The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 330: Chapter 288: Hope-class Battleship

The Chilean's concept of the super dreadnought swiftly awaked Arthur, who had be indulging in the dreams of Australasia's rise.

Although Australasia is currtly leading the world in tanks, airplanes, and dreadnoughts, and its military industry is absolutely world-class, it is still far from ough.

Under the influce of the intse arms race betwe Britain and Germany, the pace of their military technology replacemt is beyond Arthur's imagination.

Since its birth, the dreadnought has instantly become the most powerful battleship in the world. Ev now, there are only five countries that truly possess dreadnoughts.

Arthur was somewhat complact about this, as not only did Australasia possess dreadnoughts, but it also controlled the construction technology of advanced main fleet warships such as the Nassau-class battleship, Monarch-class battleship, St Vinct-class battleship, and Unified-class battlecruiser.

In the construction of dreadnought-class main fleet warships, Australasia could be said to rank after Britain and Germany, competing for third place in the world.

However, Arthur overlooked the speed of military technology replacemt in Britain and Germany during this period.

Admittedly, the dreadnought is still the most powerful warship in the world. But Britain has already developed and ev successfully built the super dreadnought, leading the world by far in warship technology and leaving the second and third places far behind.

If Australasia truly wants to rise, it must not be contt with its currt achievemts and should aim for greater heights, with a deep understanding of the world.

Thus, Arthur also made up his mind that ev if the deal for the super dreadnought order with Chile falls through, Australasia must develop its own super dreadnought with the fastest speed possible.

On October , 9, at Arthur's summons, the majority of naval shipbuilding experts in Australasia arrived at the Royal Shipyard, including the German experts who had settled in Australasia.

Arthur attded the meeting at the Royal Shipyard and gave the experts a requiremt to design a battleship with a total tonnage of at least 3,000 tons, a full load tonnage of at least 7,000 tons, a main gun caliber of 3.5 inches, and comprehsive upgrades in power, armor protection, and firepower.

For this purpose, Arthur prested the construction blueprints of the Monarch-class battleship and St Vinct-class battleship, allowing the experts to refer to the construction layout and technology of these two types of battleships and find ideas for designing new battleships.

Following Arthur's order, the shipbuilding experts began to get busy, starting to design the new warships in their minds.

Arthur set the design time to three months, with the person who successfully designs the battleship receiving a substantial reward and possibly ev a title of nobility.

This gerous condition attracted the thusiasm of many shipbuilding experts, and the Royal Shipyard was packed with them.

Fortunately, the construction of the two battlecruisers was almost completed, so ev though most of the experts at the Royal Shipyard were mobilized, it barely affected the final assembly of the two battlecruisers.

As time tered November 9, the Sydney Stock Exchange founded by Arthur gradually began to take shape.

The currt Sydney Stock Exchange has attracted more than t foreign capitals and hundreds of domestic small and medium-sized terprises in Australasia.

It has attracted millions of Australian dollars from foreign capital, allowing many small and medium-sized factories and terprises to break through t thousand dollars in assets.

The currt Sydney Stock Exchange can be described as bustling, with a daily flow of thousands of people and ts of thousands of Australian dollars in funds.

This year was a disaster for East Asia, with various natural and man-made disasters, plagues, and epidemics, causing huge losses to the region.

Australasia exported more than 4 million tons of grain this year, half of which was exported to East Asia, and was profitable for state-owned, royal, and private farms.

In mid-November, Arthur attded the launching ceremony of the two battlecruisers, which marked the completion of all the ships under Australasia's five-year shipbuilding plan, and the navy's first five-year plan had be completed.

For the second five-year shipbuilding plan proposed by the navy's internal drive, Arthur temporarily chose to suppress it.

For Australasia, there is no need to stack the number of dreadnoughts so high for the time being.

Before World War I, if the number of dreadnoughts in Australasia continued to increase, it would definitely attract the atttion and emphasis of European powers.

Ev if the powers have no other inttions, they will have a certain amount of apprehsion in the face of the increasingly powerful Australasian navy.

This is not good news for the developmt of Australasia, as Arthur still hopes to purchase 3.5-inch main gun technology from Britain, or at least buy dozs of 3.5-inch main guns to meet the installation of main guns for future super dreadnoughts.

If it draws the atttion and apprehsion of powerful European nations in advance, leading to a certain level of technology blockade from European countries against Australasia, that would be too counterproductive.

While the navy is undoubtedly important to Australasia, it would be unnecessary to develop the navy if it aroused the apprehsion of European countries.

Australasia may have a second navy five-year plan, but it should not be at this momt wh the clouds of war in Europe are looming.

Arthur's authority silced the naval officers, who could only pin their hopes on the training of the two newly built battlecruisers.