Chapter 493 Naval Confrontation
While the initial battles were taking place in East Africa and Mozambique, the waters of the western Indian Ocean were also not peaceful. Although the four countries had reached a tacit agreement to limit the outbreak of naval battles, warships from various countries still gathered here.
The main reason is that Britain and France want to support the Portuguese. If a naval war really breaks out, the Portuguese will definitely be defeated by the East African Navy.
As for the promise of both sides not to engage in naval warfare, it is hard to say what will happen if things really get heated. Britain and France must monitor the East African navy, so they sent five ironclad ships to cruise in the western Indian Ocean.
Among them, the United Kingdom dispatched four ships at once, and France also sent one. Of course, this number is not large for the United Kingdom and France, but it does have a certain deterrent effect on East Africa. Sometimes big powers just need to express their attitude.
"Portugal has not purchased any new ships in these years, and the only ironclad ship has just been commissioned. I'm afraid there is not enough time for training. The fleet of remote colonies like Mozambique uses backward sailing warships. Although the number is larger than that of East Africa, its combat effectiveness is far worse than that of East Africa, and the quality is not good enough." said French Commodore Veron.
British Rear Admiral Frank: "That's true, but the overall quality of Portuguese sailors should be better than that of East African sailors. Many of them are veteran sailors who have been at sea for many years. The East African navy has only been established for a few years, so it is definitely not as good as traditional maritime powers in this respect."
This was the conclusion reached by Britain and France after observing the Portuguese and East African surface fleets. Although the Portuguese navy was poorly equipped, it was indeed skilled in ship operation and certainly had more experience in dealing with crises. However, the gap between ironclad ships and sailing warships was far from being made up by personnel experience, so no one would think that the Portuguese navy was a match for the young East African navy.
From the 1930s, when ironclads first appeared, they were often used as commerce raiders, but their original and primary purpose of building them was still to fight with ships of the same type. This situation continued until the end of the arms race for building ironclads. Many countries used ironclads to escort large merchant fleets, or to control colonies far away from their homeland, or both.
However, only the British and French navies can reach this level at present, while the remaining countries are barely adequate. Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire lack development momentum due to limited sea conditions, and Germany has not yet embarked on the path of crazy shipbuilding. The United States and the Far East Navy are about the same.
The current US Navy is so weak that the United States did not really pay attention to naval development until after 1881. The current US Navy is not even as strong as the Far East Empire. Small countries like Denmark and Chile are also above the US Navy.
In fact, the US Navy had a short-term outbreak during the Civil War. The North built ships on a large scale to block the sea routes of the South, while the South engaged in armed smuggling in order to break the maritime blockade. At the end of the war, the US Navy had more than 700 sailing ships of various types, and the number of ironclad ships reached 5 top assets.
However, this huge fleet disappeared with the end of the war. The Americans sold most of the more than 700 warships to merchants, who converted them into merchant ships. Although some ironclad ships and fast battleships were retained during the disarmament, these warships were gradually corroded over the years due to long-term lack of maintenance.
This point cannot be circumvented by the geographical advantage of the United States. Without national defense pressure, the United States has no motivation to develop its navy. Compared with the navy, the U.S. Army is even more pitiful, with only tens of thousands of soldiers.
Therefore, it is understandable that the U.S. Navy and Army always found various ways to ask Congress for funds in the past. It was because they lived too tight in peacetime.
East Africa is taking the opposite approach to the United States. Although it is also a large country in terms of territory, its sense of crisis is much stronger than that of the United States, so the number of its troops has always been maintained at a relatively high level.
For example, in territorial expansion, the United States relied mainly on militia to wipe out the Indians, while the capture of blacks in East Africa was done with the army as the main force, supplemented by militia. Especially after the East African army reached a certain scale, the reliance on militia became basically negligible.
The military industry, including that in East Africa, is given priority in development. The navy and the army have achieved self-sufficiency in equipment to a certain extent, and the national defense industry does not rely on manpower.
In recent years, the East African Navy has been quite special because the shipbuilding industry in East Africa is indeed unable to meet the needs of the local navy, and it mainly purchases from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, as the technology of the Bagamoyo Shipyard becomes increasingly mature, it will not be long before the East African Navy will move into an independent development state.
Of course, the most important reason is that the current size of the navy is already completely sufficient. If it is further developed, the British will be furious.
Moreover, the speed of technological replacement of warships is not slow. In this special period, East Africa has purchased warships on a large scale. Then, at some point in the future, the East African Navy will have to retire these warships at the same time. After all, the lifespan of ironclad ships is not too long. These main naval warships may be replaced by the end of this century. Therefore, the current East African Navy can develop step by step.
Anyway, East Africa is now mainly focused on national defense and does not have much demand for maritime power. Victory is to defend the doorstep. Even so, East Africa is gifted and its navy is developing rapidly, but it is not much for East Africa's maritime territory.
In response to the joint naval exercises of Britain, France and Portugal, East Africa could not turn a deaf ear and also organized a trilateral joint maritime exercise with Austria-Hungary and Germany.
After all, in the Four-Power Conference, Austria-Hungary and Germany favored East Africa, so as the big brother and the second brother, the navies of the two countries also had to support East Africa. East Africa dispatched five ironclad ships, two from Austria-Hungary and one from Germany. At present, the naval strength of the three countries is actually not much different, with Austria-Hungary ranking first, East Africa second, and Germany third.
Therefore, the Prussian naval generals who came to East Africa for the exercise were quite embarrassed. According to the national strength of the three countries, it was obvious that Germany should be ranked first. However, it was okay that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was strong, after all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had the first-mover advantage. As a result, the East African Navy was also stronger than the German Navy. This was unfair.
In fact, whether the German Navy can be vigorously developed depends entirely on whether the current German government is willing to invest. It is obvious that Germany's demand in this regard is still not high.
Spee said to his colleagues in Austria-Hungary and East Africa with some envy: "The Empire still attaches too little importance to the navy, so much so that even East Africa has surpassed Germany. The status of the Imperial Navy is obviously not matched that of Germany."
Vice Admiral Claire of the Austro-Hungarian Navy consoled them: "In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Navy is the most pitiful of the three. At least you have developed rapidly in recent years, launching new warships almost every year. The number of new warships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is obviously not as good as yours."
Archduke Ferdinand was a little proud of what the Austro-Hungarian and German navies said, but he also modestly said: "East Africa's geographical location is very bad. Although the importance of the western Indian Ocean route has declined due to the opening of the Suez Canal, it is still an area that the navies of various countries should pay attention to. Moreover, you have the advantage of terrain. To our east is the ocean, so we are under great pressure from maritime threats."
Archduke Ferdinand's words are really Versailles. The fact that East Africa has a bad geographical location is very annoying. Is it difficult for Germany and Austria to be sandwiched between the European continent? Moreover, facing the ocean directly is actually an advantage for naval development.
But not all of your East African territory faces the ocean! For example, Pemba Island and Zanzibar Island, Mafia Island, and the Comoros Islands also have a number of small islands and reefs that can play a role in protecting the territory, which is much stronger than Germany and Austria.
(End of this chapter)
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