View source for Weapons of Choice

{{Short description|2004 alternative history novel by John Birmingham}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox book  | 
| name          = Weapons of Choice
| title_orig    = 
| translator    = 
| image         = Weapons of Choice.tif
| caption = First edition
| author        = [[John Birmingham]]
| illustrator   = 
| cover_artist  = Bob Warner
| country       = Australia
| language      = English
| series        = [[Axis of Time]]
| subject       = 
| genre         = [[Alternate history]]
| publisher     = [[Del Rey Books]]
| release_date  = June [[2004 in literature|2004]]
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Paperback]])
| pages         = 544
| isbn          = 0-7329-1199-0
| oclc= 62539678
| preceded_by   = 
| followed_by   = [[Designated Targets]]
}}

'''''Weapons of Choice''''' is a [[science fiction]] novel by [[Australia]]n author [[John Birmingham]], the first in his [[Axis of Time]] [[Alternate history|alternative history]] trilogy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/john-birmingham/weapons-of-choice.htm|title=Weapons of Choice by John Birmingham|publisher=Fantastic Fiction.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uchronia.net/label/birmaxisof.html|title=Axis of Time Series|publisher=Uchronia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-07-05 |title=Art of staying hungry |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/art-of-staying-hungry-20100705-zwz4.html |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |author=Nick Galvin|language=en}}</ref>

A television adaptation was announced in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Slatter |first=Sean |date=2021-09-13 |title=Luke Sparke prepares for 'huge' 'Axis of Time' TV adaptation |url=https://if.com.au/luke-sparke-prepares-for-huge-axis-of-time-tv-adaptation/ |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=IF Magazine |language=en-AU}}</ref>

==Plot==
In 2021 off [[East Timor]], a US-led [[UNPROFLEET|multinational task force]] commanded by [[Admiral Phillip Kolhammer]] prepares to liberate the [[Indonesia|Indonesian islands]] from an Islamic government calling itself the Caliphate, which is slaughtering the [[Chinese Indonesians|Chinese nationals]] living there. In the book's backstory, the [[National People's Congress|Chinese government]] was planning to send a task force but was warned by the [[US government]] not to do so. The flagship of the task force is the [[aircraft carrier]] USS ''Hillary Clinton'', named after "the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States". The task force is made up mainly of [[United States Armed Forces|US]] and [[British Armed Forces|British]] units alongside [[Military of France|French]], [[Australian Defence Force|Australian]], [[Japan Self-Defense Forces|Japanese]], and ''[[Military of Indonesia|Free Indonesians]]'', along with a few other units like [[Spetsnaz]] from Russia and [[Kommando Spezialkräfte]] from Germany. Alongside the navy task force is JRV ''Nagoya'', a scientific ship that is experimenting with [[wormhole]]s; the navy ship protecting it is ordered to join the task force. A new ship from the [[Royal New Zealand Navy]] is sent as escort, but prior to its arrival, ''Nagoya''{{'}}s project director, Manning Pope, decides to make a trial run. The task force is constantly watched by a Caliphate spy on the mainland.

In late May-early June 1942, [[Rear Admiral]] [[Raymond A. Spruance]] and Lt. Commander Daniel Black are on the bridge of {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}}, on their way to face the Japanese sent to invade [[Midway Atoll|Midway]]. A growing commotion outside the bridge prompts them to investigate, only to find a large group of what are, to them, unknown and strangely designed ships. They spot a ship with the [[Rising Sun Flag|Japanese ensign]] and assume it is the Japanese fleet sent against Midway and they order their own ships to open fire. The multinational task force Combat Intelligence, referred to as CI, takes defensive action; the 21st-century fleet nearly wipes out the US fleet, including {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} and {{USS|Yorktown|CV-5|6}}. During the battle, Kolhammer and the rest of the multinational task force commanders learn that not all ships of the task force came through and those that did, did not all end up in the same place.

The light aircraft carrier [[Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō|''Ryūjō'']] encounters the Free Indonesian ship KRI ''Sutanto'' and boards it. The Indonesian crew are taken captive, but the Japanese learn that the Americans already broke their codes prior to Midway and upon learning the navy's history after their defeat, prompting Yamamoto to withdraw back home.

