What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 27 Yes and No

"After the outbreak of World War II, in order to save personnel, the British leased some of their ships to Australia, allowing them to protect their Asian colonial interests. During this period, they transferred a large number of assets from the mainland and also transported a lot of supplies in return.

There are many shipping routes around Hong Kong and Shanghai, and there are many small-scale frictions and battles, but many also pass through the waters near Echeng.

The operation passing through Crescent Island was codenamed "Monsoon 16". The Oak was carrying a batch of mechanical equipment. The cargo ship ran aground on a reef and leaked. The captain originally wanted to let it run aground on Crescent Island, but failed.

The Oak was a Liberty ship, a fast, mass-produced freighter built by the United States during World War II. It weighed 7000 tons deadweight and over 12000 tons fully loaded. I suspect it would have sunk so quickly only if it were fully loaded, otherwise it would have been impossible to abandon such a freighter in a non-combatant situation.

With the breakthrough, Tang Yi immediately looked for supporting information and began to search for a more detailed location of the sinking.

In addition to the map, he also found the nautical charts drawn at that time and speculated on the route based on the records.

"It's less than ten nautical miles from Crescent Island. The text doesn't mention turning back, so it should be on the way there. It's roughly... here."

A little below the Dongsha Islands, Tang Yi drew a circle:

"The average depth of the South China Sea is over 1000 meters, but the area near Dongsha Island is not too deep, just over meters."

Over a hundred meters? Not too deep?
Coincidentally, Tang Wen knew something about diving. Before traveling through time, he had rented a diving suit at the beach and knew the diving depth of a normal person.

Without special protective gear, a normal person can only dive to a depth of 10 to 15 meters. With equipment, a depth of only 10 to 40 meters is considered deep diving.

As for the range of 40 to 100 meters, it is already a range that can only be reached by professionals with very good professional equipment. It is almost impossible for ordinary people to dive to it without special training.

Even the diving depth of a nuclear submarine is generally only about 200 meters. The deeper you go, the more terrifying the sea water pressure becomes, and only professional submersibles can be used to dive deep.

Can the shipyard provide this thing?
Looking at Tang Wen's strange expression, Tang Yi asked doubtfully:
"Commander, you're not planning on diving down to get it yourself, are you?"

"..."

Tang Yi: "You don't have to dive yourself. You just use a steel cable to lower a hook. As long as you can hook the Oak, it's fine. Diving over 100 meters is very risky."

Tang Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief, but then Tang Yi continued:

“But we still have to build a new ship, and we’ll have to use sonar to salvage the sunken ship. It will also take at least a few days, and we’ll need supplies to sustain it for a few days.

It needs to be at least 50 tons, loaded with enough supplies to sustain five people for at least five days."

Tang Wen: "It's a small matter."

Compared with more than 70 tons of steel, this investment is negligible. Tang Wen still has experience points, which can be "squandered" all.

The 50-ton boat was very simple. Tang Yi drew a simple diagram and simple parameters and designed it into a small yacht, equipped with 6 V8 gasoline motors, sonar and a device for releasing hooks, code-named "Y1".

[Design blueprint: 20.4 meters long, 5.8 meters wide, 1.2 meters draft, 58 tons full load displacement, hull anti-corrosion treatment with epoxy zinc-rich paint, integrated welding process;
动力：6台250马力舷外发动机，最大速度33节，最大航程：15节/400海里】

Estimated cost:

Required R&D:

50-ton lightweight crude steel low-resistance hull: 50 experience
Required manufacturing:
1. Direct manufacturing: 1080 silver coins/bar (cycle 7 days)
2.来料加工：钢铁55吨，石油0.2吨，405银币/条（周期4天）】

Compared with the speedboats manufactured before, the Y1 yacht has added sonar and salvage equipment. Fortunately, these two small things are covered in the first-level ship technology and do not require additional research and development.

Six 6-horsepower outboard motors aren't particularly impressive for a yacht like this, and are even a bit insufficient, reaching a speed of only 250 knots (about 33 kilometers per hour). To reach speeds exceeding 60 knots would require a 40-3000-horsepower diesel engine, requiring additional power development.

But this is enough. It only takes 20 hours to reach 5 nautical miles to Dongsha even at an economic speed of knots.

Tang Wen paid 1080 silver coins without hesitation to start building the ship, and Tang Yi would continue to search for other shipwrecks in the next 7 days.

Everyone has realized that shipwrecks are very convenient resources that don't cost money. What's buried on the seabed aren't just ruins, they're treasures!

……

The next day, Tang Wen went to the village chief's house first.

Although Crescent Island is close, he has no experience of going to sea, so it would be safer to ask the village chief.

However, Tang Wen knocked on the door for a long time but there was no response, so he remembered that the village chief might have gone to town again.

"Wenwazi, you're here to see the village chief again. He hasn't been here for the past two days."

Tang Wen turned around and saw that it was an old man who was out for a walk. His surname was Wang and he often came out to bask in the sun.

Uncle Wang was a fisherman and a militiaman when he was young, or perhaps all fishermen were militiamen at that time. Tang Wen suddenly thought that he could ask him, as he might have more experience than the village chief.

Thinking of this, he quickly went over to help Uncle Wang sit down on a stone by the roadside and asked:
"Grandpa, do you know Crescent Island?"

"Crescent Island? That's the Chaoshan name, it's Dongsha Island!"

Uncle Wang looked as if he understood, so Tang Wen quickly asked:
"Is it easy to get there? I want to go for a walk over there."

After hearing this question, Uncle Wang was stunned for a moment, then his eyes suddenly showed a vigilant look, and his attitude became a little stiff:
"What are you doing on Dongsha Island? That's not the place for you."

I can't go yet?
Tang Wen was a little confused. Why did he feel that Uncle Wang was a little angry?
But he couldn't remember what was special about that area. Tang Wen tried to recall for a long time, and then suddenly realized:
Like the Xisha and Nansha Islands, the Dongsha Islands must also have border outposts and coast guards. They are afraid that I will interfere with the guards' work!
After figuring it out, Tang Wen quickly said:

"Grandpa, are you worried about the coast guard on Dongsha Island? Don't worry, I'm not going to the island. I'm just going to play around there. There just happens to be an extra boat available to go out to sea."

"Aren't you afraid of being arrested?"

"What should I be afraid of? It's not illegal to go out to sea."

Tang Wen was even more baffled. No one said he couldn't go out to sea to enjoy the scenery, right? Besides, he looked at the map and saw that Dongsha was far from the high seas.

Uncle Wang stared at Tang Wen carefully, and after a long while, he finally confirmed that the latter was really unaware of the situation. Then he said calmly:
"It's true that the mainland water police didn't arrest you, but I didn't say the water police on Dongsha were from mainland China."

"What's the meaning."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, some memories emerged in Tang Wen's mind.

He remembered when the village chief mentioned Crescent Island, he said to avoid the area near Crescent Island when going out.

The water police living on the Dongsha Islands are indeed Chinese, and they speak Mandarin (the accent hasn't started to pick up yet at this time), and their registered residence is the same as that of a certain Old Huang who likes to wear leather jackets.

And now it is the end of July 1996. Due to some minor frictions some time ago, the relationship between the two sides may be a little unfriendly.

(End of this chapter)