Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Time flies and it is May. Anhou's north and south sides are fighting more fiercely.

However, Navy Li Changxing accepted an invitation from Ren Zhong to visit the launching ceremony of a new ship at the Yangcheng Shipyard.

By the time he got here, Ren Zhong had already arrived.

"Old Li, let me show you something good." Ren Zhong greeted with a smile.

Their contacts had existed as early as the establishment of the navy. When the Fletcher destroyer was first acquired, Li Changxing treated it like a treasure and was reluctant to give it to the Ship Research Institute for research, fearing that it might be damaged.

After all, the Fletcher destroyer was the face of the navy at that time. However, after Ren Zhong's persuasion, Li Changxing reluctantly gave it up. Unexpectedly, in a few years, from the Jianghai class to the Luhai class, the Ship Research Institute continued to produce new ships that Li Changxing had always dreamed of. The Fletcher destroyer had long since become Mrs. Niu.

This year, the 8000-ton Luyang-class large destroyer was also launched, and the two Fletcher destroyers were sent to the Naval Academy as teaching and training ships and directly retired from active service.

Seeing the new ship on the river, Li Changxing was still a little confused. After all, this thing with "thorns" all over its body looked like a crane and an excavator head. It didn't look like a transport ship, let alone a warship.

He was a little confused about what this had to do with him, but Li Changxing knew that Ren Zhong must have something important in mind since he called him here.

"Brother Ren, this ship looks a bit strange, is it an engineering ship?" Li Changxing asked tentatively. He has been working on maritime affairs for a long time, so he has some idea of ​​ships.

With so many mechanical equipment, it is definitely not used for fighting on the front line, but more like an engineering project.

"Yes, this is the first generation of offshore engineering vessels we have developed. But it also has a more precise name called self-propelled suction dredger." Ren Zhong replied.

"This self-propelled cutter suction dredger has a full load displacement of 15000 tons, a maximum speed of 15 knots, a total installed power of 25MW, and is powered by our first-generation mobile nuclear power reactor. The design replacement period of the power reactor fuel is 10 years. The working interface includes four types of cutters: general purpose, clay, rock excavation and heavy rock excavation, as well as one underwater pump and two cabin mud pumps."

"According to the design capacity, this self-propelled cutter suction dredger can dredge up to 6000 cubic meters of sediment per hour."

Ren Zhong briefly introduced the parameters of this engineering ship. Li Changxing's eyes sparkled, "Brother Ren, is this the island-building artifact you told me about before? It has been successfully researched, and it is nuclear-powered?" Li Changxing asked excitedly.

Although it couldn't believe it, the ship in front of it reminded it that this was reality.

"How come it was completed so much ahead of time?"

According to the plan, it will take at least another year and a half for this engineering vessel to be launched. The fact that it is launched so early must have some unknown stories behind it.

"It's mainly because the opportunity is rare now. I asked the research department to divide it into modules of different sizes and conduct research simultaneously. The shipbuilders have been working in three shifts to build the hull. This part was actually completed first. Then, as for the nuclear power reactor, the power core, since there is no risk of a major war for the time being, we took a set of power reactors from the Big Black Fish and used them first. If we have to wait for the next batch, it will take another half a year.

We also asked the relevant manufacturers to work in three shifts to study the equipment on the most troublesome ship, so we completed the construction of this ship ahead of schedule. In the short term, we don’t have the opportunity to take out a second ship, so we invited you here today, on the one hand, to see this ship. More importantly, we have to start our action from now on, racing against time. "

Ren Zhong replied.

Li Changxing knew what Ren Zhong meant by this matter.

Right now Anhouzi is busy with internal quarrels and has no time or dare to take care of our plans, so this opportunity is indeed very important to us.

"I understand. How do you want us to cooperate on this matter?" Li Changxing did not hesitate. The plan had been reported long ago, and the time to start it was now handed over to the Third Fleet (South China Sea), which was actually in the hands of Li Changxing.

After all, he is the one who manages these.

"First of all, the Nansha garrison can be established. Our previous Nansha outpost was too small to guard so much water. The garrison is just right. Secondly, it is time to establish the Nansha naval detachment to form routine patrols here. The most important thing is that with this self-propelled suction dredger, the engineering construction team must immediately begin construction operations." Ren Zhong didn't beat around the bush.

"Then, what shall we name this engineering ship?" Li Changxing nodded and asked.

