African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1074: Chapter 83: Dreadnought Era

As time progressed, by 1908 the East African Navy had already built two dreadnoughts, second only to the financially robust British Royal Navy. Although dreadnoughts are more advanced than pre-dreadnoughts, having only two-and-a-half in number clearly cannot dominate the situation.

Currently, both dreadnoughts of the East African Navy are deployed in the Indian Ocean Fleet, while the Quasi-Dreadnought Bajamojo belongs to the Atlantic Fleet, reflecting the core position of the Indian Ocean in East Africa’s maritime strategy.

In fact, the spread of dreadnoughts was swift. In 1907, Germany and Austria-Hungary had already started constructing their own dreadnoughts. The technology of the Austria-Hungary Navy mainly came from East Africa, while Germany combined its own technology with a small portion from East Africa.

Including the United Kingdom, there were already four countries in the world owning dreadnoughts. Other countries, aside from France leaning towards cruisers and other ship types, also planned to join the race.

For such outcomes, the most troubled were the United Kingdom, and the successive acquisition of dreadnoughts by East Africa, Germany, and Austria-Hungary also triggered the ”German” threat theory to cause minor tensions globally.

The combined number of dreadnoughts of the three countries surpassed that of the United Kingdom, prompting the UK to increase its national dreadnought and battlecruiser construction plans in 1907.

The main differences between battlecruisers and dreadnoughts lie in speed, with battlecruisers being more maneuverable. Currently, the United Kingdom is the only country owning battlecruisers.

Germany followed closely, beginning the construction of battlecruisers in 1908, predicted to launch next year, in which regard East Africa lagged slightly.

Of course, the boundaries between the two warship types are not too clear in practice, primarily differing in focus. From the perspective of the East African Navy, battlecruisers are more of a transitional product.

Regarding battlecruisers, in my previous life, countries like the UK, US, Germany, and Japan had differing positions on battlecruisers. Fisher, the inventor of battlecruisers, considered them as battleships, while others viewed battlecruisers as enlarged heavy cruisers.

Within the East African Navy, opinions on battlecruisers also vary. Nonetheless, adhering to the principle of possessing what others have, the Navy is actively researching this type of ship. However, East Africa still has a certain disparity in national strength and technological level compared to the UK and Germany, hence currently unable to form.

The reason East Africa could closely follow in the realm of dreadnoughts had the Bajamojo as a foundation, a result of early planning. Nevertheless, once the UK and Germany adjust their development directions, they will quickly surpass, reflecting the current gap between the East African Navy and world-leading naval powers.

Essentially, the outcome mainly derived from the disparity in financial resources and industrial base, with East Africa barely ranking upper-middle in shipbuilding industry while the UK undoubtedly leads the world in this field. Germany’s technological explosion in recent years and strong industrial foundation have rendered German shipbuilding not inferior to the UK. Besides the two countries, the United States holds the third position worldwide.

Among other countries, Russia and Austria-Hungary need not be emphasized, as both possess underwhelming naval capacity compared to their armies. France finds it tough to keep pace with the UK, US, and Germany, primarily because France’s industrial development hasn’t been ideal since the Franco-Prussian War, especially compared to Germany. France, unlike the UK, doesn’t have sufficient resources for the Navy’s extravagance, rendering the French Navy in a middling position.

In the East African Navy development plan, the main reference remains the British Royal Navy, given differing national contexts. East Africa and Germany have certain cognitive differences.

As a nation of two oceans, East Africa places more emphasis on offshore operations, whereas Germany lacks motivation in this aspect. Therefore, the East African Navy perceives battlecruisers as a type suitable for offshore power projection, especially exerting significant deterrence against countries with relatively weak naval strengths.

Moreover, due to differing emphasis from battleships, differentiation allows both main warship types to employ more tactics. Thus, for battlecruisers, the East African Navy is determined to acquire them.

In sum, since 1905, the East African Navy commenced accelerated development across various aspects. Regarding expectations, the East African Navy didn’t seek the position of the world’s foremost navy, but aimed to ensure East Africa doesn’t fall from the first echelon.

With the development of naval military competition, many countries have gradually failed to keep up with the military development pace of the UK, Germany, and US, as seen with France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

East Africa’s Navy has just begun to exert force, considering East Africa didn’t previously engage in the naval military competition of the pre-dreadnought era, enabling East Africa to devote more energy during the dreadnought era. According to previous life experiences, dreadnoughts can at least be used until the Second World War, and only in the mid-to-late war period were they replaced by aircraft carriers, so East Africa needn’t worry about immediately exiting the historical stage due to technological renewal in this race track.

The immediate goal of the East African Navy is to reach the level of the world’s top five. Currently, the East African Navy should be in seventh place, behind the UK, Germany, US, France, Japan, and Russia. Despite suffering great losses in the Russo-Japanese War, losing more than half, Russia’s total tonnage still ranks before East Africa, indicative of underlying issues.

However, the Russian Navy and Japanese Navy are estimated to both be unable to recover in the next few years, so the genuine country for East Africa to surpass should target France.

If the East African Navy surpasses France, it is foreseeable that France’s international status will indeed be replaced by East Africa, since East Africa has already surpassed France in terms of industrial total output and other aspects. Currently, East Africa’s industrial competitor primarily ranks third globally, the United Kingdom.

Of course, in the industrial sector, the UK has already fallen behind Germany and the US. As for the economy, it may not be on par with Germany.

In reality, Russia’s total economic output might exceed France’s. However, due to factors like population and industry, Russia only possesses volume without quality. So, generally, it is believed that France’s national power ranks above Russia’s, at least from an efficiency and utilization perspective.

Based on France’s organization capability and military strength, if Russia were to engage in warfare, France could at least hold an advantage in the early stages. This point mainly derives from previous World War I experiences, considering France and Germany were on par during the war, while Germany militarily suppressed Russia on the Eastern Front.

Of course, relying on Russia’s volume, it likely could achieve a comeback since the primary cause for Russia’s defeat in World War I was domestic turmoil. Russia’s war potential wasn’t fully unleashed.

Hence, the national powers of Russia and France are somewhat similar, and East Africa also has various strengths and weaknesses when compared to France. Yet, a comparison between Russia and East Africa yields a different result.

Currently, Russia’s military strength is above East Africa’s, at least on paper. Russia’s army has maintained over one million personnel for years, while East Africa is less than half of Russia’s. Even following its near half loss after the Russo-Japanese War, the total Russian navy still surpassing East Africa’s is very telling.

Of course, from a practical standpoint, Russia’s military strength assuresly doesn’t compare to East Africa’s, such as weaponry and mobilization capabilities, among other factors. Moreover, the East African Army has preliminarily achieved motorization and the Navy has caught up with the dreadnought trend, surpassing the Russian Navy is merely a matter of time.

Outside the military domain, East Africa further formulates a crushing advantage over Russia—East Africa’s industrial scale being larger is one aspect, simultaneously superior industrial development quality completes the picture.

French and Russian industries aren’t easily compared, given their differing sizes. However, East Africa and Russia differ less. Numerous quantities enable direct comparison as both nations possess continental area exceeding ten million square kilometers and similar populations, thus rendering comparisons between East Africa and Russia more vivid.

Essentially, you could say the advantages Russia offers over Europe are equally held by East Africa, while some of Russia’s drawbacks don’t necessarily apply to East Africa.