Chapter 284 New Warship Order

After the trip to Germany, Arthur went to Russia immediately, visiting Tsar Nicholas II and Grand Duke Sergei, and visited Crown Prince Alexei who was still in bed. New 𝘹.𝘤𝘰𝘮

There is no way, maybe this is the worry of having more relatives. Whether it is Germany or Russia, they are relatively close relatives to Arthur, and the relationship between the countries is also very friendly, which also means that Arthur must move around.

What's more, both Germany and Russia can still provide a lot of help to Australasia. As major powers, they are also Australasia's current very scarce allies.

Of course, there is actually not much substantial help that Russia can provide to Australasia now. Perhaps the most useful thing is the steady stream of Russian immigrants.

During a few days in Russia, Arthur re-signed an immigration treaty with Nicholas II.

The treaty stipulates that Australasia pays the Russian government an annual compensation of 5 million rubles in exchange for the Russian government's generous support for the export of immigrants to Australasia.

Of course, because he spent more money, Arthur also made a requirement, that is, when screening immigrants, they must meet the corresponding conditions of Australasia.

Although 5 million rubles is not too much of an asset for Arthur, it is certainly not too small for the Russian government's finances.

Under the witness of Nicholas II and Arthur, the two governments quickly signed an agreement.

Nicholas II even said with a smile that if Australasia needed it, he could mobilize the government to export millions of immigrants to Australasia every year.

To be honest, it is completely possible for the Tsarist Empire to export millions of immigrants every year.

You must know that as of this year, Russia's population has increased by around 3 million to 5 million every year, and exporting 1 million people every year is completely innocuous to the Tsarist Empire.

But the problem is that if Australasia receives one million Russian immigrants every year, although it can rapidly increase the population of Australasia in a short period of time, there is even hope that the population will exceed 15 million before World War I. New 𝗰𝗼𝗺

But the consequences may be an imbalance in the proportion of ethnic groups in the country. The number of Russian immigrants will even approach that of British immigrants, the main ethnic group, affecting domestic unity and stability.

According to the new immigration treaty signed by Arthur and Nicholas II, this immigration treaty lasted for five years. Australasia paid 5 million rubles per year, and Russia exported 400,000 screened immigrants to Australasia.

The five-year validity period of the treaty will allow Australia to have approximately 2 million Russian immigrants, which is also the maximum number of Russian immigrants that Australasia can absorb.

Coupled with immigration from the UK and Germany and other parts of Europe, Australasia is expected to top 13 million in 1, with the UK population still able to maintain.

After the end of World War I, if we accept a large wave of refugees, we should be able to increase the number to 17 million by 1.

Although it is uncertain whether there will be another World War II in this world, within five years after the end of World War I, the population of Australasia is expected to exceed 20 million, completely determining the strength and status of the great powers.

During the past few days in Russia, the Russian Admiralty frequently asked Arthur to meet with him, and finally, with the nod of Nicholas II, a new warship purchase order was agreed upon.

The previous two Sovereign-class battleships, Petropavlovsk and Poltava, have shown good combat effectiveness and performance, and their actual performance in training far exceeded all previous old-fashioned battleships of the Pacific Squadron.

The performance of the two dreadnoughts caused General Makarov, who was far away in Port Arthur, to report the news to the Navy Ministry and Nicholas II overnight, asking the Russian government to order more Sovereign-class battleships.

According to General Makarov's original words, if the Pacific Fleet can be equipped with two more dreadnoughts, then even if the island country has the support of the United Kingdom, it is destined not to be Russia's opponent.

It is a pity that Britain gave in some of its interests and reached an agreement with Russia. Russia will not be able to operate in the Far East for a short time, so General Makarov's plan also came to nothing.

However, the power of the Sovereign-class battleship has also entered the attention of Russian senior officials. new

Russia has a very strange characteristic. The senior officials are willing to spend a lot of money to purchase majestic cannons and battleships, but they are not willing to provide fresh meat and food, as well as corresponding fresh-keeping and refrigeration equipment, to the naval officers and soldiers on the battleships.

The officers in charge of procurement would rather risk being beaten to death by mutinous navy soldiers than buy fresh ingredients to provide to the navy soldiers, and even regarded this as a normal part of the navy's daily life.

On the first ship, a riot occurred because an officer brought a dead cow to the kitchen to make lunch and distributed it to the navy soldiers. In June, the battleship Potemkin caused a riot because a procurement officer made rotten meat with maggots into borscht and distributed it to the officers and soldiers. , causing the entire battleship to be taken over by rebellious naval soldiers and they fled to Romania.

Some naval officers of Fleet 1 were also preparing to revolt on four battleships, but the uprising failed in the end because the plan was revealed.

