African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1511 Sonar
The river section between the upper reaches of Tete Province and the Cahora Bassa Gorge has not been quiet recently. East African hydrographic vessels often cruise in this section of the river to survey and mark it.

For the Zambezi River below Tete, siltation is the main problem hindering the development of shipping. For this section of the river, the biggest natural obstacle is the reefs in the river.

The team of East African geologist Keboda is using sonar to review the geological conditions of the Zambezi River section.

"As early as the 19th century, two scientists from France and Sweden began to measure the speed of sound waves in water. In ancient times, people discovered that sound can propagate underwater."

"For example, Leonardo da Vinci recorded related experiments at the end of the 15th century, inserting pipes underwater and being able to hear the sound of distant ships. The earlier Far Eastern Empire also had similar records in the book Mozi during the Warring States Period before Christ."

"However, the rapid development of sonar equipment in the world had to wait until after the 20th century, especially in order to cope with new underwater combat vessels such as submarines. This led to rapid progress in sonar equipment in other countries during World War I, especially in Britain and France."

"Our research and development of sonar in East Africa originated in the 1897s, and we are at the forefront of the world. In , the first sonar was invented, but at that time it could only passively receive sound waves, and it was initially designed to deal with submarines."

"In addition to the Empire, Britain also developed sonar equipment relatively early. However, it was not until the beginning of this century that Lewis in Britain invented the hydrophone. However, this hydrophone was very primitive and backward and could only be used to monitor the sound of submarines and ship propellers."

"At the same time, East Africa's sonar has been updated and equipped with the navy. If we deal with German submarines during the world war, Germany's wolf pack tactics will probably be greatly reduced."

Keboda told his team members about the development history of sonar. From his words, it can be seen that the research and development of sonar equipment by various countries are basically aimed at new ships such as submarines.

As one of the earliest countries in the world to develop and equip submarines, East Africa has also made great efforts in the research of anti-submarine.

"Nowadays, sonar equipment is no longer limited to the military field, but can also be of great help to researchers like us."

"This domestically produced river hydrographic vessel uses the Empire's latest sonar technology, developed and licensed by the Yada Laboratory in Mbeya. Their previous generation of products played an important role in Antarctic scientific research."

East Africa straddles the equator, and its territory and population are mainly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, East Africa is often regarded as a Southern Hemisphere country, similar to how Russia (the Soviet Union) is a European country, although most of Russia's territory is located in Asia.

Therefore, East Africa can also be seen as the most powerful country in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is also clearly the only industrial country and great power in the Southern Hemisphere.

There are only one and a half industrial countries in the entire southern hemisphere. Apart from East Africa, the remaining half is Australia, because Australia’s national conditions are rather special.

Generally speaking, Australia became a country in 1901, after the Australian Commonwealth Constitution Act was approved by the United Kingdom, which basically confirmed that the United Kingdom recognized the existence of Australia as a country.

However, although it has become a country, Australia still has deep ties with the United Kingdom, so it is not completely independent and does not have complete sovereignty.

For example, it was not until this year that the British-led "Westminster Act" clarified that Australia has independent legislative power. However, although the UK allowed legislative independence, the Australian government did not implement it immediately. Australia implemented the act in 1942. Even so, the British Parliament still retains residual legislative power over the Australian states.

In short, at this time, Australia was still just one of Britain's colonies in East Africa, not an independent country.

This is one aspect. On the other hand, although Australia’s own industry is good, it is also very limited and can only be called a preliminary industrial country.

Combining the two, Australia can only be considered a semi-industrial country, or even half a country. Even so, Australia's industry is relatively developed compared to other countries and regions in the southern hemisphere except East Africa.

Back to the topic, as the most powerful country in the Southern Hemisphere, East Africa naturally has its own ambitions for the Antarctic region. Therefore, since this century, East Africa has carried out many Antarctic scientific expeditions.

Sonar equipment plays a huge role in collecting data on ocean hydrological detection, iceberg movement trajectories, Antarctic topography, etc.

