Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1084

Chapter 1084 New Naval Development Strategy

In the internal affairs of the Allied countries, there are usually diplomatic and military departments to coordinate, and it is inevitable for a family to quarrel together, not to mention such a large national alliance, but there are few major incidents that reach the highest level.

Li Fushou has been in the top position for many years, and he has long known this. Even if the military generals within the empire compete for merit, the civil servants compete for favor, and the open and secret battles have never stopped, let alone between countries.

What    is fighting for is the glory of the country, the decency.

But the British’s insistence on the pound in the trade settlement really touched the cake of the Ocean Empire, which made Li Fushou more vigilant and more wary.

The Ocean Empire and the United Kingdom are both competitive and cooperative. Jinyang began to rise rapidly in 2015, but in just three years, it was enough to threaten the international financial hegemony of the pound, which made London deeply worried.

Today’s world economy presents a pattern of one superpower and multiple powers. The Ocean Empire, with its strong economic performance, has left its competitors behind and ranks among the economic superpowers alone.

Britain, Germany, the United States, and France are at the second level, with a gross national product of more than 10 billion US dollars and less than 20 billion US dollars. If the output of the British colonies is included in all parts of the world, the total economic volume is about 53 billion US dollars. The dollar is up and down, second only to the Ocean Empire.

If the colonial output is included, the total economic output of France is about 18.5 billion US dollars, which is comparable to the United States and Germany.

In the case of a new round of division of the United Republic of the South, the overall strength of the United States has once again declined, and it is only a little stronger than France.

In the case of the strong promotion of the Jinyang Settlement Act for several consecutive years, the position of Jinyang with a strong currency value in international trade settlement has been growing rapidly.

The Ministry of Finance of the Empire predicts that by the end of 2017, the proportion of Jinyang in international trade settlements will rise to about 40%, surpassing the British pound, thereby promoting the status of the world’s largest currency in trade.

As for how much it can reach in the end, 37% or 80% is still in the early 40%. This depends on the evolution of the international situation and the political and financial fields of the relevant trading countries, not only in the field of trade.

Overall

The gold reserves of the Ocean Empire have accounted for more than half of the world’s total, with a total of more than 8,700 tons. The status of Gold Ocean in international trade has been rising, which is an irreversible trend.

The Russian ruble has depreciated rapidly with the chaos of the domestic situation, and the entire national credit system has almost collapsed.

In the face of frequent wars, the United States has not seized the unprecedented opportunity such as the world war to develop, but has been mired in heavy debts, and the US dollar is even more vulnerable.

Years of war have caused the franc and the German mark in Europe to depreciate sharply relative to Jinyang. With the strong economic performance of the Ocean Empire and more than half of the world’s gold reserves, Jinyang has become an uncompromisingly strong currency. currency.

Compared with the pound, Jinyang has a larger currency issuance scale, better international liquidity, more guaranteed credit, and more demand, so it has a broader prospect in international trade.

According to the “Gold Ocean Trade Act”, every purchase of goods from the Ocean Empire must exchange the equivalent gold ocean with their own currency, which requires countries to reserve a certain amount of gold ocean for international settlement.

If there is not enough reserve currency, then there are several ways to obtain Jinyang, one is the trade surplus, the other is the huge Jinyang loan, the other is the exchange of reserve gold, and the other is the resource transaction.

For example, Fusang Kingdom sells a large number of copper resources and oil resources in Arizona, thereby obtaining valuable Jinyang foreign exchange.

For example, the United Kingdom sold a large amount of South African gold and Indian gems, and borrowed large amounts of gold and foreign loans to maintain massive war expenses. The original creditor country has become a net debtor country, and its international financial status has been greatly reduced.

According to the current strength of Britain, it has been unable to stop the strong rise of the Ocean Empire.

Now Li Fushou has a 10-year development plan for the Royal Navy, which has been approved by the House of Commons and entered the review process of the Military Equipment Review Group of the House of Lords.

This is a development plan aimed at strengthening the Ocean Empire, mainly battleships and heavy cruisers, covering aircraft carriers, general-purpose cruisers, destroyers, landing ships and other ship types. It is a comprehensive plan for the 1920s and 1930s.

The report proposes to develop a 406mm full-caliber heavy artillery battleship with a displacement of 46,000 tons, named “Duke” class, the first ship “Duke of Palawan”, with a standard displacement of 46,300 tons, equipped with a total of three triple-mounted main turrets. , the design maximum speed of 28 knots, for the ocean decisive battleship.

Six ships of this class are planned to be built, and each ship will be slightly improved. Its performance level and combat effectiveness are among the top in the world. It will first be equipped with world-leading communication concepts such as ranging radar, gun sighting radar, and medium wave radio. Aiming equipment, thus establishing the powerful strength of the Royal Ocean Empire Royal Navy enough to compete with the British Navy.

