Chapter 283 Obtaining Blueprints and Visiting the Ruhr Area

On July 1, 1910, Arthur left the port of London on the battleship Australasia, with the farewell of many British people.

From the expressions of the British people when they bid farewell to Arthur, it can be seen that many British people are very reluctant to part with Arthur, after all, Arthur is also a part of the Victorian era.

On the battleship, from the angle that the British people cannot see, Arthur is actually in a very good mood.

After Arthur's efforts for several days, and after paying hundreds of thousands of pounds, he finally obtained the consent of the British cabinet government. The British government will provide the St. Vincent-class battleship to Australasia permanently as a condition for this aid.

Of course, the conditions provided are the data of the Monarch-class battleships of Australasia, and the purchase price below the market price in the grain and meat trade.

But this is not too bad for Arthur. After all, these can be exchanged for all the data of a battleship with more powerful performance. This is a completely profitable business.

Moreover, under Arthur's repeated requests and efforts, George V agreed to provide Australasia with the technology to build the St. Vincent-class battleships, including the 50-caliber 305mm main gun that Arthur had been thinking about.

Although both are 305mm main guns, the difference between 45-caliber and 50-caliber is a world of difference.

Although these specific technologies have to wait until the British aid arrives, and then slowly be passed on to Australasia by those British experts.

But if nothing unexpected happens, these technologies will be mastered by Australasia within a few years.

In other words, Arthur is confident that within a year, with the help of British experts, he can build the St. Vincent-class battleships by himself.

In two to three years, Australasia will be able to master the ability to independently build the St. Vincent-class battleships, and once again improve Australasia's shipbuilding capabilities by one level.

It has to be said that Arthur's close relationship with the British royal family, coupled with Arthur's good reputation and status in the hearts of the British people, and Queen Victoria's extreme love for Arthur, enabled Arthur to obtain the St. Vincent-class battleship, a powerful battleship that the British Empire is currently vigorously building.

The lack of any of these conditions will greatly reduce the possibility of Australasia obtaining the St. Vincent-class battleship.

This also has to sigh at the truth that it is good to lean on a big tree to enjoy the shade. The battleship Arthur got from Britain may be an advanced warship that other countries cannot build with their national strength.

The hull of the St. Vincent-class battleship is 163.4 meters long, 25.6 meters wide, and has an average draft of 8.5 meters.

It uses two sets of four-shaft Parsons direct-drive steam turbines and 18 mixed-fired water boilers, which have reached an unprecedented power of 24,500 horsepower.

Of course, these are not the most important. The real reason why the St. Vincent-class battleships are so frightening is that they are equipped with five 305mm 50-caliber twin-mounted guns, one in front and two in the back, one in each chord, 16 102mm 50-caliber single-mounted guns, and three 450mm underwater torpedo tubes.

In terms of firepower, the St. Vincent-class battleships are the most powerful of all battleships built in 1910, surpassing the Delaware-class battleships being built by the United States, the Monarch-class battleships and the Helgeland-class battleships being built by Germany.

Whether it is the Delaware-class battleship, the Monarch-class battleship or the Helgeland-class battleship, they are the strongest battleships currently being built by other powers except the British Empire.

The fact that the St. Vincent-class battleships can surpass these three battleships, and its powerful performance and the scientific research capabilities of the British Empire are naturally needless to say.

Of course, why only the three dreadnoughts of the United States, Germany and Australasia are compared is entirely because the progress of the dreadnoughts of other powers is extremely slow, and there is no need for comparison at all.

In addition to Britain, the United States, Germany and Australasia, the only powerful country that currently has dreadnoughts is Russia, which is enough to show how backward other countries are in the research and development of dreadnoughts.

After leaving the British Empire, Arthur did not choose to return directly to Australasia, but turned around and went to Germany.

After all, Germany and Russia have good relations with Australasia. Since they have come to Europe this time, it is naturally necessary to move around more.

Of course, Arthur will not choose to share the drawings and technology of the St. Vincent-class battleship with Germany.

After all, this was obtained from Britain, and the way it was obtained more or less relied on the relationship between the British and the British.

If the British knew that Arthur shared the drawings and technology of the St. Vincent-class battleship with Germany, it would definitely make the British dissatisfied.

Arthur still couldn't do such a thing that would harm himself and benefit others, but it was no problem for him to mention the importance of large-caliber artillery to William II.

As early as when he attended the funeral of Edward VII in London, William II invited Arthur to visit Germany.

