50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 342 Ghost Fleet
Rand Baldwin, the production manager who was listening nearby, estimated the distance and the rock conditions and readily agreed.

A 100-meter stretch of granite can be cleared in a maximum of two weeks using a small amount of explosives and a small team of workers.

Because digging a 100-meter-long mine tunnel doesn't cost much, he wouldn't refuse even if it was just to curry favor with the new chairman.

He also planned to remind the bookworm Zorn when he got back that even if they couldn't find anything, they shouldn't specifically inform the chairman.

We'll just pretend nothing happened, so the chairman doesn't lose face.

Sun Zhiwei didn't care what they were thinking. He figured they would be convinced once the mineral vein was discovered.

In the following days, all departments were making rectifications, and the finance department's ledgers all had to be rewritten.

However, instead of having the new financial director register the actual mining data, he optimized the original fake data to make it look more realistic.

The production figures were concealed, and the money was embezzled. He didn't receive a single penny on the surface, so he couldn't possibly help pay taxes; he's not that stupid.

Then, the data from other departments must be adjusted accordingly based on the data from the finance department, so that such a basic mistake as 10 people not receiving their work protection supplies can no longer occur.

However, if you want a horse to run, you have to make sure it's well-fed.

The mining area is thousands of kilometers away from Washington, D.C., far from the central government's reach. He can only come here a few times a year, so we must try our best to eliminate any potential hazards.

On his fifth day at the mining area, all the accounts and reports were revised, and he convened a meeting with the new leadership team.

It was still in the large conference room on the 3rd floor, but most of the managers had been replaced.

Sun Zhiwei sat in the head seat and announced the reward and punishment measures he had come up with over the past few days.

"The production data of the mine will continue to be the same as before, around 1800 ounces per month. All departments should keep their accounts clear and not let any loopholes slip up."

"Of the extra production, the mine manager takes 2%, the production department and the technical department each take 2%, and the finance department, the safety department, the security team and the office each take 1%."

"You can take this part if I allow it, but don't even think about taking anything I don't allow."

"I'll leave you my phone number. Write it down. Each of you can call me anytime to report on the situation at the mine."

"Finally, I want to emphasize again: do a good job in safety work and don't cause any more accidents. The compensation for injury or death in an accident is 150 million yuan, which we can't afford."

This was essentially hush money. From now on, the mine's accounts would still be recorded at 1800 ounces per month, and the excess would be divided among everyone.

He takes the lion's share, only giving the leftovers to the noodles. He has no other choice; what can you do with $6 a month? It's less than what his small shop earns.

Based on current actual production, 1% per month is already quite a lot; 1% of 3200 ounces is 32 ounces of gold.

Based on the current gold price of $110 per ounce, that's $3500, while the mine manager's salary is only $1500.

When the price of gold goes up even higher, their share will be even higher. This is how Sun Zhiwei distributes profits among the mines.

If the new mine produces gold next month, they will receive even more. He believes that as long as they are not greedy, the money will satisfy them.

If anyone is as corrupt as the former mine manager, Curry, he'll deal with them when he audits the accounts at the end of the year.

After finishing his business at the mine, Sun Zhiwei drove directly to San Francisco, checked into a hotel near the airport, and bought a plane ticket back to Washington for the next day.

His trip to San Francisco wasn't just about the gold mines; he also had another purpose: the Port of Beniche. The Port of Beniche is a military port near San Francisco that houses half of the Union's decommissioned warships.

It contains all types of ships, including battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines. These mothballed ships are collectively known as "Ghost Fleet".

The practice of sealing away Ghost Fleet began in 1925.

At that time, after World War I, countries were reducing their military equipment, and a large number of the Federation's warships were to be decommissioned. However, many of these warships had just entered service, and it would be too wasteful to scrap them immediately.

The initial plan was to mothball all retired U.S. warships and transport ships at three locations in the continental United States.

In the event of a world war or the United States' involvement in a full-scale war, these old warships might be put to use again.

Therefore, in 1925, the Federal Congress passed an act to establish the Defense Reserve Fleet (DRF), which was responsible for mothballing decommissioned warships.

These "ghost fleets" were later uniformly managed and maintained by the U.S. Federal Maritime Administration.

Over the years, three major "ghost fleet" bases gradually formed, located in James River Harbor, Virginia; Benedictine Harbor, California; and Bomond, Texas.

After World War II, due to the large number of decommissioned ships, Midlake Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was added.

The number of these mothballed ships peaked in 1950, with a total of 2277 vessels of various types mothballed in the four major ports.

These ships have played an important role in history, and the Federation has deployed ghost fleets for foreign wars on numerous occasions.

For example, during World War II, Churchill had his eye on these decommissioned warships, and eventually 50 old warships were leased to Britain.

During the Korean War, the Federation deployed 540 old ships to transport supplies and provide fire support to the M army.

During the Vietnam War, 172 old ships were recommissioned. Most of the smaller ships were abandoned in the area after the war.

Later, those old ships became part of the Annamite Fleet's assets, causing us a lot of trouble.

He came here to investigate the Ghost Fleet of Beniche Port. In addition to obtaining information about the Ghost Fleet of Beniche Port, he also wanted to see if there was anything he could gain.

He had heard that the Ghost Fleet's ships were being scrapped at a rapid pace due to mismanagement and funding shortages over the years.

Many old ships, though still on the register, are so badly corroded that they have no chance of being put back into service and can only rot in the water.

However, a high-level warship contains a lot of sensitive technology and valuable materials. If he were to dismantle it using spatial abilities, the profits would be enormous.

Most ship dismantling companies are unwilling to dismantle these ships, mainly because they lack the technology to effectively handle various pollutants, such as asbestos and toxic materials.

But this is not a problem for Sun Zhiwei at all. However, getting a contract for ship dismantling is not an easy task. It depends on how greedy the head of the Federal Maritime Administration is.

That evening, Sun Zhiwei put on makeup and left the hotel, entering Port Benicio without much trouble.

When he arrived, he found that the port was almost deserted, with only a few elderly retired veterans in charge of security.

Actually, there's nothing here that needs to be protected. So many ships are just sitting there, their fuel all drained, who can possibly sail them away?

(End of this chapter)