In addition to Mtwara Port, other ports are naturally equipped with forts, and due to geographical and historical factors, the forts in other East African ports have much higher specifications than Mtwara.
Depending on the importance of each port, the number of coastal defense guns varies.
Among them, Dar es Salaam Port and Mombasa Port are the top priority in East Africa. They have a long history of port construction and optimal natural conditions, ranking first in the East African port hierarchy.
The forts arranged by Dar es Salaam Port and Mombasa Port are initially set to have eight gun emplacements respectively.
Tanga Port and Port Bagamoyo are also two key ports that connect the sea area between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, ranking in the second echelon.
Tanga Port and Port Bagamoyo have six reserved gun positions each.
Mtwara Port is not only small in scale, but its strategic position is not as prominent as the former, so it can only be ranked in the third echelon. In the future, the newly built ports of Tanzania and Kenya are expected to be in the same level as Mtwara Port.
But Mtwara Port also has four gun positions.
In addition to these ports, some islands snatched from Sultanate of Zanzibar are also the focus of defense. The most typical ones are Pemba Island and Mafia Island. These two islands are the two islands of East African coast second only to Zanzibar Island.
Among them, Pemba Island was once an important part of Sultanate of Zanzibar's territory. Mafia Island is also suitable for human settlement.
Both islands play a defensive role in East African coast. If Zanzibar Island is added, a chain of islands is formed. However, this island chain is relatively close to the coast of East Africa and is not easily controlled by overseas forces.
For example, it is impossible for someone to use this island chain to block the East African coast. First of all, these three islands can only cover the northern coastal zone of Tanzania. Secondly, there is a vast Indian Ocean to the east. It is difficult for hostile forces to replenish supplies and weapons to this island chain.
For example, Ryukyu Islands in the East Asian island chain is relatively far away from United States, but the mainland is not close to it. United States relies on countries such as Japan and Philippines to block and control this island chain.
As for this "island chain" along the coast of East Africa, it is no exaggeration to say that it is possible to land by canoe from the coast of the East African continent.
Even so, the strategic position of Pemba Island and Mafia Island is still very prominent, and the economic value of Pemba Island is also very potential, suitable for population settlement. In the previous life, Pemba Island was home to more than 200,000 people. The island has all kinds of cities and ports, and it is suitable for agricultural cultivation.
The status of Mafia Island is approximately between Tanga Port and Mtwara Port. In its previous life, Mafia Island was an important tourist resort for Tanzania, with a permanent population of about 20,000.
Therefore, East African colony will not give up on these two islands. In order to ensure the development of these two islands and ensure the strategic security of the East African coast, Pemba Island has reserved six gun positions, while Mafia Island has reserved two gun positions.
In this way, the East African offshore defense system has a rough prototype, with a total of forty large-caliber coastal defense artillery pieces.
Forty doors is not too many, but the current port size in East Africa is not large either, so the match between the two is quite reasonable, especially for defense against large ships, which is more than enough.
This is of course only the first step. Currently, East African colony does not have the ability to continue to improve its defense capabilities and can only wait until the future to increase the number of large-caliber artillery pieces.
However, small-caliber artillery can be arranged one after another. After all, the price of ammunition for large-caliber artillery is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
As for enemies at sea, if they first send small boats to explore and attack, the cost of attacking with large-caliber shore defense artillery will be unbearable. At this time, small-caliber artillery is needed.
The advantage of large-caliber coastal defense artillery is that the design parameters of the sea area covered are fixed and calibrated in advance, so the hit rate will be much higher, but the cost is relatively high and it is suitable for dealing with large ships.
Small-caliber artillery is relatively low-cost, mobile, and highly flexible, and has great advantages against small targets.
At present, East African colony is not equipped with small-caliber artillery. This is because Hechingen Arms Factory located in Trieste has not yet been put into production.
The development of large-caliber artillery is relatively difficult. With the strength of Hechingen Arms Factory, it is still too early to develop large-caliber artillery at present.
After all, you can't learn to run before you learn to walk, so it is very important to accumulate experience starting from the production of small-caliber artillery.
Moreover, small-caliber artillery has a wide range of application scenarios, convenient transportation, and low cost, making it very suitable for the small-scale production of Hechingen Arms Factory.
And East African colony is the private territory of Hechingen Arms Factory. The artillery produced by it will be continuously equipped with the East African Colony Army in the future.
The ones East African colony currently faces the most are the indigenous forces. To be honest, a rifle is enough to kill a chicken with a sledgehammer, but Ernst just likes the feeling of sufficient firepower.
Moreover, Portugal is also a potential enemy. Mozambique colony of Portugal has a long development history. There must be some real ones in hand, so we should not take it lightly.
After the Trieste sub-Hechingen Arms Factory is put into production in the future, the two systems that will be supplied with the highest priority are the East African colony offshore defense system and the East African and Portuguese power border systems.
Speaking of the offshore defense system, its construction was designed by professionals from Austrian Navy. Last time Battle of Lissa, Austrian Navy was actually the defense party, so they have rich experience in this area.
Moreover, after the war, Austro-Hungarian Empire strengthened its offshore defense, and its decommissioned naval guns were also placed in the Adriatic Sea's important strategic locations like those in East Africa.
Therefore, Ernst can be considered a bargain and can be copied off the shelf. Except for the insufficient number of small-caliber artillery (second-hand goods left by Sultanate of Zanzibar), other aspects are exactly the same as Austro-Hungarian Empire.
For example, the fort is built with thicker reinforced concrete protection. Its structure is exactly the same as Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even the shore defense guns are made by the same company.
Therefore, the offshore defense system along the East African coast is equivalent to copying the defense system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Adriatic Sea, which is first-class in this era.
As long as the number of small-caliber artillery is reached in the follow-up, the entire East African coast will be an iron bastard that no one can bite. Unless there is an attack regardless of cost, it is not Ernst that looks down on the strength of other countries. It means that the European and American navies have the ability to break through the completed East African offshore defense system.
But the navies of various countries are not fools. Who would drive an armored ship to East Africa to fight this iron bastard? The shipping fee is not enough to compensate.
That is to say, Portugal has the strength and motivation to attack East Africa by sea and land. Therefore, the single door of East African colony strengthens the military presence in the south. The south is the land defense line in East Africa, and the east is the offshore defense system. You can tell who these two systems are used to guard against at a glance.
In other directions, East African colony takes the initiative to attack and does not need to defend. For example, in the southwest direction, Mbeya leads to Zambia and Zimbabwe. Due west is Lake Tanganyika as a natural barrier, and due north are indigenous forces.