"Secretary Thomas, the Department of Defense's plan for naval construction is too exaggerated, isn't it? Even without taking into account the country's finances, is it really necessary for us to build so many warships in five years? In the House of Ministers, Prime Minister Raul looked at the report on the shipbuilding plan submitted by Defense Secretary Thomas and asked with a look of disbelief.

Prime Minister Raul was aware of the collapse of the Treaty of Naval Limitations, and he also understood that Australasia must join the naval arms race in the coming time and improve the country's naval strength as much as possible.

The problem is that Minister Thomas's proposal for a naval construction is exaggerated, and it is a plan that has never been seen in Australasia.

"I hope you can give me a suitable reason, otherwise, you will personally go and convince the Cabinet and Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Raul looked at Thomas, who was the old god, and said with an angry face.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I believe you also understand the importance of building a navy at this time." The Secretary of State for Defense, Thomas, explained unhurriedly: "Now we are not as close as we thought we were with the British.

In order to guarantee the security of our territory, we must strengthen our naval forces in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Second, it is clear that the islanders have seen us as potential competitors. If we allow their shipbuilding program to be laid, the navy of the island nation will surpass ours, and this is absolutely unacceptable to us.

If we lose our superiority over the navies of the island countries, we are very likely to lose the upper hand in the competition with the island countries, or even lose our hegemony in the Pacific Ocean.

It is for these reasons that I believe it is necessary to expand our navy aggressively and to ensure our hegemony in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. ”

"That being said, it's not necessary to build ten aircraft carriers at once, right?" Looking at Minister Thomas, who was talking in a serious way, Prime Minister Raul said angrily: "Do you know how much ten aircraft carriers cost?

Judging by the cost of the latest aircraft carriers, the cost of aircraft carriers alone is close to 100 million Australian dollars!

If the other ministers knew that they were going to spend $200 million on the Navy, I am afraid that the next cabinet meeting would turn directly into a lively vegetable market.

We had only $407 million in revenue last year, and there's no way I'm going to agree to a plan to build a navy of over $200 million. ”

"No matter what, Your Excellency, we must establish naval superiority over the island nations." Minister Thomas explained: "Your Majesty is not unaware of your dislike for the island nation, and I think it is very likely that we will break out into a war with the island nation.

Rather than waiting for war to come before building warships, we should prepare in advance and strive to crush the island nation on land, sea and air.

If you don't agree with this ship-building plan, how about taking a look at it? Minister Thomas took out another prepared shipbuilding plan and handed it to Prime Minister Raul with a smile.

"Damn, I knew you guys were still prepared." Prime Minister Raul glanced at Minister Thomas angrily, but took another plan from Minister Thomas.

Compared with the previous very exaggerated shipbuilding plan, the second shipbuilding plan handed by Minister Thomas to Prime Minister Raul seems much more normal.

Also in five years, this shipbuilding plan includes 2 super-large dreadnoughts, 3 aircraft carriers, 2 battle cruisers, 10 destroyers, and nearly 100 small and medium-sized warships.

Among them, the number of capital warships is 7, which can ensure that after the completion of the shipbuilding plan, the main size of the Australasian navy will slightly exceed that of the island nation.

This, coupled with a previously established submarine construction program, would ensure Australasia's naval superiority in the Pacific.

If a conflict or even war breaks out between Australasia and the island nation, with its naval superiority, Australasia can easily block the logistics and transportation lines of the island country, making the island country an isolated country in the ocean.

Being cut off from sea lines is like cutting off life supply lines for a country like an island nation.

This is also the reason why Minister Thomas has repeatedly emphasized the importance of maritime superiority, which can basically determine the war superiority of Australasia over the island nation.

"Are all warships of the latest design?" Prime Minister Raul frowned and asked for some instructions in the plan.

"Yes, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Minister Thomas nodded with a smile and explained, "As you know, our R&D focus was on aircraft carriers. Compared with aircraft carriers, the design of our other warships is a little backward, and even the islanders are inferior.

