The Whale Has Wings

This is an Alternative History (a book in which the consequences of certain changed in history are explored).

The premise (what is often called the Point of Departure) is that in 1932 the British Royal Navy recovered control of its air arm (the Fleet Air Arm) from the grip of the Royal Air Force.

The air arms of the navy and army had been combined into the RAF during World War 1, and as a consequence naval aviation was badly neglected by the Air Ministry. Though not by the Royal Navy. Contrary to much popular belief, the Royal Navy was very air-minded between the wars, but was severely limited by what the Air Ministry was prepared to do for them. There had been a number of attempts to recover naval air, indeed a debate on this issue in Parliament in 1926 only failed by two votes. This story starts in 1932, when an aggrieved Navy decides to make it a serious issue, and gets back control. After this, the development before the war is based on projected plans and ships the RN considered, but never got to implement (mainly because the aircraft were not forthcoming from the Air Ministry). I have tried to make all the changes believable - they are often based on real RN plans and possible designs, the effort required from, for example, aircraft companies was no greater than that which was done in fact. By 1939 the Navy has a much more capable air arm, and as a result is able to consider operations they had been thinking of for many years, as well as respond better to the enemy.

Because of the length of time covered, and the amount of action during the war, the story is broken up into four books.

Book 1 - The Whale Has Wings Vol 1 -  Rebirth

This book covers from 1932 (where the Royal Navy gets control of its air arm back from the RAF), through the pre-war years showing how things start to differ from our history, then into the first part of WW2, from its start in September 1939 through to the early actions in the Med against the Italian fleet, taking in the early actions against surface raiders, the great raid on Wilhelmshaven, the Norway and Battle of Britain campaigns, and actions in Africa and the Med.

The book is available from Smashwords.

Either go to www.smashwords.com and search for The Whale Has Wings, or go directly to the book page at

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/266885

A 'teaser' segment of the book - around the first 10% - is available on Smashwords for free download, so you can get a better idea of the book. There are also some reviews on Smashwords from people who have read the book

The book is available as a Kindle book from Amazon (choose which Amazon outlet you require, e.g. Amazon.ca, and search for The Whale Has Wings). For the two most frequent stores :

Amazon.co.uk - here

Amazon.com - here

The book is also available from Barnes and Noble - here

Hard Copy Version - your chance to get a tree cut down in a good cause!

Available from CreateSpace Here

I can be contacted at TheWhaleHasWings@gmail.com.

Book 2 - The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - From Taranto to Singapore.

This is the second book in the 'The Whale Has Wings' series. It carries on directly from the action described at the end of Volume 1 - Rebirth.

In Rebirth, the British Royal Navy regained control of its Air Arm (the Fleet Air Arm) from the RAF in 1933. This allowed them to build carriers and the aircraft needed for them to their own pre-war plans, rather than be constricted by the limited number and performance of the aircraft grudgingly provided by the RAF. As a consequence, by the time war broke out in 1939, the FAA had better planes, and the building of carriers was a little advanced on our history.

Initially the war doesn't seem to go much differently, until the big raid on the German ships at Wilhelmshaven harbour. Even after this, the diversion isn't yet great, and Norway is still a disaster for the German Navy. However the leverage of the changes in air power are slowly growing. As a result of greater confidence in his carriers, the British are not forced to sink the French ships in Oran, and the attack on the Vichy French at Dakar goes more successfully.

Other changes are less obvious; with more air cover, fewer ships are being lost to aircraft and submarines (as a result, the savings in repair work and new construction more than allows the continuation of the RN carrier building programme). Italy joins the war, and action spreads into the Mediterranean.

This book starts with the British attack on the Italian Fleet at Taranto - this time, the plan is more like the original plans and exercises carried out in preparation for the raid.  As a result of the raid, there is again a divergence from history, and this book explores some of the consequences,

This books covers the actions through late 1940 and 1941, mainly in the Mediterranean against Italy and Germany, but also in the Atlantic where we see what happens to the breakout of the Bismark-led force. As well as the naval actions, details are given of the war on land and air (in particular where this involves British forces), showing how the divergence from our history is slowly increasing as the changes since 1933 have more effect and cause yet more changes.  

In the Mediterranean, war spreads to Greece and North Africa as well as the Italian colony of Ethiopia, with unrest and significant political changes in Africa and the Middle East. The book ends with the gathering clouds of the Japanese Empire darkening the East.

The book is available from Smashwords.

Either go to www.smashwords.com and search for The Whale Has Wings, or go directly to the book page here

A 'teaser' segment of the book - around the first 10% - is available on Smashwords for free download, so you can get a better idea of the book. There are also some reviews on Smashwords from people who have read the book

The book is available as a Kindle book from Amazon (choose which Amazon outlet you require, e.g. Amazon.ca, and search for The Whale Has Wings). For the two most frequent stores :

Amazon.co.uk - here

Amazon.com - here

Again a 'teaser' segment of the book - around the first 10% - is available on Amazon for free download, so you can get a better idea of the book. There are also some reviews on Amazon from people who have read the book.

A hard copy version is available from CreateSpace here.

Book 3 - The Whale Has Wings Vol 3 - Holding the Barrier.

This is the third book in the series. At the end of Book 2, the Japanese entered the war with a devastating attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. This book tells how the war progresses from that (especially the naval actions in the Far East)

In our time, the need to keep fighting the Afrika Korps and the Italian Army meant little modern equipment could be sent east, and the men in charge there were not the best. This time, the victory in North Africa in 1941 has meant that the British reinforcement is further advanced. Not complete (the buildup is in fact very similar to that planned in our history), but more equipment has been sent, and the people in charge are much more efficient.

The Japanese have little choice if they want to gain the oil their economy needs, this is in the Dutch East Indies and Burma. But as well as an army, the British have also sent their planned naval fleet to Singapore, under the experienced Admiral Somerville. The Americans are also desperate to strike back at sea after what was done to them at Pearl Harbor.

The scene is set for an even more intense struggle than in our time.

This book is available from Smashwords in various e-formats from here, or go to Smashwords.com and search for 'The Whale Has Wings'. A teaser segment (10%) of the book is available to download and view.

It is also available from the various Amazon country outlets as a kindle book.

And from the two main country outlets

 at amazon.com - here

 and amazon.co.uk - here

Again a teaser section is available to view. For other countries, just search for the book by name.

It is also available as a hard copy either direct from CreateSpace (book id is 4573999) or via the Amazon sites.

If you want to be notified when it's released, just send an email to thewhalehaswings@gmail.com with Vol 4 release date in the title, and you will be sent a notification by email when its out.

If you want to email about anything else, I will try and respond but I cant guarantee a quick response. Depends how busy I am.

Book 4 - The Whale Has Wings - Midway, the Decisive Battle

coming in the spring of 2014