Chapter 638

Everyone could set a goal. The Austrian Navy targeted 80% of the Royal Navy, and the French Navy naturally would not be afraid.

As the world's second most powerful navy, they had to surpass the Austrian Navy, such as reaching 90% of the Royal Navy's tonnage.

Everyone was very respectful and did not intend to challenge the British's sea power. Their shipbuilding plans were only close to the Royal Navy and did not shout to surpass it.

Of course, this was only the view of the FAO and France. In the eyes of the Government of London, it was a different view.

Whether it was 80% or 90% tonnage, it would affect the hegemony of the Royal Navy.

Everyone was a world empire, and it was impossible for the navies to gather together every day. If someone did not follow the rules and suddenly launched a sneak attack, it would be difficult to say who would win.

Even if the Royal Navy could win, it would suffer heavy losses. After killing one challenger, they would not have the ability to deal with the other.

In this kind of war where both sides suffered losses, the FAO and France could afford to lose. Even if they failed, there was a chance to make a comeback.

Britannia could not. Once the Royal Navy suffered heavy losses, their former enemies would pounce on them and divide their world empire. There would be no chance for them to make a comeback.

The real threat was right in front of them. The Government of the United Kingdom, which actively provoked an arms race, naturally would not be afraid at this time.

In the Downing Street government building, Prime Minister Gladstone compared the shipbuilding plans of the FAO and France and said with a smile, "It seems that our opponents are very ambitious!

Austria plans to build five battleships, and the total tonnage of all types of warships is close to 80% of our shipbuilding plan. The French are building six battleships, and the total tonnage of all types of warships is almost 90% of ours.

One is 80% threat theory, and the other is 90% resistance theory. Do they really think that the navy is just building warships? "

In the naval field, Britannia had the confidence to despise any competitor. Although the navies of the FAO and France started many years ago, their core was still the land power countries.

This kind of deep cultural influence could not be changed in a day or two. As long as the core did not change, it was difficult to really compete with the British Navy.

The main way to show this was in money. Other aspects could be made up for, but there was no way to do it if military spending was insufficient.

In recent years, the French Navy's military expenditure had remained roughly 55% of the Royal Navy's, and the Austrian Navy's military expenditure was roughly 50% of the Royal Navy's.

It was not that the two governments did not have money, nor did they not want to increase it. The problem was that they still had a continental army to support.

Take Austria as an example. In recent years, the military spending of the Navy and Land Army was almost the same. As the son of the Army, the annual military expenditure is only one or two points higher than the Marine.

Of course, the Austrian Navy was able to maintain 65% of the tonnage of the Royal Navy at half the military expenditure, and it was not to say that they had discounted their training.

In addition to the slightly lower military expenses, there were not as many overseas colonies as the British, and the area of distribution was not as wide. The number of missions was relatively small, and most of the warships were nested in their nests.

Foreign Minister George said, "Who knows. However, the morale of the citizens of France and Austria was very high, and their desire to build ships was very good.

According to the news from the embassy in Paris, the French Navy Union, the French Navy Club, and other civil organizations were calling for donations to raise funds for the construction of ships.

In just three days, they had raised more than 18 million francs, enough to fund the construction of a battleship.

Austria did not accept private donations for the time being, but many organizations such as the German National Unity Committee and the German Renaissance Federation were doing publicity.

If the arms race continued, they would most likely collect donations from the entire German Region.

Due to the influence of public opinion, our previous arms purchase with the North German government was rejected by the Federal Parliament.

The Hannover government hopes that we can provide them with shipbuilding technology and help them complete the order in their shipyards. Otherwise, this business will fall into the hands of Austria. "

This was not the first time the Federal Parliament rejected the purchase of the British military. To be precise, it had not been approved since the formal establishment of North Germany.

The main reason for the frequent rejection of orders was nationalism. Most people believed that Britain was the culprit that caused the division of the German Region and opposed any form of military cooperation with the British.

In the face of overwhelming public opinion, the weak central government of North Germany naturally could not withstand it. The Federal Parliament was just a tool to push to the front stage.

After listening to this explanation, Prime Minister Gladstone's good mood suddenly disappeared. He cursed, "Damn nationalism again, this is definitely the biggest ideological cancer in the world.

