Reborn as a police officer in South Africa

Hiraga Joe's unexpected death caused heavy losses to the Japanese Navy.

To be fair, in terms of the design of the Kongo-class battlecruiser, Hiraga Joe's plan is indeed more reasonable than Fujimoto Kikuo's plan.

However, Hiraga Joe ignored the Navy's requirements. What the Navy needed was a treaty-type battleship that was cheap, powerful, and could not exceed the provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty. Hiraga Joe's design was more expensive and had less combat effectiveness.

It failed to meet the requirements of the Japanese Navy, so Hiraga Joe's plan cannot be blamed on others if it did not pass.

Of course, we can’t blame Fujimoto Kikuo. Even if Fujimoto Kikuo’s mentor Kondo Motoki comes back to life, these requirements put forward by the Japanese Navy may not be fulfilled.

The "Satsuma" battleship designed by Motoki Kondo was the first battleship independently designed and built by Japan. It was completed in March 1910, with a standard displacement of 19,372 tons. When the ship was completed, it was the largest battleship in the world at that time, larger than the British "

The Dreadnaught battleship is still a bit bigger, and its paper data is at the world's leading level.

The reason why it is paper data is that Japan was limited by the technical level at the time. The "Satsuma" pursued tonnage one-sidedly, and there was still a certain gap between it and the major European naval countries in terms of power and weapon systems, so the tonnage was relatively large.

When Japan built the "Satsuma", the 12-inch (305 mm) main gun needed to be purchased from the United Kingdom.

However, Japan did not have enough financial resources to afford it at the time, and ultimately could only install a 10-inch (254 mm) main gun. Therefore, strictly speaking, the "Satsuma" was not even a "dreadnought" ship.

The two "Satsuma" class battleships never participated in the war after they were completed. After the signing of the "Washington Naval Treaty", the "Satsuma" was used as a target ship and sunk.

Hiraga Joe's death attracted widespread attention in Japan.

On the day of his death, Hiraga Joe was awarded the title of Baronet and Grand Lord. His body was autopsyed by the Tokyo University School of Medicine, and it was finally confirmed that Hiraga Joe died of drug poisoning.

Then the relevant messages were blocked.

It would not work without a blockade. As the Taishan Beidou of Japan's shipbuilding industry, Hiraga Joe died of suicide, which exposed the Japanese government's serious lack of protection for Hiraga Joe.

What's more, on the night of Hiraga Joe's death, Fujimoto Kikuo went to the hospital to visit Hiraga Joe. Although Fujimoto Kikuo didn't even enter the ward, there is no way to tell such a thing clearly. Considering the extent of Japan's influence from Chinese culture,

This is obviously a weasel paying New Year greetings to a rooster. He is not very kind.

Therefore, even if there is an investigation into the real cause of Hiraga Joe's death, it cannot be carried out in a big way and can only be carried out secretly, and even if there is a result, it may not be announced to the public.

Therefore, regarding the cause of Hiraga Joe's death, the Tokyo Imperial University School of Medicine and the Japanese government had the same statement, claiming that Hiraga Joe died of tuberculosis.

For the Japanese Navy, the loss of one of the "Twin Jewels of the Empire" is not the end. On December 20, the three "Chidori" class mine boats mentioned in the previous chapter formed the 21st Mine Team for night training. Due to the "

The Manazuru broke down before departure, so only two ships, the Chidori and the Tomotsuru, participated.

The wind and waves were strong that night, and the "Chidori" and "Friend Crane", which had extremely unreasonable designs in the first place, were seriously affected.

In order to avoid an accident, "Chidori" and "Tomozuru" were notified shortly after the training started that the training was urgently suspended and the two ships returned to Sasebo Naval Port.

At that time, there was a southeast wind of 20 meters per second, the waves were four meters high, and there were occasional showers. The "Tomozuru" lost contact with the Sasebo Naval Port at 4:12 in the morning.

At this time, it was less than half a month before "Youhe" was completed.

Due to poor weather conditions at night, Sasebo Naval Port could only send out aircraft to search after dawn.

At 13:00 on the 21st, the plane discovered the capsized hull of the "Tomotsuru", and the Sasebo Naval Port sent a warship to tow the "Tomotsuru" back.

At 7:15 in the morning on the 22nd, the "Tomozuru" was towed back to the Sasebo Naval Port. In order to right the hull, the mast of the "Tomozuru" was first removed by underwater operations, and several holes were opened in the belly of the ship to input high-pressure air into the ship.

At 9 o'clock, the ship was brought into the dock during high tide, and the bottom of the ship was cut open to rescue 13 half-dead survivors. 72 bodies were found in the capsized battleship, and 28 others were missing.

The newly built warship capsized during training before it even entered the war, and the whole country was shocked again.

There were mutual accusations within the Navy. Mitsumasa Yoneuchi, the commander-in-chief of the Sasebo Town Prefecture, ordered a thorough investigation of the incident and immediately established an investigation committee headed by Admiral Kanji Kato. The final conclusion was that the focus was too high.

Therefore, all responsibilities were solely borne by the designer of the "Chidori" class torpedo boat and the director of the Fourth Department of the Ship Administration Headquarters, Kikuo Fujimoto.

