1novels #431 - Good opportunity to build an island
#431 - Good opportunity to build an island
Time flew by, and it was now May. The conflict between An Monkeys in the North and South had intensified.
However, Navy's Li Changxing received an invitation from Ren Zhong to visit the Yangcheng Shipyard to witness the launching ceremony of a new ship.
When he arrived, Ren Zhong was already there.
"Old Li, let me show you something good," Ren Zhong greeted with a smile.
Their acquaintance dated back to the establishment of the Navy. When they first acquired the Fletcher-class destroyer, Li Changxing regarded it as a treasure, reluctant to hand it over to the Ship Research Institute for research, fearing it might be damaged.
After all, the Fletcher-class destroyer was the face of the Navy at the time. However, after Ren Zhong's persuasion, Li Changxing reluctantly parted with it. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, from the Jianghu-class to the Luhai-class, the Ship Research Institute continuously produced new warships that Li Changxing had dreamed of. The Fletcher-class destroyer had long become obsolete.
This year, the 8,000-ton Luyang-class large destroyer was also launched. The two Fletcher-class destroyers were even sent to the Naval Academy as teaching and training ships, directly retiring from active service.
Seeing the new ship already on the river, Li Changxing was still somewhat puzzled. After all, this thing covered in "thorns," with both cranes and excavator heads, didn't look like a transport ship, let alone a warship.
He was a little unsure what this had to do with him, but Li Changxing knew that Ren Zhong must have a reason for inviting him.
"Old Ren, this ship looks a bit strange. Is it an engineering vessel?" Li Changxing asked tentatively. He had been involved in maritime affairs for quite some time and had some understanding of warships.
With so much mechanical equipment, it certainly wasn't for frontline combat but looked more like something for engineering projects.
"That's right. This is the first-generation offshore construction engineering vessel we've developed. However, it has a more precise name: self-propelled cutter suction dredger," Ren Zhong replied.
"How was it completed so far ahead of schedule?"
According to the plan, it would take at least another year and a half for this engineering vessel to be unveiled. Its early debut must have some unknown story behind it.
"The main reason is that the opportunity is rare now. I had the research department divide into different-sized modules to conduct research simultaneously. The shipbuilding team worked in three shifts, constantly building the hull. This part was actually completed first. Then, for the nuclear power unit, the core of the power system, considering there's no risk of a major war for the time being, we took a set of power units from the 'Big Black Fish' to use first. Waiting for the next batch would take another half a year.
The most troublesome part was the equipment on the ship. We also had the relevant manufacturers research in three shifts. This is how we completed the construction of this ship ahead of schedule. In the short term, we won't have the opportunity to build a second one. So, I invited you here today, partly to see the ship. More importantly, we need to start our actions now and make every second count."
Ren Zhong replied.
Li Changxing understood what Ren Zhong meant.
Now that the An Monkeys were busy tearing themselves apart internally, they couldn't care about or dare to care about our plan. So, this opportunity was indeed very important to us.
"I understand. How do you want us to cooperate?" Li Changxing didn't hesitate. This plan had been reported long ago, and the responsibility for its implementation now rested with the Third Fleet (South China Sea), which was essentially under Li Changxing's command.
After all, he was in charge of managing these things.
"First, the Nansha Garrison District can be established. Our previous Nansha outposts were too small to guard so many sea areas. A garrison district is just right. Second, it's time to establish the Nansha Naval Detachment to conduct routine patrols in the area. Most importantly, with this self-propelled cutter suction dredger, the Engineering Construction Brigade must immediately begin construction operations," Ren Zhong didn't beat around the bush.
"Then, what's the name of this engineering vessel going to be?" Li Changxing nodded and asked.
"How about calling it 'Kunpeng'?"
Nanwei Island is located in the southwest of the NSQD, about 100 kilometers west of Huayang Reef and about 34 kilometers southwest of Yinqing Reef, and about 22 kilometers east of Riji Reef.
