Chapter 1061: The Age of Dreadnoughts

Chapter 1061: The Age of Dreadnoughts

As time went by, the East African Navy had built two dreadnoughts by 1908, second only to the wealthy British Royal Navy. Although dreadnoughts are more advanced warships than pre-dreadnoughts, the number of two and a half is obviously not enough to control the overall situation.

Currently, the two dreadnoughts of the East African Navy are deployed in the Indian Ocean Fleet, while the quasi-dreadnought Bagamoyo belongs to the Atlantic Fleet, which also reflects the core position of the Indian Ocean in the East African maritime strategy.

In fact, the popularity of dreadnoughts is very fast. In 1907, Germany and Austria-Hungary had already started to build their own dreadnoughts. The technology of the Austro-Hungarian Navy mainly came from East Africa, while Germany mainly combined its own technology with a very small part of East African technology.

Including the United Kingdom, there are already four countries in the world that have dreadnoughts. Other countries, except France, which prefers cruisers and other ships, also plan to join the race.

For this result, the most troubled country is Britain. At the same time, East Africa, Germany and Austria-Hungary successively have dreadnoughts, which also caused a little tension in the "German" threat theory in countries around the world.

The total number of dreadnoughts of the three countries is more than that of the United Kingdom. For this reason, the United Kingdom increased its own dreadnought and battlecruiser construction plans in 1907.

The difference between battlecruisers and dreadnoughts is mainly reflected in speed. Battlecruisers are more maneuverable. Currently, only the United Kingdom has battlecruisers.

Germany followed closely and started the construction of battlecruisers in 1908. It is estimated that it will be launched next year. East Africa is a little behind in this regard.

Of course, the boundary between the two warships is not too clear in fact. The main focus is different. In the eyes of the East African Navy, battlecruisers are more of a transitional product.

For battlecruisers, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Japan and other countries in the past have different positioning of battlecruisers. Fisher, the inventor of battlecruisers, believes that battlecruisers are battleships, while some people think that battlecruisers are large heavy cruisers.

The East African Navy has different views on battlecruisers, but adhering to the principle of "if others have it, I have it too", the Navy is also actively developing this type of ship. However, East Africa still has a certain gap compared with Britain and Germany in terms of national strength and technological level, so it cannot be formed for the time being.

The reason why East Africa can follow closely in the dreadnought is that it had the Bagamoyo as a foundation and the result of early layout, but as long as Britain and Germany adjust their development direction, they will soon catch up, which also reflects the current gap between the East African Navy and the world's top naval powers.

Of course, it is mainly the result of the gap in financial resources and industrial foundation. In the shipbuilding industry, East Africa is at most in the upper and middle levels, while Britain is undoubtedly ranked first in the world in this field. Germany has experienced a technological explosion in recent years and has a strong industrial foundation, making German shipbuilding no less inferior to Britain. In addition to the two countries, the United States ranks third in the world.

As for other countries, Russia and Austria-Hungary are not mentioned much. The navies and armies of the two countries are not satisfactory, and France is also difficult to keep up with the pace of Britain, the United States and Germany. The main reason is that after the Franco-Prussian War, the industrial development of France was not ideal, at least compared with Germany, and France did not have a strong family foundation like Britain for the navy to squander, which led to the French navy being in a position of neither up nor down.

In the East African Navy Development Plan, the main reference object is still the British Navy. Due to different national conditions, there are certain cognitive differences between the East African and German navies.

As a two-ocean country, East Africa attaches more importance to ocean warfare, while Germany lacks the motivation in this regard. Therefore, the East African Navy believes that battlecruisers are a type of ship suitable for ocean-going forces, especially for countries with weak naval strength.

At the same time, because of the different focus from battleships, differentiation can enable the two main battleships to play more tactics, so for battlecruisers, the East African Navy is determined to win.

In short, after 1905, the East African Navy began to accelerate its development in all aspects. In terms of expectations, the East African Navy did not seek the status of the world's first navy, but to ensure that East Africa would not fall from the first echelon.

With the development of naval military competition, in fact, many countries have gradually failed to keep up with the development speed of the British, German, and American navies, such as France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

The East African Navy has just started to exert its strength. After all, East Africa did not participate in the naval military competition in the pre-dreadnought era, which enabled the East African Navy to exert more energy in the dreadnought era. According to the experience of the previous life, the dreadnought could be used at least until World War II, and was replaced by aircraft carriers in the middle and late stages of World War II. Therefore, East Africa does not have to worry about withdrawing from the stage of history in this track in a short time due to technological changes.

The current direct goal of the East African Navy is to reach the top five level in the world. Now the East African Navy should be in the seventh position, behind Britain, Germany, the United States, France, Japan, and Russia. Although the Russian Navy suffered a great loss in the Russo-Japanese War and lost more than half, its total tonnage is still ranked before East Africa.

However, the Russian Navy and the Japanese Navy are unlikely to catch up in the next few years, so the country that East Africa really wants to surpass should be France.

If the East African Navy surpasses France, it can be foreseen that France's international status will really be replaced by East Africa, because in terms of total industrial output, East Africa has already surpassed France. Currently, East Africa's industrial competitors are mainly the United Kingdom, which ranks third in the world.

Of course, Britain has certainly fallen behind Germany and the United States in the industrial field, but it may be on par with Germany in terms of economy.

In fact, Russia's total economic volume may be higher than France's, but due to factors such as population and industry, Russia has only volume but no quality, so in general, it can be considered that France's national strength is higher than Russia's, at least in terms of efficiency and utilization.

With France's organizational ability and military strength, if it fights with Russia, France can at least occupy the advantages in the early and middle stages. This is mainly based on the experience of the First World War in the previous life. After all, France and Germany were on par in the First World War, and Germany suppressed Russia's military on the Eastern Front.

Of course, with Russia's size, it is likely to turn defeat into victory. After all, the main reason for Russia's defeat in the First World War was the turmoil in the domestic situation, and Russia's war potential was not fully reflected.

So the national strength of Russia and France is similar, and East Africa and France also have their own advantages and disadvantages, but comparing Russia and East Africa is another result.

At present, Russia's military strength is higher than that of East Africa, at least on paper. Russia's army has been maintained at more than one million for many years, while East Africa's is less than half of Russia's. After the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Navy, which lost nearly half of its troops, still had a larger total than East Africa, which is very telling.

Of course, in reality, Russia's military strength is definitely not as good as East Africa's, such as weapons and equipment, mobilization capabilities, etc., not to mention that the East African Army has initially achieved motorization, and the Navy has also caught up with the trend of dreadnoughts. It is only a matter of time before it surpasses the Russian Navy.

Putting aside the military field, East Africa is even more crushing to Russia. On the one hand, East Africa's industrial scale is larger than that of Russia, and on the other hand, the quality of East Africa's industrial development is better than that of Russia.

It is not easy to compare the industries of France and Russia. After all, the two countries are of different sizes, but East Africa and Russia are different. Many of the two countries can be directly compared. Both are large countries with an area of ​​more than 10 million square kilometers, and the population is not much different, so the comparison between East Africa and Russia is more obvious.

Basically, it can be said that Russia has many advantages over Europe, and East Africa also has them, but some of Russia's disadvantages are not necessarily the case for East Africa.