The Admiral cleared his throat, shuffled his papers, and looked at the assembled members of the British Naval Command. “Gentlemen, what I am about to say may startle you. I have devised a comprehensive plan that promises to do nothing less than to utterly cripple the Kaiser’s military and trade capacity. If properly executed, this plan will allow the Royal Navy to capture 14 ports in one fell swoop. And it will do so without the cost of a single British life.”

He paused as the gasps and harrumphs rippled around the table. “The secret weapon is a 2-pack of the Compaq 7 Port USB/Firewire Hub. Each unit, at minimal expense of the Royal Treasury, offers no less than four 480Mbps USB 2.0 ports, to allow connection of additional USB devices to any PC equipped with an available USB connection. Furthermore, each of the two hubs also offers three additional 400Mbps Firewire ports. They include their own AC adapters, so non-powered USB devices will work without a hitch. And the two units can be daisy-chained, raising the prospect of a single PC operating with thirteen USB and Firewire devices simultaneously. Such an advancement would prove decisive in bringing this damned war to a victorious close.

“I assure you, gentlemen: the Kaiser will be taken completely unawares, particularly as the PC will not be invented for another six or seven decades.”

Alas, his prescience went unheeded by the hidebound Naval Command. Moments later, a squad of orderlies arrived to take the Admiral to the Royal Hospital for the Technologically Insane. Although he never regained his mental faculties or his freedom, the Admiral was allowed to keep his big, frilly hat.

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