"Coastal Forces in Action..on Lake Ontario???!!!" Topic

I bought this one for my Kindle for my recent Asia trip

link

I am almost done with it and it has some flaws. Conroy is an excellent author and I have read a number of his books. The interesting thing from a coastal aspect is the inclusion of S-boats and PTs battling on Lake Ontario. The PTs were modified as gunboats and started out from Rochester NY, near where we live.

This offered some interesting possibilities that were not really developed in the book but in this scenario you could have:

-One or Two of the original PT prototypes developed into production. The British in this timeline never would have sent the Scott Paine boat that became the Elco series. These
could be done both as torpedo and gunboat versions.

-At the same time, the build of the BPB Scott Paine design in Canada could have found their way into Kriegsmarine use.

-Both sides had a lot of shipping to hunt and defend. The book also had U-boats in the lakes

-German MFPs were designed to be built in foreign shipyards so these could be a cinch to make in Canada

-The Italian MAS boats would be very useful in this arena

-Both sides would be laying a lot of mines. Perhaps the German KM motor minelayers would actually become useful

-An interesting source of craft for the Germans to convert to escorts would be the ships and boats run but the RCMP. There were a number of these used similar
to US Coast Guard craft.

The US would have to fall back on USCG assets on the lakes for initial patrol boats, perhaps the "Six Bitters" would be used and up-gunned.

And then there is the matter of ice for several months a year…

I have been toying with coastal engagements as part of War Plan Crimson for years. This offered a really cool twist on the possibility of coastal campaigns on the lakes.

Dave G
The PT Dockyard

It would be interesting out on the east end of the lake, in the Thousand Islands/Ganonoque area, lots of islands and other hazards to fight around, plus one castle. You could also shell across the river easily enough, I would think artillery could pretty much close off that end of the lake on both sides.

Smugglers used to run from Prince Edward County down to NY, and cigarette smuggling still goes on further east (plus who knows what else). So there could be a lot of "independents" on the lake too. I have a few books in the un-read pile that are about Lake O's history – smuggling, ghost ships, etc.

The lake doesn't freeze though, but winters would be ugly (not as ugly as Superior though).

I'm currently reading his Red Inferno, not bad for what it is.

Not now but in years past it would freeze out a mile or so.

I agree about that end. A PT base in Sackett Harbor would have some historical precedents, perhaps with a German raid ala the raid on Granville

Maybe a raid on Hamilton Harbour to stop steel shipments by blocking the channel, ala St. Nazaire, or something around Main Duck Island. The more I think of it, the cooler it sounds, despite my initial resistance to read anything where Canada succumbs to the Nazis!

Strange no one talks about the MTBs and MGBs that Canada built in the Great Lakes during the war, never mind the corvettess and minesweepers. The latter alone would make wonderful flakship platforms.

Don't expect it all to be one sided either.
Smoe kind of canoe or kayak raid on the Erie Canal perhaps a la Cockleshell Heroes???