April 14, 1911.
Rhine City.
Because of the agreement with the United Kingdom, it had a huge impact on the industrial development plan originally formulated by East African government. In particular, the shipbuilding industry and related industries were the most affected.
Naval ships from all over the world account for a large proportion of the country's total ships. Take the United Kingdom, for example. The total tonnage of British civilian ships is close to 20 million tons, while the total tonnage of the navy is as high as 2 million tons. The total tonnage of naval ships is about one-tenth of that of civilian ships.
This is even more true for other countries. For example, the total tonnage of German civilian ships is only a few million tons, while the total tonnage of German Navy is close to one million tons. The ratio is higher than that of the United Kingdom. Other great powers, such as United States, France, East Africa, and Japan, are similar.
It can be said that the United Kingdom monopolizes most of the world's shipping market. The total tonnage of civilian ships in the United Kingdom is more than that of other countries combined, accounting for more than 50% of the world's shipping.
Therefore, based on the construction of the most developed civilian ships, British Navy has such a high proportion of total tonnage, and other major military powers are only higher but not lower.
Take East Africa as an example. In 1910, the total tonnage of East African civilian ships was close to 4 million tons, which was actually about 3.8 million tons. The total tonnage of the navy was 420,000 tons. Among the world's great powers, the proportion of military and civilian ships was relatively close to that of the United Kingdom, reaching almost one-ninth.
The main reason for this result is not that East Africa's civilian shipbuilding industry is strong, but that East African Navy's scale is relatively weak compared to other military powers.
Ernst said, "Now our country's navy's original development plan is restricted by the Treaty of Reconciliation between East and Britain, and military orders have dropped significantly. Due to the impact of the newly signed treaty, some naval shipyards have temporarily suspended operations. Our country's shipbuilding industry has also been greatly affected. In order to offset the negative impact on the shipbuilding industry, policies and construction plans must be adjusted in a timely manner to promote the healthy development of our country's shipbuilding industry."
Affected by the recent signing of the East-British Settlement Treaty, East Africa must show off. After all, British Government is not a fool. In the East-British Settlement Treaty, East Africa can be said to have taken a big advantage. If East African Navy does not stop the arms race as required by the UK, isn't it bullying honest people? Although the British are not considered "honest people".
Klee Shawn, director of the East African Shipbuilding Industry Bureau, said, "Affected by the treaty, our country's shipbuilding industry has been greatly affected. According to the original order demand, our country's military shipbuilding industry should have accounted for at least 18% of all annual ship orders. According to the current construction speed and orders, it can only be close to about 10%, and a gap of between 7 and 8% will appear out of thin air. According to the original long-term construction plan of our navy, the total construction volume of more than 100,000 tons has been directly reduced."
Originally, the preliminary long-term plan of East African Navy was directly aligned with United States, Germany and France, that is, the total tonnage of naval ships reached at least 800,000 tons, but now it has directly become 650,000 tons, a decrease of nearly 150,000 tons.
And the original 800,000 tons was just a floating target. After all, the total volume of United States, Germany and French Navy is surging. According to East African Navy's ideas, the scale of East African Navy should reach at least one million tons before the end of Third Five-Year Plan.
Therefore, the impact of the "East-British Settlement Treaty" on the East African Navy ship construction plan is not only the present but also the future.
Naval orders already occupy an important position in the East African shipbuilding industry. It can be said that the entire East African shipbuilding industry has been greatly affected by the contents of the treaty.
Ernst said, "Now that the overall situation has been decided, we must now abide by the contents of the East-British Settlement Treaty. However, the impact on the shipbuilding industry may not be as great as we imagined. After all, our original naval development plan was not radical. It can be avoided by extending the construction period and rearranging the construction time."
"The naval development plan is restricted, thus freeing up a large amount of funds and personnel. We should allocate these idle funds and personnel to the civilian shipbuilding industry, or to the research and development of special ships."
Although East Africa formulated a huge naval development plan before the Second Five-Year Plan period, whether this plan is radical depends on the reference target.
If you compare Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain, or Russia, East Africa's naval development plan is certainly unconventional, but compared with Britain, the United States, Germany, France, and Japan, it can be said that East Africa's original naval development plan is not radical.
After all, Ernst had no intention to participate in the naval race from the beginning, or in other words, did not intend to fully participate in the naval race, because in Ernst's view, East Africa currently does not have the conditions to challenge superpowers such as the United Kingdom and United States. East Africa cannot win the naval race even if its horsepower is fully utilized.
Therefore, Ernst's goal when formulating the East African naval development plan was to build a regionally powerful navy with deterrence. East Africa has actually achieved this goal long ago. Even after the 1980s, East Africa has never fallen out of the top ten naval powers in the world.
Therefore, the so-called building of a world-class navy when East Africa was negotiating with the United Kingdom was completely out of the question. The so-called world-class navy had no reference significance for a naval power like East Africa.
For example, if East Africa is now considered a world-class naval power, it must be. After all, East African Navy is already ranked sixth in the world. There are military forces in Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and South Atlantic.
Therefore, the "world-class naval power" mentioned during the East African negotiations is essentially a kind of "blackmail" against the United Kingdom. Of course, the premise is that the United Kingdom believes that East Africa has such development goals.
In fact, the United Kingdom does not dare to bet. After all, starting from Second Five-Year Plan, a dreadnought ship has been launched in East Africa almost every year, and a large number of related ships have been built at the same time. Any country can only choose to believe the posture of East African Navy.
Therefore, Britain's choice to reconcile with East Africa was completely an unexpected surprise for East African government, or something that Ernst himself did not expect.
From the very beginning, East Africa used the "non-existent naval plan" to peacefully obtain the chips East Africa wanted from Britain, which British Government could not have imagined.
Now in compliance with the "East-British Settlement Treaty", East Africa can just spare its energy and use the funds that should have been used for military competition to develop economy and technological research and development.
This includes the development of the future main naval ship that Ernst has long been thinking about, that is, the aircraft carrier.
At present, the conditions for the independent research and development of aircraft carriers in East Africa are mature. East Africa has made great progress in the field of aircraft manufacturing and has become the world's largest aircraft manufacturing country. The accumulation of ship technology is also relatively sufficient.
The earliest aircraft carrier in the previous life was born during World War I. In fact, some people in the United Kingdom, France and other countries had proposed related concepts before. In the previous life, in 1912, British Navy obtained a warship that could carry aircraft by modifying cruisers and ferries. This kind of ship, called a "seaplane carrier", was the prototype of the aircraft carrier.
Therefore, Ernst said, "Based on the aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding industries, my country's original aircraft carrier research and development project should also take advantage of this opportunity to accelerate. It is best to complete the construction plan of my country's first aircraft carrier before Third Five-Year Plan, and invest the funds originally used to participate in naval competitions into naval technology improvements and shipbuilding manufacturing quality."
"In addition to some special national projects, there are also a lot of problems in my country's shipbuilding industry itself. In particular, there is a big gap between the system construction and the top powers in the shipbuilding industry like the United Kingdom, which makes the cost of my country's shipbuilding industry remain high. While other countries are frantically engaging in naval competition, it is also the time for my country to vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry system."
The fundamental reason why the UK can maintain the world's largest shipbuilding industry lies in its strong experience and technology accumulation, which makes the UK's shipbuilding costs much lower than other countries. Now that the UK is being distracted by Germany and others, it seems to Ernst that it is a favorable opportunity for East African shipbuilding industry, especially the civilian shipbuilding industry to vigorously develop.