Rise of Australia

Chapter 244 Petropavlovsk

Time came to the end of November 1907 in a blink of an eye, and it was also the day when the first of the two Russian dreadnoughts, the battleship Petropavlovsk, was officially completed.

The Russians had high hopes for these two dreadnoughts and paid a considerable price.

The investment of 500 million pounds in exchange for two powerful dreadnoughts and some small warships can be regarded as the last investment of the Russians in the navy.

For at least five years, I am afraid that the Russians will no longer invest in the navy. After all, the Russians really have no money.

But the good news is that these two dreadnoughts have also greatly improved Russia's naval strength.

No matter which squadron these two dreadnoughts serve in, they can have greater influence on the area where they are located.

The current island country does not have any plans for the construction of dreadnought ships. If Russia equips two dreadnought ships in the Far East in advance, will the island country be Russia's opponent?

The answer is naturally no.Although the dreadnought has not really participated in the battle yet, the data of the dreadnought has been well known by countries all over the world.

All countries in the world have a relatively unified and standard answer, that is, a real dreadnought ship is completely worth two to three old-fashioned battleships.

Of course, this is only from the perspective of strength on paper.If you really participate in a naval battle, the outcome of the battle will change rapidly, but it is a fact that everyone knows that the dreadnought has a great advantage.

The Russians attached great importance to the completion of the Petropavlovsk, and also sent General Makarov, the commander of the Pacific Squadron, to personally participate in the launching ceremony of the battleship Petropavlovsk.

Of course, there are also naval officers and soldiers from the Russian Pacific Squadron who will join the sea test session of the battleship Petropavlovsk after the launching ceremony.

Firstly, they can experience the power of this dreadnought more realistically, and secondly, they can master the driving of the Petropavlovsk faster and form combat effectiveness faster.

Russia is currently an important ally of Australasia and one of the countries with the best relations in Australasia.

Therefore, the arrival of General Makarov also attracted Arthur's attention, and he sent Minister of Defense Kent to accompany him to participate in the launching ceremony of the battleship Petropavlovsk.

The launching ceremony was actually very simple. After the Petropavlovsk was transported from the shipyard to the offshore port and successfully launched, there were bursts of salutes and cheers above the port.

Although this is a warship belonging to the Russians, it was also independently manufactured by the Australasians themselves, so it also attracted some Australasians to watch.

After all, according to the government's construction plan, the Australasian Navy will also be equipped with such warships in a few years. This is the real reason why Australasians are curious about the Sovereign-class battleship.

The battleship Petropavlovsk is currently equipped with a 283mm main gun. After all, Australasia has not yet mastered a 45mm main gun with a caliber of 305 times.

But this situation will soon change. According to German sources, by mid-1908 at the latest, Germany will fully master the technology of the 305mm main gun and is willing to share it with Australasia.

This also means that all battleships built in Australasia since mid-1908 can be equipped with larger caliber main guns, which has greatly improved their firepower.

Of course, Arthur will never forget the battleship Petropavlovsk, and he also made a special promise that after Australasia has mastered the 305mm main gun technology, he can replace the battleship Petropavlovsk for free. main gun.

Before seeing the battleship Petropavlovsk with his own eyes, General Makarov had doubts about the shipbuilding capabilities of the Australasians.

After all, Australasia was still a colony of the British Empire seven years ago, and the six colonies of Australia at that time added up to General Makarov.

Only seven years have passed, and General Makarov does not believe that Australasia can master the technology of building the most advanced battleships.

But the facts quickly slapped General Makarov in the face. When General Makarov saw the completed battleship Petropavlovsk with his own eyes, General Makarov couldn't help but was moved to tears.

This is Russia's largest investment in the navy in recent times, and it is currently the most powerful battleship in the world that Russia can master.

"Such a big guy, this is really wonderful!" General Makarov hasn't moved his eyes since he saw the battleship Petropavlovsk.

In fact, this is indeed the case. For people who love the navy and warships like General Makarov, there is nothing more exciting than watching a powerful warship belonging to their own country.