Surviving leaders aboard both 1940s American and 21st-century multinational ships manage to stop the battle after the presence of U.S. Navy ships among both fleets is recognized, and an uneasy truce is called as the two groups withdraw to [[Pearl Harbor]]. However, murders, rapes, and riots happen as the 21st-century people try to mix with the locals, with the racial segregation laws and pervasive racism of the 1940s United States being a major point of contention. Kolhammer is flown to California to meet [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Albert Einstein]]. As time goes by with no sight of JRV ''Nagoya'', more and more 21st-century personnel start to realize they are stuck in 1942.

Captain [[Karen Halabi]] and HMS ''Trident'', a ''Trident''-class trimaran stealth destroyer, are ordered back to the [[United Kingdom|Home Island]] for evaluation and possible transfer of ''Trident''. However, prior the ship's and her departure, they take part in a [[prisoner of war]] rescue in [[Singapore]] and [[Luzon]]. The rescue is carried out by both 21st-century and 1942 personnel, but the munitions stores of the 21st-century forces are steadily being depleted without any upcoming prospect of replenishment.

Through the Japanese, [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] learns about the results of the [[Operation Barbarossa|invasion of the Soviet Union]] and sends [[Joachim von Ribbentrop|Ribbentrop]] to negotiate peace with the [[Soviet Union]].

==Historical characters featured==

===Allies===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}

====British Commonwealth====
* [[Winston Churchill]]: [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]]
* [[John Curtin]] [[Prime Minister of Australia|Australian Prime Minister]]
* Sir [[Dudley Pound]] RN Admiral of the Fleet
* Sir [[Leslie Murray]] RN Rear Admiral
{{col-3}}

====U.S.====
* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] [[President of the United States|U.S. President]]
* [[Raymond Spruance]] USN Rear Admiral
* [[Chester Nimitz]] USN Admiral
* [[William Halsey]] USN Admiral
* [[Ernest King]] USN Admiral
* [[Douglas MacArthur]] U.S. Army General
* [[George Marshall]] U.S. Army General
* [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] U.S. General Staff Brigadier
{{col-end}}

===Axis===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}

====Germany====
* [[Adolf Hitler]] Nazi Germany Führer and Reichskanzler
* [[Heinrich Himmler]] Reichsführer
* [[Joseph Goebbels]] Reichsminister
* [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] Foreign Minister
* [[Hermann Hoth]] Oberführer
* [[Otto Skorzeny]] Standartenführer
* [[Erich Raeder]] Gross Admiral
* [[Karl Dönitz]] Admiral
* [[Otto Ciliax]] Vice Admiral
{{col-3}}

====Japan====
* [[Isoroku Yamamoto]] IJN Admiral, Commander in Chief Combined Fleet
* [[Boshirō Hosogaya]] IJN Vice Admiral, Commander Northern Area Force
* [[Kakuji Kakuta]] IJN Rear Admiral, Commander Second Carrier Striking Force
* [[Tadeo Kato]] IJN Captain ''[[Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō|Ryūjō]]''
* [[Hiroshi Ōshima]] IJA General, Japanese ambassador to Germany
{{col-end}}

==Ships of the MNF==
This list reflects the knowledge of the MNF as of the end of ''Weapons of Choice''. A number of ships of the MNF did not go through the Transition with the rest of the fleet; as of the end of the book, it is unclear which of these ships remained in the 21st century, which were destroyed by the Transition or immediately after, and which fell into enemy hands. More information about the fate of the missing ships is revealed in the sequel, [[Designated Targets (book)|''Designated Targets'']].

