Roque did not stay in London for too long. After the funeral of George V, Roque returned to Pretoria from London.
Roque's trip to London was still fruitful. The French finally surrendered to southern Africa, and President Albert Le Brun signed a new trade agreement with Roque on behalf of France.
Probably because he knew that the prime minister was unreliable, it was the French president who finally stepped forward this time.
The reason is simple: the French Prime Minister has changed again.
In the past year, France has had three prime ministers.
Compared with previous years, three people are less.
The current Prime Minister Léon Blum just took office three days ago. He is the first Hebrew Prime Minister of France. If there are no accidents, his career as Prime Minister will only last 18 days.
18 days!
I guess I didn’t even have time to figure out how many toilets there are in the Prime Minister’s Office.
To be honest, France is so bad that it’s hard for people to expect it.
We can't blame the British for implementing the appeasement policy. It's really their teammates who are too stupid.
Returning to southern Africa, Rock completely forgot about the troubles in Europe and prepared for war with all his strength.
The Army of Southern Africa already has 25 divisions, but it is not enough, far from enough. In another time and space, at the end of World War II, the total strength of the US military was 12 million, and it is still early for Southern Africa to have that.
The world war has not yet broken out, and Rock is not in a hurry. He will first fill up the 25 divisions. The Southern African army has a relatively large establishment. One full division has 18,000 people, and 25 divisions have 450,000 people. It is enough to protect Southern Africa.
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As for going to Europe to fight.
After a world war breaks out, it will not be too late for Southern Africa to mobilize again. Anyway, the people are readily available, and Southern Africa can produce as many weapons and equipment as it wants.
This time, the troops from southern Africa going to Europe to fight in the war were mainly composed of African-American soldiers in the army. The main force in the air force and navy must be southern Africans. Rock was not at ease about handing over those high-tech weapons to Africans.
Of course, the army's equipment is not bad either.
Southern Africa has now completely eliminated the Lee Enfield rifle, and all Lee Enfields in the combat readiness warehouse have been emptied. Since 1930, all the Lee Enfield rifles stored in the combat readiness warehouse have been new semi-automatic rifles.
The official name of the new semi-automatic rifle is the Nyasaland Rifle. Adhering to the tradition of Lee Enfield, the Nyasaland Rifle has a magazine capacity of ten rounds, a caliber of 5.56 mm, an effective range of 450 meters, and its comprehensive performance is world-class.
Inspired by southern Africa, the United States is now equipped with semi-automatic rifles, but there is a big gap in production capacity compared with Nyasaland rifles.
The number of Nyasaland rifles in existence has exceeded one million. The United States has just equipped the Garand this year, and the complete change of equipment only happened after the middle of World War II.
In addition to rifles, the tank factories that were mothballed after the end of World War I were gradually opened. Due to the complicated process of the "Tiger" tank, the monthly output is now less than 50 units, but the output of the "Leopard" tank has soared to 270 units. According to
Calculating that an armored division has about 350 tanks, it takes about one and a half months to equip an armored division.
In terms of the Navy, after completing the four "Island" class aircraft carriers, Walvis Bay Shipyard and Edwards Shipyard will focus on the transformation of the "Table Mountain" class supply ship.
After the transformation of the "Table Mountain" class supply ship, the aircraft carrying capacity is similar to that of Japan's "Shōkaku" class aircraft carrier.
Japan has only built two "Shokaku" class aircraft carriers and 24 "Table Mountain" supply ships in southern Africa.
Angel's main task during this time is to form a local fleet.
The defense pressure in southern Africa is not great, so the local fleet has been an empty shell since it was listed. The number of warships it has is not as many as the patrol boats of the Coast Guard.
The main direction of the two fleets' future operations is overseas, and the strength of the local fleet must also be appropriately improved.
According to Angel's plan, the home fleet must have at least four heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, and 28 destroyers, so as to fully ensure the security of the homeland.
It’s easy to say that the light patrol class is being upgraded in batches, and its performance is sufficient to meet the needs of local defense.
Destroyers are also easy to handle. The treaty-type destroyers have a full load displacement of 1,500 tons, which is just a drop in the bucket compared to the tens of thousands of tons of battleships. The two major shipyards can build four of them a week.
The key is to revisit.
The new heavy cruiser in southern Africa is the "Los Angeles" class heavy cruiser.
According to the provisions of the "London Naval Treaty", the "Los Angeles" class heavy cruiser has a standard displacement of 9,800 tons. The armament system is three triple 203mm artillery. In addition, there are a large number of anti-aircraft weapons. The final full load displacement reaches an astonishing 13,500 tons.
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Don't be surprised, this is routine practice in Navy holiday times.
Southern Africa is preparing to build a total of 12 "Los Angeles" class heavy cruisers.
After completion, the previous heavy cruisers will gradually be decommissioned.
This raises a question. The Indian Ocean Fleet, the Atlantic Fleet, and now the Home Fleet, as well as the four major squadrons, have a total of only 12 "Los Angeles" class heavy cruisers. How to divide them?
Four "Los Angeles" class heavy cruisers have been built and assigned to the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet respectively.
