Chapter 1617 Taking the German "Script"
The iteration of the navy's main combat ships is progressing slightly slower than that of the navies of other major powers, and the East African government is actually well aware of this.
Rhine City.
Ernst lay on the sofa, looking at the summary report on the current development of the East African army, and said to Crown Prince Friedrich: "Compared to the army and air force, the expansion of the navy is indeed slower."
"Now that we have clarified the general development status and plans of other countries' navies, we can loosen up the restrictions on their navies as appropriate."
"The UK's aircraft carrier force is now second only to that of East Africa. We will use the UK as a model to strengthen the Imperial Navy, build three new aircraft carriers, and expand the Imperial Navy's aircraft carrier fleet to ten."
Crown Prince Friedrich rubbed his brows and sighed, "Building three aircraft carriers at once, plus the two we are currently building, means that the Empire has a total of five aircraft carriers under construction at the same time. This is truly a huge undertaking."
Although it was mentioned before that the number of British aircraft carriers is not much less than that of East Africa, there is still a big difference between the two.
Take the several aircraft carriers in service in the United Kingdom as an example. None of them are "professional" aircraft carriers. Most of them are converted from other large warships. For example, the British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle was converted from a battleship, and the HMS Courageous was converted from a cruiser.
The actual situation of the US and Japanese naval aircraft carriers is not much different from that of the UK.
In contrast, the East African, starting from the first aircraft carrier, is a new type of ship that is completely different from the battleship in terms of design, weapon configuration and construction.
And according to Ernst's memory, some unnecessary things were removed, such as naval guns, double-layer flight decks, etc.
Therefore, in terms of the advancement and professionalism of aircraft carriers, East Africa is definitely far ahead of other countries, but the construction cost is also higher. Now that five aircraft carriers are being built at one time, Crown Prince Friedrich naturally has doubts. This is not just five new aircraft carriers, but five combat formations with aircraft carriers as the core.
In response to the uncertainty in Crown Prince Friedrich's tone, Ernst tapped the table and said, "Expanding the aircraft carrier fleet to ten at once will indeed put some pressure on the Empire. However, I believe this risk is entirely acceptable."
"After all, the current world situation is becoming increasingly dangerous, and a new round of world war may break out at any time. Therefore, it is very necessary for East Africa to prepare in advance."
"If we wait until a war breaks out to add production lines, the cost will only be greater, and the lack of supporting facilities and experience in expanding production capacity in a short period of time will also affect the performance requirements of the warships after they are produced."
After the outbreak of war, the military industry will move from a seller's market to a buyer's market. In peacetime, in order to compete for limited military orders, various shipyards will lower prices as much as possible to attract naval orders. At the same time, the prices of raw materials on the market, including steel, engines, and communication components, will also remain at normal levels.
After the war breaks out, the prices of raw materials such as steel will inevitably rise, and workers' wages will also increase. At that time, if you want to build new warships, you will inevitably pay a higher price.
Therefore, East Africa's current quiet expansion of the navy is a good way to reduce costs. The quiet expansion of the navy here is not to prevent other countries from stealing intelligence and arousing their vigilance, but to prevent unscrupulous businessmen in the market from taking the opportunity to raise prices.
This is like the wages in a region. Even if they are generally increased, it may not be a real benefit. Merchants will raise the prices of their goods after understanding the local purchasing power.
Ernst said: "For example, in our city of Rhineland, although the income level is in the first tier nationwide, the prices are also in the first tier. However, the same product in the neighboring New Frankfurt may be even cheaper."
"So, it is definitely cheaper for the navy to build more warships now than to build more ships at the last minute during wartime."
"Of course, all of this assumes that the Empire will join the war in the future. Otherwise, maintaining a large fleet will be more costly than beneficial."
Crown Prince Friedrich did not dare to guarantee whether East Africa would join the war, but he was basically certain that it was a high probability event.
He said, "Looking at it this way, it is indeed more important for the Empire to enhance its navy's strength. Moreover, in addition to increasing the number of main battleships, we must also increase investment in the training of naval personnel."
"With the addition of five new aircraft carrier formations, the number of personnel will also increase significantly, and to ensure their combat effectiveness, we must conduct training in advance."
