Chapter 775: Vigorously Develop Submarines
The upcoming TV Expo quickly attracted the attention of domestic and foreign capital. A large amount of capital signed up to participate and was ready to come to Australasia.
Australasia seemed to be completely isolated from the world. The country was quiet and peaceful, but the foreign countries were becoming more and more chaotic, and could even be described as a mess.
This is not a one-sided statement, but the best summary of the current world situation. From the developed and prosperous Europe to the barren and impoverished Africa, rebellions and wars are breaking out everywhere.
The conflicts between colonies and the mother country, the conflicts between ethnic groups, and the conflicts between countries have created a chaotic era.
In this chaotic era, Arthur was both a spectator and a participant.
On February 27, 1931, the Australasia Cabinet Meeting.
This cabinet meeting was very important to Australasia, and even determined the country's strategic pace in the next ten years.
One of the decisive factors was that the naval limitation treaty signed ten years ago was about to expire, and the attitudes of various countries towards the renewal of this treaty were different.
"Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the possibility of renewing the naval limitation treaty is almost zero, and we must be prepared for this." Foreign Minister Wellington looked serious, and his words made the cabinet ministers look different.
You know, no matter what the purpose of the naval limitation treaty is, it has played a great role in restricting the development of the navies of various countries and avoiding naval arms race.
Once the naval limitation treaty cannot be renewed, the price obtained may be another round of naval arms race in the world.
What's more terrible is that Australasia is definitely a participant and has to pay a lot of money for it.
Because once it falls behind in the naval arms race, it will bring a huge blow to the country, and it is also very likely to make the country fall behind in future wars.
"What is the attitude of various countries at present?" Arthur rubbed his frowning brows and looked at Minister Wellington.
"The attitudes of Britain and France are very ambiguous, and we are still unclear about their respective views. But according to the intelligence we have, the islanders are unlikely to agree to renew the naval limitation treaty.
They are currently vigorously developing super-large battleships, and are likely to become the first country to tear up the naval limitation treaty." Foreign Secretary Wellington replied.
Arthur rubbed his brows again, not surprised that the island country might tear up the treaty. It is not an exaggeration to say that this country will do something crazier than tearing up the treaty.
"We don't need to make any additional statements on this matter." Arthur glanced at the cabinet ministers with different expressions and ordered: "We just need to wait quietly for the actions of Britain and France. If any country takes the lead in tearing up the naval limitation treaty, we will follow immediately and invest in the construction of the navy at all costs.
In addition, pay close attention to the movements of the islanders in the navy. I need our navy to always stay ahead of the island countries, whether it is submarines or aircraft carriers, whether it is destroyers or battleships, understand?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" The cabinet ministers immediately stood up and answered with a serious look.
Arthur didn't just give an order, it was an absolute order. In the face of major issues, if any cabinet member showed hesitation, Arthur would not show any mercy.
"Your Majesty, are you saying that we should expand in all aspects of the navy?" Defense Minister Thomas asked excitedly.
The construction of the navy has never been a small investment, and the funds are definitely tens of millions of Australian dollars.
If a large-scale naval arms race is launched, the investment in the navy may be as high as hundreds of millions of Australian dollars.
This is also what Defense Minister Thomas is excited about. With so much military expenditure, the status of the Ministry of Defense will rise, and the strength of the army will also usher in a great growth.
"At present, we still give priority to the construction of submarines and aircraft carriers, and secondarily to the construction of destroyers and battleships." Arthur shook his head and expressed his thoughts: "But we still have to pay attention to the construction of foreign battleships, especially the super-large battleships built by the islanders."
If Arthur remembered correctly, the island countries in history were very exaggerated in the construction of battleships.
The Japanese seem to have created a behemoth called the Yamato battleship, with a standard displacement of 65,000 tons and a full-load displacement of 72,800 tons.
Such data is very exaggerated. The battleships built by the Japanese are not even big enough to describe.
You know, the current Hope-class battleships of Australasia have a full-load displacement of only 27,000 tons, which can only be regarded as a small guy in front of the battleships of the Japanese.
This is also the real reason why Arthur specifically ordered to pay attention to the construction of battleships by the Japanese. Even if aircraft carriers can target battleships well, it is not as easy as imagined to deal with such a large behemoth.
Speaking of which, Australasia is much better than the Japanese in terms of economy. If it is just a naval arms race with the Japanese, Arthur does not mind letting the Japanese see what a real big investment is.
In fact, the naval arms race may not be a bad thing for Australasia.
Looking at the naval scale of countries around the world, Australasia does not actually have an advantage.
But if you look at the navies of various countries in detail, you can actually find an obvious feature, that is, there are many old warships.
Especially the fleets of Britain and France, which have a large number of old warships to fill the numbers. The old warships here are not just those dreadnoughts that are outdated, but also the products of the last century, that is, pre-dreadnoughts.
Compared with the fleets of Britain and France, most of the fleets of Australasia are composed of dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts, including a large number of battlecruisers and aircraft carriers. Generally speaking, they are mostly new warships.
In fact, it is reasonable that Britain and France have a large number of old warships to fill the numbers. After all, Britain and France have a large number of vast colonies, and they need a large number of fleets to patrol and escort the coast.
But for island countries, having a large number of old warships in the country is entirely caused by the country's finances.
Britain and France need those old warships, and the islanders are simply reluctant to throw away those old ships.
In this case, Britain, France and even island countries, while maintaining a large scale of old warships, have to build a large number of new warships, and the military expenditure they bear is much more than Australasia.
If a new round of naval arms race really breaks out, Britain and France have colonies to suck blood, Australasia has the Persian Gulf territory and rich mineral resources, and other countries basically have nothing.
