Chapter 113 Improving the General Staff

Fifteen days after Trikupis and his party left for England, Constantine in the Tatoy Palace received a telegram from the ship-buying team: the ship-buying team preferred the Esmeralda-class protected cruiser.

This is a masterpiece of British protected cruisers. In terms of firepower, armor, and maneuverability, the Esmeralda is relatively balanced.

The Esmeralda cruiser is a cruiser produced by the British Armstrong Company for Chile. At the end of the 19th century, it was the time of the naval competition among the three South American countries of Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The three countries were competing for naval warships and refused to give in to each other.

It has a displacement of 3,000 tons and is equipped with a 6,000-horsepower double-expansion steam engine, which can allow the ship to reach knots. For protection, it adopts a dome armor structure without side armor, and the average thickness is 25 mm. At the same time, 600 tons of coal were completely surrounded by the core power cabin, forming a solid cofferdam.

In terms of firepower, it is equipped with two 254mm MkI–IV L/32 breech-loading cannons, kII–VI L/40 rapid-fire cannons, and a bunch of 6-pound and 2-pound rapid-fire cannons, which are absolutely powerful. Such firepower, speed and protection fully met Chile's requirements, and it instantly became the dominant force on the South American sea.

A protected cruiser with a relatively balanced strength like this is indeed more suitable for Greece at this time. It is used to cruise and maintain trade lines in peacetime. Even in wartime, its large-caliber artillery can ensure enough damage to the Ottoman ironclads. threats.

It is definitely impossible for Greece to fully adopt armored ships. It does not have that much money. If it has to, such a cruiser can also be pulled into the battle line and act as a battleship. It is fast and can outflank. It is really an all-rounder at sea. .

At the same time, Kontoriotis strongly recommended the purchase of several large newly developed British torpedo boats, which the British called destroyers.

This kind of warship whose main weapon is fish can come and go like the wind, is flexible, and can reach a maximum speed of 26 knots. At the same time, it uses fish so that as long as one hit, it can cause heavy damage to large warships at sea. This deadly weapon has caused The interest of the ship buying team.

This type of destroyer is 4 meters long, 6 meters wide, has a displacement of 275 tons, a design speed of 26 knots, and is equipped with one 76mm gun and three 47mm guns. It can catch torpedo boats at sea without any difficulty and carries three 450mm torpedoes. , used to attack enemy ships.

In addition, it can easily catch up with a torpedo boat and surpass the latter, which fully proves its ability to capture torpedo boats and is enough to compete with other surface ships.

The price given by the British was 160,000 pounds for an Esmeralda-class cruiser. Constantine agreed with the proposal of the ship-buying delegation.

In June 1889, Trikupis placed an order with the Armstrong Company: two Esmeralda-class cruisers, six destroyers (torpedo boats), together with some torpedoes and shells, and spare gun barrels, totaling 500,000 pounds. s price.

At the same time, the UK will be responsible for training 500 crew members in the next two years.

As for the money, the Congolese government will pay it in installments and pay corresponding fees based on the construction progress of these warships at the shipyard.

According to the plan, after delivery, two cruisers and three destroyers will form a cruiser formation and will be sent to the mouth of the Congo River to protect the safety here.

The other three destroyers will be handed over to the Greek Navy to patrol and guard the Aegean Sea.

Although the naval lineup of two cruisers and several destroyers still seemed a bit weak during a maritime conflict with the Ottomans, there was no problem in maintaining the security of the Greek offshore waters.

Considering that the Ottoman navy has lacked military spending in recent years and has even had no warships leaving the harbor for several years, as long as the Greek navy trains normally and the warships are properly maintained, the control of the Aegean Sea may not be impossible to control in Greece during wartime. in hand.

After the naval affairs came to an end, Constantine focused all his energy on the army.

At the Ministry of Defense building in the center of Athens, Constantine and Chief of General Staff Emmanuel discussed improving the Greek General Staff.

"Your Highness, where do you think we should start?" Emmanuel asked.

With the personal consent of King George and the permission of Prime Minister Trikupis, 200 million drachmas were invested in military expenditures within four to five years to carry out comprehensive reforms of the army. As the Chief of General Staff Emmanuel was naturally eager to give it a try.

"Let's start by improving the functions of the staff first," Constantine said, sitting on the sofa, facing Emmanuel.

"The first thing is to recruit more professionals to the General Staff. When I say professionals, I don't necessarily mean officers."

After listening to Constantine's explanation, Emmanuel was confused. The General Staff was recruiting people, but they were not necessarily military commanders. He said, "If you are not an officer, what are you recruiting into the General Staff?"

Seeing Emmanuel's confused expression, Constantine had no choice but to explain: "For example, Your Excellency, Chief of General Staff, does our Greek army have a clear map of the Balkans? At the military level."

"If not, shouldn't we recruit some surveyors to carry out map surveying?"

In the 19th century, accurate maps were very important. In this era before printers, almost every map had to be completed manually by draftsmen.

And it also requires cartographers to conduct field surveys and then hand-draw them bit by bit. Therefore, drawing maps in this era is not only a job that requires patience, but also requires cartographers to inspect various places.

Marching and fighting, if you don’t understand the terrain, it’s like a blind man riding a blind horse. When two armies are facing each other, military maps are an important source of information for commanders. If you don’t understand the terrain, how can the commander deploy troops?

“You also know, Your Highness, except for this big move, the Greek Army’s military expenditure has always been tight. Like you said, drawing accurate maps, this itself is a job that requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and requires huge financial support,” Emmanuil said embarrassedly.

The Greek army doesn’t have any accurate maps. Even if there is military expenditure, under the huge military threat from Turkey, it will give priority to expanding the army. After all, such a real increase in strength is always more secure than a few more military maps.

"So, now that the military budget is sufficient, we should set up a mapping department under the General Staff, mainly to map the places where the Greek army may fight in the future. Let's not talk about other places first, you should give priority to mapping the European part of the Ottoman Empire," Constantine said.

"For example, the military maps of Macedonia and Albania should be mapped first."

Once a conflict with Turkey occurs, maps of these two regions will definitely be urgently needed.

"Indeed, let's put it this way. It is dangerous to let mapping personnel enter the Ottoman territory alone. We can carry out espionage work in the newly established intelligence department, and let the personnel of the two departments help each other and complete this task together." Emmanuil also understood it at once. The work that the General Staff could not effectively carry out before due to Greece's tight military budget can now be carried out.

It is indeed dangerous to conduct large-scale mapping work in the territory of a hostile country. After all, as long as there is a person who is less vigilant, such espionage will be discovered.

"Well, you can remind the new head of the intelligence agency that is about to be established to make good use of the large number of Christians in Ottoman Turkey. These people are emotionally closer to Greece, and I think they will be willing to help us," Constantine reminded.