British Civil Servant

  Chapter 792 Thoughts of the Admiralty

   The general election a month ago scared the Labour Party, which has been in power for nearly ten years, into a cold sweat, but it is finally over.

Attlee created the Labour Party's winning streak against the Conservative Party, which is certainly a huge achievement for a party far younger than the Conservative Party, but no one expected that Attlee's first order was to make Monty. Patton became First Sea Lord.

In terms of identity, it is of course logical for Mountbatten to become the First Sea Lord. Attlee is also happy to fulfill Mountbatten's dream, but at the same time he is also unable to do anything about the stubbornness of the old-school generals of the Navy and wants to find someone to suppress the Navy. general. Mountbatten is the best.

Attlee is actually ten years younger than Churchill, and he is 71 years old this year. At present, the United Kingdom is facing future problems. In fact, the Labour Party cannot be called peaceful. The grievances between Prime Minister Attlee and Foreign Secretary Morrison in their early years, It's almost an open secret from Labour that Attlee can accept anyone as Labour's future leader, except Morrison.

But in front of Mountbatten, Attlee did not show this concern, and encouraged the new First Sea Lord, "Louis, do you have any views on the future development of the Navy? Under the threat, many people have made some controversial remarks about the existence of the Grand Fleet."

   "Is that so?" Mountbatten pretended to realize it suddenly, and said in a cautious tone, "Then... what is it specifically?"

Attlee told Mountbatten: "I don't think Treasury is interested in the Navy anymore. The Navy is number three in the arms. And there's always been doubts about the Navy's role in a nuclear age. Even other The generals of the military also have this view."

   Even Marshal Montgomery, in a speech at the Royal United Military Academy, said, "The navy can only play a small role in world wars, and in other periods the navy does almost nothing."

Mountbatten remembered the frequent communication with his son-in-law who was far away in Kuala Lumpur, and he had talked about the status of the navy more than once. He pondered for a while and said, "The status of the navy is a macro-level issue, and it depends on the UK in terms of status. Whether it is a global power or an insignificant role that exists only in Europe, if it is the former, the importance of the navy can be solved through structural optimization, and it can play a role together with other military services. If it is the latter, the navy is really useless. "

"As for the optimized development of the navy, of course we must find a way to build a navy that is sufficiently threatening and not bloated. Not to mention, the overseas assets of 3.5 billion pounds also need the protection of the navy projected globally. "

   "I almost forgot, your son-in-law is the Deputy Secretary-General of the Overseas Assets Management Committee." Prime Minister Attlee nodded, and Mountbatten cannot hide how many state-owned overseas assets the UK currently has.

   "The navy can also become a more concealed launch platform. I mean the role of nuclear submarines." Mountbatten seemed to have thought about this issue for a long time, and proposed two cornerstones of the navy's positioning.

  The Navy must first let others admit that the ships of the Royal Navy can become the delivery vehicles of large swimming rockets in the future, and then other matters can be put on the agenda.

The second cornerstone of    is the pledge to provide support to amphibious strike forces around the world on a mission to protect British interests.

   Whether it is the Near East, the Middle East, or any of the three joint combatant commands in the Far East, the Navy needs to play a role.

"So the first thing I did when I became First Sea Secretary was to visit the United States and talk about the issue of nuclear submarines." General Mountbatten added, "Only when we have a reliable counterattack force can we calmly reduce the size of the surface fleet. Scale. The best way to deal with submarines is to develop them."

   The submarine threat in Mountbatten's mouth refers to the Soviet nuclear submarine. The Soviet Union's nuclear submarine has already started construction. It is the second nuclear submarine to start construction after the US's Nautilus nuclear submarine. The intelligence has been mastered by the United Kingdom.

  The Soviet Union's first-generation attack nuclear submarine, NATO called the Red October class, or N-class for short, was developed by the Soviet Malachite Design Bureau and built by the Severodvinsk Shipyard. This intelligence has been certified, and the UK is the first country to feel the pressure. After all, the US is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. How can the UK feel the same way.

   As the commander of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, Mountbatten is of course aware of the development of the navies of various countries. After all, this is his favorite profession and will not be messed up like other aspects.

"Then, of course, it couldn't be better, but in the United States, success is the best, and you have to be mentally prepared for failure." As soon as Attlee heard Mountbatten's first thing in office, he decided to talk to the Americans. Talking about the cooperation of nuclear submarines, my heart is still beating.

   He is reluctant to say that the Americans are perfidious, but in fact, it is evident that the agreement was torn up after the successful nuclear weapons test.