Such consumption is beneficial to Arthur's plan, and it can also take the opportunity to consume Britain and France's control over the colonies, which is also weakening Britain and France in disguise.
In such a cabinet meeting, Arthur's firm support for military expansion surprised the cabinet members.
As if they received a signal, they changed their previous attitudes and turned into firm advocates of war.
After all, these officials are not fools. In Australasia, the government's decision depends largely on Arthur's attitude, not on the officials of these officials.
As long as Arthur expresses his attitude of advocating war, the people will become fanatical activists. Can these officials still hide behind the people? The best way is naturally to follow Arthur's attitude. Anyway, Arthur is the first to take the lead in anything.
Although the original decision was to let the naval restriction treaty develop, it does not mean that the Australasia government will really do nothing.
Especially for potential rival island countries, the necessary means of competition should be used.
The intelligence department began to closely monitor the naval construction plan of the island countries. Once it was discovered that the islanders were privately building super-large battleships, Australasia would announce the islanders' crimes and occupy a righteous position in public opinion.
However, the islanders did a good job in intelligence work in this regard. They knew that the naval restriction treaty was in their favor, so they would not blatantly tear up the naval restriction treaty before it expired.
On the other hand, Australasia has begun to study super-large battleships, new submarines and aircraft carriers.
As the last series of battleships, Arthur specifically ordered the major shipyards to exert their greatest capabilities and build the largest, fastest, best-protected and most powerful battleships.
At present, several major shipyards have joined together to start research and strive to design the most powerful and largest battleship in the world.
As for aircraft carriers, Arthur's requirement is to improve the existing aircraft carriers and increase the number of aircraft carried by aircraft carriers and the speed of travel.
Finally, there are submarines. Submarines have played a very important role so far.
The submarines of Australasia combine the submarine technologies of Britain, France and Germany. With the efforts of Australasia experts, they have been merged into Australasia's unique submarine technology.
Currently, the most advanced submarine in Australasia is the AU-7 ocean-going submarine.
The entire submarine is 66.5 meters long and can accommodate 42 to 46 members. The maximum speed on the surface can reach 17.5 knots, and the maximum speed underwater can reach 8.4 knots, which is considered to be relatively fast among submarines.
The best feature of the entire submarine is its endurance. At a cruising speed of 5 knots, the submarine can travel 6,500 nautical miles, which is 12,000 kilometers.
However, this data is for reference only. Although the fuel inside the submarine can travel 12,000 kilometers, the supplies inside the submarine may not be able to last that long.
Taking into account the oxygen consumption inside the submarine, the submarine must surface to replace oxygen when it travels 120 nautical miles (about 222 kilometers) at a maximum speed of 5 knots underwater, or stays for 24 hours.
This is also the characteristic of submarines in this era. Although submarines give people the impression that they fight in the sea, submarines sail on the sea surface most of the time.
After all, people always have to breathe, and after entering the sea, the consumption of oxygen inside the submarine is a huge problem.
Let's talk about the design of the submarine. The design of this AU-7 submarine is still relatively advanced. The submarine is designed to dive to a depth of 150 meters, and the maximum diving depth in the experiment can reach 220 meters.
This depth can already avoid the search of sonars of various countries, so it is not an exaggeration to call such a submarine a ghost in the sea.
If it were not for the inability to stay underwater for a long time, such a submarine would definitely be a killer in today's era.
But this does not conceal the strategic role of submarines at present. In World War I, Germany relied on unrestricted submarine tactics to make British and French merchant ships suffer a great loss.
The submarine technology currently possessed by Australasia is more powerful, and the strategic role it can play is naturally better.
In terms of submarine firepower, this submarine can be considered powerful. The entire submarine has a total of five torpedo tubes, which can carry a maximum of 14 torpedoes.
In terms of the distribution of torpedo tubes, the submarine is equipped with four torpedo tubes at the head and one at the tail.
After all, most of the time, the head of the submarine faces the strategic target. The torpedo tube at the tail is to prevent special accidents and is also a life-saving trump card for the submarine.
In addition to the weapons under the sea, the top of the submarine is also equipped with a heavy machine gun and a small-caliber artillery.
After all, submarines are still floating on the sea most of the time, and it is inevitable to encounter enemies on the sea.
Moreover, submarines always have to dock to replenish supplies. The weapons on the top of the submarine are still very important, and at some point they may become life-saving weapons for the members inside the submarine.
Overall, such a submarine design can be regarded as both offensive and defensive. Not only can it become a ghost and the god of death in the ocean, but it can also flexibly avoid the enemy's search with its faster speed and deeper diving depth.
Because it can dive for up to 24 hours, it can effectively avoid the enemy's search. However, after 24 hours, the submarine has to surface.
After all, lack of oxygen is the biggest problem for submarines at present, and it is also the biggest factor limiting the submarine's diving time.
As long as the oxygen problem is solved, the submarine's diving time can be doubled. At that time, the submarine will truly become a ghost and the god of death in the sea, achieving the effect of coming and going without a trace.
Although there is no movement in the main battleships for the time being, the defense department has proposed a new plan for the construction of submarines.
The plan was quickly reported to Arthur's desk and Arthur nodded in agreement.
In the next five years, Australasia is expected to build 120 submarines. Among them, in the next two years, Australasia will build 55 submarines, all of which are AU-7 class.
Two years later, the AU-8 class submarines currently in the testing phase will become the mainstream submarines built by the Navy, replacing the AU-7, and 65 will be built.
A full 120 submarines is no small number. Adding the existing submarine scale of Australasia, the number of submarines in the Navy will exceed 200, which can already rank among the top three in the world in the original history.
4000 words update sent, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!