Rise of Australia

Chapter 205 The Epoch-making Intrepid

As Arthur had predicted, the establishment of the Kingdom of Australasia did not arouse any opposition in Europe.

Even with the strong support of the two current monarchies, including the German Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire, the vast majority of monarchies in Europe congratulated the newly established Kingdom of Australasia.

Britain's attitude is more complicated. The British people expressed their congratulations and best wishes for the establishment of Australasia, while the government has some opinions. After all, after the establishment of the Kingdom of Australasia, it will replace the British Empire and become the legal country in Oceania.

But in the end, Edward VII expressed his opinion, and the British government also congratulated the establishment of the Kingdom of Australasia.

Of course, although we have sent ambassadors to each other with major important countries, it is obvious that the establishment of Australasia is not currently mainstream news in Europe.

There is no other reason. During this period of time, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard of the British Empire built a battleship capable of changing the world's battleship system in just four months, making the whole of Europe and even the world into a sensation.

Although the United Kingdom did a good job of keeping secrets during the construction of the Dreadnought battleship, since the cruise test began, it was eventually discovered by spies from other countries.

With the efforts of spies from other countries, especially German spies, the real data of the battleship Dreadnought is also known to major European countries.

"This is an epoch-making great warship!"

This is what the rulers and naval experts of all countries felt when they saw the design of this warship.

Because of the widespread use of new technologies in all aspects, the battleship Dreadnought subverted the design concept of previous battleships and achieved a comprehensive crushing of existing battleships.

What does that mean?The previous battleships had their own advantages in terms of firepower, protection, and speed. They were either extremely powerful in firepower, or very solid in armor protection, or achieved some achievements in speed.

These battleships have their own advantages, and they can also play their own roles in naval battles.

But the Dreadnought is different.The Intrepid battleship adopts a main gun with uniform ballistic performance, which not only greatly improves the firepower of the battleship, but also allows the commander to more conveniently command all the main guns to aim at the same target, and the efficiency of the concentrated output of fire power is also greatly improved. Correspondingly, the hit rate of the main gun can also be improved.

In addition, the battleship Dreadnought used ten 305mm main guns, 27 5.4kg guns, and five 457mm torpedo tubes underwater, which greatly increased the firepower of the battleship Dreadnought, allowing the battleship Dreadnought to face It has an absolute advantage against the old battleships of the past.

At the same time, the total armor weight of the battleship Intrepid is about [-] tons, which is improved compared to the previous battleships.

More armor also means more comprehensive protection. The armor thickness of key parts such as turret, engine room, ammunition depot and conning tower even reaches more than 280 mm, and the armor completely wraps the hull.

More importantly, on the basis of increased firepower and armor, the battleship Dreadnought has also greatly improved the speed of the battleship.

The design requirement of the battleship Intrepid is that the maximum speed can reach more than 21 knots and be able to maintain it for a long time.

But you must know that the fastest battleship before the dreadnought can reach a maximum speed of only about 19 knots, and it can only last for a period of time.

Such a speed is undoubtedly epoch-making, but British shipyards and experts used new steam turbines and steam boilers to solve the problem of power requirements.

The battleship Dreadnought installed a total of 18 drum coal-fired steam boilers, and there are also four Parsons steam turbines to provide power.

Its power is as high as 22500 horsepower, and it even reached 24700 horsepower during the first sea trial.The theoretical design speed is up to 21 knots, but during sea trials, the highest speed has reached 22.4 knots.

To sum up, the battleship Dreadnought can completely crush all the old battleships before it in terms of fire armor protection and speed.

The previous situation where you can't fight but can run, and you can't run but can fight will not happen. Battleships from other countries are not only unable to fight against the British Empire's Dreadnought, but also unable to run.

This also means that the current world naval structure will usher in a major reshuffle. All the old-fashioned battleships before will be like paper tigers in front of the dreadnoughts.

If the number of battleships in the past represented the strength of the navy, then the number of new dreadnoughts now represents the new naval strength.

It is the British Empire that leads warships into a new era, but it is also the British Empire that is the most troublesome at the moment.

There is no other reason.After the birth of the dreadnought, all the old battleships were reduced to scrap iron.Although Britain will gain some advantages in the construction of dreadnoughts, this also means that most of the warships of the Royal Fleet will become products of backward times.

Like the British Empire and France, which had the most old-fashioned warships before, they have become the influencers of this great naval change.

But this is also a good opportunity for some emerging countries, such as the German Empire, which has always wanted to catch up with Britain in terms of navy.

According to the previous battleship system, it is basically impossible for the German Navy to catch up with the British Navy.