The reef area of Nanwei Island in its natural state 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 trapezoidal in shape. Nanwei Island is located in the western part of the reef. The eastern reef is submerged underwater all year round, but the water is shallow, making it suitable for filling with sand and gravel for development and construction to expand the island's area.
The Nanwei Island exposed above the sea is generally a gray sand island, shaped like a triangle, with east and west sides of about 350 meters long, a northeast to southwest diagonal side of about 750 meters long, a natural area of about 0.15 square kilometers, and an average elevation of about 2.5 meters. It is the fourth largest natural island in the NSQD. Although the island area is not large, after thousands of years of natural evolution, the island is densely forested, covering the entire island. These are all seeds and seedlings brought by fishermen and merchants from Dongda who have been active in this area since ancient times. Due to the lush trees on the island, many seabirds choose to nest here, so the island is rich in bird droppings, forming a complete closed-loop excellent ecosystem with the dense forest.
There are beaches around the island, with sand dikes inside, about 5.5 meters high. The sand dikes surround the island. At the northern end of the island, there is a conical reef, about 7 meters high, while at the southernmost end there is a stone tower about 5.5 meters high. In the northeast of the island, there is a natural waterway extending to the edge of the island, with a depth of 14 meters. Theoretically, this has the natural conditions for building a 100,000-ton-class excellent port.
After the Kunpeng was launched, Li Changxing acted quickly. Of course, these were all planned in advance. Whether it was the garrison district or the garrison detachment, it was just a matter of renaming. After separating a few destroyers and transport ships, they began construction work in the South China Sea.
The first phase target was to blow up 1 square kilometer of island area and build a 1200-meter runway to ensure that the current largest Dongda transport aircraft Y8 can take off and land, and another deep-water wharf, extending to the 14-meter-deep island waterway, so that 100,000-ton freighters can also dock, which is the basic need of the first phase project.
After completion, ensure that the necessary equipment and building materials for the island's facilities are continuously transported there.
At that time, begin the second phase of construction, which is to expand the island to about 3 square kilometers according to the distribution of the reef, so that it can be built into a forward supply port, establishing vertical vegetable cultivation and collecting and storing fresh water and other important supplies locally.
Nanwei Island is close to the main international shipping lane in the South China Sea to the west, the Nanhua Waterway running east-west of NSQD to the north, and the Wan'an Beach Basin to the southwest, which is one of the three major oil and gas enrichment areas in the eastern South China Sea, containing rich oil and gas resources. To the south are the Nanwei Beach Basin and the Zengmu Basin, and the Zengmu Basin is also one of the three major oil and gas enrichment areas in the South China Sea, with more oil and gas resources than Wan'an Beach.
It can be said that if we want to deeply develop the South China Sea in the future, this will be the best forward base. The current investment can be recovered tenfold or a hundredfold in the future.
South China Sea. On a passing fleet of Rogue Eagles, someone saw the activity near Nanwei Island.
"Sh*t, Jack, what's that doing?" On the Rogue Eagle's Waller destroyer, Lieutenant Commander Jones, the first mate, looked through his binoculars at a strangely shaped ship near Nanwei Island. After looking at it for a long time without recognizing what it was doing, he asked Commander Jack next to him.
Commander Jack picked up his binoculars and looked for a while, but couldn't figure out what it was. "Why don't we get closer and take a look?"
The channel is more than ten kilometers away from Nanwei Island. Through the binoculars, you can see a ship, but it's sprawling and seems to have masts everywhere.
"Maybe it's Dongda's scientific experimental ship, used to verify their electronic technology?" Lieutenant Commander Jones speculated curiously. "Dongda's technological development is changing rapidly, and the navy is making amazing progress. The current two main destroyers have already surpassed our Fletcher destroyers. Now that we have the opportunity to observe their new experimental ship up close, we can't miss it."
Although neither Lieutenant Commander Jones nor Commander Jack could see the nationality markings of the ship, seeing such a giant ship and the obviously complex components on it, it was clear that it was not something that Southeast Asian countries could build and afford. Therefore, seeing it here, both of them subconsciously thought it was Dongda's thing.
