The man who took Springfield was named William, a Royal Navy officer. He started serving in Halifax in 2004. When the British army evacuated in 2005, William was ordered to stay at the army base and prepare to hand it over to the Canadian Army. Unexpectedly, he would be 15
Year.
"Actually, it's not 15 years. If you calculate it carefully, it should be about 10 years. The last batch of British troops evacuated 10 years ago and the base was handed over to the Canadian military. However, the Canadian military never sent anyone to take over. I was completely forgotten here.
." After a long time, William's mood calmed down, and he sat beside the fireplace in the living room and talked.
Arthur was an excellent listener, never interrupting or getting distracted, and always had an encouraging smile on his face, which made William eager to talk.
Gavin was a little distracted, looking at William's living room.
It can be seen that William probably has very few guests here, so there are only a few chairs in the living room.
On the wall are photos of William when he was serving in the military when he was young. Many people are laughing in the photos. William is among them and his smile is extremely bright.
Looking at the cheerful William in the photo, it is difficult to connect with the miserable and lonely man in front of him.
"Halifax may be the best military port in the world. It will not freeze even in winter. The outer harbor is 9.6 kilometers long and 1.6 kilometers wide. The inner harbor is 6.4 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide. The entrance is 26 meters deep.
The shallowest point of the channel is 15 meters, and the average depth is about 8.5 meters. When building the military port in 1840, the Royal Navy spent millions of pounds, but those were millions in 1840-" William was heartbroken when talking about Halifax.
, since the United Kingdom began to implement its global contraction strategy, there are countless military ports like Halifax that have been abandoned by the Royal Navy.
However, 1840 obviously has special significance to the Chinese, and Arthur and Gavin also know that history.
"Ten years ago, Halifax had less than 45,000 people. At that time, it was the most important military port in Canada. At its peak, the Royal Navy had hundreds of warships stationed in Halifax. Our fleet could go south to attack at any time.
In New York, Americans are trembling under our naval guns, but the Royal Navy actually abandoned this place. This is definitely a mistake, absolutely a mistake!" William was emotional, and Gavin still couldn't understand William's feelings for Halifax.
Arthur can understand.
"A fleet will arrive in Halifax soon, and we will gradually restore Halifax to its grandeur." Arthur also knows the importance of Halifax. Stationing a fleet here will
It's like a sharp knife close to the heart of America.
Halifax is less than 1,000 kilometers from New York and 1,250 kilometers from the District of Columbia. The latest bombers installed in southern Africa can fly directly to the District of Columbia taking off from Halifax.
"Is the Southern African Navy still considered the Royal Navy?" William looked confused. The British Empire was really in decline, and it actually had to rely on overseas autonomous territories to maintain its dignity.
"Of course, the Southern African Navy will always be part of the Royal Navy -" Arthur smiled. It never depends on interests. As long as the fundamental interests of Nyasaland and London do not conflict, then the Southern African Navy will always be a part of the Royal Navy.
Part of the Royal Navy.
The latest news is that the Royal Navy has agreed to hand over part of the aircraft carrier tonnage to Southern Africa, on the condition that when Southern Africa builds aircraft carriers, it also builds one for the Royal Navy.
This aircraft carrier must be free, and the Royal Navy requires the same aircraft carrier as the Southern African Navy. It cannot be the export version sold to the United States and France.
In fact, the performance and parameters of the aircraft carriers sold to the United States and France in southern Africa are similar to those sold to the Royal Navy.
Southern Africa's own aircraft carriers have better performance and data, are faster, carry more aircraft, and are lighter.
This "lighter tonnage" is of course achieved at the expense of lowering protection standards.
The Southern African Ministry of Defense agreed to the Royal Navy's conditions.
The cost of an aircraft carrier produced in southern Africa, including carrier-based aircraft, is only about 1.2 million rand, which is really not expensive.
Three days later, the Whale Fleet arrived in Halifax, still led by Patton.
Now Patton's position has been promoted to Commander of the Whale Bay Fleet, and his flagship is the heavy cruiser "Kimberley".
The "Kimberley" heavy cruiser is the second ship of the "Johannesburg" class heavy cruiser. The specific parameters are exactly the same as the "Johannesburg" heavy cruiser. The Southern African Navy was originally planning to produce 8 heavy cruisers of this class, but after confirming the series
After the aircraft carrier was installed, the original design fell behind. The Southern African Navy finally decided to stop the construction of the "Johannesburg" class heavy cruiser. All subsequent six ships were canceled and the upgraded version was the "Los Angeles" class heavy cruiser.
The Southern African Navy plans to build 12 "Los Angeles" class heavy cruisers.
Along with the heavy cruiser "Kimberley", two light cruisers and four destroyers arrived in Halifax. These warships have separated from the Whale Fleet and formed the new Atlantic Fleet. The fleet headquarters is in Halifax.
