Chapter 1518 Submarine Transportation
At this point, it has been quite understood, but I just didn't say that you are not China's opponent, you still have to preserve your strength, put your funds, manpower, these things are all in support of Britain, as long as Britain can win in the Entente, then everything will be fine, but if Britain fails, they will not be able to. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
For Australia, Britain's answer, like a bolt from the blue, fell on the heads of the Australian high-level, they did not expect at all, it would be so, even Britain is helpless, the Chinese with indisputable facts, proved that he is strong, the combat effectiveness of the army is strong, the navy is still strong, even Britain is helpless, but even in this case, the Australian top level did not think much, they did not interpret too much of the British problem, for them, No one wants to be a prisoner, even if they can't be under one person, above ten thousand, to be a rich man or simply join the British political arena, maybe the future will be better.
At this time, Australia had just become independent, and it was still a member of the British Commonwealth, and he did not have much independent thinking at the top level, and it was more in the field of the previous Australian governor, who was sent by the British side at that time, and after they worked here for a period of time, they would be rotated, and they forgot that they no longer belonged to the United Kingdom, they were not the governors sent by the British, but an independent country, although they were still affiliated with the British Commonwealth, but there were not many administrative and economic exchanges, and they did not think about it from an independent country, and did not think at all that the British were calculating their wealth at this time.
To put it bluntly, Britain at this time was already sick and rushed to the hospital, from 1913 to 1916, the war of 4 years before and after, the cumulative millions of casualties, plus the cost of the war, Britain was already on the verge of collapse, if it were not for the support of the United States and the status of the British financial center for many years, Britain would have been unable to support it, to put it bluntly, including Britain and France of the Entente countries, did not take into account the cruelty of modern warfare, the daily consumption is almost astronomical, This is not something that can be compensated for by simple accumulation, thinking that there are still millions of people in need of pensions, thinking of the current indefinite battle, Britain has no choice but to obtain capital from all sides, and the Republic of the Commonwealth, almost the object of his target, on the one hand, transfers industrial capacity to Canada, ready to use his manpower and resources, and on the other hand, begins to exploit the precious metal mines of South Africa and Australia on a large scale, in order to be able to obtain profits from the middle.
China's invasion of Australia, interrupting his plan, was originally a heavy blow, I thought that the huge Australia could delay China's footsteps, but did not expect that China was too strong, directly to completely blow Australia up, at this moment, it is useless to say anything else, rather than put this wealth here, cheap Chinese for nothing, it is better to concentrate this part of the wealth.
After all, Australia is a rich country, in the Commonwealth, it can be counted, and even to a certain extent, stronger than South Africa, although South Africa has a large number of precious metal mines, but those mineral deposits are the price paid by the British Boer War, most of them belong to Britain, not South Africa, aside from these gold, South Africa and Australia, is really not strong.
Britain also thought that it would take a few more fierce drugs to promote the smooth progress of this proposal, but they did not expect that this proposal was finally unanimously approved by the top level of Australia, they did not think as much as the British thought, they were really thinking about leaving, and even began to make substantive moves.
The Australian Bank in Sydney has begun to recycle gold and is preparing to move its vault, and among Australia's top executives, who are responsible for economic management and securities, and foreign investment has also begun to shrink and sort out, and some of the securities and contracts for foreign investment will be transferred away as soon as possible, just like gold.
But really put the mind on the transfer, Australia only found that if you want to leave, it is really not easy, Australia wants to leave, you can only rely on the sea, but how to go by sea, the remaining two states of Australia, there are close to 10 million residents, this part of the personnel is Australia's most favorable supporters, the top level conducted a simple survey, willing to return to the UK, accounted for more than 9 percent, if they follow his high-level return to the UK, it is a real achievement.
In addition, the whole of Australia has a lot of wealth, this part of the wealth, except for a small part of gold, precious metals, securities and the like, the rest are bulk commodities, such as wool, mutton, fur and other things, these are Australian specialties, when the war came, it has not been sent out for a long time, in addition to some grain, finished wool textiles and milk powder, these are also important military supplies when the war comes.
