Chapter 812 The Last Battleship

In April 1933, Arthur, who was gradually getting into working mode, was looking at some drawings on his desk and thinking deeply.

These drawings are all designs from the Royal Dockyard, which are the designs of new battleships and aircraft carriers mentioned by Minister Thomas before.

Because the naval limitation treaty is no longer in effect, theoretically, there is no limit on the tonnage of new battleships and aircraft carriers built by various countries.

This also led to the design drawing of the battleship in front of Arthur. The estimated displacement of the battleship will reach 570,000 tons, and the estimated full-load displacement will exceed 20,000 tons. It is a true super battleship.

However, Arthur had no interest in building too many of these super battleships. Even in the naval construction plan proposed by the Ministry of National Defense, only two such super battleships will be built, and the design of battleships will be abandoned directly in the future.

So here comes the question. We are obviously going to give up the design of battleships. Why are we still building such a battleship that looks very powerful?

In addition to increasing the apparent strength of the navy, it is also a very important reason to confuse rival island countries in the Pacific.

According to various intelligence, the island country is already planning to build more warships, the main force of which are battleships.

As the island country's biggest competitor, Australasia's achievements in battleships will naturally be transferred to the island country as intelligence.

Naturally, island countries will not agree with Australasia's naval superiority. After all, island countries need maritime security more than Australasia.

This also means that they will definitely follow up the research on super battleships and build at least two, and even more super battleships.

It is very meaningful for Australasia to use two super battleships to confuse the island countries and let the island countries invest a lot of money in the research of super battleships.

How did the famous battleship Yamato of the island nation sink? After continuous bombing by U.S. Navy aircraft and torpedo hits from submarines, it finally had to sink in the ocean.

This actually represents a truth. When aircraft carriers develop to a certain extent, they will be fatal to these super large battleships.

The attack range of a battleship depends on the guns the battleship is equipped with, but the attack range of an aircraft carrier depends on the aircraft on the aircraft carrier.

The attack distances of artillery and aircraft are not at the same level at all, which also means that with similar technologies, super battleships are no match for large aircraft carriers.

Unless the super battleship can get close to the aircraft carrier, it can win the naval battle with the aircraft carrier.

But the problem is that an aircraft carrier will also be equipped with other small fleets to help the aircraft carrier conduct reconnaissance.

Moreover, the reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carrier are not vegetarian, and it is impossible not to see enemy warships within ten kilometers.

This also means that in most cases, it is impossible for these very large and conspicuous super battleships to get close to the aircraft carrier.

Talking back to the design of Australasia's last level battleship, it is definitely the best in the world today.

According to the data on the drawing, the battleship is 252 meters long, 37 meters wide, with a standard draft of 5 meters and a fully loaded draft of 11 meters.

In terms of power, this huge battleship is equipped with 12 Diesel-made high-pressure heavy oil boilers and three Fox steam turbines as auxiliary power, which can ensure the speed of this huge and heavy battleship in the ocean.

According to the calculations of dynamics experts, with such excellent power, even if the battleship is relatively large in size and weight, it can ensure that the battleship has a speed of at least 30 knots.

The speed of 30 knots is very exaggerated, which is one of the reasons why Arthur praised the design of this battleship.

To be honest, if the experience of later generations hadn't made Arthur understand that aircraft carriers were the future of naval development, Arthur might have spent a lot of money to build such a battleship.

There is no other reason than that the design of this battleship is so excellent that it can even be called one of the most powerful battleships currently.

No ruler of a country can resist the temptation of such a battleship, and I believe that neither can the people of the island nation.

Thinking of this, Arthur was very curious about how the super battleships built by the islanders at a great cost would react when they encountered the Australasian aircraft carrier group.

You know, with the development of pigeon missiles, Australasia has begun to deploy missiles on various warships.

This can not only effectively increase the attack range of various types of warships, but also deal a heavy blow to such large battleships.

Because they knew it was the last battleship to be designed, the three Royal Navy shipyards put out almost their best efforts to design it. This might be the last battleship in Australasia.

In terms of protection capabilities, the entire battleship is equipped with heavy armor to ensure that it will not sink easily due to enemy fire.

The thickness of the side armor remained between 145 mm and 320 mm, while the thickness of the deck armor ranged from 50 to 120 mm.

