Chapter 329: Chapter 287: The Chilean’s Super Dreadnought Ambition

As time moved into October 1910, Arthur received another piece of good news: the Australia Battleship and New Zealand Battleship had officially entered the naval service.

That’s right, after nearly a year of sea trials, these two battleships had finally passed the tests and truly became naval warships.

Through more than a year of operation and experimentation, navy soldiers had become very familiar with these two battleships, and their combat capabilities had gradually taken shape.

At present, the navy of Australasia had three dreadnought battleships and two battlecruisers nearing completion. The size and combat capabilities of the navy had come a long way compared to before.

At the same time, Australasia welcomed guests from South America.

Like the naval arms race in Europe, in recent periods, and even from the late 19th century to now, several major countries in South America, particularly the three largest – Chile, Argentina, and Brazil – engaged in a series of fierce naval arms races due to territorial disputes.

Chile and Argentina even broke into conflicts due to territorial disputes, ultimately restoring peace with the mediation of the United Kingdom.

However, the competitive relationship between the three countries did not end with temporary peace. After the conflict, the United Kingdom sold two Constitutional-class pre-dreadnoughts to Chile, followed by Argentina ordering two Rivadavia-class battleships from Italy.

When the Dreadnought-class battleship was born, Brazil decided in 1907 to stop buying pre-dreadnought battleships and use all its funds to purchase the newly born Dreadnoughts.

This year, the United Kingdom completed the construction of two Minas Gerais-class battleships for Brazil, making Brazil the fifth country in the world to have dreadnought battleships after the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and Australasia.

In fact, in history, Brazil should have been the third country to have dreadnought battleships, but the presence of Arthur and Australasia led to Australasia and Russia acquiring dreadnought battleships ahead of schedule.

With the two dreadnought battleships officially in service, Brazil’s naval strength rose above all other countries in South America.

It was precisely because of these two dreadnought battleships that the South American naval race officially began, with major countries purchasing more powerful dreadnought battleships to counterbalance their rivals.

Earlier this year, the Chilean National Assembly approved a resolution allocating at least 4 million pounds for naval expansion, including two large battleships of over 20,000 tons, six destroyers, and two submarines.

Initially, the Chilean government planned to choose a company to build dreadnought battleships for them through bidding.

However, due to the busy schedule of British and German shipyards building dreadnought battleships for their own countries, the participating bidding companies were basically shipyards from small and medium-sized European countries.

This disheartened the Chilean government. After all, none of the countries where these bidding shipyards were located had dreadnought battleships, and the Chilean government did not believe that these shipyards could build very powerful dreadnought battleships.

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

Although Australasia was not significantly different from those small and medium-sized European countries overall, it was a country that had reached two ship trade agreements with one of the Powers, Russia. The performance and combat capabilities of the warships they built must have gained the trust and recognition of the Russians.

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

If the battleships built by Australasia could meet the combat needs of the Powers, couldn’t they meet the combat requirements of Chile?

With this in mind, the Chilean government sent a visiting group to Australasia to investigate in person.

The Chilean delegation’s visit caught Arthur’s attention, or rather, he was interested in the delegation’s funds.

Although Arthur did not know that Chile had decided to purchase warships from Australasia, he knew that the South American naval race was underway, and that the arrival of the Chilean diplomatic team was most likely related to Australasia’s dreadnought battleships.

In fact, the Chilean delegation was indeed straightforward, expressing the intention of the Chilean government to examine Australasia’s dreadnought battleships from the outset.

After hearing Foreign Minister Andrews’ report, Arthur didn’t think much of it and asked Minister Andrew to take the Chilean delegation to the Royal Shipyard.

During the trip to the Royal Shipyard, the minister’s conversation with the Chileans was somewhat surprising.

The Chileans’ requirements were quite high. For battleships, they wanted at least a 28,000-ton giant battleship equipped with 12-inch guns.

The 12-inch guns were easy to handle, as they were actually 305mm primary artillery, which all of Australasia’s dreadnought battleships were equipped with.

However, the issue was that the tonnage of the dreadnought battleships might be a problem. Even with the Monarch-class battleships, the full-load displacement was only 20,910 tons, far from the 28,000-ton giant battleship required by the Chileans.

In fact, the battleship built according to the Chilean’s request in the original history was the most powerful super dreadnought at that time.