The amount of this part is extremely huge, at least one million tons, this thing, once it arrives in Europe, at least hundreds of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions of dollars, can not be said to give up, but soon, Australia's high-level found that if you want to transport them, it is extremely difficult, Australia in a state of war, has lost the ability to transport these goods to the outside on a large scale, such a huge number of people and goods, the sea is definitely not good, too eye-catching, And it's hard for ports to function.
Last year, because of China's attack, because of the fear of China's sneak attack, a large number of mines were laid in most ports on the southeast coast, and now if you want to resume navigation, it will take time, you have to transport so many people, and there are bulk commodities to leave, and the number of ships needed is very large, Australia is in a state of war, and a small number of ships can still try their luck to leave Australia, but the million-ton class, continuous departure, will almost inevitably be discovered by China, what to do when the time comes.
Australia currently has almost no navy, a small number of offshore torpedo boats and gunboats, which have no role at all in naval warfare, in case they are consciously intercepted by the Chinese Navy, what should they do, aren't these good meals delivered to your door? China has used the United States as a stepping stone, proving that China is strong, 4 against 12 have won, and the real eyes are projected, and all the people and wealth on the ship, have not become victims?
At this time, Britain seemed to know Australia's predicament, and specifically proposed to Australia that it should use submarines for transportation, and Britain would work with the United States to provide Australia with submarines that could be used for ocean transportation, and all expenses would be paid by Britain, and Australia would not have to bear it.
Australia has seriously considered it, what they were worried about before was large-scale water transportation, which is easy to attract attention, it may not be necessary at the beginning, after a long time, it will definitely attract Chinese warships, but submarines are different, they are sailing underwater, and there are some unmine-laying channels underwater, if you go at night, there will be no problem, although anti-submarine means can be used for submarines now, but who will carry out anti-submarine in the enemy's harbor, so that the safety is guaranteed.
After contacting the British side by telegram, the British side did send submarines, although it was said that Britain was not involved in the submarine field for a long time because of the superiority of battleships, but the infinite submarine warfare on the German side, especially the blockade of Britain in the later period, allowed Britain to start the research of submarines, and Britain's strong manufacturing capacity allowed them to quickly come up with submarines.
Any kind of research, can not be achieved overnight, even if it is the United Kingdom, submarines and surface ships, these are completely two different systems, whether it is the design idea, or the theory, there are huge differences, it took so long for the British submarine, barely solved the ability to go to the ocean, and even could not solve the relationship between the attack, to put it bluntly, just a submarine transport ship, this kind of submarine can hardly go to war, there is no complete combat system, even if there are torpedoes, there is not much effect, simply do not pretend, continue the experiment.
However, this fresh submarine is just right for the current situation, vacating the weapon system, using part of the hull as a cargo hold, slightly improving it, making it easier to load, it has become a transport submarine, which can afford the task of Australia's retreat this time, of course, the retreat as understood by the British is completely different from the retreat of Australia.
When the submarine arrived in Australia, it was completely different from what the Australian high-level people were expecting, with a displacement of only 650 tons, excluding its own weight, the crew, which could only be loaded with a weight of 30 tons, without any self-protection weapons, and even personnel, at most it could only be loaded with about 20, such a load capacity, how many things could be transported, some important securities, contracts, gold, precious metals, and the rest, including nearly 10 million people, as well as urban housing machinery and equipment and other things, There is no way for these things to leave Australia, this is the foundation of their survival?
But otherwise, how to resist China's soldiers, Australia's top brass think, can not cheapen wealth Chinese, Australia at that time, at least more than 100 tons of gold, at least 5,000 tons of silver, this part of the precious metal to support financial stability, far more than the book value.
When China's troops were less than 1,000 kilometers away from Sydney, Australia, Australia succumbed, and the top management secretly announced a retreat, and from August 1916, a large-scale retreat began to be carried out, even if it was Britain and the United States, there were not many submarines, at most a dozen or so, and the reliability was not strong, and finally some of the valuable things were returned, but more went to stay in Australia forever. (To be continued.) )