Chapter 539 The Intensifying Naval Shipbuilding Competition
The end of the Balkan War was a major event in Europe.
It is also the wish of all countries to restore peace in the Balkans, so as soon as the treaty was signed, all countries sang praises, saying that they had maintained peace in Europe.
Peace has returned to the Balkans, and calm has returned to Europe. To say calm may be a bit of an understatement, because a naval race in full swing is going on.
The British Empire announced at the beginning of 1909 that the UK would start construction of six large warships this year, the most noteworthy of which are four Aries-class super-dreadnoughts equipped with 10 343mm 45x caliber main guns.
These four Aries-class super-dreadnoughts are emergency warships after the British learned that Germany, Italy and Austria would adopt 350mm main guns.
This class of warship has a normal displacement of 22,200 tons and a full load displacement of 25,870 tons. The total length is 177.1 meters, the vertical length is 166.1 meters, the ship width is 27 meters, and the draft is 7.6 meters. Capacity: 752 people.
In terms of power, 18 Babcock-Wilcox coal-fired boilers provide 27,000 shaft horsepower for four "Parsons" steam turbines, allowing the Aries-class super-dreadnought to sail at a speed of 20.5 knots.
In terms of main guns, there are 10 343 mm guns/l45 mk v (5 × 2), 16 102 mm guns/l45 mk vii (16 × 1) and 4 47 mm guns forming the secondary battery. In addition, there are
There are three 533mm torpedo launchers. In terms of protection, it has a 305-203mm main armor belt, 254-76mm armored compartments, 279mm turret armor, and 279mm command tower armor.
It can be seen from all aspects of performance that this battleship is really a product of emergency.
For the British Empire, the Allies' continuous construction of new ships was a direct challenge to its sea power. According to the words of Winston Churchill, who had just become Lord of the Admiralty, the British Empire was willing to spend every last penny on maintaining its sea power.
The determination of the British Empire to defend its sea power at all costs has been seen by other countries. However, the determination to undermine the sea power has not changed at all.
Germany decided to build four large battleships this year as a response. Three of them are the latest Kaiser-class battleships (also known as the Kaiser class).
This class of battleship is also the first German battleship to use a 350 mm main gun. The standard displacement of this class of battleship is 25,100 tons, and the full load displacement is 28,100 tons. The overall length of this class of battleship is 173.40 meters, the width is 29 meters, and the draft is 9.10 meters. Power system
It has 16 kerosene mixed boilers, 3 steam turbines, the main engine power is 33,000 horsepower (up to 48,000 horsepower when overloaded), 3 axles, 2 rudders are configured in parallel, the maximum speed is 22 knots. Endurance: 7900 nautical miles/12 knots, 2400 nautical miles
/21 verses.
In terms of firepower, the Caesar class is equipped with 8 350 mm 45-caliber main guns, 4 twin turrets, 14 150mm/45-caliber secondary guns, single-mounted on the side; 12 single-mounted 88mm/45-caliber anti-torpedo boat guns;
5 500mm torpedo tubes.
Armor: main armor belt: 350 mm, horizontal deck 110 mm; turret: 320 mm (front) - 150 mm (top); sides: 350 mm (main armor belt) - 180 mm (bow and sides) - 150
mm (stern and sides); conning tower: 350 mm.
In terms of single ship performance, the difference between the German Caesar-class and the Italian Cavour-class is mainly reflected in protection and speed.
This also has a lot to do with the different situations faced by the two countries. First of all, the German Navy faces high sea conditions in the North Sea and does not have such high requirements for speed, so Germany allocates more of the weight of the ship to armor.
As for Italy, since most of them are in the calm Mediterranean Sea, they have higher speed requirements.
In addition, since Germany itself does not produce oil, the choice of boiler is mainly based on a mixture of kerosene. After all, it is necessary to consider that it will be completely converted to oil burning, so all the oil needed will need to be purchased. If some extreme accidents occur,
So where does Germany provide fuel for these warships, and Germany has a lot of coal-fired ships?
In addition to Germany, its biggest potential rival, other countries are also engaged in the construction of dreadnoughts. The United States also announced the start of construction of three large battleships this year, two of which are the latest Wyoming-class battleships.
It needs to be explained here that although the United States obtained the construction technology of dreadnoughts from Italy, Americans may have their own unique insights into dreadnoughts.
