Chapter 65 Shipbuilding Technology

Seeing Arthur's insistence, William II did not say anything, but just nodded: "I will discuss the Gew98 with Mauser, but the specific price to sell it to you depends on your negotiation skills."

Arthur would naturally not refuse such conditions. As the standard weapon of the German Army, the sale of the production line of Gew98 to Australia is already a strong support.

As for the cost of purchasing Gew98, it is nothing in Arthur's view. After all, after the improvement, Gew98 will be one of the strongest rifles in the world for at least the next four or five decades.

Born in the background of Germany's traditional military industry, the sales of Gew98 do not have to worry about sales.

Whether it is Germany and its allies in World War I, or other countries in the world that are obsessed with German weapons, they will welcome the export of this gun.

The funds needed to purchase the production line of Gew98 will be recovered in the future arms exports, and even make a lot of money.

"As for Krupp's artillery technology, some artillery is also necessary for warships, so it's okay to give it to you. Some large-caliber artillery involves the secrets of the German army and may not be given to you. I will let Krupp talk to you about the details, and there is no problem giving you the conventional artillery technology." William II said with a smile.

In terms of artillery, Germany, which has famous military enterprises including Krupp, is definitely the industry leader.

The Krupp cannon produced by the famous Krupp company is also a weapon for the German Empire Army to attack cities and capture strongholds.

William II's answer was within Arthur's expectations. Germany's willingness to transfer ordinary artillery technology to Australia was already a pleasant surprise for Arthur.

There are no relatively powerful enemies around Australia for the time being, and there are no strong fortresses to block it.

Under such circumstances, large-caliber artillery that is bulky and inconvenient to transport is also a burden for Australia.

Although it has an unstoppable advantage in attacking cities and capturing strongholds, it is not very useful for Australia. In addition to the troubles caused by logistics and the accuracy problems caused by the extra-large caliber, large-caliber artillery is like chicken ribs, so it is better not to have it.

"Like Mauser, the details need to be discussed by your diplomatic team. Including the production line, let your officials discuss the specific price with Mauser and Krupp." William II said.

Arthur nodded and had no opinion.

As a monarch, he naturally cannot leave everything to himself. For a centralized monarchy like Australia, Arthur's role is more to determine the big framework, and the small details need to be perfected by officials.

"Do you need support for warships and shipyards?" William II continued the topic and asked: "Germany's warship manufacturing may not be as good as the British Empire, but it is definitely the world's leading. If you need it, we can also help you expand your shipyard."

William II also knew about the shipyard owned by Arthur.

But such a small-scale shipyard is not enough for an island country, and it is even less enough for Australia, which wants to stabilize its overseas territories.

"Of course, Your Majesty. Although we have signed an aid treaty with Britain on warships, Britain mostly provides technical assistance rather than practical warship blueprints. I hope to obtain some advanced warship blueprints from Germany to make up for the shortage of Australian warship blueprints. In order to show our return to Germany, we are willing to share the advanced technology obtained from Britain with Germany at the same time, and purchase these warship blueprints at market prices." Arthur nodded as a matter of course and said with a smile.

Although dreadnoughts will be born in a few years, eliminating these so-called advanced warships now.

But if we cannot master the current shipbuilding technology and the corresponding more advanced warship blueprints, then when dreadnoughts are born in the future, Australia will not be able to build dreadnoughts.

This is equivalent to the knowledge of primary and secondary schools, although after entering secondary school, the knowledge of primary schools will be completely eliminated.

But if there is no accumulated knowledge of primary schools, it will become very difficult to master the knowledge of secondary schools.

As the saying goes, a little bit makes a lot, Australia has nothing, so it is naturally impossible to accumulate.

Although Germany's navy is far inferior to the British Empire's Royal Navy, as an emerging country that has only been unified for a few decades, the German Empire has invested heavily in the navy and has achieved remarkable results.

If Australia can master Germany's shipbuilding technology and drawings to enable Australia to have the ability to build dreadnoughts in the future, it will definitely be a sure win.

Hearing Arthur's proposal, William II and Prime Minister Bernhard both nodded.

As the second great power that directly competes with the British Empire, the German Empire naturally cannot obtain technical support from the British Empire.

This also led to the fact that the development of the German navy and the British navy are almost in two directions. If some advanced British technology can be obtained, it will not only improve some of the shortcomings of the German naval technology, but also be familiar with the characteristics of the British Navy, achieving the effect of knowing oneself and the enemy.

"That's no problem, Arthur. You can choose one of the Brunswick-class battleships and the Deutschland-class battleships. Its design drawings and detailed data will be sold to you at market prices. But I have a request, that is, within fifteen years, the design drawings and data shall not be resold, nor shall any text be disclosed to other countries and forces in any way." William II nodded after thinking for a long time.

"Of course, Germany does not object to your sale of finished warships. But the requirement is that the selling price must be consistent with Germany to avoid malicious competition." William II continued.

The cost price and selling price of warships are completely different, and for some warships, there is even a difference of two times.

This is why William II said so. After mastering the construction technology, if Australia adopts the method of lowering the price to compete with the German shipyard, it will also cause losses to the interests of Germany.

"That's natural, Your Majesty. Australia's industry is vastly different from Germany's industry, and the same is true for the shipbuilding industry. Australia will not compete with Germany, nor does it have the ability to do so. Our goal is to master the construction technology of large warships and make adequate preparations for the future construction of the Australian Navy." Arthur nodded undeniably and explained with a smile.

Whether in terms of industrial scale or national prestige, Australia is not qualified to compete with the German Empire, and naturally it is impossible to be arrogant enough to compete with the German Empire.

Arthur's goal is only to master the construction technology of battleships and prepare for the birth of dreadnoughts in the future.

In any case, before the birth of dreadnoughts, Australia needs to master the manufacture of battleships so that it can try to build them after the birth of dreadnoughts, instead of starting from scratch.

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