The iteration of main naval combat vessels had progressed slightly more slowly than that of other great powers' navies, and the East African government was well aware of this.
Rhine City.
Ernst lay on the sofa, reading the current summary report on the East African Army's development while saying to Crown Prince Friedrich, "Compared with the army and air force, the navy's expansion has indeed been somewhat slower."
"Now that we have clarified the rough state of development and plans of other countries' navies, we can also loosen the reins on the navy as appropriate."
"Britain's carrier force is now second only to East Africa's. We can use Britain as a model to strengthen the Imperial Navy, build three more new carriers, and expand the Empire's carrier formations to ten."
Crown Prince Friedrich rubbed his brow and sighed. "Building three carriers in one go, on top of the two carriers already under construction, means the Empire will have five carriers being built at the same time. That is truly a grand undertaking."
Although it had been mentioned before that Britain did not have much fewer carriers than East Africa, there was still a vast difference between the two.
Take the several carriers in British service: none were "professional" carriers. Most had been converted from other large warships. For example, Britain's Eagle carrier had been converted from a battleship, while the Courageous had been converted from a cruiser.
The actual situation with American and Imperial Japanese Navy carriers was not much different from Britain's.
East Africa, by contrast, had treated carriers as an entirely new class of vessel from its very first one, wholly distinct from battleships in terms of design, armament layout, and construction.
Moreover, based on Ernst's memories, they had removed certain superfluous additions—things like naval guns and double-deck