In April 1933, Arthur, who was gradually getting into a working state, was looking at a few drawings on his desk and pondering.

These drawings are all designs from the Royal Dockyards, which are exactly what Minister Thomas mentioned earlier, the design of new battleships and aircraft carriers.

Because the Naval Limitation Treaty is no longer in force, theoretically speaking, there is no limit on the tonnage of new battleships and aircraft carriers built by various countries.

This also led to the design drawings of the battleship in front of Arthur, the expected displacement of the battleship will reach 45,700 tons, and the expected full load displacement will exceed 52,000 tons, which is a super battleship in the true sense.

However, Arthur had no interest in building too many of these super-battleships. Even in the naval construction plan proposed by the Ministry of Defense, only two such super battleships will be built, and the design of battleships will be directly abandoned in the future.

So the question is, why did you come up with such a battleship that looked very powerful, even though the design of the battleship was going to be abandoned?

In addition to increasing the strength of the Navy on the surface, it is also a very important reason to confuse rival island nations in the Pacific.

According to various intelligence, the island nation is already planning to build more warships, of which the main force is battleships.

As the biggest competitor of the island nation, Australasia's achievements in battleships will naturally turn into intelligence transmission to the island country.

Naturally, the island nation will not agree with Australasia's superiority in the navy, after all, the island nation needs maritime security more than Australasia.

This also means that they will definitely follow up on the research of super battleships, and build at least two, if not more, super battleships.

It makes sense for Australasia to confuse the island nation with two super battleships and get the island nation to invest a lot of money in the research of super battleships.

How did the battleship Yamato, the famous battleship of the island nation, sink? It was after the continuous bombing of the planes of the US Navy and the torpedo hits of the submarine that finally had to sink in the ocean.

In fact, this also represents a truth, aircraft carriers have developed to a certain extent, and the blow to these oversized battleships is fatal.

The range of an attack of a battleship depends on the guns that the battleship is equipped with, but the range of an aircraft carrier depends on the aircraft on board the aircraft carrier.

The attack distance of artillery and aircraft is not at the same level at all, which is also destined to be no match for large aircraft carriers in the case of similar technology.

Unless the Super Battleship can get close to the aircraft carrier, it can win a naval battle with the aircraft carrier.

But the problem is that an aircraft carrier will also be equipped with other small fleets to help the aircraft carrier with reconnaissance.

Moreover, the reconnaissance aircraft on the aircraft carrier are not vegetarian, and it is impossible not to see hostile warships within ten kilometers.

This also means that, in most cases, these very large and conspicuous super battleships are impossible to get close to aircraft carriers.

Speaking of the design of the last class battleship in Australasia, it is definitely the world's best in the world today.

According to the data on the drawings, the battleship was 252 meters long, 37 meters wide, with a standard draft of 9.5 meters and a draft of 11 meters at full load.

In terms of power, the massive battleship was equipped with 12 high-pressure heavy oil boilers specially made by Diesel and three Focus steam turbines as auxiliary power, which was able to ensure the speed of this huge and heavy battleship in the ocean.

According to the calculations of kinetic experts, with such excellent power, even if the size and weight of this battleship are relatively large, it can ensure that this battleship has a speed of at least 30 knots.

The speed of 30 knots is exaggerated, which is one of the reasons why Arthur praised the design of the battleship.

To be honest, if it weren't for the experience of later generations that Arthur understood that aircraft carriers were the future of naval development, Arthur might have spent a lot of money to build such battleships.

There is no other reason than the excellent design of this battleship, and it can even be claimed to be one of the most powerful battleships at present.

No country's ruler could resist the temptation of such a battleship, and neither could the islanders.

Thinking about it this way, Arthur was very curious about how the super battleships built by the islanders at great cost would react when they encountered the aircraft carrier group in Australasia.

You know, with the development of pigeon missiles, Australasia has begun to deploy missiles on all types of warships.

This can not only effectively increase the attack range of all types of warships, but also deal a heavy blow to such large battleships.

Knowing that it was the last battleship to be designed, the three Royal Navy shipyards did their best to design what could be the last battleship in Australasia.

In terms of protection, the entire battleship was equipped with heavy armor, which ensured that it would not easily sink due to enemy fire.

The thickness of the side armor remained between 145 mm and 320 mm, and the thickness of the deck armor was between 50 and 120 mm.

