When it comes to the arms race, Britain has long experience. The United States and Japan are newbies, but Britain has practiced against Germany.
Therefore, when the United States and Japan provoked an arms race, Britain's response was slightly slow. Now it is only establishing a project without actual investment.
If we really want to participate in the arms race, Britain has the technology, Southern Africa has the resources, India has the manpower, and Australia and Canada can provide sufficient strategic depth. Not to mention Japan, the advantages the United States has are not enough compared to the United Kingdom.
So it would take another world war to completely break Britain's advantage.
"The naval meeting has been held for a month, and basically no consensus has been reached. Is it difficult to control the total tonnage of naval capital ships? Is it difficult to limit the caliber of the main gun to less than 16 inches?" When Rock said this, he looked at Tomosaburo Kato lightly.
One glance.
Kato Yusaburo suddenly became wary.
MMP, what do you mean by looking at me now?
Could it be that the real data of "Mutsu" and "Nagato" were leaked?
My main gun is really 406, not 410
"Is it difficult to limit the tonnage of capital ships to less than 35,000 tons?" Roque looked at Albert Salau and then at Carlo Sanze.
Albert Sarao and Carlo Sanze looked serious.
No matter how serious it is, it’s you who are talking. Don’t be like those who have nothing to do. Even without this, you two useless people can’t build a battleship of more than 35,000 tons.
"If it doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't matter to us in the British Empire. Isn't it just a battleship? One of several million. If London agrees, Southern Africa can build a dozen ships for fun. Australia can build two. Isn't it a problem for Canada?
Can we build two ships? India donated 100 million during the World War, and now it should be okay to donate another 10 to 20 million." Roque said nonsense. It was just a joke to talk about ten ships. Just listen to it. Don't take it seriously.
.
"Australia can build three ships." Viscount Glaston said. In recent times, the Australian government has made a fortune by selling land.
"It's okay for Canada." Bowden followed up by saying that Australia may not have the need to equip battleships. If Canada does, the Americans are still eyeing it.
Sastry didn't say anything. During the World War, India was deceived by the British into donating 100 million. As a result, after the World War, India got nothing. So now India can only support the British Empire spiritually. It really has no money to donate.
Bainbridge Colby, Albert Salau and Carlo Sanze looked at each other.
The last time the Commonwealth was so united was probably during the World Wars.
After Balfour fell ill, although Roque had a high title, he would definitely not be able to convince the public because he was Chinese. Delegations from various countries were actually waiting to see the British delegation's jokes.
Unexpectedly, after Rock served as the British delegation, the British delegation not only did not fall into chaos, but instead showed a sense of unity.
This is terrible. A united Commonwealth deserves the vigilance of all countries.
However, it is understandable. After all, Rock was the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force during the World War. The Canadian Army, the Australian Army and the Indian Army were all under Rock at that time. Southern Africa is now the most powerful autonomous territory in the Commonwealth.
It vaguely means being on an equal footing with Britain. Rock's influence
Much bigger than other countries think.
"This resolution should be limited to a validity period, such as fifteen or twenty years. Those who want to engage in an arms race should wait fifteen or twenty years before doing so. The world war has just ended and the economic crisis has enveloped the world. Now we should put more
Focus on restoring the national economy and people's livelihood, rather than creating new conflicts." What Roque was talking about was the United States and Japan. Britain, France and Italy could forget about it and have too much to take care of themselves now.
"If the United Kingdom and the United States can promise not to build or expand military bases in the Western Pacific, then the Empire of Japan can accept this result." Kato Yusaburo seemed reluctant, but in fact he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Despite Japan's aggressive appearance on the surface, Japan is actually the weakest among the five countries participating in the naval meeting.
Simply looking at their strength on paper, France and Italy are indeed not as good as Japan. In fact, when it comes to life and death, the strength that France and Italy unleash will not necessarily be weaker than Japan's.
To put it bluntly, after all, it is old-style imperialism plus old-style colonialism, which is much stronger than Japan, a country that has just emerged in the past ten years.
The rise of Japan can only be calculated after the Russo-Japanese War.
"If Italy is willing to accept this result, then France can also accept it." Albert Sarao took the initiative to give in and gave France 300,000 tons, which France would really not be able to use up.
"If France is willing to accept this result, then Italy can also accept it." Carlo Sanzawa responded tit for tat. Why should we, Italy, accept it first, and then you, France, accept it? Never, Italy will never surrender.
Damn, this is a shameful thing!
"Very good, then let's do it this way. Don't think that you have all made huge sacrifices and made huge contributions to world peace. According to this ratio, the British Empire is the country that has made the biggest concessions." Roque refused to give Albert Sarao
Opportunity to quarrel with Carlo Sanze, don’t think everyone is so great, the British Empire is truly great.
