Chapter 1133: Caspian Flotilla

The Caspian Sea, located in the vast and flat western part of Central Asia and the southeastern tip of Europe, east of the Caucasus Mountains, restricts the huge, flat lands of Central Asia. Bounded by the Caucasus Mountains to the west, the Kazakh steppe to the northeast, Turkmenistan to the southeast, Azerbaijan to the southwest, Russia to the northwest, and the southern shore in Persia, it is the largest lake in the world and the largest saltwater lake in the world.

The Caspian Sea region is known as the "crossroads" of the Eurasian continent, and the Caspian Sea region in modern history is a "strategic point" where Russia is fiercely competing with Turkey and Iran.

More than 130 rivers, including the Volga, the Ural, the Kura and the Terek, flow into the Caspian Sea, giving the Caspian Sea region a developed water transport capacity. In the future, the company will build a canal between the Volga and the Don River, so that it can enter the Black Sea through the Don River and realize the navigation of the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The warm southern shore of the Caspian Sea has a temperate tropical climate, and due to some tropical climates, the average temperature in winter is 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.

Located in the southern part of the Caspian Sea, the port of Tolkaman is lit up along the coast. A newly built shipyard has been erected, and various docks and workshops are almost connected.

There are also various enterprises supporting the shipyard are also being built, and the towering chimneys emit thick black smoke, almost obscuring the sky, and countless steam engines work day and night, emitting a deafening roar.

After the Samurai Army launched the Persian campaign, the Admiralty of the Far Eastern Army began to mobilize personnel to form the Caspian Flotilla. Qiao Haipeng personally took experts and technicians to inspect the Caspian Sea coast in northern Persia, and finally chose the port of Tolkaman on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea as the site of the Caspian Shipyard.

The military commissariat also attached great importance to the formation of the Caspian flotilla, mobilizing all forces. A large number of materials and experts and technicians have been mobilized in various parts of the company, which has effectively guaranteed the formation of the fleet.

A large number of production equipment and specialist technicians, industrial workers, and a large number of steam-powered units were transported by Vladivostok to Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf, and then the airship detachment of the Air Department sent airships to lift supplies to the port of Tolkaman.

Because the material support is strong. The personnel are also very neat, so the construction speed of the Tolman Port shipyard is also very fast, at present, the plant, dock and other infrastructure have been built, and the equipment is being actively installed and commissioned, and it will be put into large-scale production at the beginning of next year.

After completion, the Caspian Fleet will form combat strength at the fastest speed, quickly control the sea dominance over the Caspian Sea surface, and blockade the western coastal areas of the Caspian Sea.

At present, the Far Eastern Army has occupied the eastern, northern, and southern coasts of the Caspian Sea, and in the future Persia and India will connect the northwest and the outer northwest. and the main supply routes east of the Russian Ural Mountains and Moscow.

The Caspian shipyard mainly produces several types of ships. Among them is the 500-ton steam carrier, a scaled-down and simplified version of the Vladivostok shipyard's latest development of a 2,000-ton steam schooner of the first class.

The reason for choosing the reduced and simplified version is mainly due to the sea conditions in the Caspian Sea region, as well as the fact that at the beginning of the new construction of the Caspian shipyard, personnel and equipment need to be run-in, and the production capacity at the beginning of production cannot be guaranteed. Moreover, the main equipment of the ship has to be transported here by Vladivostok by ship, also for cost considerations.

This class of steam schooners has an iron-ribbed wooden hull structure and is driven by a steam-powered unit. Because it is a simplified version, considering the cost and other reasons. As well as the threats faced by the Caspian Sea surface, in addition to the necessary security configuration, other configurations can be saved.

In terms of firepower, it is only equipped with a navy long-barreled 70 mm naval gun, two twin water-cooled heavy machine guns, and the ship type also considers the loading of cargo as much as possible, which belongs to the armed sailboat.

This class is an armed cargo ship of 500 tons. The seaworthiness is very reliable and can be navigated into the middle reaches of the wide Volga River basin, as well as in the lower reaches of rivers such as the Urals, which is well suited to the river surface conditions of the Caspian region.

There is also a first-class 80-ton steam triangular sail patrol ship, which can reach a maximum speed of 15 knots with a combined sail. And it is flexible in handling, equipped with a navy-type long-barreled 70 mm naval gun and two twin water-cooled heavy machine guns.

In addition, the shipyard will produce a large number of traditional offshore and inland steam-deck barges used by the Far Eastern Navy, which will facilitate navigation on the shores of the Caspian Sea and on the rivers and tributaries of the nearby region.

The defense area of the newly formed Caspian flotilla will include the Caspian Sea, as well as the Volga, Ural, Kura, Terek and other major rivers and tributaries of the nearby region. After the completion of the future Don-Volga canal in the Far East, the regions of the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea will also be the defense areas of the Caspian Flotilla.

The main task of the Caspian Flotilla, in addition to controlling the control of the main rivers in the Caspian Sea and its surrounding areas, was to use the developed waterways around the Caspian Sea to transport supplies to the northwest, the outer northwest, and the area west of the Russian Ural Mountains.

In addition to the Caspian Flotilla, the Military Council of the Far Eastern Company also formed three separate armies, namely the Eastern European Army, the Kazakh Army and the Persian Army.

Among them, the defense area of the Eastern European Army Group includes Siberia and the region west of the Urals, and the defense area of the Kazakh Army Group is the Central Asian region, and the two units are under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Field Army, which are respectively attached to three main Mongolian cavalry divisions, a number of reserve militia brigades, and a large number of nomadic detachments.

The Persian Army Group was under the jurisdiction of the Southern Field Army, and its defense area included Persia and India. In fact, it was to change the name of the samurai army and strengthen a group of Japanese armed police forces.

The three armies were the main force of the Far Eastern Army's westward expansion in the future, and they would continue to advance westward as the Far Eastern Company took complete control of Russia, Central Asia, and Persia.

The six main cavalry divisions of the Outer Northeast Aborigines were returned to the Eastern Siberian region and remained under the jurisdiction of Dongye. In the future, they will become the main mobile force of the Far Eastern Army and the main cavalry mobile force of the Far East in the development of overseas colonies.

In the future, the six newly established cavalry divisions of the Northwest Field Army will each be assigned one cavalry division in Russia, one in Siberia, and one in Central Asia, and the two group armies will be equipped with combat and support units (artillery, airboat units, engineer units, and logistical support units) to form units directly under the group army. The remaining four newly established cavalry divisions will return to the Hetao area and will be stationed in the Eastern European Army Group and the Central Asian Army Group in turn.

The performance of the six newly built cavalry divisions in the northwest battlefield has also been recognized by the Central Military Commission, and the Northwest Field Army will successively set up six new cavalry divisions in the next few years to serve as the main cavalry assault units in the Far East and the Central Plains. (To be continued.) )

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