science

Weapons of Choice

Weapons of Choice is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Weapons of Choice rather than just read about it. In short: Weapons of Choice is a science fiction novel by Australian author John Birmingham, the first in his Axis of Time alternative history trilogy. A television adaptation was announced in 2021.

Key takeaways

Weapons of Choice belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Weapons of Choice to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Weapons of Choice from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Weapons of Choice is a science fiction novel by Australian author John Birmingham, the first in his Axis of Time alternative history trilogy. A television adaptation was announced in 2021.

Plot In 2021 off East Timor, a US-led multinational task force commanded by Admiral Phillip Kolhammer prepares to liberate the Indonesian islands from an Islamic government calling itself the Caliphate, which is slaughtering the Chinese nationals living there. In the book's backstory, the 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 US and British units alongside French, Australian, Japanese, and 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 wormholes; 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, on their way to face the Japanese sent to invade 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 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 and USS Yorktown. 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 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 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 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, Hitler learns about the results of the invasion of the Soviet Union and sends Ribbentrop to negotiate peace with the Soviet Union.

Historical characters featured

Allies

Axis

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.

USS Hillary Clinton—George Bush–class supercarrier USS Kandahar—Baghdad-class littoral assault ship USS Leyte Gulf—Nemesis-class stealth cruiser (Overlapped USS Astoria. Stripped for equipment and destroyed.) USS Amanda L. Garrett—Cobb-class air warfare destroyer [James H. Cobb] (missing after Transition; lost in waters off Antarctica) USS Providence—Harpers Ferry–class amphibious landing dockship USS Kennebunkport—LPD-12-class landing assault ship USS Denver—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) HMS Trident—Trident-class stealth destroyer (trimaran) HMS Vanguard—Trident-class stealth destroyer (missing after Transition) HMS Fearless—Aden-class helicopter assault ship (destroyed in Transition) 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 JDS Siranui—Modified Nemesis-class stealth cruiser KRI Nuku—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 Sartre-class stealth destroyer (missing after Transition) (For the 1942 ships, see Midway order of battle.)

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Weapons of Choice

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Weapons of Choice claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Weapons of Choice before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Weapons of Choice ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Weapons of Choice

In research: Weapons of Choice appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Weapons of Choice in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Weapons of Choice is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 Australian novels, 2004 English-language novels, 2004 science fiction novels, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Weapons of Choice outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Weapons of Choice in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Weapons of Choice means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Weapons of Choice out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Weapons of Choice in simple terms?

Weapons of Choice is a science fiction novel by Australian author John Birmingham, the first in his Axis of Time alternative history trilogy. A television adaptation was announced in 2021.

Why does Weapons of Choice matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Weapons of Choice?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Weapons of Choice.