Although civilian shipbuilding and military shipbuilding were closely related, there were still major differences between them. Take the United States in the previous life, for example—its shipbuilding industry had developed in a relatively lopsided manner.
Setting aside the Age of Sail, America's civilian shipbuilding had always lagged behind Europe, while its military shipbuilding was exceptionally strong. This situation persisted into the twenty-first century, until the Far East Empire revived. By the early 2020s, the Far East Empire's military and civilian shipbuilding alike had shown an unstoppable momentum of development, unlike the United States, where only military shipbuilding was highly developed while civilian shipbuilding was a complete mess.
By the later period, the United States' large-vessel construction had become almost entirely dependent on military orders to survive. The technological advantage its military shipbuilding once possessed had also become difficult to maintain because of monopolies and other reasons. In the final analysis, military and civilian shipbuilding ought to develop in harmony.
At the present stage, aside from Britain and Japan, most of the world's naval powers faced similar problems, with the United States and Germany being especially prominent.
As for Japan, its shipbuilding industry had been sustained entirely by cheap labor costs and a militaristic development model. To put it bluntly, the living conditions of Japanese shipyard workers were worse than those of East African black slaves. Of course, Japan's shipbuilding development also had a grave problem: resource constraints.
Ernst said, "The prospects for development in civilian shipbuilding are extremely broad. Our country still has many shortcomings in this field. For example, with the development of the petroleum industry and automobile industry, our demand for oil has risen at breakneck speed. Imported overseas oil is an important supplement to our petroleum needs. The transport of strategic materials such as oil relies heavily