Empire Rising: Spain

This is also the reason Carlo did not plan to keep it secret. Even if the British know that the four ironclad battleships being built by Spain are all first-class in combat power, they still do not need to worry about the Spanish Navy posing a threat to the Royal Fleet.

Unless Spain builds more than ten ironclad ships at once, but such an investment would be unbearable even for the British Empire, let alone Spain, which has fewer colonies.

Although Spain has four shipyards capable of building ironclad battleships, the government does not intend to construct all four ironclads simultaneously.

Once the funds arrive, the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard will take the lead in constructing two ironclad battleships. As the largest shipyard in Spain, the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard can accommodate the simultaneous construction of up to three ironclad battleships.

However, the number of employees in the shipyard is limited, and along with other constraints, the more warships that commence construction at the same time, the longer it will take to build each warship.

If only one ironclad battleship is started, it can be launched within the fastest time of one year, or at the latest within two years, with an average speed of about one and a half years.

But if three ironclad battleships begin construction simultaneously, the launch time for each ironclad will be delayed to more than two years, possibly reaching a slower rate of two and a half years.

Even starting two ironclad battleships at the same time makes it impossible to achieve an average speed of one and a half years. This represents that Spain’s new warships wanting to launch will have to wait until the second half of 1883 at the earliest.

The nautical testing of the warships will also take a prolonged time, so the earliest that the Bullfighter-class ironclads might officially join the Spanish Navy fleet will be around 1885.

To save time as much as possible, the first two ironclad battleships will be constructed at the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, while the remaining two warships will be built respectively at the Valencia United Shipyard and the El Ferrol Royal Navy Shipyard.

Although the scale of the two shipyards pales in comparison to the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, because only one ship is being built, the final progress can barely keep up with the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard’s pace.

It is expected that from 1885 to 1886, Spain will usher in the commissioning of four ironclad battleships at once.

This represents that Spain will be able to maintain its naval status until the pre-dreadnought battleship era and then rapidly climb the technology tree during the pre-dreadnought era, seeking to surpass the naval powers ranked ahead of it.

Just as when dreadnoughts emerged, making all pre-dreadnoughts become obsolete, when pre-dreadnoughts emerge, all ironclads will instantly become flawed scraps.

As long as Spain can seize the crucial time when pre-dreadnoughts replace ironclads, it can maintain its naval power at least fourth in the world after the UK, France, and Germany, and even seek to surpass France and Germany.

Germany will also pay increasing attention to its Navy, but at this time, they are not prepared to challenge the British Empire’s naval status.

This means that Germany currently has no intention of vigorously developing its naval power, and Germany’s goal is simply to build its Navy to a level that matches Germany’s status.

As for France, there is no need to elaborate further. France has industrial capacity and research capability, but due to insufficient investment in military spending, France’s Navy will eventually be surpassed by Germany, and Spain still hopes to surpass the French Navy in the pre-dreadnought era.

Of course, even if pre-dreadnoughts can’t achieve surpassing France, Spain still has a chance during the dreadnought era.

Because of the emphasis on pre-dreadnoughts, Spain does not intend to build ironclad battleships after the Bullfighter-class ironclads.

These four Bullfighter-class ironclads are enough to ensure that Spain’s naval power remains among the top five in the world, and going forward, pre-dreadnoughts will be the main battleships that Spain plans to build extensively.

This is also why the Spanish Government plans to disclose this shipbuilding project. If this shipbuilding plan is not disclosed, Spain’s next large-scale construction of main fleet warships will have to wait until the pre-dreadnought era.

Revealing some plans for building main fleet warships can effectively strengthen national confidence, which is quite necessary for the current Spain.

Sure enough, when the Spanish Government released the news that four ironclad battleships would be constructed in the coming years, it immediately caused a sensation among the Spanish populace.

Once the Spanish Empire relied on a powerful Navy plus vast colonies, now Spain has built sizable colonies, and if it can also build a strong Navy, wouldn’t it be a revival of the once Spanish Empire?

On closer consideration, Spain’s current colonies are distributed in America, Africa, and Asia, so saying it’s an Empire where the sun never sets is actually quite correct.

However, most Spanish colonies are relatively small, making this so-called Empire where the sun never sets seem somewhat unworthy of its name.

Though lacking slightly in worthiness, relative to many European countries, Spain’s colonial status is already much better.

Even the powerful German Empire currently does not have significant colonies. Not to mention Austria, Italy, and other weaker powers, which practically have no colonies.

What Carlo didn’t expect was that the official release of this news not only stirred up the Spaniards but also caused a sensation with the Italian Government.

As an ally of Spain, the Italian Government naturally knows the specified data related to Spain’s Rejuvenation-class ironclad battleships.

The once Rejuvenation-class ironclad was also a first-class warship design in Europe at the time. While not the strongest, its overall combat power definitely ranked among the top.

Although the Spanish Government has not disclosed the latest level ironclad data, considering Spain’s excellent performance in the Rejuvenation-class ironclad, this new ironclad design must be a product of even superior performance.

Seeing his younger brother Carlo’s control over Spain in strengthening naval construction, Umberto I was just green with envy.

After unification, Italy merged the Navy from the original Sardinian Kingdom and other Italian states to establish the Italian Royal Navy, and decisively became a naval power ranked among the world’s top eight.

At that time, the Italian Navy was also among the world’s top five regarding total tonnage, and the paper data was quite impressive.

But Umberto I, who was the Crown Prince and now King, naturally understood that Italy’s current naval strength was superficially bloated.

Before unification, Italy divided into several states, which were all well-developed, but how could a small state have the ability to build advanced ironclad battleships?

Even if there is technology for construction, there is not enough funding for maintenance. Besides, relying on only one ironclad can’t protect their coastline; a large fleet composed of several ironclad battleships is needed to ensure the coastline’s safety.

This has also led most of Italy’s current naval tonnage to be composed of medium and small warships, and quite a portion of these warships are coastal defense ships, meaning they cannot perform offshore operations.

More importantly, the majority of warships forming the Italian Navy are built ten to twenty years ago, with design features already outdated, and equipped with outdated muzzle-loading cannons behind today’s mainstream breech-loading cannons in aspects like loading speed, projectile range, and power.

Seeing his younger brother was busy with Spain’s construction, this also stimulated Umberto I’s ambition of his own.

He wasn’t jealous of Carlo, but the genuine intention was to model after Carlo to establish a strong Army and Navy for Italy.

Originally, Umberto I’s plan was to rely on Italy’s own effort to build a powerful ironclad battleship and then arm the Italian fleet through the ironclad.

But since Spain has the latest ironclad design, Umberto I changed his idea and hoped to purchase 1 to 2 ironclad battleships from Spain to expand Italy’s naval strength more effectively.