No, I don't think so. However, they speed up considerably the construction of ships. There is a Japanese event that perfectly simulates the contribution of the French in allowing the Bakufu (just before the Meiji restoration) to create their first modern shipyard in Yokosuka! Warships get built much faster there, at a fraction of the time in respect to the tooltip multimonth suggestion!
Care to unify Germany as Austria? Recreate the Holy Roman Empire of the 20th Century: Großdeutschland Mod Are you tough enough to impersonate the Shogun and defy the Westerners? Prove it: Shogun Defiance Mod (completed AAR)
There were plans for that, but not, it wasn't implemented.
You can try to do it on a mod by playing around with attributes, structures and the Tech Tree.
"History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon." Napoleon Bonaparte