Chapter 812 The Last Battleship

In April 1933, Arthur, who was gradually entering the working state, was looking at several drawings on the desk and thinking.

These drawings were all designs from the Royal Dockyard, which were also the designs of new battleships and aircraft carriers mentioned by Minister Thomas before.

Because the naval limitation treaty is no longer in effect, theoretically, there is no limit on the tonnage of new battleships and aircraft carriers built by various countries.

This also led to the design drawings of the battleship in front of Arthur, in which the estimated displacement of the battleship will reach 570,000 tons, and the estimated full load displacement will exceed 20,000 tons, which is a real super battleship.

However, Arthur has no interest in building too many such super battleships. Even in the naval construction plan proposed by the Ministry of Defense, only two such super battleships will be built, and the design of battleships will be directly abandoned in the future.

So the question is, if the design of battleships is obviously going to be abandoned, why do we still come up with such a powerful-looking battleship?

In addition to increasing the apparent strength of the navy, confusing the rival island countries in the Pacific is also a very important reason.

According to intelligence from all sides, the island country is already planning to build more warships, among which the main force is battleships.

As the biggest competitor of the island country, Australasia's achievements in battleships will naturally become intelligence transmission to the island country.

The island country will naturally not agree with Australasia's advantage in the navy. After all, the island country needs more safety at sea than Australasia.

This also means that they will definitely follow up on the research of super battleships and build at least two, or even more super battleships.

Using two super battleships to confuse the island country and let the island country invest a lot of money in the research of super battleships is very meaningful to Australasia.

How did the famous Yamato battleship of the island country sink? It was after the continuous bombing of the US Navy's aircraft and the torpedo hit of the submarine that it finally had to sink in the ocean.

This actually also represents a truth. When the aircraft carrier develops to a certain extent, the blow to these super-large battleships is fatal.

The attack range of a battleship depends on the guns it is equipped with, but the attack range of an aircraft carrier depends on the aircraft on the aircraft carrier.

The attack range of guns and aircraft is not at the same level at all, which also means that when the technology is similar, the super battleship is not a match for the large aircraft carrier at all.

Unless the super battleship can get close to the aircraft carrier, it can win in the naval battle with the aircraft carrier.

But the problem is that an aircraft carrier will also be equipped with other small fleets to help the aircraft carrier conduct reconnaissance.

Moreover, the reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carrier are not vegetarians, and it is impossible not to see the enemy warships within ten kilometers.

This also means that in most cases, these very large and conspicuous super battleships are simply impossible to get close to the aircraft carrier.

Back to the design of the last class of battleships in Australasia, it is definitely the world's first-class level today.

According to the data on the drawings, this battleship is 252 meters long, 37 meters wide, with a standard draft of 5 meters and a full-load draft of 11 meters.

In terms of power, this huge battleship is equipped with 12 high-pressure heavy oil boilers specially made by Diesel, and three Fox steam turbines as auxiliary power, which can ensure the speed of this huge and heavy battleship in the ocean.

According to the calculations of dynamics experts, with such excellent power, even if the size and weight of this battleship are relatively large, it can ensure that the battleship has a speed of at least 30 knots.

The speed of 30 knots is very exaggerated, which is one of the reasons why Arthur praised the design of this battleship.

To be honest, if it were not for the experience of later generations that made Arthur understand that aircraft carriers are the future of naval development, Arthur might have spent a lot of money to build such a battleship.

The reason is nothing else, that is, because the design of this battleship is too excellent, and it can even be called one of the most powerful battleships at present.

No ruler of a country can resist the temptation of such a battleship, and I believe that the islanders cannot.

With this thought, Arthur was very curious about how the super battleship built by the islanders at a great cost would react when it encountered the aircraft carrier group of Australasia.

You know, with the development of the Dove missile, Australasia has begun to deploy missiles on various warships.

This can not only effectively increase the attack range of various warships, but also a heavy blow to such large battleships.

Because it is known that it is the last level of battleship design, the three Royal Navy shipyards have almost made the greatest efforts to design it. This may be the last battleship of Australasia.

In terms of protection capability, the entire battleship is equipped with heavy armor to ensure that it will not be easily sunk by enemy firepower.

