Rise of Australia

Chapter 289 Hope-class Battleship
The idea of ​​the Chilean super dreadnought quickly awakened Arthur, who was addicted to the dream of the rise of Australasia.

Although Australasia is currently world-leading in tanks, aircraft, dreadnoughts, etc., and the military industry is definitely world-class, but this is far from enough.

Under the influence of fierce arms competition between Britain and Germany, the extent of their armament technology replacement was beyond Arthur's imagination.

Since the birth of the dreadnought, it has instantly become the most powerful battleship in the world.Even up to now, there are only five countries that actually own dreadnought ships.

Arthur is also somewhat complacent about this, because Australasia is not only a country with dreadnought ships, but also a country with advanced main warship construction technologies such as Nassau-class battleships, Monarch-class battleships, St. Vincent-class battleships, and Unification-class battlecruisers. .

In terms of dreadnought-class main warship construction technology, Australasia can be said to be ranked behind Britain and Germany, and can compete for the top three levels in the world.

But Arthur neglected one point, that is, the speed of armament technology replacement between Britain and Germany during this period.

True, the dreadnought is still the most powerful warship in the world.However, the United Kingdom is already developing and even successfully building a super dreadnought, and it is far ahead of the world in terms of warships, leaving behind No. 3.

If Australasia wants to truly rise, it must not be satisfied with its current achievements. It must look farther and know the whole world.

Therefore, Arthur also made up his mind that even if the super dreadnought order with the Chileans fell through, Australasia must develop its own super dreadnought, and at the fastest speed.

On October 1910, 10, under the call of Arthur, most of the naval shipbuilding experts in Australasia arrived at the Royal Dockyard, including those German experts who had settled in Australasia.

Arthur attended the meeting of the Royal Dockyard and gave these experts a request, that is, to design one as soon as possible, with a gross tonnage of at least 23000 tons and a full load tonnage of at least 27000 tons. The main gun must have a caliber of 13.5 inches. Fully upgraded battleships in terms of armor protection and firepower.

To this end, Arthur took out the construction drawings of the Sovereign-class battleship and the St. Vincent-class battleship, and asked experts to refer to the construction layout and technology of these two battleships to find ideas for designing new battleships.

Following Arthur's order, the shipbuilding experts began to get busy, and began to design the appearance of the new warship in their minds.

The design time given by Arthur is three months. Those who successfully design a battleship will receive a lot of rewards, and may even be awarded a knighthood.

This generous condition also attracted the enthusiasm of a large number of shipbuilding experts, and the Royal Dockyard was surrounded by these experts.

Fortunately, the construction of the two battlecruisers has been almost completed. Even if most of the experts in the Royal Dockyard are mobilized, it will not affect the final assembly of the two battlecruisers.

In November 1910, the Sydney Stock Exchange founded by Arthur gradually began to take shape.

The current Sydney Stock Exchange has attracted more than a dozen foreign capitals and hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises in Australasia.

Realized attracting millions of Australian dollars of capital from abroad, allowing many small and medium-sized factories and enterprises to break through [-] yuan in assets.

The current Sydney Stock Exchange can be regarded as full of people coming and going.The daily passenger flow is as high as thousands of people, and the capital transactions are as high as tens of thousands of Australian dollars.

This year is a disaster year for East Asia. Various natural and man-made disasters, plague, plague, etc. have caused huge losses to this area.

Australasia exported more than 400 million tons of grain this year, half of which was exported to East Asia, where state-owned, royal and private farms made a lot of profits.

In mid-November, Arthur participated in the launching ceremony of two battlecruisers, which represented that all the warships in the Australasian five-year shipbuilding plan had been completed, and the Navy's first five-year plan had been completed.

Arthur temporarily chose to suppress the second five-year shipbuilding plan encouraged by the Navy.

For Australasia, there is no need to pile up the number of dreadnoughts so high for the time being.