I bet that if one day the situation in Europe gets out of control, it will definitely be caused by nationalism.

Don't worry about them. What's the difference between giving them the ship-building technology and giving it directly to the Austrians?

Tell the North German government that we can give up these warship orders, but they must not fall into the hands of Austria. Otherwise, they will bear the consequences. "

There was no other way. The German Region was the cradle of European nationalism. It was not something that could be controlled.

The feudal vassals had been fighting for hundreds of years, and everyone was already tired. The original Space-Time Prussia was able to easily annex many states in North Germany because of the spread of nationalism and peace of mind.

It was similar now. Even because the Great Powers interfered with the unification of the German Region, the people felt humiliated, and nationalism was higher than at the same time in history.

Coupled with Austria adding fuel to the fire, anti-British became the mainstream thought in the German Region. The Hanoverian brothers, who were supported by this influence, were not so obedient.

It was not that the Government of the United Kingdom had not fought back, but the effect was not good. Not only did the people not buy it, but even the rulers were not interested.

If it was before the outbreak of nationalism, advocating the Austrian threat would definitely be effective, but it was a pity that the time was not right.

In the minds of nationalists, the Austrian threat was similar to the Austrian unification theory, and it was not scary at all.

In this context, it was too difficult to expect the shipyards of North Germany to keep British ship-building technology secret.

It was not surprising that Prime Minister Gladstone was angry. In the face of a younger brother who only invested and did not get back, and whose position was wavering, anyone would have an opinion.

…

Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key: "Prime Minister, the Admiralty's new ship-building plan has been drafted."

Prime Minister Gladstone took the document and glanced at the number of ships built and the cost. As for the specific parameters, it was not something that a layman like him needed to consider.

"Adding six more battleships, isn't this too much? If the Fao and Germany are scared away, how can this game continue?"

Prime Minister Gladstone's concerns were reasonable. For a country, face was important, but face could not be eaten.

If Britannia played too hard, it was normal for the Fao and Germany to retreat. After all, they were two continental powers.

If the naval arms race was lost, it was lost. It was not life-threatening. Anyway, there was no referee. In other words, anyone could call themselves the winner.

Hearing this number, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Childes rushed to say, "This year's budget has been allocated, and even next year's budget has been allocated.

The Fao and Germany's ship-building plan will take three or five years. We don't need to worry at all. It is better to postpone the navy's ship-building plan for two years. "

In fact, the Royal Navy's ship-building plan was carried out separately most of the time. This time, in order to gain the upper hand, they set up a "six battleships" at the same time.

The effect was naturally great. Britannia showed the world their powerful shipbuilding ability and once again shocked the world.

Except for Britannia, no country in the world had a record of building six new battleships at the same time.

However, the world's number one also had to pay a price, and that was, money was spent very quickly.

Although they made a fortune from the Jews, the bureaucrats' ability to spend money was unquestionable. In just a few months, the spending plans reported by the various departments had greatly exceeded the total amount.

In order to control the speed at which the government spent money, George Childes, who had the foresight, chose to reduce government debt early.

Except for a few important plans that were approved, most of the plans were put on hold indefinitely. If they wanted to implement it, they would have to wait until the next year!

In this respect, this Government of the United Kingdom was excellent, at least in terms of responsibility.

Astley Cooper Key frowned and looked at the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a while, but in the end, he gave up.

There was no other way, he couldn't afford to offend Money Bag. Even if the funds for ship-building were allocated, the subsequent increase in military spending would also have to be supported by the Ministry of Finance.

Astley Cooper Key took a step back and said, "The ship-building can be delayed, but I think it is better to announce the plan as soon as possible.

In order to consume the financial resources of the Fao and Britain, we must put more pressure on them. If we are as tepid as we are now, it will not have any effect at all. "

It was indeed tepid. The arms race had only started in theory. The shipyards of various countries were not working at full capacity, building two or three battleships every year. How could this be called an arms race?

In normal years, Britannia would build two or three battleships every year. Otherwise, it would not be able to make up for the retirement of the Royal Navy's main battleships.

…

As the British continued to increase, the arms race began in full swing. Looking at the wonderful performance of the Fao, Britain, and Britain, Alexander III looked particularly lonely.

