I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 986: S.E.5a

London War Building meeting room.

The officials sitting at the long table were all frowning, whispering to each other.

Especially the Minister of the Navy Belfort and Prime Minister George, who were huddled together, holding the map issued by the Minister of Military Supplies, looking displeased.

At this moment, the Minister of Military Supplies pushed the door open and came in. After sensing the atmosphere of the meeting room, he felt somewhat smug: "Were you waiting for me?"

Saying that, he sat down at his seat without bothering anyone else.

Prime Minister George raised the map in his hand, his eyes angry, speaking with dissatisfaction: "Aren’t you going to explain?"

The Minister of Military Supplies feigned ignorance: "Explain what?"

"This!" Prime Minister George tossed the document in his hand towards the Minister of Military Supplies, seemingly expressing his anger, but the file weakly fluttered down onto the table.

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

As it turns out, this attack plan on Emden Port was decided by the Minister of Military Supplies on his own, without unified opinion within the right-wing ruling party.

"Is there a difference?" the Minister of Military Supplies calmly responded:

"Prime Minister, if not for this plan, how do you think we should deal with the left-wing questioning?"

"Like they said, lower negotiation demands and reach a reconciliation with Germany until the Germans agree?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"God, we all know that this way we won’t get even a single US Dollar in compensation!"

The officials remained silent.

They knew they had fallen into the trap of the Minister of Military Supplies: throwing out a military plan to suppress the left, then using left-wing accusations to suppress the right, thereby achieving his advocacy for solving problems with force.

But they were powerless, since no one could propose a better plan.

Minister of the Navy Belfort boiled with anger.

All along, the Minister of Military Supplies had wielded great power, influencing England’s policies, and now even what the Navy should do is decided by him.

"This sounds easy, Minister of Military Supplies." Belfort’s tone carried a warning:

"But you seem to forget your identity, you are the Minister of Military Supplies, not the Minister of the Navy, you don’t know the current situation of the Imperial Navy."

"Mind your scope of responsibility, you shouldn’t meddle in Navy affairs..."

The Minister of Military Supplies blandly interrupted Belfort, saying only two words: "Is that so?"

Belfort’s face darkened, squeezing out a sentence: "Is it not?"

The Minister of Military Supplies chuckled, with a tone of mockery:

"You mean what I said was wrong? The Royal Navy isn’t the number one in the world?"

"When did it become like this?"

"I remember when I resigned, it was still the world’s strongest navy!"

The Minister of Military Supplies was mocking Belfort, implying that the Navy lost its combat power under his leadership.

Belfort turned pale with fury: "Did you forget about the Dardanelles Strait campaign? Minister of Military Supplies!"

"What was wrong with the Dardanelles Strait?" the Minister began to quibble: "The Navy achieved complete victory, it even successfully covered the Army landing, but the Army missed the opportunity, failing to break through!"

Belfort was speechless, things indeed seemed like what the Minister said, yet everyone knew it wasn’t the truth.

After being gagged for a moment, Belfort decided not to stoop to the Minister’s level:

"Fine, since you say so, we’ll pretend this was your victory."

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

"That so-called attack plan on Emden Port completely ignored the fact that Shire had already deployed fighter aircraft and torpedo aircraft in the English Channel!"

"No, I didn’t ignore it." the Minister of Military Supplies calmly shook his head: "But you seem to forget that we have not gone to war with Shire."

Prime Minister George loudly retorted:

"But there is the possibility of war, and it’s a very strong possibility."

"A common sense is that we only have to be stronger than Shire to send warships to Emden Port to deter Shire."

"If they are merely targets for Shire’s ’torpedo aircraft’, if they could be sunk by Shire at any time, what are our warships doing there, begging Shire for sweets?"

The officials nodded in agreement.

Strength is the backing of deterrence, without strength, talking about deterrence is a joke.

If Shire could destroy British warships stationed at Emden Port at any time, how could Shire be subdued? Emden Port certainly couldn’t become a forward base for England.

Therefore, only those ignorant left-wing legislators believed this and fell for the Minister’s trick.

The Minister of Military Supplies waited a while, then gestured towards the back. His secretary immediately distributed prepared files to the officials.

The Minister of Military Supplies stood up and introduced:

"Gentlemen, this is our newly developed fighter aircraft, model ’S.E.5a’."

"We have already produced 200 units, do you know its maximum speed is?"

"222 kilometers, a speed of 222 kilometers per hour!"

The officials in the meeting room were all stunned hearing this data.

France’s "Camel" fighter aircraft has a speed of 190 kilometers, "Plover" model has a speed of 195 kilometers, and England actually produced a fighter aircraft capable of 222 kilometers?

(Above image depicts England’s "S.E.5a" fighter aircraft, speed of 222 kilometers, entered service in April 1917, armed with one synchronized machine gun and one on top. Historically, this fighter complemented the "Camel", with the "Camel" more suitable for dogfights, and "S.E.5a" more suited for high-speed pursuit and dive attacks)

Belfort stared at the picture for a while, with a look of disdain: "So, you plan to use this aircraft to compete for air superiority with Shire?"

The Minister of Military Supplies retorted: "What else?"

Belfort shook his head: "You seem to overlook that Shire also has an all-metal aircraft, which has already been used to defeat Germany’s new model aircraft on the battlefield."

"No, I haven’t forgotten." the Minister replied:

"This aircraft was termed ’Jeanne A’ model by France, as far as I know its maximum speed is 245 kilometers."

"First of all, 245 kilometers against 222 kilometers isn’t too great a gap, our aircraft still has a fighting chance."

"Secondly, we possess a numerical advantage, while Shire’s ’Jeanne A’ model reportedly now has only about 20 units."

With this information, the officials thought shifted.

Over 200 units against Shire’s 20, indeed there exists a massive numerical advantage.

Then the Minister added:

"However, that’s not the key point, the important factor is Shire’s bomber, gentlemen!"

"Shire’s ’torpedo aircraft’ has a maximum speed of only about 150 kilometers, it must slow down while attacking our warships, and fly low and straight."

"Under such circumstances, do you think they can still threaten our warships?"

The officials nodded in agreement.

If the enemy’s "torpedo aircraft" cannot approach the warships, France’s air superiority loses its meaning.

Because the bullets fired by fighter aircraft are just a tickle for warships!

It was only then Belfort realized why he had been outmatched by the Minister of Military Supplies: the Minister always maintained close ties with the military industry and research units.