Chapter 289 Hope Class Battleship

The Chileans' idea of ​​a super-dreadnought ship quickly awakened Arthur, who was addicted to the dream of the rise of Australasia. new

Although Australasia is currently a world leader in tanks, aircraft, dreadnoughts, etc., and its military industry is definitely world-class, 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 its birth, the dreadnought has instantly become the most powerful battleship in the world. Even now, there are only five countries that actually own dreadnoughts.

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

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

But Arthur overlooked one thing, and that was the speed of replacement of armament technology between Britain and Germany during this period.

It is true that the dreadnought is still the most powerful warship in the world. However, the UK is already developing and even successfully building a super-dreadnought. It is far ahead of the world in terms of warships, leaving behind the second and third places behind it.

If Australasia wants to truly rise, it must not be satisfied with its current achievements, but must look further ahead and understand the whole world.

Therefore, Arthur also made up his mind. Even if the super-dreadnought order with the Chileans failed, Australasia must develop its own super-dreadnought ship as quickly as possible.

On the 1st, convened by Arthur, most of Australasia's naval shipbuilding experts arrived at the Royal Dockyard, including those German experts who had settled in Australasia.

Arthur attended the meeting at the Royal Dockyard and issued a request to these experts, that is, to design a ship as soon as possible, with a total tonnage of at least 23,000 tons and a full load tonnage of at least 27,000 tons. The main gun caliber must be 13.5 inches, and it must be under power. A battleship with comprehensive upgrades in armor protection and firepower.

To this end, Arthur took out the construction drawings of the Monarch-class battleships and the St. Vincent-class battleships, 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, shipbuilding experts began to get busy and began to design the new warships in their minds.

The design time given by Arthur is three months. Those who successfully design the battleship will receive a large number of rewards and may even receive a knighthood. new

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 at the Royal Shipyard are mobilized, it will not affect the final assembly of the two battlecruisers.

Time entered 1 and 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 Australasian domestic small and medium-sized enterprises.

It has attracted millions of Australian dollars of capital from abroad, allowing many small and medium-sized factories and enterprises to exceed 10,000 yuan in assets.

The current Sydney Stock Exchange can be considered a busy place with people coming and going. The daily passenger flow is as high as thousands, and the financial transactions are as high as tens of thousands of Australian dollars.

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

Australasia exported more than 4 million tons of grain this year, half of which was exported to East Asia, where state-owned, royal and private farms made huge profits.

In mid-November, Arthur participated in the launching ceremony of two battlecruisers, which represented that all 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 agitated within 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 the European powers.

Even if the great powers have no other ideas, they will still have a certain amount of fear in the face of Australasia, which has an increasingly powerful navy.

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

If it arouses the attention and fear of the European powers in advance, causing European countries to impose a certain technical blockade on Australasia, it will be too much to gain.

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

Australasia may have a second naval five-year plan, but it probably won't happen now that war is looming in Europe.

Arthur's authority prevented the naval generals from saying much and could only pin their hopes on the training of the two newly built battlecruisers. new

If the combat effectiveness of these two battlecruisers is almost the same as that of the dreadnoughts, then Australasia can also usher in five dreadnought-level main battleships, and its naval combat effectiveness can also exceed that of the lower powers such as the island countries. It can be regarded as having some advantages. 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 in this era, the navy is really the most important thing among all the military services.

A great power country can do without a strong army, but it cannot do without a strong navy to protect its coastline and territory.

Of course, some purely landlocked countries have to be discussed separately. But in this era of large-scale colonization, 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 to be a great power.

Then through one or two naval battles, you can severely slap the face of the last great powers, and you can become a recognized new great power by stepping on the last great powers.

But this is not necessary for Australasia. What Australasia lacks now is not the status of a great power, but the real strength and foundation of the top powers.

If nothing else, the current island country has indeed been called the eighth great power. But the question is, except for a decadent country like the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which great power would look down on a country like the island country?

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Even for the equally decadent Tsarist Russian Empire, if the main force and navy of the Tsarist Russian Empire in Europe were moved to the Far East, the island country would 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 period, the experts at the shipyard were not without progress. Even ten warship design drawings have been completed, but each design drawing is still a certain distance from Arthur's requirements.

