"Mr. Prime Minister...... If, by the next month, we are unable to replenish the lost carriers, the supply of the country will be cut by 30 percent. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info," an official said, standing in front of Churchill, with difficulty.

Churchill certainly knew what a 30 per cent cut would mean for Britain. It means weakening many aspects in order to maintain basic state functioning.

This is not a simple cut, but ultimately a reduction in a few items of transport, and this reduction is not 30 percent.

Many of the materials included in a country's maritime transportation are indispensable resources, and the transportation of these resources must be maintained 100 percent in any case.

For example, food, for example, the necessities of life, such as the energy that keeps the country running. These things cannot be cut, so only other non-essential supplies can be cut.

The more modern society is, the more types of such essential materials, including even chemical agents, including steel, etc., are inseparable from human life.

In such a situation, if the UK wants to maintain its own operations, it needs to maintain basic material transportation. Basic supplies, including food, will seriously squeeze 70% of the UK's remaining capacity.

The quota that can be allocated to steel and other production materials will also be reduced, and the number of cuts will even fall to 10 percent.

Ten percent of the steel replenishment means that Britain's industrial capacity cannot even exert 10 percent of its original production capacity, which is several times better than the effect of any bombing.

As long as the German navy remained in its current state and continued to be consumed indefinitely, the British mainland would collapse and eventually be dragged down by losses.

"Buying ships from the United States, we have to restore the country's capacity as much as possible, which is the priority right now." Churchill spoke sullenly and instructed the officer.

The official opposite him had an embarrassed face on his face and reminded: "Mr. Prime Minister, we have already counted the transport ships that the United States has sold to us. ”

If American transport ships are not counted, the loss of the Suez Canal is enough to make Britain rethink whether the war should continue.

Rommel's troops cut off the Suez Canal, allowing Britain to obtain resources from India and Burma at least 8,000 kilometers more than the original, and this distance is equal to how many transport ships are really incalculable.

Now, transports from India to the British mainland have to detour the whole of Africa, increasing the round-trip distance by at least 16,000 kilometres, and the time it used to take to make a round trip is now only one one-way voyage.

This is tantamount to saying that all British transport ships on this route can only use their usual capacity - not counting the consumption of ships on the road.

Heavily laden tankers departing from Myanmar have to burn twice as much fuel as they used to travel before they can transport the rest to the mainland.

And when the tanker leaves, it has to take twice as much fuel from mainland China to adapt to the cost on the road.

Not counting the losses of the sinking of submarines and battleships of the German Navy, the additional daily consumption alone is enough to give countless people a headache.

"In any case, ensure the transportation of grain!" Winston Churchill learned about the turmoil at Liverpool this morning, and he has managed to manage the situation until now.

There are already problems of one kind or another in many places due to food shortages, including strikes and riots in the factory areas of the north.

The newly built factory has not been in production for a few days, but due to the shortage of raw materials, it has fallen into the dilemma of insufficient operation.

Subsequently, these factories that are unable to allow workers to work overtime in production will naturally not pay their workers in full.

Without the wages of the war years, as well as ration vouchers for food and daily necessities, the workers were of course unable to support their families, and eventually became resentful.

In fact, with the increasing shortage of food, many places in the British mainland, with ration vouchers, could no longer receive the same amount of food.

"Mr. Prime Minister...... We are already in the process of deploying ships to replenish the fleet of food. The official reported, "But the number is still too small." ”

"Then go to America! Tell them to increase the production of transport ships again! No matter what kind of transport ship, we want it! Churchill impatiently gave his opinion.

He had no other good way, Britain was already underworked, and if he wanted to replenish a large number of transport ships, he could only rely on the Americans.

Although it is a bit more expensive to buy a transport ship from the Americans, fortunately, you can get the spot, and being able to get the spot means that you can immediately make up for Britain's own losses.

It's just that such a deal is getting harder and harder, because the United States has fewer and fewer people willing to sell ships, and the United States itself has to maintain basic domestic capacity.