There is another bright spot in the plan, that is, according to the advantages and disadvantages of the “Dinghai” class aircraft carrier in use, the development of a special aircraft carrier with a displacement of 42,000 tons, capable of equipping more than 220 aircraft of various types, is quite powerful.

This type of aircraft carrier is named “Rage Tide” class, with a speed of 34 knots, a total of 6 ships are built, and it is planned to be equipped with three Pacific Fleet, two Atlantic Fleet and one Indian Ocean Fleet.

The “Rage” class aircraft carrier is not the giant ship the Royal Navy wants. With such an equipment budget, they would rather build a few more “Duke” class battleships.

The huge role of the aircraft carrier in the war, even the Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire is not fully understood, it is only used as an auxiliary ship for anti-submarine escort.

The general understanding of naval generals; decisive battles at sea depend on battleships equipped with huge artillery.

This is not to blame for the short-sightedness of the admiral. Today’s fighters and bombers are limited by their performance and cannot pose a lethal threat to huge ironclad battleships. 100-pound bombs dropped on battleships equipped with heavy bulletproof armor are just scratching the itch.

Li Fushou knows that aviation technology is developing rapidly, and this situation will change soon.

In the secret air base of Qimarang, a special dive bomber is being developed. This concept was originally proposed by the British Air Force, but it was established in the Ocean Empire and put into secret development.

According to project research and development needs;

This type of dive bomber has a range of 1,200 kilometers and can carry a maximum of 500 kilograms of bombs (about 1,100 pounds). It dive bombs enemy targets at a 45-degree angle and implements precise bombing.

Once such a tyrannical bomber is designed and produced, it will completely change the situation of maritime hegemony.

The Ocean Empire started to design and produce special aircraft carriers early to seize the commanding heights of future technology. This is one of the few benefits that Li Fushou can leave to the empire.

With the wealth and wealth of the Ocean Empire today, it is not afraid to start a naval arms race with the United Kingdom. In today’s world, the three countries of Great Britain, Oceania and Germany are the top naval forces on the same level.

The British Navy is larger, the Royal Ocean Empire is more technologically advanced, and the German Navy is more rigorously trained. Other than that, there is not much difference.

After Churchill became Lord of the Admiralty in September 1911, the British Royal Navy proposed to take Germany as the only opponent of the United Kingdom. This standard was officially announced on March 18, 2008.

Churchill once stated his policy in this way;

“If our naval supremacy is compromised, the future of our nation and empire and the wealth accumulated over the centuries by life and success will be wiped away. Therefore; be like Germany to attack tomorrow. Be prepared for that.”

Thanks to Churchill’s efforts, the Navy’s budget increased from £32.2 million in 2008-09 to £48.7 million in 2013-14, to over £50 million in 1914-1915, reaching an all-time high.

The proportion of the    Navy budget in the entire British military budget is also far greater than that of other services. From 2009 to 2015, the net increase in the entire British military budget was 77.4 million pounds, and the navy accounted for 70.7 million pounds.

The increase in the    budget has ensured the implementation of the Royal Navy’s expansion plan and technological transformation. Costs for battleships and battlecruisers were £28.1m in 2005-09, rising to £34.7m in 2009-13, an increase of 23%.

The number of Royal Navy capital ships ordered has also doubled from 12 to 24.

By the outbreak of the First World War, the United Kingdom had 417 warships of various types, including 31 modern battleships (another 16 were under construction) and 39 former dreadnoughts, which greatly exceeded the 176 German battleships. “One strong standard” with 60% advantage.

After the outbreak of the World War

Britain’s naval strategy was designed to control home waters, block the enemy’s access to the world’s oceans, and secure the most favorable positions for the final battle of the fleet should the German ocean-going fleet leave its base.

The    “blockade strategy” became the basic strategy of the British Navy in the early days of World War I.

After two major naval battles, the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the North Sea, the Royal Navy’s strength was severely weakened. The battleships sunk and severely damaged more than half of the fleet’s size. Many experienced naval officers and soldiers died in the North Sea. Huge loss recovered.

Take this hit

The British Royal Navy’s strategy shifted to working closely with allies to block German routes into the world’s oceans, and to find opportunities to win decisive battles while the German High Seas Fleet was far from its base.

The new naval strategy abandoned the mode of fighting alone. It was in this situation that the four “Princess Elisabeth” class battleships of the Ocean Empire, two main battleships each in France and Italy, jointly participated in the blockade of the German High Seas Fleet. in action.

to be frank

The British Royal Navy has already had a certain psychological shadow on the German High Seas Fleet, and it is true that they are afraid of being beaten.

(end of this chapter)