Chapter 271 New Naval Base Site Selection
As the saying goes, if you hit a snake, you hit seven inches. The Italian army on the Eastern Front has accumulated 250,000 troops, while Grand Duke Albrecht has only 80,000 in his hands, so it is normal that Venice cannot be pushed.
However, once the war has opened a breakthrough, it is the situation that Grand Duke Albrecht wants to fully bloom. It is already a victory for the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Eastern Front against the Kingdom of Italy with a small number of people. Next, it still depends on whether the Austro-Hungarian Navy can open up a new situation and open up a new battlefield.
…
Adriatic Sea.
A huge fleet is sailing at high speed on the sea, and the leader is the Austro-Hungarian Navy fleet departing from Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia).
"It's time for us to fight back this time! It's always been a pity in my heart that we didn't take advantage of the victory to fight back against the Italian Navy last time. This time we must let the Italian Navy realize the progress of the Imperial Navy again!" William von Tegert Hoff stood on the deck and said confidently to his subordinates.
"This time we will definitely continue to determine the victory!"
"The empire is victorious! …"
This is the confidence that the name Wilhelm von Tegerthoff brought to the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
After the victory of the Lisa naval battle, Wilhelm von Tegerthoff became an Austrian hero, and Franz urged him to go south to the Dalmatian coast to protect the development of the naval base in the region.
Different from history, this time Wilhelm von Tegerthoff carried out a comprehensive and systematic upgrade of the military base on the Dalmatian coast, because in 1867 in the original history, he carried out a sad mission to Mexico to deliver The body of his benefactor, Emperor Massimiliano, shot by Juárez Benito, returned to his hometown.
Now that Maximilian I is alive and well, and he has become the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy, there is no delay in William von Tegerthoff's time to build a military base on the Dalmatian coast, and the two are still talking about the future Naval development had some exchanges.
In 1868, he became Minister of the Navy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a member of the Military Committee and the House of Lords, a baron, and vigorously promoted the comprehensive reform of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
After two years of development, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has narrowed the gap with the Italian Navy in terms of ships, and it is much stronger than in history.
Among them, because East Africa bought two old ships from the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Austro-Hungarian Navy took this opportunity to add two new warships as an excuse, and Franz also agreed, after all, he was wiping the **** of his brother Ferdinand , although Ernst paid a symbolic amount, it was basically a free gift.
But it is a pity that the two new warships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are still lying in the Trieste shipyard, and the deck has just been laid, so they cannot participate in this battle.
"Report, an Italian warship has been spotted in the northwest direction."
"Let the Lissa lean over!"
Austro-Hungary started construction of the ironclad ship Lissa in 1867. The Lisa adopted the central gun room design that was born not long ago, with a displacement of 7,000 tons, which met the standards of the first-class ironclad ship of the year. Lisa is the ancestor of the Austro-Hungarian battleship and is now the command ship of Wilhelm von Tegerthoff.
Compared with the proud Austro-Hungarian Navy, the life of the Italian Navy on the opposite side is quite aggrieved. Although Italy acquired Venice as a new naval base in the last war, the sharp reduction in funding has caused the Italian Navy to live very poorly. .
Beginning in 1869, the Kingdom of Italy, which gradually came out of the shadow of the Lisa naval battle, finally planned to start a naval expansion plan.
This is another huge blow to the Italian Navy. If the war between the two countries is postponed for a few years, it would be nice to wait until the upgrade is completed!
"Report to the general, the Austro-Hungarian Navy Fleet appears in the direction of 24 degrees southeast, and they are heading towards us at a very high speed!"
…
East Africa, Indian Ocean.
Just when the Austro-Hungarian Navy was about to collide with the Italian Navy, the Navy of the Kingdom of East Africa was organizing a cross-sea training, which was completed off the coast of East Africa between Bagamoyo and Pemba Island.
"This is Jishui City (now Tanzania, Chak Chak City)! But this name is a bit strange, is it the name given by the indigenous people?" Ferdinand, the commander of the East African Navy, looked at the small town in front of him and asked.
"It used to be called Chak Chak, a small town in the Sultanate of Zanzibar, but the name Jishui City was chosen by His Royal Highness Ernst himself, and we don't know the specific meaning." Mayor of Jishui City, Ryan De Said.
The transliterated name will of course sound strange. Jishui, a river that once existed, is Ernst's longing for his hometown in his previous life.
"Not to mention anything else, the conditions of the port here are not bad. It should be good if it is remodeled." Archduke Ferdinand said.
"Jishui City is the capital of Pemba Island, but there are currently more than 2,000 immigrants, and the entire island only has more than 10,000 people, so it is not easy to transform this place." Reinde replied.
"Uh, isn't it allocated to your slaves?"
"Because it was taken from the Zanzibar people, in order to maintain stability, the entire Pemba Island was cleaned up at that time, and all the Zanzibar people on Pemba Island were packaged and returned to the Sultanate of Zanzibar. Don't talk about transforming the port, no one harvests the mature lilacs on the island."
Pemba Island is a place rich in cloves. In the previous life, the clove production here accounted for 40% of the world, and Zanzibar Island accounted for more than 70%.
"I see! But Pemba Island has such good conditions that it is very suitable as a naval base. It would be a pity not to use the port on Pemba Island." Archduke Ferdinand said.
Ferdinand has already studied the topography of Pemba Island. The entire island is dominated by hills and plains. The coastline is tortuous. There are many harbors that can become ports. They are mainly concentrated on the west coast. The west coast of the island faces the Indian Ocean, so the harbor is calm and calm. Facing the East African mainland and Mombasa at the same time, the two ports of Tanga are the horns of each other, so it is very suitable to build a naval base here.
"If it's a naval base, I can recommend a place for you to use directly. The infrastructure there is complete, but there are no people." Leander said after hearing what Ferdinand said.
"Oh, where is it?"
"Mkani in the south of Pemba Island is basically an empty city now, but it used to be the port used by the Sultanate of Zanzibar to connect the island and Pemba Island. Later, after we took over Pemba Island, Mkani was also It is no longer used to communicate with Zanzibar Island, and the residents there have also been repatriated to Zanzibar Island, but the port has been empty, but it has not been taken care of for more than two years, and I am afraid it is a bit deserted."
"Mkani! The conditions there are really good." Hearing the name, Ferdinand still had some impressions. Mkani was in the southwest of Pemba Island, and Ferdinand passed by there when he was on the boat, but it was like According to Leander, it is basically a ghost city, with thousands of houses, but only a little over 200 families of East African immigrants living there.
"If it is used as a naval base, it is really good, and the existing facilities can be used there, and the problem of the housing is directly solved." Ferdinandus thought.
Then why hesitate, it is decided that Mkani will be the location of the second naval base in East Africa in the future.
(end of this chapter)