Chapter 1030 Joining the Naval Race
While East Africa is evaluating the results of the First Five-Year Plan and preparing for the Second Five-Year Plan, in the distant Far East waters, the Japanese and Russian navies are also facing the final showdown.
Although the Russian Navy, which received a certain amount of help from East Africa, was much stronger mentally than in its previous life, it fell into a dangerous situation after the actual battle with the Japanese Navy, especially the command and decision-making personnel. Mistakes caused the Russian Navy to repeat the same mistakes again. The Russo-Japanese naval war began to develop in the direction that Ernst wanted, or in the direction that all countries in the world wanted except the belligerent countries. However, the benefits that East Africa could gain from the Russo-Japanese War were too few. Far inferior to the Spanish-American War and so on.
……
Port of Bagamoyo.
As the earliest shipbuilding manufacturing center in East Africa, Bagamoyo Port assumes the main task of the current East African navy, especially the construction of battleships.
With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese naval war, more and more details were mastered by the East African military shipyards, and the original battleship construction plan was also re-formulated.
Roralena, chief engineer of the Bagamoyo First Shipyard, is re-evaluating the battleship design plans that tended to be conservative in the past.
Roralena: "According to the battle reports from the Far East, it has been proven once again that only large-caliber naval guns of more than 300 mm can be the key to determining the victory of naval battles. The future will still be the era of large ships and huge guns. "
"So for the construction of new battleships, I mainly recommend increasing the displacement from the original 18,000 tons to at least 20,000 tons, and canceling some secondary guns. Although most of these guns are rapid-fire guns , the rate of fire is faster, but the range and power are not as good as the main gun.”
"It may be feasible for these secondary guns to be used to engage small and medium-sized ships such as cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, etc., but to deal with such sea monsters as battleships, it is a great waste of firepower resources and space on the ship."
"At the same time, the secondary guns As a result, battleship guns have a wide range of calibers and different ballistic properties, making it difficult to centrally command and fire. Each gun position is mostly aimed and fired independently. This shortcoming was even more obvious in the Russo-Japanese naval battle."
"So I advocate the next step. All main guns of a battleship are unified into heavy main guns of the same model and caliber, adopting the concept of "full heavy artillery". Such a battleship has at least six naval guns with a caliber of more than 300 mm that can be fired uniformly. ”
“The range of the main gun on the ship should be as far as possible, and the caliber should be consistent to facilitate the correction of the impact point. The number should be large in order to focus fire on the opponent’s important parts. The power must be strong and the speed must be high. It must be high in order to seize a favorable position, and the armor must be strong and able to withstand the opponent's attack."
The new design proposed by Rollalena is actually completely different from the previous "dreadnought". There is no difference, and his claim has won the support of the majority of people.
Soon, the design plan for the new battleship was handed over to Ernst. Ernst did not understand warships, but he decided to immediately implement the construction plan for the East African version of the "dreadnought".
Ernst said to the naval department: "We should complete the construction of new battleships before the end of 1906, and refer to the latest warship construction status of other countries, especially the British battleship construction status, when evaluating the overall new battleship After improving the performance, we will start our country’s shipbuilding plan in the new era.”
< br>“Previously, my country’s shipbuilding manufacturing industry had also given priority to its layout. During the Second Five-Year Plan period, shipbuilding manufacturing will receive more support to support the development of our country’s marine industry.”
Ernst’s These remarks surprised the East African naval department. After nearly ten years of silence, the great development stage of the East African navy is finally about to begin.
Previously, the East African Navy could only envy and hate its counterparts in other countries who were expanding their navies, but the East African Navy had to make way for economic development. Although the East African Navy was not weak, it was different from other countries. When comparing the big countries, they are already in a stretched situation.
Ten years is a blink of an eye for the navies of other countries, but it is an extremely long time for the East African navy. At that time, the direct tonnage of the Japanese Navy rose from about 50,000 tons in 1895 to more than 200,000 tons, which was directly 100,000 tons. Nearly five times that of a year ago, the German Navy built more than a dozen new battleships alone, and the British built more than 30 battleships. At that time, among the world's major navies, France, Austria-Hungary, Spain and East Africa could only stare at the naval competition.
France was mainly influenced by the Green Water School, so it did not keep up with the craze of battleship construction in the early days. The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not pay attention to the navy, and Spain was completely limited by national power.
The East African Navy, like the Austro-Hungarian Navy, did not participate in previous naval competitions, but the East African Navy obviously received more attention than the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Navy is also currently promoting a new round of shipbuilding plans in the country. It is said that it has received the support of Franz. In this case, the East African Navy is naturally more urgent, but then With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and the preview of the Russo-Japanese naval battle, the dawn that the East African Navy has been waiting for seems to be coming.
Ernst said: "Don't rush to be happy. Although naval construction is an important strategy for our country in the next ten years, naval investment is quite resource-intensive. Therefore, the research and development of new battleships must be down-to-earth. If you don't even have this If I can’t pass one level, it will definitely affect my thoughts on the expansion of the Navy.”
Ernst must pour cold water on the Navy department. After all, once the Navy goes astray, it wants to get back on track. A lot of resources and time are wasted.
“During the Second Five-Year Plan and the Third Five-Year Plan, my expectation is that our country will build one battleship every year, that is, ten battleships. By 1915, our country’s number of battleships will reach at least fifteen, plus There are currently about twenty battleships, and a number of cruisers, submarines, torpedo boats and other types of ships are being built at the same time. "
"These ten new battleships are because the navy's ship updates are faster. , design adjustments must be made at any time, and current battleship technology is not used as an anchor.”
There were super-dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, etc. behind the previous dreadnoughts, so naval ship construction must not remain static. Instead, adjustments should be made at any time as the times develop. When the East African aircraft manufacturing industry matures, Ernst will definitely take advantage of the trend to promote the aircraft carrier construction plan.
Regardless of Ernst's emphasis, the naval department has already stepped up. It has built at least ten battleships in ten years. Although this pie is not as big as the previous large-scale efforts of Britain, Germany and other countries, it is enough for the current East African navy.
As a country with two oceans or even three oceans (plus overseas territories in the Pacific), East Africa’s current navy size is obviously far from meeting its own needs. Local deterrence is acceptable, but it is almost impossible to conduct overseas activities. It is very possible, and the new shipbuilding plan will greatly relieve the pressure on the East African Navy.
Of course, Ernst's ideas are somewhat different from those of the naval department. Ernst mainly considered the East African Navy warship construction plan from the perspective of the previous World War.
Whoever can profit from World War I also needs the support of a huge navy. Why did the United States dare to eat both sides in the previous life? It is naturally because the strength of the U.S. Navy deserves the "respect" of the Allies and the Allies. If it were the other way around, the United States would If the naval strength is insufficient, it will not be able to support the United States in seeking benefits as a "neutral country" in World War I.
So before the outbreak of World War I, the East African navy must also reach a certain scale. It must not only undertake wartime escort or deterrence missions, but also plan to seize a large number of overseas markets during World War I.
If the European War breaks out at that time, Britain, France and other countries will weaken their control over overseas colonies and subordinate forces outside their own countries.
If East African industrial products want to occupy these vacated overseas markets more quickly, they naturally need "gun diplomacy" to open the doors of other countries in the world. Therefore, before World War I, the East African navy must have been larger in overall scale. To become one of the important leading forces in the international order.
(End of this chapter)