I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 216

Chapter 216: The Bewildered French Navy

Charles once again played a game of hide-and-seek with the citizens of Paris. The next day, when he was on his way home for the holiday, he avoided the crowds by sneaking out through the back door at a different time.

Upon arriving back in the town of Davaus, he saw a large crowd gathered in front of the town square, likely for another triumphal ceremony organized by the neighbors.

With no other choice, Charles asked Major Laurent to take a different route home, circling around to come from another direction.

However, when Charles arrived home, he found that someone had already arrived before him. A young officer, wearing the rank of brigadier general, was sitting on the cheap sofa in the living room. Djoka was talking with him about something.

Charles assumed that this officer was sent by Gallieni. He was about to remove his military cap but decided to put it back on again, stepping forward to salute and calling out, "General!"

The young brigadier general was taken aback but quickly set down his coffee cup and stood up. He enthusiastically shook Charles's hand and said excitedly, "You... you must be Charles, it's an honor to meet you. I am Tigani."

Charles felt the name was somewhat familiar, as though he had heard it before.

Tigani explained, "I am the commander of the 2nd Special Artillery Division, Tigani."

Charles gave a soft "oh" in response. He had come across this name during operations, though it had only been used as a codename at the time.

Djoka smiled at Charles and said, "General Tigani is here to thank you for rescuing them."

Camille came out from the kitchen. "The general is very courteous, and he even brought gifts!"

"Of course!" Tigani replied with respect. "You have a very outstanding son, Mr. Djoka, Mrs. Bernard!"

Camille smiled proudly. She liked hearing others praise Charles, especially when it came from a brigadier general.

She warmly invited Tigani to sit at the dining table and served them both pizza.

Djoka, claiming that he had already eaten, relinquished the table to Charles and Tigani.

Charles knew that Djoka hadn't actually eaten; he understood that he should step aside, or else he might overhear military secrets.

Tigani wasted no time, almost as if he were starving, grabbing a slice and eating it while loudly praising, "This tastes fantastic, Mrs. Bernard! I think I’ll finish it all!"

"You probably won't like it, General!" Charles said, looking down on such barefaced flattery.

He remembered Tigani's background: the only son of Wells. Wherever he went, he was always surrounded by luxury. It was hard to believe that he would have such a keen interest in a pizza.

"No, Major!" Tigani replied with a slight smile, continuing to chew his food. "I’m not quite what you think I am."

"Indeed," Charles answered bluntly. "For instance, your family owns half of France’s warships, yet you joined the army and became a brigadier general!"

Charles’s tone carried a bit of sarcasm. His implied message was: You, the young heir, should wreak havoc on the Navy, not on the Army!

Tigani wasn’t foolish; he certainly understood the underlying meaning of Charles's words, but he wasn’t angered by them.

He responded ambiguously, "Major, do you think the French Navy has a way out?"

"That’s none of my concern!" Charles answered directly. "I am in the Army, not the Navy."

Tigani nodded, "I don’t understand either. Let me share what I know about a few things. In terms of warships, they’ve split into two factions: one advocates for the so-called Green-water Navy, while the other is for the traditional Navy."

"Green-water Navy?" Charles paused.

This was something he wasn’t familiar with. The navies of both World War I and World War II had very little presence; what most people remembered was the collective scuttling to prevent enemy capture.

"Yes!" Tigani continued eating with relish, "The idea behind the Green-water Navy is to use small-tonnage torpedo boats armed with torpedoes. They believe this could solve all the problems."

Charles responded with an "oh." It seemed like the idea was to use small boats to fight bigger ones.

This was indeed an attractive concept because even a powerful battleship could be sunk with just one torpedo. While the torpedo hit rate at this time was low, if a large number of torpedo boats were developed to target a single vessel simultaneously...

(The image above shows an early torpedo boat. It was first invented by the British, but the French Navy, which was at a disadvantage, believed they could leap ahead by adopting this idea. Thus, the Green-water Navy faction emerged, and large numbers of boats were built.)

"We now have at least 200 torpedo boats," Tigani said. "The Green-water Navy faction believes this will be the future of the Navy until the British developed the Dreadnought, and they realized they had fallen behind."

The Dreadnought was the dominant naval force of the era. The concept was to standardize the calibers of the main guns on a battleship, using one or two similar calibers for the primary weapons.

The benefits of this were clear: same-caliber, same-model main guns would have similar ballistics, so in combat, only one set of firing data needed to be calculated to determine the impact point range for several, even dozens, of main guns.

It even allowed for trial-firing techniques: once the firing data was calculated, one gun would fire, the impact point would be observed, and adjustments made to the data before the next shot... Once in range, all other guns would fire simultaneously.

If the opposing battleship did not have standardized gun calibers, they would need to calculate several sets of data, each of which could be inaccurate, putting them at a disadvantage in battle.

"We currently have only three Dreadnoughts," Tigani said with a smile, shaking his head. "The British already have over twenty, the Germans have more than ten, and we, once the second-largest navy in the world, have now been far surpassed. Even so, they continue to waver between the Green-water Navy and the traditional Navy, building torpedo boats one day and planning a new Dreadnought the next."

Charles responded indifferently with an "Hmm." The development direction was uncertain, and the Navy was in a state of confusion.

Tigani continued, "Submarines are the same. They have split into three factions: some believe submarines should be powered by steam engines, some by diesel engines, and others think submarines should be equipped with naval guns so they can fight enemy warships!"

(Note: The image above shows a submarine equipped with naval guns, the Sueur, built in France in 1927. France referred to it as a "cruiser submarine.")

Tigani took a sip of milk, frustrated, "We were the first nation in the world to implement mechanical-powered submarines, the first to use electric propulsion, and the first to equip submarines with torpedoes, but now...?"

He concluded, "We no longer have a navy. They can’t do anything!"

"Isn’t the Army the same?" Charles retorted.

Charles referred to the Army’s lack of direction and constant vacillation—this was no better. It was determined by the political system of the Third French Republic.

"I once thought they were indeed not much different," Tigani paused, turning to Charles. "But now, I realize that the Army and the Navy are two completely different matters!"

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>