At such an important moment, the Russian Empire was actually absent.

Even the declining small countries such as Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands had gritted their teeth and announced their own ship-building plans.

Although the scale was a little small, or it could be said that it was a symbolic building of a ship, they still participated.

It was not that the Russian Empire was so poor that they could not even afford to build a warship. The key was that they did not have the technology!

The major shipyards of Russia had not received warship orders for decades, and the technology had long been abandoned. Not to mention the new battleships, they had not even built the original ironclads.

The so-called ship-building information was still stuck in the era of sail warships. Without the accumulation of any technology, it was not a joke to want to leap to the era of pre-dreadnoughts.

Alexander III asked with concern, "How is it, did the Austrians agree to transfer the ship-building technology?"

In this day and age, ship-building technology was basically the highest level of technology in a country, and everyone was strictly confidential.

Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez said, "The Government of Austria agreed to the technology transfer, but we need to discuss the specific cost with the shipyards.

Our people separately visited the heads of several shipyards in Austria, and the results were not optimistic. Not only did they ask for bundled sales, but the price was also far beyond what we could afford.

The Venice shipyard, which offered the lowest price, also offered the latest battleship technology transfer conditions as high as 8 million DND, plus orders for four battleships, ten destroyers, six cruisers, and 36 auxiliary warships. "

This was no longer a technology transfer, it was clearly a rip-off. But there was no way around it, there were only a few countries that had the technology.

There were less than twenty shipyards in the world that had the technology to build new battleships, and even fewer were willing to sell the technology.

In fact, there was something that Oscar Jimenez did not say, which was that the Venice shipyard, which offered the lowest price, had never built new battleships.

How advanced was the so-called advanced technology? This was a question that no one could answer.

In fact, many shipyards in Austria could build warships, but their main business was to build civilian merchant ships.

The main goal of participating in the construction of warships was to build their own brand, which was similar to advertising.

Generally speaking, the standard recognized by the outside world was that only shipyards that could build battleships for the military were first-class shipyards.

Shipyards that could build destroyers and cruisers were second-class shipyards.

Shipyards that could only build auxiliary warships were third-class shipyards.

Shipyards that could not build warships were small family workshops, no matter how big they were.

Just like this Venice shipyard, it was eliminated during the bidding process, but it still did not give up on the related technology research.

Originally, they were prepared to continue bidding, but when they heard that the Russians wanted to import the technology, they were ready to rip them off.

As for the other shipyards that participated in the bidding, they were, of course, working together to raise the price. If the deal was successful, the Venice shipyard would give everyone a share of the compensation.

It was completely wishful thinking to expect the shipyards to lower the price because of competition. No one would say no to money.

Alexander III was surprised. "Why is it so expensive?"

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Oscar Jimenez, explained, "The main reason is that there are very few shipyards that have these technologies, and it involves the core technology of the enterprise. Generally speaking, it is not for sale.

If it wasn't for the order from our navy, these shipyards wouldn't even bid. "

Alexander III nodded. They didn't want to sell the technology, so it was normal for them to deliberately bid a sky-high price to scare them off.

The option of buying warships had never existed. If they couldn't obtain the most advanced shipyard technology, a few more warships would be meaningless to the Russian Empire.

After pondering for a moment, Alexander III said bitterly, "Let's talk slowly! We are not in a hurry. Anyway, this arms race has nothing to do with us.

If we can't get the most advanced shipyard technology, we will settle for the next best thing and buy the related technology of the warships we have. "

If it wasn't for Austria sending a bunch of warships, Alexander III would never have thought of buying shipyard technology.

Now, there was no other way. If they didn't buy the technology from Austria, they would still have to sail the ships to the Austrian shipyard for maintenance.

As a result, the Russian navy could only go around the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. They couldn't even send a fleet to the Baltic Sea.

As for the Russian shipyards, many people volunteered that they could do the maintenance, but the navy didn't dare to believe it. They were worried that these treasures would be harmed by them.

Not only did the navy not believe it, but Alexander III also didn't believe it. He had received a modern education and knew how complicated the navy was.

Problems with the maintenance of the warships might not be noticeable in normal times, but at a critical moment, it could kill people.