Chapter 288 Chileans' Ambition for Super Dreadnoughts

As time entered October 1910, Arthur received another good news, that is, the battleships Australia and New Zealand had officially entered the navy.

That's right, the naval test has been nearly a year, and the two battleships have finally passed the test successfully and truly become naval warships.

Through more than a year of operation and experimentation, the naval soldiers are also very familiar with the two battleships, and their combat effectiveness has been initially formed.

At present, the Australasian Navy has three dreadnoughts, and the construction of two battlecruisers is about to be completed. The scale and combat effectiveness of the navy are very different from before.

At the same time, Australasian also welcomed guests from South America.

Like the naval arms race between Europe, in recent periods, even from the end of the 19th century to the present, several major countries in South America, especially the three largest countries, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, have led to a series of vigorous naval arms races due to territorial disputes.

Even Chile and Argentina broke out in conflict due to territorial disputes, and finally restored peace under the mediation of Britain.

But the competition between the three countries did not end because of the temporary peace. After the conflict, Britain sold two Constitution-class pre-dreadnoughts to Chile, and then Argentina ordered two Rivadavia-class battleships from Italy.

When the HMS Dreadnought was born, Brazil decided to stop buying pre-dreadnoughts in 1907 and use all the funds to buy the newly born dreadnoughts.

Britain built two Minas Gerais-class battleships for Brazil and officially served this year, making Brazil the fifth country in the world to have dreadnoughts after Britain, Germany, Russia, and Australasia.

In fact, Brazil should be the third country to have dreadnoughts in history, but because of the existence of Arthur and Australasia, Australasia and Russia both had dreadnoughts in advance.

After the two dreadnoughts were officially put into service, Brazil's naval strength instantly surpassed all South American countries.

It was also because of these two dreadnoughts that the South American naval competition officially started, and major countries bought more powerful dreadnoughts to balance their opponents.

In the middle of this year, the Chilean government passed a resolution to allocate at least 4 million pounds to expand the navy, including two battleships of more than 20,000 tons, six destroyers and two submarines.

At first, the Chilean government intended to choose a company to build a dreadnought for itself through bidding.

But because the shipyards in Britain and Germany were generally busy building dreadnoughts for their own countries, the companies participating in the bidding were basically shipyards in small and medium-sized European countries.

This discouraged the Chilean government. After all, the countries where these shipyards came to bid did not have dreadnoughts, and the Chilean government did not believe that these shipyards could build powerful dreadnoughts.

At this time, the second warship trade order between Russia and Australasia reminded some Chilean naval and government officials of Australasia.

Although Australasia is generally not much different from those small and medium-sized European countries, it is a country that has reached two warship trade agreements with Russia, one of the great powers. The performance and combat effectiveness of the warships they built must have been trusted and recognized by the Russians.

Since the Russians have equipped a large number of them (two trade orders for a total of four battleships and two cruisers), what reason does Chile have to doubt it?

The battleships built in Australasia can meet the combat needs of the great powers, so it can't be that they can't even meet the combat needs of Chile, right?

With this idea in mind, the Chilean government sent a visiting team and decided to go to Australasia for a personal inspection.

The Chilean inspection team attracted Arthur's attention. Of course, they were actually interested in the funds of the Chilean mission.

Although Arthur didn't know that Chile had planned to buy warships in Australasia, Arthur knew that this was the time for the South American naval competition, and the arrival of the Chilean diplomatic team was most likely for Australasia's dreadnoughts.

In fact, the Chilean representative was indeed straightforward enough, and he expressed the Chilean government's intention to inspect Australasia's dreadnoughts.

After hearing the report from Foreign Minister Andrew, Arthur didn't think much about it and asked Minister Andrew to take the Chilean delegation to the Royal Dockyard.

On the way to the Royal Dockyard, the conversation with the Chileans surprised Minister Andrew a little.

The Chileans' requirements were high. For battleships, they required at least a giant battleship of 28,000 tons and equipped with 12-inch cannons.

12 inches is easy to deal with, after all, the 12-inch cannon is actually a 305 mm main gun, and all the dreadnoughts in Australasia are equipped with this main gun.

But the problem is that the tonnage of the dreadnought is a bit difficult to deal with. Even the Monarch-class battleship has a full load displacement of only 20,910 tons, which is far from the Chileans' requirements for a giant battleship of 28,000 tons.

In fact, the battleships originally built according to the requirements of the Chileans were already the most powerful super dreadnoughts at the time.