Kikuo Fujimoto originally suffered unjust injustice for the death of Joe Hiraga.

Now being promoted by the Japanese Navy as a scapegoat, he was also hospitalized due to illness due to anger and resentment, and died of sudden cerebral congestion on December 31, the day before the arrival of 1930.

Within two months, both the "Twin Jewels of the Empire" passed away, and the blow to the Japanese Navy was not yet apparent. After all, the combined fleet still seemed to be invincible. When Kikuo Fujimoto passed away, the Japanese Navy was still holding a dinner to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

Well, perhaps they will not realize the impact that the death of both "Empire Twins" has had on the Japanese Navy until a long time later.

Also on the day before the New Year, Rock accepted an exclusive interview with Alexandra, editor-in-chief of The Times, at the Palace of Justice.

"——In the past year, we have done a lot of fruitful work. We have built reservoirs on the Orange and Zambezi rivers, planted trees in Dias state, and extended railways and roads to any corner of southern Africa.

In the past year, our airports have increased from 120 to 600, the length of highways has doubled, we have built 100 new libraries, increased the number of post offices by 400, renovated and expanded 600 school buildings, and 2.8 million new immigrants have arrived.

Go to southern Africa and start their new life -" Rock's voice has spread to thousands of households in southern Africa through the radio, and Rock will definitely not let go of this opportunity.

While Rock was being interviewed, Alvin, who had just been transferred to the Palace of Justice and served as Rock's personal secretary, was sitting next to Rock.

Alvin, who was born in 1907, is now 23 years old. His current title has been promoted to Viscount of the North Sea, and he is quietly engaged to Angel's sister.

Gavin was obsessed with research and didn't want to work next to Roark, and Roark didn't force him.

Alvin showed a strong desire to participate in politics and had already distinguished himself in international conferences. Rock also wanted to train a successor, so he simply transferred Alvin to his side to teach him through words and deeds.

At the end of the interview, Rock got off work and went home to have dinner with Alvin.

Tomorrow is the New Year, the children are all at home tonight, and the reunion dinner is a tradition of the Roque family.

"How do you feel? Are you still used to it in Pretoria?" Rock and Alvin chatted casually.

"Habit -" Alvin was a little reserved. When he was with Roark, he obviously didn't talk as much as when he was with Phyllis.

This is normal. Roque has been busy with official duties in recent years and has had fewer opportunities to communicate with his children, so his relationship with them has naturally become a bit distant.

But don’t worry, although the conversation is a bit less, the relationship is still good. The children may have complained when they were rebellious, but as adults they understand Rock more and more.

This is thanks to Phyllis's correct education.

"Do you feel like I'm bragging a bit? But this is necessary. We have to let the people feel that they live in an extremely powerful country. They don't have to fear anyone, they don't have to kowtow to anyone, and they have to have the self-confidence of a citizen of a big country.

"When Rock faces the children, he won't say things like taking the overall situation into consideration.

Surrendering to compromise is a stage that Rock and his generation must go through.

When it comes to Alvin's generation, with the good foundation laid by Rock and his generation, they can flex their muscles.

Anyway, old guys like Rock will be there to take care of things if they cause trouble.

"Then why do we still have to deal with London?" Alvin hesitated. He still respected Rock very much, and there were some things he really couldn't say.

"We have never suffered a loss when facing London." When it comes to the relationship with London, Roque is still very proud.

Even now in 1930, London is still the empire on which the sun never sets, where a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

After Southern Africa gained autonomy, especially after the end of the world war, London finally truly realized the strength of Southern Africa. After that, London began to try to increase its influence in Southern Africa.

Whether it was the "Honorary Whites" or the "Naval Conference", they were essentially for this purpose, trying to bring southern Africa back under British rule.

But it is true as Roque said, Southern Africa has never suffered a loss when dealing with Britain.

From taking over British overseas military bases in batches, to conquering the Commonwealth market, and gradually replacing Britain's position in the Commonwealth, Southern Africa has indeed paid some costs, but has gained more benefits.

Now Southern Africa and the United Kingdom have a mutually complementary relationship. Southern Africa needs the raw materials and markets of the Commonwealth, and the United Kingdom needs Southern Africa to maintain its international status. Ramsay Macdonald cannot recognize this fact, so Ramsay

Macdonald failed to recover; after Neville came to power, the United Kingdom has begun to change its strategy towards southern Africa. This is progress.

Just two days ago, the British government finally announced the candidate for the next Governor-General of Southern Africa.

Even Roark didn't expect that the new governor would be Prince Edward.

This arrangement is very arbitrary. There is no precedent for a prince to serve as governor-general. However, Prince Edward is the crown prince. Even if he serves as governor-general of Southern Africa, he cannot take up the post in southern Africa, so this governor-general is just like there is no such thing.

George V and Neville had already reached this point, and Rock had to reciprocate the favor. So while canceling part of the debt of the United Kingdom, Southern Africa decided to increase its support for London.

How to support?

Give more gold every year. Although the pound has been untied from gold, the UK still needs more gold to maintain the status of the pound.

In these terrible times, the currencies of all countries in the world have been untied from gold, and the British pound is still the strongest.