Production Delays...

[cwemyss]

It feels like I'm suffering through a TON of construction delays, playing as USA on Large Fleet size.  I've got 15-20 ships under construction (wartime budget) and on any given month, 12-15 of them get delayed by a month or more.

So I've got a couple questions... what are the factors that impact delays on ships under construction?  Is the probability increased by having large numbers of ships building?  I'm assuming that enemy commerce raiding would be a factor... is my raiding having the same effect on him?  While I hate to open this can of worms, as they're the only ships I can reliably put in the water, why don't this risk apply to submarines?

The builds of all my ships are dragging way out... in some cases (rebuilds in particular) I'm getting many consecutive months of delays, leading to the rebuilds taking longer than a nominal new build. 

Are there any actions I can take to mitigate the risk?

[galagagalaxian]

Are you using accelerated construction? Especially on multiple ships? That'll cause severe problems with your shipyards as projects squabble for conflicting priorities.

[cwemyss]

Why, yes, I am. War starts, Congress throws money at me, so I figured "first, let's accelerate everything. Then we can figure out what else to build."

If everything is a priority, nothing's a priority, right?

[galagagalaxian]

No, everything is a priority! Except now every single construction project is sending paperwork to the foundries and such saying "send ME those steam turbines NOW, I have priority" "No, I do!" "No, me, me!", so instead of a nice orderly set delivery schedules to all production projects, they're all greedily grabbing everything they can because THEY have priority (just like everyone else).

So ship A gets delayed because Ship B grabbed the first set of available 14" guns ahead of it, even though Ship B doesn't need turrets and guns yet, it is waiting on engines. Those engines were taken by Ship C, whose hull isn't even finished and is waiting for the Armor plating that was grabbed by Ship D which still has its frame being assembled...

Accelerated construction should only be used by one or two ships at a time. 

[cwemyss]

Sept 15, 2015 21:07:28 GMT -6 galagagalaxian said:

No, everything is a priority! Except now every single construction project is sending paperwork to the foundries and such saying "send ME those steam turbines NOW, I have priority" "No, I do!" "No, me, me!", so instead of a nice orderly set delivery schedules to all production projects, they're all greedily grabbing everything they can because THEY have priority (just like everyone else).

So ship A gets delayed because Ship B grabbed the first set of available 14" guns ahead of it, even though Ship B doesn't need turrets and guns yet, it is waiting on engines. Those engines were taken by Ship C, whose hull isn't even finished and is waiting for the Armor plating that was grabbed by Ship D which still has its frame being assembled...

Accelerated construction should only be used by one or two ships at a time. 

I work in manufacturing, on a certain large, highly publicized, and oft-criticized defense program. I'm very familiar with the concept. :-)

[fredsanford]

Look at what you theoretically gain by accelerating production- 2 or 3 months at most for a BB, IF you start at the beginning. So you've probably already eaten your supposed gain. I rarely accelerate production, it doesn't seem worth it to me.

[jma286]

I almost never accelerate production, but if I have ten ships under construction it's rare to have less than one be delayed for some reason. I've had some ships be delayed for 4 months in a row. I wouldn't mind if this feature was nerfed a bit.

[Fredrik W]

Note that there is some risk of production delays even if you don't accelerate construction of anything. The risk is greater if you have undeveloped shipbuilding. IRL construction of ships was quite often delayed.

[oldpop2000]

FYI

There is a book that I've just finished on my Kindle, titled "The Battleship Builders: Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships" by Ian Johnston and Ian Buxton. The book details the story in the early part of the century of shipyards, ship production et al. It is the complete story of English shipbuilding with references to other leading nations. I believe that you will enjoy and be enlightened about this subject because most naval historical books do not detail the behind scenes of the naval ship production.

Another interesting book by Jon Tetsuro Sumida is "In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914". Sumida is an acknowledged expert in the field of naval warfare. Here is a quote from the introduction:

A great deal of military history has been concerned with strategy. A considerably smaller, though not insubstantial, proportion of the literature has been devoted to the study of military administration, which would include finance, procurement, and logistics. But although the importance of the relationship between military planning and resources has readily been acknowledged — and indeed should be obvious — the exact nature of the connection has rarely been the subject of systematic investigation.

Sumida, John Tetsuro (2014-02-15). In Defence of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy 1889-1914 (Kindle Locations 413-417). Naval Institute Press. Kindle Edition.