Navy cost and upkeep - OTL

[Nobody]

I was reading through some wiki pages about ships of the 1880s when I came across the heavy involvement of the  navy in the "Boxer Rebellion". This involvement which lasted over a year (about 15 month I think) cost over 100 Million Goldmark, which might be more (or slightly less) than the building cost of the ships participating! The article explained that having to buy foreign coal might have been a reason for this "exorbitantly" high cost.
For example a Brandenburg-class pre-dreadnought battleships, of which 4 were participating, cost "only" 16 Million! A small cruiser 5 Million.


P.S.:
I didn't actually sum up the prices of the ships, I was just astonished to find out that they could have build half a dozen more pre-dreadnoughts for that.

[miketr]

Ships on war missions vs. ships on patrol / peace missions is very different in terms of costs.  I also suspect that lots of other costs got thrown in like the costs of the troops, transporting, etc.

Michael

[Delta Force]

The Boxer Rebellion was one of the largest "policing" actions of the era. It involved tens of thousands of soldiers and all eight of the great powers of the era, and it was rather far away from major European colonial holdings. That it cost so much isn't very surprising at all.

[Kaiser Kirk]

As a bit of trivia, my Great Grandfather was ostensibly part of the USMC contingent in the Boxer Rebellion.
Family relic is a USMC belt with the names of (presumably) ports of call in Asia on the back.