The Rise of Australia

Needless to say, there is no need to say much about the coast defense ship. As a small warship with a tonnage of less than 3,000 tons, the biggest role of the coast protection frigate is to patrol the coast of Australia and promptly discover and report possible enemy movements.

Because of the tonnage, it is absolutely impossible for a coast protection frigate to be an opponent of medium-sized or larger warships. Even if it is faced with a warship of more than 5,000 tons, such a small coast protection frigate has no room for resistance.

The Japanese delegation headed by Yuzawa Koichiro was not very interested in this kind of small warship, but they still took a tour to save face.

After the three relatively small coastal protection frigates, there are two armored cruisers under construction.

Compared with the previous coastal protection frigates, these two warships look much larger and more formal.

As a medium-sized warship with a tonnage of more than 5,000 tons, the Duke-class armored cruiser also combines the advantages of German warships and British warships in terms of performance. It is one of the outstanding medium-sized warships in the world and is also a promising equipment for the Australian Navy. The most powerful warship.

The construction time of these two warships is not very long. After nearly half a year of full-scale construction, the construction work of the warships has also come to an end.

As Australia's current distinguished guests, Hirano Minsuke and Yuzawa Koichiro naturally also got the opportunity to board these two warships.

Although it is still in the construction stage, the main body of the warship has actually been completed, and all that is missing is the installation of the artillery and other hardware.

"Mr. Minister, the warship your country is building seems to be different from the German warships and the warships of the British Empire. Is this a warship independently developed by your country?" Yuzawa Koichiro said attentively on the cruiser Duke Arthur. While watching Australian and German experts directing many workers to carry out various construction and testing of warships, they asked the Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs next to them with great interest.

"You can also say the same, Mr. Yuzawa Koichiro. These two warships are called Duke-class armored cruisers. They were originally improved by His Royal Highness the Duke's shipyard based on British medium-sized frigates. After improvements by these German experts, they have the German characteristics The advantages of warships and British Empire warships also make up for many shortcomings. Although this is only a medium-sized warship, it will not play a very important role in the situation of a naval battle. But at least in terms of small and medium-sized warships, this is already a It’s a very powerful warship.” Australia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs explained with a smile.

This has to mention the shipyard founded by Duke Arthur. Because of Duke Arthur's previous reputation and power in the British Empire, he also successfully recruited many British shipbuilding talents.

As a country that ranked first in the world in shipbuilding and navy at that time and even now, one can imagine the strength of the British Empire's booming shipbuilding industry.

With the gathering of these talents, it is not surprising to improve the existing frigates of the British Empire.

The improvements made by German experts are also easy to understand. Both countries have different ideas about warships, which may have advantages and disadvantages, but they can very well inspire and improve warships.

This is the case with the Duke-class armored cruiser. After improvements by many experts from the British Empire and the German Empire, this medium-sized cruiser already has good strength, at least one of the best among small and medium-sized warships.

"As expected." Yuzawa Koichiro nodded with slight admiration and said with a smile: "With the improved technology of this armored cruiser, it seems that it is not difficult for Australia to master more advanced battleships. Your country has such generous aid from Germany. It’s really enviable. If you have the latest battleship, don’t forget us.”

"Hahaha." Australia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs laughed and said with a smile: "Don't your country also have the strong support of the British Empire? Your country has developed to such an extent in just a few decades, even compared to Italy, Spain and other established powers in Europe are not far behind. If you give your country a little more time, it won't be a problem to achieve complete self-production of battleships."

Although the rise of the island country is indispensable for the massive support of the British Empire and the United States, we have to admit that this country in East Asia has exploded with amazing potential.

The reason why the German Empire was able to rise rapidly from independence and become the world's number one army and one of the top three naval powers is because the predecessor of the German Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, was a brave and capable country.

Coupled with being located in Western Europe, it was able to absorb the most advanced technology and knowledge from all over the world, which allowed the German Empire to become the world's second largest power so quickly.

But what about island countries? Because it is located in East Asia, even contact with Western countries was forced to use strong ships and cannons to open the country.

The technology of the island country before this was not even as good as that of a large Eastern country next door, let alone those European powers that had colonized the whole world.

Taking a closer look at the history of the island country, how many years has it been since the reform really started? It only takes thirty-five years to make a full calculation.

But what amazing achievements has the island nation accomplished? From a remote island country with extremely backward technology and knowledge, it has become a regional power that has initially achieved industrialization and Westernization. It has even begun to compete with established powers such as the Russian Empire for hegemony in some regions.

A complete reversal of roles in such a short period of time completely pulled itself back from the abyss of becoming a colony, and even went so far as to oppress and colonize other countries and regions.

It is somewhat unrealistic to attribute this credit to the support of the British Empire and the United States. Both the British Empire and the United States have funded a large number of countries and supported many forces and regimes over a long period of time.

But who can grow into a regional hegemon as quickly as an island country? No one, or no country, can do it.

Not even the British Empire thought that the little brother they just wanted to raise for regional confrontation with the Russian Empire would one day grow into a behemoth of the same level (great power) as itself.

Yuzawa Koichiro and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs complimented each other for a while, and then reluctantly changed the topic to the warship.

"Mr. Minister, do you have detailed information about this armored cruiser in your country? I am very interested in this warship. It is one of the outstanding ships that can cruise the coast." Yuzawa Koichiro asked with a smile.

Originally, Yuzawa Koichiro had no idea about Australia's small warships. After all, the island country itself also has the production technology of small warships, and most of the technology comes from the British Empire, which is naturally world-class.

But when Koichiro Yuzawa witnessed the construction of this warship at an Australian shipyard, his mind immediately changed.

