Chapter 1324 Premeditation
After all, the East African Navy is not a global navy. It can be seen from the distribution of the East African Navy that its permanent residence and main activity areas are limited to the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Pacific regions.
Three of the four oceans are occupied, but except for the Indian Ocean, the other two are not worthy of their names.
Take the Pacific Fleet as an example. Its area of responsibility seems to be quite large, covering the entire Pacific Ocean, but this has no practical significance. From a practical point of view, if disputes and conflicts occur in the Pacific, the Pacific Fleet will also can play a role in the Nanyang region.
After all, in the Pacific, the only ones that can threaten East Africa are the navies of the United States and Japan, and the two countries are much stronger in the Pacific than in East Africa.
The same is true for the Atlantic Ocean. The scope of activities of the East African Navy is mainly in the South Atlantic. Not only that, even in the South Atlantic, East Africa only has military base support in the east.
The Indian Ocean Fleet is the only regional fleet worthy of the name in the East African Navy. In the Indian Ocean, East Africa's only competitor is the United Kingdom, and the British Navy's strength in the Indian Ocean is not as strong as the East African Indian Ocean Fleet.
In addition, over the years, East Africa has acquired a large number of colonies in the Indian Ocean and its coasts, and has built military bases covering the entire Indian Ocean.
However, this also dispersed the deployment of the Indian Ocean Fleet. After the three fleets under the Indian Ocean Fleet, especially the Fourth Fleet, moved their area of responsibility to the East Indian Ocean, the original area of responsibility was taken over by the First Fleet, but The area the First Fleet is responsible for is too large, which makes it difficult for them to provide effective support to the Third Fleet.
Although Britain's naval strength in the Indian Ocean is not as good as that of East Africa, its overall strength cannot be underestimated. This is the main reason why Commander Lomach of the Third Fleet has concerns.
Vice Admiral Pratto of the Third Fleet of the East African Navy said: "Today, the focus of the British Navy in the Indian Ocean is obviously to continue to strengthen the India-Middle East-Red Sea coast, such a route related to the southern battlefield, and our East Africa used to be on the Red Sea It has no influence.”
“The war against the Horn of Africa is now underway in the country, and the First Fleet will also start construction work on the Socotra Islands and northern Somalia.”
"This also This means that it is difficult for us to expect others to share the pressure in the North Indian Ocean."
Lomachi swallowed the smoke and said: "In the final analysis, our third fleet is still not strong enough, especially the lack of other fleets. There are so many military bases to help us control the situation in the Middle East.”
The Third Fleet ranks in the middle of the seven East African fleets in terms of number and size of warships, but within the Indian Ocean Fleet, it ranks in the middle. It's the bottom one.
Obviously, how could Ernst not know the importance of the Middle East, especially the Persian Gulf region, so why didn't Ernst increase his support for the Third Fleet?
Part of the answer, as Lomach said, is that East Africa lacks military bases in the Middle East, especially the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea coast. A navy without the support of overseas military bases is like duckweed on the water.
Before the British gave up the Gwadar Port, the only naval base in East Africa on the northern Indian Ocean coast was the Dubai Port in the Tonkin Gulf Territory. Even with the addition of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan Port, which are currently under construction, , that’s only three.
Not only are they small in number, the conditions of these three ports are also very poor. Today’s Persian Gulf region is not an area that was so rich due to oil and gas development as it was in the previous life. The oil tycoons have spared no expense to artificially transform the coast. Nowadays, many ports along the Persian Gulf, especially on the Arabian Peninsula side, can only accommodate sailing ships with a small draft.
The shipping conditions of the Persian Gulf itself are relatively poor. The situation is similar to the Bohai Sea in the Far Eastern Empire. Rivers such as the Euphrates River and the Tigris River carry a large amount of sediment, making the depth of the Persian Gulf increasingly shallow.
