Chapter 260 New Artillery Technology and Submarines
On August 11, Arthur attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the battleship New Zealand, which had to be postponed due to the slow progress of Russian warship construction, and encouraged the workers of the Royal Dockyard.
Starting with the first battleship Australasia in January, the Royal Dockyard has started three battleships in succession. The fastest battleship Australasia is even expected to be completed around March or April next year, 1909, and the final launching test will be carried out.
This is good news for Australasia, after all, March and April are only about half a year away from now.
However, although looking forward to the launching test of the battleship, Arthur still repeatedly told the shipyard manager and all workers to carefully grasp the quality of the warship construction. What Australasia needs is a warship with strong strength, excellent performance, and can withstand the actual test of war, definitely not a showpiece.
The good news is that Australasian industry and shipbuilding were established with the help of the Germans, and the Germans' old-fashioned and serious character also deeply influenced these Australasian workers.
At least Australasia's industrial products can stand the test. Even if they are not as meticulous as Germany, they are definitely striving for excellence.
At present, the sea trials of the two Russian warships are very smooth, and the fastest battleship, the Peter Pavlovsk, can even be officially delivered around October this year.
Judging from the current performance of the Peter Pavlovsk battleship in the maritime link, the actual performance of the Monarch-class battleship is not much different from the paper data. It is a real dreadnought that can be comparable to the Dreadnought battleship in all aspects.
It is worth mentioning that Germany's first Nassau-class battleship has been successfully launched, but the performance reflected in the test link is not satisfactory.
Fortunately, because there is no comparison, the Germans still have some confidence in the Nassau-class battleship.
But with the Monarch-class battleship technology of Australasia, the Germans compared the two warships in all aspects, and even produced a sample ship for comparison. In the end, they had to admit that the design of the Monarch-class battleship was better than that of the Nassau-class battleship, and the 305mm main gun was definitely more powerful than the 283mm main gun.
More importantly, Germany's closest ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, happened to have such artillery technology. Under the consultation of the two governments, Germany quickly introduced the technology of 305mm naval guns from the Austro-Hungarian Skoda Arsenal. In return, Germany would help the Austro-Hungarian Empire to have dreadnoughts.
Such an exchange is not a loss for Germany. After all, the 305mm main gun can greatly improve the current firepower level of German battleships, and after the Austro-Hungarian Empire has dreadnoughts, it can also increase its influence in the Mediterranean and threaten the southern coast of France and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Germans also kept their promises. After obtaining the 305mm main gun technology of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they shared a copy with Australasia.
The Germans obtained the artillery technology in July and delivered it to Australasia in mid-August, which was also the day when the cabinet members had been determined.
After obtaining the artillery technology provided by the Germans, Arthur immediately summoned all the artillery experts in the military factories and gathered the strength of the whole country to master the 305mm main gun technology as soon as possible.
At this time, there were fewer German experts in Australasia. This was because the aid treaty signed with the Germans at that time was only for five years. However, because the diplomatic relations between Germany and Australasia were closer, some experts stayed for a few more years.
From the signing of the aid treaty in 1900 to August 1908, Germany has sent a total of 1,215 experts of various types to Australasia. These experts have delivered a large amount of advanced industrial and technological knowledge to Australasia.
So far, there are less than 200 German experts still staying in Australasia, and the specific number is even only 141.
These 141 people are the result of the efforts of the Australasian government for eight years, and finally these 141 people are permanently retained in Australasia.
Of course, it must be a relatively peaceful means. The Australasian government has provided a lot of convenient conditions and policies, which has retained one-ninth of the talents of the entire expert group.
A considerable number of them are experts in military factories and shipyards, accounting for 93 experts, and the rest are talents in chemical industry, basic industry and other industries.
At present, most of these experts have successfully obtained the citizenship of Australasia, and the rest are already under consideration.
Arthur gave very generous conditions for winning over. In addition to their annual salary remaining unchanged, he also promised to invite all their families to Australasia, and let them obtain citizenship as quickly as possible and enjoy the treatment of Australasia citizens.
At the same time, all the conditions for immigration will be obtained, which also means that the families of these German experts will at least get dozens of acres of land when they come to Australasia, and their lives can be fully guaranteed.
William II maintained a tacit attitude towards Arthur's behavior of attracting talents. After all, Germany and Australasia had a good relationship, and Germany had a lot of talents, so it would not be dissatisfied with Australasia because of these more than 100 talents.
With Arthur's order, under the leadership of dozens of German experts, hundreds of artillery experts from military factories began to conduct a comprehensive study on the 305mm main gun technology provided by Germany, striving to master the technology as quickly as possible and then equip it on the battleship Australasia.
At present, the two Russian warships have been launched for testing, so they can only wait for Australasia to master the technology and spend time to replace the main guns of the two battleships.
However, the good news is that it will not take too long to replace the main guns. It can be replaced in as little as half a month or as long as one or two months. The replacement of the main gun can basically be completed.
