cleef as General John Pershing who gains the most praise, even as Max Von Sydow brings a quiet tragedy to his role as General Robert Nivelle.
November 4: The Colonial Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Defence, begins a scheme for recruitment of sponsored colonists for a number of new domed and underground settlements in Antarctica.
November 5: 10 year old Craig Hardie of Yexistight, West Sussex, wins the National Guy Competition for the best Guy in the country, being awarded his prize of a cheque for £25, a barrel of fireworks and his very own AR-16 by visiting American adventurer Jonathan Quest.
November 6: Commissioning of the Royal Navy's 10th atomic supercarrier, HMS Implacable, at Harland & Wolff's shipyard in Belfast in front of her sponsor, Princess Victoria of Wales, and a crowd of over 60,000 onlookers. Her sister ships Unicorn and Centaur remain under construction at Armstrong-Whitworth in Elswick and Cammell Laird in Birkenhead, which, allowing for Eagle, Hermes, Glorious and Singapore currently undergoing maintenance and overhaul at Rosyth, Chatham, Swan Hunter and Fairfields, has been arranged to allow for available slip for the laying down of four new supercarriers over the coming three years at John Brown, Harland & Wolff, Beardmores and Yarrow's new shipyard in Haven, Pembrokeshire.
November 7: A meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Washington D.C. agrees upon a phased increase to $2.50 per barrel from its current level of $2.39 over the course of 1974.
November 8: The Royal Marines complete the fielding of a special regimental sized force consolidating the various Naval Parties deployed to the remaining Crown Colonies of the British Empire, currently consisting of twenty such deployed units, each of a reinforced Royal Marine company, and four operational reserve companies stationed at Aden, Singapore, Gibraltar and Chatham.
November 9: Establishment of the Philippine National Oil Company, aimed at developing the nation's untapped onshore and offshore oil reserves and developing a series of oil refineries across Luzon and Mindanao.
November 10: The Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Denis Healey announces a raft of reforms to the British taxation system, aimed at stimulating the recovery from the recent recession, with income below £500 to be exempt from taxation, that between £500 and £2500 at 10% and from £2500 to £5000 at 15%, whilst estate duty is to be abolished and a White Paper on land value tax will be produced.
November 11: American and Canadian biologists announce the discovery of Vitamins J, O, M, Q and R after extensive study of rare plants discovered in the virgin depths of the Amazon Rainforest, with team leaders Dr. Michaela Quinn and Dr. James Campbell stating that there is a veritable world of treasure within the Amazon, far, far more valuable than gold or silver.
November 12: Plucky New Zealand youngster Terrence Teo exposes a gun smuggling plot by nefarious gangster Ray Vegas, allowing the Royal New Zealand Police Force Special Branch and the crack Special Intelligence Bureau of Sir Arnos Grove to swoop on the miscreants and ensure that they pay full excise upon their imports.
November 13: The Air Ministry, Royal Air Force and Ministry of Education initiate the Junior Pilot Aptitude Programme, identifying potential future RAF pilots through examination of academic, physical and aptitude testing data at junior secondary level in public and state schools and channeling the best scoring boys through the Air Training Corps, Air Cadets and Air Experience Flights on direct paths towards flight training.
November 14: Princess Anne and Prince Christian are married at Westminster Abbey, with the streets lined with tens of thousands of spectators and the nuptials viewed by a global television audience of over 600 million people.
November 15: Emperor Alexander of Greece grants billionaire businessman Aristotle Onassis the prestigious honourary rank of Magistros as a reward for his endeavours in Project Omega, the $2 billion project for the development of Greek industry and modernisation of infrastructure.
November 16: Royal Swedish Navy submarines detect and track a hitherto unknown Soviet submarine off the Åland Islands, with the boat displaying concerning speed and maneuvering characteristics.
November 17: Ground is broken on a new Anglo-Saxon Petroleum oil refinery at Frinton in Essex, one of several new industrial facilities designed to take advantage of the energy available from the new nuclear power station at Lee-over-sands, along with a planned computer manufacturing plant at Wivenhoe and a microwave oven, talking toaster and kitchen appliance factory at Lawford.
November 18: Farmers in Norfolk unveil the world's largest sheep breed, the 4.5ft tall and 525lb Silver Imperial, possessed of exceptionally high quality wool of great fineness and most toothsome meat.
November 19: Signing of the Rio de La Plata Treaty in Montevideo between Argentina and Uruguay providing for delineation of boundary through the River Plate and mechanisms for dispute resolution.
November 20: Debut of Darklands, a new ABC historical drama series about the fantastical adventures of an unlikely band of heroes in the 15th century Holy Roman Empire, starring Horst Bucholz as Brother Schweigen the mysterious monk, Frank Finlay as Professor Rudolf van Richten the scholarly wizard, Gérard Depardieu as the roguish bard Jorian des Fleurs and Dutch newcomer Rutger Hauer as the paladin Holger Carlson. It is so successful as to spawn two competitors - ATN's Wolf and Fox and NBC's Kriegshammer.
November 21: The Soviet Union defeats Chile in a spiteful soccer match in Santiago, ensuring Soviet qualification for the 1974 World Cup.
November 22: The Libyan Ministry of the Interior signs an agreement with a group of British firms for extensive modernisation of the North African nation's infrastructure and a mass irrigation project to green a swathe of the desert interior; a large part of the designated funding comes from the payments for the use of the Tobruk base complex from the British Ministry of Defence and Wheelus AFB from the US Department of Defence.
November 23: Argentina begins a joint air and naval exercise in the South Atlantic 250 miles off the coast of Uruguay, with their carrier task force trailed at a distance of 40 miles by a Brazilian cruiser.
November 24: Soviet scientists publish a paper ascribing the legendary Fall of Atlantis and the subsequent prevalance of Great Flood myths in cultures around the world to a comet impact at the end of the last Ice Age and calling for greater research of the underwater expanses to the east of Bermuda. The paper is thought to have been written in the background of the exclusion of Soviet scientists from the nascent undersea exploration of the purported ruins of Atlantis, along with more prosaic motivations.
November 25: Imperial Mining begins development of roads and supporting infrastructure for development of very large Ugandan gold reserves in the south of the country, with additional security provided by a number of private contracting companies, including a battalion of the East India Company, and redeployed forces of the British African Army, invited by the new Ugandan government.
November 26: The Ministry of Education approve an expansion of the school dinner programme across Britain, with meals now mandated to supply a starter or soup, main course, side dish, fruit, salad, bread, milk and pudding, with all main courses to include at least 4 ounces of meat or fish. Whilst the scale of the programme is criticised by some in the Opposition on cost grounds, its general utility is acknowledged close to universally.
November 27: An exhibition match of Australian Rules Football is held in New York City between premiers Richmond and Geelong, in front of 12,423 curious spectators exhibition game at Dodger Dome in New York City, following on from their much more widely attended match at The Oval in London and before their final match in the North American heartland of 'field ball' in San Francisco. The Cats upset the reigning premiers 19.11 (125) to 16.14 (110) with Doug Wade kicking 12.4.
November 28: The five leading fashion designers in the United States compete against the five best French designers in a special charity show aimed at raising funds for the restoration of parts of the Palace of Versailles, leading to the even being dubbed the 'Battle of Versailles'. The result is a more diplomatic draw than a decisive victory for either side, although the overall reputation of the American designers rises in the view of many observers.
November 29: A terrible fire in a Japanese department threatens to kill hundreds when its sprinkler system fails, only for a flying costumed boy to smash the front of the building asunder and tear holes in the roof, allowing the helicopters and Rotodynes of the Tokyo Fire Department to saturate much of the interior with conjured water.
November 30: Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of London, celebrates his 99th birthday in London with a celebratory 12 course dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand attended by a variety of notable dignitaries, including the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Harcourt, the Earl of Avon, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Earl Alexander of Tunis, Earl Montgomery of Alamein, Earl Alanbrooke of Amiens, Earl Cunningham of Singapore, Earl Fraser of Trondheim, Earl Harris of the Ruhr, Sir Guy Gibson, Sir Charles Ratcliffe and Sir James Bigglesworth as well as his family, including sons Sir Randolph, Sir William, George and John, his daughters Lady Sandys, Lady Audley, Lady Soames, Lady Ratcliffe and numerous friends.

