Chapter 19 New "Dreadnought" battleship

It was not until 1909 that General Fisher's plan to switch British naval ships to oil as fuel began to be implemented, and Germany just completed the first improvement of the British "Dreadnought" warship series at this time.The German battlecruiser "Von der Tann" has an engine of 80,000 horsepower. Although it still uses coal as fuel, it can reach an astonishing speed of 28 knots.In Britain there were only two warships comparable in speed.Britain's coal-fired fleet was limited by technology, and the rapid development of the German economy had challenged Britain's maritime superiority.

In 1911, a young Winston Churchill succeeded Sir Fisher as First Lord of the Admiralty.Churchill immediately began lobbying to switch the power fuel of the Navy's warships to petroleum.According to Fisher's point of view, Churchill pointed out that a ship of the same size can use oil to obtain a faster speed, and a ship of the same tonnage has a decisive advantage in the range of activities because it does not need to refuel midway. In 1912, the United States produced 63 percent of the world's oil, Russia's Baku about 19 percent, and Mexico 5 percent.The British Persian Exploration Company was not yet a major supplier of oil, but even so, the British government made a strategic decision that a British presence in the Persian Gulf was absolutely necessary to the national interest.As we have seen, Germany's continuous construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway had a very significant impact on the decision of the British government.

In July 1912, at Churchill's urging, Prime Minister Asquith's government appointed the retired Sir Fisher as Chairman of the Royal Commission on Petroleum and Petroleum Engines. In early 1913, also at Churchill's behest, the British government secretly purchased a majority stake in the Anglo-Persian Petroleum Company (today British Petroleum (BP)).From this point of view, oil is already at the core of British strategic interests. If Britain can not only secure her future oil transportation and energy technology needs, but more importantly, prevent her economic rivals from gaining access to the world's oil reserves, then her hegemony can last for decades.In short, even if British industry stagnated and could not compete with Germany's upstart Daimler, she would control the raw materials Daimler needed.The impact of Britain's oil control policy on the course of world history is becoming clear.