Chapter 218: Chapter 205: Monarch-class Battleship

If one would say that Russia’s slow action in the construction of dreadnoughts was due to the two major flaws of insufficient research and development capabilities and lack of funds, then France, as one of the old powers, cannot justify their slow action in the field of dreadnoughts.

In fact, the French were not slow in the field of dreadnoughts, it was just because the navy’s budget had already been spent on the construction of the pre-dreadnought Danton-class battleships. Not only did the navy lack the budget, but the French shipyards also did not have enough construction capabilities to start new dreadnoughts.

Because of this, despite the Danton-class battleship falling behind the times after the birth of the Dreadnought-class battleship, the French still stubbornly waited until 1911 for all the Danton-class battleships to be completed before they began the construction plan for the dreadnoughts.

Regardless of whether this was foolish or not, when France initiated the construction of dreadnoughts, other countries had already entered the era of the super-dreadnought.

The first French dreadnought, the Courbet-class battleship, also had the distinction of being a battleship that lagged behind in the era of dreadnoughts.

Busy with the construction of pre-dreadnoughts when dreadnoughts were born, and busy with the construction of dreadnoughts when super-dreadnoughts were born, the French thus completely fell behind in the navy’s great transformation, and could never again see the tail lights of Britain and Germany.

Outside of Britain, the country that opened the era of dreadnoughts, the country that valued dreadnoughts the most and invested the most was the second major power, the German Empire.

The birth of the Dreadnought-class battleship disrupted the subtle balance of the shipbuilding competition between British and German warships and intensified a new round of “dumplings race” between Britain and Germany.

Germany’s response to the Dreadnought-class battleship was the new dreadnought, the Nassau-class battleship, which was modified from the old 1901-class battleship.

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

But the caliber of the Nassau-class battleship’s guns was a lot smaller than that of the Dreadnought-class battleship. Although they fired faster, their firepower was still diminished.

But what really set the Nassau-class battleship and Dreadnought-class battleship apart was the different power equipment and systems they adopted.

The Dreadnought-class battleship was powered by four steam turbine propulsion units, along with a large number of steam boilers, which greatly increased its speed.

But the Germans did not believe in this technology. The Nassau-class battleship still used the old-fashioned three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine and only used coal-fired boilers.

This type of reciprocating steam engine could cause severe vibrations in the hull of the Nassau-class battleship when it was running at top speed, which would affect the aim and shooting of the guns.

Regardless of the impact on the shooting of the guns, such an old-fashioned power system resulted in a top speed of only 19 knots for the Nassau-class battleship, which was obviously lagging behind the Dreadnought-class battleship.

In the original history, the Nassau-class battleship fell behind quickly after its birth and became a shooting star in the history of German warships.

Because of its good relationship with the British Empire, Germany, and Russia, Australasia also got the design sketches and materials of the Dreadnought-class battleship, and William II also generously gave Arthur the blueprint of the Nassau-class battleship.

Of course, William II did not do this without a purpose. He knew Arthur’s ambitions, and naturally knew that Arthur, after obtaining this blueprint, would inevitably want Australasia to master the construction technology of dreadnoughts, or even have its own dreadnoughts.

At this sensitive time, what does owning a dreadnought represent? It represents that Australasia can quickly become a naval power, changing the power structure of the Oceania region, or even South Asia, the Far East, the Indian Ocean, and the Southwest Pacific.

Would Australasia’s possession of its own dreadnought make the always cautious British Empire wary?

Although Arthur has a good relationship with the British public, wasn’t William II the same before?

There is no permanent fixed relationship between countries. Relationships will change according to the interests between countries.

If Australasia threatens the British Empire in areas where the British attach great importance, then Australasia will also become a hypothetical enemy of the British Empire.

Given the British temper, it is very possible that they would send at least one more dreadnought to the Indian Ocean Region.

At least to maintain their naval balance in the Indian Ocean region, or even gain some advantage to put the British at ease.

Wouldn’t sending one more dreadnought to the Indian Ocean region mean that there would be one less dreadnought deployed in Europe?

For the German Empire, the fewer dreadnoughts Britain deploys in Europe, the fewer enemies they may face in the future.

This is why William II generously gave Arthur the design blueprint of the Nassau-class battleship.

Compared to such a battleship with obvious disadvantages from its very design, diverting trouble elsewhere is a better return for the German Empire.

When Arthur obtained this design blueprint for the Nassau-class battleship, he already understood all of William II’s plans and intentions.

However, this was not a hot potato for Australasia, but rather a beacon of hope for their naval development.

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

However, although the Nassau-class battleship could already be called a dreadnought, it still used old designs in many aspects, which destined it would quickly be phased out.

