If Russia's slow action in the construction of dreadnoughts is due to two major shortcomings: insufficient research and development capabilities and insufficient funds, then France, as one of the old powers, is slow to move in terms of dreadnoughts.

In fact, the French are not slow to move on dreadnoughts, but because the navy has already spent money on the construction of the former dreadnought, the Denton-class battleships, not only does the navy have little budget, but the French shipyards do not have enough capacity to build new dreadnoughts.

Because of this, although the Danton-class battleships were behind the times after the birth of the Dreadnought, the French were still very persistent in waiting until 1911, when all the Danton-class battleships were completed and delivered, and then the construction plan of the Dreadnought began.

Not to mention whether it is stupid to do so, when France started the construction of dreadnoughts, other countries had already entered the era of super-dreadnoughts.

France's first dreadnought-class battleship was also honored to be the battleship that lagged behind in the dreadnought era.

The dreadnoughts were born when they were busy building pre-dreadnoughts, and the super-dreadnoughts were born when they were busy building dreadnoughts, so the French completely fell behind the times in the great naval changes, and never saw the tail lights of Britain and Germany again.

In addition to Britain, the country that started the era of dreadnoughts, the country that attaches the most importance to dreadnoughts and invests the most is the German Empire, the second great power.

After the birth of the battleship Dreadnought, it broke the delicate balance of the previous shipbuilding competition between British and German warships, and also intensified a new round of warship dumpling competition between Britain and Germany.

Germany's response to the Dreadnought was a new dreadnought, the Nassau-class battleship, which was rebuilt from the old 1901 battleship.

The Nassau-class battleships were enhanced with armor protection from the older ships, and also used the Dreadnought's all-heavy gun concept, equipped with 12 280 mm guns.

But the caliber of the guns of the Nassau-class battleships was much smaller than that of the battleships Intrepid, and although the rate of fire was faster, the firepower was still weakened.

This is not nothing, the biggest difference between the Nassau-class battleships and the Dreadnought-class battleships is actually the different power equipment and systems adopted by the two battleships.

The Dreadnought-class battleship used four steam turbine propulsion units, plus a large number of steam boilers, which increased its speed considerably.

But the Germans did not believe in this technology, and the Nassau-class battleships still used old-fashioned three-cylinder reciprocating steam engines and only used coal-fired boilers.

This reciprocating steam machine allowed the Nassau-class battleship to move at top speed, and the reciprocating motion of the mechanism would cause the hull to flutter violently, which would affect the aiming and firing of the guns.

Not to mention the impact on artillery fire, such an old power system caused the Nassau-class battleship to have a maximum speed of only 19 knots, which was significantly behind the Dreadnought battleship.

On top of the original history, the Nassau-class battleships also fell behind soon after their birth, becoming a meteor in the history of German battleships.

Because of its good relations with the British Empire, Germany, and Russia, Australasia also obtained the design sketches and materials of the Dreadnought, and William II generously gave Arthur the drawings of the Nassau-class battleship.

Of course, Wilhelm II did not do so without purpose. He knew Arthur's ambitions, and naturally knew that after Arthur obtained this drawing, he was bound to let Australasia master the construction technology of dreadnoughts, and even let Australasia have its own dreadnoughts.

At this sensitive point in time, what does it mean to have a dreadnought? It represents the rapid emergence of Australasia as a naval power, changing the power landscape in Oceania and even in South Asia, the Far East, the Indian Ocean and the Southwest Pacific.

Will Australasia, with its own dreadnoughts, make the British Empire, which has always been very cautious in terms of navy, jealous?

Although Arthur had a good relationship with the British commoners, wasn't it like that before Wilhelm II?

There is no permanent fixed relationship between countries, and relations only change with the interests of countries.

If Australasia poses a certain threat to the British Empire in an area of greater importance to the British Empire, then Australasia will also become an imaginary enemy of the British Empire.

Judging by the urine of the British, it is quite possible to send at least one dreadnought to the Indian Ocean region.

At least maintain their naval balance in the Indian Ocean region, and even gain a certain advantage, in order to reassure those British.

Doesn't sending one more dreadnought to the Indian Ocean region mean one less dreadnought in the European mainland?

For the German Empire, the fewer dreadnoughts Britain had deployed on its own European soil, the fewer enemies it was likely to face in the future.

This is also the reason why Wilhelm II graciously gave Arthur the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship.

Compared to such a battleship, which was designed with obvious shortcomings from the beginning, the diversion of the water to the east was a better reward for the German Empire.

When Arthur got his hands on the design drawings of the Nassau-class battleship, he had already thought of all the plans and intentions of Wilhelm II.

However, this is not a hot potato for Australasia, but a hope for the development of the navy.

Perhaps William II also knew the importance of this information to Australasia, and Arthur would never have given up the blueprints of the Nassau-class battleships.

