Chapter 1210 Three Fleets
January 3, 1916.
Lomé City.
Under the leadership of Colonel Brand, the slave fleet organized by the East African Navy departed from the Falta Port in Benguela City, followed the Benguela Current to the north, passed the west coast of Africa, and finally arrived at the colony of Togoland in East Africa after turning a big bay in Guinea.
"It is worthy of being a strategic location on the Atlantic coast. Looking at the construction standards of Lomé Port, it is obviously participating in the construction of important local military ports such as Pemba Port." Looking at the already large-scale but unfinished Lomé military port, Colonel Brand couldn't help but sigh.
No wonder Brand sighed. Although the status of Lomé Port in the East African naval ports is very prominent, this is the first time Colonel Brand has come to Lomé Port.
Because Colonel Brand has served in the Indian Ocean Fleet for many years, if it were not for the current shortage of manpower and ships in the East African Navy, it would be impossible for Brand to take a few antique sailing warships from Pemba Island to the Atlantic Ocean to complete this escort mission through the Cape of Good Hope.
"Since the Empire acquired the Port of Lome from Germany, it has received attention from the central government and the navy, so the construction of the Port of Lome is also built according to the standards of a first-class military port." Colonel Brand's deputy Tara said on the side.
During this period, the Port of Lome has not yet completed the transformation and expansion work. After all, East Africa has only acquired the Port of Lome for two years, but the East African Navy can't wait to move in 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 is also docked here for rest, which shows its importance.
After all, battleships are the main combat ships of various countries in the world. Except for ocean-going missions, they can only be seen in the local waters most of the time.
Brand said: "It is obvious that the Atlantic Fleet regards Lomé as an important strategic fulcrum. Although it is as far away from the mainland as Pontianak, its treatment is even much higher than that of Pontianak."
Pontianak is the home port of the East African Pacific Fleet, but the Pacific Fleet is the weakest in the East African navy, and because East Africa's colonies in the Pacific are very scattered, the combat capability of the Pacific Fleet is further weakened.
In comparison, whether it is the Indian Ocean Fleet or the Atlantic Fleet, it cannot be underestimated in any country. To put it bluntly, the two fleets can single-handedly challenge any country except the great powers.
The East African Pacific Fleet is very different. There is not even a battleship among its main combat ships, so Brand is so sure that the treatment of Lomé is much higher than that of Pontianak.
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 its name, the strength of the Alaska Fleet can be ignored. To be honest, Alaska is located in a place where Canada, Russia, the United States, Japan, and the Far East Empire have ideas, and East Africa cannot defend it.
Of course, given the current international situation, these countries are certainly unwilling to offend East Africa for Alaska.
Although Alaska is at the edge of East Africa's military deployment, the strength of East Africa is too strong, so offending East Africa for Alaska is not worth the loss.
The South Ryukyu Islands colony, the North Hawaiian Kingdom colony, and many Oceania colonies in East Africa are also treated the same as Alaska.
As for the Lan Fang Overseas Province, East Kalimantan, and Mindanao in the Nanyang region, although they are also far away from the East African mainland, the military strength of other powers in Nanyang is also relatively weak, and the East African Indian Ocean Fleet can support the Pacific Fleet in Nanyang at any time.
The situation of the Atlantic Fleet's Lomé Naval Base is different. Although Togoland is also located overseas, it is not too far from East Africa, especially after East Africa controls Gabon and Cameroon.
Even without these two regions, it is possible to depart from Cabinda on the west coast of East Africa and arrive at the Port of Lomé in the evening.
The strategic value of the Port of Lomé itself is also extremely prominent. It can be said to be the most important strategic fulcrum of East Africa on the north coast 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, and 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 expanded. Starting from here, East Africa can calmly deal with the 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 East African Inland Sea. Even though West Africa has many colonies of European countries, even if they are added together, they are no match for East Africa.
Brand sighed: "When the expansion of Lomé Port is officially completed, the Empire's voice in the entire West African region will be further increased. It can be seen that the Atlantic Fleet has gone ahead of us in strategic initiative."
Although the Indian Ocean Fleet in East Africa should not 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 restraining effect on East Africa in the Indian Ocean. With India as the core, Britain has too many colonies in the Indian Ocean region and a very deep foundation, which is not easy for East Africa to control.
On the other hand, it is not polite to say that the South Atlantic Ocean, except for East Africa, is full of "rotten fish and shrimp". West Africa is a colony, and its status and value are not prominent among the colonies of European and American countries.
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.
However, despite this, the East African Atlantic Fleet's enterprising spirit will not be weakened. After all, there is also the North Atlantic region in the Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic region is the place where the world's powerful navies are crouching tigers and hiding dragons, and the East African Navy has no reliable base in the North Atlantic.
This is very unfavorable for the East African Navy to safeguard its own interests, but there is no way around it. East Africa's great achievements in the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic are enough to make most countries in the world envious.
"Speaking of which, the speed of the construction of Lomé Port should be the fastest among the Empire's overseas bases in recent years. After all, we have only acquired Lomé Port for two years. Even though it was once the capital of the German Togoland colony, Lomé was definitely not large before." Tara said.
Before the 1920s, Lome was just a small fishing village in West Africa. Later, colonists came and built a city here. In the 1980s, it became a German colony, and Lome became the political center of Togoland.
It is worth mentioning that this place was originally a Portuguese colony. It can be seen that Portugal is naturally in conflict with the Germans, but this is inevitable. In the era of imperialist colonial expansion, latecomers will inevitably choose to pick soft persimmons in overseas colonial expansion, and Portugal is obviously such a soft persimmon.
In the past, the capitals of many African countries were located in coastal areas. This is basically a political product left over from the colonial era. After all, colonization itself is 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, making it a veritable military port. As for the civilian port, it was moved to the newly developed Port of Pemme.
Port of Pemme was the second largest port in Togo in the past, mainly exporting phosphates. The export of phosphate mines 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 Lomé is even more remarkable. After all, Lomé is the only natural deep-water port in the entire West African region. This is one of the main reasons why it was chosen by the East African Navy.