The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 445: Chapter 356: Warship Delivery and Launch

Because the truck order includes at least five thousand trucks, maintenance in the future will also be quite troublesome.

Therefore, Benz and the Russian side agreed that Benz Automobile Factory would build at least three car repair factories in Russia. Russia would be responsible for funding, Benz Automobile Factory would be responsible for providing technology, and Benz would own 40 percent of the shares.

In this way, Russian trucks can be repaired domestically when problems arise, not only greatly shortening the time needed for truck maintenance but also improving the efficiency of truck maintenance.

For Russia, the maintenance factories they build themselves can also save some maintenance costs. In short, anything that saves money is welcomed by the Russian government.

To celebrate the completion of both parties' orders, Benz held a celebratory banquet on behalf of the car factory and gave a small gift to all members of the Russian diplomatic team.

The banquet was of reasonable scale, at least the Russian diplomatic team was quite satisfied.

Since the order was signed in early October, the latest delivery time for the trucks agreed by both parties was the end of April 1914.

If all goes well, the Benz Automobile Factory will be in continuous production for the next six months.

After all, trucks are consumables, and especially in wartime, truck damage is very common.

After the truck order was signed, the Russian diplomatic team did not rush to leave, but temporarily stayed in Sydney.

For Russia, in the next few days, the Empress Maria Battleship and Catherine the Great Battleship will soon enter service.

The warship orders for these two battleships were signed with Australasia in 1910, and three years have passed since then.

As early as the middle of last year, the two monarch-class battleships, Empress Maria and Catherine the Great, had been successfully built and entered the water-testing stage.

Now more than a year has passed, and the sea voyage test phase of the two battleships has been successfully completed, and they can be officially taken over by Russian navy soldiers and officially in service with the Russian navy.

In addition, the remaining two main battleships of the naval order at that time, the Gangut Battleship Cruiser and the Sevastopol Battleship Cruiser, will also be launched for water testing this month.

For the Russian Navy, this can be considered a double happiness. Because of this, the Russian diplomatic visiting team also brought many Russian navy soldiers, ready to officially take over the two battleships.

Sydney in October is in the spring, and the climate is very suitable for traveling. Warm sunshine and colorful flowers and plants everywhere make Sydney beautiful like a dream city.

However, for the Russian diplomatic team and Russian navy soldiers at this time, there are not too many mindsets to appreciate this beautiful scenery.

The joy of having two battleships soon is more tempting than the panoramic views.

For these navy soldiers, nothing is more attractive than two brand new battleships of their own unless it is two even more powerful battleships.

But given Russia's current financial situation, it should not build a large number of battleships in the short term.

After all, compared to the threat on the sea, most of the threats from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire come from the land.

Today's Sydney harbor has a touch of festivity.

Flowers are everywhere in the harbor, and many onlookers have surrounded the harbor to witness the new battleships' journey to service together.

Although these two battleships do not belong to Australasia, they were built by Australasia, so the people of Australasia also attach great importance.

Under the gaze of the people of Australasia, with the excited eyes of Russian navy soldiers, the two battleships slowly lowered the flag of Australasia and raised the flag belonging to the Emperor of Russia.

Thousands of Russian navy officers and soldiers, led by their respective captains, boarded the warships they had been longing for.

Some of these navy officers and soldiers have been training in Australasia for a long time, while some have just arrived from Russia.

Fortunately, not many hands are needed to control these battleships. As for other less familiar soldiers, they can be trained slowly after returning to Russia.

The final destination of these two battleships is the Baltic Sea, which means that these navy soldiers have enough time to master the two battleships before they reach their station.

The Russian diplomatic team looked at the two huge battleships docked at the harbor, and their previous depression at being overtaken by Australasia in the industrial field had also vanished.

At least in terms of military strength, two Australasias would not catch up with Russia, which was the last consolation of the Russian diplomatic team officials.

Defence Secretary Raul of Australasia also participated in the handover ceremony of the warships. This was not only out of respect for the Russian side but also to convey to the public the government's emphasis on naval forces.

Arthur understands that some people are disappointed that Australasia has not launched the second phase of the naval expansion plan.

After all, in the eyes of the public at present, the strength of the navy largely represents the strength of the country.

A powerful country without a powerful navy is not worthy of its name, especially for a country like Australasia, with many islands and sea areas.

