What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 193 The Third Ship

In order to get ashore as soon as possible, Marino broadcasted with all his might, as if he had been injected with stimulants.

Several different sailors recorded several audio clips, which were played continuously on a public channel.

With this radio station, the entire Spratly Islands and the surrounding land can receive broadcasts.

The very next day, Marino’s voice was broadcast around the world on the radio.

Gekin responded immediately in newspapers and on television, stating that two ships were available to provide support at any time, but because the Sierra Madre was a Luzon ship, they could not board it to deliver supplies and rescue personnel without permission from the Luzon authorities.

Following this, official organizations in several surrounding areas also responded, expressing deep concern for the health of the crew of the Sierra Madre and offering to provide assistance to the best of their ability.

When Suha was woken up by a phone call from his boss, it was already noon the next day.

After hearing the phone call clearly, he pushed aside his subordinate's wife and rushed to the street, where he saw the mall's television broadcasting a speech by the President of the United Nations Maritime Organization.

"We are deeply concerned about the lives of the stranded crew members. Their survival situation has reached an extremely dire point, and they urgently need support from all available resources..."

After listening to the story from the roadside, Suha almost fainted.

Embarrassing? Before boarding the ship, Marino wished he could bring his lover from the karaoke bar along, and he packed almost a ton of snacks and drinks, plus a whole sack of Japanese DVDs.

Compared to seafarers who spend seven or eight months at sea, Marino and his crew only stayed for less than a month. How could they not stand it?
Besides, you should have told me first if you couldn't help it. How could you be so brain-dead as to broadcast it on public address?

Suha bought a newspaper, only to discover that Marino had said the satellite phone was broken?

Please, that thing is waterproof and shockproof, it can't be damaged by anything. The Sierra Madre is sitting firmly on the ground and won't move. Unless you put it on fire, you won't know how it will break.

And there are three of these things on the ship, three of them!
Suha immediately realized that something had changed on the ship and hurriedly tried to find the satellite phone to contact them, but he couldn't get through several times.

An unprecedented seriousness finally appeared on his fleshy face; this was no longer within his control.

Meanwhile, in the Spratly Islands.

Wang Wu neatly arranged the three satellite phones on the table, next to the removed phone cards.

Although these phones are used by monkeys, they are all brand-name products and are in very good condition, worth tens of thousands of yuan.

One of these three will be allocated to him, and he might be able to get a card to continue using it after he gets ashore.

……

"Giant Group bought an aircraft carrier for $1."

When Tang Wen saw this explosive headline, he almost exploded with emotion.

Not only does it have a title, but the text also vividly describes how the Giant Group overcame numerous difficulties to finally choose the Baku, a ship with a very high cost-performance ratio, and bought the aircraft carrier for only $1, as well as the less than $1 million it spent on its modification.

The newspaper also published a rendering of the modified version, which was roughly the same as what the third brother had bought and modified in his previous life. However, the proportions of the rendering were obviously wrong, and the deck looked larger.

The promotional images were very advanced and misleading.

In any case, Shi Juzhu had at least signed the ship purchase contract, but it was all too late.

The average person may not understand the difference between the 1143, with a full displacement of 4.5 tons, and the Varyag, with a full displacement of 6.5 tons, but he knows that the Navy would never want this thing.

Even with a substantial investment of several hundred million dollars in modifications, the Type 1143 aircraft-carrying cruiser's foundation was simply too poor, with its hangar capable of holding a maximum of 12 to 14 MiG-29Ks.

As for the Su-33? Sorry, its elevator simply cannot accommodate the enormous Su-33.

Even including deck moorings, under practical considerations, it can carry at most 20 carrier-based aircraft. The Type 011, which is 10,000 tons smaller, can carry up to 40 J-7Js due to its external elevators and flat bow.

At the same time, thanks to its two steam catapults and better deck layout, it outperformed the Type 1143 in operation.

So, the Giants spent $9000 million to buy it for their own use?
That's a huge loss! The Koreans bought the same model of Minsk for only $1300 million.

Even if the $9000 were used for renovations, it would be completely useless.

Tang Wen opened the BBS and logged into the forum. Sure enough, he saw a heated discussion about the Giant Group's purchase of an aircraft carrier in the military section.

[Wolf's World: Spending 9000 million to refit the Baku is simply not enough; the Giants got ripped off!]

[Wind and Snow 61: I have a friend up north who says the Baku is in terrible condition. Due to neglect, the hull is rotten, and it will need a major overhaul if it's even usable. The 9000 million dollar overhaul and modification of the upper deck probably won't be enough.]

[User 10545: I don't understand. The Baku's displacement is much larger than the Type 011. 90 million US dollars is less than 800 million, while the Type 011 cost at least 10 to 20 billion. It should be a good deal, right?]

[Wolf Walks the World: @User10545, are you new to this? Size isn't everything.]

[Han Shuang: Shi Juzhu seems very unreliable...]

The internet today doesn't have online trolls, and the quality of netizens is exceptionally high. You never know, there might be a mysterious big shot behind a certain IP address, so their horizons are all quite broad.

Most people who frequent military forums are not optimistic about the Baku, which is also influenced by the 011 incident.

Before the 011 type existed, people might have been happy to see a 1143 type, but things are different now:
The Type 011 is a proper catapult-equipped modern aircraft carrier, and people generally believe that the next step will definitely be to develop a larger model with a displacement of 5 to 7 tons, following the route of American supercarriers.

The Russians' aircraft-carrying cruisers? Please, those things were proven ineffective ages ago. Didn't you see that the Varyag and Ulyanov were eventually transformed into proper aircraft carriers?
A simple comparison between the Type 011 and Type 1143 makes it extremely clear which is superior.

Tang Wen immediately called Lao Zhang, and after learning of the Navy's polite suggestion, he did not stop making contact.

From beginning to end, Giant Group never indicated that it intended to hand over the aircraft carrier to the navy; the purchase was always made in the name of the new company headquarters, and the funds raised came from the private sector.

Strictly speaking, the Navy has nothing to do with this matter.

According to the information Lao Zhang has, the first payment of $1200 million and $1 has been received, and the Russians have just officially announced that they have taken over the renovation project.

The Severodvinsk shipyard will act as the contractor, undertaking the design evaluation and specific modifications of the Baku, which is expected to take 3 months, followed by 9 months of construction.

Giant Group should have enough funds now to actually pay the $9000 million.

But is it really only $9000 million? Will Shih Ju-chu really pay that much money?

Tang Wen and Lao Zhang both avoided the question and instead talked about the Nansha Islands.

Old Zhang: "You did a good job sending those escaped sailors back. Now the pressure is not on us."

The navy used to be in a hurry, but now they are not, and even think that the Sierra Madre can stay for a while longer.

Because of Marino's distress signal, the whole world knew that Luzon had not sent any search and rescue vessels or requested assistance from its home country for a month after the Sierra Madre ran aground.

You said Luzon sent a rescue ship that went missing? But without any records, who knows if it's true?
There is no record of them entering China's territorial waters, and no one can prove that they actually sent out rescue ships.

Under pressure from public opinion, the Luzon authorities quickly announced that they would send a rescue ship with supplies and medicine two days later.

However, there was no mention of evacuating personnel, nor of how to handle the Sierra Madre, and no response to Geigin.

Domestic state media reiterated their previous wording, but expressed their continued hope that Marino and others' health would be guaranteed, and generously promised to allow the Luzon rescue ship to provide supplies.

(End of this chapter)