"The 'Johannesburg' class heavy cruiser can continue to be in service. In fact, the performance of the 'Johannesburg' is not backward now." Martin said sincerely. The "Johannesburg" class heavy cruiser was built after the end of the world war. Its performance has already fallen behind.
Otherwise, they would not be retired in batches.
Even if it lags behind, "Johannesburg" is still very popular.
After the four new "Los Angeles" ships were put into service, the four retired "Johannesburg" ships were bought by Brazil and East India respectively. The price was very good, and after all calculation, there was still a profit.
A warship that has been in service for nearly 20 years is still so popular. Rock sometimes can't help but sigh, no wonder so many countries in another time and space are pandering to the Americans.
Martin's meaning is very obvious. He doesn't like "Johannesburg" very much, but wants to organize it first and talk about it later.
"Johannesburg" will all be retired sooner or later.
If the Navy can retain all eight "Johannesburgs", then after the eight "Johannesburgs" are retired in the future, eight more "Los Angeles" will have to be replaced.
Rock knew very well that Angel still wanted some shame, and old man Martin was completely shameless now. If Rock agreed, Walvis Bay Shipyard and Edward Shipyard would just wait to continue building warships that made little money.
Walvis Bay Shipyard and Edwards Shipyard have very low profits from taking orders from the federal government in Southern Africa. They make no money at all after removing costs, and sometimes they even lose money.
Otherwise, the Southern African Navy would not be able to build so many new warships in recent years.
"How many heavy cruisers does the Navy need?" Rock said directly. If the Navy does not go too far, Rock will simply meet the Navy's requirements.
"Of course, the more, the better!" Martin spoke decisively, living up to expectations.
Rock didn't want to talk.
The status of heavy cruisers in the Southern African Navy is the same as that of battleships. In fact, they are just fake.
The tasks undertaken by heavy cruisers can also be undertaken by light cruisers, and even destroyers can undertake them.
Light cruisers and destroyers are absolutely cheaper than heavy cruisers. Not only are they low in cost, but they also have lower subsequent use costs. A heavy cruiser has a crew of about 700, a light cruiser only needs 350, and a destroyer only needs 220. This is still
Because there are a large number of anti-aircraft weapons that require manual operation, otherwise fewer people would be needed.
"The areas the Indian Ocean Fleet and Atlantic Fleet are responsible for are too large. Each fleet needs at least six to eight heavy cruisers to meet mission requirements." Angel is relatively reliable. 12 heavy cruisers is indeed a bit small.
"The tasks undertaken by the Changi Squadron are no less than those of the two major fleets; the Cyprus Squadron faces huge pressure. Once war breaks out, we must be prepared to evacuate from Cyprus; the Persian Gulf is our core interest, and if we lose the Persian Gulf
"Oil." An Qi's expression was serious. This is not even mentioning St. Roch, that is where the real pack of wolves is waiting.
"Each squadron must have at least two to four heavy cruisers to meet mission requirements. The situation of the Changi Squadron is special. As Marshal Martin said, the more the better." Angel's appetite is compared to Martin's.
Not small at all, but the strange thing is that Roque is not angry at all.
Also, Angel and Barton were both trained by Roque, and they were almost like biological sons.
"The navy needs to distinguish between priorities, such as the Atlantic Fleet. Their mission is not to seize hegemony in the Atlantic region, but to safeguard southern Africa's interests in the Atlantic region. From this perspective, the role of heavy cruisers and light cruisers is almost the same." Rock.
Sober up, the main function of the Southern African cruisers is escort and anti-submarine warfare. The functions of heavy cruisers and light cruisers are almost the same.
"As for the Changi Squadron, the defense of Changi Naval Base relies on the strength of the Air Force and Marine Corps. No matter how many heavy patrols are allocated to the Changi Squadron, can the Changi Squadron compete with the Japanese Combined Fleet?" Rock
Up to the critical point, An Qi also made a big mistake and lacked clear positioning.
"If war breaks out, the main opponent of the German High Seas Fleet is the Royal Navy, and our main opponent is the Combined Fleet. At that time, the Changi Squadron will also be placed under the command of the Indian Ocean Fleet, so it will have more heavy cruisers. For the Changi Squadron,
It makes no sense." Rock disagreed. If he had the money to build heavy cruisers, it would be better to build a few more strategic long-range bombers.
Rock is still waiting for the outbreak of World War II to dispatch a strategic long-range bomber force to carry out strategic bombing on the Japanese mainland.
Therefore, for southern Africa, the more strategic long-range bombers the better. What Roark wants is not just the bombing of Tokyo. If possible, Roark would like to bomb Japan back to its original state.
You must not tell Martin and An Qi these words, otherwise Martin and An Qi will go crazy.
I don’t know how many naval officers and soldiers in the Southern African Navy are looking forward to going to war with Japan.
Of course, reasonable requests cannot be rejected. Heavy cruisers can now be built in southern Africa. Then a total of 20 ships will be built, six ships each for the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet, and two ships each for the four major squadrons. The retired "Johannesburg" will be allocated
For the home fleet and other small fleets, they should be satisfied now.
The Navy was indeed satisfied, and those who were not satisfied switched to the Air Force.
ps: The fish head from the third update is back, are you satisfied this time?
