Chapter 963 Cooperation Ideas

"Your Excellency, the Count, thank you. Submarine technology is still unstable and cannot compete with powerful battleships. Its status in the navy can only play a supporting role. In this regard, the strength of our East African navy is far inferior to Germany's." Clintman said very humbly.

Tirpitz was not impressed by Clintmann's humble attitude. After all, before coming to East Africa, Tirpitz learned that East Africans were not as flamboyant as Europeans, and certainly not as overly humble as the current Far Eastern Empire people.

This is actually easy to understand. When the strength is not in place, it is not a bad thing to keep one's head down first. Think about it. Before the 1950s, the Far Eastern Empire's description of foreigners was actually very contemptuous.

Even the Westernization Movement, its core idea is to "learn from the foreigners and develop skills to control the foreigners", and "barbarian" is not a good word in the Far Eastern Empire.

Ignoring Klintmann's deliberately self-deprecating words, Tirpitz said: "It seems that when we come to East Africa this time, we will not only strengthen naval strategic and tactical cooperation, but also some unique skills of the East African navy, especially in technology. , the two countries should also reach some cooperation.”

Before arriving in East Africa, Tirpitz originally looked down upon some of the technologies mastered by the East African Navy. After all, the East African Navy was born out of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Even its early officers were members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and its commander-in-chief was Filipina. Archduke Dinant, a former Austrian navy man, was at the helm.

Therefore, before, Tirpitz believed that the East African navy might not be able to match the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the fields of technology and shipbuilding.

In fact, there is no problem at all. If we talk about the shipbuilding industry now, although the scale of East Africa has exceeded that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there is still a gap between it and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of technology and quality.

At present, the shipbuilding manufacturing capacity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is actually stronger than in history. After all, Venice is in hand, which provides the Austro-Hungarian Empire with more choices. In the previous life, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could only rely on Trieste and the development of insufficiency. Mature Dalmatian coastal areas.

Of course, this is not the case in the military shipbuilding industry. The East African military shipbuilding industry has completely gotten rid of its dependence on Austria and has surpassed the Austro-Hungarian Empire in some areas.

The main reason is that the status and positioning of the two navies in their own countries are different. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is not like Germany, and Franz is not William II, so Franz has a much more sophisticated understanding of his country than William II.

There is a saying that the reason why William II promoted the German ocean-going navy plan was that he was stimulated by attending the British Royal Navy review ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne in 1897. After that, he vigorously developed the German navy and laid the foundation for the outbreak of World War I. Foreshadowing.

Facing the huge group of Royal Navy battleships, the "best battleships in the German Navy" carefully selected by William II were completely dwarfed by comparison, which greatly stimulated William II's self-esteem.

According to Ernst's understanding, this rumor is most likely true, because after that, William II often made "inappropriate" remarks in public, including "Germany's future is the ocean" and "Germany is a world power." .

Of course, William II’s idea also has no shortage of supporters in Germany. A German scholar recently claimed in a newspaper: “Germany’s goal…German influence, German capital, German business, German industry and German ingenuity Competing with other powerful countries around the world...and these are all inseparable from a strong navy."

The newly appointed Admiralty Tirpitz was also a supporter of Wilhelm II, and he was also the admiral who escorted Wilhelm II to the review ceremony for Queen Victoria's birthday in 1897.

In fact, after the review ceremony, under the instruction of Wilhelm II, Tirpitz led the huge 20-year German naval development plan - the "Tirpitz Plan". According to this plan, the German Navy will build at least The second largest navy in the world, and capable of competing with the British Navy.

If it were Franz or Ernst, he would definitely not do this. After all, the current strength of the German Navy is not too weak. Even if it protects interests, as long as it can stabilize the Baltic Sea, the German Navy can even reach the British Navy in terms of hardware facilities. level, it cannot avoid geographical disadvantages.

On the contrary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire appeared "rational". Its naval positioning was offshore defense to ensure its presence in the Mediterranean, not an ocean navy.

The same is true in East Africa. Don't look at the South African War. The British Army in East Africa was disgraced, but it did not affect the reputation of the Royal Navy in the slightest.

If East Africa, like Germany, comes up with a "big navy" plan at this time, it may really trigger a new round of war between the two countries.

After all, the current East African Navy has already posed a great threat to the United Kingdom, including India, and Australia's communications with the mainland are under the surveillance of the East African Navy.

Of course, even if East Africa increases its investment in the navy, it is impossible to gain an advantage over the Royal Navy in a short period of time. This has been fully proved by Germany in its previous life. Even if Germany desperately strengthens its naval strength, Britain can still be better. .

The financial resources of the United Kingdom and Germany are far greater than those of East Africa. Therefore, if they participate in the naval competition in the current environment, East Africa will only gain nothing. It is better to invest more resources in local development and industrial development, so the current focus of investment in East Africa is instead It is the civilian shipbuilding industry, which is very abrupt in the naval arms race around the world.

However, East Africa's approach is certainly in line with the current British philosophy. The result of the naval arms race among various countries has the greatest negative impact on the British Royal Navy. After all, before the arms race, Britain was already the first, but the expansion of naval armaments in other countries forced the Royal Navy to follow up and invest more funds, which in itself is a consumption of national potential.

…

After visiting the East African submarine, Tirpitz and the German Navy representatives returned to Bagamoyo and made relevant suggestions to Archduke Ferdinand.

Since Ernst moved the capital to Rhine City, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife have continued to stay in Bagamoyo. Now Archduke Ferdinand is no longer in charge of front-line work, but his influence in the navy is very huge, and the status and position of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Bagamoyo and even in East Africa is second only to the members of the Hechingen royal family.

"A new German naval minister?" Archduke Ferdinand asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency, our German Navy intends to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the East African Navy. This is also the purpose of my visit to East Africa this time." Tirpitz said directly.

"Well, I know a little about you. I wonder what you think about the future development of the German Navy?" Archduke Ferdinand said to this junior.

Archduke Ferdinand is well-known in the world's navy. In addition to the stain of being the Emperor of Mexico, he once served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and later founded the East African Navy. These are quite dazzling achievements. In addition, the East African Navy has experience in the South African naval battle, so its combat effectiveness is also recognized by various countries.

This also reversed the image of Archduke Ferdinand. Although the career of the Mexican Emperor was somewhat anticlimactic, the development and growth of the East African Navy made it easy for people to attribute the credit to Archduke Ferdinand. After all, when he took over, the East African Navy was completely "zero", and now the East African Navy has become one of the few powerful navies.