With coaxing on one side and threats on the other, and with the full backing of the cabinet, the British Parliament finally passed the bill to increase military spending by a slim margin. Even so, the budget of 70 million pounds was cut down to 65.81 million. This was already considered a good outcome, since it was common for budgets to be slashed in half during parliamentary debates. Perhaps sensing the threat posed by the Holy Roman Empire, the members of Parliament were sobered by reality and held back a little when swinging their scythes. Even so, by the time all the procedures were completed and the navy finished the bidding process and finalized the shipyards, it was already May. Before Campbell could even breathe a sigh of relief, more bad news arrived. There were not enough docks capable of handling ships over twenty thousand tons, which meant the navy could not start construction on that many super battleships at once. “What? At a time like this, you are telling me there are not enough suitable docks?” Prime Minister Campbell roared. His anger was understandable. Super battleships were more than twenty thousand tons each, and such massive hulls could not be built on slipways. Construction had to take place inside docks. But docks were not cabbages that could be grown overnight, especially those capable of handling more than twenty thousand tons. They were extremely rare. In the original timeline, even up to the outbreak of the First World War, no country ever laid down more than a dozen dreadnoughts at once. It was not because they lacked the desire but because their infrastructure simply could not support it. Even during the Second World War, the only country capable of beginning construction on more than a dozen large warships simultaneously was the United States. Facing the Prime Minister’s questioning, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Swinton, answered with deep frustration, “I regret saying this, Prime Minister. I do not want to believe that the empire could be suffering from insufficient capacity, but this is the reality. The dreadnought has only been around for a short time, and we have not had enough time to build more large docks.” Although in recent years Britain’s shipbuilding industry had developed rapidly, commercial vessels exceeding twenty thousand tons were still extremely rare. It was not that the technology was lacking, but that market demand was low. In theory, larger commercial ships had lower transportation costs per unit, but this was only a theoretical advantage. It was still the early years of the twentieth century, and overseas trade was nowhere near the scale it would reach decades later. How could anyone hope to fill a twenty-thousand-ton cargo ship? The bulk commodities that currently rely on shipping are only a few: agricultural products, cotton textiles, oil, ores, and steel. Although they are considered bulk goods, the demand for large commercial ships is actually still quite limited. Take cotton textiles as an example. Who would dare release tens of thousands of tons of goods into the same market all at once? Even if a large commercial ship were available, shipments would still have to be combined with others. But combining shipments is not easy at all, because there are never that many orders needing transport at exactly the same time. Besides, not all goods can be shipped together, since many products have strict requirements for transportation conditions. For transport companies, instead of using a thirty or fifty thousand ton cargo ship that often cannot be fully loaded, it is far more economical to use ten thousand ton vessels. Steel is the same. Most countries purchase only ten to twenty thousand tons a year at most. Nations that consume hundreds of thousands or millions of tons generally produce it themselves. Even when there are orders, they are usually placed in batches based on practical needs. After all, steel rusts. If a buyer purchases too much at once, the excess could easily become a loss. Ores are not much different. They may be bulk goods, but the problem is that demand from each country is very small. In the era of free trade, many nations find it more economical to buy finished products directly on the market rather than purchase ores and refine them themselves. This was true for Britain as well. Aside from its large demand for steel, which required domestic refining capacity, most other rare metals were simply purchased outright. Unlike later times, even aluminum was considered a rare metal during this era. Britain consumed only ten to twenty thousand tons a year at most. Refining it domestically would have been a losing business. In the original timeline, until as late as 1913, Britain’s aluminum production was only a little over seven thousand tons. Large scale industrial production would not arrive until the middle to late twentieth century. As for other rare metals, there was even less to say. Many existed only in laboratories and had no industrial applications whatsoever. The market demand was too small to support many enterprises. Capital seeks profit, and no one engages in business that guarantees losses. As for oil, which would become the most heavily consumed resource in later generations, annual production at this time was only about thirty million tons, and most of it was produced and consumed internally within the Holy Roman Empire. Even if large oil tankers were needed, the business would be handled internally, so there was no chance for British shipyards to secure those orders. It was the same with agricultural products. The Holy Roman Empire dominated the field, and it managed all transportation by itself, leaving British shipyards with no opportunity to get involved. The only remaining markets were all controlled by other countries. Without enough orders from the global market, British shipbuilding companies naturally had no reason to construct a number of large docks just to let them sit idle. If it were not for the need to demonstrate strength to the outside world by proving that they could build large commercial ships, the capitalists probably would not have bothered building even the few large docks that existed. Prime Minister Campbell shouted angrily, “I do not want to hear any explanations. The problem we face now is that we need to build warships, but our production capacity cannot meet the demand. Is the Admiralty just sitting around