As the time entered October 1910, Arthur ushered in another good news, that is, the battleships Australia and New Zealand had officially entered the navy.

That's right, it has been almost a year since the naval tests were carried out, and these two battleships have finally successfully passed the tests and truly become the warships of the Navy.

Through more than a year of manipulation and experimentation, the naval officers are also very familiar with these two battleships, and their combat effectiveness has been initially formed.

At present, the Australasian navy already has three dreadnoughts, and the construction of two battle cruisers is about to be completed, and the size and combat effectiveness of the navy are very different from before.

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

As with the naval arms race between Europe, in recent times, and even from the end of the 19th century to the present, several major powers in South America, especially the three largest countries, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, have led to a series of vigorous naval arms races because of territorial disputes.

Even Chile and Argentina clashed over territorial disputes, and peace was finally restored under the mediation of the British.

But the rivalry between the three countries did not end with a temporary peace. After the conflict, Britain sold two Constitution-class dreadnoughts to Chile, and immediately after, Argentina ordered two Rivadavia-class battleships from Italy.

After the creation of the Dreadnought, Brazil decided in 1907 to terminate the purchase of the former dreadnought and use all the funds to buy the newly born dreadnought.

Britain built two Minas Gerais-class battleships for Brazil and officially commissioned this year, making Brazil the fifth country in the world to have dreadnoughts after Britain, Germany, Russia and Australasia.

In fact, Brazil should be the third country in history to have dreadnoughts, but because of the existence of Arthur and Australasia, Australasia and Russia both had dreadnoughts in advance.

After the two dreadnoughts were officially commissioned, Brazil's naval power instantly surpassed that of all the countries in South America.

It is precisely because of these two dreadnoughts that the naval race in South America has officially begun, and major countries have purchased more powerful dreadnoughts to counterbalance their opponents.

In the middle of the year, Chilean ****** passed a resolution to allocate at least £4 million to expand its navy, including two battleships of more than 20,000 tons, six destroyers and two submarines.

Initially, the Chilean government intended to select the company that would build its dreadnoughts through tenders.

However, because British and German shipyards are generally busy building dreadnoughts for their own countries, the companies participating in the tender are basically shipbuilders from small and medium-sized European countries.

This discouraged the Chilean government, after all, the countries where these shipyards came to bid did not have dreadnoughts, and the Chilean government did not believe how powerful dreadnoughts these shipyards could build.

It was at this time that the second trade order for warships between Russia and Australasia reminded some Chilean naval and government officials of Australasia.

Although Australasia is generally not much different from those small and medium-sized countries in Europe, after all, it is a country that has reached two warship trades with Russia, one of the great powers, and the performance and combat effectiveness of the warships they build must have won the trust and recognition of the Russians.

Since the Russians were heavily armed (four battleships and two cruisers in two trade orders), what reason did Chile have to be suspicious?

The battleships built in Australasia can meet the combat needs of the great powers, but they can't even meet the combat needs of Chile, right?

With this in mind, the Chilean government sent a team of visitors and decided to visit Australasia for a personal visit.

The Chilean expedition attracted Arthur's attention, and of course, it was actually interested in the funding of the Chilean mission.

Although Arthur did not know that Chile was already planning to buy warships in Australasia, Arthur knew that this was the time of the South American naval race, and the arrival of the Chilean diplomatic team was most likely for the Dreadnoughts of Australasia.

In fact, the Chilean representative was really straight to the point, and came up to express the Chilean government's intention to inspect the Australasian dreadnoughts.

After hearing the report from Foreign Minister Andrew, Arthur didn't think much of it, and asked Minister Andrew to take the Chilean delegation to the Royal Dockyards.

On the way to the Royal Dockyards, the conversation with the Chileans surprised Minister Andrew slightly.

The requirements of the Chileans are not high, and the requirements for battleships are at least 28,000-ton giant battleships with 12-inch guns.

12-inch is easy to do, after all, the 12-inch cannon is actually a 305 mm main gun, and all the dreadnoughts in Australasia are equipped with this kind of main gun.

But the problem is that the tonnage of dreadnoughts is a bit difficult, even if it is a monarch-class battleship, the full load displacement is only 20,910 tons, which is far from meeting the requirements of the Chileans for a 28,000-ton giant battleship.

In fact, the battleship, which was built in history at the behest of the Chileans, was already the most powerful super-dreadnought of its time.

With the development of dreadnoughts, the caliber of the main guns has increased to 13.5 to 15 inches, the effective range of the guns has been increasing, the main gun turrets are arranged on the horizontal longitudinal central axis of the hull, the main turret of the amidships has been reduced or eliminated, and the displacement has been increased to more than 25,000 tons, this class of dreadnoughts is often called super dreadnoughts.

