"Your Highness, are you really talking about Germany's main battleship, the Braunschweig-class battleship? Australia has already mastered the technology of building battleships of the Braunschweig-class and can also export them? Koichiro Yuzawa asked in surprise.

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it to you, Mr. Koichiro Yuzawa." Arthur nodded, smiled and said, "If your country wants, Australian shipyards can sell several battleships to your country at a price slightly higher than the cost price." Of course, the exact amount depends on your country's financial reserves. ”

Does the island nation want to buy battleships? Naturally, there is no need to think about it. As a measure of a country's naval strength, the number of battleships is very important to a country's navy, and can even determine the victory of a naval battle.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the current battleships are a decisive factor in a naval battle, and the importance of battleships is much higher than that of other small and medium-sized warships.

Koichiro Yuzawa nodded and continued to ask, "What is the price of the Braunschweig-class battleships produced by your country?" How long will it take to complete the construction of the entire battleship? ”

Battleships are important, but they also have to be reasonably priced and built over a period of time.

If the Australian-made battleships took up to several years to build, then it was unacceptable for the island nation, and it was even better to order them from the British.

No matter how slow Britain is, the construction of a battleship in less than two years is still guaranteed. Although it will take two or three months to transport and receive it halfway, it will be able to be incorporated into the Navy in at least the early two years.

If Australia's construction time could be less than that of the British, then Koichiro Yuzawa and even the government of the island nation would not mind ordering battleships in Australia.

But if the final handover takes much longer than what was ordered from the British, it would be better to order it from the Allied British Empire.

Knowing the concerns in Yuzawa's heart, Arthur explained with a smile: "Please rest assured, under the guidance of German experts, our shipyard has completely mastered the construction technology of the Braunschweig-class battleships. According to the estimates of our experts, the cost of the complete construction of a Brunswick-class battleship is more than a million pounds, plus our various labor costs, we can give your country a friendly price, one million three hundred and fifty thousand pounds. As for the timing of the construction of battleships, rest assured, Australia has no plans to build battleships in the near future. If your country orders battleships, we will do our best to build your order, guaranteeing that each battleship will be built for no more than one and a half years and handed over for no more than two years. ”

The current capital battleships are not as expensive as the dreadnoughts that followed, often costing millions of pounds.

Like the Braunschweig class, one of the main warships of the German Navy, it was sold for less than 28 million marks, or less than 1.4 million pounds.

Arthur was right, the price of 1,350,000 pounds was indeed a friendship price, and even violated the German treaty against price wars at that time.

But if it is compared to the real cost of battleships, it is actually nothing.

Although Arthur said that the cost of the Brunswick-class battleships was as high as one million pounds, in fact, the actual battleships cost just over 800,000 pounds, and the cost of labor and various kinds was definitely less than 900,000 pounds.

The selling price is nearly 1.4 million pounds, which is at least 500,000 pounds compared to the net profit of the cost, which is also one of the exploits of other countries by the Western powers.

Of course, this is also a windfall profit in the military industry. Otherwise, there would not be so many great powers willing to sell the battleships they have developed, and the profits from each battleship alone can build a large warship, and the profits from two battleships can even build a new battleship.

Koichiro Yuzawa naturally understands that the cost of a battleship, especially the cost of a capital battleship, is almost within this range.

Arthur's promise to launch the battleship in a year and a half and hand it over within two years was also very much in line with Yuzawa's expectations.

The length of construction of a battleship varies, but most of them take about half a year to a year and a half.

The tests and sea trials after launching also take some time, and with the distance between handovers, the actual delivery time of a battleship may not be until two years later.

In particular, the battleships ordered by the island nation from Britain took up to a year and a half to build, plus some test time and the required distance for handover, and the final delivery time was even two and a half years later.

If it's a normal period, two and a half years and a half are nothing. But now that the island nation is about to make the next big move in the Far East, the sooner the battleships can be delivered, the higher the success rate of this operation.

"Your Highness, can I visit the shipyards of your country? If it is all right, we are willing to order a battleship from your country. Koichiro Yuzawa asked tentatively.

"Of course, now our shipyards are building an Australian naval order, the cruiser "Duke Arthur". If your country is interested, Duke-class cruisers can also be sold to your country. Arthur nodded and said with a smile.

Compared to the Braunschweig-class battleships, the Duke-class cruisers were not as important.

Although it is the current main warship of the Australian Navy, its actual role is only to patrol the coastline.

Nearly six months have passed since the start of the Navy's expansion program in mid-May.

The shipyard was built very quickly under the guidance of German experts and with the labor of a large number of indigenous people.

Coupled with the fact that Australia's naval orders are all small and medium-sized warships, the Duke-class cruisers, the largest tonnage, will not take more than seven months to build.

At this time, the shipyard was in full swing, and three small frigates had already been built and were about to start launching tests.

And the two larger cruisers have also entered the final stage of construction, and in about a month they will be completed and launched, entering the real test stage.

With Arthur's nod of approval, Koichiro Yuzawa and Toshiyo Hirano and the diplomatic corps of the island nation entered the shipyard to visit, not only boarding the three small frigates that had already been built, but also witnessing the construction of two Duke-class cruisers.

Originally, the islanders were still somewhat skeptical that Australia had the production capacity of battleships, but when they saw that the skilled workers of the Australian shipyards had won the satisfied nods of approval from the German experts, they knew that Arthur was right.

The first is to ask for support!

(End of chapter)