Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1313 Shameless

The temptation of battleships to the navy does not need to be emphasized. There is no man who does not like stupid, thick and black people. Relatively speaking, aircraft carriers are too delicate and weak.

However, the Normandy-class battleships did not meet Rock's requirements. When the project was established in 1912, the performance of the Normandy-class battleships was already behind, and now it is more than ten years behind. Suitably adapted to use the needs of Southern Africa.

Edward Dockyard couldn't solve this problem. To solve it, he had to ask the Royal Navy for help. So Rock had to go to Belfort, who was lingering and sick, hoping that the Royal Navy could give proper help to southern Africa.

"France is going to sell the Normandy-class battleship?" Belfort didn't know the news yet, and his shock was probably equivalent to the British selling the "Hood" battlecruiser.

"Yes, France's current economic downturn continues, and the navy no longer has the strength to restart the Normandy-class battleships, so it is preparing to split them up and sell them. The problem now is that these five battleships are already seriously behind, and the original design must be greatly revised. , such as speed, the 'Hood' with a displacement of 41200 tons has already exceeded 30 knots, and the fastest speed of a Normandy-class battleship with a displacement of only 25000 tons is only 21 knots. Both protection and protection are passable, and the biggest shortcoming is the speed.

According to the experience and lessons of the Battle of Jutland, the Normandy-class battleship has strengthened its underwater protection, and at the same time, the 12 340mm main guns can also guarantee a considerable firepower. What Rock is most criticized is the fastest speed of 21 knots. If the power system is adjusted, the Normandy-class battleship will seriously slow down the speed of the entire fleet, which in turn will affect the entire fleet.

The "Transvaal" class aircraft carrier in southern Africa has reached an unprecedented speed of 32 knots.

Rock does not require the Normandy-class battleship to reach a speed of 32 knots, at least it must have a speed of about 30, so that the Normandy-class battleship may accompany the fleet in the future.

That's right, the biggest role of battleships in the future is probably to escort the aircraft carrier fleet. There is a high probability that the situation of the Battle of Jutland will never happen again.

Belfort didn't speak, but leaned against the head of the bed with his eyes closed and weighed carefully.

Southern Africa's purchase of Normandy-class battleships will not pose a threat to the Royal Navy, but will become a powerful supplement to the Royal Navy.

The only concern of Belfort is whether the southern African navy will be stimulated once the battleship is equipped in southern Africa.

At that time, even Rock's prestige in southern Africa may not be able to suppress the growing ambitions of the southern African navy.

This is a double-edged sword.

"Don't worry, Locke, this kind of deal cannot be reached in a day or two. Even if the Royal Navy Dockyard and Edward Dockyard cooperate again, it still needs the approval of Congress." wide.

Before the outbreak of the World War, the Royal Naval Dockyard and Edward Dockyard had a honeymoon period.

During that time, the Royal Navy Dockyard obtained relevant information on aircraft carriers from the Edward Dockyard, and the Edward Dockyard obtained the most advanced power and artillery technology from the Royal Navy Dockyard.

Of course, looking back now, both the Edward Dockyard and the Royal Navy Dockyard have their own ghosts.

Edward Dockyard did not tell all about the technology of the aircraft carrier.

The Royal Naval Shipyard did not have any reservations. At least at that time, Britain was capable of manufacturing 15-inch naval guns. The Royal Navy only gave the relevant technology of 14-inch naval guns in southern Africa.

14 inches is 355 mm, which is more than enough for the Southern African Navy.

The main gun of the heavy cruiser "Johannesburg" is only 203mm.

Back at the station, Roque was in a bad mood. It was too difficult to do something. Roque wanted to buy the Normandy-class battleship and needed the approval of the Southern African Congress; The improvement of status did not bring more convenience to Rock, but more and more constraints.

Stoudemire and Owen also knew that Rock was in a bad mood, so they invited Rock to relax.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a big health care, just go to the bar to sit, drink some "juice" and chat or something.

This "juice" is of course in quotation marks. Adding a certain amount of water according to the proportion will turn it into wine. This is the wisdom of the masses of the American people during the "Prohibition".

"Don't be depressed Locke, my father was also ambitious when he went to southern Africa, so my father founded the South African company, occupied Rhodesia, started the Boer War - you know what happened later, some people are like this, they Sitting in the office thinking wildly, trying to control everything in your own hands, the result often backfires, Locke, if one day you serve as the prime minister of southern Africa, you'd better dissolve the Congress directly, and the truth will always be in the hands of a few people." Stoudemire is Rock's most staunch supporter, and it has to be said that the old Cecil Rhodes' vision is indeed vicious.