Although the island nation possesses many production technologies for small and medium-sized warships, all of these technologies and drawings were taught by experts from the British Empire.

But what good things can the British Empire give to island countries? Basically, they are all warship drawings that have been eliminated by the British Empire. Even those seemingly very advanced production technologies are slightly behind the mainstream of Europe.

With slightly backward production technology and outdated warship drawings, what will the small and medium-sized warships built look like?

The reason why Yuzawa Koichiro is satisfied with the small and medium-sized warships produced by the island country is that the small and medium-sized warships do not play a big role in actual naval battles, and they are just cannon fodder in the face of large warships.

But Australia's Duke-class armored cruiser made Yuzawa Koichiro change his view.

Although the Duke-class armored cruiser still has no room for resistance against large warships, it has a huge advantage over other small and medium-sized warships and can very well undertake the work of cruising the coast and guarding merchant ships and transport ships.

You know, the island country is a veritable island country with a large number of islands and maritime territories.

This has resulted in island countries needing many small and medium-sized warships in addition to large fleets to patrol the coast and protect the safety of the ocean and coast.

We can't let those large warships cruise the coast, right? First of all, there are not many large warships, and they are really useless for patrolling.

Secondly, the cost of cruising a large warship is not proportional to the cost of a small warship. If it is not for some exercises and strategic goals, it makes no sense to dispatch large warships for ordinary cruises.

After all, simple problems can be solved by dispatching small and medium-sized warships, instead of dispatching large warships to kill mosquitoes with cannons.

"Yes, Mr. Yuzawa Koichiro. Although the information about the Duke-class armored cruiser is important information for Australia that cannot be shared externally, as an important friend of Australia, it doesn't hurt to take a look." The Deputy Foreign Minister said with a smile. .

Although it is only a medium-sized warship, the information on the Duke-class armored cruiser is still dozens of pages thick, and this is after subtracting the design drawings of the warship and some important information.

"Mr. Yuzawa Koichiro, this is the information you want about the Duke-class armored cruiser. This information is very important to Australia, and we hope that it will not be spread to outsiders." After instructing his subordinates to get the streamlined warship information, the diplomat The deputy minister said to Yuzawa Koichiro with a smile on his face.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Minister. Thank you and your country for trusting us. Please rest assured that I will never share any of the contents of this document. I will only keep it firmly locked in my heart." Yuzawa Koichiro He didn't expect that Australia would agree to let him view the information. After actually getting some information about the Duke-class armored cruiser, Yuzawa Koichiro was a little excited, but also a little surprised and honored.

In fact, Australia is not so generous. Most of the information about the Duke-class armored cruiser that Yuzawa Koichiroshi can obtain is information that has been or can be disclosed to the outside world, and has no impact on the warship design itself.

These data are basically the basic information on the number, type and tonnage of cannons installed on warships, and their speed. A few of the more important data are also the previous unimproved warship data and have no impact on current armored cruisers.

But how could Yuzawa Koichiro know so much? As a professional in diplomacy, although he has some experience in weaponry and warship design, he only knows and understands some designs.

Of course, these are enough. Yuzawa Koichiro's purpose is also very simple, that is, to obtain and analyze the data of the Duke-class armored cruiser and determine whether the island country needs to purchase several such warships to strengthen its coastal patrol and protection capabilities.

The information clearly states that the Australian Duke-class armored cruiser is an improved version of the British Empire's Orlando-class armored cruiser, and was further improved by German experts into its current design.

The Duke-class armored cruiser is 93.5 meters long, 17.63 meters wide, 7.01 meters high, and has 6,500 horsepower. Its regular speed reaches 18 knots, and its maximum speed in a short period of time reaches 19 knots.

This speed level is already the peak of current small and medium-sized warships, and can even be compared with some battleships.

At least in terms of speed, this armored cruiser currently seems to have no shortcomings. Especially on the basis of taking into account armor protection, it also has such excellent speed, which has exceeded Yuzawa Koichiro's expectations.

In terms of firepower, the Duke-class armored cruiser according to the data has two 234mm main guns and ten 152mm guns as well as several six-pounder cannons and three-pounder cannons.

Although the firepower is not that outstanding, considering that the Duke-class armored cruiser is only a medium-sized ship, with the advantages of speed and armor, it is already very good to have the firepower of a medium-sized warship or above.

"What a perfect work! Mr. Minister, how much is the price of this Duke-class armored cruiser? If possible, I hope to order a few more armored cruisers to make up for the lack of strength of our small and medium-sized warships." Yuzawa Koichiro was somewhat impressed by the data of this warship. After reading all the information, he couldn't wait to say to the Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who was waiting with a smile.

"Of course, Mr. Yuzawa Koichiro. The price of this Duke-class armored cruiser is no more than 60,000 pounds, and the cost is about 40,000 pounds. Since your country requires the purchase, we can reduce the price to 50,000 taels. Thousand pounds, and promised to build it as soon as possible." The Deputy Foreign Minister thought for a while before speaking.

The actual cost of an armored cruiser is only a little over 30,000 pounds, and the profit from each armored cruiser reaches more than 20,000 pounds.

If the island country can be more generous with small and medium-sized warships and order a few more ships, maybe Australia will not have to fund the expansion of its navy.

Yuzawa Koichiro nodded, not doubting that the cost of the Duke-class armored cruiser was slightly higher than that of an ordinary medium-sized warship.

After all, in terms of data and performance, this is a leader in medium-sized warships, and it is normal for the price to be a little higher.

Four thousand words in two chapters, please support me. (I am in the hospital and can only keep 4,000 words updated in the past two days)