Listening to the report of the commander of the navy, Daniel, Arthur frowned, and found a relatively obvious problem in the scale of the navy's deployment.

"Commander Daniel, why don't we have as many medium-sized functional auxiliary warships as our main warships?" Arthur asked, a little puzzled.

In particular, the size of the Pacific Fleet can be described in four words, that is, top-heavy.

The Pacific Fleet has a total of 9 capital warships of 3+4+2, but only 7 medium-sized auxiliary warships, including destroyers.

Although some small ships are not included in the statistics, this is not the reason why the number of small and medium-sized warships in Australasia is so rare.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten your order?" Daniel's face was a little strange, and he cautioned.

"Orders? What orders did I give? Arthur continued to ask, puzzled.

"Before the start of our naval construction program, Your Majesty said that priority should be given to the construction of our main warships and submarines, and after the completion of the construction of these warships, medium warships and functional auxiliary warships will be built." Daniel replied.

Arthur was stunned for a moment, and he also remembered that he had given such an order before the construction of the navy.

However, Arthur meant at the time that priority should be given to the construction of capital warships, and a small part of the productivity should be used to build small and medium-sized warships.

But unexpectedly, both the Admiralty and the shipyard misinterpreted their orders and directly used all their productive capacity to build the main warships, which really pushed all the small and medium-sized warships to the end.

"How can our aircraft carriers be safe without the protection of destroyers and frigates?" Arthur was a little puzzled and looked at Commander Daniel, "Since such a problem has been discovered, why hasn't anyone reminded me?" ”

The strength of an aircraft carrier is not only due to the various types of carrier-based aircraft it carries, but also the protection of aircraft carriers from a range of auxiliary warships, including frigates, destroyers and cruisers.

A complete aircraft carrier battle group, in addition to powerful aircraft carriers, must also have a large number of functional warships, so that the aircraft carrier can exert sufficient combat effectiveness.

"This..." Commander Daniel was a little silent, not daring to say the real reason.

Arthur also understood in an instant. Since the founding of the Empire, Arthur's prestige in Australasia has reached its peak.

As the founding emperor, Arthur's prestige in the government and the people was not allowed to be provoked by anyone.

The consequence of this was that officials who were not close to Arthur no longer had the courage to question Arthur's decision.

Except for a few henchmen who were deeply trusted by Arthur, how could the rest dare to question Arthur's decision openly?

With a slight sigh, Arthur said to everyone attending the meeting: "If you find such a problem in the future, you should report it to the Ministry of Defense in time." Or Commander Daniel, if you find a problem, you can come to me in time.

Australasia needs the efforts of everyone to be strong, and the empire never punishes its courtiers who are dedicated to the country. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Everyone responded.

"Does the Admiralty have any plans for the remediation of these problems?" Arthur then asked.

Now that the problem has been discovered, the next most important thing is to naturally remedy this problem, which has already caused harm to the Navy.

Arthur believed that since Commander Daniel had already seen the problem, he should also have some solution to the problem.

Sure enough, hearing Arthur's inquiry, Commander Daniel quickly stood up and replied: "Your Majesty, at present, the three major shipyards in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland have all started to build our main warships, and it is more costly for us to interrupt construction at this time.

I think that if you want to take into account the joint construction of the main warship and the small and medium-sized warship, you can transfer these smaller warship orders to other shipyards. ”

Arthur nodded, and had no objection to handing over the small order to a civilian shipyard.

"Is there a shipyard in the Navy that you like?" Arthur continued.

Australasia, as a great power, is still the most powerful country in the Pacific, and the development of the shipbuilding industry is naturally needless to say.

In particular, several major regions, such as Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, are all separated by vast oceans, which makes exchanges between regions very dependent on sea.

After more than 30 years of development, Australasia's shipbuilding industry has also come to the forefront of the world.

There are many civilian shipyards, with hundreds of them of all sizes scattered across Australia and New Zealand.

As for military shipyards, apart from the Royal Dockyards' Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland branches, Arthur is not familiar with other military shipyards, which is why Arthur asked.

"Your Majesty, the current Kleistcage Joint Shipyard in South New Zealand meets our requirements." Naval Commander Daniel said: "We have investigated the background of this joint shipyard, which was established by a combination of local New Zealanders and regional Australian capital.