"Why not just call it Kunpeng?"

Nanwei Island is located in the southwest of NSQD, about 100 kilometers west of Huayang Reef, about 34 kilometers southwest of Yinqing Reefs, and about 22 kilometers east of Riji Reef.

The reef area of ​​Nanwei Island in its natural form is very small, only about 3 square kilometers. The reef is about 2.1 kilometers long from east to west. The eastern part of the reef is wider, about 1.15 kilometers wide, and the western part is narrower, about 0.5 kilometers wide. The entire reef is shaped like a trapezoid. Nanwei Island is located in the western part of the reef. The eastern reef is submerged all year round, but the water depth is shallow, which is suitable for landfilling sand and gravel to expand the island area.

Nanwei Island, which is exposed above the sea, is generally a gray sand island, shaped like a triangle, with a length of about 350 meters from east to west and a length of about 750 meters from northeast to southwest. It has a natural area of ​​about 0.15 square kilometers and an average altitude of about 2.5 meters. It is the fourth largest natural island in NSQD. Although the island is not large, after thousands of years of natural evolution, the island is covered with dense forests. These are seeds and seedlings brought by fishermen and merchants from Dongda who have been active in this area since ancient times. Because the trees on the island are lush, seabirds mostly choose to live here, so the island is rich in bird droppings, forming a complete closed-loop excellent ecology with the dense forests.

There are sandy beaches around the island, with sandbanks about 5.5 meters high. The sandbanks surround the island. At the northern end of the island, there is a conical reef about 7 meters high, and at the southernmost end there is a stone tower about 5.5 meters high. There is a natural waterway in the northeastern part of the island extending to the edge of the island, with a water depth of 14 meters. Theoretically, these are the natural conditions for building a 10-ton excellent port.

After the Kunpeng was launched, Li Changxing acted quickly. Of course, there were plans in place at the beginning. Whether it was the garrison area or the garrison detachment, it was just a matter of listing. After allocating several destroyers and transport ships, they began construction work in the south.

The goal of the first phase is to blow out an island area of ​​1 square kilometer and build a 1200-meter runway to ensure that the Y8, the largest transport aircraft currently owned by Dongda, can take off and land. In addition, there is a deep-water dock extending to the 14-meter-deep waterway outside the island to allow 10-ton cargo ships to dock. This is a rigid requirement for the first phase of the project.

After completion, it will ensure a continuous supply of equipment and construction materials needed for the island's facilities.

By that time, the second phase of construction will begin, that is, according to the distribution of reefs, the island will be expanded to about 3 square kilometers, so that it can be built into a frontier supply port, and three-dimensional vegetable planting, collection and storage of fresh water and other important supplies can be built locally. The west of Nanwei Island is close to the main international channel of the South China Sea, the north is the NSQD east-west Nanhua Waterway, the southwest is the Wan'an Beach Basin, which is one of the three major oil and gas rich areas in the East South China Sea and contains rich oil and gas resources. To the south are the Nanwei Beach Basin and Zengmu Basin, and the Zengmu Basin is also one of the three major oil and gas rich areas in the South China Sea, with more oil and gas resources than Wan'an Beach.

It can be said that if the South China Sea is to be deeply developed in the future, this will be the best forward base. The current investment can be recovered tenfold or even a hundredfold in the future.

South China Sea. Someone on a passing fleet of Rogue Hawk saw movement near Nanwei Island.

"Shit, Jack, what do you think that is doing?" On the Rogue Eagle's destroyer USS Waller, the first mate, Major Jones, looked through the telescope at a strange-looking ship near Nanwei Island. After looking for a long time, he couldn't recognize what it was for, so he asked the captain, Lieutenant Colonel Jack, who was next to him.

Lieutenant Colonel Jack picked up the telescope and looked for a while, but couldn't see anything special. "How about we get closer and take a look?"

The channel is more than ten kilometers away from Nanwei Island. Through the telescope, we can see a ship, but it is baring its fangs and claws, and there seem to be masts everywhere.

"Maybe it's a scientific test ship of the East University, used to verify their electronic technology?" Major Jones speculated with some curiosity. "The technology of the East University is developing rapidly, and the navy has made amazing progress. The two main destroyers now have surpassed our Fletcher destroyer. Now we have the opportunity to observe their new test ship up close, and we can't miss it."

