Stettin, Germany.

Stettin is one of Germany's most important seaport cities, which may not sound familiar, but he had a relatively loud "Polish" name in his previous life - Szczecin.

It was the birthplace of Catherine II of Russia, the founder of the Russian Empire, and her father was a prince of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The name Szczecin also appeared in the famous "Iron Curtain" speech, in which Churchill declared that "from Szczecin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, an Iron Curtain has fallen across the European continent", a witness to the Cold War.

Of course, in the previous life, the two cities, Szczecin and Trieste, were important seaport cities in Germany and Austria-Hungary, respectively, and their fates were quite similar.

Germany was obviously slightly better, and no matter how it was divided, it still existed, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved after the First World War, so the issue of nationalism has always been taken seriously by Ernst.

"Count Hermann, our German shipbuilding technology is absolutely reliable, just ten years ago, the Far Eastern Empire customized two first-class ironclad ships and three cruisers from our factory, which have been fully verified in the Far East and can fully meet the needs of the East African Navy, so you have chosen our Volkeng shipyard among the many shipyards in Germany to come to the right place."

The Volkeng Shipyard, where the Beiyang Naval Division ordered warships, was founded as a small shipyard founded in 1851.

However, in 1851, Germany had not yet been reunified, and the Prussian navy was very weak at that time, so the starting point of the Volkeng shipyard was not low in Germany, and it was also a pioneer of modern shipbuilding in the Kingdom of Prussia, which had not yet unified Germany.

Moreover, the parent company of the Volkeng shipyard not only manufactures military and civilian ships, but also manufactures railway equipment, which can be regarded as a relatively powerful military-industrial enterprise in Prussia.

After the reunification of Germany, it developed rapidly and became one of the leading shipyards in the country, and the greatest achievement of the factory was obviously the construction of two world-class ironclad ships for the Far Eastern Empire in the eighties.

Volkeng Shipyard had never actually had experience in building large ironclad ships before, and in this respect it was inferior to the Bagamoyo shipyard in East Africa, and Volkeng Shipyard had many competitors, and it was able to stand out entirely by the purchase of the Far Eastern Empire in the eighties.

The Volken shipyard is located in central Prussia, in Bredo on the lower Oder River on the outskirts of Stettin (Szczecin).

Now Wells, the director of the shipyard, is trying to sell his business to East Africa, and the East African foreign minister, Herman, is apparently not very interested in Wells's words.

"Director Wells, we have no doubts about your factory's technology and manufacturing capabilities, but we only need to order an ironclad ship as a supplement to the navy, and the demand for the navy in East Africa is not too strong at this stage." Count Hermann said tactfully.

As a gold-swallowing beast, the navy will never be satisfied, and of course the more warships, the better, but the East African Navy obviously does not represent the attitude of the East African government.

At present, with the beautiful battle of the South African War, East Africa can be said to be very safe in a short period of time, so East Africa has also begun to work on disarmament.

The Navy is currently going to decommission four ironclads at a time, and of course, as compensation, three ironclads with the latest technology will be introduced as a supplement.

East Africa is preparing to build one of its own, and the remaining two ships are imported from Germany and Austria-Hungary respectively, which will not only absorb the advanced technology of its peers, but also facilitate the East African Navy to further expand its horizons.

Most of the ironclad ships in East Africa were built in the sixties and seventies, and now most of them are backward, of course, as the world's top naval military industry, the backward technology of ironclad ships is only relative to the great powers, and they can still play a deterrent role in other regions.

Two of the decommissioned warships of the East African Navy were ready to be sold at a price of 600,000 taels of silver according to the pre-war transaction with the Far Eastern Empire, with an average price of only 300,000 taels, which was basically equivalent to giving away for nothing.

However, if the East African Navy wants to develop, it will not be able to lay eggs if these ironclad ships are kept, and it is also a good place to let them "retire" in the Far Eastern Seas, otherwise they can only be dismantled or targeted.

Of course, this business is definitely profitable for the Far Eastern Empire, after all, the military age of retired warships in East Africa is not very long, and the earliest is not more than twenty years.

The cost performance is still very high, and it is not a problem to serve for more than ten years with a little maintenance, even if you sell scrap iron, you can get back to the cost.

Germany's shipbuilding technology may be stronger than that of East Africa, but the strength is limited, especially the Volken shipyard, and the Hexingen consortium itself has its own shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, so East Africa is fully capable of obtaining part of German shipbuilding technology.

The particularity of the Volkeng shipyard lies in its great fame, as for the strength, in fact, it is at the level of half a catty and eight taels in East Africa, of course, backed by the strength and education of Germany, the future development of the Volkeng shipyard should not be bad.

Therefore, East African officials such as Count Herman are not very interested in introducing warships from the Volkeng shipyard, but after all, the Volkeng shipyard has the ability to build ironclad ships independently, and many technologies have their own originality, so it is still worthy of the East African Navy as a reference.

If it weren't for this purpose, East Africa could have given the order to the Heixingen shipyard in Hamburg, which is now much less powerful than it used to be, with a focus on commercial vessels.

After all, the development of the local shipbuilding industry in East Africa mainly depends on the transfer of elite soldiers from Venice and Hamburg, so that the development of the shipyards in Venice and Hamburg is naturally limited.

However, Germany and Austria are both world-class powers, backed by the resources and education systems of the two countries, and the shipyards of Hamburg and Venice are still developing well, and they can still rank first in the two countries.

"That's a pity, the strength of the East African Navy is worthy of respect, and being able to produce warships for this kind of navy with a real record is the honor of many shipyards, and I have some envy of the Royal Shipyard of Trieste at this point."

In the South African War, the East African Navy performed well, although it was only a draw, and it suffered a slight loss, but it depended on who the opponent was.

At present, the two most powerful countries in the world are Britain and France, and it is very surprising that the East African Navy can confront the British Royal Navy head-on.

And this also made the Austro-Crarian military shipbuilding industry proud of it, because most of the main naval ships in East Africa were built by Austria-Hungary, or the technology came from Austria-Hungary.

The Austro-Hungarian Navy had already won the Battle of Lissa before, and Germany was more than a little bit behind in this regard.

So the fact that East Africa was able to order warships from Volkeng Shipyard felt a little unexpected to Volkeng Shipyard.

"Director Wells, you don't have to be too frustrated, the development of Germany's shipbuilding industry is obvious to all, it can be said that the development of the German Navy is the fastest in the world, take your factory as an example, in the entire eighties, it can be said that it can defeat Britain in the eighties and win orders from the Far Eastern Empire can be said to be raising eyebrows within the industry, and now Germany is nothing more than a lack of opportunities for actual combat." Count Hermann was relieved.

Although the East African Navy has developed rapidly, it is very dependent on the technical support of Austria-Hungary, and Germany has been more creative and independent from the beginning, so Germany is still much stronger than East Africa in this field.

Moreover, what East Africa lacks most is the system, especially the lack of high-end talents, which is closely related to the short development time of the education system in East Africa.

Especially in the seventies, it was very eager for quick success, and the East African Navy directly ate it into a fat man, and so far it has not been digested.

(End of chapter)

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