Chapter 206 Monarch Class Battleship
If it is said that Russia’s slow move in the construction of dreadnoughts is due to two major shortcomings: insufficient research and development capabilities and insufficient funds, then France, one of the established powers, is slow to move in the construction of dreadnoughts. It is a bit unjustifiable. .
In fact, the French are not moving slowly in terms of dreadnoughts, it is just because the navy's funds have been spent on the construction of pre-dreadnought Denton-class battleships. Not only does the navy have no budget, but the French shipyards do not have enough construction capacity. Work has begun on a new dreadnought.
It is precisely because of this in history that although the Denton-class battleships have lagged behind the times after the birth of the Dreadnought battleship, the French were still very persistent and waited until all the Denton-class battleships were completed and delivered in 1911 before they began to build Dreadnoughts. construction plan.
Putting aside whether this is stupid or not, when France started the construction of dreadnoughts, other countries had already entered the era of super-dreadnoughts.
France's first type of dreadnought, the Gubar-class battleship, is also honored to be a backward battleship in the era of dreadnoughts.
When the dreadnoughts were born, they were busy building pre-dreadnoughts, and when the super-dreadnoughts were born, they were busy building dreadnoughts. As a result, the French were completely behind the times in the great naval revolution, and the taillights of Britain and Germany were never seen again.
Apart from Britain, the country that ushered in the era of dreadnoughts, the country that paid the most attention to and invested the most in dreadnoughts was the second great power, the German Empire.
After the birth of the Dreadnought battleship, it broke the delicate balance of the previous shipbuilding competition between British and German warships, and also intensified a new round of warship dumpling competition between Britain and Germany.
Germany's response to the Dreadnought battleship was the new Dreadnought, the Nassau-class battleship, which was modified from the old 1901 model battleship.
The Nassau-class battleships have strengthened the armor protection of the old battleships, and also used the full-heavy artillery concept of the Dreadnought battleship, equipped with 12 280 mm caliber main guns.
However, the gun caliber of the Nassau-class battleship is much smaller than that of the Dreadnought battleship. Although the rate of fire is faster, the firepower is still weakened.
This is nothing. The biggest difference between the Nassau-class battleships and the Dreadnought-class battleships is actually the different power equipment and systems adopted by the two battleships.
The Dreadnought-class battleship uses four steam turbine propulsion units, coupled with a large number of steam boilers, which greatly increases the speed.
But the Germans did not believe in this technology. The Nassau-class battleships still used old three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines and only used coal-fired boilers.
This reciprocating steam engine causes the Nassau-class battleship to travel at its highest speed. The reciprocating motion of the mechanism will cause violent vibrations in the hull, thus affecting the aiming and shooting of the artillery.
Not to mention the impact on artillery shooting, such an old power system causes the Nassau-class battleship's top speed to be only 19 knots, which is obviously behind the Dreadnought battleship.
Based on the original history, the Nassau-class battleship quickly fell behind after its birth and became a meteor in the history of German battleships.
Because of its good relations with the British Empire, Germany and Russia, Australasia also obtained the design sketches and information of the Dreadnought battleship, and William II also generously handed over the drawings of the Nassau-class battleship to Arthur.
Of course, William II did not do this without purpose. He knew Arthur's ambitions, and naturally knew that after Arthur obtained this blueprint, he was bound to let Australasia master the construction technology of dreadnoughts, and even let Australasia have its own dreadnoughts.
At this relatively sensitive time, what does having a dreadnought mean? It means that Australasia can quickly become a naval power, changing the power structure of Oceania and even South Asia, the Far East, the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Pacific.
After Australasia has its own dreadnought, will it scare the British Empire, which has always been very cautious in its navy?
Although Arthur had a good relationship with British commoners, wasn't William II like that before?
There is no permanent fixed relationship between countries, and the relationship will only change according to the interests between countries.
If Australasia poses a certain threat to the British Empire in a region that the British Empire pays more attention to, then Australasia will also become an imaginary enemy of the British Empire.
Judging from the British's urine, it is very possible to send at least one dreadnought to the Indian Ocean region.
At least they must maintain their naval balance in the Indian Ocean region, and even gain a certain advantage, in order to reassure the British.
Doesn't sending one more dreadnought to the Indian Ocean mean one less dreadnought to the European mainland?
For the German Empire, the fewer dreadnoughts Britain deploys in Europe, the fewer enemies it may face in the future.
This is why William II generously handed over the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship to Arthur.
Compared with such a battleship that had obvious shortcomings from the beginning of its design, diverting the disaster to the east was a better reward for the German Empire.
When Arthur got this design drawing of the Nassau-class battleship, he had already thought of all the plans and plans of William II.
However, this is not a hot potato for Australasia, but a hope for naval development.
Perhaps William II also knew the importance of this information to Australasia. It was absolutely impossible for Arthur to give up the drawings of the Nassau-class battleship.