Especially icebergs. The tragedy of the Titanic had a lot to do with icebergs.

Keboda said: "When I was young, there were no such conditions as today. Many hydrological surveys could only be carried out manually. In complex areas, we even had to wear diving suits to dive and manually observe the bottom of the river."

The team engineer said: "Mr. Keboda, although we are younger, sonar is also a new thing for us. Before this, perhaps only the laboratory or the military knew this kind of equipment best."

"Especially the military's sonar equipment, which may be two generations more advanced than what we are using. However, the sonar on our hydrographic vessel is probably the best on the market."

Indeed, the military has been using sonar equipment since the end of the 19th century. Later, the East African Navy relied on sonar equipment to survey the hydrology and seabed topography of various sea areas, such as the Sunda Strait, the Bab el-Mandabon Strait, etc.

Relying on its technological and geographical advantages, the East African Navy should be one of the countries with the deepest research in the world's oceans. The technological advantages are needless to say, and the geographical advantages are one of the manifestations of the East African Navy's global influence.

After all, East Africa is located on the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and its influence in the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean cannot be ignored. There is no need to say much about the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean is thanks to the Alaska territory. East Africa is one of only two countries in the world with territories in all four oceans. As for the other one, it is the United Kingdom.

Therefore, the East African Navy's daily activities can be said to be extremely extensive, and in peacetime, it can reach almost most of the world's waters.

It is also difficult for other countries to find reasons to reject East Africa's legitimate behavior. After all, it is impossible to prevent East Africa from connecting with its overseas territories. That is not much different from declaring war on East Africa.

This also facilitates the East African Navy or overseas researchers to study the world's oceans.

The East African Navy is one of only three global navies in the world. East Africa meets two key criteria. The first is that it has the ability to conduct ocean-going operations, and the second is that it has extensive naval base support around the world. The other two are Britain and France.

In fact, the United States should also be regarded as a global navy, but its influence in the Indian Ocean is relatively weak and it lacks reliable military bases.

As for other countries, they can only be considered regional navies, even Germany and Japan, which are not weak. Keboda said: "The Imperial Navy is definitely much ahead of us in sonar equipment, but only some ships are equipped with the most advanced technology equipment. Some old ships may not even have sonar."

There is no doubt that military sonar is more advanced, which also leads to the fact that some East African warships are not equipped with such equipment, especially the Seventh Fleet, known as the retirement fleet. They even have an ironclad ship manufactured in East Africa in the last century in service. Of course, East African advanced warships are all equipped with sonar.

The popularity of sonar has also forced the East African Navy's submarine forces to work hard on counter-reconnaissance.

The navies of other countries in the world should also have relevant arrangements. After World War I, the major naval powers basically focused on sonar research.

"However, our equipment is sufficient. In just over ten days, we have discovered more than ten hidden reefs that may pose a threat to ship navigation. This will play a huge role in the Empire's subsequent transformation of the Zambezi River shipping."

"In a sense, our current work is second only to the construction of the Cahora Bassa locks in the entire Zambezi River navigation plan, although the former is more difficult, more technically demanding and requires an even more staggering amount of work."

"But if the section of the river from Tete to the Cahora Bassa Canyon is not navigable, then the Cahora Bassa locks will be of no use."

“Therefore, clearing the reefs and bedrock of the riverbed between Tete and the Cahora Bassa Gorge is an essential part of navigation in the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River.”

The other members of Keboda’s team naturally understood this truth. Any problem in the entire Zambezi River reconstruction plan, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the main stream, could make the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River completely unnavigable.

Therefore, the dredging of the downstream plain river channel, the clearing of obstacles between Tete and the Cahora Bassa Canyon, and the construction of the Cahora Bassa locks must all be carried out simultaneously.

This will ensure that Zambezi River shipping can be utilized when the project is completed. After all, the management of the entire Zambezi River basin can take decades, and the East African government obviously cannot wait that long.

For Ernst and other senior East African government officials, it would be best to make the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River navigable within about a decade of the world economic crisis and the subsequent global economic depression.

