Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 141: Two Pillars Of The Military Industry

Although the current Royal Gualnizo Shipyard has long lost its former glory, it is still very important for Spain’s future development plan.

For Carlo, this is also the first military shipyard he controls, which is not only of great significance but also of immense strategic value.

Although this era has seen the birth of numerous army great powers, such as the former European steamroller Russia, the past European hegemon France, and the current world’s number one army great power Germany.

But without exception, none of these countries can challenge the brilliance of the British Empire. The British, relying on the most powerful navy scale, firmly hold the world’s number one position. They can watch the competition and battles among European countries with the posture of victors, dominating the situation in Europe.

The biggest reason for this situation is precisely the British maintaining their leading naval status over other great powers.

In other words, in this era, without possessing a relatively powerful navy, one cannot exert influence abroad.

Is Germany, which defeated the French, not powerful? Of course it is very powerful. But in the eyes of the British, the current threat from the Germans is even lower than that from France and Russia.

France and Russia at least have navies of considerable scale, while the Germans only have a seemingly powerful army. But no matter how powerful the army is, it cannot cross the ocean. The English Channel and the Royal Fleet are the powerful guarantee of the British Empire, and also the reason they do not care about the German threat.

Since the navy is so important, why do only a very few countries possess large-scale navies?

The reason is also very simple: building a navy requires massive financial investment as well as investments in manpower and materials. In any era, building a navy requires enormous costs. Even in the era of sailing warships, building battleships was not easy; it required centuries-old towering trees, as well as the meticulous craftsmanship and design of artisans, to produce warships that could roam the seas and even conduct ocean-going combat.

Ironclad ships test each country’s industrial level even more. The steam turbines providing power for warships and the naval guns serving as the main firepower output are each the crystallization of current industrial development.

Building a warship not only requires a large amount of advanced equipment but also a large amount of steel, which dooms countries without strong industry to be unable to build warships themselves.

Moreover, merely having such technology is not enough; sufficient experience reserves in shipbuilding are also needed. Warships are not disposable items; they require long-term use and even surviving several naval battles.

If the warship’s design has some hidden problems due to insufficient experience, they might not be apparent in peacetime, but once war breaks out, they could endanger the safety of the entire warship.

Add to that the cost of a single warship reaching hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling, and the naval officers and men on the warship requiring massive materials and time for training.

If not an industrial great power and economic great power, the navies of this era really are not something ordinary countries can afford to play with.

Moreover, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard was originally Spain’s largest shipyard, with rich experience in building warships.

Although it fell into decline somewhat during the transition from sailing warships to ironclad ships, it has at least built ironclad ships for the Spanish Government and has some relevant experience.

Precisely because of this, Carlo places even greater importance on the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, aiming to save one of Spain’s few excellent shipyards in ironclad ships.

After obtaining all the shares of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard from the government, Carlo decided to immediately begin expansion work on the shipyard, remaking the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard into Spain’s largest shipyard within three years, and possessing the capability to build the latest ironclad ships.

The good news is that with technical aid from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and partial support from France, it is quite simple for the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard to gain the ability to build the latest ironclad ships.

The only current difficulty is the scale of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard. Due to the shipyard’s gradual losses, its scale has repeatedly shrunk.

Seventy years ago, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard was the largest shipyard on the Iberian Peninsula, building dozens of powerful sailing warships for Spain.

But in 1872, seventy years later, the scale of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard had shrunk by more than half, with the number of shipyard employees even less than 300 people.

Although theoretically the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard possesses the capability to build ironclad ships, with only fewer than 300 employees, building even an outdated ironclad ship would take more than a year, nearly two years, let alone the latest ironclad ships.

Such a construction speed, if truly relying on taking foreign orders to make money, probably could not even cover the shipyard’s expenses.

On October 27, 1872, Carlo and Butler Loren went together to Gualnizo Port in northern Spain to inspect the current condition of what was once Spain’s largest shipyard.

Because the shares of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard were previously all in the hands of the government, the government naturally had no time to attend to its development, essentially leaving it to fend for itself.

And the current director of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, Antonio Monali, is an utterly mediocre fellow in terms of ability.

It can be said that the decline of Spain’s four major shipyards is influenced by various reasons.

The biggest reason among them is Spain’s own decline, leading the Spanish Government to repeatedly reduce its emphasis on the navy and basically cease developing it.

After the four major shipyards lost domestic orders from Spain, to survive they could only seek ways from foreign warship orders or build civilian ships needed by the private sector.

