Chapter 206 Monarch-Class Battleship

If Russia's slow progress in building dreadnoughts is due to the two major defects of insufficient research and development capabilities and insufficient funds, then France, as one of the old powers, is slow in building dreadnoughts.

In fact, the French are not slow in building dreadnoughts, but because the navy's funds have been spent on the construction of the pre-dreadnought battleship Danton-class battleship. Not only does the navy have little budget, but the French shipyards do not have enough construction capacity to start building new dreadnoughts.

It is precisely because of this in history that although the Danton-class battleships were already behind the times after the birth of the dreadnought battleship, the French were still very persistent and waited until the Danton-class battleships were completed and delivered in 1911 before starting the dreadnought construction plan.

Regardless of whether this is stupid or not, when France started building dreadnoughts, other countries had already entered the era of super-dreadnoughts.

France's first dreadnought, the Courbet-class battleship, was also honored to become a battleship that fell behind in the dreadnought era.

When the dreadnought was born, the French were busy building pre-dreadnoughts, and when the super-dreadnought was born, the French were busy building dreadnoughts. As a result, the French completely fell behind the times in the great naval transformation, and the taillights of Britain and Germany were no longer seen.

In addition to Britain, the country that opened the dreadnought era, 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, the delicate balance of the previous shipbuilding competition between British and German warships was broken, and a new round of warship dumpling competition between Britain and Germany was intensified.

Germany's response to the dreadnought battleship was the new dreadnought, the Nassau-class battleship, which was transformed from the old 1901 battleship.

The Nassau-class battleship strengthened the armor protection of the old battleship, and also used the full heavy artillery concept of the dreadnought battleship, carrying 12 280mm caliber main guns.

But the caliber of the guns of the Nassau-class battleships is much smaller than that of the Dreadnought battleships. Although the firing rate is faster, the firepower is still weakened.

This is not a big deal. 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 battleships use four steam turbine propulsion units, plus a large number of steam boilers, which greatly improves the speed.

But the Germans do not believe in this technology. The Nassau-class battleships still use the old three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine and only use coal-fired boilers.

This reciprocating steam engine will cause the reciprocating motion of the mechanism of the Nassau-class battleships to cause violent vibrations when traveling at the highest speed, thereby affecting the aiming and shooting of the guns.

Not to mention the impact on the gun shooting, such an old power system causes the maximum speed of the Nassau-class battleships to be only 19 knots, which is obviously behind the Dreadnought battleships.

In the original history, the Nassau-class battleship soon fell behind after its birth and became a meteor in the history of German battleships.

Because of the 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 this for a purpose. He knew Arthur's ambitions, and naturally knew that after Arthur obtained the drawings, he would definitely let Australasia master the construction technology of the dreadnought, and even let Australasia have its own dreadnought.

At this sensitive time, what does it mean to have a dreadnought? It means that Australasia can quickly become a naval power and change 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 make the British Empire, which has always been very cautious in the navy, wary?

Although Arthur and the British civilians have a good relationship, wasn't it the same before William II?

There is no permanent fixed relationship between countries, and the relationship will only change with the interests between countries.

If Australasia poses a certain threat to the British Empire in the areas that the British Empire attaches more importance to, then Australasia will also become an imaginary enemy of the British Empire.

According to the British nature, it is very likely to send at least one dreadnought to the Indian Ocean region.

At least it is necessary to maintain its naval balance in the Indian Ocean region, or even gain a certain advantage, in order to reassure those British guys.

Sending one more dreadnought in the Indian Ocean region means one less dreadnought in the European mainland, doesn't it?

For the German Empire, the fewer dreadnoughts Britain deploys in the European mainland, 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 with obvious shortcomings at the beginning of its design, diverting the trouble to the east is a better reward for the German Empire.

When Arthur got the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship, he had already thought of all of William II's plans and intentions.

However, this was not a hot potato for Australasia, but rather a hope for the development of the navy.

Perhaps William II also knew the importance of this information to Australasia, and Arthur would never give up the drawings of the Nassau-class battleship.