While it is necessary to expand the navy, we must not spend huge sums of money on building outdated products.

All capital warships, including aircraft carriers, will adopt the latest design and strive to create the world's most advanced maritime warships. ”

Hearing Minister Thomas's explanation, Prime Minister Raul nodded and did not disagree.

As an official who has been promoted from defense minister to prime minister, Prime Minister Raul naturally understands the impact of advanced warship design on the combat effectiveness of the entire warship.

It is also the construction of warships that have spent a lot of money, and it is natural to be able to build warships with the most advanced design and excellent performance, which is naturally the first choice of the Australasian government.

"What budget is expected to be needed for this shipbuilding project?" Prime Minister Raul asked the question that was most important to him.

It is only when you become prime minister that you understand the importance of reducing the budget for the country. It seems that Australasia has a lot of revenue, but there is also a lot of money to spend every year.

Last year, for example, was second only to the UK and France in terms of total revenue, with a revenue of $407 million.

But last year's fiscal spending was as high as $455 million, and the fiscal not only did not have a surplus, but also lost nearly $48 million.

Although a large part of this is due to the large-scale construction that the country is undertaking, the financial deficit is not always a good thing.

Without Prime Minister Raul's provincial efforts, I am afraid that last year's fiscal spending would have been indefinitely close to $500 million.

"The budget for the seven main warships will be at least 65 million Australian dollars, plus other small and medium-sized warships, the estimated budget is around 100 million Australian dollars." Minister Thomas reported truthfully.

Secretary Thomas did not dare to conceal or fabricate the budget required for the construction of warships.

After all, all the construction of warships is Arthur's industry, and it is not clear to Arthur how much budget is needed to build warships?

Hearing Minister Thomas's answer, Prime Minister Raul frowned and said with a little dissatisfaction: "Will aircraft carriers and battlecruisers cost close to 10 million Australian dollars?" What kind of warships are you going to build?

That's a lot to spend and it's down to around $85 million. The government can barely afford to build it over a five-year period, or $17 million a year.

Of this, the Department of Defence squeezes out $5 million a year, and the government subsidizes another $12 million. ”

In the end, it was the official level that crushed people to death. Prime Minister Raul easily cut Minister Thomas's budget by $15 million in a few words.

And, $5 million of the $17 million a year spent on construction comes from the Department of Defence's budget.

This also means that the government only needs to contribute an additional $60 million to the naval construction plan, and the remaining $25 million will need to be ceded by the Department of Defence from other places.

"Understood." Although Minister Thomas was reluctant, he could only nod helplessly to show that he understood.

No way, this is why Prime Minister Raul was born in the Ministry of Defense, so he has a slight bias towards the Ministry of Defense.

If the prime minister is from a conservative background, I am afraid that the $85 million budget will have to be cut somewhat.

Nor can Prime Minister Raul be blamed for his frugality. While the construction of the navy looks like it will only cost $85 million, of which the government will only need to contribute $12 million a year, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

But in reality, the cost of the Navy does not refer to the cost of building warships. In addition to this construction cost, the training of naval soldiers, the daily maintenance and repair of warships, etc., are also one of the largest parts of military expenditure.

The reason why the navy is one of the most expensive arms is that the maintenance and repair costs of warships are too high.

Just for the 7 main warships in the shipbuilding plan, the follow-up maintenance costs are not a small number.

This is also the real reason why only countries at the level of great powers can afford to play with a large navy. Even only some of the top powers with relatively high financial revenues can afford to play with a large navy with more capital warships.

As for those small countries, it is enough to have a small-scale navy and maintain order on the coast plus patrols.

Even if they are given warships, they cannot afford the training and daily maintenance of their soldiers, and this is the natural difference between small countries and large countries.

After the demise of the United States, the strength of the world's navies has formed a relatively obvious level.

