What if an enemy built the equivalent of Heligoland?
A fortified naval base controlling a vital area with hardened underground tunnels and bays for ships
Used for submarines, small ships and boats as ambush and mining strong point, as well as general naval base, it seems logical.
Heligoland caused Britain enormous problems in both world wars...and its people were screwed up twice by the British! (Sold it for buttons to Germany in 1800s another colossal stupidity of the Establishment, sigh, then treated them like dirt after WW2)
Now I vaguely recall a possible island between Dholar and South Harchong?? In one of the books that sounded like it might be such a proverbial "cork in the bottle's neck"
Reinforced concrete and compressed air/dynamite construction and mining have to become wide spread soon, without them you cannot progress really.
So building a nasty fortified naval base, possibly with heavy guns, should become plausible.
THE GUNS OF SOUTH HARCHONG!
Just need Gregory Peck...