Moreover, these disassembled 283mm main guns can also be installed on the coast of Australasia and used as coastal defense artillery. It can not only solve the problem of waste, but also strengthen the defense capabilities of the coast of Australasia.
In addition, the submarine technology provided by Germany is basically controlled by Australasia. Because Germany's current submarine technology remains on the U-3 class submarine, and it is the first two U-3 class submarines, so the technology is not too advanced, at least in Europe.
Germany's U-3 class submarine construction plan has a total of 20 submarines, divided into seven groups. Germany's goal is to improve the performance of each group of U-3 class submarines to a certain extent, which is also the reason why the technical level of German submarines has risen rapidly in the later period.
At present, Germany's U-3 class submarines are still under construction for the first two submarines, namely U-3 and U-4, which are also the initial U-3 class submarines.
This type of U-3 class submarine has a surface displacement of 421 tons and an underwater displacement of 510 tons. The length of the submarine is about 53.1 meters, the surface speed can reach about 12 knots, and the underwater speed can reach 9.4 knots.
Such submarines are still lagging behind France and Italy, where submarines are more mature at present. Perhaps William II also knows this reason, so he generously shared the design drawings of U-5 to 7 submarines that are still on the design table with Australasia.
This is the second group of U-3 class submarines. The German Navy has higher requirements for this group of submarines.
According to the design drawings, the displacement of the second group of submarines is much larger than that of the first group of submarines, and each submarine must be equipped with at least three engines to allow the submarine's surface speed to reach at least fourteen knots.
In addition, the German Navy also requires that the submarines of this group have a cruising range of at least 2,000 nautical miles, carry about 20 crew members, and be able to ensure that the submarines can dive continuously for 72 hours to perform tasks.
In terms of firepower, two torpedo tubes are arranged at the bow and stern of the submarine, and the total number of torpedoes carried by the submarine is about 6 to 8.
According to the design drawings, the second group of submarines can almost meet the requirements of the German Navy. The surface speed is expected to be about 14 knots, the underwater speed can be maintained at more than 9 knots, and the maximum speed can be maintained at 10 to 11 knots.
To be honest, the performance data of the first group of submarines and the second group of submarines are simply incomparable. The second group of submarines are the submarines that can really enter actual combat, and they are also designs that can satisfy Arthur.
Although the second group of submarines only exist on the design table, Arthur believes in the technology of the German Navy. After all, according to historical development, the technology of German submarines has indeed experienced rapid progress during this period.
Of course, it is not enough to rely on the efforts of the Germans alone. Australasia's own research is also very important.
Anyway, the cost of submarines is not too expensive. Arthur immediately ordered the shipyard to work hard to understand the first group of submarine designs of the U-3 class submarines and build a submarine to familiarize themselves with the process.
After that, it is a comprehensive study of the second group of submarine designs. As long as both himself and Germany are sure that the design drawings are fine, it is time to vigorously build submarines.
After dealing with this episode of the navy, the time came to late August, which is the time for the cabinet meeting decided by Arthur.
Although in theory this is just a normal cabinet meeting, it is the first meeting after the cabinet reform after all, and it also ushered in several new cabinet ministers, so it is still relatively important.
At this cabinet meeting, Archbishop Steed of Australasia, Chief Justice Gerry of the Kingdom, and Defense Minister Raul will appear for the first time, and Sir Evan will return to the cabinet government in a new identity.
In addition, the son of Kent's housekeeper, the former Minister of Defense, officially became the Minister of State of the Cabinet Government, and the Cabinet Government's position should also usher in a significant change.
However, for Arthur, the impact is not great. After all, Arthur controls the most important finance and defense, and Secretary of State Kent is also a loyal talent that Arthur trusts very much. There is no need to worry that the cabinet will have a faction against him.
According to the current situation, the relationship between the Speaker of the House of Representatives Evan and the Chief Minister Walter will definitely not return to the previous government.
One is the former prime minister and the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the other is the former Minister of People's Livelihood and the current Prime Minister. If nothing unexpected happens, these two people should attack the Chief Minister of the next Cabinet Government, which also dooms their relationship to be impossible.
It can even be said that after serving as cabinet ministers for three consecutive terms, the prime ministers of several Australian colonies will become the most threatening competitors if they want to continue to stay in the cabinet government.
In addition to these senior cabinet ministers, the current cabinet government also has loyalists appointed by Arthur himself, as well as cabinet rookies who have been elected with the support of political parties.
However, the only two political parties that have obtained cabinet seats, the United Party and the Country Party, are biased towards Arthur, which greatly reduces the possibility of the emergence of opposition factions in the cabinet.
On August 21, 1908, the cabinet meeting that had been prepared for half a month was officially held.
This cabinet meeting received Arthur's attention, and the venue of the meeting was also chosen in the largest and most formal conference hall of Sydney Palace.
Since more than seven o'clock in the morning, there have been cabinet ministers waiting outside the door. Before the cabinet meeting officially started at eight o'clock, all cabinet ministers were in place, quietly waiting for Arthur's arrival.
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