Ernst nodded and said, "Navy personnel training can begin immediately. The military's technical capabilities have greatly improved, whether it's the Navy, Air Force, or Army. This is especially true for the Navy and Air Force, two technical arms. Personnel training is more difficult and takes longer."
"However, compared to the navy, the Imperial Air Force and Army, we have more mature conditions for talent training. As long as we operate properly, it will be difficult for other countries to figure out our true strengths."
"Navy warships are large and distributed along the coast. Actual combat training also requires going out to sea, making them easily detected by other countries. This is the main reason why I was previously cautious about the construction of major naval warships."
"As for the Air Force and Army, we can completely complete expansion and training missions in the interior of the empire. And by demarcating military restricted areas, even ordinary people in our country will find it difficult to detect the specific developments."
East Africa has a vast territory and a large number of areas far away from densely populated areas, which can become military areas in East Africa, making it difficult for intelligence personnel from other countries to figure out the strength of the East African Air Force and Army.
In this regard, the Soviet Union could do better than East Africa. After all, the Soviet Union's land area is larger than East Africa and it is more sparsely populated. Therefore, it is very difficult for intelligence personnel from other countries to figure out the Soviet Union's military-industrial deployment.
Not to mention that the Soviet Union's population control was stricter than East Africa's. As a free market country, East Africa had strong population mobility, while the Soviet Union's population mobility was much worse.
At the same time, the Soviet Union also had a terrifying "Cheka", which made Soviet intelligence gathering even more difficult. Of course, apart from the Soviet Union, East Africa should be ranked among the countries with the best military confidentiality.
Crown Prince Friedrich analyzed, "Currently, all major world powers are developing their militaries according to their respective future strategic plans. However, the three countries that maintain the best military secrecy are probably the Soviet Union, Japan, and us."
"A lot of Soviet military industrial data and internal military information is basically difficult to obtain. In addition to the Soviet Union's unique geographical advantages, Soviet politics is also a major influencing factor. If it weren't for industrial development, the possibility of obtaining intelligence from the Soviet Union would be even smaller."
Because it was "surrounded" by the imperialist and capitalist world, the Soviet Union's politics and society were relatively closed.
Of course, this also has a certain degree of rationality. When East Africa was weak, it also adopted a closed-door development strategy. This greatly reduced East Africa's presence in the international community during the colonial period, thereby gaining valuable development time.
When East Africa develops to a certain size, by the time other countries react, they will be completely helpless against East Africa. Therefore, the Soviet Union's isolation is now an advantage.
However, it was impossible for the Soviet Union to be completely closed. For example, during the two five-year development plans of the Soviet Union, due to the lack of local high-end talents and technical deficiencies, the Soviet Union could only hire engineers and technicians from the West to help develop its own industry.
These people went to work in the Soviet Union and personally participated in the construction of many important Soviet projects, which inevitably led to the leakage of Soviet intelligence.
For example, where the Soviet Union built factories, how transportation was planned, the distribution of important resources, etc., this information would definitely be lost in large quantities and used by people with ulterior motives.
The Soviet Union is very different from East Africa back then. Since the birth of this country, it has attracted the attention of other countries in the world, and the Western world has been keeping a close eye on every aspect of the Soviet Union.
To put it bluntly, even when East Africa dominated the entire East African Plateau and its area was close to one million, most people in the world probably had never heard of the existence of this colony.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "If the Soviet Union had not had to rely on foreigners for talent and technology, it would certainly be more closed. Now, some of the new factories and military facilities built by the Soviet Union in the rear are difficult for us to understand."
East Africa, like the Soviet Union, is the country with the best intelligence work in the world. Therefore, East Africa has no idea about the development of the Soviet Union's military industry in the rear, and it will be even more difficult for other countries to do this through spies.
Of course, the Soviet Union’s strategic rear was not the focus of intelligence work in East Africa. After all, the relationship between the Soviet Union and East Africa was not too tense.
There were only two countries in the world that were truly interested in Soviet intelligence: Germany, the Soviet Union's mortal enemy, and Japan, which coveted the Soviet Far East. Similarly, the Soviet Union's intelligence work on these two countries must have been at the top of its priorities.
Crown Prince Friedrich said: "The intelligence work between Germany and the Soviet Union must be the most intense. Therefore, Germany may know more about the Soviet Union than the Empire."
