What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 250 Stratosphere Fortress (1400 monthly votes in April)

[Target location captured: Completed]

【Battle End: Victory】

[Gains: 5956000 Silver Coins, 156000 Experience Points]

"That's a bit too little."

Looking at the results of the settlement, Tang Wen was somewhat dissatisfied.

That's a 16x boost, and it only gives you a little over 150,000 experience points? That means you only have less than 10,000 base experience points?
But thinking about it, it makes sense. Apart from its advanced radar, the Falkland Islands were almost unarmed, so the battle was more like a parade.

Based on this reaction speed, Tang Wen estimated that it would take at least another ten hours to receive effective feedback.

It's pointless to confront the small forces in Nanmei, and even if the European fleet were to travel from nearby Morocco, it would still take 10,000 kilometers, so we need to take the initiative and launch an attack.

We still need to rely on ship girls to refuel.

……

"Let's take a look at some recent international news. According to The Sun, the day before yesterday, tourists on a cruise ship bound for Antarctica claimed to have seen a fleet of warships that sank decades ago. Some say it was a special entertainment event organized by the local authorities to celebrate Christmas..."

It takes almost half a day longer in the Eastern Hemisphere, and the news usually arrives about a day later.

When news of the discovery of the cruise ship reached the mainland, only a few friends of the tourists disclosed the news to the media, and it was then circulated as gossip.

The Chilean government did not react at all, but the tourism bureau thought it was a good gimmick and secretly bought trending topics in Western newspapers, hoping to attract more wealthy people to Antarctica and make some money.

The mainstream media completely ignored this outrageous rumor, but The Sun seized upon it, even embellishing it with exaggerated details.

A day later, a provincial television station in southern China also reprinted the news, but it barely caused any stir.

Only a small group of people, as if a switch had been flipped, began to closely monitor the Second Fleet and wait for the West's reaction time.

Training in the Greater Bay Area proceeded as usual, but in the early hours of the morning, when almost no one was around, two figures quietly appeared next to the oil storage tanks at the port.

After assembling his own fleet, Tang Wen contacted the port of Guangcheng and replenished about 10,000 tons of heavy oil, which is still plentiful.

The ship girl hugged the oil pipe, which was almost as thick as herself. After opening the valve, the heavy oil that gushed out dissipated as it approached her body. After five hours of emptying about 7000 tons of fuel, she let out a soft "burp" and returned to the Second Fleet before dawn.

As dawn broke, the awakening domestic media, as usual, gathered international news and noticed something unusual: -
At the request of the British, the French Navy in Cannes, Guyana, was dispatched urgently.

The next one is:
-
An unidentified fleet has been discovered off the coast of Argentina, claiming to be the Second Fleet of the High Seas.

……

In fact, the earliest report of the discovery of the Second Fleet by the cruise ship was almost 20 hours earlier than the report from the Falkland Islands.

The wise examples are ignored, the media is ignored, after all, it's not twenty years from now, otherwise a short video shot casually could go viral worldwide.

In fact, the Falkland Island report from Tyrell was initially thought to be a bad prank until a series of photos were sent back via scanned fax.

Images of the battleships firing were first sent to Downing Street, and then appeared at the RAND Corporation almost simultaneously.

Although there was no nearby base, the think tank used its connections with the IAA to get Argentina to send an A4 under the guise of routine training to conduct reconnaissance, which led to the discovery of the Second Fleet heading north at full speed.

To save time and fuel, Tang Wen would occasionally activate his skill to speed up the warship. The A4 pilot not only saw the high-speed warship, but also the lingering smoke and clouds on the sea.

Before evening on the 25th, Argentine intelligence confirmed the authenticity of the encounter on the Falkland Island. By this time, half a day had passed since Tyron reported it, and a whole day had been wasted.

Downing Street hoped Argentina would take action to find out the origin and purpose of the fleet, but the other side refused to act, citing the approaching night, and only made a few meaningless calls on the radio.

In reality, Argentina still has excellent pilots, but they have no reason to stop this fleet that is clearly heading north to cause trouble, and simply choose to ignore it.

Whether it's a so-called ghost fleet or not, as long as it causes trouble for the British, they'll turn a blind eye and remain silent. The two sides of the Atlantic, helpless in the face of this, are also forced to analyze the data while searching for other forces that can intervene.

At this moment, the French navy of Guyana came into their view.

As France's most important overseas territory, Guyana's low latitude makes it ideal for a space launch site. Warships have long been stationed in the port of Cannes, prompting an urgent negotiation.

Upon hearing that the High Seas Fleet had been revived, the French were also full of questions. At that time, Guyana had a George Legge-class destroyer, the HMAS Dubreuil, and a Ruby-class nuclear submarine, the HMAS Topaz.

As for aircraft, Guyana only has a few old C160 transport planes available for deployment.

The possible coordinates from Guyana to the Second Fleet are at least 7000 kilometers away.

If they didn't return, taking off from Guyana, conducting reconnaissance around the coastline, and landing in the Falkland Islands would require a flight distance of 8000 kilometers, while the C160's range limit is only 8300 kilometers, making this an impossible mission.

Moreover, despite their eagerness, the Dubrev, armed with only four Exocet missiles, was unable to achieve any effective results.

After much negotiation and exchange of interests, the Dubrev and Yellowstone finally set sail at 11 p.m. on the 25th, and in order to ensure that they had fuel for the return voyage, they maintained a speed of only 20 knots.

If the Second Fleet continues to sail at a speed of 30 knots, the earliest it is expected to encounter Rio de Janeiro is around 3 days later, on the afternoon of the 28th.

Although this was still not satisfactory, the two warships set sail.

The next morning, an IAA satellite went to great lengths to change its orbit in an attempt to take satellite photos of the Second Fleet.

In reality, there are hardly any hotspots in the Southern Hemisphere, and very few satellites pass through the area; otherwise, satellite photos could have been taken on the 25th.

At 10 a.m. on the 26th, a printed optical satellite image was delivered to the think tank, and experts from all walks of life gathered around to take a look.

To minimize losses, the satellite used for the orbit change was an old satellite that had been in service for a long time and was already scheduled for retirement. After using up its last bit of fuel, it was almost worthless.

The satellite photos were taken with a film camera and then electronically scanned in space before being transmitted back to Earth, so they are not very clear; you can only see silhouettes of ships.

But the experienced naval experts, examining each pixel one by one, quickly obtained results:

"These are the turrets, one, two, three, four, four turrets."

"Judging from the length of the boiler smoke, the speed must be at least thirty knots, my goodness."

“Based on pixel comparison, the length of this waterline is between 240 and 260 meters. Considering the ship type and the number of turrets, it should be the Bismarck.”

"It matches the photos of the Falkland Islands: two battleships, two battlecruisers, two heavy cruisers, and one destroyer."

"Notice the reflection in the sunlight. It doesn't look red. If it were painted entirely red, the reflection wouldn't be like this."

"That's impossible. There's no time to repaint at sea. Look at their position, they're sailing at at least 25 knots."

"How could there be such a fleet? Where could it have come from?"

After a long, noisy discussion among the experts, the IAA intelligence officer, who was getting impatient, finally spoke up:
"Hey, can you give me some specific information or instructions?"

"Of course."

The head of the hastily formed "Second Fleet Response Team" looked at him seriously:

"We need more, even face-to-face video footage."

"We are coordinating with nearby allies and neutral parties."

"Too much trouble. Let's just send a B-52; the range should be sufficient."

(End of this chapter)