With the development of dreadnoughts, the caliber of the main gun has increased to 13.5 to 15 inches, the effective range of the guns has continued to increase, the main gun turrets are arranged on the horizontal longitudinal centerline of the ship, the main turrets in the middle of the ship are reduced or eliminated, and the displacement is increased to more than 25,000 tons. This level of dreadnought is usually called a super dreadnought.

In fact, the country that first developed and built super dreadnoughts is still the British Empire, which is why George V agreed to hand over the drawings and technology of the St. Vincent-class battleships to Arthur.

The first super dreadnought of the British Empire was called the Orion-class battleship. It was a new design of four main battleships by the British to cope with the strong pressure of the naval shipbuilding competition with Germany.

The Orion-class battleship focused on improving firepower and was completely different from the dreadnoughts built before. It was called a super dreadnought by the British.

The more important change is that the Orion-class battleship is equipped with a 13.5-inch main gun, which is far higher than the 12-inch main gun of the St. Vincent-class battleship.

This also allows the caliber of the battleship's guns to jump directly from 305 mm to 343 mm, greatly enhancing the firepower.

The first Orion-class battleship, the Orion battleship, has been started at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and has even been quietly launched in August this year.

Thanks to the confidentiality experience of the last Dreadnought battleship, the Orion battleship was launched with great confidentiality, and has not yet been known to other countries.

The Chilean request, which Minister Andrew thought was outrageous, made Arthur instantly think of the super dreadnought that should be born soon or has already been born in history.

Australasia has finally become the world leader in dreadnoughts, and such a leading position is naturally impossible to give up easily.

Arthur made a prompt decision and summoned naval experts, asking them to follow the Chilean requirements and design a large warship with a total tonnage of not less than 23,000 tons and a full load displacement of not less than 27,000 tons.

Arthur required that not only the firepower should be strengthened, but also the armor protection and power system of the warship should be strengthened, so that the warship can still maintain a speed of about 21 knots under the premise of a significant increase in size and weight.

This requirement is a difficult problem for the experts of the naval shipyard. After all, they have nothing to learn from such large warships. They can only rely on the drawings and materials of the Monarch-class battleships and the St. Vincent-class battleships to make improvements and changes in some aspects, striving to achieve the data and results required by Arthur.

After visiting the Royal Dockyard for a few days, the Chileans were very satisfied with the Royal Dockyard in Australasia.

The only drawback is that the first battleship currently in the Royal Dockyard (only the Monarch-class is displayed and exported to the outside world) has a full load displacement of less than 21,000 tons.

Even if some changes are made in some aspects, the full load displacement of the Monarch-class battleship cannot exceed 22,000 tons, which is quite a distance from the 28,000 tons expected by the Chileans.

However, there is good news. Minister Andrew personally assured them that under Arthur's order, the Royal Dockyard is already designing a super battleship with a full load tonnage of about 28,000 tons. The design requirements of the battleship are in accordance with the needs of the Chileans, which can basically meet the requirements of the Chileans.

After careful consideration and sending a telegram to ask for domestic opinions, the Chilean diplomatic team decided to reach a preliminary cooperation with the Royal Dockyard.

If the new warships designed by the Royal Dockyard meet the needs of the Chileans, at least most of the needs, then the Chileans will formally sign an order with the Royal Dockyard for two battleships, six destroyers and two submarines.

The main reason why the Chileans decided to wait for the design results of the Royal Dockyard is that the development of the Royal Dockyard of Australasia is really good, and the Royal Dockyard has all warship systems including battleships, destroyers and submarines, which looks much more reliable than those small and medium-sized European countries that do not have dreadnoughts at all.

What's more, the Chileans also saw some German and British faces at the Royal Dockyard.

This also means that the Royal Dockyard of Australasia has the support of technical experts from Germany and the United Kingdom.

Chileans believe that under the guidance of British and German experts, the warships built by Australasia are absolutely guaranteed.

Under Arthur's witness, the Chilean diplomatic team and the Royal Dockyard signed a treaty.

If it is determined that the new warship meets most of Chile's requirements, then the warship order will be officially effective. If it cannot meet the requirements, then the warship order will be officially invalidated.

If the warship order is invalidated, the Chileans do not need to pay any money.

This is also why the Chileans are willing to sign the treaty. After all, before the warship order takes effect, the Chileans do not need to spend money.

In fact, Arthur also has a purpose to reach such a treaty with the Chileans. After all, in terms of super dreadnoughts, Australasia can be regarded as independent research and has no reference.

If there is an order from Chile, the shipyard will have the opportunity to accumulate experience when building super dreadnoughts in the future. When it comes to building super dreadnoughts for Australasia in the future, the shipyard will be able to do it with ease. Not only will the construction efficiency be accelerated, but the probability of problems will also be greatly reduced.

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