The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 385: Chapter 329: Expanding the Shipyard_2

Before this, there were more than ten large-scale shipyards throughout Australasia.

However, apart from the Royal Shipyard in Sydney, most of the other shipyards were products of the colonial period in Australia and New Zealand, with their main business being the construction of sailing ships and small fishing boats.

Most of these shipyards could not build ships with a tonnage of more than 50 tons, just some medium and small-sized civilian vessels.

There were only three shipyards capable of building warships in the entirety of Australasia.

Besides the Royal Shipyard, the remaining two military shipyards could only build shore defense gunboats and small escort ships, with a weight of no more than one thousand tons.

This greatly limited the development of the navy in Australasia.

Take the current development situation of the Royal Shipyard as an example: after receiving naval orders from Russia and Chile, the Royal Shipyard has entered full-load construction status and cannot undertake any domestic orders from Australasia for a short period of time.

Although the construction level, skilled worker level, and scale of the Royal Shipyard are absolutely world-class.

But the problem is that the shipbuilding industry in Australasia only has the Royal Shipyard as its showpiece.

This is unhealthy for the development of the navy, and the expansion of new military shipyards is imminent.

The Royal Shipyard is wholly owned by the royal financial group and belongs to the royal family's private property.

The background of the currently expanded two shipyards is a joint venture between the government and the royal family. The royal family holds forty-nine percent of the shares, and the government holds fifty-one percent.

In the expansion plan proposed by the royal financial group, the royal financial group and the government will jointly invest twenty million Australian dollars to expand the Melbourne Shipyard and Oakland Shipyard, allowing these two shipyards to have the ability to build at least ten-thousand-ton main ships.

Of course, in addition to these twenty million Australian dollars, the Royal Shipyard will provide some shipbuilding equipment and staff support, and in a short period of time, provide some expert technical support for the two newly expanded shipyards.

The good news is that the shipbuilding industry of Australasia has received strong support from Germany and the United Kingdom, and there is no shortage of skilled workers and mid-level technical experts in the industry.

Even as long as the European War does not break out, Australasia will be able to continuously obtain technical support from the United Kingdom, keeping its shipbuilding level at a world-class level.

Before the outbreak of World War I, advancing the expansion of shipyards could also receive assistance from the British, and the progress would be much faster.

Even if successful and based on the historical outbreak of World War I, Australasia should currently have about two years.

Having two shipyards capable of building ten-thousand-ton main battleships within around two years, and with the help of the British Empire, is possible.

Of course, in theory, in the few years when World War I broke out, Australasia also had a good development time and opportunity.

After the end of World War I, a group of technical experts in the military industry could be introduced from the defeated European countries to strengthen the technology of military factories and shipyards.

If construction proceeds smoothly, Australasia should have three shipyards capable of building super dreadnoughts after World War I.

This would be helpful to the plan of crazily expanding the navy after World War I and bringing the strength of the army and navy to the level of the major powers.

With Australasia's industrial level, although it may not have the large-scale industrial development like Britain, Germany, and the United States, warships can be built like dumplings.

On October 17th, 1912, as the first batch of shipyard equipment purchased from the United Kingdom had arrived, the expansion plan of the Melbourne Shipyard and Oakland Shipyard, approved by the Cabinet Government, officially began.

Although the expansion of the two shipyards was a joint participation between the royal family and the government, it was in fact divided into the government providing funds, while the royal family provided equipment, employees, and technology. -read-now

The expansion plan of the shipyards was relatively important, Arthur also went to inspect the Melbourne and Oakland shipyards and personally attended the opening ceremonies of the two shipyards' expansion.

Good news is that the British are very supportive of Australasia's development in the shipbuilding industry, and even many shipyard-related equipment is being sold at a lower price compared to market rates.

Moreover, the British Government has promised to send an expert team of over 200 people within three months to support the expansion plans of the two major shipyards in Australasia.

Among these 200 experts, there are not only experts in shipyard design and construction, but also experts in shipbuilding and warship design.

For the two shipyards lacking foundation, this is a great complement. At least during the period these experts support Australasia, the two shipyards can learn a lot and be well-prepared for their future stand-alone ventures.

Arthur is not yet aware of the British government's plan to strongly support Australasia in order to counterbalance the growing influence of the United States on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

However, the strong support from the British to Australasia is very helpful for the current development of Australasia.

Arthur was initially concerned that if Royal Shipyard were to allocate some equipment, skilled workers, and experts to Melbourne and Oakland shipyards, it would undoubtedly speed up the expansion of these two shipyards, but would also affect the construction of naval orders for the Royal Shipyard.

But now, with the help of the British, this problem naturally resolves itself.

The speed of the arrival of British equipment and technical assistance is much faster than expected. In mid-October, the first batch of expert teams had arrived in Australasia and went to the two major shipyards to participate in the expansion design of the shipyards.

Most of the difficult issues regarding the expansion of the two shipyards have been resolved by the British. Arthur is happy to see the situation, delegating appropriate authority to British experts under the supervision of the government and Butler Kent.

For the Australasian Government, another piece of good news is that the second phase of the Leonora Industrial Base construction is about to be completed.

The construction of the second phase of the Leonora Industrial Base began in 1910, and it has been built for almost three years to date.

The scale of the second phase is about three times that of the first phase.

This has allowed the construction area of the second phase to reach more than 3,000 acres, with a construction area of up to 2,000 acres.

In addition, there are more than 200 acres of landscape construction and road construction, as well as improvements to the pollution problems of the industrial base.

If all goes well, the second phase of the industrial base will have at least 200 standardized factory workshops and more than 20 large storage areas.

This means that at least 100 large factories and several hundred small factories can be housed in the second phase of construction.

To meet the needs of so many factory employees, the government has already transferred a large number of immigrants to West Australia State in advance, and even neighboring South Australia State has a fair number of immigrants.

In addition, several technical schools have also formed partnerships with the industrial base.

These technical schools can train various skilled workers for the industrial base, recruit employees from other places, and provide further training for the technical workers in the industrial base, enabling them to have stronger technical abilities.

According to the construction progress of the second phase of the industrial base, if everything goes well, the second phase of construction should be completed by November and December, and factories can start moving in and operating from next year onwards.

If the entry of factories and the hiring of workers both go smoothly, the combined construction of both phases of Leonora Industrial Base will be the largest industrial base in Australasia, and the most advanced, diversified, and extensive in terms of involved industries and fields.

By then, Leonora Industrial Base can be called the Ruhr District of Australasia.

According to the planning of the first and second phase of the industrial bases, at least 200,000 skilled workers and hundreds of factories can be housed within.

This will become the industrial center of Australasia and also the base for chemical industry, coal industry, mechanical industry, textile industry, etc.

It seems that by the time World War I breaks out, Leonora Industrial Base should be able to employ an outturn of nearly 200,000 employees and several hundred factory companies, and Australasia will have made sufficient preparations for all aspects of production during the war.