Captain Percy Wiking paced the bridge, it wasn't like the old Pittsburgh at all. For one, it was probably the first big gun ship of the US Navy to be built in a foreign yard. Still, unlike the Pittsburgh, she wasn't a 30-year-old claptrap past her prime and her trials had been most promising. The former Deutschland was a fierce war machine and her 11-inch guns would be useful, quite useful. He walked to the wheel when a ensign entered, "Sir, message from the Navy Department. They are orders." The young man spoke. Captain Wiking grabbed the papers and looked; his face fell. His face read and initially showed confusion at the demand to enter the Mediterranean to hunt two Japanese raiders. Then he read the line that made things clear: Washington and Leviathan captured or destroyed, recapture or destroy them at your discretion. He crumpled the paper and thought for a moment. He had warned against Armed Merchant Cruisers, especially as the Japanese would be ready for this exact scenario and crew their ships with navy regulars which would be superior to merchant crews of the two liners. He was glad for Bismarck and Madison's crew training themselves to the bone on the unfamiliar ships. He turned to the navigator, "Chart a course to Gibraltar immediately. 18 and a half knot speed." (95 years ago, there was a book called the Great Pacific War by Hector Bywater. It detailed a war between the US and Japan, in it two Japanese raiders in the Med wreck the George Washington: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_George_Washington and SS Leviathan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Leviathan and capture one and sink the other. I also remembered the first two Panzerschiff of Germany (Deutschland and Graf Spee) were finishing around the time. So I had the US buy them. Get Rekt Japan.