However, although the Nassau-class battleship was already a dreadnought, it still used an old-fashioned design in many respects, and was destined to be quickly obsolete.

Arthur was not so stupid, and because of his knowledge of history, he would not have been as cautious as the Germans.

After obtaining the design drawings for the Nassau-class battleship, Arthur gathered all the shipbuilding experts Australasian could muster for a meeting on Australasia's future shipbuilding plans.

Arthur's goal was to combine the abilities of these experts and combine all the advantages of the Nassau-class battleship and the USS Intrepid to design a true dreadnought with no obvious flaws.

The Nassau-class battleship had two obvious flaws, one was that the caliber of the main guns carried was too small, and the firepower was at a disadvantage compared to the Dreadnought battleship.

The second is that the old power system is still used, which causes the warship to vibrate when sailing at maximum speed, and at the same time the sailing speed is still behind the Dreadnought battleship.

In both respects, the Australasian dreadnoughts were to improve on the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleships as much as possible, not only by increasing their firepower as much as possible, but also by using new steam turbines in their power systems.

In fact, the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleships were almost these two aspects, but these two aspects determined the most important firepower and speed of the battleship.

With a specific goal in mind, shipbuilding experts began to discuss the possibilities of warship design.

For Australasia, the design of a dreadnought is actually very easy. After a long period of intelligence exploration by the major powers of the Dreadnought, the detailed data of the Dreadnought battleship has basically been known by major countries, and Australasia is naturally among them.

Coupled with the design drawings of the German Nassau-class battleships, Australia now has two design options for dreadnoughts, and there are references for improvement.

It is nothing more than taking the Nassau-class battleship as the main body, and in some of the shortcomings of the Nassau-class battleship, the design of the Dreadnought battleship is adopted, so that the original Nassau-class battleship becomes a real dreadnought with no shortcomings, which is comparable to or even slightly surpasses the Dreadnought.

This time, the design of the warship did not shy away from German experts, on the contrary, German experts were also one of the main forces for improvement.

After all, the dreadnought will soon be followed by the super-dreadnought, which is the main force of scientific research in Australasia.

Prior to this, the development of the Australasian dreadnought with the participation of German specialists was also good news, and the rigor characteristic of the Germans was well reflected in this kind of machinery.

Even the Nassau-class battleship, which would cause bumps and tremors when driving at maximum speed, was able to sail smoothly for more than ten years without any problems, which is enough to see Germany's rigorous attitude towards mechanical manufacturing.

The German experts were excited about their involvement in Australian dreadnought research.

After the creation of the dreadnought, their attitude was supposed to be positive. But after contacting the country, Germany's attitude was still to let them stay in Australasia and continue to help Australasia's naval development.

They thought that for a short time, they had no connection with the design and construction of dreadnoughts.

Unexpectedly, Australasia also carried out the design of dreadnoughts, and the goal was to refer to the British and German dreadnought materials to improve a warship with more comprehensive performance.

Of course, there was another reason why these German experts were able to teach each other, and that was the information that Australasia had about the German Nassau-class battleships.

Australasia's ability to grasp the German dreadnought data for the first time is enough to prove the good relationship between Germany and Australasia, as well as Germany's support for Australasia to master dreadnoughts.

In addition, in the past few years, Australasia has attracted and trained a group of shipbuilding experts through various means.

Although it has not yet caught up with the capabilities of the European powers in shipbuilding, it can barely reach the second-rate countries in Europe.

Thanks to the joint efforts of these Australasian and German experts, the design drawings of Australia's first dreadnought were also successfully released.

Although the design drawings have not been verified much, they have been designed and improved based on the main body of the battleship Intrepid and the Nassau-class battleship.

As long as there are no big problems with the design of the battleship Intrepid and the Nassau-class battleship, then the design drawings of this battleship should not be too problematic.

Of course, how well the combat capability is will have to be verified and tested in reality before a conclusion can be drawn.

Even if the British had confidence in the battleship Dreadnought, didn't it take more than a year of naval navigation and testing before it officially entered the establishment.

This battleship designed by Australasia was officially named the Monarch Battleship by Arthur.

Because the main body is based on the Nassau-class battleship, the appearance of the Monarch-class battleship is basically not much different from the Nassau-class battleship.

However, due to the fact that Germany and Australasia did not currently have the technology of 45 times the diameter of the 305 mm gun, the guns of the Monarch-class battleships were expected to be equipped with 12 280 mm guns for the time being, as were the same as those of the Nassau-class battleships.

But this was only temporary, as soon as Germany or Australasia acquired more advanced 305mm gun technology, it would be applied to the Monarch-class battleships.

In order to cope with the possible replacement of the main guns in the future, Arthur also specially instructed that there should be enough room for improvement in the main gun structure of the Monarch-class battleships, so that the main guns of the Monarch-class battleships could be replaced in the future.

3,200 words for the second update, ask for support!

(End of chapter)