As a small warship with a tonnage of less than 3,000 tons, the biggest role of the coastal defense ship is to patrol the coast of Australia and discover and report possible enemy movements in a timely manner.

Because of the tonnage, this makes it absolutely impossible for a shore protection frigate to be an opponent of a warship of medium size or above, and even in the face of a warship of more than 5,000 tons, this kind of small shore protection frigate has no room for resistance.

The Japanese delegation headed by Koichiro Yuzawa did not have much interest in this small warship, but it still gave a very face-saving tour.

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

These two warships look much larger than the previous shore protection frigates, and they are also much 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, and is one of the relatively outstanding medium-sized warships in the world, and it is also the most powerful warship that the Australian Navy is currently expected to equip.

The construction of these two warships did not take a long time, and after nearly half a year of full construction, the construction of the warships has also entered the final stage.

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

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

"Mr. Minister, the warship under construction in your country seems to be different from the warships of the German and the warships of the British Empire. Is this a warship developed by your country itself? On the cruiser Duke Arthur, Koichiro Yuzawa watched intently as Australian and German experts directed many workers to carry out various construction and tests on the warship, and asked the Australian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs beside him with great interest.

"So to speak, Mr. Koichiro Yuzawa. The two warships, called the Duke-class armored cruisers, were originally improved by the shipyards of His Royal Highness the Duke from the British medium frigates, and were refined by these German specialists to have the advantages of German warships and the warships of the British Empire, while also making up for many shortcomings. Although this is only a medium-sized warship, it does 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 very powerful warship. Australia's Under Minister for Foreign Affairs explained with a smile.

This brings us to the shipyard created by Duke Arthur. Because of Duke Arthur's fame and power in the British Empire, he also successfully recruited many British shipbuilding talents.

As the country with the largest shipbuilding industry and navy in the world at that time and even now, the strength of the British Empire's thriving shipbuilding industry can be imagined.

With the convergence of these talents, it is not surprising that the existing frigates of the British Empire were improved.

And the improvement of German experts is also well understood, the two countries have different ideas about warships, which may have advantages and disadvantages, but they can be a good inspiration and improvement of warships.

This was the case with the Duke-class armored cruisers, which, thanks to the improvements of many specialists from the British and German Empires, already had a decent level of strength, at least among the best in small and medium-sized warships.

"Sure enough." Koichiro Yuzawa nodded with a little admiration and said with a smile: "Judging from the improved technology of this armored cruiser, it seems that it is not difficult for Australia to master more advanced battleships. It is enviable that your country has such abundant assistance from Germany, and if you have the latest battleships, don't forget us. ”

"Hahaha." Australia's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs laughed and said, "Isn't your country also supported by the British Empire?" In just a few decades, your country has developed to such a point that it is not much worse than the old powers such as Italy and Spain in Europe. If you give your country a little more time, it will not be a problem to achieve complete self-production of battleships. ”

Although the rise of the island nation is indispensable to the massive support of the British Empire and the United States, it has to be admitted that this country located in East Asia has exploded with amazing potential.

There are many reasons why the German Empire was able to rise rapidly from independence to become the world's largest army and the world's top three powerful naval powers because the predecessor of the German Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, was a brave and warlike country.

Coupled with the fact that it is located in Western Europe and can absorb the most advanced technology and knowledge from all over the world, the German Empire has become the second largest power in the world so quickly.

But what about island nations? Because of its location in East Asia, even contact with Western countries is because they are forcibly opened with strong ships and cannons.

Before that, the technology of the island nation was not even as good as that of some of the eastern powers next door, let alone those European powers that had colonized the whole world.

Looking at the history of the island nation, how many years have it been since the real beginning of the reform and restoration? It's only thirty-five years.

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

In such a short period of time, he completely reversed his role change, completely pulled himself back from the abyss of becoming a colony, and even oppressed and colonized other countries and regions in turn.

It is somewhat unrealistic to attribute these credits 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 quickly grow into a regional hegemon like an island nation? No one, or rather, no country can do it.

Even the British Empire did not expect that the little brother who was just trying to raise a regional confrontation with the Tsarist Russian Empire would one day grow into a behemoth of the same level (great powers) as himself.

Koichiro Yuzawa and the vice minister of foreign affairs touted each other for a while, and then they were a little reluctant to shift the topic to the warship.