Ernst naturally thought so too, but he thought to himself that in this time and space, the Soviet Union could be said to have turned a disaster into a blessing in disguise. In the previous life, because Germany was defeated in the war and was restricted from developing its military, Germany had a lot of cooperation with the Soviet Union, which obviously provided some convenience for the future German invasion.
After all, cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union would easily allow the Germans to come into contact with some high-level Soviet officials and sensitive places in the Soviet Union. For example, the places where the two countries exchanged military technology might be some important Soviet research institutes or some military restricted areas.
In addition, the training of the Soviet army by German military advisers and instructors also made it easy for the Germans to understand some of the Soviet Union's weaknesses.
In this time and space, Germany lacks these opportunities, which makes it easier for the Soviet Union to mix truth and falsehood and blur its true national strength.
Crown Prince Friedrich continued, "Then there's Japan. Japan's intelligence work can even be said to be somewhat pathological. They have kept many of their military developments very secretive, making it difficult for other countries to understand. This has also given us a lot of inspiration."
Germany's military development in its previous life could be said to be the most rigorous. In order to develop its military quietly, it used numerous strategies and concealed its true intentions. However, in this time and space, because there was no defeat in the war, Germany's military development naturally did not need to be concealed in various ways like in its previous life.
As a result, among the Axis powers of the past, Japan was the only one that liked to keep its military development secret.
Although Japan was not a defeated country, it enjoyed this kind of treatment, especially from almost all countries with interests in the Far East, including Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and East Africa. These four countries did not want Japan to dominate the Far East.
The Japanese government is well aware that its ultimate goal - to conquer the Far East empire and dominate the Asia-Pacific - will directly conflict with the interests of countries such as Britain and the United States. In addition, the rise of Japan's strength in recent years has already caused serious anxiety to countries such as Britain and the United States.
Therefore, in its military development, Japan has become more adept at disguise and concealment, thereby showing weakness to the enemy, avoiding provoking the opponent too early, laying the foundation for future wars, and achieving surprise.
The Japanese government will inevitably consider that open military expansion will immediately trigger reciprocal reactions from the United States and East Africa, causing these countries to also build ships at full speed. This is what Japan least wants to see. The secret development is aimed at gaining a "time difference" and then launching an attack when Japan gains local absolute advantage.
Therefore, the reason why Japan's military development before World War II seemed "secret" was entirely due to the adoption of a shrewd and cunning strategy.
Unfortunately, no matter how cunning Japan was, it could not hide from Ernst. From beginning to end, Japan was never out of the surveillance of East Africa.
Ernst commented on Japan: "The wisdom of Japan surpasses that of many European and American countries. If Germany and the Soviet Union had followed Japan's example, it might have brought more trouble to the world."
Although Ernst spoke of righteousness, in reality, under his manipulation, East Africa also followed this military development script. The navy was not easy to display, but the army and air force of East Africa had actually become the largest and most powerful army in the world.
It can also be said that East Africa is following the script of Germany's previous life in its military development strategy. For example, in order to develop its air force, Germany used the civil aviation industry as a cover to carry out pilot training and use civil aviation routes to detect battlefield terrain, artillery positions and other military secrets of other countries.
During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, East Africa vigorously developed its aviation and civil aviation industries, naturally taking this aspect into consideration.
In terms of the army, East Africa also drew on some of Germany's previous experiences, such as focusing on training military backbones and establishing a secret military framework in advance, so that East Africa can quickly expand its army in wartime.
Of course, the conditions for East Africa to secretly develop its military are much better than those of Germany in the past. After all, East Africa itself is independent of Europe. Basically, apart from Britain and the United States, there are few countries in the world that pay attention to the military development of East Africa. Moreover, the focus of the United States and Britain on East Africa is mainly on the development of the East African navy.
After all, the conflict of interests between East Africa, Britain and the United States mainly comes from the ocean, revolving around the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Britain is worried that East Africa will have ulterior motives towards its Indian Ocean colonies and many colonies in West Africa, while the United States is entirely motivated by market competition with East Africa in the Atlantic.
The United States and Britain are both maritime powers, so their focus is on the East African navy, while ignoring the strength of the East African air force and army.
Apart from the United Kingdom and the United States, other countries do not pay much attention to East Africa. For example, although Japan regards East Africa as a potential opponent, its focus on East Africa is on the Pacific.
(End of this chapter)
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