With the development of the dreadnought, the caliber of the main guns had grown to 13.5 to 15 inches, the effective range of the firearms was constantly increasing, the main gun turrets were arranged on the longitudinal centerline of the hull, reducing or eliminating the turrets in the waist, and increasing the displacement to more than 25,000 tons. This level of dreadnought was commonly referred to as a super dreadnought.

In fact, the country that first developed and built super dreadnoughts is still the British Empire, which is why King George V was able to agree to give Arthur the blueprints and technology for the St. Vincent-class battleship.

The British Empire’s first super dreadnought was the Orion-class battleship, a new design of four main battleships by the British to cope with the pressure of the intense naval shipbuilding competition between Britain and Germany.

The Orion-class battleship emphasized firepower and was completely different from the previous dreadnoughts built by the British, who called it a super dreadnought.

An important change was that the Orion-class battleship was equipped with 13.5-inch main guns, far surpassing the 12-inch main guns of the St. Vincent-class battleships.

This allowed the battleship’s gun caliber to jump directly from 305mm to 343mm, greatly enhancing its firepower.

The first Orion-class battleship, Orion Battleship, had already begun construction at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and even quietly launched in August this year.

Thanks to the previous secrecy experience of the Dreadnought battleship, the secrecy of the Orion Battleship launch was done very well and has not yet been known to other countries.

Minister Andrew saw the absurd demands put forward by the Chileans which reminded Arthur of the super dreadnoughts that should be imminent or already born in history.

Larasia had finally become a world leader in dreadnoughts and naturally would not give up such a leading position easily.

Arthur made a decisive decision, summoning naval experts and asking them to design a large warship with a total tonnage of no less than 23,000 tons and a full-load displacement of no less than 27,000 tons, based on the requirements of the Chileans.

Arthur demanded not only to strengthen the firepower, but also to strengthen the armor protection and power system of military vessels, so that the military vessels could maintain a speed of about 21 knots under the premise of a large increase in size and weight.

For the experts at the naval shipyard, this was a difficult task, as they had no reference in such large military vessels. They could only rely on the drawings and materials of the Monarch-class and 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 Shipyard for several days, the Chileans were very satisfied with the Royal Shipyard of Larasia.

The only drawback was that the most advanced battleship currently controlled by the Royal Shipyard (only for external display and export of the Monarch-class) had a full-load displacement of just under 21,000 tons.

Even with some modifications to certain aspects, the Monarch-class battleship’s full-load displacement could not exceed 22,000 tons, which was quite a distance from the 28,000 tons the Chileans expected.

However, there was good news. Minister Andrew personally assured them that, by Arthur’s order, the Royal Shipyard was already designing a super warship with a full-load tonnage of around 28,000 tons, with a design requirement that catered to the needs of the Chileans, which would basically meet their requirements.

After careful consideration and consultation with the opinions of their domestic officials, the Chilean diplomatic team decided to reach an initial cooperation with the Royal Shipyard.

If the new warship designed by the Royal Shipyard meets the requirements of the Chileans, at least most of them, then the Chileans will officially sign a contract with the Royal Shipyard for two battleships, six destroyers, and two submarines.

The main reason the Chileans decided to wait for the Royal Shipyard’s design results was that the development of Larasia’s Royal Shipyard was indeed good, and the Royal Shipyard had a complete military ship system with battleships, destroyers and submarines, much more reliable than those smaller European countries without dreadnoughts.

In addition, the Chileans saw some German and British faces at the Royal Shipyard.

This also indicated that the Royal Shipyard of Larasia had the support of German and British technical experts.

The Chileans believed that under the guidance of British and German experts, the warships built by Larasia would definitely be guaranteed.

In Arthur’s presence, the Chilean diplomatic team signed a treaty with the Royal Shipyard.

If it is confirmed that the new warships meet most of Chile’s requirements, then the warship order will take effect. If the requirements are not met, then the warship order will be officially invalidated.

If the warship order is invalidated, the Chileans will not have to pay any funds.

This is also the reason why the Chileans are willing to sign the treaty, as they do not have to spend any money before the warship order is in effect.

In fact, Arthur also had a purpose in reaching such an agreement with the Chileans. After all, in the area of ​​super dreadnoughts, Larasia was also an independent and original research and had no references.

If there is an order from the Chileans, there will be a chance for the shipyard to accumulate experience when building super dreadnoughts in the future. When building super dreadnoughts for Larasia itself in the future, the shipyard will be able to handle them efficiently, not only speeding up construction but also significantly reducing the chances of problems arising.