Chapter 357 Warship Delivery and Launching
Because this truck order includes at least five thousand trucks, future maintenance will be more troublesome.
Therefore, Benz Automobile Factory and Russia agreed that Benz Automobile Factory would build at least three auto repair shops in Russia. Russia would be responsible for providing capital, Benz Automobile Factory would be responsible for providing technology, and Benz Automobile Factory would hold 40% of the shares.
In this way, problems with Russian trucks can be repaired domestically, which not only greatly shortens the time required for truck repairs, but also improves the efficiency of truck repairs.
For Russia, building its own maintenance plant can also save some maintenance costs. In short, as long as it saves money, the Russian government welcomes it.
In order to celebrate the conclusion of the order between the two parties, Benz also specially held a celebration banquet on behalf of the automobile factory and distributed a small gift to all members of the Russian diplomatic corps.
The standard of the banquet was pretty good, at least the Russian diplomatic team was very satisfied.
Because the order was signed in early October, the latest delivery time agreed upon by both parties was the end of April 1914.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Benz Automobile Factory will enter non-stop production in the next six months.
After all, trucks are considered consumables. Especially in wars, it is very common for trucks to be damaged.
After the truck order was signed, the Russian diplomatic team was not in a hurry to leave, but temporarily settled in Sydney.
Because for Russia, in the past few days, Russia is about to usher in the commissioning of the battleship Queen Maria and the battleship Catherine the Great.
The warship order for these two battleships was signed with Australasia in 1910, three years ago.
As early as the middle of last year, two Sovereign-class battleships, the Queen Maria and the Catherine the Great battleships, had been successfully built and entered the launch test stage.
More than a year has passed. The sea-navigation test phase of the two battleships has been successfully completed. They will soon be officially taken over by Russian naval officers and soldiers and officially serve in the Russian Navy.
In addition, the remaining two main battleships of the naval order at that time, the battlecruiser Gangut and the battlecruiser Sevastopol, will also be completed and launched for testing this month.
This is a double blessing for the Russian Navy. Because of this, this Russian diplomatic visit team also brought many Russian naval officers and soldiers, preparing to officially take over the two battleships.
It’s spring in Sydney in October, and the weather is very suitable for travel. The warm sunshine and the bright flowers and plants everywhere make Sydney beautifully decorated, like a city in a dream.
However, for the Russian diplomatic team and Russian naval soldiers at this time, they did not have much thought to appreciate this beautiful scenery.
The joy of owning two battleships is even more exciting than the mountainous scenery.
For these naval soldiers, nothing is more attractive than two brand-new battleships of their own, unless they are two more powerful battleships.
But judging from Russia's current financial situation, it is unlikely that it will build battleships on a major scale in the short term.
After all, compared to threats on the sea, most of the threats from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire came from land.
Today's Sydney Harbor is a little more festive.
The port was covered with flowers, and many crowds of onlookers had surrounded the port to witness the new warships starting their service journey.
Although these two battleships do not belong to Australasia, they were built in Australasia, so people in Australasia also attach great importance to them.
Under the gaze of the Australasian people and the excited eyes of the Russian naval soldiers, the two battleships slowly lowered the Australasian flag and raised the flag of the Tsarist Russian Empire.
Thousands of Russian naval officers and soldiers, led by their respective captains, boarded the warship they had longed for.
Some of these naval officers and soldiers have been training in Australasia for a long time, and some have just arrived in Australasia from Russia.
Fortunately, not many people are needed to control this battleship. As for other soldiers who are not familiar with it, they can train slowly after returning to Russia.
The ultimate destination of these two battleships is the Baltic Sea, which also means that these naval soldiers have enough time to master these two battleships before arriving at their station.
The Russian diplomatic team looked at the two huge warships parked in the port, and the previous depression of being surpassed by Australasia in industry was swept away.
At least in terms of military strength, the two Australasias cannot catch up with Russia. This is also the last blessing of the Russian diplomatic team officials.
Australasian Defense Minister Raul also attended the handover ceremony of the warship. This is not only due to the importance it attaches to Russia, but also conveys a message to the people that the government attaches great importance to the navy.
Arthur understood that some people were still disappointed that Australasia did not start the second phase of its naval expansion plan.
After all, in the eyes of the current people, the strength of the navy also represents the strength of the country to a large extent.
A great power without a powerful navy is not worthy of its name, especially for a country like Australasia, which has many islands and sea areas.
However, there is also good news for Australasia, that is, all Russian naval orders have been completed, two battleships have been delivered, and two battlecruisers have also entered the sea navigation test stage.