This means that by the time of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, the navigation project on the main stream of the Zambezi River east of Lusaka will be fully realized.

As a result, the section of the river where the Keboda team is located has become an important and indispensable part of the entire project.

As long as the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River are navigable, it will play a huge role in promoting the East African economy. As for other aspects, we can take our time and do a good job, even if it takes until the 21st century.

Therefore, the Zambezi River navigation project east of Lusaka is actually somewhat short-sighted. Whether it is the dredging and solidification of the downstream river channel, the Cahora Bassa Hydropower Station, the construction of ship locks, or the transformation of other river sections, picking one of them alone would be a very large and difficult project, not to mention in the 20th century, even in the 21st century.

What's more, the East African government wants to complete these projects within ten years. In the context of the current global economic crisis, the East African government dares to invest in order to boost the economy. Moreover, East Africans are still motivated, so they can try boldly.

After all, if time is delayed for too long, even if the East African economy becomes more developed in the future, there may not be a chance to complete this century-long project. For example, the infrastructure capacity of the United States in the 21st century has declined to some extent compared with the 20th century, which is inconsistent with the economic data of the United States in the 21st century.

All in all, Ernst believed that now was the best time to complete such a project. If he delayed it until later, he believed in the wisdom of future generations, but not in their spirit.

There are many reefs, especially submerged reefs, in the section of the Zambezi River between the Cabora Bassa Gorge and the city of Tete. If they are not cleared, navigation in the middle and lower reaches of the Zambezi River will be impossible.

Below the city of Tete is the alluvial plain of the Zambezi River, so the Zambezi River channel is mainly composed of mud and sand, while the river channel above the city of Tete is the bedrock river channel, which is basically formed by the erosion of rock layers by river water.

This will result in some hard and dense rocks not being eroded by the Zambezi River, and instead becoming reefs in the river channel or even rocky river islands.

These all needed to be demolished by East African engineers to clear the way for subsequent ships to pass. Previously, the terminus for ships on the Zambezi River was in Tete, so the river channels above Tete were naturally not within the scope of consideration.

Now that the Cahora Bassa locks have been built and the entire middle and lower reaches have been planned as a waterway, it is time to remove these obstacles.

As for the upper part of the Cabora Bassa Canyon, there are actually quite a few reefs and rapids. However, after the Cahora Bassa Reservoir is filled with water, the water level will rise significantly, and the entire Cabora Bassa Canyon will become a giant artificial deep-water lake, and those reefs and rapids will no longer be a concern.

Therefore, clearing the river section between the Cahora Bassa Gorge and the city of Tete has become a key focus of East Africa's water conservancy departments.

Those visible reefs and islands are not a big problem; the hidden reefs are the real concern, which is why sonar equipment is used to explore this section of the river.

In the past ten days or so, the Keboda team has used sonar equipment to discover more than a dozen reefs hidden beneath the river surface, and has conducted more detailed mapping and investigation of the riverbed bottom terrain, which will play a huge role in the future planning of the Zambezi River waterway.

The course of a river is also explored in advance. After all, rivers have different depths, and these need to be marked in advance.

For example, the average width of the lower reaches of the Zambezi River is more than ten kilometers. In the same section of the river, the water depth can reach more than ten meters in some places, while in other places it may be only two or three meters deep, or even less than one meter.

However, after the completion of the Cahora Bassa Reservoir in the future, the depth of the river section in the alluvial plain area of ​​the lower Zambezi River should still have a lot of room for development. Through the regulation of the reservoir, the river channel can be cut down by a few meters or so, but this is only limited to the alluvial plain and estuary delta area. The bedrock river channel above Tete City is not included.

Therefore, for the river section between Tete City and the Cahora Bassa Canyon, the East African engineers and construction workers will take various measures to ensure that a river waterway that can accommodate stable navigation of 10,000-ton ships is opened.

The Keboda team is equivalent to scouts. After they draw the topographic map of the river and mark the hidden dangers of the river, the East African engineers and construction workers will intervene in the parts that need to be modified.

(End of this chapter)