However, although the Nassau-class battleship can be called a dreadnought, it still uses old-fashioned designs 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 getting the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship, Arthur convened all the shipbuilding experts that Australasia could summon and held a meeting on Australasia's future shipbuilding plan.

Arthur has only one goal, which is to gather the abilities of these experts, combine all the advantages of the Nassau-class battleship and the Dreadnought battleship, and design a real dreadnought without obvious defects.

There are two obvious defects of the Nassau-class battleship. One is that the caliber of the main gun carried is too small, and the firepower is at a disadvantage compared to the Dreadnought battleship.

The second is that it still uses the old power system, which will cause the warship to vibrate when sailing at maximum speed, and the sailing speed is still behind the Dreadnought battleship.

In these two aspects, Australasia's dreadnoughts should improve the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleships as much as possible. Not only should the firepower be strengthened as much as possible, but the power system should also adopt a brand-new steam turbine.

In fact, the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleships are almost these two aspects, but these two aspects determine the most important firepower and speed of the battleships.

With a specific goal, shipbuilding experts began to discuss fiercely and discuss various possibilities of warship design.

For Australasia, the design of the dreadnought is actually very easy. After a long period of intelligence exploration by major powers on the dreadnought, the detailed data of the dreadnought battleship has basically been known to major countries, and Australasia is naturally among them.

In addition to the design drawings of the German Nassau-class battleships, Australia currently has two dreadnought design plans, which can also be used as a reference for improvement.

It is nothing more than taking the Nassau-class battleship as the main body, and adopting the design of the dreadnought battleship to solve some of the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleship, so that the original Nassau-class battleship becomes a truly flawless dreadnought, comparable to or even slightly superior to the dreadnought battleship.

The design of this warship did not avoid German experts, but German experts were also one of the main forces of improvement.

After all, the super dreadnought will soon be born after the dreadnought, which is the main force of scientific research in Australasia.

Before this, it was also good news that German experts participated in the research and development of the dreadnought in Australasia. The unique rigorous attitude of the Germans was well reflected in this kind of machinery.

Even if the Nassau-class battleship, which would cause bumps and vibrations when traveling at the maximum speed, could sail steadily for more than ten years without any problems, which was enough to show Germany's rigorous attitude towards mechanical manufacturing.

These German experts were still very excited that they could participate in the research of dreadnoughts in Australia.

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 the development of the Australasia navy.

They originally thought that they would have no contact with the design and construction of dreadnoughts in the short term.

Unexpectedly, Australasia also started the design of dreadnoughts, and the goal was to refer to the dreadnought data of Britain and Germany to improve a warship with more comprehensive performance.

Of course, there was another reason why these German experts could teach them everything, that is, the data of Germany's Nassau-class battleships mastered by Australasia.

Australasia was able to master the German dreadnought data at the first time, which was enough to prove the good relationship between Germany and Australasia, and 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 means.

Although it is still not as good as the shipbuilding capabilities of European powers, it can barely reach the level of second-rate European countries.

With the joint efforts of these Australasia experts and German experts, the design drawings of Australia's first dreadnought were also successfully produced.

Although this design drawing has not been verified too much, it is designed and improved based on the main body of the Dreadnought and Nassau-class battleships.

As long as there are no major problems with the design of the Dreadnought and Nassau-class battleships, there should be no major problems with the design drawings of this battleship.

Of course, the combat capability must be verified and tested in practice before a conclusion can be drawn.

Even if the British are confident in the Dreadnought battleship, it took more than a year of naval navigation and testing before it was officially put into service.

The battleship designed by Australasia was officially named the Monarch-class battleship by Arthur.

Because the main body is improved based on the Nassau-class battleship, the appearance of the Monarch-class battleship is basically not much different from that of the Nassau-class battleship.

However, because Germany and Australasia do not have the 45-caliber 305mm artillery technology, the artillery of the Monarch-class battleship is expected to be the same as the Nassau-class battleship 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 used on the Monarch-class battleships.

In order to cope with the possible replacement of the main guns in the future, Arthur also specifically instructed that sufficient room for improvement should be left for the main gun structure of the Monarch-class battleships to facilitate the possible replacement of the main guns of the Monarch-class battleships in the future.

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