When Roque returned to southern Africa, four "Normandy" class battleships had been towed back to southern Africa by tugboats, two in Walvis Bay and two in Port Edward.
In order to better transform the four "Normandy" class battleships, the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa hired senior designer Brian Johnson from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Brian Johnson participated in the design and construction of all battleships after the Royal Navy's "Dreadnought" ship, and has rich experience in the design of large battleships.
In order to lure Brian Johnson to Southern Africa, the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa offered an annual salary of 3,000 rand, which is a ministerial-level salary in Southern Africa.
In addition to Brian Johnson, Southern Africa also recruited Charles Doria, the chief designer of the "Normandy" class battleship, to Southern Africa to participate in the transformation of the "Normandy" class battleship.
The French government decided to sell off the "Normandy" class battleships in pieces, which greatly hurt Charles Doria's feelings.
After the Washington Naval Conference, France had no new shipbuilding plan in a short period of time. Charles Doria left for southern Africa in despair, but the French government did not retain him.
"The design of the 'Normandie' class battleship is limited by France's existing shipyard scale and port water depth. The battleship's maximum waterline length is only 172 meters, its maximum width is 27.8 meters, and its full load draft is 8.8 meters. This is almost the limit under existing conditions.
The extreme size and the layout of the naval guns are almost a continuation of the 'Guba' class battleship and the 'Breton' class battleship, and there is no qualitative improvement." Charles Doria also had no choice but to build the "Normandy" class battleship
At that time, the French Navy also hoped to obtain a battleship with a larger tonnage. Unfortunately, the tonnage was too large and the French military ports could not accommodate it, so the "Normandie" class battleship only had an embarrassing tonnage.
"France's ports are indeed a problem, but this problem does not exist in southern Africa." Brian Johnson is just fifty years old this year, and his combination of physical strength and experience is in perfect condition. He is not only good at designing warships, but also an artillery expert.
.
Southern Africa has unique ports. Whether it is the artificially built Port Edward or the naturally formed Walvis Bay, the average water depth is about 8 to 13 meters, which can easily dock 10,000-ton giant ships.
In addition to Port Edward and Walvis Bay, there are many excellent ports in southern Africa, such as Cape Town, Durban, Bellasolafa in Rhodesia, and St. George in Victoria. They are all rare.
A natural harbor.
"Yes, I heard that even St. Roch in southern Africa has been transformed into a deep-water port. I have been to that place. It used to be a barren mountain with nothing." Charles Doria is a Frenchman and knows the situation of St. Roch very well.
.
It was precisely because of his understanding that Charles Doria felt incredible.
The reason why deep-water ports are precious is because they have relatively high requirements on various conditions. In the past, the control of a deep-water port could trigger a war.
After the rise of Southern Africa, good deep-water ports have gradually become worthless. Poor hydrological conditions can be improved, and there are no breakwaters to repair. As for whether it will freeze or not, this problem does not exist in Southern Africa.
Port Edward, where Charles Doria and Brian Johnson live, was dug out.
Port Edward is located at the mouth of the Zambezi River. After hundreds of millions of years of erosion, it was originally an endless swamp and deserted beach.
After Rock obtained this land, he used hundreds of thousands of Africans to transform it, and finally built Port Edward out of the swamp.
Port Edward is now the largest port in southern Africa. Industrial products produced in Transvaal Rhodesia and Nyasaland are transported to Port Edward through the Zambezi River, and then sent to the surrounding Indian Ocean.
New immigrants from the Far East, industrial raw materials from East India, and oil from Port Elizabeth are also transported to Southern Africa through Port Edward. Dozens or hundreds of ships enter and leave Port Edward every day. The four docks are brightly lit 24 hours a day and bustling with people.
The entire port area is a city that never sleeps.
In the No. 1 No. 2 dock of the shipyard, the two "Normandy" class battleships have been towed onto the slipway, and countless workers are shuttled between them, undergoing modifications to the hulls.
"Three triple 340mm cannons can fully guarantee the long-range firepower of the battleship, but what to do at close range? The Navy's requirement is that even the torpedoes must be removed. In this way, once faced with a larger tonnage battleship, the 'Normandy' class battleship lacks
Sufficient threat capability." Charles Doria felt sad. Probably the later "Normandy" class battleships have changed beyond recognition. They don't even look like a battleship, but more like a monster with both long-range attack and air defense.
Regarding the requirements of the Southern African Navy, Charles Doria had a vague feeling that Southern Africa seemed to have a completely different way of using battleships from other countries, and it was definitely not in a dominant position.