* [[United States Navy|USS]] ''Hillary Clinton''—''George Bush''–class [[supercarrier]]
* USS ''Kandahar''—''Baghdad''-class [[Littoral-combat ship|littoral assault ship]]
* USS ''Leyte Gulf''—''Nemesis''-class [[Stealth technology|stealth]] [[cruiser]] (Overlapped {{USS|Astoria|CA-34|6}}. Stripped for equipment and destroyed.)
* USS ''Amanda L. Garrett''—''Cobb''-class air warfare [[destroyer]] <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>[[James H. Cobb]]<nowiki>]</nowiki></small> (missing after Transition; lost in waters off Antarctica)
* USS ''Providence''—[[Harpers Ferry class dock landing ship|''Harpers Ferry''–class]] [[Dock landing ship|amphibious landing dockship]]
* USS ''Kennebunkport''—LPD-12-class [[Amphibious transport dock|landing assault ship]]
* USS ''Denver''—[[SSN (hull classification symbol)|Nuclear-powered attack submarine]] (with [[nuclear weaponry]] on board, missing after Transition)
* USS ''Chicago''—Nuclear powered attack submarine (with nuclear weaponry on board, missing after Transition)
* [[Royal Navy|HMS]] ''Trident''—''Trident''-class stealth destroyer ([[trimaran]])
* HMS ''Vanguard''—''Trident''-class stealth destroyer (missing after Transition)
* HMS ''Fearless''—''Aden''-class [[Landing Platform, Helicopter|helicopter assault ship]] (destroyed in Transition)
* [[Royal Australian Navy|HMAS]] ''Havoc''—''Woomera''-class [[attack submarine]] (erroneously called Savage class in certain editions' [[dramatis personae]], non-nuclear)
* HMAS ''Moreton Bay''—''Jervis Bay''–class troop-carrying [[catamaran]]
* HMAS ''Ipswich''—''Newcastle''-class  light littoral assault ship
* [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force|JDS]] ''Siranui''—Modified ''Nemesis''-class [[Stealth technology|stealth]] [[cruiser]]
* [[Indonesian Navy|KRI]] ''Nuku''—[[Parchim class corvette|''Parchim''-class]] [[corvette]] (arrived on island in New Guinea, stripped by Japanese)
* KRI ''Sutanto''—''Parchim''-class corvette (recovered by Japanese; destroyed by Allied forces)
* ''Dessaix''—[[French Navy|French]] ''Sartre''-class stealth destroyer (missing after Transition)

(For the 1942 ships, see [[Midway order of battle]].)

==Fictionalizations of real people==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2009}}
* [[Harry Turtledove]], an [[alternate history|alternative history]] author, appears as "Commander Turtletaub", an aide to FDR. Turtledove has on occasion used the pseudonym 'H. N. Turteltaub'. References to Turtledove's [[Worldwar series]] also appear.
* [[S. M. Stirling]] and [[Eric Flint]], also [[alternate history|alternative history]] authors, were [[Tuckerization|tuckerized]] as [[United States Secret Service|Secret Service]] agents.
* "Lieutenant [[Matthew Reilly|Matt Reilly]]—Australian thriller writer.  Meteorology Officer, USS ''Leyte Gulf''.  [[Redshirt (character)|Redshirted]].
* [[Garth Nix]], [[Dale Brown]], [[Tom Clancy]] and [[Stephen Euin Cobb]]—thriller writers appearing as counterboarding specialists aboard USS ''Leyte Gulf''.
* "Captain Harry Windsor"—an SAS officer sometimes referred to as "Prince Harry".  [[Prince Harry]] of the United Kingdom, grandson of [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]], and currently ({{as of|2022|September|lc=y}}) [[Succession to the British throne|fifth in line for the British throne]].

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
* ''[[The Final Countdown (film)|The Final Countdown]]''
* [[Zipang (anime)|''Zipang'' (anime)]], [[Zipang (manga)|''Zipang'' (manga)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{isfdb title|id=151688}}

{{Axis of Time}}

[[Category:2004 Australian novels]]
[[Category:2004 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Axis of Time]]
[[Category:Australian alternative history novels]]
[[Category:Australian science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1942]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 2021]]
[[Category:Novels about World War II alternate histories]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 1940s]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 2020s]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Albert Einstein]]
[[Category:Novels about Adolf Hitler]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Winston Churchill]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Douglas MacArthur]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Heinrich Himmler]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Karl Dönitz]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Isoroku Yamamoto]]