Chapter 623 If quantity cannot keep up, quality can be considered

After sending General Winter away, Charles immediately went to find Wells.

Wells owned a small villa in the shipyard, which was built on the seaside. On one side, he could see the naval port, and on the other side, there was an endless ocean.

Wells liked to blow the sea breeze on the balcony and watch the warships he handled sail to the sea to conquer the world.

Only at this time could he feel power, strength, and security.

However, whenever Wells thought of Britain across the way, this feeling would be greatly reduced or even disappear.

That afternoon, Wells stood on the balcony and looked at the sea as usual after returning from the factory.

He silently looked at the other side of the ocean, holding a pipe in his mouth, standing motionless in the cold wind, like a statue.

The French Navy has declined, and it can only barely reach the fifth place in the world now.

(The ranking of the navies in World War I is: Britain, Germany, the United States, Japan, and France)

The fifth place in the world seems good, but Wells knows that it will not work.

Because the French Navy has always been suppressed by the British Royal Navy, just like the German Navy, which has done nothing.

The only difference is that the German navy was directly blockaded, while the French navy was indirectly blockaded.

"Sir." At this time, the butler walked to Wells, bowed carefully and said, "Someone wants to see you, it's General Charles, he is outside the door."

Wells was stunned, and his face, which was originally like a pool of stagnant water, suddenly became lively like a blooming flower: "Please come in!"

In fact, there is no need to invite, because Wells has walked out of the door to greet him personally.

As soon as he saw Charles, he shook Charles' hand enthusiastically, with surprise in his eyes: "It's nice to see you, General. This is your first time to come to the shipyard, right? You should notify me in advance so that I can prepare something."

"No need, Mr. Wells." Charles replied.

Generals like Charles are taboo to expose their itinerary when traveling, which is not something that businessmen like Wells can understand.

The two sat down in front of the sofa, Wells sent the servants away, and personally poured Charles a glass of red wine.

"Do you need something to eat?" Wells asked: "I'll ask the servants to do it right away."

He knew from Tijanni that the army's food during this period was very poor.

"No." Charles refused. He wanted to finish the work at hand as soon as possible and didn't want to waste time.

Charles told the Minister of the Navy and General Winter about trying to buy industrial property rights and production rights.

Wells seemed to be shocked. He widened his eyes and said with lingering fear: "If the property rights of the 'echo sounder' are bought by them, the Brest shipyard will be finished."

Charles was puzzled.

He could understand that the "echo sounder" could not fall into the hands of the British. But why would it threaten the survival of the shipyard if it was bought by the Minister of the Navy?

Wells explained:

"France also has a Toulon shipyard in the south, General."

"The Minister of the Navy intends to shift the focus to the Toulon shipyard."

"Because the Brest shipyard mainly deals with the Atlantic, and the Toulon shipyard deals with the Mediterranean."

Charles suddenly realized.

There is a giant British Royal Navy sitting opposite in the Atlantic direction. The French Navy believes that it cannot compete with it, so it has the intention of giving up.

Giving up this side can turn to the Mediterranean.

After all, the French Navy is only facing a group of minions in the Mediterranean, and the French Navy can be the best there.

Charles smiled: "If you do this, the French Navy will never catch up with the British."

The French Navy was originally weak, and it also split its strength into two and shifted its focus to the Mediterranean, which is in a corner. This is no different from kneeling down and surrendering.

"Yes." Wells sighed and said helplessly: "But this seems unavoidable."

"Do you also think that France can't compete with Britain?" Charles asked.

"The navy is different from the army, general." Wells explained with a heavy face: "It requires long-term accumulation, several years, more than ten years, or even decades. Unlike the army, it can win with a few advanced equipment and excellent tactics."

The tonnage is there, and most naval battles are fought head-on with warships and naval guns. Without industrial capacity and materials, everything is like a castle in the air.

At this time, France was in short supply of materials due to the impact of the war, and the construction of the navy was basically stagnant.

Wells then added:

"I'm sorry, General. You may not want to hear this, but it's true."

"Even if we have more advanced torpedoes and an 'echo sounder', we can't change this in the end."

Please...collect 6...books...!

"For example, now our navy can only participate in limited combat under the command of the British Royal Navy, and there are even dangers."

Charles looked at Wells in confusion: "Danger?"

Wells nodded helplessly: "The British are not as simple as you think. General Winter said they can 'handle it themselves'. Have you ever thought about how they handle it?"

Charles didn't speak. It was a secret, and he didn't believe Wells knew the reason.

Wells raised his glass and touched it lightly with Charles: "One thing I can think of is that our warships have some accidents during the mission, such as being sunk by German submarines, or hitting mines, etc. This is inevitable, don't you think?"

Charles understood: "Then, the British can get the 'echo sounder'?"

Wells said "hmm" and asked, "Why not? They can prepare and "rescue" as quickly as possible, and finally blow up and destroy the evidence. What can we do?"

Charles was silent. He didn't expect this.

But it is indeed possible, and very likely.

In the face of national interests, especially the possibility that materials may be fully controlled and blocked by Charles, what is this little mean trick?

What's more, the opponent is the "Minister of Munitions" who is always known for his shamelessness.

After thinking for a while, Charles said thoughtfully:

"It seems necessary to remind Professor Versenden that we should install a self-destruct device."

"It doesn't require much charge, just blow up the core part."

Wells' eyes lit up. Self-destruct device? A good idea. In this way, the British will have to go through more twists and turns to obtain this technology.

But Wells's expression immediately darkened again: "The more serious problem is that our steel and coal mines have been under the control of the Germans for a long time, which has led to a growing gap between the navy and the British. Competing with them... seems unrealistic."

Britain has loans from the United States, and its domestic minerals are not affected by the battlefield, so the situation is much better than France.

Charles nodded to show his understanding, but he did not give up.

"If we can't catch up in quantity, we can consider quality." Charles said.

"Quality?" Wells looked at Charles in confusion.

He didn't understand, who else could compare with Britain in building warships?