Of course, this "greatness" is not voluntary for Britain, but Britain has to be "great".
Before the World War, Britain had undisputed maritime hegemony on a global scale.
Now, this hegemony is shared between the United States and Japan.
Japan is better off. The United States obtained the same capital ship tonnage as the United Kingdom through the Washington Naval Conference, which also means that the United Kingdom gave up at least half of its maritime hegemony.
"Britain's contribution deserves to be remembered by all of us." Bainbridge Colby was satisfied. If the "Washington Naval Treaty" could be achieved, then Bainbridge Colby would also be qualified to leave his name in history.
Under the premise that Britain made huge concessions, delegations from various countries quickly reached an agreement on the tonnage of capital ships. In the end, the United States could retain capital ships with a total tonnage of no more than 525,000 tons; the British Empire, like the United States, also had 525,000 tons; France and Italy both had 175,000 tons.
; Japan received 315,000 tons.
After the delegations of various countries reached an agreement on the total tonnage of the battleships, good news finally came from Pretoria.
After intense discussions, the Southern African Congress agreed to purchase the hulls of four French Normandy-class battleships on the basis of not violating the Naval Treaty.
Excluding the "Bearn", which has the slowest progress.
The keel of the "Béarne" was laid in 1914. It has been six years since then. The hull is only 25% complete, the main engine is only 17% complete, the boiler is 20% complete, and the turret rotating part is 8% complete. It took six years to complete.
With such little work, Roque didn't even know what the Mediterranean Shipyard in La Seine was doing.
The four Normandy-class battleships were purchased by West Africa and the Kingdom of Mozambique respectively, and were entrusted to Edward Shipyard and Walvis Bay Shipyard to complete their construction. According to the needs of the Kingdom of Mozambique and West Africa, the Nyasaland Naval Academy will modify the Normandy-class battleships, including:
Replacing a more powerful power system, this part is provided by the British Royal Dockyard; at the same time, reducing the number of secondary guns and increasing air defense, this part is the responsibility of Nyasaland Military Industry; and also installing the latest radios and sonar, this
This is partly the responsibility of the Transvaal Electric Company; finally, space must be left for future upgrades.
This part of the future will definitely be radar.
In short, after the transformation, the tonnage of the Normandy-class battleship will be reduced to about 20,000 tons, and the speed will be increased to 32 knots. At the same time, it will have certain sea attack capabilities and strong air defense capabilities. It may be able to use it to deal with the "G7"
If not caught, it can still deal with conventional cruisers and pre-dreadnought battleships.
After all, even if the protection is weakened, the Normandy-class battleship is still a standard dreadnought.
For southern Africa, the protective power of battleships is not a big problem. In the future, battleships will definitely accompany aircraft carriers. It is basically impossible for enemy battleships to approach within the range of the battleship's main gun.
In other words, after the transformation is completed, the Normandy-class battleship may not have a chance to participate in the war. It will simply be four training ships.
For the same reason, quadruple-mounted 340mm main guns are too much. The original design of the Normandy-class battleship was ten twin-mounted 340mm main guns, which were later modified to 12. Now the number of main guns has been further reduced.
, what Roque means is that reducing it to 6 doors can not only reduce weight, but also avoid waste.
This plan was strongly opposed by the Naval Academy. The naval generals were eager to see the battleship. Now they finally have a battleship, but it has been reduced to only 6 main guns. Compared with other countries, which often have more than a dozen 406, the main gun of the battleship in southern Africa.
The 340 caliber is already too small, and now the number is being reduced to 6. It is estimated that no one is willing to be a captain.
Even though Roark was authoritative, he still had to consider the opinions of the admirals. Even Buck sent a telegram to Roark, asking Roark to save some face for the navy.
This telegram was probably sent for Patton.
But Buck underestimated Patton too much. If the Southern African Navy was equipped with both battleships and aircraft carriers, then Patton would at least be qualified to serve as a fleet commander, forget about the captain. In the past two years, Southern Africa will gradually launch battleships and aircraft carriers.
I really have no ambition to be a captain.
After comprehensive consideration, Rock decided to change the three quadruple-mounted 340mm main guns to three triple-mounted 340mm main guns. This will give a total of nine guns, which can not only ensure the big, thick and black attributes of the battleship, but also satisfy the needs of the southern
The vanity of African naval generals, the carrier-based seaplanes designed by the French were also cancelled. In the future, battleships will be dispatched together with aircraft carriers, so there will be no need to carry seaplanes.
As Rock imagined, the purchase of Normandy-class battleships by the Kingdom of Mozambique and West Africa did not arouse strong opposition from the United States. The French also spared no expense in order to destabilize the British. The hulls of the four Normandy-class battleships together only cost 200
million rand.
Southern Africa doesn’t need to give money to pay off its debts!
