Jack of Harts

The Kings Bay submarine base in Georgia had a difficult Second Great Depression. The entire United States Navy ballistic and cruise missile submarine force was homeported at Kings Bay. It was a powerful force, capable of devastating any nation on Earth. One of their submarines, USS Georgia, followed Federal orders and fired those nuclear missiles at Virginia. Nobody knows why their missiles did not detonate, and we probably never will. A nearby attack submarine, ironically the USS Virginia, sunk the Georgia with torpedo fire immediately after the larger boat began firing her missiles. That kept the Georgia from firing the full volley most military historians believe she was attempting to fire, and removed all chances of finding out why her crew executed the order in the first place. It was a horrible blow to both the tight-knit submarine fleet, and to Kings Bay itself. They had all known that they were meant to fight America’s enemies. The fact that they had been ordered to kill Americans, and that one of them had actually attempted to do so, shook them all to the core of their beings. That attack would change America’s submarine service forever.

Charleston, South Carolina was a major Coast Guard base when the Second Great Depression began. They supplied naval fleets from Charleston, and a half-dozen deep-water Coast Guard cutters kept their homeport there. South Carolina was quick to “nationalize” them into their new navy once the Federal government effectively collapsed. While not as heavily armed as “proper” United States warships, these cutters were more heavily armed and armored than most warships in the world. They also supported light aircraft and drones via their flight decks. The Coast Guard had used these for customs and rescue missions. South Carolina replaced them with attack helicopters and defense drones, making the former cutters a far more credible threat to those harboring ill will towards their State. They would prove an integral part of the South Caroline Navy in the decades that followed, and set sail with the Confederation Navy numerous times before the end of the century.

The Commonwealth of Virginia maintained Norfolk as its primary naval base for the decades and centuries that followed. They leased much of the yards to the Federal Navy, but they held onto enough to support their own fleet. The other coastal States followed the same plan, maintaining their own defense fleets in their own yards while leasing parts of those yards to the Feds. Gulfport. Charleston. Kings Bay. Mayport. Every major naval defense port in the Confederation of Dixie also housed or built United States warships, and that brought in a great deal of money the Confederation States needed. It also constituted a simple majority of the reformed Federal government’s budget, and the long-term symbiosis of that relationship remained true for the centuries that followed. The Confederation publicly stood against the power of the Federal government, all while taking money to maintain the Federal fleet. Some called that hypocritical. Others simply considered it realistic.