Chapter 1358 Navy Ratio

At nine o'clock in the morning, the meeting officially opened.

The main point of contention in this London Naval Conference was not in Europe, but the game between Britain and East Africa, the United States, and Japan was more intense.

In Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary did not pay much attention to the navy because of the poor performance of the navy in World War I.

After all, the development of the German navy before the war was deeply influenced by William II. Before William II, Germany had never been a country that valued sea power. In World War I, even though the German navy was the second largest in the world, it could not break through the geographical limitations. In this way, even if William II was not enlightened, he would not blindly pursue the dream of a large navy. This was a cost-effectiveness issue.

As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was not a maritime power from the beginning to the end. Even in the most recent naval competition, its navy was not taken seriously, and the naval plan it formulated was the most conservative among the powers.

France and Britain supported France to a certain extent in vigorously developing the navy. With the "friendship" forged in World War I, at least the contradiction between Britain and France has been resolved by Germany to a certain extent.

In addition, Britain also hopes to continue to cooperate with France to fight against new maritime powers such as East Africa, the United States, and Japan, and thus stabilize the old international order. After all, Britain and France are the beneficiaries of the old international order.

Finally, France's national strength is no longer able to support France to play a more active role in maritime policy, so the British are very clear that even if there are no restrictions on the French navy, France can only play an auxiliary rather than a leading role in the cooperation between the two countries.

Therefore, British Prime Minister David spoke at the meeting: "The lessons of the World War tell us that the expansion of the scale of the navies of various countries and military competition have caused great harm to Europe and world peace."

"Countries around the world should reduce the size of their navies, stop building new warships, and avoid a new round of naval competition. We in Britain are willing to set an example and stop unlimited and unreasonable competition in the naval field."

"And countries around the world should also formulate corresponding naval development strategies in accordance with their national conditions and the need for stability in the international community."

"For example, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the main maritime interests of the two countries are in the Baltic Sea and the Adriatic Sea, so the navies of the two countries should not exceed their own needs from the beginning. Blindly planning and building, this point, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did very well. "

"As the leader and defender of the world's maritime order, Britain itself is a maritime country, and has a large number of overseas territories and interests, so it should have the largest proportion of the navy. "

"The same is true for France. France has always been an important naval power in the world. At the same time, it has rich marine resources and interests to maintain. It plays an important role in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and other waters. Therefore, our two countries should have the first and second naval proportions in Europe. "

Here, Prime Minister David specifically put Britain in the world and Europe for argumentation, which means that Europe is the first, that is, the world is the first, and it is only referring to the unshakable position of the British Royal Navy in the world.

As for France, even if Britain wants to support the French Navy to be the second in the world, France does not have this ability, so it can only be the second in Europe.

As the first paragraph of Prime Minister David's speech ended, other countries focused their attention on the representatives of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But unfortunately, no negative emotions such as "anger" and "unwillingness" were seen from the representatives of the two countries, which gave other countries, especially Japan and the United States, a bad premonition.

The countries that had participated in the two secret peace conferences had already prepared a plan in mind, so they would not interfere with the British plan.

British Prime Minister David was very satisfied with the reactions of the representatives of various countries. He went on to say: "In addition, there is only one major country in Europe, Russia, which cannot be implemented for the time being. However, we all know that suppressing and blocking Russia is the basic task and responsibility of the countries present, but this is not the main content of this meeting. We will hold a special meeting to discuss the Russian issue later."

"Next, we will focus on discussing the relevant issues of naval development in countries outside Europe."

"Since Europe has expressed its attitude and restricted naval development, countries outside Europe should also make positive contributions to world peace and stability."

"So..." Prime Minister David said: "East Africa, the United States, Japan and other countries should also restrict their navies and return to normal levels. I wonder what you three countries think?"

The United States and Japan are naturally unwilling to reduce the size of their navies easily, so the representatives of the two countries naturally want to bargain and get a good condition.

However, at this time, the East African representatives began to cooperate with the UK to disrupt the situation.

General Bruce, the commander-in-chief of the East African Navy and the head of the East African delegation, said: "We in East Africa support Prime Minister David's views. At this stage, the unlimited expansion and blind construction of the navies of various countries in the world have caused serious damage to the world order."

"East Africa is willing to make concessions for world peace, but since East Africa is also a maritime power, our East African Navy must have a place in the world's navy, but we will naturally bear corresponding responsibilities."

