Chapter 219 The importance of relationship households
Port of Bagamoyo.
Two majestic sailing warships are being handed over.
"Your Excellency, this is a warship that we have drawn from our active warships to support your cause."
Captain Blair of the Austro-Hungarian Navy was in charge of the delivery. He introduced the warship in front of Archduke Ferdinand (Maximilian I) with a smile on his face.
"Okay, I'm afraid I'm more familiar with them than you are in terms of understanding them." Ferdinand, Commander-in-Chief of the East African Navy interrupted Blair unceremoniously.
"At the beginning, when I took office, they served in the Austrian Navy, and now they are in East Africa. It is a good place to continue to use their residual heat."
Said Ferdinand boarded one of them, accompanied by Blair.
"It hasn't changed much after so many years, but is this paint new?"
"Yes, before leaving the port, the two ships have been carefully inspected, and the overall performance is still in good condition, but there are a few minor problems accumulated over the years, and then they were pulled to the Trieste Shipyard for maintenance, and some modernization was installed at the same time. facility."
"Frantz is not bad. When you go back to report, give him this letter." Ferdinand took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Blair.
"Yes, Your Excellency, I will definitely bring the letter."
The contents of the letter were naturally words of thanks. This time Ferdinand felt from the bottom of his heart that it is really good to have a good brother.
After being severely beaten by the Mexicans, Archduke Ferdinand has gone from one extreme to the other.
In Mexico that year, Ferdinand never asked for any help from the Austrian royal family. Now Ferdinand said, it smells so good!
With the help of Franz, the East African Navy, with the two retired warships from the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the two antique warships of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, instantly looked good.
"Blair, what do you think the future of the East African Navy will be like?" Ferdinand asked.
"Your Excellency, I don't think highly of this, um...it has great potential, at least the conditions of the sea area are much better than those of Austria."
Blair has no hope for the East African Navy. After all, East Africa is so poor. What can they use to build a navy? The two antique warships in East Africa from the last century, Blair felt a little bit sorry for Ferdinand, the so-called commander-in-chief of the East African Navy. The geographical conditions are indeed several times stronger than the "bathtub" at the door of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
The port of Bagamoyo is in good condition, but because it is very close to Dar es Salaam, it is often ignored by the East African government.
For example, immigration and commercial exports are diverted by Dar es Salaam and Tanga ports on both sides, and they are not even as good as the Mtwara port in the south.
Because the port of Bagamoyo is shallow, while Dar es Salaam is a deep-water port, it is difficult for Bagamoyo to compete with Dar es Salaam, while the ports of Tanga and Mtwara are in the region. An important port and no competitors, so it is also more important than Bagamoyo, but Bagamoyo also has its advantages.
He is an estuary port, that is, the right bank of the mouth of the Little Rhine River (Lufu River) in East Africa.
However, the shipping value of the rivers along the coast of East Africa is not high. Several slightly larger rivers are only a few hundred kilometers long, and affected by the terrain, only 100 kilometers are eligible for shipping.
Therefore, the East African naval base is located here. It can not only take advantage of Bagamoyo’s port conditions, but also restrain the outlet of the Little Rhine River. At the same time, it can form support for the ports on both sides of East Africa. The opposite bank of Bagamoyo is a natural geographical barrier. For Bar Island, it can withstand some wind and waves from the Indian Ocean. At the same time, the economy cannot develop, so it should not be developed at all, and it is just used as a base for the navy.
I have to say that East Africa chose Maximilian I as the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy.
After taking office, if you can't get resources from the East African government, you can only turn your attention to Austria, "I am Ferdinand, Franz pays money!"
This is also the reason why Franz said that Ferdinand and Ernst failed to learn, but the Austrian Navy itself has no funds, so where can it support Ferdinand.
Oh, it is wrong to call the Austrian Navy now. It should be called the Austro-Hungarian Navy. When the Austrian Empire was renamed the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867, the navy also changed its name.
Facing His Majesty's inquiry, the Austro-Hungarian Navy stated that we are willing to support Ferdinand's two brigantine warships free of charge, and at the same time, we can send a group of young heroes as consultants to help Archduke Ferdinand form an East African naval force.
A brig is a sailing ship with two masts and square sails. In the age of sail, brigantines were widely used as warships and commercial ships because of their fast speed and strong maneuverability.
Pine brigs in the 19th century were generally designed to last 20 years, and many actually lasted even longer.
The two ships given to East Africa by the Austro-Hungarian Navy were built around 1840. The Austro-Hungarian Navy had long wanted to decommission these two classic ships, and they didn’t know where to throw them. Take care of my younger brother, then our navy will send these two warships to East Africa, and we can be tougher when we ask for military expenses next time.
As for young heroes, they are naturally inexperienced or excluded young officers of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. For them, being sent to East Africa is no different from exile.
All in all, the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and the East African government is the same. It is easy to talk about money, that is, we can send ships and talents for free.
The Austro-Hungarian Navy was squeezed into the narrow Adria Bay. Such a geographical location caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have little interest in the navy, but Italy next door helped the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In Italy, the life of the Austro-Hungarian Navy has been relatively better in recent years. Since 1861, the Austrian Navy has entered the era of ironclad ships, and now it is the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
"You are right, but potential is only potential after all. Without the support of a strong country, even the best conditions will be ruined." Ferdinand said.
"Your Majesty, don't worry. I am still optimistic about East Africa. With the help of Austria, East Africa may not be able to catch up with Europe in the future, but it should still be able to develop well in Africa." Blair said cautiously.
In this era, Europeans have been deepening the impression of Europe as the center of the world, and the only overseas country that can be compared with Europe, the United States should be half of it, so Blair added the word "Africa" before the development is good, and the reason why it is not developing in Africa Yes, that's because there is still a semi-modern country in Africa—Egypt.
The Egyptian navy in Ali’s era was quite impressive even in Europe. At its peak, it had 32 warships. Although Egypt has fallen now, it is not the number one military power in Africa that can touch porcelain in East Africa.
In terms of the army alone, the number of troops in East Africa before the reform was already very close to that of Egypt, but after the reform, the number of troops was basically cut in half, and the size of the single cluster cannot be compared with Egypt.
Moreover, Egypt is capable of independent production of equipment. Although it has now become mainly imported due to British and French colonization, that set of military industry system still exists.
Blair escorted the warship, passing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and finally arrived in East Africa.
He has seen some cities in Egypt, but in East Africa, he only went to Mombasa once to replenish supplies, and then went to Bagamoyo. Mombasa is still prosperous, but Bagamoyo is too lonely.
So Blair concluded that there is a clear gap between East Africa and Egypt, so it may be very difficult to become the number one in Africa.
Blair has never heard of any other civilized countries in Africa besides Egypt. The Ottoman Empire is not counted. After all, the main body is in the Middle East and Europe.
In fact, Bagamoyo is not to blame for this. After all, immigration and export are in the free port of Dar es Salaam next door, so it seems to be very unpopular.
In history, Bagamoyo was brilliant for a period of time when Germany colonized here, but later the Germans also found that the conditions in Dar es Salaam were better, and they turned to concentrate on the development of Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo It has been mentioned again that a certain big country in the 21st century has launched the Belt and Road Initiative. It feels a little hungry. The credit of African countries is not high, and the conditions of Bagamoyo Port can only be regarded as mediocre, but there is no other choice. After all, the Indian Ocean The good ports along the coast are controlled by Western or pro-Western forces.
(end of this chapter)