To be honest, does Hermann count as a Germany celebrity? It definitely counts, but it is still a bit far-fetched. This kind of celebrity is more like a local celebrity. According to the scale of Principality of Hechingen, it should be a county-level celebrity. If it were not for the name of a vassal state, It is estimated that Germans doesn't know much about it, but it doesn't matter. After all, he is the grandfather of Ernst. His family will definitely support him, not only in naming him, but also in the future, he will publish biographies and various cultural works to beautify the history of the Hechingen Royal Family.
"Ernst, taking advantage of the current depression in the shipbuilding industry, I think the plans you made before are more conservative. For example, this pseudo-7,000-ton ironclad ship must have been extremely expensive before, but now I only used the manufacturing price of the 5,000-ton class to get it, so I suggest you buy two more."
"Father-in-law, as I said before, the budget is still so large. If you are able to buy a few more ships based on my original purchase plan, I have no objection. You can take care of this matter. We East African Navy still have a lot of homework to make up for. Troop ships, supply ships, frigates, training ships... are all in short supply. Ships must be purchased according to the national conditions and actual needs of East Africa, not for the sake of pomp and appearance."
"Increasing a little more funding is not a big problem. You must know that although the coastline of East Africa is only more than 2,000 kilometers, we actually have to cover more than that. Think about it. After occupying New Hamburg Bay in South Africa, our navy is actually in the south We also have a place to stay, and together with the previous Comoros, the sea area we actually want to control extends from East Africa to South Africa, and runs through the entire Mozambique Channel. In other words, the sea area we actually want to control in East Africa is more than 4,000 kilometers long from north to south."
Archduke Ferdinand simply ignored Mozambique, which was stuck in the middle. If he had said this before, Archduke Ferdinand would have definitely thought about it, because at that time East African Navy was really empty-handed. Now, haven't times changed? Once East African Navy's ship purchase plan is completed, the Western Indian Ocean overlord status cannot be lost, although Western Indian Ocean does not have any decent navy except Britain and France.
"Then how many more do you plan to add? Also, the most fundamental problem of our East African Navy is not actually the lack of strong ships and guns, but the lack of relevant naval talents. Without operators, even the most advanced warships are just big targets on the sea."
Ernst One sentence brought Archduke Ferdinand back to reality. The navy is a system, not just equipment. Before Kingdom of Italy was the navy strong? The reason why Austria suffered two defeats is basically due to the gap in personnel quality.
After waking up, Archduke Ferdinand thought about it carefully, "You are right. It seems that what we need most now is personnel training. I need to make some serious plans on how to provide East African Navy with sufficient talents in a relatively short period of time."
It is not necessarily wrong to be ambitious. In fact, the annexation of East Africa Republic of the Transvaal is like eating what is in the bowl. Looking at what is in the pot, Zimbabwe has not digested it and started fighting again. Fortunately, East Africa won the bet and Republic of the Transvaal has not developed into the kind of person who is good at traveling. The main reason is that the population is too small and concentrated, and Boers is not united and did not reach a consensus at the first time. If this war does not go so smoothly, not to mention whether they can win South Africa, even Zimbabwe may also suffer backlash.
"We still need your cooperation in this regard. We not only need to send naval students to Austria, but also Germany and the Netherlands. If we only rely on our House of Habsburg connections to stuff people into the Austrian Navy education system, we won't be able to stuff many people. In this regard, you We House of Hohenzollern should also contribute. I believe that Constantin will take action personally, and Prussian Navy can also absorb some of it. Although Prussian Navy is not as good as Austria, it is still possible to cultivate basic talents."
Ernst nodded and said, "In this regard, we can discuss with the royal families of Germany and Sweden. Although the navies of these two countries are not top-notch, they are not bad in the world. As for the Netherlands, it is a bit difficult. However, there is still a lot to learn from the Dutch shipbuilding industry, and we also lack technical personnel to maintain warships."
There is nothing wrong with sending people to the Netherlands to study ship repair. The shipbuilding industry in the Netherlands has always been good and has a solid foundation. In fact, although Dutch Navy is not good, it is mainly due to funding issues, but the technology of civilian ships is also remarkable in Europe.
As for the naval education system of Austria, it is actually the best in Europe, but it cannot meet the needs of East Africa, or East Africa cannot keep up.
For example, the Royal Mechanical Academy is also an important training base for Austrian Navy talents. However, there are no talents with such academic qualifications in East Africa who can study abroad, so East Africa can only fill people in the Royal Naval Academy, Royal Schiffingen Academy and Royal Ocean Academy and sub-level naval schools.
Austrian Navy's training system is sufficient for itself, but if it is brought to East Africa, it will not be enough. However, Austro-Hungarian Empire also provides naval accelerated education. However, naval accelerated education is also based on recruiting middle school students and then educating them. The few middle school students trained in East Africa every year are not distributed at all. Without a certain cultural foundation, it is still relatively difficult to become a navy.
"As for the training of naval talents, I actually have an idea. We are planning to build a naval school (Ferdinand Naval Academy) in East Africa. The biggest problem currently is the teacher issue. East Africa is in urgent need of naval teachers, but poaching in Austria is not going very smoothly. The main reason is that some Austrian Navy school lecturers cannot save their dignity and go to East Africa to work, so I We should find another way to solve this problem, that is, to cooperate with the Austria naval school, so that the lecturers of the Austrian Navy school can concurrently serve as the lecturers of the Ferdinand Naval Academy. In this regard, I can personally act as a lobbyist to negotiate with the various Austria naval schools." Ferdinand suggested.
"Of course there is no problem. If you have an idea, just do it. We can give them the best treatment in terms of funds." Ernst replied.
It is indeed a bit difficult to go to East Africa to teach, but no one will have trouble with money. The lecturers and instructors of Austrian Navy College are actually not short of money. Even if it is affected by the economic recession, that is, government funding may be delayed, this does not affect the salary. It is a high income. As long as you don't spend money lavishly, you will definitely have some savings.
Moreover, when it comes to cooperative education, the main negotiating partner in East Africa is the college. It is not a direct dialogue with teachers like before. The college agrees that ordinary teachers must also obey the arrangements.
Seeing that it was getting late, Ernst also began to say goodbye to Archduke Ferdinand.
"Are you going directly to Vienna next?"
"Yes, there are still a lot of things to do. The first stop is far away at Vienna. We will mainly discuss railway issues with His Majesty Franz. After Austria is arranged, we will go directly to Germany. There are many excellent assets waiting to be harvested there."