Therefore, the United States is building a transport ship for Britain with drawings provided by the British side, a transport ship with a tonnage of 10,000 tons, and coal is used as power for economic efficiency.

In all fairness, the production of such transport ships was not fast, and it was not at the same level as the liberty wheels designed and produced by the Americans later.

But even so, the fastest delivery time for the transport ship with a simplified design will not be put into service until February next year.

The British had already ordered 60 of these transports, and now Churchill was talking about only turning the order from 60 to 100.

Through Lend-Lease, Britain also acquired dozens of destroyers from the United States to deal with the German Navy and conduct anti-submarine warfare.

Of course, there are transport ships for these weapons, but they all cost money, and the British are about to give their pants to the Americans in order to obtain these weapons.

After the end of World War II, the British Empire, the former world hegemon, immediately became a second-rate power that needed the protection of the United States.

"Understood, Mr. Prime Minister." The official also knew that there would be no benefit in getting tangled up with Churchill here.

If the prime minister had to arrange a solution to any problem, he would not have to do this job.

After the officer left, an officer walked in. He stood at the door and saluted, and then opened his mouth to report: "You once said that you would visit the experiment of the new anti-tank gun. ”

"No, now we don't have any supplies to produce anti-tank weapons, we can't even afford to produce airplanes, and even battleships are about to stop." Churchill waved his hand frustratedly and rejected the suggestion.

Just now, Churchill had just signed an order to halt the construction of battleships that had been towed to the northern harbors.

In order to ensure the launch of the battleship Prince of Wales, which was almost completed, the British Navy had completely halted the construction of the two battleships, the Anson and the Howe.

In other words, the 17 battleships owned by the British Navy in the course of World War II have been reduced to 15 by Germany unconsciously.

If you convert the same amount, it is almost equivalent to the bombing of the British mainland and the interference of British transport and supply lines, Germany has "sunk" two more British battleships than in the same period in history!

Counting the British warships that were sunk before, the pressure on the German Navy now is much, much less than in the same period in history.

The officer left Churchill's office and passed the sad news to the engineers who were preparing for the experiment.

What no one knows is that this time Churchill's rejection of the anti-tank gun experiment was a very important opportunity for Britain.

Historically, after this experiment, Churchill was arrested by a man named Charles? Goodive's engineers were pulled to another testing ground to watch a demonstration of a new weapon.

This new weapon is called the hedgehog bullet, which is a new type of weapon for warship anti-submarine. This weapon is close to the principle of anti-submarine rockets, and the effect is quite good.

In true history, after this visit, Churchill ordered the start of mass production of this weapon to equip the British Royal Navy.

Later, the Americans also installed the same weapons, which played a positive role in anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic.

It is a pity that at a time when the British Navy needed anti-submarine weapons the most, Churchill missed an opportunity to strengthen the British Navy's anti-submarine capability by changing the formation of a temporary idea.

Another officer walked in at this time, stood up and saluted in front of Li Le, and then opened his mouth to report: "Sir, Andrew? General Cunningham has arrived in London......"

Hearing the other party's report, Churchill was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and ordered: "I know, first find him a room to live in, and don't let him come into contact with anyone." When I have time, I'll talk to him in person. ”

On the one hand, Churchill did not want to provoke Cunningham in the same way that Turing did, and what he needed was cooperation with the other side, not confrontation in a fierce way.

Turing's suicide had a very huge impact on Churchill. The other party chose to die, and brought Churchill many times more trouble than he lived.

In this case, Churchill feared that something would happen to Cunningham. This would put his plans to capture the British "Shadow" on a complete run, and would also make him lose the possibility of verifying the spy who sent the information in Germany.

It's not that he didn't suspect the German channel that sent the message, and after calming down, Churchill did repeatedly guess whether the mysterious German friend was a double agent arranged by the other party.

But he needed conditions to make a judgment, and Turing's death was unclear, which made Churchill lose the basis for his judgment.

"This time, I have to have a good talk with Cunningham and I can't afford to waste another opportunity." Churchill closed his eyes and said to himself in his heart.