Imperial Overlord

: Three hundred and sixty-four lost transport ships

"Mr. Xiang... If we can't replenish the lost transport ships next month, the local supply will be cut by 30%." An official stood in front of Churchill and said with difficulty.

Churchill certainly knew what a 30 percent cut would mean for Britain. It means weakening many aspects in order to maintain basic state functioning.

This is not a simple reduction, but ultimately a reduction in a few transported goods, and this reduction is not 30%.

The content of a country's maritime transportation, including many materials, is an indispensable resource, and the transportation of these resources must be 100% transported no matter what.

For example, food, such as the necessities of life, such as the energy to maintain the operation of the country. These things cannot be cut, so only other non-essential supplies can be cut.

The more modern society is, the more types of such necessary materials, even chemical preparations, including steel, etc., are inseparable from human life.

Under such circumstances, if the United Kingdom wants to maintain the operation of the country, it needs to maintain basic material transportation. Basic supplies, including food, will seriously squeeze the remaining 70 percent of Britain's shipping capacity.

The quota of the remaining capacity that can be allocated to steel and other production materials will also be reduced, and the reduction will even drop to 10% of the original.

The 10% steel supplement means that the British industrial capacity cannot even produce 10% of the original production capacity, which is several times better than the effect of any bombing.

As long as the German navy maintains its current state and continues to consume indefinitely, the British mainland will collapse and eventually be dragged down by losses.

"To buy transport ships from the United States, we must restore the country's transportation capacity as much as possible. This is the most important task at present." Churchill opened his mouth depressed and instructed the official.

The official across from him was embarrassed and reminded: "Mr. Xiang, we have already counted the transport ships sold to us by the United States."

If the American transport ships are not counted, the loss of the Suez Canal changing hands is enough to make the British mainland reconsider whether the war should continue.

Rommel's troops cut off the Suez Canal, allowing the British to obtain resources from India and Burma, at least 8ooo kilometers longer than before. It is really impossible to calculate how many transport ships this distance is equal to.

Now, the transport ship from India to the British mainland has to detour the whole of Africa, and the round-trip voyage has increased by at least 16ooo kilometers. The round-trip time before can only take a one-way voyage.

This is equivalent to saying that all British transport ships on this route can only wield their usual transport capacity, not counting the consumption of ships on the road.

When a fully loaded oil tanker leaves Myanmar, it has to burn twice as much oil as it used to on the road before transporting the remaining oil to the mainland.

And when the tanker leaves, it has to take twice as much oil from the mainland to accommodate the cost on the road.

Not counting the losses from the sinking of German Navy submarines and warships, just the new daily consumption is enough to cause headaches for countless people.

"In any case, ensure the transportation of food!" Churchill learned about the turmoil in Liverpool this morning, and he managed to deal with it so badly that he managed to control the situation.

Many places have had problems of one kind or another because of the lack of food, including strikes and riots in the northern factory area.

The newly built factory has not been able to produce at ease for a few days, but because of the shortage of raw materials, it has fallen into the dilemma of insufficient operation.

Subsequently, these factories that cannot allow workers to work overtime in production will naturally not pay workers in full.

Wages from the war years also included ration coupons for food and daily necessities. Without these things, the workers would of course be unable to support their families and eventually resent.

In fact, with the increasing shortage of food, many places in the UK can no longer receive the same amount of food with ration coupons.

"Mr. Xiang... We are already deploying ships to replenish the grain fleet." The official opened his mouth to report: "But the number is still too small."

"Then go to the United States! Tell them to increase the production of transport ships! No matter what kind of transport ships, we will!" Churchill impatiently gave his opinion.

He has nothing else to do. The British mainland has run out of work. If you want to replenish a large number of transport ships, you can only rely on the Americans.

Although it is more expensive to buy a transport ship from the Americans to get the spot, being able to get the spot means that the loss of the UK itself can be immediately made up for.

However, such transactions are becoming more and more difficult, because fewer and fewer people in the United States are willing to sell ships, and the United States itself has to maintain basic domestic shipping capacity.