Old Cecil Rhodes decided to "sell" Nyasaland, which has a total area of ​​20 square kilometers, to Rock for one pound less than half an hour after they met. Not necessarily have the courage.

After Roque got Nyasaland, he returned far more than 20 square kilometers to the Rhodes family. Now the combined area of ​​​​South Rhodesia and North Rhodesia exceeds 160 million square kilometers, second only to Cape. Southern Africa's second largest continent.

The key is not the size of the area. In another time and space, when Southern Africa was established, Rhodesia did not join the Southern African Federation and was still a British colony.

What happened later was unbearable. After World War II, Britain was unable to maintain a huge colonial system. Rhodesia was split into Zimbabwe and Zambia, and it was reduced from an "African bakery" to the world's least developed country. The Rhodes family gradually disappeared and never returned to the past. brilliant.

"It's better not to do this. If the Congress is used well, it will still be very useful." Owen started from the interests of the Matilda family. Without the Congress, the influence of the Matilda family would be greatly affected.

Regardless of whether Rock is still a part of the Matilda family, in the long run, Rock will form a family of his own sooner or later, and the interests of the Rock family and the Matilda family may conflict.

Don't think that if there is a family marriage, the relationship will be unbreakable. George V and William II are still relatives, and it didn't stop the outbreak of the World War.

"Congress still needs to exist. One person counts the short and the other counts the long—" Rock covered his face with a cup while speaking, and Owen couldn't see Rock's eyes and expressions.

"Ah, my lord, what a coincidence—" Kato Yusaburo also appeared in the bar, probably not by coincidence.

"Minister, good evening." Rock was not salty, he knew why Kato Yusaburo appeared here.

Although Rock explicitly rejected Kato Yusaburo in New York, Kato Yusaburo did not give up, and was still actively creating opportunities to communicate with Rock through various "coincidences".

After a long time, Roque was also very helpless. Kato Yusaburo had the tenacity and persistence unique to the Japanese. If it were not for the grievances between the Japanese and the Chinese, Roque would still appreciate Kato Tomosaburo very much.

"My lord, France is going to sell the Normandy-class battleship, do you have any ideas?" Kato Yusaburo already knew that Rock and Albert Sarao had met, and this kind of thing could not be hidden from others.

"No, the Normandy battleship is an outdated warship, and Southern Africa is not interested." Rock didn't answer, saying that whether there is interest in Southern Africa has nothing to do with the Japanese.

"Lord, if you think the performance of the Normandy-class battleship is not good enough, then the Empire of Japan can provide more advanced artillery—" Kato Yusaburo threw an olive branch to Rock.

"Hahahaha, Minister Kato, what technology do you have that is more advanced than the British Empire?" Stoudemire laughed. Japan is still very strange to many Westerners.

Or rather mysterious.

Kato Yusaburo sneered and said nothing. Of course Japan has its trump cards, such as the 410mm main guns of "Mutsu" and "Nagato", which the UK really doesn't know how to make.

Of course, the calibers of the main guns of "Mutsu" and "Nagato" are top secrets for the Japanese navy, and Yusaburo Kato will definitely not say.

"Your Excellency, let's talk about the tonnage of the battleship. The naval meeting has been held for half a month, and there has been no progress. We can't waste precious time on boring quarrels." Rock went straight to the point, and now Rock really I regret it, I shouldn't have come to Washington, and there are a lot of things going on in southern Africa.

Of course, Rock's presence in Washington didn't affect the processing work, but it was just a little troublesome, and telegrams were needed to communicate with the mainland in southern Africa.

It takes almost three hours to send a telegram from Washington to Southern Africa, and the time is mainly wasted on transit——

"Yes, that's the case, but 30 tons is really not enough for the Japanese Navy." Kato Yusaburo is also tired of endless quarrels.

"Then how much do you want?" Rock doesn't care, the future opponent of the Japanese navy is the United States, so Rock really doesn't care about the tonnage of the capital ships of the Japanese navy.

In fact, the more the merrier.

The more battleships Japan has, the more trouble it creates for the United States.

"35 tons—" Kato Yusaburo gritted his teeth.

"Hehe, 35 tons, the 'King Kong' class battleship is 37500 tons, the 'Fuso' class battleship is 30600 tons, the 'Ise' class battleship is 31260 tons, and the 'Mutsu' and 'Nagato' are 33800 tons. It’s just a little over 30, where’s the 35 tons? Unless you still want to build a new battleship—”Rock listed in detail, these data are all public, it’s impossible for Yusaburo Kato to deny it”——Think about the Secretary of State Sir, if you build one, the United States will build four, if you think Japan is already capable of an arms race with the United States, then please go ahead.”

In Roque's words, Japan is shameless.

(End of this chapter)