Nowadays, in the navies of various countries, the main ships are still battleships, and other warships are in a auxiliary position.
If the Southern African Navy uses aircraft carriers as its capital ships——
Many things have been explained, such as why the secondary guns of the "Normandy" class battleships were cancelled, why so much anti-aircraft firepower was installed, why they pursued faster speeds, etc.
They are exactly like the royal guards with swords in front of them.
"Don't worry about the close range. Battleships will not act alone. There are cruisers and destroyers for close combat." Brian Johnson looked towards the shipyard further away, where an aircraft carrier was laying an aviation deck. This is southern Africa for the United States.
Built by the Navy.
At this moment, a crowd suddenly gathered in the dock, and there was a vague fight. The engineers and supervisors of the on-site construction rushed over immediately, and the soldiers on duty also arrived quickly.
There is a conflict between Indian workers and African workers, which are now the two largest labor groups in southern Africa.
The southern Africans in the shipyard are either skilled workers or engineers and supervisors. Those who really do the physical work are Indians or Africans. The wages of these Indians and Africans are very low, with an average of only three rand per person per month.
This is an absolutely high salary among Indians and Africans.
The reason for the conflict is very simple. Indian workers are lazy at work, have a bad attitude towards work, and like to point fingers and muddle along.
Relatively speaking, African-American workers have a very upright attitude. They don't complain about hardship or tiredness. They get up early and go to bed late. They cherish this job opportunity.
After working at Edward Shipyard for four years, you can obtain the right to reside in Port Edward. Although you cannot become a Southern African citizen, being able to live in Port Edward is still the dream of many African-American workers.
Forget about Indians. If these Indians are not in Southern Africa, they can still go to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to live life. With more choices, there will naturally be more things to think about.
"They themselves are lazy and laugh at us——"
"If this affects the progress of the project, we will all be punished together——"
"We just said a few more words, and they were going to beat us——"
African-American workers complained one after another, and most of them spoke in Chinese.
The Chinese are actually good at teaching others. Many Chinese engineers like to teach these African-American workers how to speak Chinese when they have nothing to do. Some of them really teach, and some are just deliberately mischievous, teaching those "shit" as "how are you"?
African-American workers, as a result, many African-American workers use "shit" to greet engineers with malicious intentions.
Don't think that people with darker skin are less evolved. There are many smart people among Africans, and they can tell the difference between good intentions and bad intentions.
"What do you say?" Gouda, the assistant to the chief engineer in charge of the on-site construction, did not listen to one side or the other and was well aware of the virtues of these Indians.
"we do not have--"
"We have been working very hard, but they are the ones causing trouble over nothing -"
"We are British too, you can't treat us the same as Africans!"
Indian workers are also full of complaints. Southern Africa does not treat Indian workers in a different light because India is the brightest jewel in the crown of the British king.
In actual work, the salary or treatment of Indian-American workers is not even as good as that of African-American workers.
This is really unacceptable to Indian workers.
"Tang Yan, who is in charge of the on-site construction today?" Gundam did not deal with the workers and went directly to the person in charge of the site.
"William and White Peter Mengjian——" Tang Yan is Gao Da's assistant and is responsible for the on-site construction. Now that this happened, Tang Yan cannot escape the blame.
"Very good, you will collectively deduct a week's salary. If this affects the construction progress, you know the consequences." Up to a direct deduction of wages, there is nothing more effective than this.
Tang Yan felt like she was mourning for her heir, and looked at those Indian workers with a cannibalistic look.
After Gundam left, Tang Yan and several engineers responsible for the on-site construction went back to the office for a brief meeting.
When the engineers came back, the on-site supervisors had a thumb-thick rattan in their hands.
The construction site immediately started crying and howling. Those Indian workers who were lazy and lazy were in bad luck. The supervisors ignored the Indians and just stared at them. If they dared to be lazy and slack, the supervisors would immediately use canes to beat them.
It was extremely painful on the human body, and it would not cause serious harm, so the supervisors showed no mercy.
As for the African-American workers, don't worry about them. They have always been hard-working. The consequence of these African-American workers being lazy is not to deduct their wages, but to be sent home directly.
"After the contracts of this batch of Indian workers expire, they will all be sent back to India. We will no longer recruit Indian workers here." After returning to the office, Godard was still angry.
The impact caused by these Indian workers is very bad. They are simply like a mouse droppings that ruins the pot of soup. Not only are they lazy, they will also affect the work attitude and mood of the African workers. If there is no one available,