I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 990 SE5a
Conference room at the War House in London, UK.

The dignitaries sitting at the long table frowned and whispered among themselves.

In particular, First Lord of the Navy Balfour and Prime Minister George were huddled together, looking displeased with the maps distributed by the Secretary of Munitions.

At that moment, the Minister of Munitions pushed open the door and entered. Sensing the atmosphere in the meeting room, he said with a hint of smugness, "Were you waiting for me?"

He then sat down in his seat without a word.

Prime Minister George brandished the map in his hand, glaring at him with displeasure: "Aren't you going to explain?"

The Minister of Munitions feigned ignorance: "Explain what?"

"This!" Prime Minister George threw the document in his hand toward the Minister of Munitions, seemingly expressing his anger, but the document fell limply onto the table.

"You didn't tell us about this plan," Prime Minister George said. "You've left us with no choice!"

It turns out that the plan to attack Emden Port was initiated by the Minister of Munitions on his own initiative, and the right-wing ruling party had not reached a consensus.

"Is there a difference?" the Quartermaster replied calmly.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, if it weren't for this plan, how do you think we should have dealt with the questions from the left?"

"Should we lower our negotiating demands and reach a settlement with Germany until the Germans agree, as they say?"

"God, we all know we won't get a single dollar in compensation if things continue like this!"

The politicians remained silent.

They knew they had fallen into the minister of munitions' trap: to release a battle plan to suppress the left wing, and then use the left wing's criticism to suppress the right wing, thereby achieving his demand for resolving the problem by force.

But they were powerless to do anything, because no one could come up with a better solution.

First Lord of the Navy Balfour was furious.

The Secretary of State for Munitions has long held considerable power, influencing British policy, and now even the navy's actions are decided by him.

“That’s easier said than done, Your Excellency, Minister of Munitions,” Balfour said, his voice carrying a warning.

“But you seem to have forgotten your own position. You are the Minister of Munitions, not the Minister of the Navy. You are unaware of the current state of the Royal Navy.”

"Please be mindful of your responsibilities; you should not interfere in naval affairs..."

The Minister of Munitions interrupted Balfour calmly, saying only two words: "Is that so?"

Balfour's face darkened, and he forced out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Isn't that right?"

The Minister of War smiled, his tone laced with sarcasm:

"Are you saying I'm wrong? Isn't the Royal Navy the world's number one?"

"When did it become like this?"

"I remember when I resigned, she still had the world's strongest navy!"

The Minister of Munitions, in Balfour, subtly implied that the navy had lost its fighting capacity under his leadership.

Balfour, his face turning pale with anger, exclaimed, "Have you forgotten the Battle of the Dardanelles? Your Excellency, Minister of Munitions!"

"What's wrong with the Dardanelles?" the Minister of Munitions began his sophistry: "The Navy has achieved a complete victory, and she even successfully covered the Army's landing, but the Army failed to seize the opportunity and broke through!"

Balfour was speechless. Things seemed to be as the Minister of Munitions had said, but everyone knew that wasn't true.

After being speechless for a moment, Balfour decided not to stoop to the level of the Minister of Munitions:
"Alright, since you put it that way, we'll pretend this is your victory."

"Now, do you think your plan is feasible?"

"This so-called plan to attack Emden Port completely ignores the fact that the Charles has already deployed fighter jets and torpedo bombers in the English Channel!"

“No, I haven’t overlooked it.” The Minister of War calmly shook his head. “But you seem to have forgotten that we are not at war with the Charles.” Prime Minister George retorted loudly:

"But there is a possibility of war, and it is very likely."

"It is common sense that we can only send warships to Emden Port to deter the Charles if we are stronger than the Charles."

"If they're just targets for the Charles' torpedo planes, if they could be sunk by the Charles at any moment, what are our warships doing there? Are they begging the Charles for candy?"

The political figures all nodded in agreement.

Strength is the foundation of deterrence; talking about deterrence without strength is a joke.

If the Charles could destroy British warships stationed at Emden at any time, how could he possibly submit? Emden, of course, could not become a forward base for Britain.

Therefore, only those uninformed left-wing members of parliament would believe this and fall for the Minister of Munitions's trick.

The Minister of War waited a moment, then waved to the rear, and his secretary immediately distributed the prepared documents to the dignitaries.

The Minister of War stood up and introduced:
"Gentlemen, this is a new type of fighter jet developed by our military, model 'SE5a'."

"We've already produced 200 of them. Do you know its top speed?"

"222 kilometers per hour!"

The dignitaries in the conference room were all stunned when they heard this data.

The French Camel fighter jet has a top speed of 190 km/h, the Sandpiper has a top speed of 195 km/h, but Britain actually produced a fighter jet that can reach 222 km/h?

(The image above shows the British SE5a fighter plane, with a top speed of 222 km/h. It entered service in April 1917 and had one synchronous machine gun and one top-mounted machine gun. Historically, this fighter plane complemented the Camel, which was better suited for dogfighting, while the SE5a was better suited for high-speed pursuit and dive attacks.)

Belfort stared at the picture for a while, his face full of disdain: "So, you plan to use this fighter jet to compete with the Shar for air superiority?"

The Minister of Munitions retorted, "Otherwise what?"

Belfort shook his head: "You seem to have forgotten that Charles also has an all-metal fighter that has already been used on the battlefield to defeat the Germans' new fighters."

"No, I haven't forgotten," the First Minister of the Navy replied.
"This fighter jet is called the 'Jenny A' by the French, and as far as I know, it has a top speed of 245 kilometers per hour."

"First of all, there is not a significant difference between 245 kilometers and 222 kilometers, and our fighter jets still have the ability to fight."

"Secondly, we have a numerical advantage, while Charles reportedly only has about 20 'Jenny A' aircraft left."

Upon hearing this, the politicians' opinions began to change.

With over 200 aircraft compared to Shire's 20, they indeed possessed a significant numerical advantage.

The Minister of Munitions then added:

"But that's not the point. The important thing is Charles's bombers, gentlemen!"

"Charles's 'torpedo planes' have a top speed of only about 150 kilometers per hour. When attacking our warships, they have to reduce their speed and fly in a low-altitude straight line."

"Do you think they can still pose a threat to our warships under these circumstances?"

The political figures all nodded in agreement.

If the enemy's torpedo planes cannot get close enough to the warships, France's air superiority becomes meaningless.

Because machine gun bullets fired by fighter jets are nothing more than a tickle to warships!

Balfour then realized why he was outmaneuvered by the Minister of Munitions: the Minister of Munitions maintained close ties with military and research institutions.

(End of this chapter)