"General Makarov, why don't we go and have a look on the ship?" Seeing that General Makarov really liked this battleship, Minister Kent suggested with a smile.

"It's nature, it's nature. Come on, Minister Kent, and see how beautiful this big guy really is. Australasia is really an incredible country, and I'm sorry for some of my doubts before." Ma General Karlov nodded impatiently and said bluntly.

"This is normal, General Makarov. After all, he is a big guy worth millions of pounds, so there is nothing wrong with being cautious." Minister Kent said with a smile.

After all, Australasia only exported a Brunswick-class battleship to the island country before this.

As for the most powerful dreadnoughts, only the UK, Germany, and Australia are currently capable of building them.

Needless to say, Britain and Germany, as the two most powerful countries in the world at present, their abilities will naturally not be doubted.

The development time in Australasia is only more than seven years, and it is normal to suddenly claim that it can keep up with the level of the great powers in terms of dreadnoughts.

With a smile, he accompanied General Makarov aboard the battleship Petropavlovsk. Minister Kent personally introduced all the equipment on the warship to General Makarov.

The most attractive is naturally the 283mm main gun on the Petropavlovsk.Although it is temporarily inferior to the British battleship Dreadnought in terms of artillery caliber, this design is indeed the most advanced at present.

General Makarov nodded in satisfaction while looking at the neatly installed 283mm main gun on the warship.

Even the 283mm main gun has more firepower than most Russian battleships.

Not to mention that the Dreadnought-class battleship also has excellent armor protection capabilities, and uses advanced power from steam turbines and boilers.

"Minister Kent, when will the test of the battleship Petropavlovsk begin?" General Makarov asked impatiently.

For an excellent general who has worked for the navy for most of his life, he can't wait to see the true strength of the new Russian warship.

"You can start now, if you want," Minister Kent said with a smile.

The testing and sea trial of warships is an extremely long process, which is used to test the stability of warships, actual combat capabilities and specific errors from paper data.

Because of the presence of General Makarov, this test is naturally not a boring test like testing stability.

Generally, it takes several months to test the speed and stability of warships, so as to truly test whether there are any problems with the design and equipment of warships.

The tests this time focused on maximum speed and firepower.

Accompanying the Petropavlovsk was a battleship from Russia.

Although this is an old-fashioned battleship, it is currently one of the main warships of the Russian Pacific Fleet.

This time it will travel with the battleship Petropavlovsk to truly feel the difference in speed between the two battleships.

The maximum speed of the Russian old-fashioned battleship is only 18 knots, but the maximum speed of the Petropavlovsk battleship has reached 21 knots. This gap does not seem to be much, but in fact it is extremely huge.

This can be seen from the moment the two warships set sail.The Petropavlovsk was one position ahead of the old Russian battleship from the start. After sailing for more than a minute, it even pulled out of the old battleship by more than 100 meters.

As time passed, the battleship Petropavlovsk was already far ahead, and the distance between the two battleships had even exceeded one kilometer.

You must know that the sailing time of the two battleships did not exceed 10 minutes at this time.This means that in 10 minutes, the battleship Petropavlovsk has completely crushed the old Russian battleship in terms of speed.

After seeing the old-fashioned warship in the distance with the binoculars, General Makarov nodded in satisfaction.

At this time, General Makarov's satisfaction with the battleship Petropavlovsk has reached the highest level, and General Makarov is looking forward to the actual service of the battleship Petropavlovsk.

After continuing to sail for more than half an hour, the Petropavlovsk finally slowed down.

Here, the Petropavlovsk will be tested in terms of firepower, including the accuracy and strike power of the artillery.

Compared with the 283mm main gun, the 305mm gun has obvious advantages and disadvantages. The firing frequency of the 283mm main gun is much higher than that of the 305mm main gun, which is why the Germans were confident before.

But such an advantage is not so friendly to Australian and Russian naval soldiers on the battleship Petropavlovsk.

Because it is the first time to operate a warship of this design, whether it is a Russian naval soldier or an Australasian naval soldier, they are very unfamiliar with this kind of operation method, so they need more time to practice and become proficient.

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(End of this chapter)