The Rise Of Australasia

Listening to the report from the Navy Commander Daniel, Arthur furrowed his brow as he detected a rather conspicuous issue with the scale of naval deployment.

"Commander Daniel, why do we have fewer medium-sized functional auxiliary warships than main battleships?" Arthur asked with some confusion and incomprehension.

In particular, the size of the Pacific Squadron would aptly be described in four words: top-heavy and bottom-light.

The Pacific Squadron has a total of 9 main battleships, comprising 3+4+2, but there are only 7 medium-sized auxiliary warships led by destroyers.

Although some smaller vessels are not included in the count, this doesn't explain the scarcity of medium and small-sized warships in Australasia.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten the command you issued?" Daniel's expression was a bit peculiar as he carefully reminded him.

"Command? What command did I issue?" Arthur continued to ask, puzzled.

"Before our navy's construction plan began, Your Majesty once said we should prioritize the construction of our main battleships and submarines. Only after completing these warships should we build medium-sized warships and functional auxiliary ships," Daniel replied.

Arthur was taken aback; he also remembered issuing such a command before the navy's construction.

However, what Arthur had meant at the time was that the main battleships should be built first, with a minority of the production capacity allocated for the construction of various small and medium-sized warships.

But unexpectedly, both the Ministry of Defence and the shipyards had misconstrued his command, using all the production capacity for main battleships and truly pushing the smaller vessels to the back of the queue.

"Without destroyers and escort ships for protection, how can we ensure the safety of our aircraft carriers?" Arthur asked, still puzzled, and turned his gaze to Commander Daniel: "Since we have identified such a problem, why did no one remind me?"

The power of an aircraft carrier not only lies in the various types of carrier-borne aircraft it carries but also in a series of auxiliary warships, including escort ships, destroyers, and cruisers, that protect the aircraft carrier.

A complete aircraft carrier battle group, in addition to a powerful aircraft carrier, must also possess numerous functional warships to exert sufficient combat strength.

"This..." Commander Daniel fell silent, not daring to reveal the real reason.

Arthur understood instantly. Since the establishment of the Empire, Arthur's prestige in Australasia had reached its zenith.

As the founding Emperor, Arthur's authority in both the government and the civilian sector was beyond any provocation.

The consequence was that officials not close to Arthur no longer had the courage to question his decisions.

Apart from a few confidants deeply trusted by Arthur, how could the rest dare to openly question his decisions?

With a slightly heavy sigh, Arthur addressed everyone in the meeting: "In the future, when such issues are discovered, they should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Defence. Or Commander Daniel, you can also come to me as soon as you find a problem.

Australasia needs the effort of us all to grow strong, and the Empire will never penalize a subject who wholeheartedly serves the nation."

"Yes, Your Majesty," everyone responded in succession.

"What plans does the Ministry of Defence have to remedy these issues?" Arthur continued.

Now that the problem had been discovered, it was naturally most important to address this issue that was already jeopardizing the navy.

Arthur believed that since Commander Daniel had long recognized the problem, he must also have a certain solution to it.

As expected, upon Arthur's inquiry, Commander Daniel quickly stood up and replied, "Your Majesty, currently, Sydney, Melbourne, and Oakland shipyards have all begun building our main battleships. To interrupt their construction would mean even greater losses for us.

I think, to balance the construction of both main battleships and small to medium-sized warships, we could transfer the orders for these smaller warships to other shipyards."

Arthur nodded his approval, having no objections to passing the small-scale orders to civilian shipyards.

"Does the navy have any particular shipyards in mind?" Arthur asked further.

As a great power and certainly the strongest nation on the Pacific, it goes without saying how developed Australasia's shipbuilding industry is.

Especially in major native regions such as Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia, which are all separated by vast oceans, the connections between these regions heavily rely on maritime transport.

Over the past 30 or so years, Australasia's shipbuilding industry has also reached the forefront of the world.

Civilian shipyards are too numerous to count, with hundreds of different-sized civilian shipyards throughout Australia and New Zealand.

In the realm of military shipyards, besides the royal shipyards' branches in Sydney, Melbourne, and Oakland, Arthur is not familiar with other military shipyards, which is why he inquired.

"Your Majesty, the Christchurch United Shipyard in South New Zealand State meets our requirements," Commander Daniel said. "We have investigated the background of this united shipyard, which was established through the joint efforts of native New Zealanders and capital from the Australian Region.