But civilian ships have very small tonnage; the smallest are even just a few tons. When military ships have evolved into ironclad ships, most civilian ships are still wooden ships wrapped in iron sheets, or even without iron sheets.

Building such civilian ships earns little money, and with income increasingly low, the shipyards could only helplessly shrink their scale, even awaiting the day of bankruptcy.

As once Spain’s largest shipyard, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard has very rich shipbuilding experience and once possessed the most advanced warship-building technology.

By normal reasoning, a shipyard of such scale, even lacking domestic orders, should not have fallen to such a state.

After all, there are still numerous countries worldwide that could become partners; as long as one or two ironclad ships could be sold each year, it would suffice to maintain the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard’s expenses.

But evidently, whether under the Bourbon royal family control or the provisional government control, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard failed to have a more excellent director to save this enterprise.

The shipyard declined along with Spain and naturally could not compete with traditional great powers like Britain and France.

Spain’s shipbuilding industry is now entirely propped up by its former foundation, with its overall scale slowly shrinking.

If not for Spain’s overall volume still being relatively strong, and the time of its decline not too long, perhaps Spain’s shipbuilding industry could not even compete with a country like the Netherlands.

But thinking carefully, the Dutch were once also maritime hegemons. They too possess considerable foundation in shipbuilding, and building ironclad ships is naturally no issue for them.

If not for the Netherlands’ land area and population being too small, this country would be more competitive in navy and shipbuilding.

Returning to the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, since all shares of the shipyard have already been obtained, the next step is naturally to bring the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard back to the pinnacle of Spain’s shipbuilding industry and expand foreign markets in Spain’s military shipbuilding field.

Although Spain currently does not need to build ironclad ships, this does not mean other countries do not need ironclad ships to fill appearances.

The Royal Gualnizo Shipyard is located within Santander Bay, in a small port between the Cavargo and Mariaño peninsulas.

In terms of overall location, the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard is in northern Spain, facing the Bay of Biscay. The other major shipyard El Ferrol is in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, directly facing the Atlantic Ocean.

Another major shipyard is located in eastern Spain, facing the Mediterranean Sea. The three major shipyards form a triangular layout overall, but more are oriented toward the Atlantic Ocean direction, because there once were Spain’s vast colonies there.

Fifty years ago, Gualnizo Port was still quite prosperous. But with the decline of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, Gualnizo Port has reverted to its previous state as a small village.

After arriving near the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, Carlo’s first reaction was the shipyard’s decay.

However, this can also be considered good news; in the future, when Spain builds warships domestically, blockading news will be more convenient.

Entering straight into the interior of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, Carlo also met the current director of the shipyard, Antonio.

How to put it: Antonio’s first impression on Carlo was extremely poor, further firming Carlo’s idea to replace the shipyard’s leadership.

The Royal Gualnizo Shipyard is very important for the royal family and Spain’s future development; the selection of the shipyard director is of utmost importance, even able to decide the shipyard’s future development direction.

“Your Majesty, as you see, these are the existing dockyards of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard. We are repairing a sailing warship for the navy, expected to be completed in half a month.” Antonio smiled as he introduced the shipyard’s current status to Carlo, clearly not anticipating that his tenure as director had only days left.

“Does the current Royal Gualnizo Shipyard still possess the capability to build ironclad ships? Or rather, what tonnage of warships can the existing dockyards build? How long does it take to build one of the most advanced ironclad ships?” Carlo fired off his questions in succession; these were also what Carlo cared about most.

“We certainly possess the capability to build ironclad ships, Your Majesty.” Antonio nodded hurriedly and answered: “Currently, we still retain the largest dockyard, with the maximum warship tonnage buildable being 6200 tons.

But because we have not built ironclad ships for a very long time, please forgive me for being unable to give you an exact construction time. But if the entire plant goes full horsepower to build an ironclad ship, I believe it can be completed in three and a half years.”

Carlo shook his head, clearly even more disappointed with such an answer.

If even building an ironclad ship takes three and a half years, plus subsequent sea trials and training time, the entire warship from start to forming combat effectiveness might take more than five years.

Five years is really too long, not to mention it is only for building one ironclad ship. If several are started simultaneously, perhaps just as the ironclad ships begin service, the era of pre-dreadnoughts will arrive.

“How many workers does the shipyard currently have? Among them, how many are skilled workers?” Carlo asked: “If the royal family increases investment in the shipyard, can the shipyard have a complete development plan?”

Director Antonio hurriedly answered: “The shipyard currently has around more than 200 workers, among whom the number of skilled workers is close to a quarter.

