Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 171: Chapter 139: The Two Pillars of Military Industry (Double-Length Chapter)

Five years is indeed too long, let alone just for building one ironclad. If several were being built simultaneously, perhaps by the time the ironclads began service, the era of pre-dreadnought battleships would have arrived.

“Currently, how many workers does the shipyard have? How many of them are skilled workers?” Carlo inquired, “If the Royal Family increases investment in the shipyard, could the shipyard have a comprehensive development plan?”

Director Antonio quickly replied, “Currently, the shipyard employs about 200 workers, with skilled workers making up nearly a quarter.

If Your Majesty wishes to expand the shipyard’s scale, it will only require 5 million Pesseta, I can expand the shipyard to over a thousand people within three years.”

Carlo nodded without saying much.

This inspection of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard soon ended, leaving Carlo with a more detailed plan in mind.

For the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard to develop, it must have a more capable director to oversee the entire shipyard. While Director Antonio may have some competence, it falls completely short of Carlo’s expectations.

However, considering he has also dedicated a long time to the shipyard, Carlo will not be too ruthless.

Director Antonio will have two choices. Either he goes to other government-controlled shipyards to continue his role as director, or he takes a less significant position in another government department.

After leaving the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, Carlo immediately issued a request to Steward Loren: “Steward Loren, do you have a suitable candidate for the shipyard director?”

“Not at the moment, Your Majesty. However, I will select a suitable candidate for the shipyard director within Spain, please give me some time, I will submit a candidate list to you.” Steward Loren replied.

The shipbuilding industry in Italy is also just beginning, so truly, talent needs to be found in Spain. Speaking of shipbuilding heritage, there really aren’t many countries currently that can surpass Spain.

Carlo nodded. The development of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard cannot be completed in a short time, so there’s no need to rush the choice of director.

Before a new, more suitable candidate is determined, Antonio can temporarily continue to stay in the director’s position. If the future development of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard meets Carlo’s expectations, Antonio might even continue staying.

But if the shipyard’s development remains unsatisfactory to Carlo, or even leads to increasing disappointment, Carlo will have no choice but to bring in a more excellent person.

Though Carlo left the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, he has left a small group of people behind to help the shipyard organize its financial situation and complete the expansion.

If there are no issues with the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard’s financial situation, the next step is to allocate funds to the shipyard.

Carlo’s only requirement is that with sufficient financial support, the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard should strive to restore its scale and regain the capability to build the most powerful ironclads.

The shipbuilding time of three and a half years is indeed too long; it must be compressed to below two years to meet Carlo’s expectations.

Once the shipyard’s further reform is completed, we can then use the ironclad blueprints designed by the shipyard to search for buyers worldwide.

Even within Europe, it’s possible to find buyers for ironclads, like the two major powers that have recently completed unification in recent years.

Germany and Italy have both unified only recently, and they will certainly develop their navy forces in the future. Especially Germany, after defeating France, has already become a bona fide top European power and the world’s number one army nation.

But Germany’s naval scale is truly too weak, even their current naval scale can’t match that of Spain.

The significant reason among these is also the Kingdom of Prussia’s choice to emphasize the army over the navy. A single Kingdom of Prussia clearly couldn’t adeptly handle both army and navy simultaneously, coupled with the pressure from the Austrian Empire, forcing the Kingdom of Prussia to prioritize the army.

But now, after the unification of the German Region, Germany possesses more powerful industry and economy and has the qualification to adeptly manage both army and navy.

Adeptly managing both army and navy is immensely challenging, even the British Empire barely manages it. The strength of the Royal Fleet is undeniable, but the British army’s strength, though not weak, isn’t particularly strong either.

Spain once achieved it during the era of the Sun Never Sets Empire; Spain not only boasted the most powerful Invincible Fleet but also had a top-tier European army.

The Spanish phalanx was famous for a while, even achieving the feat of capturing the French King. During its peak period, Spain was truly a dominant force in Europe, with both land and naval forces being top-tier in the world, boasting impressive achievements.

Currently, the British only achieve dominion-level strength in the navy, while their army remains at just average major power level.

However, this is quite good indeed. After all, Britain is merely an island nation, so they don’t require such a massive army to safeguard their homeland security.

The expansion of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard requires considerable funding, but this is not a significant issue.

Over the past few years, Carlo’s assets have substantially increased.

The income from the Spanish National Bank and the Royal United Bank alone is sufficient to cover the expenses of the Guard Division and the Royal Palace.

And the income from Carlo’s many factories is entirely for expansion or investing in more industries, currently the total value of the Royal Family’s assets, if not exceeding a hundred million, certainly amounts to several tens of millions of Pesseta.

Allocating a few million Pesseta to help expand the shipyard is still feasible, even if the shipyard continues to lose money over the next few years, it’s not a problem for Carlo.

The Royal Guanizuo Shipyard and the Royal Military Factory are Carlo’s backbone in the military industry. The future Spanish military technology will rely on these two leading military enterprises for support.