Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 168: Chapter 138: Investing in Shipyards (3)

The four shipyards are the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, Cuba Havana Shipyard, El Ferrol Shipyard, and Cartagena Shipyard.

Compared to these four major shipyards, any other civilian shipyard lags significantly, both in terms of scale and the level of attention from the government.

Among them, the Cuba Havana Shipyard is the most unique of the four, as it is located in Havana in the Cuban Colony, and is the only large overseas shipyard of Spain.

Unfortunately, the Havana Shipyard was damaged during the independence movements in the American Colonies. Although the Spanish Government later rebuilt the Havana Shipyard, since most of the American Colonies had been lost, there was no longer a need for such a large shipyard in America.

This shipyard, which once could build large sailing warships, has gradually become the lowest tier among the four major shipyards, and is not on the Spanish Government’s list for future development in naval shipbuilding.

The last piece built by this shipyard was the heavy frigate Louisa Fernando in 1845, which was equipped with as many as 44 cannons.

From 1845 to this year, 1872, in nearly 30 years, the Havana Shipyard has only taken on the construction of some small military and civilian ships, without any orders for large vessels.

Currently, the largest shipyard in Spain is the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, which bears the royal name.

It is worth mentioning that although the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard was established by the Spanish Royal Family, due to it being under the Bourbon Royal Family, most of the shares currently belong to the government.

Carlo, as King, actually does not hold many shares in the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, and with Spain’s decline over the past thirty years, the scale of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard has been cut in half, facing severe capital and bankruptcy crises.

Apart from the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard and the Cuba Havana Shipyard, the remaining El Ferrol Shipyard and Cartagena Shipyard are no longer as glorious as they once were.

If the Spanish Government does not intervene, they are likely to be restructured for bankruptcy, or disappear from history altogether.

For the future development of Spanish shipbuilding, Carlo and Prime Minister Prim came to an agreement.

The Royal Family will reacquire the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard from the government at a minimal cost and rebuild it into Spain’s largest shipyard.

The government will mainly maintain the El Ferrol Shipyard and Cartagena Shipyard. With the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard as the leader in Spain’s shipbuilding industry, the El Ferrol Shipyard and Cartagena Shipyard only need to maintain their current scale without requiring much effort from the government.

It is only necessary to ensure that these two shipyards can quickly expand to become capable of building main warships when needed to meet Spain’s shipbuilding demands.

It requires significant funds for the Royal Family to invest in and maintain the scale of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, so when acquiring shares in the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, only minimal funds are needed to complete the acquisition.

Afterward, the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard will be entirely the Royal Family’s enterprise, regardless of profit or loss, it is the Royal Family’s concern, not the government’s.

Carlo is still willing to acquire the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard. As formerly Spain’s largest shipyard, the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard has extensive experience in shipbuilding, especially in military warship construction.

This also ensures that after the Royal Family invests in the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, it can quickly restore the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard to its former glory with the shipyard’s own capabilities and assistance from Austria-Hungary and French technology.

Again, even if there isn’t much domestic demand for warships in Spain, it doesn’t mean there is no demand for warships worldwide.

Currently, many countries still want to build new ironclad ships. If Spain can export the most advanced ironclad ships abroad, it will surely attract some international orders.

The cost of ironclad ships varies, but even the cheapest ironclad ship costs over 200,000 Pounds. For each ironclad ship built, the income for shipyards is at least over 50,000 Pounds, if not more.

Especially those more advanced and powerful ironclad ships, priced higher, will also have a higher selling price abroad.

Building just a few ironclad ships each year could not only cover the daily expenses of the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard but also allow it to expand with a continuous stream of income, hiring more employees in anticipation of Spain’s future shipbuilding plans.

Additionally, the shipyard contracts for international orders can continuously accumulate shipbuilding experience. With the Spanish Navy’s reputation as a top-five naval power, attracting some countries to order from Spanish shipyards shouldn’t be a problem.