Chapter 763 - 350: On Sea Power and the Shipbuilding Plan (2)

Furthermore, as the United Kingdom continuously prevents Spain from annexing Morocco, regardless of which side the United Kingdom joins in the two major military alliances, Spain will always be on the opposing side.

If a country is willing to go all out to help Spain reclaim Gibraltar, Carlo is willing to let Spain join its alliance and fully participate in a world war.

In any case, Spain’s geographical location ensures it is far from Europe’s main battlefield, so as long as the homeland is not affected by the war, the loss to Spain will not be significant.

Under the influence of naval power theories, European nations have accelerated their naval developments. As it approached 1890, Carlo finally decided to speed up the development of battleships, namely pre-dreadnought battleships.

On February 22, 1890, Carlo, in the name of the Royal Family, increased the investment in several major Spanish shipyards by more than 50 million Pessetas, and openly invited tenders for the design of the next generation of main battleships from all military shipyards in Spain with a 10 million Pesseta bonus.

Carlo’s attitude towards naval development was already quite evident, and the Earl of Canovas, as Prime Minister, would certainly not stand against Carlo.

A few days later, on February 27, the Spanish Cabinet Government officially announced its shipbuilding plan for the next five years to the public.

The Ministry of the Navy decided to build at least five 10,000-ton class main ships and 10 ships of 7,000-ton class secondary main ships within the next five years.

This also means that in just the next five years, the total tonnage of medium to large warships built by Spain will exceed 120,000 tons.

If this plan can be successfully completed, Spain’s navy can move up one or two ranks, firmly establishing its status as a naval power.

Of course, all this presumes that the Ministry of the Navy can obtain a reasonably satisfactory design for the main battleship.

Considering that the shipbuilding industry in Europe is relatively advanced, Carlo naturally could not place all his hopes on domestic shipyards.

Starting in March 1890, the Spanish Ministry of the Navy also sent invitations to tender to several well-known European shipyards, inviting them to come up with satisfactory naval designs for Spain.

If there is a design that satisfies the Ministry of the Navy, Spain will not be stingy. Whether it’s a domestic or foreign shipyard, as long as the tender is successful, they will unconditionally receive a reward of 10 million Pessetas.

million Pessetas is not a small sum. During this period, with the prosperity of Spain’s economy, the value of the Pesseta has been consistently rising.

It is worth mentioning that the Pesseta is not in the true sense of the gold standard, but rather a transitional period from the silver standard to the gold standard.

Before Carlo’s coronation, the value of the Pesseta was measured in silver. This also led to the Pesseta’s value fluctuating greatly due to international silver price fluctuations, with an actual value slightly lower than currencies of the same level such as the Franc and Lira.

Since Carlo’s coronation, with the circulation of the new Spanish Pesseta bearing Carlo’s portrait, the Pesseta began its transition from the silver standard to the gold standard.

Currently, the exchange rate between the Pesseta and the Pound has stabilized at 25:1, meaning 1 Pound can be exchanged for 25 Pessetas.

The reason for conducting exchanges with the Pound is mainly that the exchange rate of the Pound is relatively stable. The United Kingdom established its gold standard currency system as early as 1816, which fixes the value of 1 Pound firmly at 7.322 grams of gold, making it not only the highest value currency in Europe but also a relatively stable one.

When conducting import and export trade between countries, to prevent losses caused by currency exchange rate fluctuations, it is generally settled in the country’s currency along with Pounds and Francs.

France, once the most powerful country in Europe, also has a relatively stable currency. Both the Pound and the Franc are recognized as the most popular world currencies, usable almost everywhere in the world, with stable value.

Current exchange rates: 1 Pound=4 taels of silver=5 US Dollars=6.3 yen=9 Rubles=12 Dutch Guilders=18 Swedish-Norwegian Crowns=20 Marks=24 Austrian Crowns=25 Francs, Pessetas, Lira (not counted if less than 200 words)

The 10 million Pesseta reward from Spain is equivalent to 400,000 Pounds, which is a worthy sum for action for large European shipyards.

Although building a main ironclad battleship for a large shipyard starts with an income of tens of thousands of Pounds, large shipyards can’t build many main ironclad battleships a year.

400,000 Pounds doesn’t seem much, but currently, not many European shipyards can achieve such a level of net annual income.

This is also the reason why Spain confidently uses a 10 million Pesseta open tender because not many shipyards can resist such temptation unless fully owned official shipyards from other countries.

After taking care of all this, Carlo can only quietly wait for the navy designs to be delivered to him.

Although Carlo hopes more for a Spanish shipyard to receive this reward, it is evidently more important for Spain to obtain a satisfactory battleship design than who gets the reward.

While Carlo waits quietly, for the Spanish Government, there are still many busy affairs after the announcement of the five-year shipbuilding plan.

The main issue is the cost of building these 15 main ships, which, after estimation by the Ministry of the Navy, amounts to an astronomical figure.

Currently, the price of a main ironclad ship, a 10,000-ton class main battleship, is about 60-70 thousand Pounds. It is certain that the new ship designs will bring increased costs, with a minimum of 70-80 thousand build cost.