The industrial network behind Dutch naval guns

Krupp's technical agreement with Bofors preserved access to design work after the First World War, including Dutch and Danish business that Krupp could no longer serve directly. Its 31.8 percent holding was routed through a Swedish subsidiary and did not translate into uncomplicated control; Swedish law and Bofors boardroom politics constrained German influence. In the Netherlands, a Rheinmetall front company preserved machinery, artillery stocks, and know-how that Dutch shipyards and the state arsenal later acquired. German engineers also contributed to fire-control and anti-aircraft work, but later designers substantially reworked what they inherited. Skoda needed export customers after the collapse of the Habsburg market, adding another supplier to this transnational network. Interwar naval guns consequently carried contested, shared lineages that resist a single national label.