The Rise of the Empire

Ruprecht dares to swear to God, in the field of ship sales and shipbuilding in Germany today, if Baron Vittorio Cuniberti claims to be the second, then absolutely no one dares to claim the number one! Not even the prince himself! It's okay to use my non-professional level to guide the general direction, but if it comes to specific operations, it's better to wash up and sleep, and then leave it to professional people to do it!

As expected of a man who can sell 10 Garibaldi's! Relying on one design, it has contributed at least 6 million pounds to the Italian shipbuilding industry and related industries! Top notch shipbuilding! Sales and customer psychology top notch! Arranging production is equally top-notch! No, just two days after arriving in Berlin, Mr. Baron proposed another very strategic proposal to the prince.

"We should have a shipyard of our own, well, maybe this is too much for Bavaria, which is not close to the sea, but we should at least have a certain share in one of the large shipyards! This is very important for our future business expansion. Important!" Baron Vittorio hesitated for a long time before finally saying this surprising suggestion.

In fact, the prince himself does not want to build a shipyard. From His Royal Highness, the construction of a shipyard is completely inefficient. The status of a shipyard in this era is actually similar to that of a branded computer manufacturer in later generations. The factory, the artillery factory, the boiler and turbine factories have earned away, and the shipyard itself is just a hard-earned money! Even in the pre-dreadnought era when everyone was scrambling to expand the navy, the profit of the shipyard generally did not exceed 25%!

And you have to bear a lot of risks. After all, the navies of various countries buy warships in installments, and if there are some accidents, or if they don’t want it at all, then the unfinished warships on the berth will face a very difficult choice. The next family will complete the battleship, or dismantle the ship. All kinds of uncertain factors affect the operation of the shipyard, and the competition between them will make the profit of the warship lower and lower. In the end, all the facts have proved a truth. Homogeneous competition has no future, and mastering the core technology is fundamental. So the prince didn't care much about the shipyard responsible for the final assembly of the subsystems.

"Although there are also shipyards with royal or naval signs in Italy. Unlike their counterparts in Germany, the German Navy will take care of almost all large shipyards. Therefore, even if we spend a lot of money to cooperate with a certain shipyard, It is also difficult for us to get him more orders, because the bread is limited, and the German Admiralty needs to feed all the shipyards."

The prince thought that Vittorio didn't understand the situation in Germany, so he patiently explained it to him. "How should I put it? German capitalism can be called national capitalism to a certain extent. The reason why the two battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ordered by the Qing Dynasty were able to get such a low price was behind the government's push. Our The Prime Minister has given instructions."

"I understand all these situations. From the perspective of survival, the safety factor of your country's shipyards is very high, but the result of this equal distribution of benefits is to ensure the scale, but limit the improvement of efficiency. At present It looks good, but if this continues, we will suffer when facing foreign competitors." Vittorio's tone revealed a trace of dissatisfaction.

The new baron is right. The export of German warships has not been very good. It seems that in the long history of pre-dreadnought, the new ships built by German shipyards are not sold much, and there seem to be only 3 warships over 7,000 tons. Apart from Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, there is only the 10,000-ton armored cruiser ordered by Japan in Germany. The former is because of the ultra-low price and Li Zhongtang's German plot. On the one hand, the latter is because the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan built by Vulcan are too resistant to fighting, and on the other hand, it is Japan's move to show favor to Germany!

You know, even the United States, which was regarded as an upstart by European countries at that time, successfully sold the Letvizan and a bunch of cruisers to Russia. France also produced the battleship Prince Prince for Germany.

So before the Russo-Japanese War, when the relationship between Russia and Germany was not bad, the reason why the Germans did not get an order for a large ship from the Russians is intriguing enough! You know, in 1905, when the Russo-Japanese War was fighting, the Russians also ordered a Rurik 2 cruiser of about 15,000 tons from the Japanese ally, the British.

The price of German-made warships is generally higher, especially during World War I. Although the leather is strong and durable, the problem of weak firepower is also obvious. After balancing armor and firepower, the cost of German warships is still too high. This has a lot to do with the distribution method of warships ordered by the German Navy. If the British shipyards compete desperately and even build ships at a loss, then the major shipyards of the German Navy will be a big pot of food for everyone!

"What you said makes sense, but does it have anything to do with us? We can't change the distribution method of the Admiralty, and if we take this cake without authorization, we will offend many people." The crown prince tactfully rejected the baron's suggestion. The risk is too great, and the benefits are somewhat small!

"No, no, no. It has a lot to do with it. Don't forget that our warships have to be delivered! The domestic shipbuilding cake is too small, and the construction plan of the German fleet is not directly proportional to the number of domestic shipyards. The Ministry of the Navy alone Our design bureau can hardly make any money. The deadline you set for me may be indefinitely. So we must develop foreign markets! Especially the current Russian market!" Vittorio's words awakened the dreamer ! In terms of the industry of shipbuilding and buying ships, I really can't compare with the baron around me, he is a master in every aspect!

In history, a total of 10 Garibaldi-class cruisers were built. Except for the 3 ships used by the Italians, the others were all sold to foreign countries. The cheap price is not only because of the small tonnage and reasonable design, but also the high efficiency of the shipyard. Indispensable, (Italy's own ships are relatively inefficient, but Garibaldi's takeaways are relatively fast), and the efficiency of German shipyards under the protection of the government, or cost control, is not very satisfactory. If this point does not change, I am afraid that the historical champion of foreign exchange earning will be destroyed in his own hands! Just for this suggestion, the prince should give the Baron more year-end awards!

But that's all the help the Baron can provide. He doesn't know much about the German shipbuilding industry. At best, he can only know the past and present superficial conditions of these shipyards, but as a traveler, Prince Ruprecht even knows the future performance of these shipyards clearly!

The prince spent two whole nights of precious time thinking about it, for which he even missed a royal ball. Don’t think about those shipyards with national names, such as Kielder Deutschland Shipyard and Royal Wilhelm Shipyard. The masters behind them are the German royal family and the government. It is useless to discuss profit distribution with these people. Don't bother with shipyards that are too weak or inexperienced. It is difficult to raise these shipyards. Travelers don't want to be gardeners.

In the end, Ruprecht chose the Brohm-Voss shipyard in Hamburg! First of all, this shipyard is privately run with relatively little government background. Secondly, the capabilities of this shipyard are really good. In history, most of the battlecruisers in World War I in Germany were manufactured by this shipyard. And as early as the pre-dreadnought era, from the Prince Albert class, the Ron class, and later the famous Scharnhorst class armored cruiser, half of the six warships of the three classes came from this shipyard.

It can be seen that this company is very suitable for building armored cruisers! And according to the prince's memory, this company is also a private shipyard with a few survivors of the depression of World War I. During World War II, the Bismarck and Admiral Hipper were completed in this shipyard. It can be seen that, whether it is strength or technical preference, it is very suitable for the crown prince!

Well, now that the target has been selected, it is natural to need a knowledgeable person to talk about it, and this person is naturally Baron Vittorio Cuniberti!

Thanks to book friends zhouyu1976 and SK for their rewards~~~. There will be recommendations next week, starting from tomorrow, the author will update at least twice a day! This is the first recommendation from the side! Urgent need for support! The update is definitely awesome, thank you everyone!