Chapter 867 – Streamlined and Not Streamlined

“It’s rather …… thick.” Adderley was holding two folders of papers as thick as a finger, Adderley, born in eighteen eighty-three, was now also soon to be seventy-three years old.

When Churchill was in the House of Commons, he was long considered stubborn and dying. But now, Aidley was not much better than Churchill was at that time, and the problem of lack of energy inevitably arose with age.

From the second half of the second term, Aidley also began to rely on the Cabinet Office, will be huge work sharing, to reduce their own workload, in all fairness, he has not been a long time to work with high intensity.

How else would the latter-day Sleeping King keep all the departments of the United States of America happy? Although the voters were not all satisfied.

After forcing himself to look at it for a while, Adderley gave up trying and asked Norman Brooke directly, “Norman, is there a report that is more concise, or do you know of any general framework.”

“As you wish, Honorable Prime Minister.” Norman Brooke was not surprised by Adderley’s behavior, this was all in his expectation, and directly opened his mouth to introduce, “Frank’s report, the main theme is to judge the trend of the optimization of the structure of the Royal Navy, as well as to consider cutting down on the military expenditure from the cost saving considerations, let’s say that the current grievances class aircraft carriers that are involved, I have made a simple calculation that, if we agree with the French’s request for military sales. We can save a considerable amount of logistical expenses, and in addition to getting the money, we can also earn a refit fee.”

“Of course the specific mode of arms sales, or the foreign ministry’s opinion, whether we refit on home soil, or the French think they don’t need help and pull the carrier back for refitting, the final figure is different.”

“As for the First Sea Lord’s report, it’s in a different light, but it’s essentially the same thing.” Norman Brooke picked up Admiral Mountbatten’s report again, “Essentially it’s an optimization given by the Royal Navy in its own perspective, and it’s evident that Admiral Mountbatten, is still a very enlightened Admiral, a respectable and professional Naval Leader.”

Edley nodded his head, and heard Norman Brooke continue, “Respectfully Prime Minister, let me first briefly introduce the streamlining and consolidation plan of the Royal Navy for the next five to ten years, starting with the aircraft carriers.”

The Prime Minister was silent, listening to Norman Brooke’s introduction, the battleships first, not to mention, even the newest battleship Vanguard, has now arrived in loyal Malaya, the Royal Navy’s current battleships that are still capable of moving are in the Pacific Fleet, with the logistical upkeep being borne by the Malayan colony.

This is what has kept the Royal Navy from 1945 to the present decade and still appears to be the framework for a global navy. Although a number of warships were dismantled and sold, the total tonnage was still over two million tons.

As for the carrier portion of the fleet, in 1945, the Royal Navy included, but was not limited to, four Glory Class, two Eagle Class, two Grudge Class, and including the fifteen Giants that had yet to be built, a total of twenty-three carriers.

And at that time there were also the Malta-class, now Queen-class carriers already under construction, and the four Centaur-class, an improved version of the Giant-class, were retained for further construction, making a total of twenty-nine carriers, counting this portion of the fleet.

After the war, Britain was in financial difficulties and continued to sell off aircraft carriers to reduce the Royal Navy’s expenses. However, the financial pressure eased over time, and there are still a large number of aircraft carriers currently resident in port.

“Among the report of the First Sea Minister, the Eagle class and Queen class should definitely be retained, and the Centaur class, although its tonnage is slightly smaller than the Glory class and the Grudge class, was built late, and at that time, the problem of increasing the number of aircraft on board had already been taken into account. Therefore, the potential for modification is greater than that of the Glory and Vengeance classes. But with the Grudge, Radiance and Giant Classes, a sale is probably the best outcome, and sequestration is not unacceptable, but it will just delay dismantling.”

Norman Brooke said as he flipped through the streamlined and consolidated sections, then pushed them over and placed them in front of Adderley, “Disregarding the pensioner fleet in the Malayan colonies, the Royal Navy’s battle order for the next five to ten years will be two to three new aircraft carriers, two Queen Classes, and four Centauri Classes, with a varying number of Grudge Classes, Radiance Classes, and Giants Classes that may be retained for un dismantled and sealed portions.”

“Five to ten years from now, then, the Royal Navy will be configured like this, with ten or so carriers of all classes, as well as legacy carriers as appropriate, four cruisers, seventy or so destroyers, seventy frigates, and a varying number of submarine forces. All this not counting for the moment the Pacific battleship fleet, which may be out of action by then, with a tonnage of about a million and a half tons.”

Norman Brooke played a trick here, it is well known that the Malayan colony’s battleship fleet is also very large, with a tonnage of close to 600,000 tons, and if the pattern of placing underperforming battleships in Malaya to continue in service still continues, then the so-called streamlining and integration will be impossible to talk about, and the size of the Royal Navy as foreseen in ten years’ time in this report is likely to be no different from what it is now.