This armor protection capability is more than a star and a half improvement compared to the previous battleship design.

This is one of the reasons why the standard displacement of this battleship reached a terrifying 40,000 tons.

In terms of firepower, the battleship was equipped with 4 twin 16-inch 52-diameter guns (406mm), which ensured that the battleship had a high lethality, which was also the main weapon of the battleship.

In terms of secondary guns, the Royal Shipyard used six 7-inch 55-diameter guns (178mm), and the effective hit rate of this gun was the main reason why he became the choice of secondary guns.

Because each country has sufficient aircraft reserves, in order to deal with the possible bombing of enemy aircraft, Arthur deliberately asked the Royal Shipyard to strengthen the battleship's air defense capabilities as much as possible when designing this battleship.

It was also because of Arthur's request that the battleship was equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons.

The main anti-aircraft weapon is the twin-mounted 4-inch 65-diameter anti-aircraft guns, 4 on the left and 4 on the left and right, a total of 8 guns, which can effectively hit the enemy's aircraft.

The secondary anti-aircraft armament is eight 22-mm fully automatic anti-aircraft guns, which mainly pursue coverage and strike in terms of firepower.

There are also 2 anti-aircraft machine guns in the front and rear, 6 anti-aircraft machine guns on the left and right, in a word, the firepower is very arrogant.

It is worth mentioning that in the middle of this battleship, in fact, there was a runway dedicated to the take-off of aircraft.

Yes, this battleship also had a role similar to that of an aircraft carrier, that is, a take-off platform for aircraft at sea.

Although it is not large and can only carry four specially built one-man reconnaissance aircraft, it can also effectively increase the detection range of the battleship and ensure that it will not be hit by the enemy's aircraft carrier without knowing it.

All these designs are complete battleship data. On the whole, Arthur was quite satisfied with the design of such a battleship.

At least such a battleship design is already trying to prevent enemy aircraft bombing, so as not to be easily bombed and sunk by enemy aircraft swarms like the historical battleship Yamato.

But it has to be admitted that it is already difficult for large battleships to gain an advantage in front of aircraft carriers.

Even if a large battleship is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, it cannot be an opponent of an aircraft carrier after all.

The difference in design concepts between the two sides has already determined the completely different development potential and background of these two warships.

Dreadnoughts have been strong for a long time, and almost from now on, aircraft carriers will gradually become the most powerful warships and dominate the seas for much longer.

Because the technology of aircraft is constantly advancing, this has led to the role of aircraft carriers is also constantly improving.

At least in the next hundred years, the role of aircraft carriers will become higher and higher, and countries will compete to develop and build aircraft carriers.

This was also the case in later generations, and having some small warships was not considered a naval power. Only with a complete aircraft carrier battle group can it be regarded as a relatively powerful naval power.

But here comes the problem again, the cost of the aircraft carrier itself is relatively expensive, not to mention the battle group specially formed for the aircraft carrier in order to improve the role of the aircraft carrier.

Even the cost of maintenance of an aircraft carrier battle group is enough to put a medium-sized country in financial crisis.

The countries that can afford to feed an aircraft carrier battle group are, without exception, all countries with relatively prosperous economies.

In later generations, the country's potential and economic growth expectations are closely related to the population.

Even now, population is one of the measures by which a country is strong. It is undeniable that the larger the population of a country, the greater the potential for development of the country.

The most important factor that makes the country stronger is the continuous progress of science and technology. In order to promote the continuous progress of science and technology, it is necessary to have a large number of talents invested in the scientific research industry and into various research and development.

The larger the population, the more likely it is that talent will be born. Moreover, the more people there are, the more wealth is created.

Although it also consumes a lot of resources, for Australasia, which is rich in mineral resources, these small shortcomings are completely acceptable.

It also strengthened Arthur's determination that whether it was war or peace, whether it was the 20th century or the 21st century, Australasia's first principle was to develop the population as much as possible.

Based on the current land area of Australasia, even if the population expands to 10 times the current level, it is not too much of a burden on the country.

Before the population reaches 300 million, how the population of Australasia will usher in a surge is a good thing for Australasia.

In order to continue to increase the population, Arthur also decided to urge the government to enact new fertility policies to encourage more Australasian people to marry and have children, and contribute to the growth of the local population.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)