The Dreadnought threw everybody a curve ball. All the Navies of the world were left in catch up mode and two to four years behind the Dreadnought. The Liu Song class, while good, was the same as the rest of the pre-Dreadnoughts and semi-Dreadnoughts, obsolete. While those ships were still under construction the three ships of the Xiaowu class were laid down. To help speed up production the same turret design was used as the Liu Song. To speed production of the first ship, and get it to sea, four turrets from the Liu Song Class were diverted to the Xiaowu. This was done so that the best ship available would be enforcing the tariff in the Straits and that no other country would be able to breech the Straits without facing a ship of force.
The Dreadnought required five twin turrets to give it an eight gun broadside. The Xiaowu only required four. A 20% saving all round, which could be put to use for both speed and armour protection. The upgrade from the RN, which used 4" on its first classes of battleship, to the 5.5" used on the Xiaowu, which was a far superior weapon, especially in the anti-torpedo boat mode. The 75mm quick firing guns were for close in action. A pair of 3" AA guns were added in 1917. There were no submerged torpedoes in the design. During trials in the Malacca Strait the Xiaowu easily made 24 knots and almost 25 with overload power. Not quite a battlecruiser but definitely a fast battleship.
The three Xiaowu class were all available on the outbreak of war in 1914. Their first task was to intercept von Spee's Squadron if it came south to penetrate into the Indian Ocean. Only the Emden came south and slipped through the straits between Java and the smaller islands to the east. Emden eventually being caught and sunk by HMAS Sydney. A Khmer cruiser was nearby but Sydney had done the job before it arrived to help. The rest of the war the three ships undertook the unenviable task of convoy escorts in the Indian Ocean. German merchant raiders were active in the Indian Ocean in 1915-16 but the menace had been sorted by the end of 1916 as the raiders and their support ships were caught and sunk. 1917, two ships of the class were sent to the Mediterannean to support the Allied forces against the Turks and the Austro-Hungarian forces. They spent their time anchored with the rest of the fleet off Imbros, their only excitement was when the Goeben and Breslau attacked the harbour then withdrew back behind the Turkish minefields. At the end of the war the two ships were used to return the two Khmer Army Regiments that were in the Middle East fighting the Turks. The period 1920-1930 was quiet for the trio. They performed their allotted task of patrolling the Straits around Singapore, with bouts of chasing pirates in the South China Sea. 1930 was the ships D-Day. Keep or destroy. The Japanese saved the ships. With the Treaties expiring in 1930 the three ships could be modernised to last another 10-15 years in service.
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Nothing too radical was envisaged for the ships rebuild. Command and control functions were top of the list for upgrading. The biggest change would be the upgrading of the machinery and deck armour. The space required for the 40,000 shp propulsion system would now take a set of machinery 20% more powerful for a 2 knot increase in speed. A new 5" strake of deck armour was fitted once the propulsion system had been renewed. All of the minor 5.5" and 75mm guns were removed and replaced with 4" AA dual purpose guns and the new 25mm AA cannons. The 12" guns were refurbished with the floors of the turrets being lowered two feet into the barbettes to allow the elevation of the guns to go from 20 degrees and 24,000 yards range to 26 degrees and 29,000 yards range. Not a large increase but significant in that they would fire far enough to outrange or equal most cruiser weapons of the time. To control the new and refurbished weapons required new director controllers. One main and two secondary directors were fitted for the 12". Triple redundancy. All could control one or more of the 12" turrets. Useful when chasing half a dozen pirate junks. The 4" had two Dual Purpose directors of their own. The 25mm were purely local control.
That's as far as I can go at present. I am still working out what Khmer is going to do in WW2.
