Chapter 210: Russia's Dreadnought Ambitions
The celebratory banquet went smoothly, and Arthur made more friends among European royals, including nobles from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria.
Interestingly, the Bulgarian royal family is also from the House of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, and Prince Ferdinand I is distantly related to Arthur's grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Prince Ferdinand I was a writer, botanist, entomologist, and philatelist, but he was also known for his fragile and eccentric personality. When he was chosen as the Prince of Bulgaria, he faced criticism from his father's cousin, Queen Victoria, who declared, "He is entirely unsuitable, fragile, eccentric, and weak. Such a person should never be made the ruler of a country and the invitation to make him the Prince of Bulgaria should be immediately retracted."
In fact, it wasn't only Queen Victoria who doubted Ferdinand; many other European royal families questioned his ability to be a competent ruler.
However, what none of his critics expected was that Prince Ferdinand I achieved tremendous success during the first twenty years of his reign.
Of course, Ferdinand I's reign as the ruler of Bulgaria lasted just over twenty years. After experiencing a crushing defeat in World War I, he was forced to abdicate by the Allied Powers and went into exile in Austria.
Ferdinand I was considered a long-living monarch, living until 1948, while Bulgaria's monarchy only lasted until 1946.
Aside from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Arthur had also established good relations with the Kingdom of Sweden, primarily due to his sister, Princess Margaretha.
Historically, Princess Margaretha married Swedish Prince Oscar Frederick William Olaf Gustaf Adolf in 1905, who would later become the famous Swedish King Gustav VI.
Although history has unfolded differently, fate still brought the two together.
Sweden formally requested a royal marriage alliance with Australasia, and after careful consideration, Princess Louise agreed to the marriage proposal.
Arthur had no objections to this. Sweden had maintained neutrality during both World Wars, and even though after WWII the Swedish king lost all powers and became only a national symbol, this outcome was still far better than the fates of most European monarchies. Gustav VI himself lived to nearly 91 years, a long and fulfilling life.
Although Gustav VI would not become the King of Sweden for another 40 years, he would eventually ascend the throne and become deeply beloved by the Swedish people.
Once the marriage to Sweden was confirmed, the remaining arrangements were handled by the government and Princess Louise.
Arthur was not particularly concerned about this, but he did prepare a generous dowry and arranged for a state-level wedding for Margaretha.
Arthur's only condition was that Margaretha must live well in Sweden, fulfilling his responsibility as a brother.
After the banquet, most of the nobles and officials from other nations decided to return to their countries the following day.
The majority of them held high positions in their respective countries and could not afford to be absent for too long.
However, not everyone was in a rush to leave. Crown Prince Wilhelm, Grand Duke Sergey, and Saburo Endo from the Island nation chose to stay behind.
The Islanders had simple intentions; they wished to continue discussing resource trade with Australasia and inquire about ordering a Dreadnought to enhance their joint fleet's strength.
These requests seemed ordinary, but the main problem was that the Island nation had no funds. The previous Russo-Japanese War had not achieved many strategic objectives for them, and they had invested heavily.
Currently, they were surviving mainly through loans from the United Kingdom and the United States, and their Dreadnought plan was not expected to commence for another year or two.
This meant that all their plans were being conducted on credit, and they even hoped Arthur would front the funds for them until they secured further international loans.
Arthur smiled knowingly and immediately ended the discussion with the Island representatives.
Arthur wasn't foolish enough to front the money to maintain trade between the two countries.
Now that he had a deeper cooperation with Russia, the need for further collaboration with the Island nation had become secondary.
Moreover, the Island nation's arms market and economy were largely controlled by the British Empire and the United States. The majority of their weapons and ships came from the British Empire.
In such a situation, attempting to compete with the British Empire in the Island nation's market would most likely end in failure.
Additionally, Russia's internal and external crises made it impossible for them to pose a threat to Australasia. However, the Island nation, with its base in East Asia, could eventually pose a threat to Australia and New Zealand if they were to grow stronger.
This was something that had historically occurred, and Arthur had to remain vigilant.