Before World War I, if the number of dreadnoughts in Australasia increased, it would definitely attract the attention and attention of European powers.

Even if the great powers have no other ideas, facing Australasia with an increasingly powerful navy, they will still have a certain degree of fear.

This is not good news for the development of Australasia. After all, Arthur still hopes to purchase the technology of 13.5-inch main guns from the United Kingdom, and at least dozens of 13.5-inch main guns will be purchased to meet the needs of future superpowers. Dreadnought's main gun installation.

If the attention and fear of the European powers were aroused in advance, leading to the implementation of a certain technical blockade against Australasia by European countries, it would be a bit too much for the loss.

The navy is certainly important to Australasia, but if the development of the navy arouses the fear of European countries, it is really unnecessary.

Australasia may have a second naval five-year plan, but probably not now that war clouds are looming in Europe.

Arthur's authority prevented those admirals from saying much, and could only pin their hopes on the training of the two newly built battlecruisers.

If the combat power of these two battlecruisers is almost the same as that of dreadnoughts, then Australasia can also welcome five main battleships of the dreadnought class, and the naval combat power can also surpass the last powers like island countries. means of self-preservation.

With the construction of the Australasian Navy, it can be seen with the naked eye that the national pride of Australasia has become higher and higher.

I have to admit that for the current era, the navy is really the most important thing among all services.

A great power country may not have a strong army, but it cannot do without a strong navy to protect its coastline and homeland.

Of course, some purely landlocked countries will be another story.But in this era of great colonialism, it is really not easy for a landlocked country to become a great power.

How important is the navy?It can be said that if Australasia has a few more dreadnoughts, it can really claim the status of a great power.

After one or two naval battles to severely beat the last powers in the face, they can become recognized new powers by stepping on the last powers.

But doing so is not necessary for Australasia.What Australasia lacks now is not the status of the great powers, but the true strength and heritage of the top powers.

Among other things, the current island country has indeed been called the eighth power.But the question is, apart from a decadent country like the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which other power would value a country like an island country?
Even if it is the same decadent Tsarist Russian Empire, if all the main force and navy of the Tsarist Russian Empire in Europe are moved to the Far East, the island country may not necessarily be the opponent of the Tsarist Russian Empire.

This is the true strength and heritage of the old powers, and this is what Arthur and Australasia dream of.

During this time, the specialists of the shipyard were not without progress.Even ten warship design drawings have been completed, but each design drawing still has a certain distance from Arthur's request.

Of all the demands of Arthur and the Chileans, tonnage was actually the easiest thing to achieve.

The easiest way to increase the tonnage is to add thicker armor to various parts of the warship.

Armor will greatly increase the tonnage of the warship, coupled with the larger size of the warship, it is easy to reach the tonnage required by the Chileans of 28000 tons.

But the problem is that such a warship is basically just an empty shell.Brainless increase in volume and armor thickness will greatly reduce the power of the warship.

If this is done, Arthur feels that whether the new warship can reach the speed of the old battleship is a problem.

Problems with the design of the warship continued until the end of 1910.

On December 1910, 12, Arthur finally ushered in good news. The shipbuilding experts of the Royal Dockyard finally, with the efforts of all parties, designed a design that looked more reliable than other warships.

The new warship design refers to the design of the Sovereign-class battleship and the St. Vincent-class battleship two dreadnoughts, but overall it can be called a completely new design battleship.

More than 60% of the design of the new battleship is based on technologies that Australasia does not have.This also means that if you want to build a new battleship, you have to rely on the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the British Empire and purchase the corresponding technology.

Of course, Arthur had already anticipated this shortcoming.After all, even if it is only a 13.5-inch main gun, Australasia does not have the corresponding technology, and it needs to be imported from the British Empire.

What's more, there are more advanced power systems, armor protection, etc., all of which need to be imported from the British Empire. Of course, it is best to buy its construction technology and principles.