Therefore, the United States is building a transport ship for the UK with drawings provided by the British side. This tonnage of the transport ship of 10,000 tons uses coal as power for economical reasons.

In all fairness, the production rate of this kind of transport ship is not fast, and it is not at the same level as the freedom wheel designed and produced by the Americans later.

But even so, the simplified design of the transport ship, the fastest delivery time, will not be in service until February next year.

The British had already ordered 6o such transport ships, and now Churchill said, only to change the order from 6o to 1oo.

Through the Lend-Lease Act, the United Kingdom also obtained dozens of destroyers from the United States to deal with the German Navy and conduct anti-submarine warfare.

Of course, these weapons and transport ships all require money. In order to obtain these weapons, the United Kingdom is about to give its pants to the Americans.

After the end of World War II, the former world hegemon, the British Empire, immediately became a second-rate power that needed the protection of the United States. Later, in the Cold War, it did not even take the position of bipolar hegemony, which shows how much Britain suffered in the war.

"Understood, Mr. Xiang." The official also knew that it would not do any good to entangle with Churchill here.

If he had to personally arrange a solution to any problem, he wouldn't have to do the job.

After the officer left, an officer walked in. He stood at attention at the door and saluted, and then reported: "The experiment of the new anti-tank gun, you once said that you would be there to visit."

"No, now we have no materials to produce anti-tank weapons. We can't even produce aircraft, and even the battleship is about to stop." Churchill waved his hand depressedly and denied the other party's suggestion.

Just now, Churchill had just signed an order to stop the construction of the battleships that had been towed into the northern port.

In order to ensure that the nearly completed battleship HMS Prince of Wales is launched into service, the British navy has completely suspended the two battleships Anson and Howe.

In other words, the 17 battleships owned by the British Navy during World War II have been reduced to 15 by Germany unconsciously.

In an equivalent conversion, it is almost equivalent to the bombing of the British mainland and the interference with the British transportation supply line. Germany has "sunk" two more British battleships than in the same period in history!

Counting the British warships sunk before, the pressure the German Navy is facing now is much, much less than it was in the same period in history.

The officer left Churchill's office and passed the unfortunate news to the engineers preparing for the experiment.

What no one knows is that this anti-tank gun experiment, which Churchill rejected, was a very important opportunity for Britain.

Historically, after this experiment, Churchill was pulled to another testing ground by an engineer named Charles Goodiff to watch a demonstration of a new weapon.

This new weapon is called hedgehog bomb, which is a new type of anti-submarine weapon for warships. This weapon is similar in principle to anti-submarine rockets, and the effect is quite good.

In the real history, after this visit, Churchill ordered the mass production of this weapon to be equipped with the British Royal Navy.

Later, the Americans also installed the same weapons, which played a positive role in the Atlantic anti-submarine warfare.

Unfortunately, when the British Navy needed anti-submarine weapons most, Churchill made a temporary change and missed an opportunity to strengthen the British Navy's anti-submarine capabilities.

Another officer came in at this time, stood at attention and saluted in front of Li Le, and then opened his mouth to report: "Sir, General Andrew Cunningham has arrived in London..."

Hearing the other party's report~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Churchill was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and instructed: "I see, find him a room first, and don't let him have contact with anyone. When it's time, go and talk to him in person."

On the one hand, Churchill did not want to stimulate Cunningham as he did Turing. What he needed was the cooperation of the other party, not the confrontation in a violent way.

Turing's suicide had a huge impact on Churchill. If the other party chooses to die, the trouble for Churchill will be many times more than if he lives.

In this case, Churchill feared what would happen to Cunningham. This will put his plans to capture the British "shadow" completely on hold, and it will also make him lose the possibility of verifying the spy in Germany.

It's not that he had no doubts about the German channel that sent the news. After calming down, Churchill had indeed repeatedly guessed whether the mysterious German friend was a double agent arranged by the other party.

But he needed conditions to make judgments, and Turing's death was unclear, which made Churchill lose the basis for judgment.

"This time, I must have a good talk with Cunningham, and I can't waste another chance." Churchill closed his eyes and said to himself in his heart.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like