The Clash of Titans: The Anglo-American War and Beyond

By Raymond Smith, published in Timstown, Jefferson

"... When Great Britain acquired information regarding Project Monitor, the island nation utilized said information in a discreet, yet hurried manner. With the United States developing a series of game-changing weapons, the British government knew that time was not on its side. The urgency of the situation was not to be underestimated, as Great Britain had one year (at most, two years) until the United States churned out a fleet of armored warships that would tip the balance of power in its favor. As such, a probing attack was carried out against Quebec City, under the guise of being a normal raid against one of America's coastal cities, in order to scout out the defenses in the area for a potential invasion to disrupt Project Monitor. The result was an unfortunate wakeup call for Great Britain...

Despite its massive intelligence leak (that neither the NIS nor the FBI was aware of), the United States was not completely incautious. The American federal government was all too aware that Project Monitor, and the location of the project, was a very risky move that could be exposed and destroyed before completion. As a result, before the Project was transferred to Quebec City, numerous fortifications and guns were brought into the region to defend against a potential British incursion. The opening of the Saint Lawrence River (on the side of the Atlantic Ocean) was heavily mined, to the point that a foreign fleet sailing into the river would have to spend a painstaking day just to disarm the staggering amount of mines that were strewn in the waterway. Additionally, these were not the only defenses that the American military had up its sleeves. The United States built a pair of floating batteries directly in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River (an idea they developed alongside the naval mines in 1830). These floating batteries were also protected with a number of river vessels, which were planned to be used as decoys to delay an invasion fleet and give time for the shore and floating batteries to fire upon the enemy. If an invasion fleet wanted to hit Quebec City directly, then they would need to sail through 300 kilometers of hostile waters, facing continuous attacks from mines, shore batteries, artillery, river vessels, and floating batteries. In short, it was suicide. And a detachment of the Atlantic Fleet of the Royal Navy discovered this the hard way...

On May 9th, 1833, eighteen ships of the Royal Navy entered the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River and attempted to breach the American defenses. Three of the ships were "minesweepers": small and maneuverable sail ships that were used to grapple mines and move them away from the route of the bigger ships of the line. The remaining fifteen ships consisted of four ships of the line and eleven frigates, a rather standard fleet used for bombardment. The fleet entered American waters early morning and after discovering the mines in the opening of the river, the minesweepers were deployed to move the dangerous explosives out of the way for the rest of the fleet (cutting the mines off of the anchors that secured them and moving them away). It only took ten minutes before the fleet was discovered by American defenders and the soldiers that witnessed the hostile ships immediately sent out a message through a telegram that alerted nearly every town and city in the Canadien state. The batteries stationed near Grosses-Roches and Godbout aimed their ten 30 centimeter Totten guns (named after Joseph G. Totten, who was involved with the development of numerous coastal guns) at the enemy fleet and opened fired fifteen minutes after the British ships were spotted. The guns fired both round shots and common shells (though during this time period, these shells were called "explosive shells").

The first volley managed to strike three of the ships (the HMS Ocean, the HMS Antelope, and the HMS Hawke). None of the ships were sunk, but the common shells fired upon the HMS Hawke set parts of the ships ablaze, forcing the crew to divert their attention to the flames onboard. In response to the American batteries, the British ships opened fire on the coastal defenses (and the towns near them), indiscriminately raining down shots on the enemy to silence the shore guns. As the two sides locked into an artillery duel, a group of American "snipers," armed with the newest Clarke Rifles, fired on the crew of the minesweepers. While the minesweepers were just outside the maximum range of these rifles (about 940 meters), British reports revealed that two crewmen were killed from the sniper fire (with an additional crewman drowning after falling overboard). The Clarke Rifles failed to deal any significant damage to the minesweepers, but it did damage the morale of the crew onboard and slowed down their operation to clear the mines in front of them. During the ensuing battle, nearly three dozen Americans lost their lives (most of them civilians from the towns of Grosses-Roches and Godbout), while several dozen British sailors died from the American guns. The HMS Hawke was sunk after several well-aimed round shots struck the starboard side of the ship, causing the ship to list and then ultimately slip into the river. One of the minesweepers was also hit by one of the 30-centimeter guns, blowing a hole in the ship's side and making it sink within a span of fifteen minutes. Most of the other British ships had varying amounts of damage as well. However, the British fleet managed to disable five of the guns through its bombardment, which noticeably reduced the amount of fire directed at the ships.