Traitor! This is the inner thought of the United States and Japan. After all, in theory, East Africa, the United States and Japan belong to the "non-European" circle, and the three countries should stick together for warmth.

Now, East Africa has proposed to cooperate with the so-called British idea of ​​limiting the navy, which puts the United States and Japan in a very passive position.

After all, the world's discourse power is divided according to strength, but the embarrassing point is that the East African Navy is just in the second or third place in the world, or tied with Germany.

If the two second largest naval countries in the world do not oppose the British proposal, then other countries will only be more passive, after all, this is equivalent to the world's top three naval powers reaching a unified opinion.

Especially the United States, in fact, the strength of the US Navy is not much worse than that of Germany or East Africa, at least in terms of naval size, but this cannot change the reality that the US Navy is now ranked fourth.

Americans know very well that first of all, Britain will definitely get the largest share of the world's navy, there is no doubt about it, and then the main competitors of the United States are Germany and East Africa, but Germany has obviously withdrawn from the competition at the naval level, so the competitor of the United States has become East Africa.

However, the performance of the East Africans now clearly shows that they have reached a tacit understanding with Britain, which makes the American representatives very uneasy.

US Secretary of State Henry had to stand up and say: "Prime Minister David, we in the United States naturally support restricting the blind development and expansion of the navy, but as a country in the two oceans and a major country in world trade, our interests must be effectively protected."

Obviously, except for Russia, the major European powers have reached some kind of secret agreement with East Africa, and the consensus reached by Britain, France, Germany, Austria and East Africa together is obviously not something the United States can contend with, at least on the surface.

In this way, the United States naturally cannot confront the "international community" head-on, but can only safeguard its own interests to the greatest extent.

Prime Minister David said: "This is natural. The United States, like East Africa, has an important position in international maritime affairs."

Britain puts the United States and East Africa together, naturally hoping to balance the naval power of the two countries, thereby reducing Britain's burden and pressure. This has always been the British's usual method, and this means that Britain tends to balance the United States with East Africa in terms of naval power. Of course, there is a very important premise, that is, it cannot threaten the status of the British Royal Navy.

Prime Minister David's words appeased the Americans, which made US Secretary of State Henry breathe a sigh of relief.

However, although Secretary of State Henry breathed a sigh of relief, he was very dissatisfied with Britain in his heart. After all, the United States and Britain are "brothers" in the trenches, but Britain chose to cooperate with East Africa secretly.

Although Secretary of State Henry did not have solid evidence, he could get a glimpse of the performance of European countries and East Africa. These major powers seemed too "harmonious" at the meeting.

Fortunately, the result was good. Since Prime Minister David had said that the United States and East Africa were equally important, the United States should share the same share of the navy.

This is a position that both satisfies and dissatisfies the United States. From an objective point of view, it is a fact that the size of the East African navy is slightly stronger than that of the United States, so the United States has even taken a little advantage by allocating the same proportion as East Africa.

However, the United States certainly does not see it this way. If East Africa is replaced by France, Germany, and the United States will not feel uncomfortable, but what country is East Africa?

East Africa's history is not even as good as that of the United States. In front of East Africa, Americans can even call themselves "ancient civilizations."

Europe has unified the United States and East Africa into the ranks of "upstarts", but for the United States, East Africa is the real "upstart", so from a historical perspective, the United States has the same mentality as European countries facing other parts of the world when facing East Africa, that is, a feeling of superiority.

However, now the United States considers itself "superior to East Africa", but the British put it on the same level as East Africa, which naturally causes dissatisfaction in the hearts of Americans.

However, it is undeniable that East Africa is indeed at the same level as the United States in terms of strength, so Secretary of State Henry's inner dissatisfaction cannot be put on the table, which makes him very uncomfortable.

However, Japan is more uncomfortable than the United States.

Prime Minister David said: "You are the only Japanese representatives who have not expressed their views. Are you willing to make corresponding contributions to world peace and support the suggestions of the international community?"

Japanese representative Kato Tomosaburo said with some embarrassment: "Of course, but we are an island country like Britain, and we have many practical interests to maintain in the East Asian waters, so the Imperial Navy cannot be reduced too much."

Japan is naturally the country that least wants to reduce the size of its navy. After all, Japan has embarked on the path of militarism. Without strong ships and powerful guns, how can the Empire achieve its goal of invading other regions.