This also means that the Royal Dockyard's warship orders only include two super-dreadnoughts from Chile. The construction period of this order is not that urgent.
This also means that Australasia's naval expansion plan can be restarted to completely 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. After participating in the launching test ceremony of the two battlecruisers, they boarded the two brand-new battleships and embarked on the journey back to Russia. If there are no problems, these two battlecruisers can be delivered around mid to late 1914, completely completing this naval order within the scheduled time.
The Russians were very satisfied with the battleships built in Australasia, and even left with a bright smile.
The truck purchase order signed by the Russians in Australasia was quickly learned by other powerful countries.
Britain and France were the first to learn. After all, they are allies of Australasia and Russia, and Britain and France are also happy to see this. Even the funds for Russia's purchase of trucks were provided by Britain and France.
As for the Allies, William II was not in a good mood.
The role of trucks is visible to the naked eye, and it can definitely improve the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.
Not to mention anything else, the improvement in logistics efficiency alone is enough to increase the Russian army's combat capability by 10 to 20%.
After all, in addition to weapons, equipment and ammunition, these trucks can also transport food, medical supplies, and even clothing.
These materials are equally important to a war. Whether the materials are sufficient or not will sometimes determine the combat capability of the army.
At Germany's suggestion, Austria-Hungary and Italy soon signed a truck purchase order with German automobile factories.
However, the order shares of Austria-Hungary and Italy pale in comparison to other powers.
Austria-Hungary ordered fifteen hundred trucks, with a ratio of two to one.
Italy, on the other hand, ordered a thousand trucks, with a one-to-one ratio of large and small trucks.
Now the Allies have another data that lags behind the Entente, and that is the number of military trucks.
The Allied Powers ordered more than 12,000 military trucks, while the Allied Powers' total number of military trucks was only 5,500.
In any case, these truck orders are all signed with Benz Automobile Factory.
This also means that these more than 10,000 trucks can bring Arthur a lot of profits. Even if it is only a preliminary estimate, I am afraid that the net profit will exceed one million Australian dollars.
These profits alone are enough for Arthur to equip the army with two thousand B2 trucks, which shows that Arthur has indeed made a lot of money this time.
It is worth mentioning that the crazy purchase of trucks by major European powers has also expanded the truck market a lot.
Some European countries also followed suit. Although the number was not large, there were thousands of vehicles when the cumulative effect was added up.
In particular, the U.S. government signed a purchase order with a U.S. auto factory for 3,000 trucks, and the nature of the nouveau riche was clearly revealed.
Even if the size of the U.S. Army was not too small, Arthur has reason to believe that the number of trucks purchased by the United States would increase.
In addition to these countries purchasing trucks as military trucks, the smaller B1 trucks are also very popular among civilians in Europe and the United States and have become more popular.
According to the report given by Benz Automobile Factory, since major European powers began to purchase trucks, the sales of Benz trucks in European and American private companies have also increased by almost 30%.
Of course, unlike the military in various countries who generally prefer large trucks, the trucks that civilians like most are still the smaller B1 trucks.
After all, for private individuals, not only are large trucks more expensive, but the huge cargo capacity is also unnecessary.
The 1.5-ton cargo capacity of a small truck is completely sufficient, and even faster speeds can allow truck owners to complete transportation tasks faster.
The whole world is crazy about buying trucks, and Arthur will not miss it. However, compared to other countries and the private sector, Arthur really uses cost price when purchasing trucks.
Anyway, the car factory is owned by Arthur, and Arthur has the final say on the price.
With the huge annual profits of Benz One and the loss of some money on trucks, Arthur was not worried about the debt crisis of Benz Automobile Factory.
After discussing with Defense Minister Raul, Arthur formally finalized an order for 500 B1 trucks and 1,500 B2 trucks at the cabinet meeting.
The total cost of this order is 1.28 million Australian dollars, which is exactly the profit earned by Benz Automobile Factory this time.
This cost is nothing to the current wealthy government, so the cabinet government quickly agreed to Arthur's decision.
Compared with the more urgent Russian orders, the demand for trucks in Australasia is not so urgent.
Considering that after producing Russian truck orders, Benz Automobile Factory does not have much spare capacity to produce domestic orders.
Therefore, Arthur scheduled delivery of the truck before the end of 1914. More than a year is completely enough for Benz Automobile Factory to start production.
The third update of 3200 words, please vote for me and support!
This is the third update from yesterday, and it will continue to add thousands more today! Please vote for me and support me!
(End of chapter)