Arthur agreed at the time, but the time must be after visiting Britain.

On July 3, Arthur successfully arrived in Germany and had a five-day friendly exchange with William II.

Arthur also visited the famous Krupp factory in Germany, as well as the German shipyards and the army, and gave a very high evaluation.

After various events, the Germans finally began to pay attention to the caliber of naval guns and focused on research and development.

After visiting the Krupp factory, Arthur learned that the Germans had already started research on 50-caliber 305mm main guns and had achieved certain results.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Germans should equip the next level of dreadnoughts with 50-caliber 305mm main guns. Although the progress is a little behind the British, it is still ahead of other powers.

Of course, during these few days, Arthur also visited the Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany. The Ruhr Industrial Zone is one of the largest industrial zones in the world so far and is also the core area of ​​German industry.

So far, the Ruhr Industrial Zone has an annual output of 100 million tons of coal, 1 million tons of coke, 10 million tons of steel, and 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity. It is the heart of German industry.

From the perspective of industrial layout, the design of the Ruhr Industrial Zone is relatively reasonable. Most of the industrial products and mineral products in the industrial zone can basically be processed and consumed on site, avoiding unnecessary outbound shipments.

Although the two world wars had a huge impact on this area, even in the 1970s, the coal production in the Ruhr area was still as high as 120 million tons, accounting for 80% of Germany's total production at the time, and the annual steel production was 20 million tons, accounting for 70% of Germany's total production at the time. It also has nearly 10 billion cubic meters of coke oven gas and nearly 1 million tons of tar.

The development of the Ruhr Industrial Zone relies not only on abundant coal resources, but also on superior water transport conditions.

Coupled with a large number of railways and roads, as well as canals that extend in all directions, the transportation of the Ruhr Industrial Zone is very convenient and complete, laying a prerequisite for the development of the industrial zone.

The construction of the Leonora Industrial Base in Australasia was partially borrowed from the Ruhr Industrial Zone. Arthur's idea is also to build the Leonora Industrial Base into the Ruhr area of ​​Australasia.

Arthur envied the Ruhr area of ​​Germany very much, and even made up his mind to build the Leonora Industrial Base.

For this reason, Arthur did not hesitate to personally ask William II to hire relevant German experts to help Australasia build the Leonora Industrial Base.

Arthur's requirements are not high. If the Leonora Industrial Base can achieve one-tenth of the current output of the Ruhr area within ten years, it will satisfy Arthur's inner expectations and goals.

William II nodded with a smile to Arthur's request and agreed without thinking too much.

This kind of request is very common for national development, not to mention that Australasia and Germany have a very good relationship, so William II naturally had no intention of refusing.

It is worth mentioning that William II also proudly invited Arthur to visit the German airship factory, or more precisely, the Zeppelin airship factory.

After Australasia's airship became famous all over the world, Britain and Germany paid much more attention to airships.

Australasia's rigid airship was originally learned from Germany, and it was very easy for Germany to surpass Australasia.

The current Zeppelin airship has been developed for several generations, and it is no longer the lz-1 airship that Arthur had previously established in the aviation laboratory.

After William II's brief introduction, Arthur learned that Zeppelin's airship had been developed to the fifth generation.

Because of the government's attention this time, the development progress of the Zeppelin airship is much faster than in history, and the performance of the current lz-5 airship is also much more advanced than Australasia's AU-2 airship.

The lz-5 airship is larger than the Australasian airship, and its load capacity has reached a terrifying 17 tons.

You know, even though the aviation laboratory has conducted a lot of research on airships, the load capacity of the AU-2 airship is only 11 tons.

The Germans were able to increase the load capacity of the airship to 17 tons, which is not a small improvement.

The flight speed of the lz-5 airship is also relatively fast, with an average speed of 42 kilometers per hour and a maximum speed of 45 kilometers per hour.

Arthur asked about the stability of the airship and the result was very stable. The Germans organized hundreds of experiments for this airship, and no accidents have occurred so far, which is enough to prove the stability of this airship.

At present, the lz-5 airship with increased load capacity, speed and stability has indeed been quite practical and useful. Even if it is only used as a means of transportation, it can definitely play a vital role.

William II believed what Australasia said at the time, that airships were carrying bombs from the air, and even organized an airship team to train the accuracy of air bombing. The team had dozens of airships and hundreds of people.

Arthur could only smile awkwardly. He couldn't just say that the practicality of airships was not as good as that of airplanes. Aircrafts could kill airships in the air!

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