The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1036 - 777: Five-Year Shipbuilding Plan_2

Only by becoming Prime Minister did I understand the importance of cutting the fiscal budget for the country. It may seem that Australasia has plenty of financial income, but there are equally many places to spend money every year.

Take last year as an example, the fiscal income reached 407 million Australian dollars, ranking second only to the British and French in terms of total fiscal income.

But last year's fiscal expenditure was as high as 455 million Australian dollars, not only was there no surplus, but there was also a deficit close to 48 million Australian dollars.

Although a large reason for this was the extensive construction going on in the country, a fiscal deficit is not good news.

If it weren't for Prime Minister Raul's thrifty ways, last year's fiscal expenditure would probably have approached 500 million Australian dollars.

"The budget for 7 main battleships alone needs at least 65 million Australian dollars, and together with other medium and small warships, the estimated budget is around 100 million Australian dollars," Minister Thomas reported truthfully.

Regarding the budget needed for the construction of warships, Minister Thomas dared not conceal or fabricate any information.

After all, Arthur owned all warship construction industries; how could he be unaware of how much the budget would really need to be?

Hearing Minister Thomas's response, Prime Minister Raul frowned slightly, displaying his dissatisfaction as he said, "Are the expenses for the aircraft carrier and battlecruisers also close to 10 million Australian dollars? What kind of warship are you planning to build?

This cost is too much; cut it down to around 85 million Australian dollars. Spread over five years, that is an annual cost of 17 million Australian dollars, which the government can just about afford.

Out of this, the Ministry of Defense will squeeze out 5 million Australian dollars every year, and the government will subsidize 12 million Australian dollars."

Indeed, the higher rank does pressure those below. With just a few words, Prime Minister Raul directly cut Minister Thomas's budget by 15 million Australian dollars.

Moreover, of the annual building cost of 17 million Australian dollars, 5 million comes from the fiscal budget of the Ministry of Defense.

This also means that for this navy construction plan, the government only needs to additionally allocate 60 million Australian dollars; the remaining 25 million Australian dollars will have to be found by the Ministry of Defense from other areas.

"Understood," Minister Thomas reluctantly nodded his head in agreement, though he had no choice.

There was nothing that could be done, especially since Prime Minister Raul himself had come from the Ministry of Defense and had a bit of bias toward it.

If a Prime Minister from a conservative force were in charge, that budget of 85 million Australian dollars would likely need further cuts.

It's not that Prime Minister Raul is too thrifty. Although the naval construction seems to only require 85 million Australian dollars, with the government only needing to contribute 12 million Australian dollars annually, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

But in reality, naval expenses are not limited to the construction costs of warships. Besides construction expenses, the cost of training navy soldiers, and the daily maintenance and repair of warships, are also significant parts of military spending.

Why the navy is considered one of the most expensive military branches, the reason is that the maintenance and repair costs of warships are too high.

Just the subsequent maintenance cost of these 7 main battleships from the shipbuilding plan is not a small figure.

This is the true reason why only nations at great power level can afford a large-scale navy. Not to mention, only some top-tier Powers, with higher fiscal incomes, can manage to have a larger navy with more main battleships.

As for those smaller countries, working on a small-scale navy, maintaining coastline order, and patrolling is all they do.

Even if they were given warships, they wouldn't be able to afford the training of soldiers and regular maintenance costs, which is the natural gap between small and large countries.

After the United States ceased to exist, the strengths of the world's navies have formed a fairly clear hierarchy.

The strength of each country's navy is fundamentally linked to its fiscal revenue. The British Empire, as the country with the most fiscal income, also controls the most powerful Royal Navy.

Supported by a wealth of colonies, France is able to maintain quite an impressive fleet, worthy of being called the second strongest navy in the world.

Australasia relied entirely on passive benefits and the contrast provided by its counterparts, and without doing anything, has comfortably settled into the throne of the third strongest naval power in the world.

The Island Nation, although not a top-tier player in terms of fiscal income and industrial aspects among the Powers, has managed to assemble the fourth strongest navy in the world by focusing all its efforts and passion on naval construction, along with the drive to support its ambitions.

Further down the line, we have some unrestricted Powers, among which Italy owns the fifth strongest navy, the weakest presence.

Actually, from this point, it's clear that there is a substantial gap in the strength among nations of the world.

In terms of the navy, only the navies of the British Empire, France, Australasia, and the Island Nation barely pass muster.

Starting with Italy, the navies of various countries are subject to extreme limitations, and the gap with the leading four has become very large.

The sixth naval power in the world should be the greatly reduced fleet that is in the hands of Tsarist Russia.

Nicholas II, in order to finance his war, sold off the majority of his warships to secure military aid and weapons and equipment from other countries.

This has so weakened Russia's naval strength that it is now even inferior to Italy's.

As for the seventh and eighth places in the world, it wouldn't really matter if these rankings didn't exist. Rather than Germany or Austria, the countries on the list are the three South American countries that managed to improve their naval power slightly due to a small-scale naval arms race.

As for Germany and Austria, whose overall strength is certainly greater, their navies have been severely restricted after World War I, with all main battleships taken over by the British and French and other countries, leaving them with only small coastal gunboats.

Therefore, when speaking of a naval arms race, it is actually mainly a competition regarding naval power among the British Empire, France, Australasia, and the Island Nation, with Italy incidentally stirring the waters.

Although there are only four main players, the conflicts among these four countries are numerous.

The most obvious is the conflict between Britain and France. Although the disparity in power between Britain and France has already grown large, it still doesn't prevent France from aspiring to become the dominant power in Europe.

Furthermore, due to Britain's intention to intervene in European affairs, the contradictions between Britain and France have become increasingly irreconcilable.

In order for these two countries to resolve their conflicts, there would need to be the rise of another, more powerful country that could simultaneously threaten the security of both Britain and France.

Aside from the conflict between Britain and France, the competition between the Island Nation and Australasia in the Pacific Ocean is another source of tension.

This is, in fact, something that the British would like to see happen. Despite the alliance between the British Empire and Australasia, the British have begun to be wary of Australasia.

It can't be helped—Australasia's achievements over the past few decades have been excessively remarkable.

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Presently, Australasia has completely unified Oceania and acquired two territories, the Persian Gulf and Alaska, with its influence spread across Southeast Asia and the United States.

Such an enormous country is inevitably going to clash with the global hegemony of the British Empire.

Add on Australasia's reasonably strong army and naval size, and it's understandable why the British are wary.

Although the British are reluctant to fall out with Australasia, creating some competition and adversaries for Australasia is quite straightforward.

The ongoing naval expansion of the Island Nation may not be without British influence behind the scenes.

Especially after the defeat of the United States, Australasia no longer has any competition in the Pacific Ocean. It was during that time that the relations between the British Empire and Australasia grew increasingly distant, and the friction between the Island Nation and Australasia became more intense.

Seen in this light, the main reason for this naval arms race is due to the British Empire's global hegemony and its policy of regional balance.

The British have indeed tasted the bitter fruit of this. Because no matter which country's naval size grows, it poses a challenge and threat to Britain's global dominance.

As each country's new shipbuilding plans emerge one after another, the British Government faces immense pressure at this moment.

Don't be fooled by Britain having the highest fiscal income in the world; its fiscal expenditure is also the highest globally.

With British influence spread across the world, its colonies are not that peaceful either.

Just maintaining peace in the regions of India and America demands a significant investment of manpower and financial resources from the British.

For the British, the current naval arms race is not only mandatory, but it also requires spending a vast amount of additional money.