In fact, the British Empire was the first country to develop and build super-dreadnoughts, which is why George V was able to agree to hand over the drawings and technology of the St. Vincent-class battleships to Arthur.

The first super-dreadnought of the British Empire, called the Orion-class battleship, was the four capital battleships newly designed by the British to cope with the pressure of the powerful naval shipbuilding competition with Germany.

The Orion-class battleship focused on increased firepower and was completely different from the dreadnoughts built before it, being dubbed the super dreadnought by the British.

The more important change was that the Orion-class battleships were equipped with 13.5-inch guns, which far exceeded the 12-inch guns of the St. Venceanst-class battleships.

This also allowed the caliber of the battleship's guns to jump directly from 305 mm to 343 mm, which was greatly strengthened in terms of firepower.

Construction of the first Orion-class battleship, the USS Orion, has already begun at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and has even been quietly launched in August of this year.

Thanks to the experience of secrecy of the last battleship Intrepid, the secrecy of the launch of the battleship Orion was very good, and it has not yet been known to other countries.

The Chilean's request, which seemed outrageous to Minister Andrew, made Arthur think of the super-dreadnought that should have been born immediately or had already been born in history.

Australasia has managed to become a world leader in dreadnoughts, and such a leading position is naturally impossible to give up easily.

Arthur immediately summoned naval experts and asked them to design a large warship with a gross tonnage of no less than 23,000 tons and a full load displacement of no less than 27,000 tons, following the requirements of the Chileans.

Arthur demanded that not only the firepower be strengthened, but also the armor protection and power system of the warship, so that the warship could still maintain a speed of about 21 knots while the size and weight of the warship were greatly increased.

This requirement was a difficult problem for the experts of the naval shipyard, after all, they had nothing to learn from in terms of such a large warship, and could only rely on the drawings of the Monarch-class battleships and the St. Vincent-class battleships, and make improvements and changes in some aspects, in an effort to achieve the data and results required by Arthur.

After a few days of visiting the Royal Dockyards, the Chileans were very pleased with the Royal Dockyards in Australasia.

The only fly in the ointment is that the first battleships currently in the hands of the Royal Shipyard (which are only displayed and exported to the outside world) have a full load displacement of less than 21,000 tons.

Even with some changes in some aspects, the full load displacement of the Monarch-class battleship could not exceed 22,000 tons, which is not a small distance from the 28,000 tons expected by the Chileans.

However, there is good news, Minister Andrew personally assured them that under Arthur's orders, the Royal Shipyard is already designing a super warship with a full load tonnage of about 28,000 tons, and the design requirements of the battleship are based on the needs of the Chileans, which can basically meet the requirements of the Chileans.

After careful consideration and a telegram asking for the country's opinions, the Chilean diplomatic team decided to reach a preliminary cooperation with the Royal Shipyard.

If the new warships designed by the Royal Shipyards met the needs of the Chileans, at least most of them, then the Chileans officially signed an order with the Royal Shipyards for two battleships, six destroyers and two submarines.

The main reason why the Chileans decided to wait for the design results of the Royal Shipyard is that the current development of the Royal Shipyard in Australasia is really good, and the Royal Shipyard has all the warship systems, including battleships, destroyers and submarines, which seem to be much more reliable than those small and medium-sized European countries that do not have dreadnoughts at all.

Not to mention, the Chileans also saw some German and British faces in the Royal Dockyards.

This also means that the Royal Dockyards in Australasia are supported by German and British technical experts.

The Chileans believed that under the guidance of British and German experts, the warships built in Australasia were absolutely guaranteed.

In Arthur's presence, a treaty was signed between the Chilean diplomatic team and the Royal Shipyards.

If it is determined that the new warship meets most of Chile's requirements, then the order for warships officially comes into force. If the requirements cannot be met, then the order for warships is officially nullified.

If the order for warships is voided, the Chileans do not need to pay any money.

This is also the reason why the Chileans are willing to sign the treaty, after all, the Chileans do not need to spend money until the order for warships comes into force.

In fact, Arthur also had a purpose in reaching such a treaty with the Chileans. After all, in terms of super-dreadnoughts, Australasia is also considered independent research, and there is no reference.

If there is an order from the Chileans, there will be an opportunity for the shipyard to accumulate experience when building a super dreadnought in the future, and when it comes to building a super dreadnought for Australasia itself in the future, the shipyard will be handy, not only the efficiency of construction will be accelerated, but the probability of problems will also be greatly reduced.

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(End of chapter)