After wrapping up his conversation with the Island representatives, Arthur spent a few days touring Australasia with Crown Prince Wilhelm and Grand Duke Sergey.
Finally, Crown Prince Wilhelm left contentedly, even mentioning he would attend the wedding when it happened.
Of course, during these days with Crown Prince Wilhelm, Arthur wasn't idle. He subtly influenced Wilhelm to focus more on the development of 305mm artillery and larger caliber guns while also encouraging the development of submarines in Germany.
In fact, the development of large-caliber naval guns had already gained considerable attention in Germany.
The reason was simple—currently, Germany had three known Dreadnought designs, two of which mounted 305mm guns (Australasia's design had 280mm guns).
Germany was still relying on 280mm guns, and hadn't put much research into larger caliber artillery yet.
But the times were changing. Dreadnoughts had seen a complete overhaul in terms of firepower, protection, and propulsion, and 280mm guns were sufficient for older battleships. Whether they would be able to inflict sufficient damage on the newly emerging Dreadnoughts was uncertain.
From a data perspective, Germany's own Nassau-class battleship was indeed slightly weaker in firepower compared to the Dreadnought.
While its firepower was equivalent to that of Australasia's Monarch-class battleship, Germany was limited by technological constraints and could only temporarily mount 280mm guns.
What Arthur didn't know was that, because of him, Germany had already begun focusing on the development of 305mm artillery and even had plans for larger-caliber guns.
Crown Prince Wilhelm's thought process was simple: since Australasia had designed a powerful battleship surpassing the Nassau-class, why shouldn't the German Empire design a super battleship with even more powerful overall capabilities?
After sending off Crown Prince Wilhelm, only Grand Duke Sergey and Grand Duchess Mary remained in Australasia.
This was entirely understandable, as Grand Duke Sergey had to stay in Australasia to finalize the wedding details while the Russian government also sought to deepen cooperation with Australasia.
Aside from the wedding, what the Russian government and Grand Duke Sergey were particularly concerned with was the battleships in Australasia's shipbuilding plan that rivaled the Dreadnought.
When Grand Duke Sergey learned that Australasia had mastered Dreadnought technology, he sent numerous telegrams to Russia, and with Tsar Nicholas II's approval, he was given full responsibility for ordering warships from Australasia.
With Tsar Nicholas II's approval, Grand Duke Sergey was quite excited.
The Dreadnought data significantly outclassed older battleships, and any Russian fleet equipped with a Dreadnought would greatly enhance Russia's naval strength.
The first thing that needed to be confirmed was whether Australasia's ships indeed possessed Dreadnought capabilities, and the second concern was the cost—could Russia afford large-scale production of these ships?
The price of older battleships was generally around one million pounds, with the most expensive rarely exceeding one and a half million pounds.
This is why Russia had been able to maintain a strong navy; they could always scrape together enough funds for a powerful fleet.
However, if the cost of the Dreadnoughts was too high, it would be beyond the current Russian government's budget.
At most, Russia could afford one or two ships to bolster their fleet's image.
Grand Duke Sergey, ever efficient, had already prepared his questions for Arthur, and the day after receiving Tsar Nicholas II's approval, he approached Arthur with his inquiries.
Arthur, having anticipated this, smiled and answered, "Your Highness, rest assured. Our Monarch-class battleships are designed based on the data of the British Dreadnought and the German Nassau-class. After long research, we have combined the best features of both ships, resulting in a warship comparable to the Dreadnought in terms of combat power. Our battleships are truly Dreadnought-class, and their performance will stand up to any tests."
The Russians were familiar with Germany's Nassau-class battleship. In fact, after the Dreadnought became widely known, Germany had already begun secret countermeasures.
To win over the Germans and counter Britain's Dreadnought, Germany had released some of the Nassau-class data, claiming it was a battleship with firepower equal to that of the Dreadnought.
Given the Monarch-class battleship, which combined the strengths of both the Dreadnought and Nassau-class, it should easily match or surpass the Dreadnought in terms of overall performance.
(End of Chapter)
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