After the Battle of Lamu Bay, Archduke Ferdinand's heart was half cold, more than ten years of effort, it only took a few hours to be destroyed, and the surprise of the naval battle was really the greatest.

But now it's not his turn to be sad, and now he has to clean up the mess, including the half-dead ironclad ship on the sea, and there are still a lot of people to rescue.

In this naval battle, although East Africa suffered huge losses, the results were still okay on the whole, and the British expeditionary fleet was also heavily damaged.

East Africa should be grateful to the Indian Ocean, where the lack of islands makes the British have no ability to rest and continue to attack to a certain extent, the closest British naval base to the core waters of East Africa is in the Seychelles, and the direction of the British expeditionary fleet should be there, but Seychelles does not have the ability to provide maintenance for the British expeditionary fleet, so Seychelles can only act as a transit point.

"Report to Your Excellency the Grand Duke, up to now we have rescued more than 500 of our sailors, in addition to more than 700 British soldiers and two British ironclad ships."

Finally got a good news, which made Archduke Ferdinand feel more comfortable, the two British ironclad ships, which can be regarded as a supplement to the East African Navy, although they have been shelled to varying degrees, resulting in lying on the sea, but as long as they are not sunk, they can be towed back to East Africa for repairs.

Even if it can't be repaired, it doesn't matter, as the world's largest naval power, the United Kingdom is second to none in shipbuilding technology, and these two British warships can fill many gaps in the military shipbuilding industry in East Africa.

Of course, this is all in the future, the East African Navy itself has two ironclad ships sunk in the sea, and the rest are not in very good condition, I am afraid that they will not be able to participate in the battlefield in the short term, so the East African Navy will still suffer a greater loss.

Because it is a time of war, no one can guarantee whether the British Royal Navy will make a comeback, and now the number of warships at the disposal of East Africa has dropped sharply, and Britain is not even broken.

Specifically, in terms of Britain's shipbuilding plan this year, Britain has drawn up a plan to invest more than 20 million pounds to build 10 battleships, 42 cruisers, and 18 torpedo boats in the next five years.

The British's shipbuilding capabilities can be imagined, so it only takes a year for the British to make up for the losses in this Battle of Lamu.

Here we have to mention the differences between East Africa and Austria-Hungary and the German navy, although the East African navy is a new naval force comparable to the two countries.

However, the responsibilities of the navy are completely different, although the German and Austrian navies are very aggrieved, one is blocked in the Baltic Sea and the other is blocked in the Adriatic Sea, but again, they only need a small number of navies to blockade the waters near their own countries.

The defensive pressure is not great, and the East African coastline is close to more than 4,000 kilometers in the east alone, and faces the Indian Ocean, and there is no large island or island chain nearby to cover it, which means that the enemy can strike the East African coast from multiple directions.

Therefore, although East Africa has the world's top ten naval forces, it is really not enough for East Africa itself, which is the same as the East African Railway, the total mileage of the East African Railway can also rank among the top ten in the world, but the East African Railway is obviously not able to meet domestic demand.

Moreover, the location of East African waters, mainly in the Indian Ocean, is not very good, but it is also closer to the center of the world than the "remote" continent of the United States.

East Africa also occupies a certain share of the main trade routes of the Eurasian continent, which also means that the East African navy faces a greater challenge, and the good news is that Asian countries are currently relatively weak in naval strength and cannot challenge East Africa.

But Britain had its largest stronghold in the subcontinent, India, and a penal colony, Australia.

So whether it is in the European direction or the Asian direction, the biggest threat to the East African Navy is the British.

For example, in the South Atlantic, where the British naval navy can directly go south, East Africa has not invested too much maritime military force, and where to put the main force of the navy, it can be declared scrapped in less than half a year.

In the waters of the Indian Ocean, the East African Navy still has the ability to resist, especially the three major naval bases in East Africa, with Bagamoyo, Pemba Island, and Zanzibar Island forming a core triangle formation, which can effectively guarantee the security of the East African Navy.

This is also an important reason why before the outbreak of the Battle of Lamu, Archduke Ferdinand left half of the naval force, and before the location of the British expeditionary fleet was determined, the East African Navy could not be dispatched, in case of theft, the East African Navy may fall into a situation of total annihilation.

However, the overall combat effectiveness of the East African Navy this time has shown a good effect, after all, the East African Navy is the weak side, and the opponent is the first in the world, so for the Battle of Lamu Bay, the fledgling East African Navy strength is more in line with the paper strength of the East African Navy.

"The captives are brought to Bagamoyo, and priority is given to rescuing our crews, while the British wait until our men are finished before treating them, but the treatment process should be stricter to avoid emotional problems." Archduke Ferdinand said.

The main thing is that the East African ship doctors are afraid that they will take the opportunity to retaliate against the British sailors, after all, the war between the two countries is officially torn apart, and after this battle, the East African navy is relatively young and easy to be rash.

"The soldiers who participated in the war this time, as well as the ships, are currently unable to work, let them go to the rear to recuperate, and the matter of sea cruising is divided among other ships, after the naval battle of Lamu Bay, the number of our naval ships has been sharply reduced, and the remaining naval ships must be used reasonably, and the main force will still remain in Bagamoyo, if the British Navy makes a comeback, do not start the war as soon as possible, try to find the nearest port, rely on the shore defense artillery system, and deal with the enemy."

……

In fact, Britain has no idea of making a comeback at all, and although the British Empire has a strong foundation, it cannot be ruined like this.

In 1888, the reason why the shipbuilding plan for the next five years was proposed was essentially to cope with the rapid rise of global naval power.

The East African Navy is under great pressure to defend, and the British Royal Navy is actually even more so, after all, the world's oceans are the areas of the British Royal Navy's activities.

The British Royal Navy Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Lamu Bay was drawn from the Mediterranean Fleet, and the Mediterranean Fleet, as the second naval force after the Home Navy, was originally somewhat dissatisfied with the transfer of military forces to the south.

After all, there are so many countries in the Mediterranean, France, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Spain, which is not more important than East Africa? And the naval forces of these countries are not weak.

And that's not counting the Russian navy blocked in the Black Sea, as well as the navies of some small countries along the Mediterranean, like Italy, Greece, the Kingdom of Naples, and so on.

If the Battle of Lamu Bay had been won, it would have been good to say, but now the two sides are tied and the record is like this, but for the Mediterranean Fleet, this is a "fiasco".

This is also where the Battle of Lamu Bay is very interesting, and both the East African and British navies believe that they have suffered greater losses.

And now the military force drawn by the Mediterranean Fleet is enough to subvert the main naval force of a country in Europe, and to use such naval power against an "uncivilized" African country is simply a loss of money, and nearly half of the combat effectiveness of the expeditionary fleet is lost, how can it be compensated?

How will the Mediterranean Fleet respond in the event of an unexpected situation in the Mediterranean! Therefore, the Mediterranean Fleet is opposed to continuing direct confrontation with the East African Navy, and should let the Royal Navy do it in the Royal Indian Navy or the Home Fleet in Mumbai.

(End of chapter)

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