Realizing that the battle was moving far too slowly and that the minesweepers were taking far too long to disable the hundred or so naval mines in the water, the British fleet disengaged and attempted to sail out of the Saint Lawrence. However, disaster struck when a loose mine drifted near the HMS Havannah (a 36-gun Fifth Rate) and a common shell burst near the mine, causing it to explode. The naval mines were connected to an onshore battery through a cable (with an anchor linked to the mines to prevent them from drifting). Without the charge from the battery, the mines were unable to explode (which allowed the British to come up with the idea of using minesweepers to cut off the anchor and the cable that connected the mines). However, while they were "useless" without the said cords, the mines were still loaded with nearly twenty kilograms of Trinitrotoluene (or more commonly known as "TNT"). The explosive common shell was all that was needed to set off the "dormant" mine and rock the HMS Havannah with a large explosion. The resulting explosion "split the Havannah in two" and the ship was lost with all lives on deck. The surviving British ships fled the scene immediately after the loss of the Fifth Rate. The British lost three ships (a Third Rate, a Fifth Rate, and a minesweeper) with nothing to show for the losses they received.

The "Saint Lawrence Folly" made the top brass of the British military realize that a direct invasion of Quebec City (the site of Project Monitor) was nearly impossible. Immediately after the "Folly," additional American defenses were erected on the riverbanks and over a hundred additional mines were strategically placed throughout the Saint Lawrence River. These upgrades were confirmed by several British ships that patrolled around the region (another direct attack through the Saint Lawrence River was never attempted). Admiral Amelius Beauclerk (the highest-ranking British naval officer in the American theater) and Field Marshal FitzRoy Somerset (a veteran of the Second Coalition War and an Army officer that oversaw the ground operations of the Anglo-American War in the American theater) tirelessly worked for weeks to create a convincing plan to end the war with a decisive British victory. With the American government refusing to negotiate for a settlement (evidently, due to Project Monitor) and the British government pushing the military for a quick end to the war, the two officers were hard-pressed to come up with "one, large victory to end it all" (as King George mentioned in his journal on May 15th). An invasion of the Canadien states or the New England states (which were some of the most fortified places in the entire United States) was out of the question. Instead, Admiral Beauclerk, utilizing the information he received from the French Empire (who, in turn, received the information from Remi Vaillancourt, a former NIS field chief from Quebec who developed bipolar disorder after retiring from the American spy agency), decided that there was a potential opportunity to bring the American government to the negotiating tables through an invasion elsewhere. The plan was submitted to the British Cabinet and was subsequently approved by the Duke of Wellington (Ironically, it was the canned foods [invented by the United States in the early 19th century] that allowed the British to even consider the invasion, as it lessened the logistical burden to feed the invading troops)...

The plan consisted of multiple steps that would take several months to come to fruition. The first step was the destruction of the NIS capabilities in the Caribbean, everywhere from Jamaica to Cuba. The combined navies of the French Empire, Great Britain, and Spain heightened their focus to constrict the movement of all foreign ships in the area. The Caribbean and the American side of the Atlantic were closed off completely (to the ire of the French Republic, that proclaimed Armed Neutrality when the war began and traded with the United States in reduced amounts due to the conflict between America and Britain). Smugglers and privateers were gunned down ruthlessly, while NIS agents within the Caribbean were hunted down and caught (utilizing the information given to them by Vaillancourt, over 70% of the NIS agents in the region were captured, with the remaining ones helpless to provide information critical for the war effort). This was an extremely risky move, as it revealed that the "Alliance" (as these powers were known during the war) had a mole within the NIS. Indeed, immediately after the NIS lost contact with most of its operatives within the Caribbean, the FBI and the Department of Internal Affairs carried out a thorough inspection of the entire agency to no avail (though they failed to consider that a former member of the NIS was the mole). Immediately after the first step was complete, infrastructure in the Caribbean islands was expanded upon to provide logistical hubs of an invasion of the United States. Havana and Le Cap (which was already a large port city, as it was the capital of the French Empire) saw increased activity as troops from Britain to Portugual prepared for the "final" onslaught against the United States. Mercenaries, particularly from Germany and Italy, were recruited in significant numbers by the French Empire (that had significant amounts of capital due to its increased production of sugar and other cash crops) and Great Britain (due to its presence in Hanover). Colonial troops were to arrive after the initial invasion began in order to reinforce the Alliance lines.