The strength of the navies of various countries is basically linked to their own financial revenues. The British Empire, the largest country in terms of revenue, also controlled the most powerful Royal Navy.

The French, relying on a large number of colonies, were able to maintain a relatively large navy, which could be called the second largest in the world.

Australasia won completely by lying down, and with the support of its peers, it did nothing to sit firmly on the throne of the world's third naval power.

Although the island nation is not the top among the great powers in terms of financial revenue and industry, it has also managed to build a navy that is the fourth largest in the world by virtue of the perseverance of the whole country in building a navy and the motivation to support its ambitions.

Further on, there is the weakest of the unrestricted powers, the fifth navy in the world that Italy has.

In fact, it can be seen from this point that there is a gap in the strength of the countries in the world at present.

From the naval side, the navies of Britain, France, Australasia and the island countries can barely be seen.

Starting with Italy, the navies of all countries have suffered greatly restrictions, and the gap with the top four is already very large.

The sixth navy in the world should be the fleet in the hands of Tsarist Russia, which has been reduced by more than half.

For his own war, Nicholas II sold most of his warships in exchange for military aid and weapons and equipment from various countries.

This has also weakened Russia's naval strength too badly, and even Italy cannot match it at present.

As for the seventh and eighth in the world, this ranking is actually not ranked. Because it is neither Germany nor Austria that is on the list, but the three South American countries that have slightly increased their naval strength because of the small-scale naval arms race.

As for Germany and Austria, which were significantly stronger in terms of overall strength, their navies were greatly limited after World War I, and all their main warships were taken over by Britain, France and other countries, and they only had small gunboats near the coast.

It is precisely because of this that it is said that it is a naval arms race, but in fact, it is mainly the naval competition between Britain, France, Australasia and the island countries, plus the accident of Italy fishing in troubled waters.

Although the protagonists are only four countries, there are still many contradictions between these four countries.

The most obvious is the contradiction between Britain and France. Although the power gap between Britain and France was already large, this still did not hinder France's ambition to become the hegemon of Europe.

Coupled with Britain's willingness to intervene in Europe, the contradictions between Britain and France have become increasingly irreconcilable.

The conflict between these two countries is to be resolved unless another more powerful country emerges, threatening the security of both Britain and France.

In addition to the contradictions between Britain and France, the rivalry between the island nation and Australasia in the Pacific Ocean is also one of the contradictions.

This is actually what the British want to see. Although Britain and Australasia are still allies, Britain has become wary of Australasia.

No way, what Australasia has achieved in the past few decades is too exaggerated.

At present, Australasia has completely unified Oceania, and also has two territories, the Persian Gulf and Alaska, and the sphere of influence is all over Southeast Asia and the United States.

Such a huge country is bound to clash with Britain's global hegemony.

Coupled with the fact that Australasia has a fairly good army strength and navy size, it is normal for the British to be wary.

Although the British are reluctant to tear up their faces with Australasia, it is still easy to create a little competition and rivalry for Australasia.

The continuous expansion of the island nation in terms of navy does not necessarily have the shadow of the British behind it.

Especially after the defeat of the United States, Australasia has no rivals in the Pacific. It was also during that period that the relationship between Britain and Australasia had become more and more estranged, and the contradictions between the island nation and Australasia had become more and more intense.

From this point of view, the main reason for this naval arms race is because of Britain's global hegemony and regional balance policy.

The British did taste the bitter fruits. Because no matter which country's navy is strong, Britain's global hegemony will be challenged and threatened.

With the new naval construction plans of various countries coming out, the pressure on the British government at the moment is very great.

Don't look at the UK's fiscal revenue is the highest in the world, the UK's fiscal expenditure is also the highest in the world.

With Britain's sphere of influence spread all over the world, Britain's colonies were not so peaceful.

Maintaining peace in India and the United States alone cost the British a great deal of human and financial resources.

At this time, the naval arms race was a competition that the British had to participate in, and it cost a lot of extra money.

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(End of chapter)