If Your Majesty wants to expand the shipyard’s scale, it only needs 5 million pesetas; I can expand the shipyard’s scale to more than 1,000 people within three years.”

Carlo nodded, saying nothing more.

This inspection of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard also ended quickly, and Carlo had a more detailed plan in mind.

For the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard to develop, it must have a director with greater ability to manage the entire shipyard. Director Antonio may have some ability, but compared to Carlo’s expectations, it is completely insufficient.

However, after all, he is an elderly man who has devoted a long time to the shipyard, so Carlo will not be too ruthless.

Director Antonio will have two choices. Either go to another shipyard under government control to continue serving as director, or go to some other government department to take a not-so-important position.

Leaving the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, Carlo immediately issued an order to Butler Loren: “Butler Loren, do you have a suitable candidate for shipyard director on your side?”

“Not temporarily, Your Majesty. But I will select suitable shipyard director candidates within Spain; please give me some time, and I will submit a list of candidates to you.” Butler Loren answered.

Italy’s shipbuilding industry is also just starting; if truly seeking talent, it still has to be in Spain. In terms of shipbuilding foundation, few countries can currently compare to Spain.

Carlo nodded. The development of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard cannot be completed in a short time, so the director candidate naturally does not need to be rushed.

Before a new, more suitable candidate is confirmed, Antonio can temporarily continue in the director position. If the subsequent development of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard meets Carlo’s expectations, perhaps Antonio can still stay on.

But if the shipyard’s development still does not meet Carlo’s expectations, even making Carlo increasingly disappointed, then Carlo can only replace him with someone more excellent.

Although Carlo left the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard, he also left a small group of people to help the shipyard sort out its financial situation and complete the expansion.

If the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard’s financial situation has no problems, funds can then be appropriated to the shipyard.

Carlo has only one requirement: with sufficient financial support, strive to restore the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard’s scale as much as possible and regain the ability to build the most powerful ironclad ships.

A warship construction time of three and a half years is really too long; at minimum, the warship construction time needs to be compressed to within two years to meet Carlo’s expectations.

After completing further reforms of the shipyard, the ironclad ship blueprints designed by the shipyard can be taken to find buyers worldwide.

Even within Europe, buyers for ironclad ships might be found, such as the two great power countries that have only unified in recent years.

Both Germany and Italy have only unified in recent years, and they will surely develop naval strength in the future. Especially Germany, after defeating France, has become a veritable top European great power and the world’s number one army nation.

But Germany’s navy scale is really too weak; even its current navy scale is inferior to Spain’s.

A major reason for this is the choice during the Kingdom of Prussia era to emphasize the army and neglect the navy. A Kingdom of Prussia clearly cannot handle both army and navy major branches simultaneously, and with pressure from the Austrian Empire, it could only be forced to prioritize the army more.

But now, after unifying the German region, Germany has stronger industry and economy, and also the qualification to handle both army and navy major branches simultaneously.

Simultaneously handling army and navy is very difficult; even the British Empire only barely manages it. The strength of the Royal Fleet is beyond doubt, but although the British army’s strength is not weak, it is not too strong either.

Spain has achieved it before. During the era of the Spanish Empire, not only was the invincible fleet the most powerful navy, but it also possessed Europe’s top army.

The Spanish square formation was renowned, even achieving the feat of capturing the King of France. At its most prosperous, Spain was a veritable European hegemon, with both navy and army being world top-tier and having proud battle records.

Currently, the British have only achieved hegemon-level strength in the navy; in the army, they are only at the level of a medium great power.

However, this is already quite good. After all, Britain is just an island nation and does not need to maintain such a massive army to protect its territorial safety.

The expansion of the Royal Gualnizo Shipyard requires considerable funds, but this is not a big problem.

After several years of development, the assets in Carlo’s hands have grown increasingly numerous.

Just the income from the Spanish National Bank and the Royal United Bank is sufficient to cover the expenses of the Guard Division and the royal palace.

The income from Carlo’s numerous factories is all used for expansion or investing in more industries; currently, the total value of royal family assets, even if not over 100 million, absolutely reaches several tens of millions of pesetas.

Taking out a few million pesetas to help the shipyard expand is no problem; even if the shipyard continues to lose money in the next few years, it is not a big deal for Carlo.

The Royal Gualnizo Shipyard and the Royal Arsenal are Carlo’s confidence in military industry. The future Spanish military technology will rely on these two leading military industry enterprises to support.

Two-in-one chapter seeking support!