The battleship design reported to Arthur has basically met the requirements of Arthur and the Chileans.

Of course, not all requirements are met. After all, the specific construction technology of Australasia has to be considered, and the design drawings of warships cannot be turned into empty drawings.

The estimated length of this battleship is about 181 meters, the width is 28 meters, and the draft is 8.4 meters.

In terms of volume, the new battleship far exceeds the Sovereign-class battleship and the St. Vincent-class battleship, and is definitely a veritable super-large battleship.

The increase in volume is actually the expansion of armor and power system.Counting all blocks and systems, the new battleship is expected to have a standard displacement of 22800 tons and a full load displacement of 26910 tons.

If nothing else, this battleship will be equipped with a 45-caliber MKⅤ-type 13.5-inch caliber main gun, and the number of main guns has reached ten.

除此之外，还会装备18门4英寸50倍径的副炮和4具533毫米水下鱼雷发射。

Compared with the Sovereign-class battleship and St. Vincent-class battleship, the new battleship has achieved a huge improvement in terms of firepower.

In terms of power, the new battleship adopts the same power system as the St. Vincent-class battleship, including two sets of four-shaft Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, and 22 Hercules Viaro-style mixed-fired water boilers.

What has changed is that there are four more mixed-fired water boilers, which also allows the new battleship to reach an estimated power of 34000 horsepower, and the speed can be maintained at least around 21 knots.

In terms of armor protection capabilities, the new battleship has increased the armor thickness to 6.5 to 12 inches for the main armor belt, 3.5 inches for the deck, 4 to 8 inches for the bulkhead of the watertight compartment, 11.5 inches for the turret, 10 inches for the gun mount, and 11.5 inches for the conning tower. inch.

Compared with the previous dreadnoughts, this level of protection has been greatly improved. Coupled with the improvement in firepower and power, Arthur believes that even compared with the current St. Forty percent improvement.

Of course, the [-]% increase in combat power is a relatively conservative estimate. In a real naval battle, no one can guarantee what will happen, but the actual combat capabilities of the new battleships will indeed crush the old dreadnoughts.

Arthur was satisfied with the design of the new battleship, and finally made up his mind. The design of Australasia's first super dreadnought was determined as the design drawing in front of him.

After much deliberation, Arthur decided to name the super dreadnought ship in Australasia the Hope-class battleship.

Hope, that is, the hope of the country's rise.Arthur hopes to rely on the super dreadnought to continue the dream of Australasia's rise, to bloom the colors that belong to Australasia, and let the world hear the voice of Australasia.

The determination of the design of the super dreadnought made Arthur feel very good, and he began to reward the experts of the Royal Dockyard generously.

First of all, everyone has a reward. Not only does everyone have a reward of [-] Australian dollars, but the main designer of the Hope-class battleship will also be awarded a corresponding medal to express encouragement.

Arthur is very generous to the scientists and other talents under his command. After all, these talents are the hope of the rise of Australasia.

Even if they were given a reward of 200 Australian dollars each, including all the shipbuilding experts involved in the design of the super dreadnought, there were only more than [-] people.

More than 200 million Australian dollars was exchanged for the design drawings of the Hope-class battleship. This is a good deal no matter how you think about it.

Because more than [-]% of the technology of the Hope-class battleship needs to be imported or purchased from the United Kingdom, this also causes the cost of this battleship to far exceed that of the Sovereign-class battleship.

According to the conservative estimates of shipyard experts, the cost of a Hope-class battleship may exceed 200 million pounds, or even reach around 220 million pounds.

How to price the Hope-class battleship became a headache for Arthur.If the profit of the Sovereign-class battleship is used, the price of a Hope-class battleship may be nearly 300 million pounds, and the Chileans may not be able to afford such a high price.

Moreover, the Chilean navy order, in Arthur's opinion, is an opportunity for the shipyard to practice building super dreadnoughts, and it seems that the price of the warship has to be lowered.

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(End of this chapter)