The Alliance fleets constantly attacked cities in the Atlantic region to remove prying eyes away from the troop buildup in the Caribbean and even captured the city of Halifax temporarily through the Royal Marines, though they withdrew before an American counterattack was launched (the Royal Marines suffered significant casualties due to the soldiers stationed in the city and armed civilians, while the Royal Navy suffered the loss of a frigate and two sloops due to mines, which were only a taste of what was to come). Finally, the RIA "accidentally" released an invasion plan of Columbia in Caracas before the Spanish formally withdrew from Colombia. The invasion plan was placed on the body of a high-ranking Spanish officer, and it detailed a very thorough plan for an invasion of the American capital. In the plan, the Royal Navy was to use aging warships as baits for the mines while the actual warships pushed through and established supremacy in the waters near Columbia. Once the forts and the guns in the area were neutralized by a very large Alliance fleet, thousands of troops were to pour into the region and capture the American capital. After the city fell, the front would gradually expand and the Alliance forces would seize every significant city/base to capitulate the United States (Baltimore, Norfolk, Richmond, Philadelphia, and New York). A Venezuelan soldier discovered these plans after Caracas was liberated in late July of 1833 and the Colombian government raced to deliver this message to the American government by land.

Within a month and a half, the message was delivered and the American government scrambled to respond (as the date of the "invasion" was set to begin in November of 1833). The potential for an invasion into Columbia was only reaffirmed when a large fleet of Spanish and British ships entered the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and caused extensive damages to the fortifications in the area on August 3rd of 1833. Not only that, but the minesweepers employed by the British managed to disable over three dozen mines, nearly half of the mines located in the bay. While the Alliance fleet withdrew after some time, the attack thoroughly convinced President Peters and his Cabinet that the planned Alliance invasion of Columbia was real and the government devoted a huge chunk of America's industry to fortify the capital and the surrounding districts. Troops were called from every corner of the United States to defend the Chesapeake region while numerous forts and fortifications were erected in every corner of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Bridges were rigged with explosives, National Guards were mobilized, and movement throughout the area was carefully monitored and watched by the military and the FBI. By mid-October, nearly half of the armed forces of the United States were camped in the sector and it seemed as though a foreign invasion would be thrown back into the sea rather quickly. Alliance attacks at the defenses around the Chesapeake Bay continued (albeit with more losses), which only heightened the urgency of the situation.

It was unsurprising that the entire nation was shocked as the combined might of Britain, Spain, the French Empire, and Portugal slammed into the southern United States instead of the eastern United States. On November 5th of 1833, thousands of troops stormed New Orleans, Pensacola, and Okafai with the intention to seize as much land as possible and force the American government to capitulate to Alliance demands (which included the cessation of Argentinan territory to the Federal League, the formal recognition of British control over Iceland, Bermuda, Singapore, and Jamaica, the formal recognition of Spanish control over South Africa, and the expansion of the Oregon Territory into northern California). The southern region was specifically targetted as the defenses in the area were lacking (as planned by the British leadership) and the area was less densely populated than the eastern United States.

The invasion itself was relatively straightforward, as it was planned with the lessons Britain (and to an extent, the French Empire) learned during the Second Coalition War. The target cities were bombarded by Alliance fleets during the weeks following up to the invasion (with British ships using common shells for their bombardments, which were finally produced by Great Britain in significant numbers for usage). All forts in the area were located and accounted for, with the invaders aiming to neutralize them first. A day before the invasion was carried out, RIA saboteurs downed the telegraph lines around New Orleans, Pensacola, and Okafi, cutting off communications. As the invasion was underway, the same saboteurs derailed the railroad tracks leading into the cities to prevent people from escaping by train (which caused dozens of deaths as two trains went off the tracks and crashed). There were only a few naval mines scattered in the area, which allowed British minesweepers to clear them with relative ease. Once the troops were onshore, the ships provided naval support and pummeled any American guns that fired on the Alliance soldiers and ships.

Within a few hours, nearly twenty thousand foreign soldiers were on American soil and pushing the few American defenders out of the invaded cities. New Orleans, Pensacola, and Okafi had seven thousand troops combined (with five thousand of them in New Orleans), with many of them being militiamen and National Guardsmen instead of formally trained soldiers. Only two Army regiments were part of the defending forces (and both of them were within New Orleans). The end result was four thousand American casualties for two thousand Alliance casualties, with the remaining American defenders captured by the invading forces (one of the Army regiments managed to flee after losing half of its men and warn an Army division that was coming up from Mexico, preventing the collapse of Texas from the invasion). Armed holdouts continued for several weeks, but the invasion forces managed to secure the cities to funnel more men onto the North American continent. Within five days, a total of sixty thousand soldiers of the Alliance were pushing northward, facing minimal resistance from disorganized militias, armed civilians, and scattered military units. By the time the Peters administration realized that they had been deceived and ordered the units around Columbia to defend the southern states, the southernmost parts of Louisiana, Jefferson, and Alabama, along with parts of western Florida and eastern Texas were under foreign control.

The Invasion of the United States had begun.