Although Major Jones and Lieutenant Colonel Jack did not see the nationality number of the ship clearly, seeing such a huge ship and those obviously complex components on it, it was obviously not something that the Southeast Asian countries could build and maintain, so when they saw it here, they both subconsciously thought it was something from the University of Tokyo.

At that time, it was still early for the International Convention on the Law of the Sea, and even the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone did not exist yet. The generally recognized concept of territorial waters is generally 3 nautical miles from the coast. There was nothing wrong with the Rogue Eagle naval personnel wanting to get close to observe the things they were curious about, which was legally correct.

the other side.

The personnel on duty on the Kunpeng discovered the abnormality of the Rogue Eagle.

"Old Xu, the Rogue Eagle's destroyer is coming. What do they want to do?" Ma Jianping, the captain of the Kunpeng, said to the first mate Xu Zhenyong.

"I don't know, maybe he's just curious?" Xu Zhenyong said hesitantly. Since the battle on the Korean Peninsula, there has been no direct conflict between Dongda and Rogue Eagle. With Dongda's current strength, they don't believe that Rogue Eagle's destroyer will be disadvantageous to them here.

"Well, that may be true. Our Kunpeng has just been launched not long ago, and the Rogue Eagle may not have received the news. It is normal for them to come and observe us closely." Ma Jianping felt relieved when he heard Xu Zhenyong say this.

"Should we stop the operation?" Ma Jianping asked.

"Forget it. Let's ignore them. What we do here will be discovered by the Rogue Eagles sooner or later. We have nothing to hide." Xu Zhenyong said indifferently.

They have a mission, and if they stop working because someone comes, it will delay the progress too much, so Xu Zhenyong does not want to stop his work because of the arrival of the Rogue Eagle destroyer.

After the two reached an agreement, they just picked up the telescope and observed each other carefully. At the same time, Xu Zhenyong also passed the news to the rear garrison area and garrison detachment via radio.

They are now directly under the management of these two institutions, and Ma Jianping and Xu Zhenyong are also active-duty naval officers.

Therefore, it is normal to report military intelligence.

In the South China Sea, after receiving the intelligence, the Hanjing Jianghai-class destroyer, the flagship of the Nansha Garrison Detachment, which was performing patrol missions, the detachment commander Li Xianwei ordered the Hanjing to turn towards Nanwei Island without hesitation.

They are now only a little over 2 kilometers away from Nanwei Island. If they go at full speed, they can arrive there within hours. However, Li Xianwei and Ma Jianping think that it is not a big problem, so they are not in a hurry.

"Damn it, that's an engineering ship of Dongda!" After approaching, Lieutenant Colonel Jack and Major Jones looked at the Dongda flag on the Kunpeng and the sand that was constantly spraying out of the ship, which was expanding the edge of the island at a speed visible to the naked eye. The two of them had no idea what this Dongda ship was doing.

"It's incredible. Dongda has developed another freak. Judging from the amount of sand it spews out, they are building the island very quickly. I swear I have never seen such a large dredging (sand) ship in the country." Major Jones said in surprise.

"Maybe we should film this monster. Some guys in Washington might be interested in it."

Lieutenant Colonel Jack readily agreed to Major Jones' suggestion, and soon he circled the island and the Kunpeng, taking pictures of the Kunpeng from all aspects, capturing the Kunpeng's appearance and what it was doing.

At this time, the two men did not think about what their actions would cause.

On the other side, Ma Jianping and Xu Zhenyong were unable to stop the other side from watching closely. They just closely observed each other's every move and confirmed that the other side was just curious about them. Judging from the people coming and going on the other side's destroyer, it seemed that someone in the middle was filming the situation on their side.

However, Ma Jianping and Xu Zhenyong are clear about their mission. They will have to build islands in the South China Sea for a long time in the future, so sooner or later these will be exposed. They don’t really care whether the other side is filming or observing.

Just don't rush over and cause trouble.

After more than an hour of hard work, the Waller basically figured out what the Kunpeng was doing and the approximate displacement of the ship. It even estimated the Kunpeng's operating capabilities based on the amount of mud and sand sprayed out during on-site operations.

Jack and Jones had no urgent business with the destroyer, so taking advantage of this opportunity, they naturally wanted to find out the situation of the Kunpeng.

That's why he spent so much time. After finishing the work, he didn't linger but left directly towards his next target, and just happened to miss the destroyer Hanjing at sea.

(End of this chapter)