However, although the Nassau-class battleship can be called a dreadnought, it still uses an old-fashioned design in many aspects and is destined to be quickly eliminated.
Arthur is not that stupid. Because he is familiar with history, he will not be as cautious as the Germans.
After obtaining the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship, Arthur convened all the shipbuilding experts that Australasia could muster to conduct a meeting about Australasia's future shipbuilding plans. Arthur has only one purpose, and that is to gather the capabilities of these experts, combine all the advantages of the Nassau-class battleships and the Dreadnought battleships, and design a real dreadnought without obvious flaws.
The Nassau-class battleship has two obvious flaws. First, the caliber of the main gun it carries is too small, and its firepower is at a disadvantage compared to the Dreadnought battleship.
The second is that the old power system is still used, which will cause the warship to vibrate when sailing at maximum speed. At the same time, the sailing speed still lags behind the Dreadnought battleship.
In these two aspects, Australasia's dreadnoughts must improve the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleships as much as possible. Not only must their firepower be enhanced as much as possible, but their power systems must also use brand-new steam turbines.
In fact, the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleship are basically these two aspects, but these two aspects determine the most important firepower and speed of the battleship.
After having specific goals in mind, shipbuilding experts began intense discussions to discuss various possibilities for warship design.
For Australasia, the design of the dreadnought is actually very easy. After a long period of intelligence exploration of the Dreadnought by the major powers, the detailed data of the Dreadnought battleship has basically been known to all major countries, and Australasia is naturally among them.
Coupled with Germany's Nassau-class battleship design drawings, Australia currently has two dreadnought design plans, and it also has reference for improvements.
It is nothing more than using the Nassau-class battleship as the main body. Taking into account some of the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleship, the design of the Dreadnought battleship is adopted, making the original Nassau-class battleship a truly flawless dreadnought, comparable to or even slightly surpassing the Dreadnought battleship. .
This warship design did not shy away from German experts. On the contrary, German experts were also one of the main forces for improvement.
After all, the dreadnought will soon be followed by the super-dreadnought, which is the main force of scientific research in Australasia.
Prior to this, it is also good news that German experts participated in the research and development of Australasia's dreadnoughts. The unique rigorous attitude of the Germans is well reflected in this kind of machinery.
Even the Nassau-class battleship, which would cause bumps and tremors when traveling at maximum speed, could sail smoothly for more than ten years without any problems, which is enough to show Germany's rigorous attitude towards machinery manufacturing.
These German experts are very excited that they can participate in Australia's dreadnought research.
After the birth of the dreadnought, their attitude was originally very positive. But after contacting the country, Germany's attitude was still to let them stay in Australasia and continue to help Australasia's navy develop.
They originally thought that in a short time, they would have no contact with the design and construction of the dreadnought.
Unexpectedly, Australasia has also launched the design of a dreadnought, and the goal is to refer to the British and German dreadnought data to improve a warship with more comprehensive performance.
Of course, there is another reason why these German experts can teach everything they have, and that is the information about Germany's Nassau-class battleships that Australasia possesses.
Australasia's ability to grasp Germany's dreadnought information for the first time is enough to prove the good relationship between Germany and Australasia, as well as Germany's support for Australasia's mastery of dreadnoughts.
In addition, in the past few years, Australasia has attracted and trained a group of shipbuilding experts through various methods.
Although it still cannot catch up with the shipbuilding capabilities of the European powers, it can barely reach or above the second-rate European countries.
With the joint efforts of these Australasian experts and German experts, the design drawings of Australia's first dreadnought ship were successfully released.
Although this design drawing has not been verified much, it is designed and improved based on the main body of the Dreadnought battleship and Nassau class battleship.
As long as there are no major problems with the designs of the Dreadnought battleship and Nassau-class battleships, then there should not be any major problems with the design drawings of this battleship.
Of course, the combat capabilities must be verified and tested before a conclusion can be drawn.
No matter how confident the British were in the Dreadnaught battleship, it took more than a year of sea voyages and testing before it was officially put into preparation.
The battleship designed by Australasia was officially named the Sovereign-class battleship by Arthur.
Because the main body is based on the improvement of the Nassau-class battleship, the appearance of the Sovereign-class battleship is basically not much different from the Nassau-class battleship.
However, because Germany and Australasia currently do not have 45-caliber 305mm artillery technology, the artillery of the Sovereign-class battleships is expected to be the same as the Nassau-class battleships for the time being, equipped with 12 280mm-caliber main guns.
But this is only temporary. Once Germany or Australasia obtains more advanced 305mm artillery technology, it will be applied to the Monarch-class battleships.
In order to cope with the possible replacement of the main artillery in the future, Arthur also specifically asked to leave enough room for improvement in the main gun structure of the Sovereign-class battleship to facilitate the possible replacement of the main gun of the Sovereign-class battleship in the future.
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