Chapter 1210 Three Fleets
January 3, 1916.
Lome city.
Under the leadership of Colonel Brand, the slave fleet organized by the East African Navy set out from the Falta Port in Benguela City, followed the Benguela Current northward, passed the west coast of Africa, and finally turned into a large bay in Guinea. Arrive in the colonial city of Lome in Togoland, East Africa.
"It is indeed a strategic location on the Atlantic coast. Looking at the construction standards of the Port of Lome, it is obvious that it is participating in the construction of important local military ports such as the Port of Pemba." Looking at the already large-scale but unfinished US military port in Lome, Brand The colonel couldn't help but sigh.
No wonder Brand lamented that although Lome Port has a very prominent position among East African naval ports, this is Colonel Brand’s first visit to Lome Port.
Because Captain Brand has been serving in the Indian Ocean Fleet all year round, if it were not for the current shortage of manpower and ships in the East African Navy, it would not be possible for Brand to take a few antique sailing warships from Pemba Island and pass through the Cape of Good Hope to the Atlantic Ocean to complete the task. This is an **** mission.
"Ever since the empire acquired the Port of Lome from Germany, it has received the attention of the central government and the top brass of the Navy. Therefore, the construction of the Port of Lome was also built in accordance with the standards of a first-class military port." Colonel Brand's deputy Tara said at the Said aside.
At this time, the Lome Port has still not completely completed the renovation and expansion work. After all, it has only been two years since East Africa acquired the Lome Port, but the East African Navy can't wait to settle here.
Several warships of the East African Navy can be clearly seen in the Port of Lome. In addition to cruisers and destroyers, the East African battleship Pelican also docked here for rest, which shows its importance.
After all, battleships are currently the main battleships of various countries in the world. Apart from ocean missions, they can only be seen in domestic waters most of the time.
Brand said: "It is obvious that the Atlantic Fleet regards the Port of Lome as an important strategic fulcrum. Although it is as far away from the mainland as the Port of Pontianak, the treatment is even much higher than that of the Port of Pontianak."
Pontianak Port is the home port of the East African Pacific Fleet, but the Pacific Fleet is the weakest among the East African navies, and because East Africa's colonies in the Pacific are very scattered, the combat capabilities of the Pacific Fleet are further weakened.
In contrast, whether it is the Indian Ocean Fleet or the Atlantic Fleet, no country can underestimate it. To put it bluntly, the two fleets can challenge any country except the great powers.
The Pacific Fleet in East Africa is very different. There is not even a single battleship among its main battleships. That's why Brand is so sure that the treatment at Lome Port is much higher than that at Pontianak Port.
In fact, in addition to the three major naval fleets in East Africa, there is also a regional Alaska fleet. However, compared with the Pacific Fleet, which is not worthy of the name, the strength of the Alaska fleet is negligible. To be honest, Alaska’s location, plus, Russia , the United States, Japan, and any country in the Far East Empire has ideas, and East Africa cannot hold it.
Of course, given the current international situation, these countries are definitely not willing to offend East Africa for an Alaska.
Although Alaska is at the edge of East Africa's military deployment, East Africa's own strength is too strong, so it is not worth the gain to offend East Africa for Alaska.
The same treatment as Alaska includes the colonies of the Southern Ryukyu Islands in East Africa, the colonies of the Northern Kingdom of Hawaii, and many colonies in Oceania.
As for the Lanfang Overseas Province, East Kalimantan, and Mindanao in the Southeast Asia region, although they are also far away from the East African mainland, the military strength of other powers in the Southeast Asia is also relatively weak, and the East African Indian Ocean Fleet can support the Pacific Fleet in the Southeast Asia region at any time.
Even without these two areas, starting from Cabinda on the west coast of East Africa and arriving at the Port of Lome can be done in the morning and in the evening.
The strategic value of the Port of Lome itself is also extremely prominent. It can be said to be the most important strategic fulcrum in East Africa on the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea. Although the East African Atlantic Fleet was powerful in the past, it lacked a strategic fulcrum in the Atlantic region, and the existence of Togoland made up for this disadvantage.
With Togoland as a strategic fulcrum, it can be said that the entire sub-Saharan African waters have basically become a paradise for the East African Navy. No country can challenge the East African Navy in sub-Saharan Africa.
At the same time, with the Togoland colony as a strategic pillar, the radiation range of the East African Atlantic Fleet has been further increased. From here, East Africa can calmly attack invading enemies on the entire west coast of Africa.
In terms of military presence, there is almost no difference between the Gulf of Guinea and the inland sea of East Africa. Even though West Africa has many colonies of European countries, even if they are added together, there is no single enemy in East Africa.
Brand lamented: "When the official expansion of the Port of Lome is completed, the Empire's voice in the entire West Africa region will be further increased. It can be seen that the Atlantic Fleet has already moved ahead of us in terms of strategic initiative."
Although the Indian Ocean Fleet in East Africa cannot be underestimated, the Indian Ocean Fleet is not as calm in the Indian Ocean as the Atlantic Fleet in the South Atlantic.
The main reason is that Britain can form a containment effect on East Africa in the Indian Ocean. With India as the core, Britain has too many colonies in the Indian Ocean rim and its foundation is very deep. East Africa cannot easily control it.
On the other hand, the South Atlantic waters, to put it bluntly, except for East Africa, are all "stinky fish and rotten shrimps". West Africa is a group of colonies, and its status and value are not outstanding among the colonies of European and American countries.
However, the South American countries on the other side of the South Atlantic have not developed yet and cannot pose a threat to the East African navy.
But having said that, the aggressiveness of the East African Atlantic Fleet will not weaken because of this. After all, the Atlantic Ocean also has the North Atlantic region. The North Atlantic region is where the world's powerful navies crouch, while the East African Navy does not have any presence in the North Atlantic. What reliable stronghold exists.
This is very detrimental to the East African navy in safeguarding its own interests, but there is nothing that can be done about it. East Africa's great achievements in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic are enough to make most countries in the world envious.
"Having said that, the construction speed of Lome Port should be the fastest in the empire's overseas base construction in recent years. After all, it only took us two years to acquire Lome Port. Even though it was once the capital of the German Togoland colony, Lome Port The United States was definitely not that big before,” Tara said.
Before the 1920s, Lome was just a small fishing village in West Africa. Later, the colonists arrived and built a city here. In the 1980s, it became a German colony, and Lome became Togoland. political center.
It is worth mentioning that this was originally a Portuguese colony. This shows that Portugal is naturally at odds with the Germans. However, this is also inevitable. In the era of imperialist colonial expansion, late-developing countries will inevitably choose to pick on the weak during their overseas colonial expansion. Persimmons are soft, and Portugal is obviously such a soft persimmon.
In previous generations, the capitals of many African countries were located in coastal areas. This was basically a political legacy of the colonial era. After all, colonization itself was a process of exploration and development from the coast to the inland.
After inheriting this excellent deep-water port, the East African Navy couldn't wait to build it into one of the most important Atlantic naval bases in East Africa and a veritable military port. As for the civilian port, it was moved to the newly developed Pemme Port.
Pemme Port was the second largest port in Togo in the past, mainly exporting phosphate. Phosphate mine export was one of the three major economic pillars of Togo in the past, accounting for about half of Togo's total export value.
The Port of Lome is even more remarkable. After all, Lome is the only natural deep-water port in the entire West Africa region. This is one of the main reasons why it is favored by the East African Navy.
(End of chapter)