Norman Brooke is an honest man, and if Prime Minister Airdrie had objected at this point he would have been absolutely forthcoming. But the great Prime Minister didn’t ask, so he didn’t have to say that the so-called streamlining and consolidation wouldn’t even reduce the size by a ton.

Prime Minister Aidley was certainly much more enlightened than Churchill, but after all, he was a prime minister who had come from the olden days, and had seen the days when the British Empire had commanded the world, and declared war on Germany at a single order, together with the colonies, self-governing territories, and dozens of political units.

The streamlining plan of half a million tons was enough to satisfy him, and he was not mentally prepared to let the Royal Navy become a second-rate navy, and after listening to it he said with great satisfaction, “So that the Royal Navy’s costs will be greatly reduced, and it will also be able to keep up with normal renewal?”

“Admittedly, honorable Prime Minister, most of the Glory, Grudge and Giant classes will disappear from the current operational sequence, it can be said that Admiral Mountbatten is dripping blood in his heart.”

“It can’t be helped, wartime isn’t the same as peacetime, and the Royal Navy faced a similar situation after World War I.”

“That’s right, a lot of battleships were also sold at that time, just like the sale of aircraft carriers today.” Hearing Adderley mention the past of selling off battleships after World War I, Norman Brooke deeply agreed, at that time, just as at this moment.

The new carriers that were about to begin construction were even larger than the Queen class that had not been in service for long, so there was really no point in keeping carriers below the Grudge class, the Admiralty had already taken a professional opinion that there was little potential for conversion, but the cost of conversion was not small.

Compared to the big guys of the future, the Grudge Class could only be called small despite its 30,000 tons of tonnage.

“So it seems that you, Norman, also see no problem with selling the Grudge Class?” Adderley looked to Norman Brooke for an opinion.

“Honorable Prime Minister, this is all a strong decision that you made alone.” Norman Brooke turned on the joke, “Of course if you ask me, it’s a good way to save costs. We could offer to add some strings attached, such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, help the French with more inspections to keep any dangerous goods out of Algeria, and the rest is up to the French.”

“That’s right, it’s a rider that doesn’t cost anything and can still be appreciated by the French.” Unconsciously, Prime Minister Airdrie had already recognized in his mind that this arms sale was extremely important to France.

And to whom is it not important? Even if Prime Minister Eardley had already made up his mind, the work was not yet finished in order to do his best to eliminate interference.

Finance Minister Gaitschke is a cabinet member who is very wary of France to integrate Europe for integration, very sick of hearing what the ideal of the United States of Europe, Frank’s words and techniques changed to a different aspect.

While the idea of France integrating Europe for integration is certainly something to be wary of, it is clear to see that the circle of insisting on the Algerian War and carrying out European integration is not one and the same.

“Honorable Minister, these two things actually can not be done at the same time, if Algeria can be part of France to carry out European integration, then the entire Commonwealth can join the European integration. If that happens, of course we in the UK have no problem, the Commonwealth is much stronger than that French community.”

Gaitschke was very much or rather wary of European integration, and Frank, well aware of this, used this as an entry point.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was most likely to oppose it, felt at this point that this was indeed the case, and his position was quietly shifting.

In the next cabinet discussion, the discussion of whether or not to sell aircraft carriers to France has changed to what price is right and can make France feel the warmth from Britain.

The fact that the Grudge Class, though of sufficient tonnage, had little potential for conversion and would cost a lot of money, made the Cabinet refrain from taking a swipe at France, a traditional friend for seven hundred years.

Everything in accordance with the Ministry of Finance to take out the professional assessment as the center of the discussion to the cost plus discounts, two grudge-class aircraft carriers, 20 million pounds is not a loss, when the pound for the dollar is still one to four point two, now have become one to two point eight. The exchange rate loss can not let the French to bear.

The offer was communicated directly to the French, and Prime Minister Adderley, after meeting with Georges Pidoule, also put forward the additional conditions that had been negotiated before, that Britain would help at the eastern and western ends of the Mediterranean, but that Britain would not be able to solve the whole problem, and that contraband from other places, such as Yugoslavia, would have to be solved by the French themselves.

“There were times when we had to blame France twice as much as the Americans.” In private occasions, Adelie also mentioned his difficulties with Georges Pidoul.

But at the same time reassured Georges Pidoule that Britain’s heart to help France from the end of World War II has not changed until now. Only the unity of Britain and France can protect the interests of both countries.

“What do you mean by traditional Anglo-French friendship?” Alan Wilson lay directly in Ingrid Bergman’s arms, the back of his head experiencing the luxurious hardware of the Swedish car with pleasure.