Chapter 357 Warship Delivery and Launching

Because this truck order includes at least 5,000 trucks, it will be more troublesome to repair them in the future.

Therefore, Benz and Russia agreed that Benz Automobile Factory would build at least three auto repair shops in Russia, with Russia responsible for funding, Benz Automobile Factory responsible for providing technology, and Benz Automobile Factory holding 40% of the shares.

In this way, Russian trucks can also be repaired domestically if they have problems, which not only greatly shortens the time required for truck repairs, but also improves the efficiency of truck repairs.

For Russia, the repair shops built by itself can also save some repair costs. In short, as long as it saves money, it is welcomed by the Russian government.

In order to celebrate the completion 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 specifications of the banquet were pretty good, at least the Russian diplomatic team was very satisfied.

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

If nothing unexpected happens, Benz Automobile Factory will enter a non-stop production state in the next six months.

After all, trucks are consumables, especially in wars, where truck damage is very common.

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

Because for Russia, in the next few days, Russia is about to welcome the service of the battleships Empress Maria and Catherine the Great.

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

As early as mid-last year, the two monarch-class battleships, Empress Maria and Catherine the Great, had been successfully built and entered the launch test phase.

More than a year has passed, and the naval 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 this month.

This is a double blessing for the Russian Navy. Because of this, the Russian diplomatic delegation also brought many Russian naval officers and soldiers to officially take over the two battleships.

October is spring in Sydney, and the climate is very suitable for travel. The warm sunshine and the bright flowers and plants everywhere make Sydney beautiful, like a city in a dream.

However, for the Russian diplomatic team and Russian naval soldiers at this time, there is not much thought to appreciate this beautiful scenery.

The joy of having two battleships is more exciting than the scenery of the mountains.

For these naval soldiers, nothing is more attractive than two brand new battleships belonging to themselves, unless they are two more powerful battleships.

But judging from Russia's current financial situation, it is unlikely to build battleships in the short term.

After all, compared with the threats on the sea, most of the threats from Germany and Austria-Hungary come from land.

Today's Sydney Port has a festive color.

The port was full of flowers, and many onlookers had surrounded the port to witness the new battleships start their service journey.

Although the two battleships did not belong to Australasia, they were built by Australasia, so the people of Australasia also attached great importance to them.

Under the gaze of the Australasia people and the excited eyes of the Russian naval soldiers, the two battleships slowly lowered the flag of Australasia and raised the flag of the Russian Empire.

Thousands of Russian naval officers and soldiers, led by their respective captains, boarded the warships they had been thinking about for a long time.

Some of these naval officers and soldiers had already trained in Australasia for a long time, while some had just arrived in Australasia from Russia.

Fortunately, not many people were needed to operate this battleship. As for other soldiers who were not familiar with it, they could slowly train after returning to Russia.

The ultimate destination of these two battleships was the Baltic Sea, which also meant that these naval soldiers had enough time to master these two battleships before arriving at their own bases.

The Russian diplomatic team looked at the two huge warships anchored in the port, and the 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, which is also the last blessing of the Russian diplomatic team officials.

Raul, the Minister of Defense of Australasia, also participated in the handover ceremony of the warship. This is not only due to the importance of Russia, but also conveys the message to the people that the government attaches great importance to the navy.

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

After all, in the eyes of the people today, the strength of the navy also represents the strength of the country to a large extent.

A great power without a strong 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, the current Russian naval orders have all been completed, two battleships have been delivered, and two battlecruisers have also entered the naval test phase.

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

This also means that Australasia's naval expansion plan can be restarted to thoroughly establish Australasia's position as a naval power.

After the handover ceremony of the two battleships, the Russian diplomatic team stayed for a few more days, participated in the launching and testing ceremony of the two battlecruisers, and then boarded the two brand-new battleships and returned to Russia.

If there are no problems, the two battlecruisers can also be delivered around mid-to-late 1914, and the naval order will be completely completed 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 soon known to other powerful countries.

Britain and France were the first to know about it. After all, they were allies of Australasia and Russia, and Britain and France were happy to see this. Even the funds for Russia to buy trucks were provided by Britain and France.

As for the Allies, William II was not in a very good mood.

The role of trucks is visible to the naked eye, and it can definitely bring a significant improvement to the combat effectiveness of the Russian army.

Apart from other things, the improvement of logistics efficiency alone is enough to increase the combat capability of the Russian army by 10% to 20%.

After all, these trucks can transport, in addition to weapons and ammunition, food and medical supplies, and even clothing.

These materials are equally important for a war. Whether the materials are sufficient sometimes determines the combat capability of the army.

Under the advice of Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy soon signed a truck purchase order with the German automobile factory.

However, the order share of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy is somewhat dwarfed by that of other powers.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire ordered 1,500 trucks, with a ratio of two to one for large and small trucks.

Italy ordered 1,000 trucks, with a ratio of 1:1 for large and small trucks.

Now the Allies have another data that lags behind the Allies, that is, the number of military trucks.

The number of military trucks ordered by the Allies exceeded 12,000, while the total number of military trucks ordered by the Allies was only 5,500.

In any case, all these truck orders were signed with the Benz Automobile Factory.

This also means that these more than 10,000 trucks can bring Arthur a lot of profit. Even if it is just a preliminary estimate, the net profit may exceed one million Australian dollars.

These profits alone are enough for Arthur to equip the army with 2,000 B2 trucks, which is enough to show that Arthur really 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 is not large, there are thousands of trucks after a small amount.

In particular, the US government signed a purchase order for 3,000 trucks with the US automobile factory, revealing its nouveau riche nature.

Even if the size of the US Army was not too small, Arthur had reason to believe that the number of trucks purchased by the United States would increase.

In addition to these countries buying trucks as military trucks, the smaller B1 trucks are also very popular among the European and American civilians and have become more popular.

According to the report given by the Benz Automobile Factory, since the major European powers began to buy trucks, the sales of Benz trucks in the European and American civilians have also increased by almost 30%.

Of course, unlike the general preference for large trucks by the military of various countries, the most popular trucks among the civilians are still the smaller B1 trucks.

After all, for private individuals, large trucks are not only more expensive, but the huge cargo capacity is also unnecessary.

The cargo capacity of a small truck of 1.5 tons is completely sufficient, and even the faster speed can allow the truck owner to complete the transportation task faster.

The whole world is buying trucks crazily, and Arthur will naturally not miss it. However, compared with other countries and civilians, Arthur really uses the cost price when buying trucks.

Anyway, the car factory is Arthur's, and the price is completely determined by Arthur.

With the huge profits of Benz One every year, Arthur was not worried about the debt crisis of Benz Automobile Factory even if he lost some money on trucks.

After discussing with Defense Minister Raul, Arthur officially finalized an order for 500 B1 trucks and 1,500 B2 trucks at the cabinet meeting.

The total cost of this order was 1.28 million Australian dollars, which was exactly the profit earned by Benz Automobile Factory this time.

This cost was nothing for the current government with deep pockets, so the cabinet government quickly agreed to Arthur's decision.

Compared with the more urgent Russian orders, the demand for trucks in Australasia was not so urgent.

Considering that after producing Russian truck orders, Benz Automobile Factory no longer had much spare capacity to produce domestic orders.

Therefore, Arthur put the delivery time of the trucks before the end of 1914. More than a year is enough for Benz Automobile Factory to produce.

The third update of 3,200 words, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!

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