doing nothing? With such a serious issue, why was this not reported earlier? Now that the problem has surfaced, how do you intend to fix it? The enemy will not give us time to prepare!” No matter how many excuses there were, in this situation the Admiralty could hardly avoid blame. Claiming that “we did not expect the enemy to go crazy and place so many orders all at once” might work as an excuse to deflect responsibility, but it did nothing to solve the real problem. Swinton explained with great embarrassment, “We have already taken countermeasures. The shipyards began working overtime to construct new large docks as early as three months ago. Given the current situation, we also revised part of the warship designs. By sacrificing some performance, we successfully reduced the displacement, allowing the ships to be built in twenty-thousand-ton docks. Although the Holy Roman Empire has more large docks than we do, it possesses only six docks capable of handling more than twenty-five thousand tons, and three of those have already been in use for some time. Based on this, we can infer that the enemy can build at most three dreadnoughts exceeding twenty-five thousand tons, which happens to match our own number. The rest will all be first-generation dreadnoughts. Even though our displacement will be smaller, our combat effectiveness will not be much weaker than theirs.” It was impossible for the Admiralty to have instructed the shipyards ahead of time to build new large docks. If the Admiralty had reacted that quickly, they would have raised the issue long ago. However, some farsighted capitalists did start working early. In a way, this ended up saving the Admiralty politically. As long as the capitalists admitted that the construction of new large docks was connected to the Admiralty, it would prove that the Admiralty had taken decisive action in time, and the matter would be considered resolved. Whether there were under-the-table deals involved was unknown, but the shipyards that started building new large docks early all received orders from the Admiralty. This was a minor issue. Everyone involved was in the same boat and political allies, so there was no need to kick someone while they were down. In the past, no one really noticed anything. After all, the British Empire had always been capable of producing any technology, the only difference being whether they developed something sooner or later. Now that they had to truly compete head-on, everyone suddenly realized how serious the situation was. The Royal Navy might still hold the advantage, but the overall industrial level of the British Empire could not keep up. High production costs and poor cost-effectiveness were one thing. The more troublesome problem was that production capacity itself was falling short. The people present were all political figures, promoted into their positions, and did not understand the detailed workings of industry. Before the issue was exposed, no one had realized it. But now that this window paper had been ripped open, countless problems that had been ignored suddenly flooded into everyone’s mind. They were all elites of their era, so naturally none of them naively believed that Britain’s only problem was the lack of large docks. With just a bit of thought, it became clear that Britain’s entire industrial system had a serious problem. The world works in subtle ways. In order to better plunder the wealth of various countries, Britain had personally constructed the free trade system. Wealth had indeed been accumulated, and British capital had earned fortunes in the past years. But the side effects were enormous. Inside the free trade system, the problems were not obvious. Yet the moment Britain stood outside it, the flaws in its industrial system immediately appeared. If there were not even enough large docks, could the supporting industries that supplied components for warships possibly meet demand? Do not forget that not long ago, these same people were crying and shouting to abandon the free trade system and adopt tariff barriers to protect the domestic market. During normal times, slower progress might be acceptable. Supporting domestic industry even at the cost of some delay would not necessarily be a loss. But things are different now. Both sides were competing for speed. Britain’s shipbuilding program was already behind, and if any disruption occurred midway, they would be finished. Startled into a cold sweat, Prime Minister Campbell hurriedly ordered, “Instruct all major shipyards to immediately purchase all related components. Speed is essential. We must stockpile as many parts as possible before the Holy Roman government realizes what is happening.” Perhaps this was a desperate measure, but Campbell could not afford to gamble. The situation had already become too precarious for the British government to risk another major strategic mistake. Domestic production capacity was insufficient only for some components. Even when there were shortages, many substitutes existed. It was not absolutely necessary to procure everything from the Holy Roman Empire. But the British government had too little time to carefully evaluate alternatives. If they happened to run short of a particular component and could not find a substitute, it would be a disaster. After all, at this time only the Holy Roman Empire possessed a fully developed industrial system. Britain originally had one too, but it failed to keep up during the second industrial revolution, pausing at a critical moment. That brief pause caused it to fall completely behind. Many industries were shattered by new technologies, and capitalists turned toward finance instead, with fewer and fewer willing to invest in real industrial production. The Americans had a relatively complete industrial system as well, but their technology lagged by several eras. They could only imitate products with no real technical content. Relying on the United States for components would be worse than waiting for Britain’s own industries to increase production. By this point, everyone understood why the Holy Roman government had suddenly changed its tone and become so aggressive. Such a major opportunity was laid out openly before them. If they did not take advantage of this chance to strike while Britain was weak, were they supposed to wait until Britain recovered before making a move?
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