Chapter 142: Chapter 141: Promotion in Progress (Two- in-One Chapter Asking for Support! )_2

In such a short time, they completely reversed their role, pulling themselves out of the abyss of being colonized, and even turning around to oppress and colonize other countries and regions.

It’s somewhat unrealistic to attribute these achievements to the support of the British Empire and the United States. Both the British Empire and the United States have funded a large number of countries and supported many forces and regimes for a long time.

But who could grow as quickly as the Island Nation into a regional hegemon?

No one, or no country, could do it.

Even the British Empire never expected that the little brother they just wanted to raise for regional competition against the Russian Empire would one day grow to the same level (Powers) as themselves.

Yukichiro Tamura and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs praised each other for a while before reluctantly turning the topic to the warships.

“Mr. Minister, do you have detailed information about this armored cruiser of your country? I am very interested in this warship, which is one of the excellent vessels that can cruise the coastline,” Yukichiro Tamura asked with a smile.

Originally, Yukichiro Tamura had no idea about Australia’s small warships, as the Island Nation itself also had the technology to produce small warships, and most of the technology came from the British Empire, naturally being world­class.

But after witnessing the construction of this warship by the Australian shipyard, his thoughts changed immediately.

Although the Island Nation has many production technologies for medium and small warships, all these technologies and blueprints were taught by experts from the British Empire.

But what good things could the British Empire give to the Island Nation? Basically, all the blueprints of the warships that the British Empire eliminated, even those seemingly very advanced production technologies, were slightly behind for mainstream Europe.

What could medium and small warships built with the slightly outdated production technology and eliminated blueprints look like?

Yukichiro Tamura was satisfied with the medium and small warships produced by the Island Nation itself because the role of medium and small warships in actual naval battles was not significant, and they were merely cannon fodder when facing large warships.

However, the Duke-class armored cruiser of Australia changed Yukichiro Tamura’s view.

Although the Duke-class armored cruiser still had no room to resist when facing large warships, it had a huge advantage when facing other medium and small warships, and it could very well undertake the tasks of cruising the coastline and escorting merchant ships and transport ships.

You should know that the Island Nation is an island country in every sense, with a large number of islands and ocean territories.

This means that besides large fleets, the Island Nation also needs many medium and small warships to patrol the coastline and ensure the safety of the ocean and coastlines.

Large warships couldn’t be allowed to patrol the coastline, could they? Firstly, there aren’t many large warships, and using them for patrols would be a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Secondly, the cost of large warships cruising is disproportionate to the cost of small warships. If it’s not for some exercise or strategic goal, it doesn’t make sense to deploy large warships for ordinary cruising.

After all, simple problems can be solved by deploying medium and small warships, without the need for large warships to use cannons to kill mosquitoes.

“It’s possible, Mr. Yukichiro Tamura. Although the information of the Duke­class armored cruiser is important for Australia and must not be revealed, as your country is an important friend of Australia, it’s no harm to take a look, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a smile.

Although it was just a medium-sized warship, the information on the Duke­class armored cruiser still amounted to dozens of pages, and that was excluding the ship’s design blueprints and some important details.

“Mr. Yukichiro Tamura, here are the materials for the Duke-class armored cruiser you wanted. These documents are extremely important for Australia, so please do not disclose them.” After instructing his subordinates to bring the streamlined materials, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs smiled at Yukichiro Tamura.

“Thank you so much, Minister. I appreciate your trust and that of your country. Please rest assured that I will not divulge the contents of these documents and will keep it locked tightly in my mind.” Yukichiro Tamura didn’t expect the Australian side to allow him access to the materials. After receiving some of the Duke-class armored cruiser data, he felt excited and also somewhat surprised and honored.

In fact, the Australian side wasn’t that generous. Most of the Duke-class armored cruiser data that Tamura could access was already public or could be made public, without affecting the ship’s design itself.

These documents mostly contained basic information, such as the number, type, and tonnage of cannons, as well as the ship’s speed. Some of the more important documents contained unimproved warship data, which did not affect the current armored cruiser.

But how could Yukichiro Tamura know all of that? As a talent in diplomacy, although he had some knowledge of weapons and warship design, it was merely an understanding of some design aspects.

Of course, this was already enough. Yukichiro Tamura’s goal was simple: to obtain and analyze the Duke-class armored cruiser data and determine whether the island nation needed to purchase ships of this class to strengthen patrol and defense capabilities on the coastline.

The data showed that the Australian Duke-class armored cruiser was an improved version of the British Empire’s Orlando-class armored cruisers, and after further modifications by German experts, it became its current design.

The Duke-class armored cruiser had a length of 93-5 meters, a width of 17.63 meters, a height of 7.01 meters, 6,500 horsepower, and a standard speed of 18 knots, with a maximum speed of 19 knots in a short time.

This speed level was already the pinnacle of current medium and small warships and could even be compared to some battleships.

At least in terms of speed, the armored cruiser appeared to have no flaws, especially considering its excellent speed while providing armor protection, which exceeded Yukichiro Tamura’s expectations.

In terms of firepower, the data on the Duke-class armored cruiser indicated it had two 234mm main guns, ten 152mm guns, and several small 6-pounder and 3-pounder guns.

Although its firepower wasn’t outstanding, for a medium-sized warship like the Duke-class armored cruiser, having more than an average amount of firepower while maintaining speed and armor advantages was pretty good.

“What a perfect piece of work! Your Excellency, how much does this Duke-class armored cruiser cost? If possible, I would like to order several armored cruisers to make up for our lack of medium and small warships.” After reviewing the data, Yukichiro Tamura was full of admiration for the warship and couldn’t wait to ask the smiling Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs beside him.

“Of course, Mr. Tamura. The price of the Duke-class armored cruiser does not exceed sixty thousand pounds, with a cost of about forty thousand pounds. Since your country wishes to purchase it, we can lower the price to fifty-two thousand pounds and promise to build it as soon as possible.” The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs pondered for a moment before responding.

The actual cost of an armored cruiser was just over thirty thousand pounds, with a profit margin of more than twenty thousand pounds per ship.

If the island nation could be more ambitious and order more medium and small warships, perhaps the Australian navy’s expansion funds wouldn’t have to come from their own pockets.

Yukichiro Tamura nodded, not doubting the slightly higher price tag of the Duke-class armored cruiser.

After all, considering the performance and data, this ship was a standout among medium-sized warships, and a higher selling price was natural.