Of all the requirements for Arthur and the Chileans, tonnage was actually the easiest to achieve.

The simplest way to increase tonnage is to install thicker armor on various parts of the warship.

Armor will greatly increase the tonnage of the warship, and by making the warship larger, the tonnage can easily reach the Chilean requirement of 28,000 tons.

But the problem is that such a warship is basically just an empty shell. Unconsciously increasing the size and armor thickness will significantly 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 the 1st, Arthur finally received good news. Shipbuilding experts from the Royal Dockyard, through the efforts of all parties, finally designed a design that seemed much more reliable than other warships.

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

The new battleships have technology that is not available in Australasia. This also means that if you want to build new battleships, you have to rely on officials from 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 just a 13.5-inch main gun, Australasia does not have the corresponding technology and needs to be imported from the British Empire.

What's more, there are more advanced power systems, armor protection, etc., which all need to be imported from the British Empire. Of course, it is best to purchase their 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 must be considered, and the design drawings of warships cannot be turned into empty drawings.

The battleship is expected to be approximately 181 meters in length, 28 meters in width and 8.4 meters in draft.

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

The increase in volume is actually an expansion of the armor and power system. Counting all blocks and systems, this new battleship is expected to have a standard displacement of 22,800 tons and a full load displacement of 26,910 tons.

If nothing else goes wrong, this battleship will be equipped with a 45-fold MKV 13.5-inch main gun, with the number of main guns reaching ten.

In addition, it will also be equipped with 18 4-inch 50-caliber secondary guns and 4 533mm underwater torpedo launchers.

Compared with the Sovereign-class battleships and the St. Vincent-class battleships, the new battleships have achieved huge improvements 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 twenty-two Hercules Viaro-type mixed-fired water boilers. .

One of the changes is the addition of four mixed-fired water boilers, which also increases the estimated power of the new battleship to 34,000 horsepower, and the speed can be maintained at least around 21 knots.

In terms of armor protection capabilities, this new battleship will increase the armor thickness to 3.5 inches for the main armored belt deck, 4 to 8 inches for the watertight compartment partition, 11.5 inches for the turret, 10 inches for the gun mount, and 11.5 inches for the command tower.

This level of protection is a huge improvement compared to the previous dreadnoughts. Coupled with the improvements in firepower and power, Arthur believes that the new battleships will have at least as much combat effectiveness as the current St. Vincent-class battleships. A 40% improvement.

Of course, the 40% increase in combat effectiveness is also a relatively conservative estimate. No one can guarantee what will happen in a real naval battle, 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, and 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 Australasian super-dreadnought the Hope-class battleship.

Hope, that is, the hope of a country’s rise. Arthur hopes that with the help of the super-dreadnought, Australasia can continue its dream of rising, bloom with the colors of Australasia, and let the voice of Australasia be heard around the world.

The confirmation of the design of the super-dreadnought made Arthur feel very good, and he began to reward the experts at the Royal Dockyard lavishly.

The first is the reward that everyone has. Not only does each person have a reward of 10,000 Australian dollars, but the main designer of the Hope-class battleship will also be awarded corresponding medals to express encouragement.

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

Even if each of them is given a reward of 10,000 Australian dollars, including all the shipbuilding experts involved in the design of the super-dreadnought, there will only be more than 200 people.

More than 2 million Australian dollars were exchanged for the design drawings of the Hope-class battleship. This is a bargain no matter how you think about it.

Because more than 60% of the technology of the Hope-class battleship needs to be imported or purchased from the United Kingdom, this also results in the cost of this battleship being much higher than that of the Sovereign-class battleship.

According to conservative estimates by shipyard experts, the cost of a Hope-class battleship may exceed 2 million pounds, or even reach around 2.2 million pounds.

How to price the Hope-class battleship has become a headache for Arthur. If based on the profits of the Monarch-class battleship, the price of a Hope-class battleship may be nearly 3 million pounds. I am afraid that the Chileans cannot afford such a high price.

Moreover, Arthur sees the Chilean naval order as an opportunity for shipyards to practice building super-dreadnoughts. It seems that the selling price of warships must be pushed down further.

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