Chapter 1324 Premeditation

After all, the East African Navy is not a global navy. From the distribution of the East African Navy, it can be seen that the permanent and main activity areas are limited to the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean.

It occupies three of the four oceans, but except for the Indian Ocean, the other two are not worthy of the name.

Take the Pacific Fleet for example. Its responsible area seems to be not small, covering the entire Pacific Ocean, but this has no practical significance. From a practical point of view, if disputes and conflicts occur in the Pacific direction, the Pacific Fleet can only play a role in the South Pacific region.

After all, in the Pacific, the only ones who can threaten East Africa are the US and Japanese navies, and the strength of the two countries in the Pacific is much stronger than that of East Africa.

The same is true in the Atlantic Ocean. The East African Navy's activity range is mainly in the South Atlantic. Not only that, even in the South Atlantic, East Africa only has military bases in the east.

The Indian Ocean Fleet is the only real regional fleet in the East African Navy. In the Indian Ocean, East Africa's only competitor is the United Kingdom, and the strength of the British Navy in the Indian Ocean is not as good as that of the East African Indian Ocean Fleet.

In addition, East Africa has acquired a large number of colonies in the Indian Ocean and its coasts over the years, and built military bases covering the entire Indian Ocean.

However, this also dispersed the deployment of the Indian Ocean Fleet. After the three fleets under the Indian Ocean Fleet, especially the Fourth Fleet, moved their responsible areas to the East Indian Ocean, the original responsible areas were taken over by the First Fleet. However, the area responsible for the First Fleet was too large, which made it difficult for them to provide effective support to the Third Fleet.

Although the British naval strength in the Indian Ocean is not as good as that of East Africa, its overall strength should not be underestimated. This is also the main reason why the commander of the Third Fleet, Lomage, has concerns.

Vice Admiral Prato of the Third Fleet of the East African Navy said: "Nowadays, the focus of the British Navy in the Indian Ocean is obviously to continue to strengthen the India-Middle East-Red Sea coast, a route related to the southern battlefield, and we in East Africa have no influence in the Red Sea in the past."

"Now the country is launching a war against the Horn of Africa, and the First Fleet will also start the construction work of the Socotra Islands and northern Somalia in the future."

"This means that it is difficult for us to expect others to share the pressure of the North Indian Ocean."

Romachi swallowed a puff of smoke and said: "In the final analysis, it is still our Third Fleet's own strength that is not good, especially the lack of as many military bases as other fleets to help us grasp the situation in the Middle East."

In terms of the number and size of warships, the Third Fleet can be ranked in the middle of the seven fleets in East Africa, but it is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean Fleet.

Obviously, how could Ernst not know the importance of the Middle East, especially the Persian Gulf region, so why didn't Ernst increase his support for the Third Fleet?

Part of the answer is as Lomage said. East Africa lacks military bases in the Middle East, especially along the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. A navy without the support of overseas military bases is like duckweed on the water.

Before the British gave up the port of Gwadar, the only naval military base in East Africa along the coast of the North Indian Ocean was the Dubai Port in the Beibu Gulf Territory. Even if the Fujairah and Khor Fakkan ports under construction are added, there are only three.

Not to mention the small number, the conditions of these three ports are also very poor. Today's Persian Gulf region is not as rich as it was in the past because of oil and gas development. The oil tycoons spared no expense to artificially transform the coastal ports. Now the Persian Gulf, especially many ports along the coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula, can only pass sailing ships with shallow draft.

The shipping conditions of the Persian Gulf itself are relatively poor, similar to the Bohai Sea in the Far East Empire. Rivers such as the Euphrates and the Tigris carry a lot of silt, making the depth of the Persian Gulf shallower and shallower.

Moreover, the coastline of the North Gulf Territory in East Africa is relatively straight, far inferior to other areas in the Persian Gulf, such as the British Bahrain Naval Base or the Persian coast. As for Basra and other areas along the coast of the Ottoman Empire, although they face many problems, their natural conditions are the best in the region. They are backed by the two river plains with rich products, sufficient water resources, and a relatively dense population.

This is also one of the important reasons why the Third Fleet placed its command center in the Fujairah region on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. From a practical point of view, this place has little to do with the Persian Gulf and is outside the Strait of Hormuz.

The Third Fleet chose this place as its command center. On the one hand, Fujairah is backed by the West Jhar Mountains, so that some water vapor from the Indian Ocean can be intercepted to produce precipitation and meet water demand. Secondly, the water depth conditions in the Gulf of Oman are much better than those in the Persian Gulf. After the renovation of the two ports is completed, large warships with a relatively deep draft can be moored.

The West Jhar Mountains are mainly distributed in Oman, corresponding to the East Jhar Mountains in Oman. The capital of Oman, Muscat, is at the foot of the East Jhar Mountains.

It can be said that most of Oman's population is concentrated on both sides of the Hajar Mountains, just like the East African Third Fleet placed its command center in Fujairah. The existence of the Hajar Mountains has brought Oman abundant precipitation resources.

In the Middle East, where precipitation is extremely scarce, civilization is basically based on mountains. Even the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the Mesopotamian Plain have their water sources from the mountains upstream of the Ottoman Empire.

Therefore, Fujairah is a coastal oasis formed by precipitation from the Jahar Mountains, and its natural conditions are much better than those along the Persian Gulf.

However, the conditions here can only be said to be relatively good, especially the ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan are too small, so the Third Fleet is not satisfied with this.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Prato said: "So, if we want to change the dilemma of the Third Fleet, we must find a military base that can expand the size of our fleet. Dubai, Fujairah, and Khor Fakkan cannot meet our needs. ”

"Although the higher-ups intend to leave Gwadar to us, it will take several years until the construction is completed, and the security is not very friendly."

The conditions of Gwadar Port are not bad, but its neighbor is British India. How can the Third Fleet safely build a military base there.

On the other hand, Fujairah has many restrictions, but Oman next to it does not dare to offend East Africa at all. What's more, East Africa currently has more than 50,000 troops stationed in the Beibu Gulf territory. The Omanis will not dare to do so unless there is grass growing on their heads. Mess with East Africa.

Lomach said: "In this case, do you think we have a better choice? East Africa entered too late, and the good places have long been carved up. Our ability to occupy the Beibu Gulf territory is just picking up other people's leftovers."

Lieutenant General Prato said: "In this case, we have no choice but to take risks! If there is no good port, we will grab it. The Persian Gulf is not the Persian Gulf for the British. We in East Africa do not need to act with the British in mind. "

"Back then, wasn't the Pirate Coast (UAE) a nominal protectorate of the United Kingdom? Now it's become our Beibu Gulf territory, so there's nothing difficult in the world. As long as there are people with a will, we just have to be bold sometimes, and maybe we can Achieve unexpected results.”

Regarding Lieutenant General Prato's adventure, Lomach did not refute it. Instead, he fell into thinking. The cigarette in his hand slowly burned out and the dust fell into the ashtray.

Only then did Lieutenant General Lomach speak: "Let's do it! Sometimes taking risks may not be a bad thing. The British were able to defeat the Spanish Armada back then because of luck. This time it depends on whether our luck is strong enough. "

As the two commanders of the Third Fleet unified their thoughts, they fell into an in-depth discussion. The content of the discussion was naturally where to choose to take action, what plan to adopt, and whether the plan could be recognized by the central government. thereby successfully implementing and so on.

After all, no matter how radical Lomach and Prato are, they still have two superiors, the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Ocean Fleet and the East African Central Government. If such a major event is to be carried out, they must finally convince the Imperial Central Committee.