Chapter 142: Sales Promotion in Progress (Two-in-One Chapter, Please Support!)

Needless to say, the coastal defense ship, as a small warship with a tonnage of less than 3,000 tons, the biggest role of the coastal defense frigate is to patrol the coast of Australia, promptly discover and report possible enemy movements.

Because of the tonnage, the coastal defense frigate is absolutely impossible to be the opponent of medium-sized warships. Even if facing warships of more than 5,000 tons, this small coastal defense frigate has no room for resistance.

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

After the three relatively small coastal defense frigates, there are two armored cruisers under construction.

Compared with the previous coastal defense frigates, these two warships look much larger and 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 and British warships in performance. It is one of the better medium-sized warships in the world, and it is also the most powerful warship that the Australian Navy currently hopes to equip.

The construction time of these two warships is not very long. After nearly half a year of full-scale construction, the construction of the warships has entered its final stage.

As the current distinguished guests of Australia, Hirano Toshisuke and Yuzawa Yukiichiro naturally got the opportunity to board the two warships.

Although it is still in the construction stage, the main body of the warship has actually been completed, and only the actual installation of artillery and other hardware is missing.

"Mr. Minister, the warship your country is building seems to be different from the German warships and the warships of the British Empire. Is this a warship developed by your country?" On the Duke of Arthur cruiser, Yukiochiro Yuzawa was concentrating on watching Australian and German experts directing many workers to carry out various construction and tests on the warships, and asked the Australian Deputy Foreign Minister beside him with great interest.

"You can say that, Mr. Yuzawa Yukiichiro. These two warships are called Duke-class armored cruisers. They were originally improved by His Royal Highness's shipyard based on the British medium-sized frigates. After being improved by these German experts, they have the advantages of German warships and British Empire warships, and at the same time make 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, it is already a very powerful warship." The Australian Deputy Foreign Minister explained with a smile.

This has to mention the shipyard founded by Duke Arthur. Because of Duke Arthur's reputation and power in the British Empire, he successfully recruited many British shipbuilding talents.

As a country that ranked first in the world in shipbuilding and navy at that time and even now, the strength of the British Empire's booming shipbuilding industry can be imagined.

With the gathering of these talents, it is not surprising to improve the existing frigates of the British Empire.

The improvements made by German experts are also easy to understand. The two countries have different ideas about warships. There may be advantages and disadvantages, but they can inspire and improve warships.

The Duke-class armored cruiser is like this. With the improvements made by many experts from the British Empire and the German Empire, this medium-sized cruiser has already possessed good strength, at least one of the best in small and medium-sized warships.

"As expected." Yukio Yuzawa nodded slightly in admiration, and said with a smile: "Based on the improved technology of this armored cruiser, it seems that it is not difficult for Australia to master more advanced battleships. It is really enviable that your country has such generous assistance from Germany. If you have the latest battleships, don't forget us."

"Hahaha." The Australian Deputy Foreign Minister laughed and said with a smile: "Doesn't your country also have the strong support of the British Empire? Your country has developed to such a level in just a few decades, and it is not much worse than the old powers such as Italy and Spain in Europe. If you give your country some more time, it will not be a problem to achieve complete self-production of battleships."

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

There are many reasons why the German Empire has been able to rise rapidly since its independence and become the world's number one army and the top three naval powers in the world because the predecessor of the German Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, is a brave and warlike country.

In addition, being located in Western Europe, the German Empire was able to absorb the most advanced technology and knowledge from all over the world, which made the German Empire so quickly become the second largest power in the world.

But what about the island countries? Because they are located in East Asia, they even had to force their way into Western countries with strong ships and powerful guns.

Before that, the technology of the island countries was not even as good as that of a certain Eastern power next door, not to mention those European powers that have colonized the whole world.

Looking closely at the history of the island countries, how many years have it been since the real reform and innovation began? It has only been 35 years at most.

But what amazing achievements have the island countries made? From a remote island country with extremely backward 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 Russian Empire for hegemony in some regions.

In such a short period of time, they have completely reversed their roles and completely pulled themselves 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 achievements 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 for a long time, and have also supported a lot of forces and regimes.

But who can grow into a regional hegemony as quickly as the island country? No one, or no country can do it.

Even the British Empire did not expect that the little brother it just wanted to raise to fight against the Russian Empire in the region would one day grow into a behemoth of the same level as itself (great powers).

Yukioka Yuzawa and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs praised each other for a long time, and then reluctantly shifted the topic to warships.

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

Originally, Yukiichiro Yuzawa had no idea about Australia's small warships. After all, the island country 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 Yukiichiro Yuzawa witnessed the construction of this warship by the Australian shipyard, his idea changed immediately.

Although the island country has many production technologies for small and medium-sized warships, these technologies and drawings are all taught by experts from the British Empire.

