Chapter 331: Chapter 288: Hope-class Battleship_2

If the combat effectivess of these two battlecruisers is comparable to that of dreadnoughts, th Australasia will be able to welcome five dreadnought-class main battleships, and the navy's combat power can surpass that of bottom-ranking powers like the Island Nation, thus providing some means of self-protection.

With the construction of the Australasian navy, it is evidt that the national pride of Australasia is growing higher and higher.

It has to be admitted that, for this era, the navy is indeed the most important branch of all military forces.

A powerful nation can be without a strong army, but it cannot be without a strong navy to protect its coastline and territory.

Of course, landlocked countries are another matter. But in this age of colonization, it is not easy for a landlocked country to become a power.

How important is the navy? It can be said that if Australasia had a few more dreadnoughts, it could really clamor for the status of a power.

Moreover, by participating in one or two naval battles and fiercely slapping the faces of bottom-ranking powers, they can become a recognized new power by stepping on the status of those lower-ranking powers.

However, there is no need for Australasia to do so. What Australasia lacks now is not the status of a power, but the real strgth and foundation of top-level powers.

Not to mtion, the Island Nation is now indeed referred to as the Eighth Power. But the question is, apart from those decaying nations such as the Ottoman Turkish Empire, which power would take a country like the Island Nation seriously?

Ev the equally decaying Russian Empire, if it moved all its forces and navy in Europe to the Far East, the Island Nation might not necessarily be a match for the Tsardom of Russia.

This is the real strgth and foundation of the old powers, which Arthur and Australasia have be longing for.

During this time, the experts of the shipyard also made progress. Ev t warship designs have be completed, but each design is still a certain distance from Arthur's requiremts.

Among all the requiremts of Arthur and the Chileans, tonnage is actually the easiest thing to achieve.

The simplest way to increase tonnage is to install thicker armor on various parts of the warship.

Armor can greatly increase the tonnage of a warship, and by making the warship's volume larger, it is easy to reach the 8,000 tons required by the Chileans.

But the problem is that such a warship is esstially an empty shell. Mindlessly increasing the volume and thickness of the armor will significantly reduce the power of the warship.

The change here is the addition of four mixed combustion boilers, which also gives the new battleship an estimated power of 34,000 horsepower and a cruising speed of at least knots.

In terms of armor protection, the new battleship will increase the thickness of the main armor belt to 6.5 inches, the deck to 3.5 inches, the watertight bulkhead to 4-8 inches, the gun turret to .5 inches, the gun mount to inches, and the command tower to .5 inches.

This level of protection is a huge improvemt compared to previous dreadnoughts. Coupled with the improvemts in firepower and power, Arthur believes that the new battleship's combat strgth would increase by at least 40% compared to the currt St Vinct-class battleships.

Of course, a 40% increase in combat strgth is a relatively conservative estimate. No one can guarantee what will happ on a real naval battlefield, but the new battleship's actual combat capabilities will indeed crush older dreadnoughts.

Arthur is very satisfied with the design of the new battleship and ultimately decides that the design of Australasia's first super dreadnought will be based on the currt blueprint.

After much deliberation, Arthur decides to name Australasia's super-dreadnought the Hope-class battleship.

Hope signifies the hope of national rise. Arthur hopes to rely on the super-dreadnought to continue Australasia's dream of rise, to radiate Australasia's distinctive colors and let the world hear Australasia's voice.

The establishmt of the super-dreadnought design plan is a good reason for Arthur to feel pleased, and he has also begun to reward the experts of the Royal Shipyard gerously.

First of all, each person has a reward of ,000 Australian dollars, and for the main designers of the Hope-class battleship, corresponding medals will be awarded as couragemt.

Arthur is very gerous to the scitists and other talts in his hands, as these talts are the hope of Australasia's rise.

Ev if they each receive a reward of ,000 Australian dollars, it only adds up to just over 00 shipbuilding experts involved in the design of the super dreadnought.

More than million Australian dollars were exchanged for the blueprint of the Hope-class battleship, an investmt that seems worth it no matter how one thinks.

Since more than 60% of the technology for the Hope-class battleship needs to be imported or purchased from the United Kingdom, this has led to the construction cost of the battleship being much higher than the Monarch-class battleship.

According to the shipyard experts' conservative estimates, the cost of a Hope-class battleship could exceed million pounds and might ev reach a . million pounds.

How to price the Hope-class battleship became a headache for Arthur. If based on the profit of the Monarch-class battleship, the price of the Hope-class battleship might be close to 3 million pounds, a price that Chileans may not be able to afford.

Moreover, in Arthur's view, the Chileans' naval order is an opportunity for the shipyard to practice building super-dreadnoughts, so it seems necessary to lower the price of the warship again.