However, there is also good news for Australasia, that is, Russia's naval orders have all been completed, two battleships have been delivered, and two battlecruisers have entered the sea voyage test stage.

This also means that the Royal Shipyard's warship orders are only left with two super dreadnoughts from Chile, and the construction period of this order is not so urgent.

This also meant that the naval expansion plan of Australasia could be restarted to firmly establish Australasia's status as a naval power.

After the handover ceremony of the two battleships, the Russian diplomatic team stayed for a few more days and attended the launching test ceremonies of the two battlecruisers before embarking on their brand-new battleships for their journey back to Russia.

If all went well, these two battlecruisers would be delivered around mid to late 1914, completing the naval order on schedule.

The Russians were very satisfied with the battleships built in Australasia, even leaving with beaming smiles.

And the truck orders signed by the Russians in Australasia were quickly learned of by other powerful nations.

Britain and France were the first to find out. As allies of Australasia and Russia, they were happy to see this and even provided the funds for the Russian truck orders.

For the Allied nations, though, William II's mood was not so delightful.

Trucks played a crucial role that could greatly enhance the combat capabilities of the Russian army.

Not to mention, the improvement in logistics efficiency alone was enough to boost Russia's army's combat capabilities by 10 to 20 percent.

After all, these trucks could transport not only weapons, ammunition but also food, medical supplies and even clothing.

These supplies were equally important for a war, sometimes even determining an army's combat capabilities.

At Germany's suggestion, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy quickly signed a truck purchasing order with German car factories.

However, the order size of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy paled in comparison to that of other powerful nations.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire ordered 1,500 trucks, with a ratio of two big trucks to one small truck.

Italy ordered 1,000 trucks, with a ratio of one big truck to one small truck.

Now, the Allied nations had another aspect in which they lagged behind the Allies - the quantity of military trucks.

Over 12,000 military trucks were ordered by the Allies, while the Allied nations had only 5,500.

Regardless, all these truck orders were signed with the Benz Car Factory.

This meant that the more than 10,000 trucks would bring considerable profits to Arthur. Even with preliminary estimates, pure profits could exceed one million Australian dollars.

These profits alone were enough for Arthur to equip the military with 2,000 B2 type trucks, demonstrating how much money Arthur had made this time.

It was worth mentioning that the truck buying frenzy among the major powers of Europe also led to a significant expansion in the truck market.

Some European nations followed suit, and although their numbers were not large, they added up to several thousand trucks.

Perhaps most notably, the American government signed an order with American car factories for 3,000 trucks, showcasing their nouveau riche nature.

Arthur even believed that if it weren't for the small size of the United States Army, the number of trucks ordered in the United States would increase.

Apart from these countries purchasing trucks for military use, the smaller B1 type trucks were popular and increasingly sold among European and American civilians.

According to the report from the Benz Car Factory, since the major powers of Europe began purchasing trucks, sales of Benz trucks in European and American civilians had grown by more than 30%.

Of course, unlike military customers who generally favored large trucks, civilians preferred the smaller B1 type trucks.

After all, for private individuals, larger trucks were not only more expensive, but their massive cargo capacity was not necessary either.

The small trucks with a 1.5-tonne carrying capacity were more than sufficient, and even faster speeds allowed truck owners to complete transportation tasks more quickly.

As the world went on a truck buying spree, Arthur naturally wouldn't miss out. However, compared to other countries and civilians, Arthur's truck purchases were really made at cost price.

After all, the car factory belonged to Arthur, and he had the final say on pricing.

With the massive annual profits from Benz One, Arthur had no worries about the Benz Car Factory facing a debt crisis even if they lost some money on trucks.

After consulting with Defense Secretary Raul, Arthur officially finalized an order at a cabinet meeting containing 500 B1 type trucks and 1,500 B2 type trucks.

The total cost of this order amounted to 1.28 million Australian dollars, which was precisely the profit earned by Benz Car Factory this time.

This expense was not significant to the current affluent government, so the cabinet quickly approved Arthur's decision.

Australasia's truck requirements were not as urgent as Russia's pressing orders.

Considering there wasn't much spare capacity to produce domestic orders after producing Russia's truck orders, Arthur set the delivery of trucks by the end of 1914. Over a year, it was entirely enough for the Benz Car Factory to produce these trucks.