Although the size of the German navy is getting bigger and bigger, the size of the British Royal Fleet is expanding faster, and there is still a huge gap between Germany and Britain.

But after the birth of dreadnoughts, the strength of the navy is determined by the number of dreadnoughts.

It is a great opportunity for the rising stars of the world pattern, including the German Empire, the United States and even Australasia.

Of course, some people see hope, and some people are disappointed, even a little desperate.

Some people have the opportunity to catch up, while others naturally have the risk of falling behind.

It was difficult enough to maintain the current size of the navy, but after the birth of the dreadnoughts, the existing battleships were basically all outdated, and they would not be the opponents of the countries with dreadnoughts at all.

Of course, this is not the only country that suffers from this.If you have to say the most uncomfortable country, then it may be the island country that has just shared the hegemony of the Far East with Russia.

The island nation gained part of the rights to the Far East in the last Russo-Japanese War and truly occupied the Korean peninsula.

But such benefits are not enough to make up for the loss of the island country in the war, especially when a large number of warships are lost.

The original naval strength can only be barely maintained at the level of the last powers. If there is no follow-up construction of dreadnoughts, it will gradually widen the gap with other powers, and the island nation's dream of expansion will still be blocked.

In general, the birth of dreadnoughts has accelerated the situation of European naval competition, and it has also caused almost all major powers to invest in the research and development of dreadnoughts.

Because of the lack of any experience, major countries, including Germany, have aligned the development template of the dreadnought ship with the battleship Dreadnought.

In fact, this fell into the trap of the United Kingdom. When various countries came up with their own dreadnought designs, the British Empire once again came up with super dreadnoughts, and once again formed a certain leading edge in the three major designs of warships.

Almost on the day of receiving the information, Wilhelm II ordered the major German shipyards and the navy to produce the German dreadnought design drawings as soon as possible and start construction work.

This scene also appeared in almost all countries of the great powers, and the warship designers of the major powers became busy because of this.

It is worth mentioning that because the aid from Germany did not take into account the reasons for the birth of the dreadnought, these German shipbuilding experts are still working for Australasia, and they will also become the leaders in Australasia's research on dreadnoughts people.

Soon, with the efforts of the major powers, the designs of dreadnoughts in various countries were also released soon.

It is worth mentioning that the South Carolina-class battleship of the United States is one of the first battleships in the world to adopt all-heavy artillery, and its design time is about the same as that of the British Dreadnought.

However, due to the shelving of the budget, the construction of the South Carolina-class battleship was one step later than that of the British battleship Dreadnought. The official service of the USS battleship was more than two years late.

As the dreadnought design shocked the world this time, the Americans also strengthened the design and construction of the South Carolina-class battleship, and the U.S. Navy is also urging Congress to quickly allocate funds.

At the same time, there are many great powers that have taken action, such as the Dante Aligri of Italy, the Hanoi-class battleship of the island country, and the Nassau-class battleship of Germany.

Among them, apart from the British Empire, the United States, and the German Empire, which have made up their minds in the navy, Italy and the island countries that currently have dreadnought construction plans do not currently invest a lot.

There is only one Italian battleship Dante Allegri, and the design is only a sign, and the actual construction will not start until a year later.

The island nation's Hanoi-class battleships are also similar. Although the design has already been made, the island nation's financial situation does not allow it to start construction immediately. At least it will have to wait until a year later, and there will be no more than two ships at most.

Of course, the countries at the end of these two great powers are actually pretty good. At least the country already has a construction plan for dreadnoughts, but it just needs to wait longer.

Compared with the island countries and Italy, there are two more famous countries that currently do not have any dreadnought construction plans. These two countries are the former European continental hegemon France and the European bulldozer Tsarist Russian Empire.

It is not that the Tsarist Empire does not have a plan for the construction of dreadnought ships, but that the R&D and design capabilities of the Tsarist Empire are not strong, and there is still no relatively perfect battleship design plan.

The first dreadnought ship of the Tsarist Russian Empire in history was built after the birth of the Dante Aligri in Italy, under the guidance of the British shipyard, and it was built with reference to the Dante Aligri.

The first dreadnought ship of the Tsarist Russian Empire was the Gangut-class battleship, which had two important birth factors.

One is the completion of the construction of the Dante Allegri in Italy, and the other is that after the easing of relations between Britain and Russia, Russia built it under the guidance of a British shipyard.

At present, the Italian battleship Dante Allegri is only a design sketch, and the relationship between Britain and Russia has not eased. Whether the Russian Gangut-class battleship can be successfully born is a problem.

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(End of this chapter)