On the morning of February 16, the warships of the German Navy Indian Ocean Fleet appeared in the waters west of India on schedule. Dozens of warships scattered out and headed for the long coastline. Although the Indian Ocean Fleet had more than forty warships of various sizes, compared with India's more than two thousand kilometers of western coastline, it was simply insignificant.
By this calculation, every warship had to blockade as much as fifty kilometers of coastline. During the day, given the speed of these warships, that might not have posed much of a problem. But at night, hampered by visibility, maintaining the blockade would likely have been very difficult. This meant that the German Navy's blockade of India would not be particularly tight. Merchant ships from Britain and the United States could still find gaps and transport those weapons and equipment into India.
Even so, this was far better than imposing no blockade at all and allowing Britain and the United States to ship weapons and equipment into India at will. The intelligence department estimated that once the naval blockade was in place, the amount of weapons and equipment Britain and the United States transported to India would drop by more than seventy percent. That was already a very good result. Without those weapons and equipment, the armament of the Anglo-Indian Army would face major problems. The difficulty the German military faced in taking India would be effectively reduced.
As soon as the German Navy appeared, the British Indian colonial authorities learned of it. Baron Charles Hardinge immediately summoned Lord William Nicholson.
"The Germans have arrived! Although only the German Navy has come for now, it can be foreseen that the German Army will arrive soon as well. We do not have much time left. My lord, you