At present, the Kleistchurch Joint Shipyard has become the largest private military shipyard in New Zealand, and can start two small warships of less than 8,000 tons at the same time, which basically meets our requirements. ”

"Kleistech Joint Shipyard?" Arthur's face was a little strange. If memory serves, there is a royal consortium behind this joint shipyard, that is, the original royal consortium.

The Australian capital Daniel is talking about should be a disguised royal consortium.

This also represents good news, the disguised royal consortium has become a large and small capital, which even the military can conceal.

"Now that the military has investigated, let's separate a part of the order for small-scale warships and hand it over to the Kleistech Joint Shipyard." Arthur nodded, agreeing to Commander Daniel's proposal.

"There are many similar examples in the future, and it is impossible for the three royal shipyards to eat all the naval orders.

In the future, vetted private military shipyards could also be added to the Navy's shipyard cooperation list as appropriate to expand our production capacity in warships.

In the military industry, there are no factories that are a fixed target for our military. There is only one prerequisite for working with the military, and that is to be able to produce manufactured products of acceptable quality and at a reasonable price. Arthur commanded.

Although the three royal shipyards were all enterprises of the royal consortium, Arthur did not mean to favor them in the slightest.

After all, for Arthur, the state is the most important thing. The interests of the royal family can be appropriately conceded in front of the country, not to mention the small three major shipyards.

Whoever is more technologically powerful in the shipbuilding industry, who designs drawings that are more trusted by the navy, and who builds warships that are not only of good quality but also inexpensive, will be able to win the favor of the military, rather than placing orders at the three royal shipyards.

Staying the same will only make people slack, and only reasonable and compliant competition can make a company like the Royal Consortium stronger.

If none of the three major shipyards can gain an advantage over the competition with private military shipyards, then Arthur should also consider completely replacing the main leaders of the three shipyards.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Many admirals, including Commander Daniel, all had expressions of excitement and admiration on their faces.

You must know that the orders placed by the Navy every year alone bring the net benefits to the three major shipyards in the millions of dollars.

Arthur's ability to allow a level playing field between the private military shipyards and the three royal shipyards required a great deal of determination.

How could the navy not feel admiration and excitement in the face of such a monarch who could sacrifice his personal interests for the sake of the national interest?

After all, the stronger the navy, the more benefits they, the upper echelons of the navy, will receive.

"Make up for the number of small and medium-sized warships as soon as possible, and join the fleets in the Pacific and Indian Oceans." Arthur commanded: "

Only an aircraft carrier with enough frigates and destroyers can be called a powerful warship.

To make amends for the Navy, on behalf of the Royal Family, I am donating $5 million to the Defence Department of Defence.

As for how much of that $5 million you can get, it's up to you to talk about Minister Thomas. Arthur said with a smile.

The annual competition for the financial budget of the Ministry of Defense is really at the level of crying and shouting.

Obviously, the annual national defense budget accounts for the majority of the government's budget, and it is increasing year by year.

But these commanders of the navy, land and air force are really at the level of drama when they cry poor.

The good news is that Australasia has gone through eight cabinet governments so far, but there are only three defense ministers so far, namely the former prime minister of Kent, the former prime minister Raul and Minister Thomas.

From this aspect, it is already possible to perceive how important the Ministry of Defense is to Arthur. Except for Minister Thomas, who is still in office, the other defense ministers have successfully passed the term of defense to deputy prime minister, and then to prime minister, and then retired honorably with the title of earl.

This also means that although Minister Thomas is currently only a baron, it is almost certain that he will receive the title of earl after his retirement.

As long as he doesn't make a mistake in his final term, he will at least get the post of deputy prime minister and is one of the most likely candidates to compete for prime minister.

This is also Arthur's means to ensure that there will be no problems in the competition for the defense budget every year, that is, so that the candidate for defense minister can steadily suppress the commanders of the navy, land and air force.

Needless to say, the former prime minister of Kent and the former prime minister Raul. Even the current Minister Thomas has really risen from the grassroots level of the military, and has successively held the positions of commander of the Guards Division and deputy minister of defense before being promoted to the figure of Minister of Defense.

Such a resume is also destined to one thing, that is, Minister Thomas is still relatively handy in the control of some of the generals under him.

3000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)