Moreover, the coastline of the Beibu Gulf territory in East Africa is relatively straight, which is far inferior to other areas in the Persian Gulf, such as the British Bahrain Naval Base, or the Persian coast. As for Basra and other areas along the coast of the Ottoman Empire, although they face many problems, the natural conditions are It is the best in the region. It is backed by a plain with two rivers, rich in products, sufficient water sources, and relatively densely populated.
This is also one of the important reasons why the Third Fleet placed its command center in the Fujairah area on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. From a practical point of view, this place has little to do with the Persian Gulf. Beyond the Strait of Hormuz. The Third Fleet chose this place as its command center. On the one hand, Fujairah is backed by the West Jhar Mountains, so it could previously intercept some water vapor from the Indian Ocean to produce precipitation and meet water supply needs. Secondly, the water depth conditions in the Gulf of Oman are much better than those in the Persian Gulf. After the reconstruction of the two ports is completed, large warships with relatively deep drafts can be berthed.
The West Jhar Mountains are mainly distributed in Oman, corresponding to the East Jhar Mountains in Oman. Muscat, the capital of Oman, is at the foot of the East Jhar Mountains.
It can be said that most of Oman’s population is concentrated on both sides of the Hajar Mountains. Just like the East African Third Fleet’s command center in Fujairah, the existence of the Hajar Mountains has brought great benefits to Oman. There are abundant precipitation resources.
In the Middle East, a place where precipitation is extremely scarce, civilization basically relies on the mountains. Even the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the Mesopotamia plain came from the mountains in the upper reaches of the Ottoman Empire.
So, Fujairah is a coastal oasis formed by precipitation from the Jhar Mountains, and its natural conditions are much better than those along the Persian Gulf coast.
However, the conditions here can only be said to be relatively good, especially the ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan are too small, so the Third Fleet is not satisfied with this.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Prato said: "So, if we want to change the dilemma of the Third Fleet, we must find military bases that can expand the size of our fleet, Dubai, Fujairah, Khor Fakkan None of them can meet our needs.”
“Although the higher authorities intend to leave Gwadar to us, it will take several years to complete the construction, and the security is not very friendly.”
The conditions of Gwadar Port are not bad, but its neighbor is British India. How can the Third Fleet safely build a military base there.
Looking at Fujairah, although there are many restrictions, Oman next to it does not dare to offend East Africa at all, not to mention that East Africa currently has more than 50,000 troops stationed in the Beibu Gulf territory, unless Oman kills Only when the grass grows on the grass do you dare to provoke East Africa.
Lomach said: "In this case, do you think we have a better choice? East Africa entered too late, and the good places have long been carved up. It is a challenge for us to occupy the Beibu Gulf territory. Others' leftovers."
Lieutenant General Prato said: "In this case, we can only take risks! If there is no good port, we will rob it. The Persian Gulf is not British. In the Persian Gulf, we in East Africa do not need to act with complete consideration of the British.”
“Back then, wasn’t the Pirate Coast (UAE) a nominal protectorate of the United Kingdom? Now it has become our northern part. Bay Territory, so nothing is difficult in the world, as long as we are willing, sometimes we just have to be bold, and maybe we can achieve unexpected results.”
Regarding Lieutenant General Prato's adventure, Lomach did not refute it. Instead, he fell into thinking. The cigarette in his hand slowly burned out and the dust fell into the ashtray.
Lieutenant General Lomach said: "Let's do it! Sometimes taking risks may not be a bad thing. The British were able to defeat the Spanish Armada back then because of luck. This time it depends on us. Luck is hard enough.”
As the two commanders of the Third Fleet unified their thoughts, they fell into an in-depth discussion, and the content of the discussion was naturally about where to take action and how to take action. Such a plan can be recognized by the central government and successfully implemented, etc.
After all, no matter how radical Lomach and Prato are, they still have two superiors, the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Ocean Fleet and the East African Central Government. If such a major event is to be carried out, they must finally convince the Imperial Central Committee.
(End of this chapter)