Various uprisings made Nicholas II himself lose confidence in the Baltic and Black Sea fleets, which had frequent mutinies. If it were not for the importance of the navy, coupled with the Pacific Fleet under General Makarov, Nicholas II The world has seen hope. I am afraid that the Navy will be directly placed under the management of the Army, as it was in history. The Baltic Fleet, which is responsible for guarding the safety of the capital St. Petersburg, will be directly placed under the management of the Army. This will also directly cause the Baltic Fleet, which was not very powerful in combat, to directly lose its combat capability.

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It has to be admitted that the Tsarist Empire has become extremely corrupt internally so far.

The upper and even middle levels of the empire have become very decadent and extravagant. The combat effectiveness of the army at the bottom is dilapidated. The soldiers lack training and discipline is chaotic. It no longer looks like a great power.

However, Arthur was helpless about this. After all, he was not a member of the Russian royal family. Even if Arthur put forward his opinions, it was unlikely to be adopted by Nicholas II.

We can only pray that Tsarist Russia will collapse more slowly in the war in the future, and see if there is any hope of saving the Russian royal family.

The new warship purchase order can be described as a big deal, and it should be Russia’s last purchase order in five years.

This purchase order includes two Monarch-class battleships and two Unification-class battlecruisers, a total of four powerful main battleships.

Arthur was surprised at the Russians' generosity at first, but when he heard that all four warships would be equipped to the Baltic Sea, Arthur also understood that there should be support from Britain and France.

After all, the stronger the Russian navy is in the Baltic Sea, the greater the constraints on the Russian high seas fleet will be.

If the French work harder on their dreadnoughts, they can even join forces with the British to contain the High Seas Fleet in the Baltic and North Seas.

It is a pity that the French's actions on the dreadnoughts are as slow as in history. Perhaps as in history, France's north and west coasts must rely on the protection of the British.

The two Sovereign-class battleships were named Empress Maria and Catherine the Great, while the two Unification-class battlecruisers were named Gangut and Sevastopol.

According to the agreement reached between the Russian Navy and Australasia, Australasia needs to complete the delivery of the entire order in 1 half of the main battleship.

Arthur made a little calculation and found that there was enough time.

Australasia is currently under construction of two Unity-class cruisers, probably in the 1st year.

It will take nearly three years by the end of 2013 to complete the construction and testing of two of the four warships.

The cost of building a Sovereign-class battleship is approximately 2.4 million pounds per country.

The cost of the Unification-class cruiser is slightly cheaper, about 1.72 million pounds, and the sale price to Russia is 2.1 million pounds.

Because of the good relationship between Russia and Australasia, the selling price of the two warships to Russia is slightly cheaper than the selling price abroad. However, the shipyard's profits are definitely quite high, each with a cost of more than 400,000 pounds. Pure profit.

The total cost of the order for four Russian warships is as high as 81 million rubles, which is 18 million when converted into Australian dollars.

Arthur's Royal Dockyard is expected to earn as much as 3.52 million Australian dollars from this trade. After deducting taxes to the government, the shipyard should be able to record at least 3 million Australian dollars.

It has to be said that the profits from exporting arms, especially selling warships, are really high. This order for four warships would allow Arthur to build another battlecruiser.

As time enters the second decade of the 20th century, competition in Europe has become visibly more intense.

No country in the two major military blocs will be spared from this arms race.

According to the Royal Intelligence Service, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has also been secretly building dreadnoughts and named them Combined Forces-class battleships.

It's just that among the major European powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's road to dreadnoughts can be considered relatively difficult.

Several years have passed since the birth of the dreadnought. Countries like Britain and Germany have innovated on the basis of dreadnoughts, designed and built more powerful dreadnoughts.

And great powers like the Austro-Hungarian Empire have not even started building the most basic dreadnoughts, and they are even still at the point of arguing with the parliament.

If the Navy had not raised funds on its own and started construction of two dreadnoughts without parliamentary approval of appropriations, I am afraid that the first dreadnought in the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have to wait until the end of 1915.

The two countries that are best able to export dreadnoughts, Britain and Germany, are currently in a naval competition, and it is basically impossible to absorb too many warship orders from the outside world.

In other words, the next few years should be Australasia's best opportunity to sell warships to foreign countries.

You must know that in this era, in addition to the naval competition in Europe, there is also a naval competition in the small region of South America. This is also an opportunity for Australasia.

After all, making money is not shabby. It would be of great significance to the Australasian navy if the money earned from the sale of the Monarch-class battleships could be used to build more St. Vincent-class battleships.

After finalizing the final order and delivery time with the Russian naval department, Arthur hurriedly embarked on his journey back to Australasia.

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