"East Africa's current national strength is insufficient to support the construction of an oceangoing navy. Moreover, traditional maritime powers such as Britain and France, along with the rising United States, already possess enormous naval advantages. Under normal circumstances, expanding our naval construction would only trigger an arms race among nations. In such a race, where everyone chased one another, we would not be able to narrow the gap between our navies. Therefore, every penny spent by the East African Navy must be carefully calculated, rather than poured into an endless naval arms race," East African Minister of Defense Felix told Tirpitz.
If two countries were cooperating, then generally speaking, the stronger one's ally was, the better. That meant one's own camp was stronger as well. It was like Italy, the ally Germany had chosen in Ernst's previous life—if it had merely refrained from dragging Germany down, it might have had an enormous impact on the world order.
Yet the East African government was clearly willing to engage in only limited cooperation with the German Navy in fields such as military technology, routine drills, and training.
Tirpitz was naturally somewhat disappointed by the East African government's lack of ambition. In his view, East Africa was fully capable of becoming a powerful German naval assistant in the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
"As a nation spanning two oceans—or even three, including the Pacific Ocean, where the East African colony is chiefly distributed—you have even defeated Britain. With Germany's full support, you could entirely gain a greater voice in the Indian Ocean and become one of the founders of a new international order." Tirpitz still tried to drag East Africa into the waters, so he did his utmost to paint it a rosy picture.
Germany and East Africa were highly complementary. One