What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 161 Encounter, Live

"Target bearing 26400 meters, boom!"

Lynch held a telescope and looked at the empty sea outside the bridge with great pride, pretending to be in a battle line.

The 460mm gun barrel weighing hundreds of tons was pointed high into the sky, and then the explosive bag heavier than a person was detonated, sending the 1.6-ton projectile carrying flames tilting out, like a flying locomotive making a humming sound, and finally slamming into the thick armor belt of the enemy ship.

The close contact between the half-meter-thick shells and the armor thicker than the wall caused the vibration to shake violently the battleship weighing tens of thousands of tons.

The artillery shells of both sides flew in the sky at supersonic speeds. There was no artillery radar to track their trajectories. Whether they hit the target or not depended entirely on fate. If they dodged it, it was luck, but if they were hit once, it would be a heavy blow.

Lin Qi was completely immersed in his COS. The acting captain next to him frowned and watched for a long time before finally correcting him:
"According to the Naval Manual, you should also bring the turret firing sequence."

"Ah, but now we have radar fire control, so we can actually do it by pressing a button in the weapons room, right?"

"You don't understand the romance of battleships, you phony BB guy!"

"No, Lao Zhao, you are actually a fundamentalist artillery party. Modern sects have a future!"

The two BB parties split up at the speed of light and had a fierce dispute over whether to retain the traditional firing process. In the end, they asked Yujiro Taguchi to judge.

Taguchi Yujiro was thinking about how to tactfully tell them that they were just shouting nonsense, but was interrupted by a voice:
"30 kilometers northeast, an unidentified aerial target is approaching, altitude 1200, speed 540 kilometers!"

The sound came from the "Chang'an" next door. The battleship did not have any modern electronic radar, but only modified a simple communication system to communicate with friendly ships.

Lynch glanced at his watch and guessed it was either E3C or P8A.

It's past 12 o'clock now. They start work at 9 o'clock, so it's just right for them to fly over for maintenance and repair. It's a standard routine patrol.

Generally speaking, they would dabble in the 12-nautical-mile boundary, occasionally trying to sneak in, and then be ruthlessly expelled by the Flying Leopard or J-8II.

However, this is the third unidentified aerial target within 12 hours. Is an old battleship worth such a big fuss?

51 years after the sinking of the Yamato, it is still a popular ship in the hearts of navies of various countries.

"Old Zhao, what do you think?"

Although the battleship theoretically had almost no combat capability, the other three warships unanimously elected the battleship as their flagship and willingly provided escort on both sides.

The fleet did not strictly follow the so-called "12 nautical miles" in its navigation. Most of the routes were far offshore, so it was normal to encounter foreign military aircraft.

The naval aviation's J-8B "Flying Leopard" fighter jet is not suitable for maneuverable pursuit, and the J-II has short legs and short time in the air, so most of the time the fleet has to rely on itself to solve the problem.

Acting Captain Lao Zhao, theoretically the commander of this small fleet, needs to make timely decisions.

Of course, HNA is definitely on the way, it’s just a matter of deciding the current response posture.

"Ship 519 and Ship 105 move forward in air defense formation, and Ship 106 moves forward to destroy!"

"105/519/106 received!"

The three destroyers and frigates immediately executed the order. The Qinan and Changzhi were distributed on both sides of the battleship a few kilometers away, forming a standard escort formation, while the 106 Changan broke away from the dense formation and began to shout to the unknown target.

"This is the Chang'an ship of the North Sea Fleet. Foreign military aircraft, you have approached the alert range of our formation. Please turn immediately, turn immediately. This is..."

After a radio call, experienced captains are used to it, and what comes over the radio will definitely be nonsense like "I'm sailing normally."

About five seconds later, a voice came from the radio:

"Hello! I'm Ike Dwight, a reporter from the Blueberg News Agency. I'm here on my own behalf and won't interfere with your voyage. I just want to take some photos of your warships.

I'm on a Beechcraft 200 private jet generously sponsored by His Excellency David Forenti, reporting to the world. Welcome to follow Blumberg's gaze. I'm Ike, always with the breaking news! "Changan Ship: ??
How does it feel like watching live news?

In fact, it is true. Ike is a foreign reporter for the Blumberg News Agency. He has been tracking eye-catching disaster news such as tornadoes, super tsunamis, and major earthquakes for many years. He happened to be in the notebook recently.

After confirming the presence of a battleship, Ike asked a wealthy man with whom he had a good relationship and successfully borrowed the other's Beechcraft 200 turboprop private plane. He boldly took off from Kashima and flew straight towards it.

The Beechcraft 200 has a range of more than kilometers and can stay in the air for two hours after the round trip, which is enough time to shoot a large amount of footage.

The entire fleet had never encountered such a thing. After all, the radar of the Chang'an ship just confirmed that it was indeed a small twin-engine passenger plane and posed no threat.

Lao Zhao was thinking, and Lin Qi said beside him:
"The reporter's plane arrived so quickly, they must have had someone to show them the way."

The implication is that the real "foreign troops" are already on the way, and it may just be that Ike is flying fast.

Lao Zhang thought for a moment, picked up the intercom and said:
"Please descend to within visual range and do not interfere with the normal navigation of our ship. Otherwise, we have the right to carry out necessary expulsion."

Come on, take some pictures. The newly acquired battleship is still hot. It’s better to show it openly than to be photographed secretly.

Ike in the small plane suddenly became excited and ordered the pilot to descend to an altitude of 300 to 400 meters. Soon he could clearly see the formation sailing at 26 knots on the sea.

"OMG!"

On the boundless ocean, the legendary Yamato was like a silent giant, pushing away the waves. The destroyers on both sides were just tiny ones, less than one-tenth of its weight, and seemed to be at different distances.

Ike was immediately excited. This was even more shocking than an aircraft carrier.

The Beechcraft 200 approached cautiously, followed at a distance of about 2 kilometers, and directly reduced its speed to 190 kilometers per hour for the stall shot.

"Respected Captain, are you the commander of the Yamato?"

"Hello Ike, I'm the commander of the Type 001 battleship."

"But it looks like the Yamato."

"This may be your misunderstanding. It is indeed easy for non-professionals to confuse different types of warships."

"Is this battleship yours?"

"The Type 001 battleship belongs to the North Sea Fleet."

"Huh, did you salvage a Yamato, or did you build a replica? What's the difference between it and the real Yamato?"

"No comment."

Lao Zhao was happy to chat with Ike, but once the source of the warship was mentioned, he would simply say "I have nothing to say."

Ike's interest did not diminish at all, instead he shouted loudly:

"I saw it. Oh my god, its main guns are so huge in the air. Each one is even longer than a missile. I know you won't believe it, but Brumberg's firsthand footage will be released soon. Welcome to watch..."

Current technology certainly doesn't support live broadcasts during flights. Ike is essentially broadcasting live via radio via the aircraft's communications. The actual video footage has to be transmitted back to the mainland after the plane lands.

It is not just local users who listen to the radio. In many places in the world's oceans, on ships and warships, Brumberg's radio has a huge user base.

“Fifty years ago, the most powerful battleship in the world sank in the Sea of ​​Whales, and fifty years later I saw it fighting in the ocean. This is incredible.

I'm on the phone with the commander of this super battleship, bringing you the most authentic report!"

(End of this chapter)