Empire Rising: Spain

From a comprehensive perspective, the combat capability of the Rejuvenation-class Ironclad definitely belongs to the first tier among the active ironclads of various European countries. This is also the result of Carlo’s vigorous support for Spain’s original shipbuilding system and obtaining some technology and materials from Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Compared to the ironclad with a tonnage of over 8600 tons, the two cruisers beside it, each with a tonnage of just over 3000 tons, seem somewhat miniature.

However, having witnessed the significant attraction of the Rejuvenation-class Ironclad, the public naturally won’t mind these two smaller vessels beside it.

After the launch of these three warships, Spain’s naval power was firmly stabilized in the world’s top five. Although it’s only fifth and entirely without the opportunity to compete for the fourth position, it’s still among the top five, isn’t it?

More importantly, this is only the first ironclad built by Spain in ten years. When Spain builds more ironclads in the future, will Spain’s naval power remain at the world’s fifth level?

Naturally, this is the question that attracts and interests the public most.

At the launch ceremony of the three warships, Carlo was not overly ostentatious, avoiding drawing the suspicion of the British.

While the British are not afraid of Spain’s development of its army, they would certainly be concerned if Spain directs its focus onto naval development.

After all, frankly speaking, the British maintain their status as the world’s hegemon largely through their navy. They are most fearful of challenges from the sea, which could affect the British Empire’s power and status.

Currently, the main conflicts among the European Powers are the Franco-German conflict, the Anglo-French conflict, the Anglo-Russian conflict, and the Russo-Austrian conflict.

But why did it eventually evolve into a battle between France and Russia against Germany and Austria? The fundamental reason is that Germany’s naval development threatened the position of the United Kingdom, making the British weigh their options and ultimately chose to cooperate with the lesser threat, the French, to defeat the Germans.

Of course, the British intentions were not so pure; they wanted to eliminate both French and German major threats in one stroke through the war, ensuring there was no nation on the European Continent capable of threatening their position.

The eventual outcome was clear: Germany was defeated under the siege of England and France, while the French suffered enormous casualties, leading to France’s poor performance in World War II.

France’s surrender in World War II cannot be blamed on the French, after all, France had already endured significant casualties in World War I. The interval between the two wars was only about 20 years, and when World War II erupted, many Frenchmen who had experienced World War I were still alive, and they certainly did not wish to experience a war of such a large scale again.

Although Spain did not plan to be high-profile in naval expansion, in the coming years, it was still necessary to build several ironclads.

Firstly, because Spain’s economy had gradually improved to a level that could support the Spanish Navy in possessing more ironclads. Secondly, with the expansion of Spanish Colonies, Spain indeed required a more powerful fleet to protect its colonies.

Previously mentioned was the fact that, though Spain possessed the world’s fifth-largest navy, most of its warships were Sailing Warships, which were already outdated products.

Just like when a Pre-dreadnought Battleship encounters a Dreadnought, when a Sailing Warship encounters an Ironclad, it is like an egg hitting a rock.

The vast improvement brought by technology cannot be compensated by the efforts of Sailing Warships, which also rendered Spain’s status as a naval power somewhat inflated.

Although Carlo did not intend to maintain a massive navy, it was necessary to replace some of the warships with new-type warships using steam turbines for power during these relatively rapid economic development years in Spain.

The speed of Sailing Warships and Ironclads is completely disproportionate, as one relies on wind power and the other on steam turbines.

Ironclads can perform ocean voyages without the need for sails, something that previous Sailing Warships entirely lacked.

Considering Spain’s colonies are spread globally across America, Africa, and Asia, some ocean-capable warships are very necessary to help Spain better stabilize its colonies.

If relying on those Sailing Warships, by the time they reach distant colonies, the colonial rebellion might have already ended.

With this thought in mind, Carlo, after attending the launch ceremony of the Rejuvenation-class Ironclad, immediately notified several other members of the Spanish Defense Committee to hold a new round of defense meetings at the Madrid Royal Palace.

The Spanish Defense Committee was an organization established by Carlo after quelling worker demonstrations. Besides electing the Minister of Defense during Cabinet reshuffles, it also served as Spain’s highest organizational body concerning military affairs.

The purpose of Carlo convening the Defense Committee meeting was simply to discuss Spain’s naval expansion plans, securing Spain’s Navy’s position firmly in the world’s fifth place.

The Fixed attendees of the Defense Committee meeting were none other than Carlo, the Minister of Defense, the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and the Commander of the Imperial Guard—just these seven individuals.

Because Duke Serrano, as the Prime Minister, also held the position of Minister of Defense, effectively only six people were involved in the meeting.

The fewer the people in the meeting, the less disagreement there was, and everyone, even the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, harbored no objections to Spain’s naval expansion.

The primary reason for this was that the rather peaceful current environment limited the growth of the Spanish Army. Currently, the Royal Spanish Army has a total of 136,000 personnel, which is already a substantial number.

If we add the 15,000 troops from the Guard Army, the total number of Spain’s Army has surpassed 150,000, with overall combat strength second only to the Five Major Powers.

In such a situation, it is challenging for the Army to expand further. Unless faced with a war crisis, all the Army can do is seek more budget for equipment, allowing soldiers to train confidently and without fear of ammunition depletion.

In reality, the Royal Spanish Army is not skimping on training. Discounting the 46,000 troop colonial forces, the Royal Army still maintains a size exceeding 90,000.

In the annual military expenditure published by the Ministry of Defense, the training costs for these 90,000 soldiers take up the largest portion.

One should not underestimate the training costs of soldiers. If each soldier engages in two shooting practices weekly, expending 10 bullets per practice, each soldier would consume as many as 20 bullets weekly.

With 90,000 personnel in the Royal Spanish Army, this means that, following this ratio, the Spanish Army expends over 1.8 million bullets weekly.

At 1.8 million bullets a week, the monthly consumption exceeds 7 million bullets. By this calculation, Spain’s soldiers consume over a hundred million bullets annually just for shooting practice.

Although the actual training conditions are certainly not this simple, it is enough to demonstrate how enormous the daily training expenditure of the Spanish Army is.

Fortunately, the Royal Military Factory, after years of expansion, greatly increased the output of weapons, equipment, and ammunition, even severalfold.

Especially since the Army has been fully equipped with new rifles, the Royal Military Factory only needs to maintain one rifle production line to compensate for their daily wear and tear, while the rest can concentrate on producing bullets extensively.

Although it can’t completely satisfy the training needs of Spanish soldiers, considering the colonial forces also consume bullets, not to mention the 15,000 troops of the Guard Army are not counted therein.

But the good news is that 70% of the bullets consumed in military training are domestically produced in Spain, with only 30% imported.

This largely owes to the fact that Spain’s rifle is an improved version of the Italian rifle, both using the same type of bullet.

This way, Spain can purchase the same model of rifle ammunition in Italy, solving the issue of bullet demand arising from military training.