The Rise of Australia

1 Arthur left the port of London on the battleship HMS Australasia, greeted by many British people. new

It can be seen from the expressions of the British people bidding farewell to Arthur that many British people are very reluctant to part with Arthur. After all, Arthur is also a member of the Victorian era.

Boarding the battleship, from an angle that the British people couldn't see, Arthur was actually in a very good mood.

After several days of hard work by Arthur and hundreds of thousands of pounds spent, the British government finally obtained the consent of the British cabinet government. As a condition of this assistance, the British government provided the St. Vincent-class battleship to the Australian University for a fee and permanently. Lasia.

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

But this is not too much of a loss for Arthur. After all, these can be exchanged for all the information of a more powerful battleship. This is a completely profitable business.

Moreover, under Arthur's various requests and efforts, King George V agreed to provide Australasia with the technology to build St. Vincent-class battleships, including the 50-fold 305mm main gun that Arthur was obsessed with.

Although they are both 305mm main guns, the gap between the 45x caliber and the 50x caliber is huge.

Although these specific technologies had to wait until British assistance arrived, and were slowly taught to Australasia by those British experts.

But not surprisingly, within a few years these technologies will be available to Australasia.

In other words, Arthur was confident that he could build a St. Vincent-class battleship himself within a year with the help of British experts.

In two to three years, Australasia will be able to master the ability to independently build St. Vincent-class battleships, once again increasing 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, allowed Arthur to obtain the St. Vincent-class battleship. In this way, the British The empire is currently building powerful battleships. new

Each of these conditions is lacking, which will greatly reduce the possibility of Australasia obtaining a St. Vincent-class battleship.

This also has to be lamented by the truth that it is easy to enjoy the shade against a big tree. The battleship Arthur received from the United Kingdom may be an advanced warship that other countries cannot build with all their efforts.

The length of the St. Vincent-class battleship is 18.5 meters.

Two sets of four-shaft Parsons direct-drive steam turbines and 18 mixed-fired water boilers were used to increase the power to an unprecedented 24,500 horsepower.

Of course, these are not the most important. One in the front and two in the back, one on each side, a total of five 305 mm 50-caliber twin guns, as well as a 1-caliber single gun, and three 450 mm underwater torpedo tubes. It is the St. Vincent-class battleship that makes people fear. the real reason.

In terms of firepower, the St. Vincent-class battleship has the strongest firepower among the 1 battleships, 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 Sovereign-class battleship, or the Helgeland-class battleship, they are currently the strongest battleships being built by other powers except the British Empire.

The St. Vincent-class battleship can surpass these three battleships. Needless to say, its powerful performance and the scientific research capabilities of the British Empire.

Of course, the reason why we only compare it with the three types of dreadnoughts of the United States, Germany and Australasia is entirely because the progress of the dreadnoughts of other powers is extremely slow, and there is no need to compare at all.

Even apart from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Australasia, the only major country that currently owns dreadnoughts is Russia, which shows how far behind 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 changed direction and headed for Germany. new

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

Of course, Arthur would not choose to share the blueprint technology of the St. Vincent-class battleship with Germany.

After all, it was obtained from the United Kingdom, and the method of obtaining it relied more or less on the relationship with the British.

If the British knew that Arthur shared the blueprints and technology of the St. Vincent-class battleships with Germany, the British would definitely be dissatisfied.

Arthur still couldn't do this kind of thing that was detrimental to himself and others, but it was okay to mention a few words to William II about the importance of large-caliber artillery.

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

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

On July 3, Arthur successfully arrived in Germany and had five days of friendly exchanges with Wilhelm II.

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

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

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After visiting the Kluber factory, Arthur learned that the Germans had already begun research on the 50-fold caliber 305mm main gun and had achieved certain results.

If nothing else happens, the Germans should equip the next-level dreadnought with a 50-fold caliber 305mm main gun. Although the progress is a little behind the British, it is still ahead of other major powers.

Of course, during these few days, Arthur also visited the Ruhr Industrial Area in Germany. The Ruhr Industrial Area is one of the largest industrial areas 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 kWh 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 locally, avoiding unnecessary external transportation.

Although the two world wars had a huge impact on this area, even in the 1970s, the Ruhr area's coal output was still as high as 120 million tons, accounting for 80% of Germany's total output at that time, and its annual steel output was 20 million tons. Accounting for 70% of Germany's total output at that 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 not only relies on abundant coal resources, but also relies on superior water transportation conditions.

Coupled with a large number of railways, roads, and canals extending in all directions, transportation in the Ruhr Industrial Area is very convenient and complete, laying a prerequisite for the development of the industrial area.

The construction of the Leonora Industrial Base in Australasia was partly based on the Ruhr Industrial Area. Arthur's idea was also to build the Leonora industrial base into Australasia's Ruhr area.

Arthur was very envious of the Ruhr area in Germany, and even made up his mind to build the Leonora Industrial Base.

To this end, Arthur did not hesitate to personally request 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 be considered as meeting Arthur's inner expectations and goals.

In response to Arthur's request, William II smiled and nodded, and agreed without much thought.

This kind of request is very common for national development, not to mention that the relationship between Australasia and Germany is very good, so William II naturally has no idea of ​​refusing.

It is worth mentioning that William II was also very proud to invite Arthur to visit the airship factory in Germany, to be precise, the Zeppelin airship factory.

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

Australasia's rigid airships were originally learned from Germany, and it would be 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 established the aviation laboratory before.

After a brief introduction by William II, 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. The current performance of the lz-5 airship is also much more advanced than the Australasian 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 only stays at 11 tons.

The Germans were able to increase the airship's load capacity to 17 tons, which was no small improvement.

The lz-5 airship also flies 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 that it was very stable. The Germans have organized hundreds of experiments for this airship, and no accidents have occurred so far, which is enough to prove the stability of this airship.

From the current point of view, the lz-5 airship with improved load capacity, speed and stability is indeed very practical and useful. Even if it is only used as a transportation tool, it can definitely play some vital roles.

William II had no doubts about Australasia's statement that airships carried bombs from the air for bombing. He had even organized a team of airships to train the accuracy of aerial bombing. The scale was already quite large, with several troops. Ten airships and hundreds of people.

Arthur could only smile awkwardly at this. He couldn't simply say that the practicality of airships was completely inferior to that of airplanes. Planes could kill airships in the air!

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