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Prime Minister David said: "Japan does not need to worry too much. Japan is an important force in the East Asian waters, so we support the Japanese navy to remain within a reasonable size and play a role in stabilizing East Asia."

Britain's plan is very simple, that is, Japan must have enough military strength to balance the expansion of the United States and East Africa in the Pacific direction.

Although the interests in the Far East are huge, Britain is very clear that Britain's power is no longer enough to protect Britain's interests in the Far East. At this time, it needs to support an ally that is not too strong and not too weak.

As for these two allies, the British government has already made plans. In addition to France, the second one is Japan. France also has interests in the Far East, and the situation it faces is the same as that of Britain, which is out of reach.

Therefore, Britain and France can completely keep each other warm in the Far East, but this is not enough. Because of the geographical location, even if Britain and France are combined, they cannot compete with East Africa and the United States.

And Britain naturally does not want East Africa and the United States to go further in the Far East and gain greater benefits, so it is better to give Japan, a member of the Far East, a bargain.

Moreover, Britain itself has a great influence on Japan, which to a certain extent makes Britain think that it can control Japan.

The reality is that Japan may not be convinced by the British in its heart, but it does need to rely on the power of Britain to deal with East Africa and the United States, especially the pressure from the United States.

At this stage, Britain and Japan can be said to take what they need and work together. In the presence of the two great enemies of East Africa and the United States, they can "unite" together.

And Prime Minister David's promise also made Kato Tomosaburo happy, which shows that Britain supports Japan. This is very important. After all, Britain is still the world's number one power in terms of comprehensive strength.

Moreover, Japan itself is in a very embarrassing position to participate in this meeting. Among the countries present, except for East Africa, all are white.

This makes Japan stand out from the crowd, so Japan is more eager for Britain's support.

After Prime Minister David finished his speech, representatives of various countries began to speak in turn, and the content of the first round of speeches was also very clear, that is, to focus on the country's maritime rights and interests and the necessity of maintaining the size of the navy. After all, this is the basis for the subsequent "sharing of fruits", so it is not allowed for the personnel of various countries to be careless.

Even Germany and Austria-Hungary, which have relatively weaker needs in this regard, have tried their best to argue with reason. After all, if more naval power can be preserved, no one is willing to give up these rights.

January 22, 1920.

The second round of meetings began, and the content of this meeting truly determined the finalization of the post-war world naval pattern.

After the preparation of the previous round of meetings, countries at this meeting launched a more intense debate in subdivided fields.

In addition to the proportion of the navy, the specific issues include the construction and demolition of main battleships, and even a specific warship, but the focus is mainly on main battleships, that is, battleships, cruisers and other combat ships.

The final result of the meeting was that Britain ranked first in the world, followed by East Africa, tied with the United States in the second echelon in the world, France and Japan in the third echelon, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Spain in the fourth echelon.

According to the ratio, it is 6:3:3:2.5:2.5:1.25:1.25:1.25.

In this way, the size of the British navy after the war is the sum of East Africa and the United States, continuing to maintain the British two-power standard. At the same time, Britain will increase the naval ceiling of two potential allies, France and Japan, as much as possible, so that it can cooperate with the Royal Navy's global strategy, thereby balancing East Africa, the United States, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

However, this London Naval Conference only involves the main battleships of various countries, which is the same as the Washington Naval Conference in the previous life.

As for the proportion of aircraft carriers in the main battleships, it is different from the previous life. With the efforts of East Africa, East Africa has obtained the largest aircraft carrier construction rights. Of course, the same is true for Britain and the United States. In this way, Britain, the United States and East Africa are tied for the first place in the world in terms of the proportion of aircraft carriers.

However, Britain and the United States are mainly to follow up on East Africa's policies to achieve a balance, rather than really attaching too much importance to the role of aircraft carriers. At least at the current stage, the status of battleships is definitely unshakable.

In addition to the London Naval Conference, the European Army Conference was also held in Paris at the same time, and this conference was not worthy of East Africa's attention.

After all, no matter how many East African armies there are, it is impossible to affect the military balance in Europe. Similarly, countries outside Europe such as the United States and Japan do not need to participate in this conference.

The main focus of the European Army Conference is actually the affairs between the three European continental countries of Germany, France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As an island country, Britain, although also a European country, does not pay much attention to it, as long as a new balance can be formed on the European continent.