In addition to the Delaware-class battleships initially built according to Italian drawings, the adventurous designers of the U.S. Naval Ship Design Institute made some improvements of their own on the subsequent Florida-class battleships, such as changing the turret to
The first two and the last three are all basic operations. In addition, due to insufficient technology in the United States, the warships built by the United States are slightly behind Europe in terms of power.
Even the Delaware class, built according to Italian drawings, is somewhat different from the original Italian goods. For example, the Dante class has 18 oil-fired boilers and 4 steam turbines, which can reach a maximum power of 30,000 horsepower, driving the battleship out of the sea.
Speed of 23 knots.
As for the Delaware class, under the same configuration, its maximum power is only 28,000 horsepower, which drives this class of battleships to a speed of 22.1 knots. On the one hand, the displacement is higher than that of the Dante class, and the power output is lower.
From this perspective, it is common knowledge that the United States before World War I lagged behind Europe in some technical aspects. Not to mention before World War I, even during World War II, Europe was superior to the United States in technology.
As for this new American Wyoming-class battleship, its biggest feature is that it is equipped with six 305 mm 50-caliber twin turrets (two at the front and four at the back, which is weird enough). Six turrets are installed on the 171.3-meter hull.
With this turret, it can only be said that Americans are extremely creative and adventurous.
And in order to install these six turrets, the boilers of this class of battleships were reduced to 12. The consequence was that the ship's top speed was reduced by 20.5 knots, which is basically the slowest among the dreadnoughts. (Germany in this time and space.
The first-class dreadnought Nassau-class battleship, using Italian technology, reached a speed of 21 knots, and the subsequent Helgeland-class also reached 21 knots)
In addition to Germany and the United States participating in the naval shipbuilding competition, Austria-Hungary has also announced that it will start building two Combined Forces-class warships this year. Austria-Hungary's construction of this class of warships has received technical support from Germany and Italy, but Austria-Hungary may have its own ideas.
, in the choice of main gun, the 305 mm 50 times caliber main gun is still chosen, and Austria-Hungary still chooses four triple-mounted structure turrets.
But after all, it has received technical support from its allies, and its hull and underwater structure have been optimized. It is indeed much better than the combined forces in history.
In addition, Italy's neighbor France finally decided to build a dreadnought. After the completion of the Dandong-class construction, the French Navy's dreadnought-class Guba also announced the start of construction at the beginning of this year. Speaking of which, the French are also unconventional. In other countries,
When everyone started building dreadnoughts, the French were still stubbornly building their own Dandong-class pre-dreadnoughts. I really don’t know what the French mentality is like.
The ship is 166 meters long, 27 meters wide, and has a draft of 9.04 meters when fully loaded. Its standard displacement is 23,475 metric tons, and its displacement when fully loaded is 25,579 metric tons. Its top speed can reach 21 knots, and it is equipped with six 305mm twin turrets. And
The Guba-class turret layout is very interesting, with two turrets at the bow and stern, and one turret on each side of the ship.
As France's first dreadnought, it can be said that the Guba class is already very good.
In addition to France, Russia and Japan in the Far East have also begun the construction of dreadnoughts.
Among them, Russia announced that it will start building four of its own dreadnoughts, which are also called Gangut-class dreadnoughts.
As for Japan in the Far East, it also announced the construction of two Hanoi-class dreadnoughts this year.
As for Japan and Russia only now starting to build dreadnoughts, it would make me cry if I talk about it too much.
The previous war left the pockets of both countries empty, and now they can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, they must participate in the construction of dreadnoughts. After all, only with this thing can they be called a great power (as for Spain's reduced model, it fully shows that its national strength is insufficient)
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Countries are building their own Dreadnoughts and Super Dreadnoughts aggressively. The Italian Navy can only look on with envy this year. Because of the shrinkage of funds this year and to ensure the construction of three Cavour-class ships, Italy can only wait any longer.
Although the Italian Navy is somewhat weak in terms of large battleships this year, the Italian Navy has not fallen behind in the construction of small battleships.
With the construction of light cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines and other special ships, the Italian Navy continues to enhance its strength.
After all, the navy cannot only have large warships, but also a variety of small warships and auxiliary ships. In addition, considering Italy's long coastline, coastal defenses cannot be left behind.
