As soon as Austria’s shipbuilding plan was announced, public opinion across Europe exploded. Although the Austrian government repeatedly emphasized that it was not targeting anyone and was merely filling the gap left by previously retired battleships, no one was willing to believe it. It is worth noting that before this, Austria already had a “ten battleships in ten years” plan. The three pre-dreadnought battleships currently in service were part of that program. Starting construction on one battleship per year was just normal practice, exactly enough to maintain the current size of Austria’s main battle fleet. Now, with the sudden addition of five more battleships to the shipbuilding plan, it was obviously a response to the earlier shipbuilding program of the Royal Navy. At this point, many people began to realize that not long ago, the Austrian government had gifted a large number of warships to the Russians, leaving their navy in a state of low inventory. A symbol of Austro-Russian friendship? Perhaps so, since the ships were given away for free. Even second-hand warships are quite valuable. If sold, according to typical rules of the international arms market, warships that are 50% to 60% new can still be sold at the cost price of their construction. But are we sure it was not just to make room for the new battleships? Austria is not the only one in need of naval modernization. Britain and France are also facing the retirement of large numbers of warships, and there simply are not enough powerful buyers on the international arms market. Even though Austria’s army equipment sells very well, its naval equipment is nowhere near as popular as Britain’s. This had nothing to do with the technology, performance, quality, or price of the warships themselves. The main reason they could not be sold was political. Although Austria had good relations with various European countries, its relationships with nations outside Europe were rather average. It was not that Austria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was not working hard, but rather that there was little room to maneuver. Outside of Europe, most places were either colonies, underlings of the great powers, or part of their spheres of influence. Truly independent and sovereign nations were extremely rare. In fact, there was no need to count them. Aside from the two Americas, which had some strength and managed to maintain their sovereignty, the remaining countries had all, to varying degrees, signed unequal treaties with the great powers. Of course, this did not mean Austrian warships could not be sold at all. Occasionally, they could still find small gaps to squeeze into. After all, Austria was still a great power, and its products carried prestige. When problems arose, the Austrian government would dare to step forward and deal with political obstacles. The problem was that Britain had a brand effect. No one knows who spread the idea, but everyone simply assumed that British warships had the best quality and performance, so countries always preferred British-made ships when purchasing warships. Under these circumstances, both French and Austrian warships were hard to sell. The two governments even tried to fight back, spreading rumors that British exported warships were all downgraded versions. Unfortunately, people were not easily fooled. Whether or not the ship was a downgraded version became clear upon inspection. For the most advanced warships, Britain did indeed export downgraded versions. However, for older retired ships, John Bull was less particular. Modifying downgraded warships also cost money, and at the very least, labor costs could not be avoided. Since the technology being phased out was obsolete, it simply was not worth wasting money to hide it. Political factors alone cost Austria 60% of potential orders. The brand effect of Britain then cost another 30% of the remaining share. In the end, only 28% of international orders remained. However, this portion of the market was not consumed by Austria alone. Instead, it was divided among the European countries, primarily split between France and Austria. In the first place, there were very few buyers with real purchasing power in this era, and the market available to Austria was already so small that there simply were no takers for retired warships. It was not just the Austrian Navy facing this issue. Even the British were in the same situation. The Royal Navy took ships out for target practice every year, which showed just how difficult these ships were to sell. In order to control the oversupply of warships, there was a tacit understanding among the European great powers. Even if they could not sell the ships and had to use them for target practice, they would not offload them cheaply, and giving them away was entirely out of the question. In a sense, Austria’s large-scale gifting of warships to Russia broke this tacit understanding. However, since this unwritten rule had no formal constraints and not even a verbal agreement, there was naturally no binding force. At most, the others were simply annoyed in their hearts. This was a minor issue. The real headache with outdated warships, in essence, came from reluctance to part with them. If the ship had not yet reached its retirement age, scrapping it for scrap metal felt like a waste. Keeping it in service posed no actual problem, but the key issue was that new warships were already arriving. Owning a large number of warships brought prestige, but it also came with enormous military expenses, which made it economically impractical. Whether the speculation was accurate or not no longer mattered. In any case, the ships had already been given away. Even if there was a chance to reverse the decision and make the choice again, the Russians would still happily take over the ships. Without having to pay any price, there was a chance to become the world’s