Compared with previous battleship designs, this kind of armor protection capability has improved by more than one and a half points.

This is one of the reasons why the standard displacement of this battleship has reached a terrifying 40,000 tons.

In terms of firepower, this battleship is equipped with four twin 16-inch 52-caliber main guns (406mm) to ensure that the battleship has high lethality. This is also the main weapon of this battleship.

In terms of secondary guns, the Royal Dockyard used six 7-inch 55-caliber guns (178mm). The effective hit rate of this gun was the main reason why it became the choice of secondary guns.

Because all countries have sufficient aircraft reserves, in order to deal with possible enemy aircraft bombing, Arthur specifically asked the Royal Dockyard to strengthen the battleship's air defense capabilities as much as possible when designing this battleship.

It was precisely because of Arthur's request that this battleship was equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons.

The most important anti-aircraft weapons are 4 twin 4-inch 65-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the left and right, totaling 8, which can effectively attack enemy aircraft.

The secondary air defense weapons are eight 22mm fully automatic anti-aircraft guns, which mainly pursue fire coverage and strike.

There are also 2 anti-aircraft machine guns at the front and rear, and 6 anti-aircraft machine guns at the left and right. In short, the firepower is very powerful.

It is worth mentioning that in the middle of the battleship, there is actually a runway specially used for aircraft to take off.

Yes, this battleship also has a role similar to that of an aircraft carrier, that is, it is a take-off platform for aircraft at sea.

Although it is not large and can only carry four special single-person reconnaissance aircraft, it can also effectively increase the battleship's reconnaissance range and ensure that it will not be attacked by enemy aircraft carriers without knowing it.

These various designs are complete battleship data. Overall, Arthur is quite satisfied with the design of such a battleship.

At least this kind of battleship design is already trying its best to prevent enemy aircraft bombing, so that it will not be easily bombed and sunk by a group of enemy aircraft like the Yamato battleship in history.

But it has to be admitted that it is difficult for large battleships to gain an advantage over aircraft carriers.

Even if a large battleship is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, it will never be a match for an aircraft carrier.

The differences in design concepts between the two parties have determined the completely different development potential and background of these two warships.

Dreadnoughts have been powerful for a long time, and starting almost from now on, aircraft carriers will gradually become the most powerful warships and rule the oceans for much longer.

Because aircraft technology is constantly improving, the role of aircraft carriers is also constantly improving.

At least in the next hundred years, the role of aircraft carriers will become increasingly high, and countries will compete to develop and build aircraft carriers.

This is indeed the case in later generations. Having some small-scale warships is not considered a naval power. Only by having a complete aircraft carrier battle group can it be considered a relatively powerful naval power.

But the problem comes again. The cost of building an aircraft carrier itself is relatively expensive, not to mention the battle group specially formed for the aircraft carrier in order to improve the role of the aircraft carrier.

The maintenance cost of even one aircraft carrier battle group is enough to put a medium-sized country in financial crisis.

Countries that can afford to support an aircraft carrier battle group are, without exception, economically prosperous countries.

In later generations, a country's potential and economic growth expectations are closely related to population.

Even now, population is one of the criteria for measuring the strength of a country. It is undeniable that the greater the population of a country, the greater its development potential.

The most important factor that makes a country become stronger is the continuous progress of science and technology. If we want to promote the continuous progress of science and technology, we must have a large number of talents invested in the scientific research industry and in various research and development.

The larger the population, the greater the possibility of producing talents. Moreover, the greater the population, the greater the wealth created.

Although it will also consume a lot of resources, for Australasia, which is very rich in mineral resources, these small shortcomings are completely acceptable.

This also made Arthur more determined. Whether it is war or peace, whether it is the 20th century or the 21st century, the first criterion for Australasia is to develop its population as much as possible.

Judging from the current land area of ​​Australasia, even if the population expands to 10 times the current size, it will not be too big a burden for the country.

Before the population reaches 300 million, any surge in Australasia's population will be a good thing for Australasia.

In order to continue to increase the population, Arthur also decided to urge the government to enact new policies to encourage childbirth, so as to encourage more Australasians to get married and have children, and to contribute to the growth of the local population.

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