At that time, it was still early for international maritime conventions, and even the 'Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone' did not yet exist. The generally accepted concept of territorial waters was generally 3 nautical miles from the shore. The Rogue Eagle's naval personnel wanted to get closer to observe things they were curious about, and there was nothing wrong with it from a legal point of view.
On the other side.
The personnel on duty on the Kunpeng noticed the Rogue Eagle's anomaly.
"Lao Xu, the Rogue Eagle's destroyer is coming over. What do they want to do?" Ma Jianping, the captain of the Kunpeng, asked Xu Zhenyong, the first mate.
"I don't know, maybe they're just curious?" Xu Zhenyong said hesitantly. Since the war on the Bangzi Peninsula, Dongda and the Rogue Eagle have had no direct conflict. With Dongda's current strength, they didn't believe that the Rogue Eagle's destroyer would be harmful to them here.
"Well, maybe that's really the case. Our Kunpeng has just been launched, and the Rogue Eagle may not have received the news. It's normal for them to come over and observe us up close." Ma Jianping felt relieved after hearing Xu Zhenyong say this.
"Then should we stop working?" Ma Jianping asked.
"Forget it, ignore them. Sooner or later, the Rogue Eagle will find out what we're doing here. We have nothing to hide." Xu Zhenyong said indifferently.
They had a set mission. If someone came, they would stop working, which would delay the progress too much. Therefore, Xu Zhenyong didn't want to stop his work because of the arrival of the Rogue Eagle's destroyer.
After the two reached an agreement, they just picked up their binoculars and carefully observed the other side. At the same time, Xu Zhenyong also transmitted 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.
So it was normal to report military intelligence.
South China Sea. After receiving the intelligence, Li Xianwei, the detachment leader of the Nansha Garrison Detachment's flagship Hanjing Jianghai-class destroyer, which was performing patrol missions, ordered the Hanjing to turn towards Nanwei Island almost without thinking.
They are now only a little over a hundred kilometers away from Nanwei Island. If they go at full speed, they can arrive within 2 hours. However, Li Xianwei, like Ma Jianping and the others, believed that the problem was not big, so he was not in a hurry.
"Good heavens, that's a Dongda engineering ship!" After getting closer, Commander Jack and Lieutenant Commander Jones looked at the Dongda flag on the Kunpeng and the sand constantly spewing from the ship, expanding the edge of the island at a visible rate. The two of them didn't know what Dongda's ship was doing.
"It's incredible. Dongda has developed another freak. Judging from the amount of sand spewing from this thing, their speed of building islands is very fast. I swear I haven't seen such a large dredger (sand) ship in the country," Lieutenant Commander Jones said in surprise.
"Maybe we should photograph this monster. Some guys in Washington might be interested in this thing."
Lieutenant Commander Jones's suggestion was readily agreed to by Commander Jack. Soon, they circled the island and the Kunpeng, taking pictures of the Kunpeng from all angles, capturing the shape of the Kunpeng and what it was doing.
At this time, the two of them did not realize what their actions would cause.
On the other side, Ma Jianping and Xu Zhenyong couldn't stop the other party's close observation. They just closely observed the other party's every move, confirming that the other party was just curious about them. Judging from the people coming and going on the other party's destroyer, it seemed that someone in the middle was taking pictures of their situation.
However, Ma Jianping and Xu Zhenyong knew their mission. They would be building islands in the South China Sea for a long time to come, so sooner or later these things would be exposed. They were not very concerned about the other party's photography or observation.
As long as they don't rush up to make trouble.
After more than an hour of tossing around, the Waller basically figured out what the Kunpeng was doing and the approximate displacement of the ship. They even estimated the Kunpeng's operating capacity based on observing the amount of mud and sand sprayed at the scene.
Jack and Jones didn't have anything urgent to do with this destroyer, so taking advantage of such an opportunity, they naturally had to figure out the situation of the Kunpeng. That's why it took so much time. After finishing, they left without hesitation and headed towards their next target, passing the Hanjing destroyer at sea.