Protection of the Seas Act 1897

Protection of the Seas Act
Parliament of Vionna-Frankenlisch
Territorial extent	Vionna-Frankenlisch and the Empire
Enacted by	House of Commons
Date passed	24th August 1897
Enacted by	House of Nobles
Date passed	27th August 1897
Date assented to	28th August 1897
Date of Royal Assent	28th August 1897
Date commenced	28th August 1897

The Protection of the Seas Act was a piece of legislation passed by the Parliament of Vionna-Frankenlisch in August 1897 with the intention of increasing Vionna-Frankenlisch's naval strength and introducing standardisation to Imperial Navy units. Passed during the brief reign of King Richard II with his support, the act provided 15 million Lucans for the expansion of the Grand Fleet and funding was granted for the establishment of an official Imperial Navy Acquisition Board to replace several outdated Imperial Navy and Ministry of Defence organisations.

Background

The act was passed under the Conservative government of Sir Richard Hollins. Though Hollins had other concerns, he recognised that naval expansion was a popular topic and gave his party freedom to vote on conscience. Conservative MPs voted in favour of the bill almost unanimously. A passionate speech by Admiral the Viscount Acton saw the House of Nobles vote in favour of the act by a majority of 191. The Labour and Socialist parties both voted mostly in favour of the bill under union pressure on the grounds that it would provide important jobs in the shipbuilding industry. King Richard II personally spoke passionately for naval expansion, including in a public speech on August 20th - one of the few times the King ever spoke from the balcony of Imperial Palace. The original bill was written by King Richard and a committee from the Ministry of Defence, one of very few times in Imperial history that the monarch was appointed to chair a parliamentary committee.

Naval Expansion

The 15-million Lucans provided to the Grand Fleet was a figure quite shy from the Admiralty's requests for 21-million but it was a still a substantial sum which gave Admiral Lord Hood freedom to expand his fleet by a great deal. Lord Hood, with the grudging support of his Admiralty superiors, also took the controversial move of selling several recently-built but poorly-designed or technically outdated warships for scrap. This action was condemned by the popular press but gave Lord Hood an additional budget of two million Lucans to undertake a radical shipbuilding scheme.

By 1st November, orders had been placed for six battleships at a cost of approximately 900,000 Lucans each, six armoured cruisers at L500,000 each, eight protected cruisers at L380,000 each, and 20 destroyers at a cost of L36,000 each. This initial expansion, therefore, cost the Admiralty a total of around 12-million Lucans. Two more battleships were ordered on 5th November to be built to a second-rate design, this cost L1.3 million. By the time King Richard II died on 12th November, most of the money had already been committed. Four-million Lucans were invested in the overhaul of coastal fortifications and the modernisation of the Imperial Navy Corps of Marines.

Ships Constructed during the Expansion

Battleships

Ship	Class	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Cost
Imperial	Imperial-class Battleship	J.M Loughton and Sons, Brumley	6th December 1897	December 1898	4th August 1899	L881,000
Invincible	Imperial-class Battleship	J.M Loughton and Sons, Brumley	4th January 1898	March 1899	11th October 1899	L901,000
Inflexible	Imperial-class Battleship	Briceport Dockyard	17th December 1897	January 1899	22nd November 1899	L900,000
Indefatigable	Imperial-class Battleship	Frankenlisch Dockyard	1st January 1898	May 1899	26th January 1900	L900,000
Invulnerable	Imperial-class Battleship	Phillip Simmonds Ltd, Briceport	5th February 1898	May 1899	19th February 1900	L924,000
Intolerant	Imperial-class Battleship	Vista Ironworks, Vladimirska	18th January 1898	December 1898	November 1899	L896,000
Marienberg	Marienberg-class Battleship	Fredericksburgh Dockyard	14th March 1898	December 1899	8th January 1901	L649,000
Passero	Marienberg-class Battleship	John Benton and Co., Julianopolis	11th January 1898	June 1899	19th August 1900	L654,000

Cruisers

Ship	Class	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Cost
Edrington	Prince-class Cruiser	Fairfax Dockyard	3rd December 1897	October 1898	4th June 1899	L510,000
Vladimirska	Prince-class Cruiser	Heatheridge, Fredericksburgh	3rd December 1897	November 1898	19th June 1899	L498,000
Agrea	Prince-class Cruiser	Heatheridge, Fredericksburgh	19th December 1897	January 1899	5th August 1900	L507,000
Brehm	Prince-class Cruiser	Brumley Dockyard	7th December 1897	February 1899	27th August 1900	L514,000
Filantropolis	Prince-class Cruiser	T.P Damon Ltd, Frankenlisch	6th December 1897	December 1898	7th May 1899	L489,000
Andersborg	Prince-class Cruiser	Merton and Sons, Luxington	3rd December 1897	December 1898	5th July 1899	L499,000
Simon II	Archbishop-class Cruiser	Brumley Dockyard	11th January 1898	August 1899	12th June 1900	L380,000
Theodore IV	Archbishop-class Cruiser	Featherstone Brothers, Valksland	February 1898	August 1899	19th July 1900	L391,000
Matthew I	Archbishop-class Cruiser	Featherstone Brothers, Valksland	February 1898	August 1899	5th May 1900	L390,000
Nicholas II	Archbishop-class Cruiser	Penchester Dockyard	15th December 1897	May 1899	14th September 1900	L394,000
Orion	Orion-class Cruiser	Vista Ironworks, Vladimirska	20th March 1898	October 1899	1st January 1901	L340,000
Acheron	Orion-class Cruiser	Vladimirska Dockyard	17th March 1898	July 1899	23rd October 1900	L341,000
Cathay	Orion-class Cruiser	Estelle Shipbuilders, Breem	4th April 1898	December 1899	5th February 1901	L338,000
Arcologia	Orion-class Cruiser	Estelle Shipbuilders, Breem	1st March 1898	August 1899	9th November 1900	L342,000

Rationale

A variety of military, political, and economic factors influenced the writing and passage of the bill. First amongst these was the increasing naval threat of the other powers which, until recently, had lagged behind Vionna-Frankenlisch in naval power but were beginning to prove a larger threat. Chief amongst these threats was Caledonia, to the south of Prodava, a kingdom which had proven it could stand up to the Imperial Navy during the Okkamidur Affair and was Vionna-Frankenlisch's closest rival geographically. Caledonian battleships, in particular, had proven their strength during that short conflict and the Imperial Navy's own battleships were of outdated, often eccentric, designs. As a result of the Act, the swift construction of eight new battleships put Vionna-Frankenlisch immediately ahead of Caledonia, which could not match the Empire due to a smaller industrial base. The vast shipbuilding industry of Vionna-Frankenlisch proved itself once more able to out-produce its opponents.

Somewhat unusually for pro-military legislation, the bill recieved significant support from the Labour Party and the Socialist Party of Vionna-Frankenlisch, mostly on the grounds of creating jobs. Both parties received significant support from the working-class men who worked at the builders and from their unions and the opportunity to give these supporters work overshadowed any pacifism. The Liberal Party did not support the bill and the majority of its members voted against or abstained. This opposition was not sufficient to hinder progress of the bill and it passed without Liberal support.

Politically, naval reform was popular amongst the military and Conservative voters, most of whom supported the military and the Empire, were almost always in favour of strengthening the Imperial Navy, often seen as the nation's pride. Though there was some opposition on the basis of cost, some believing the money could be better spent on welfare or relief, this did not have a huge effect on the debate.