.
In the future, the Southern African Navy will also form an Indian Ocean Fleet, and the fleet headquarters is likely to be placed in Diego Garcia.
When he met Arthur and Gavin, Barton was extremely happy. The establishment of the Atlantic Fleet was also due to Arthur and Gavin.
"Do you want to join the Navy and become a formal naval officer?" Barton was very interested. If Arthur and Gavin joined the Navy, it would be easier for the Navy to ask for money from the Treasury.
"That's great, I've wanted to join the navy for a long time -" Gavin couldn't wait.
"Forget it, Aunt Phyllis won't agree." Arthur threw cold water. Not only Phyllis disagreed, but Ada also wouldn't agree to Arthur joining the navy.
If you are not a baron, why should you be a navy?
Gavin is even worse. After traveling around the world, Gavin will probably return to southern Africa and wait to inherit the title of Marquis of Nyasaland.
Unfortunately, given Roark's health condition, Gavin may have to wait for many years.
Think about a certain crown prince who is over seventy years old——
Oops, this is so miserable. I guess the crown prince dreams about stabbing villains every day.
"There is a chance -" Barton laughed. Southern Africa implements a compulsory military service system, and nobles must also perform military service in principle.
In principle, you have to perform military service, but in fact you don't have to do it. After all, there are special circumstances that require special treatment.
While in principle it doesn't work, in fact it does.
Chinese is very profound.
Of course, this "military service" must have different standards for different groups of people.
Civilians who serve in the military usually join the Corps of Engineers directly, work as free labor for two years, and receive a generous retirement pension when they retire.
For Arthur and Gavin, military service is more about gold plating. If you join the navy, you will usually enter the headquarters directly and will not serve at the grassroots level.
"Brother Barton, you have a very heavy task next -" Arthur did not dwell on this topic. Thinking about the death rate of the nobles who participated in the World War, Arthur shuddered.
The Canadian government has no interest in military bases, but is very active in taking over the land owned by military bases.
Originally, the inner harbor and outer harbor of Halifax were owned by the naval base. Now the inner harbor still belongs to the naval base, but the outer harbor is used for civilian development by the Canadian government. A large number of commercial areas and factories have been built on both sides of the strait, and many docks are privately owned.
All, it seems very difficult to recover.
"It doesn't matter, forget about the land that has been sold by the Canadian government. But since those lands belong to military bases, they have to pay taxes to the military bases. The Atlantic Fleet is short of money. It only relies on congressional appropriations to even run its daily operations.
Not enough." Barton isn't worried that private property is sacred and inviolable?
nonexistent!
Despite the loud slogans of the United Kingdom and the United States, this is not the case at all in actual implementation. The government and capitalists have many ways to take money out of ordinary people's pockets.
Arthur smiled. Since Barton knew, there was no need for Arthur to remind him.
It’s time for Arthur and Gavin to hit the road——
Bah bah bah, it’s time to leave Canada and continue traveling around the world.
Next, Arthur and Gavin prepare to go to Japan.
During the World War, Japan developed rapidly, and after the war, it was able to engage in an arms race with the United States. It was truly courageous.
Arthur and Gavin need to improve their understanding of Japan. After all, southern Africa also has many interests in Southeast Asia.
Since the independence of East India, many southern Africans have gone to East India to buy plantations, develop land, and settle directly in East India.
These people will definitely not give up their southern African nationality. There are at least more than 50,000 southern Africans living in the East Indies. Japan is coveting the oil in the East Indies. In the past, Britain and Japan were allies, and Japan could easily access the East Indies.
India obtained oil. Now that the Anglo-Japanese alliance has been replaced by the Four-Power Treaty, if Japan wants to obtain oil from East India, it will depend on how much money the Japanese can give.
"Japan is nothing to look at. This country is now militarizing and has reached a dead end. Sooner or later it will become the source of trouble in Asia." Patton understands Japan's situation very well. Most countries in this world have more ambitions than strength.
, Japan is one of the best.
"But with Japan's strength, it is worthy of our attention to proactively provoke an arms race." Arthur has his own opinion, but he understands it on paper but knows that it must be carried out.
"Oh, if we in southern Africa are like Japan, squeezing internally and expanding externally, we can build a hundred battleships, let alone ten battleships." Patton still complained in his heart, battleships, battleships -
The four "Normandy" class battleships have been confirmed to be renamed "Congo" class battleships. The names of the four ships are "Congo", "West Africa", "Mozambique" and "East India".
The first three are understandable, but what the hell is the last "East India"?
If that's the case, we should buy back the not-so-complete "Béarn" and change it into the "Najd", so that the whole family can be in order.
:Brothers, you have misunderstood me. What I mean is that I am an ugly guy, so I can’t understand how you handsome guys fall in love——