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, the Japanese and Russian navies are also facing the final showdown in the distant Far East waters.
Although the Russian Navy, which had received a certain amount of support 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 mistakes of the command and decision-making personnel caused the Russian Navy to once again Repeating the same mistakes, 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 warring countries. However, the benefits that East Africa could gain from the Russo-Japanese War were ultimately too few, far less than those in the Spanish-American War. .
…
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.
Rollalena, chief engineer of the Bagamoyo First Shipyard, is re-evaluating the battleship designs that have 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 these types of naval guns are mostly rapid-fire guns with a relatively fast firing rate, The range and power are inferior to 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, and torpedo boats, but dealing with sea monsters such as battleships is a great waste of firepower resources and ship space.”
“At the same time, the secondary battery resulted in battleships with various gun calibers and different ballistic properties, making it difficult to centrally command and fire, and each gun position was mostly aimed and fired independently. This shortcoming was even more obvious in the Russo-Japanese naval battle.”
"So I advocate that all the main guns of the next battleship be unified into heavy main guns of the same model and caliber, and adopt the concept of 'full heavy artillery'. A battleship like this has at least six or more 300mm guns that can be fired uniformly. Naval guns of above caliber.”
"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 to focus fire on the opponent's important parts. The power must be strong and the speed should be high to facilitate seizing advantage. The position and armor must be strong and able to withstand the opponent's attack."
The new design proposed by Rollalena is actually no different from the "dreadnought" of the previous life, and his idea has won the support of most people.
Soon, the design plan for the new battleship was handed over to Ernst. Ernst did not know much about warships, but he decided to immediately implement the East African version of the "dreadnought" construction plan.
Ernst told 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, and evaluate the overall performance of the new battleships before proceeding with our country. Shipbuilding plan in the new era.”
“Previously, my country’s shipbuilding industry had also given priority to its layout. During the Second Five-Year Plan period, shipbuilding will receive more support to support the development of my country’s maritime industry.”
Previously, the East African Navy could only envy and hate its counterparts in other countries who were expanding their navies, while the East African Navy had to make way for economic development. Although the East African Navy was not weak in strength, compared with other major countries, it had fallen into 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 navies of the world's major powers, France, Austria-Hungary, Spain and East Africa could only stare blankly at the naval competition.
France was mainly influenced by the Green Water School, so it did not keep up with the upsurge 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 support from Franz. In this case, the East African Navy is naturally more urgent. However, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War With the preview of the naval battle between Japan and Russia, 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 naval expansion.”
Ernst must pour cold water on the naval department. After all, once the navy goes astray, it will waste a lot of resources and time to get back on track.
"During the Second Five-Year Plan and the Third Five-Year Plan, my expectation is that our country will build one battleship every year, which is ten battleships. By 1915, our country's number of battleships will reach at least fifteen. Adding the existing battleships, that is, nearly About twenty ships, and a number of cruisers, submarines, torpedo boats and other types of ships will be built at the same time.”
“These ten new battleships, because of the rapid update and iteration of naval ships, must make design adjustments at any time, and do not use current battleship technology as an anchor.”
In previous generations, there were super-dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, etc. behind the dreadnoughts. Therefore, naval ship construction must not remain static. Instead, adjustments should be made at any time with the development of the times. When the East African aircraft manufacturing industry matures, Ernst will definitely take advantage of the trend to promote it. Aircraft carrier construction plan.
Ignoring Ernst’s emphasis, the naval department has already stepped up. It will build at least ten battleships in ten years. Although this pie is not as large 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 have activities overseas, and the new The 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 naval warship construction plan from the perspective of the First World War in his previous life.
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? Naturally, it is because the strength of the U.S. Navy deserves the "respect" of the Allies and the Allies. If on the contrary, the U.S. Navy lacks strength, it will not be able to Supported the United States' status as a "neutral country" in World War I and reaped huge benefits.
So before the outbreak of World War I, the East African navy must also reach a certain scale. It must not only undertake wartime **** or deterrence missions, but also plan to seize a large number of overseas markets during World War I.
At that time, if the European War breaks out, 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 become an important international order in terms of its overall scale. One of the leading forces.
(End of this chapter)