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

Originally, Koichiro Yuzawa didn't have any 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 Australian shipyard building the warship, his mind immediately changed.

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

But what good things can the British Empire give to the island nations? Basically, they are all blueprints of warships that the British Empire has obsolete from the British Empire, and even those production technologies that seem to be very advanced are slightly backward to the European mainstream.

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

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

But Australia's Duke-class armored cruisers made Koichiro Yuzawa change his mind.

Although the Duke-class armored cruisers still have no room for resistance in the face of large warships, they have a huge advantage in the face of other small and medium-sized warships, and can do a very good job of cruising the coast and escorting merchant ships and transport ships.

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

As a result, in addition to large fleets, island nations also need many small and medium-sized warships to patrol the coast and protect the security of the sea and coast.

You can't let those big warships go to patrol the coast, right? First, the number of large warships is not large, and it is really useless to use them for patrols.

Second, the cost of cruising large warships is not proportional to the cost of small warships, and if it is not for some exercises and strategic objectives, there is no point in ordinary cruising and dispatching large warships.

After all, a simple problem can be solved by dispatching small and medium-sized warships, and it is not necessary to dispatch large warships to fight mosquitoes with artillery.

"Yes, Mr. Koichiro Yuzawa. Although the information of the Duke-class armored cruiser is important information for Australia that cannot be passed on to the public, it is okay for your country to take a look at it as an important friend of Australia. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a smile.

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

"Mr. Koichiro Yuzawa, this is the information you want about the Duke-class armored cruiser, these materials are very important to Australia, and I hope you will not spread it." After instructing his subordinates to retrieve the streamlined warship information, the vice minister of foreign affairs said to Koichiro Yuzawa with a smile on his face.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Minister. Thank you and your country for your trust in us, please rest assured that I will not pass on all the contents of this information, but will only lock it firmly in my heart. Yuzawa Koichiro didn't expect that the Australian side would agree to let him watch the materials, but after actually getting some information about the Duke-class armored cruiser, Yuzawa Koichiro was a little excited, and equally a little surprised and honored.

In fact, the Australian side is not so generous either. Most of the information on the Duke-class armored cruisers that Koichiroshi Yuzawa was able to obtain was information that had already been released to the outside world or could be made public, and had no impact on the design of the warship itself.

These materials are basically the basic information on the number, category and tonnage of cannons equipped on warships, and the speed of navigation, and a few of the more important materials are also the data of warships that have not been improved before, which has no impact on the current armored cruisers.

But where does Koichiro Yuzawa understand so much? As a diplomatic professional, although he has some knowledge of weapons and equipment 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 cruisers, and determine whether the island nation needs to buy several such warships to strengthen its coastal patrol and protection capabilities.

I saw that the information clearly stated that the Australian Duke-class armored cruiser was an improved version of the Orlando-class armored cruiser of the British Empire, and evolved into the current design after further refinement by German experts.

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

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

At least in terms of speed, this armored cruiser does not seem to have any shortcomings at present, especially on the basis of taking into account armor protection, and it also has such excellent speed, which has exceeded Yuzawa Koichiro's expectations.

And in terms of firepower, the Duke-class armored cruiser shown on the information had two 234-mm main guns and ten 152-mm guns, as well as several six-pounder, three-pounder small guns.

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

"What a perfect piece! Your Excellency, how much does this Duke-class armored cruiser cost? If I could, I would like to be able to order a couple of armored cruisers to compensate for the lack of strength of our small and medium-sized warships. Yuzawa Koichiro was a little impressed by the data of this warship, and 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. Koichiro Yuzawa. The Duke-class armored cruiser sold for no more than sixty thousand pounds, and the cost was around forty thousand pounds. If your country asks for it, we can reduce the price to fifty-two thousand pounds and promise to build it as soon as possible. The Deputy Foreign Minister thought for a moment before speaking.

The actual cost of an armored cruiser was just over 30,000 pounds, and the profit of each armored cruiser amounted to more than 20,000 pounds.

If the island nation can be more generous on the small and medium-sized warships and order a few more, maybe the funds for the expansion of the Australian Navy will not have to come out of it themselves.

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

After all, in terms of data and performance, this is the best of a medium-sized warship, and it is normal for the price to be a little more expensive.

4,000 words 2-in-1 chapter, ask for support. (People are in the hospital, and they can only keep 4,000 words updated in these two days)

(End of chapter)