The thickness of the side armor is maintained between 145 mm and 320 mm, and the thickness of the deck armor is between 50 and 120 mm.

Such armor protection capability is more than a little bit higher than the previous battleship design.

This is also one of the reasons why the standard displacement of this battleship has reached a terrifying 40,000 tons.

In terms of firepower, this battleship is equipped with 4 twin 16-inch 52-caliber main guns (406mm), ensuring that the battleship has a high lethality, which is also the main weapon of this battleship.

In terms of secondary guns, the Royal Dockyard uses 6 7-inch 55-caliber guns (178mm). The effective hit rate of this gun is the main reason why it is the choice of secondary guns.

Because all countries have sufficient aircraft reserves, in order to deal with possible enemy aircraft bombing, Arthur specifically asked the Royal Dockyard to strengthen the battleship's air defense capabilities as much as possible when designing this battleship.

It is also because of Arthur's request that this battleship is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons.

The most important anti-aircraft weapon is the twin 4-inch 65-caliber anti-aircraft guns, 4 on each side, a total of 8, which can effectively attack enemy aircraft.

The secondary anti-aircraft weapon is 8 22mm fully automatic anti-aircraft guns, which mainly pursue firepower coverage and attack.

There are also 2 anti-aircraft machine guns in the front and back, and 6 anti-aircraft machine guns on the left and right. In short, the firepower is very arrogant.

It is worth mentioning that in the middle of this battleship, there is actually a runway specially used for aircraft takeoff.

Yes, this battleship also has a function similar to that of an aircraft carrier, that is, a sea aircraft takeoff platform.

Although it is not large and can only carry four special single-person reconnaissance aircraft, it can effectively increase the reconnaissance range of the battleship to ensure that it will not be hit by the enemy's aircraft carrier without knowing it.

These various designs are the complete battleship data. Overall, Arthur is quite satisfied with the design of such a battleship.

At least such a battleship design has been trying to prevent enemy aircraft bombing, so as not to be easily bombed and sunk by enemy aircraft groups like the Yamato battleship in history.

But it must be admitted that it is difficult for large battleships to gain an advantage in front of aircraft carriers.

Even if large battleships are equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, they can never be opponents of aircraft carriers.

The difference in design concepts between the two sides has determined the completely different development potential and background of these two warships.

The dreadnought has been powerful for a long time. From now on, aircraft carriers will gradually become the most powerful warships and dominate the ocean for a longer time.

Because the technology of aircraft is constantly improving, the role of aircraft carriers is also constantly improving.

At least in the next hundred years, the role of aircraft carriers will become higher and higher, and countries will compete to develop and build aircraft carriers.

The situation in later generations is indeed the same. Owning some small-scale warships is not considered a naval power. Only with a complete aircraft carrier battle group can it be considered a relatively powerful naval power.

But the problem comes again. The cost of aircraft carriers is relatively expensive in itself, not to mention the battle groups specially formed for aircraft carriers in order to improve the role of aircraft carriers.

Even the maintenance cost of an aircraft carrier battle group is enough to cause a medium-sized country to have a financial crisis.

Countries that can afford an aircraft carrier battle group are all relatively prosperous countries without exception.

In later generations, the potential of a country and the expected economic growth are closely related to the population.

Even now, population is one of the criteria for measuring whether a country is strong or not. It is undeniable that the more people a country has, the greater its development potential.

The most important factor that makes a country stronger is the continuous progress of science and technology. And in order to promote the continuous progress of science and technology, a large number of talents must be invested in the scientific research industry and various research and development.

The larger the population, the greater the possibility of the birth of talents. Moreover, the more people there are, the more wealth is created.

Although it will also consume a lot of resources, these minor shortcomings are completely acceptable for Australasia, which is rich in mineral resources.

This also made Arthur more determined. Whether it is war or peace, whether it is the 20th century or the 21st century, the first principle of Australasia is to develop the population as much as possible.

According to the current land area owned by Australasia, even if the population expands to 10 times the current level, it is not too much of a burden for the country.

Before the population reaches 300 million, it is a good thing for Australasia to usher in any kind of population surge.

In order to keep the population growing, Arthur also decided to urge the government to issue new policies to encourage childbirth, so that more Australasians can get married and have children, and contribute to the growth of the local population.

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