fourth-largest naval power. Anyone in that position would know exactly what choice to make. Opportunities to watch the great powers openly tear into each other were rare. The bystanders had already prepared their nuts and coffee, just waiting for the drama to unfold. Before the British could even react, the French had already lost their patience. In response to the shipbuilding plans of Britain and Austria, Napoleon IV, for the first time, felt that the French Navy Ministry had been too conservative. Compared to the original timeline, France’s current situation was much better. There were no war indemnities to pay, no Russians to win over, and the recent anti-Semitic movement had resolved long-standing debt problems. The French government now had money to spend. “The shipbuilding plans of Britain and Austria for this year are already out. Judging from the current situation, our original shipbuilding plan has become outdated. The Navy Ministry is to revise the shipbuilding plan. Even if we do not surpass the British, we at least cannot fall behind the Austrians.” There was nothing wrong with that reasoning. There was still some distance to go before France could claim the title of the world’s number one naval power, but the title of the world’s second naval power could not be given up lightly. Even though there was no substantial difference between being the world’s second or third naval power since both were sufficient to protect France’s overseas interests, politically, being second and third were worlds apart. Once France lost the title of the world’s second naval power, it would leave the outside world with the impression that France was in decline. Not to mention all the enemies abroad waiting to kick France while it was down, even the proud citizens domestically would not be able to accept it. Minister of Finance Roy Vernon reminded, “Your Majesty, the expense of building warships is not the real issue. The trouble lies in the massive military spending required later on. Before announcing its shipbuilding plan, Austria gave a large number of warships to the Russians precisely to reduce its military expenditure. If we intend to follow suit in a big way, it would be best to decommission part of our fleet as well, to reduce future military costs.” It was true that the French government now had money, but having money did not mean it could be squandered recklessly. When it came to competing financially with Britain and Austria, the French government was still at a disadvantage. To avoid the worst-case scenario, Roy Vernon believed that controlling military spending as much as possible during the arms race was the most sensible approach. Minister of the Navy Georges Charles Cloué responded, “Your Excellency, the ships currently in service with the Imperial Navy are not that old. There are very few ships nearing retirement age. Most of the fleet is about 50 to 60% new, with excellent overall performance. Decommissioning these warships now would be a huge waste. The most important point is that once these ships are retired, there is no way to dispose of them. There are no buyers on the international market, and we do not need that many training ships. We only have two options in front of us: either take them out for target practice, or drag them to the factories to be dismantled and sold as scrap. Such wasteful behavior would be nothing short of squandering the taxpayers’ money. Even if older battleships have outdated performance, that is only relative to the new generation of battleships. Other than us, only Britain and Austria have such equipment at the moment. If we deploy these warships anywhere in the world on escort missions, they would still be perfectly capable. Even if they really do need to be retired, we can wait until the new generation of battleships enters service. In the following few years, we can maximize the value of these existing ships.” It was perfectly normal to be reluctant. Warships costing millions or even tens of millions of francs were not something one could simply dispose of at will. Any navy minister would feel pain over that. After hearing the explanation, Napoleon IV nodded. “Since the new battleships have not yet entered service, there is no rush to deal with the retiring warships for now. Our situation is different from Austria’s. Our overseas colonies rely much more heavily on the navy. In the meantime, you can all try to find buyers as much as possible. Even if the price is a bit lower, it does not matter.” Since Austria could give theirs away for free, naturally France could also hold a discounted sale. Napoleon IV still held out a sliver of hope. If these soon-to-be-retired warships could be sold off, that would be a win. As for the so-called need for overseas escort missions, that was just an excuse. These days, Britain, France, and Austria all had surplus warships. Thanks to the impacts of the previous rounds of arms races, all three powers now had large stockpiles of warships. As long as the three powers did not end up fighting each other, even scrapping half of their fleets would still leave the French navy capable of fulfilling its current duties. This was also one of the reasons why the Austrian government had sent its warships to Russia. If the three powers did not go to war, the remaining warships were still sufficient. If the three powers did go to war, the outcome would be the same whether or not those ships had been sent away. A France and Austria conflict would not require naval forces because the decisive factor in that war would be the army. If war broke out with the British, the navy would stand no chance at all. The choices would either be to sail out and disrupt enemy trade or hide in port to avoid danger. A decisive battle at sea would be nothing short of suicide. *** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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