   But if Mountbatten was rejected by the Americans because of his good contacts, it would also be a good thing to give up on his own research in the UK, and he would not stop him.

   Nuclear submarines are indeed very important to the United Kingdom, especially after the Soviet Union's nuclear submarine intelligence was certified, the cabinet's support for the nuclear submarine project increased again. Attlee also hopes Mountbatten will make progress.

"The international situation is very chaotic, France is retreating from Asia, and India is promoting an international conference that excludes the free world. Louis, you are the last Governor of Britain and India, what do you think Nehru was thinking?" Attlee scratched the light bulb Bright forehead, showing a typical British hairstyle.

   Having thick hair like Mountbatten is the dream of many people, not to mention that Mountbatten has more than that.

  The word wealth is rich to ordinary people! But for Mountbatten, wealth is his embodiment.

   "What about Nehru? It's like this, we look for answers from history." Mountbatten was also a master at speaking.

  He, the Anglo-Indian governor, is also Tu Yile. After he took office, the most he did was to hold banquets in the governor's palace, and he got familiar with the high-ranking people in India. His son-in-law was the one who had a deep understanding of India.

"Nehru enjoyed almost complete freedom in India's foreign affairs. The core ideas formed in practice are mainly five, independence, nationalism, anti-colonialism, internationalism and neutrality or non-alignment. They become India The guiding principle of foreign affairs. He is just as wary of the United States because the United States believes that Kashmir should be independent.”

In 1949, Nehru visited the United States, but this visit did not increase the friendship between the United States and India. On the contrary, after Nehru returned to China, he led the nationalization and took back the Mysore Iron Works owned by the United States Steel Corporation. mine.

  Mountbatten certainly knew the ins and outs, because the Mysore iron ore was sold to U.S. Steel by his son-in-law. But the fundamental reason is the attitude of the United States towards Kashmir when Nehru visited the United States.

   When India and Pakistan disputed the ownership of Kashmir, the United States pushed for the independence of Kashmir and became the Switzerland of the East. It is considered that Kashmir landowners in the heart of Asia have an important strategic position. This made Nehru very angry.

   Attlee nodded in approval of Mountbatten's judgment. He believed that Mountbatten should have such an understanding as the Governor of Britain and India.

   But he didn't know that there was someone else who knew this, but he always used telegrams to contact his father-in-law.

   After a while, Mountbatten left No. 10 Downing Street, but instead of going home, he rushed to the Admiralty Headquarters building impatiently, showing the urgency in his heart.

   It’s not a dream come true without sitting in the office where my father used to stay.

Although there was a yellow-brown building in front of Prince Louis' office window, which blocked the sunlight from outside, it did not damage Mountbatten's good mood. been.

   Now some people have doubts about the status of the Royal Navy, but Mountbatten still forgets the small unhappiness and devotes himself to the first day of work as the Lord of the Admiralty.

"Mrs. Wilson, congratulations to your father on becoming the First Sea Lord." York Shyer congratulated the woman in front of him. After several meetings, he also knew Pamela Mountbatten and hoped that others would call her Mrs. Wilson. .

  Ike Keswick expressed a less obvious expression. "Today's newspapers said that there was an ethnic conflict in East Malaysia, and hundreds of people died. Commissioner Wilson should be busy."

"He is not busy, he will expose this fake news in a few days~www.wuxiaspot.com~ and attribute the emergence of fake news to Indonesia or some other country, a conspiracy to disrupt British Malaya, and to provoke harmonious ethnic groups. relationship." Pamela Mountbatten maintained her lady-like posture and said casually, "Fake news is also released by the Office of the Executive."

   "Why do you do this?" York Shi Huai Ya was puzzled. "And it surprised us. The major newspapers are talking about this. Who will believe the newspapers in the future?"

   "Freedom of speech, provoking ethnic conflicts, it is better not to be too harmonious between the two major ethnic groups in Malaya." Pamela Mountbatten chuckled, "By the way, expose fake news and pour dirty water on Indonesia."

   At this moment, the door was pushed open, and the mastermind behind the provocation of ethnic conflicts appeared, followed by a Chinese face.

  The two were chatting and laughing. They glanced at the two guests of the Shyer family and the Keswick family. Alan Wilson took the telegram out of his pocket, "The telegram my father gave you is to share joy."

"Father obviously talks to you more than he talks to me." Pamela Mountbatten said with a bit of reproach, then watched her husband and guests go on the road, refocused on her guests, and continued with a set of routines. Tentative.

   She felt that the two should be ready to compromise if they could come to the door again after their father was promoted.

   (end of this chapter)