[Simon Darkshade]

November 1973 Notes

- South Vietnam, being in a stronger position (and having a great and powerful naval friend hanging around) acts to secure some contentious islets
- Folk music is one area where some similar music to @ may emerge
- 1917’s description gives away some details of WW1
- Antarctic colonies are something a tad different
- Young Craig not only gets a rifle for good measure, but his bucket of fireworks shows a slightly different social development arc
- RN carrier construction gives plenty of food for thought
- No major oil price hike, given the very different OPEC
- The RM Naval Parties are akin in role to Naval Party 8901, but are larger in size (~ 250 men) and carry heavier weapons
- British tax cuts introduce a tax free threshold, but a big development is hidden in the detail
- More vitamins found; the doctors may be recognised by some readers
- Terry Teo and the Gunrunners is a reference to a NZ comic and kid’s television show from the 1980s; the role of the intelligence chief was actually played by Robert Muldoon, the very recently former NZ PM, in @
- The RAF moves to talent spot future pilots
- Princess Anne has a different husband
- Project Omega is a bit more successful here
- A new Soviet sub is not an @ one
- Plenty of development in Essex and East Anglia…
- …including some very big sheep!
- Darklands is an interesting show, with several layers of Easter Eggs there…
- The Soviets actually play Chile here
- Libyan development is a tad different
- The Soviet interest in that part of the Atlantic is connected to a certain box
- Ugandan gold wasn’t the cause of the intervention, but its exploitation is seen as a positive side effect
- British school dinners are much improved on @
- Australian Rules demonstration games are another little piece in a puzzle
- Churchill’s birthday is quite the occasion

[jemhouston]

My bad, I missed the one of the doctors in question.