Arthur was not that naive because he was well versed in history, and he was not as cautious as the Germans were.

After obtaining the design blueprints of the Nassau-class battleship, Arthur summoned all the shipbuilding experts that Australasia could gather and held a meeting about the future shipbuilding plans of Australasia.

There was only one aim for Arthur, which was to capitalize on the expertise of these experts by combining all the advantages of the Nassau-class battleship and the Dreadnought-class battleship to design a dreadnought without any obvious defects.

There are two obvious deficiencies in the Nassau-class battleship: Firstly, the caliber of the main gun it carries is too small, which puts it at a disadvantage in firepower compared to the Dreadnought.

Secondly, it still uses the old power system, which can cause the warship to vibrate when sailing at full speed, and its speed also lags behind that of the Dreadnought.

In these two aspects, Australasia’s dreadnought should improve as much as possible the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleship, not only by enhancing its firepower as much as possible, but also by adopting a brand-new steam turbine for the power system.

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

With specific goals in mind, the shipbuilding experts began to vigorously debate and consider all the possibilities in warship design.

For Australasia, designing a dreadnought is really easy. After the intelligence exploration of Dreadnought by the major powers for a long time, the detailed data of the Dreadnought-class battleship is essentially known to all major countries, and Australasia is naturally among them.

In addition to the design blueprints of Germany’s Nassau-class battleship, Australia currently has the design plans of two Dreadnoughts for reference when making improvements.

The idea is to use the Nassau-class battleship as the main body, and adopt the design of the Dreadnought in some weaknesses of the Nassau-class battleship to make the original Nassau-class battleship a genuine dreadnought without any weaknesses, and it could even border on or slightly surpass the dreadnought.

This warship design didn’t evade the German experts, on the contrary, the Germans were one of the main forces for improvements.

After all, the super dreadnought will be born not long after the birth of the dreadnought, and that will be the focus of Australasia’s scientific research.

Before that, the participation of German experts in the development of Australia’s dreadnought was good news. Germans have a unique rigorous attitude, which is well demonstrated in mechanical aspects.

Even the Nassau-class battleship, which may cause bumps and tremors when sailing at its maximum speed, can sail smoothly for more than a decade without any problems, which shows the rigorous attitude of the Germans towards machinery manufacturing.

These German experts are very excited about being able to participate in Australia’s dreadnought research.

After the birth of the dreadnought, their attitude was very positive. However, after contacting the homeland, Germany still advised them to stay in Australasia and continue to help the growth of Australia’s navy.

They originally assumed that for a short time, they would have no connection with the design and construction of the dreadnought.

But they did not anticipate that Australasia also initiated the design of the dreadnought, and the goal was to refer to the data of the British and German dreadnoughts and improve a more comprehensive warship.

Of course, another reason why these German experts were able to share their knowledge was that Australasia had access to information about Germany’s Nassau-class battleship.

Australasia’s prompt grasp of Germany’s dreadnought information proves the good relationship between Germany and Australasia and Germany’s support for Australasia to master the dreadnought.

In addition, over the past few years, Australasia has wooed and cultivated a group of experts in shipbuilding in various ways.

Although it cannot match the capabilities of European powers in shipbuilding, it can barely reach a level above that of the second-tier European countries.

With the joint efforts of Australasian and German experts, the design blueprints for Australia’s first dreadnought were successfully produced.

Although this blueprint has not undergone too many verifications, it was designed and improved based on the main body of the Dreadnought-class battleship and the Nassau-class battleship.

As long as there are no major problems with the design of the Dreadnought-class battleship and the Nassau-class battleship, the design of this battleship should not have too many issues.

Of course, its combat capabilities must undergo actual verification and testing to determine.

Even if the British were very confident in the Dreadnought-class battleship, didn’t it only officially enter the fleet after more than a year of sea navigation and testing?

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

Since it was improved based on the Nassau-class battleship, the appearance of the Monarch-class battleship wouldn’t differ much from the Nassau-class battleship.

However, due to the fact that neither Germany nor Australasia has mastered the technology of the 45-caliber 305mm gun yet, it is expected that the Monarch-class battleship will, for the time being, be equipped with 12 280mm caliber main guns, just like the Nassau-class battleship.

But this is only temporary. Once Germany or Australasia acquires more advanced 305mm gun technology, it will be applied to the Monarch-class battleship.

In order to cope with the possible replacement of the main guns in the future, Arthur specifically instructed that there should be enough room for improvement in the construction of the main guns on the Monarch-class battleship to facilitate any possible changes to the main guns on the Monarch-class battleship in the future.