But what good things can the British Empire give to the island country? Basically, they are warship drawings eliminated by the British Empire. Even those production technologies that look very advanced are slightly backward to the mainstream of Europe.

With slightly backward production technology and eliminated warship drawings, what will the small and medium-sized warships look like?

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

But Australia's Duke-class armored cruiser made Yukiichiro Yuzawa change his mind.

Although the Duke-class armored cruiser still has no room for resistance against large warships, it has a huge advantage against other small and medium-sized warships and can very well undertake the work of cruising the coast and escorting merchant ships and transport ships.

You know, the island country is a veritable island country with a large number of islands and marine territories.

This leads to the fact that in addition to large fleets, the island country also needs many small and medium-sized warships to cruise the coast and protect the safety of the ocean and coast.

You can't let those large warships cruise the coast, right? First of all, the number of large warships is not large, and it is really a bit of a small tool to use for patrols.

Secondly, the cost of large warships cruising is not proportional to the cost of small warships. If it is not for some exercises and strategic goals, it is meaningless to dispatch large warships for ordinary cruises.

After all, simple problems can be solved by dispatching small and medium-sized warships, so there is no need to dispatch large warships to kill mosquitoes with cannons.

"Yes, Mr. Yukiichiro Yuzawa. Although the information of the Duke-class armored cruiser is important information that cannot be disclosed to Australia, your country, as an important friend of Australia, can take a look." The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a smile.

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

"Mr. Yukiichiro Yuzawa, this is the information of the Duke-class armored cruiser you want. This information is very important to Australia. Please do not disclose it." After instructing his subordinates to fetch the streamlined warship information, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said to Yukiichiro Yuzawa with a smile on his face.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. Thank you and your country for your trust in us. Please rest assured that I will never disclose all the contents of this information, but will only lock it firmly in my heart." Yukiichiro Yuzawa did not expect that the Australian side would agree to let him view the information. After actually getting some information about the Duke-class armored cruiser, Yukiichiro Yuzawa was a little excited, and also a little surprised and honored.

In fact, Australia is not that generous. Most of the information about the Duke-class armored cruiser that Yukiichiro Yuzawa was able to obtain was already disclosed or could be disclosed to the outside world, and had no impact on the design of the warship itself.

These data are basically basic information about the number, type, tonnage, and speed of the cannons installed on the warship. A few important data are also data about warships that have not been improved before, which has no impact on the current armored cruiser.

But how could Yukiichiro Yuzawa know so much? As a talent in diplomacy, although he has some knowledge of weapons and warship design, he only knows and understands some designs.

Of course, these are enough. Yukiichiro Yuzawa's purpose is also very simple, that is, to obtain and analyze the information of the Duke-class armored cruiser, and to determine whether the island country needs to purchase several such warships to strengthen its patrol and protection capabilities for the coast.

It is clearly written on the data that the Australian Duke-class armored cruiser is an improved version of the British Empire's Orlando-class armored cruiser, and after further improvements by German experts, it has evolved into the current design.

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

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

At least in terms of speed, this armored cruiser currently seems to have no shortcomings, especially on the basis of taking into account armor protection, it also has such an excellent speed, which has exceeded Yukio Yuzawa's expectations.

In terms of firepower, the data shows that the Duke-class armored cruiser has two 234mm main guns and ten 152mm guns and several small guns of six-pound guns and three-pound guns.

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

"What a perfect work! Minister, how much is the price of this Duke-class armored cruiser? If possible, I hope to order a few armored cruisers to make up for the lack of strength of our small and medium-sized warships." Yukiichiro Yuzawa was somewhat impressed by the data of this warship. After reading all the information, he couldn't wait to say to the Australian Deputy Foreign Minister who was waiting with a smile.

"Of course, Mr. Yukiichiro Yuzawa. The price of this Duke-class armored cruiser does not exceed 60,000 pounds, and the cost is about 40,000 pounds. Since your country requires the purchase, we can reduce the price to 52,000 pounds and promise to build it as soon as possible." The Deputy Foreign Minister thought for a while before speaking.

The actual cost of an armored cruiser is only over 30,000 pounds, and the profit of each armored cruiser reaches more than 20,000 pounds.

If the island country can be more generous in small and medium-sized warships and order a few more, maybe the funds for the expansion of the Australian Navy will not have to be paid by itself.

Yuzawa Yukiichiro nodded, and did not doubt that the cost of the Duke-class armored cruiser was slightly higher than that of ordinary medium-sized warships.

After all, judging from the data and performance, this is a leader in medium-sized warships, so it is normal to be priced a little higher.

Four thousand words two-in-one chapter, please support. (I am in the hospital, and can only maintain 4,000 words in the next two days)