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Fleet and funding was granted for the establishment of an official Imperial Navy Acquisition Board to replace several outdated Imperial Navy and Ministry of Defence organisations.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

It was passed under the Conservative government of Sir Richard Hollins. Though Hollins was not personally in favour of the act, he recognised that naval reform 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 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 on the grounds that it would provide important jobs in the shipbuilding industry. King Richard II personally spoke passionately in favour of the act. Several historians theorise that the original bill was written, at least in part, by the King or his advisors.

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superiors, also took the controversial move of selling several recently-built but poorly-designed or technically outdated warships for scrap.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