Currently, the Christchurch United Shipyard has become the largest private military shipyard in the New Zealand Region and is capable of working on two small warships under 8,000 tons at the same time, which essentially meets our needs."

"The Christchurch United Shipyard?" Arthur's expression was somewhat peculiar. If he remembered correctly, this joint shipyard was backed by the royal financial group, that is, the former royal family's consortium.

The Australian capital mentioned by Daniel was probably just the royal financial group under disguise.

It also meant good news that the royal financial group under disguise had become various capitals of different sizes, even the military could be kept in the dark.

"Since the military has already investigated it, then let's allocate a portion of the small-scale warship orders to the Christchurch United Shipyard," Arthur nodded, agreeing with Commander Daniel's suggestion.

"There will be many similar cases in the future, and the three royal shipyards will not be able to take all the navy's orders.

In the future, the navy's shipyard collaboration list may also include privately-owned military shipyards that have passed review to expand our production capacity in terms of warships.

Regarding military industry, there is no factory that is a fixed target for the military's cooperation. The only prerequisite for collaboration with the military is the ability to produce quality and cost-effective finished products," Arthur instructed.

Although the three royal shipyards are enterprises of the royal consortium, Arthur had no inclination toward these three shipyards.

After all, for Arthur, the country was always the most important. The interests of the royal family could be reasonably compromised in front of national interests, let alone the trivial three royal shipyards.

Whoever had stronger shipbuilding technology, whose blueprints were more trusted by the navy, and whoever built warships that were not only of high quality but also low in cost would win the military's favor, rather than sticking to the three royal shipyards for orders.

Complacency springs from consistency; it is only through reasonable and compliant competition that an enterprise like the royal financial group can become stronger.

If the three royal shipyards couldn't gain an advantage over private military shipyards in competition, then Arthur would have to consider a complete change of the main responsible persons of the three shipyards.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" including Commander Daniel, many navy officers wore expressions of excitement and admiration.

You should know that just the orders issued by the Navy every year brought the three royal shipyards profits calculated in millions of Australian dollars.

That Arthur could allow private military shipyards to compete fairly with the three royal shipyards already took a tremendous resolve.

How could the navy not feel admiration and excitement toward such a Monarch who could discard personal interests for the sake of national benefits?

After all, the stronger the navy, the more benefits these high-ranking naval officers would receive.

"Quickly make up the quantity of medium and small-sized warships, and add them to the fleets in the Pacific and Indian Oceans," Arthur ordered:

"Only aircraft carriers that possess enough escort ships and destroyers can be called powerful warships.

As compensation for the navy, I, on behalf of the royal family, will donate 5 million Australian dollars to the Ministry of Defence's fiscal budget.

As to how much you can get out of this 5 million Australian dollars, it depends on whether you can persuade Minister Thomas," Arthur said with a smile.

The struggle for the Ministry of Defence's fiscal budget every year is indeed a dramatic affair.

Despite the fact that the annual national defense budget always consumes the lion's share of the government's fiscal budget and increases year by year.

Yet these commanders of the army, navy, and air force are truly at a thespian level when it comes to crying poor.

However, the good news is that, up to now, Australasia has gone through eight Cabinet governments; but there have only been three Ministers of Defence: former Prime Minister Kent, former Prime Minister Raul, and Minister Thomas.

This alone can tell how important the Ministry of Defence is to Arthur. Apart from Minister Thomas, who is still in office, the others moved smoothly from the Ministry of Defence to Deputy Prime Minister and then to Prime Minister, retiring honorably with the title of Earl.

This also indicates one thing, although Minister Thomas currently holds the title of Baron, his securing an Earl's title upon retirement is almost a foregone conclusion.

As long as he doesn't make mistakes in his last term, he could at least obtain the position of Deputy Prime Minister and is one of the most likely contenders for the Prime Minister's position.

This is also how Arthur ensures that there are no problems in the struggle for each year's national defence budget: by choosing a Minister of Defence who can firmly suppress the commanders of the army, navy, and air force.

There's no need to mention the former Prime Ministers Kent and Raul. Even the current Minister Thomas genuinely rose from the military ranks, having held positions of Brigadier General of the Guard Division, Deputy Minister of Defence, before being promoted to Minister of Defence.

Such a career ensures one thing: that Minister Thomas has a relatively easy time controlling some of the generals below him.