ANS Phillipis (BB-1936)

Back to Amazonian Navy page:
 

The last capital ship completed for the Amazon Navy had been the Ephinyfield in 1920. Fast forward ten years and Japan says "No more restrictions, foreign devils, we build what we want!". The current Treaties are no more and everybody starts pulling out their 35,000 ton drawings and updating them to put them into production. Any country that did not get new battleships laid down 1931-32 would be that far behind the rest of the world. The 'Allied' aligned countries all agreed to keep to the spirit of the last Treaty and keep new construction to 35,000 tons and maximum 16" weapons.

As far as most countries were concerned 'spirit' was something you drank and when it came to new battleships they would design new ships that fit with what their leaders wanted. Some only exceeded the 'spirit' of the Treaty by 10%, others took no notice and built what they wanted. 



The Amazon Navy did not cheat by much, less than 20%. But they did build what they wanted to. What made that possible was keeping with the twin 4" BD turrets. They were very good for AA and close work. But their dual purpose capabilities against surface targets was at best limited. An enemy destroyer trying to get close enough to launch torpedoes would get 'hosed' with 4" fire, that could easily disable the enemy ship. Against cruiser sized vessels their effectiveness would not be as good. The more modern machinery was smaller and lighter to produce the necessary power to move the ship at 30 knots. This speed put the ships firmly in the 'Fast' Battleship class. The armour scheme was adequate and featured a lot of underwater protection with many sub divided compartments for buoyancy in case of damage.

The main change to the ships during their WW2 careers was the replacement of the 2 pounder and 20mm AA guns with the much more capable 40mm Bofors weapon system.

I have, so far, not touched on the impact of the Amazon Women in the battles of World War Two. When fighting against the Japanese, the Japanese loathed the Amazons. They could not comprehend how women could get out of the kitchen and into the inferno that is war. The Japanese felt that they were superior to all other men imagine the shock of not only fighting women, but being beaten by them. The Amazon Shock Troops on Guadalcanal definitely taught the Japanese to hate the Amazons. This dislike to hatred of the Amazons carried across to the Germans and Italians as well. In war, men fought men, that was the natural order of things. The Amazons upset the natural order and were so good at war that while they got respect for those abilities, when captured they would be treated almost as witches. "You think you are as good as men? Lets find out." A lot of Amazon prisoners were tortured and/or executed.

It was not much better with their Allies. The forces had to be kept segregated. The interaction of the men and women cooped up on Scapa Flow in World War One showed the need to keep them apart. When the Allies were Island Hopping across the Pacific, one island would be set up for the men and a completely separate base would be needed for the Amazons. The women in the Allied forces (nurses etc) knew their places and the men also knew how to treat them. The Amazons upset that order and were disliked for it. Maybe not openly but it was there all the time, from top to bottom. Amazon senior officers attending briefings were treated politely. They could not join the 'boys club' and smoke a cigar, drink shots of whiskey, and tell dirty jokes. At least that was what was thought. The Allies liked having the Amazons on their side, for their capabilities at war, even some respect, but they could never quite bring themselves to accept the Amazons as friends.

For the Amazons themselves, they realised these shortcomings of the men of the world, they had been dealing with them for thousands of years. But if there was a war going, then the Amazons wanted to be a part of it. That is what they had been bred for, fighting. Fighting better than anyone else. An example is the Asian martial arts. The Amazon women were superb, their natural suppleness gave them an edge. Intelligence, the Amazons were as smart as any other people. They had never kept women out of the higher learning institutions, a very bad problem in the rest of the world, even today.

The world is a funny place, if you are different to everyone else you risk being shunned. I can remember and have heard hundreds of stories how the young children 5-6 years old form 'packs' at school and if you aren't part of a pack then you are going to get it. You don't have to be very different to be kicked/kept out of a pack, being new to the school, medical and physical disabilities all put you on the outside. The only way to get past that was to make yourself acceptable in some other way. As a male, being good at hitting and throwing things was very acceptable. Being good at sport got you accepted. For the rest, misery and loneliness.

I have had some personal experience of this, my family had moved 32 times by the time I was 21. I always seemed to be the 'new' boy. What saved me, was that I was almost always the biggest boy in class. I was good at sports. I was always acceptable. But my younger brother was not, he had gastric/bladder problems that weren't cured till he was almost 13. You can imagine as a 5-6-7 year old running around the playground and losing control of your bladder. The dreaded wet spot on your pants. He had to take changes of clothes to school. I had a lot of fights at school protecting him from the bullies. I think he was 7 when a new ad came on TV for 'Aquaflow, with the new wetting agent'. Can you imagine the devastation to a 7 year old to get the nickname Aquaflow, lots of tears. Children can be ruthless. We never lose it, we just become better and smarter at using it. Give my brother his due. He was smart. Worked for IBM and the big banks improving their security systems. Made a lot of money. Unfortunately he died early at 50 of cancer, still missed. His mark on the world might not have his name on it, but every time you use your banking systems he would have had a hand in making it safer.

Have a look at the world, how many countries still don't let women get drivers licenses or go to higher learning institutions. Other countries mutilate women in various ways so that they can't enjoy sex. Having kids is ok but the rest, no way. It is why I like the idea of the Amazons. The world turned upside down.

We are in what is termed "The Information Age", but a lot of the world is so very slow to learn.


There endeth my sermon!
 

Phillipis the Amazon Warrior Princess.

Back to Amazonian Navy page: