What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 270 Fleet Chronicles (2600 monthly votes in April)

C13, or more precisely C13-A, is the model used by Little Eagle, with 30 years of research and development experience.

The C13-A was 81 meters long, and a 99-meter extended version was later developed, which is now equipped on the Nimitz-class carriers, the world's first aircraft carrier. It is undoubtedly the most advanced steam catapult of the last generation.

As a member of the naval technology reserve of the 60s, the Kitty Hawk's research and development cost of 160 million included catapults, but Tang Wen just wanted to do the climbing line mission as a side project.

While the Kitty Hawk is better, the Superstar is not bad after some modifications.

The US-class aircraft carriers have two lines: one is the X-class Midway, followed by supercarriers, and the other ends at the X-class Essex, with no further supercarrier routes.

The ☆-class supercarrier "United States" has a displacement of 7.9 tons in its original state, and after some modifications, it will definitely be no worse than the Kitty Hawk.

Tier ☆ warships are ranked after Tier X warships, but as long as you select the preceding Tier X warships, Tier ☆ warships do not require research experience, only silver coins.

If the Navy is not confident in the USS United States, the next level up is the USS Midway (Class X), which can be directly copied from the US Navy's modification plan.

The USS United States was originally a supercarrier planned by the Imperial Navy in the 50s, but it was unfortunately abandoned. Theoretically, its design was more advanced than that of the Essex. After it was scrapped, it became the Forrestal-class aircraft carrier.

The Supersonic Path only requires 62 experience points, and even with the additional 30 C13 catapult cost, it's still more cost-effective than building a Kitty Hawk.

The obstacle is the LV2 shipyard; the 245-meter dry dock is already insufficient, but Tang Wen plans to try out the aircraft carrier first.

The USS United States is the largest and almost the most advanced of all the X-class and ☆-class carriers, and he believes the Navy should prefer it the most.

Without much hesitation, he directly used his experience points to unlock the first line of the M-series aircraft carriers, and the tech tree extending all the way to the USS United States lit up.

-621000 experience points

[Construction of the ☆-class aircraft carrier "United States"]

Please upgrade your Shipyard to LV2 (Advanced)

Upon seeing the last notification, the long-dormant shipyard page was updated, showing that DIY upgrades could begin, adjusting the size and number of docks, with the cost depending on the extent of the adjustments.

The shipyard problem has been resolved.

The only problem is that Superair is very expensive:
Direct production: 4800 million silver coins (196 days)
Processing trade: 74530 tons of steel, 7260 tons of aluminum, 550 tons of petroleum, and 1680 million silver coins (196 days)

Please upgrade your Shipyard to LV2 (Advanced)

Even if we prepare the materials ourselves, it will still require 1680 million silver coins, equivalent to about 7.7 million RMB, and will take more than 6 months.

Considering the experience required for modification, Tang Wen would absolutely not sell it for less than 30 billion, as it would incur enormous costs.

The Nimitz-class destroyers cost $45 billion in the 70s, while the Kitty Hawk-class destroyers cost $50 billion in the 20s.

The No. 17 ship, built 20 years after the original timeline, is a Type 002 aircraft carrier modeled after the Varyag, which also cost 350 billion.

A figure of over 30 billion is quite fair. This is definitely a real mainstay aircraft carrier that can actually serve until 2030 or even 2040, roughly equivalent to a steam catapult version of the Type 003.

Just as Tang Wen was happily imagining things, the three people who quickly flipped through the documents opened their mouths and broke his guard.

"Is this C13A worth selling? I think it's pretty good."

Seeing the expressions on the three faces, Tang Wen immediately understood:

"You buy one and dismantle it, and you also have to provide the technical data and the right to copy it, right?"

"..."

Old Zhang was a little embarrassed, scratched his head and said:

"It'll lose its meaning if you say it out loud, but there's definitely more than one, at least three."

Tang Wen gritted his teeth inwardly:

Great! I heard that the 50,000-ton Project 891 has been revived. It's perfect for use on Project 891, right?

How can a qualified shipyard owner tolerate customers building their own ships?

"Sure, given our relationship, we'll practically give you the catapult itself." The three of them gasped and whispered:

"This isn't right, isn't it? Aren't we taking too much advantage of them?"

"But I have a condition."

"Please say!"

"Buy a Supernaut from Geyser."

The three of them wore identical sullen faces.

The reason I only wanted to buy the catapult was to save money.

Although Project 891 will cost tens of billions, building it yourself is a different matter, and it is much cheaper than purchasing it.

"Don't be discouraged. If we can't buy it this year, we can buy it next year. Besides, our aircraft carrier is well-designed and its performance is comparable to that of the US. Project 891 is definitely not as good as it."

"If you buy a Supercharger, I'll give you all my documents, and I'll give you a 50% discount on future maintenance! 50% off!"

The group exchanged glances, and it seemed to make sense, since Gaijin's technology was "stolen" from the West, so the design was undoubtedly top-notch.

Tang Wen continued to strike while the iron was hot:

"If we buy another auxiliary vessel, once we extract oil in the Spratly Islands, all the ships that Gaijin sells will have their fuel sold at 20% or 40% of the market price! That'll save at least several billion a year, and in a few years we can save enough to buy another aircraft carrier!"

The group nodded in agreement. The fuel costs of an aircraft carrier are not insignificant; maintaining an aircraft carrier is much more expensive than building one.

A single refueling of a large aircraft carrier costs nearly 100 million yuan. Saving billions a year is an exaggeration, but a 60% discount is still a good deal.

"Gaijin will also sell airplanes in the future. If they send a dozen F-14s and a few E-2Cs, I'll give them away more..."

"Stop, stop, that's enough. Let's go back and discuss it, and think about it before we talk about it."

The old man quickly interrupted him, saying that if he continued, he would agree.

"Don't run away! Oh, right, I have some new stuff. Do you still want a super battleship? It has 16 406mm guns and a displacement of 8.8 tons. How about buying it along with the Hanover if you're buying it?"

"I really don't want this!"

The three dared not stay any longer, rushed out the door, jumped into the jeep, and sped away in a cloud of dust.

Tang Wen sighed. If he could buy all of his ships and modernize them, the navy might be able to take off on the spot. What a wonderful thing that would be.

……

That evening, Tang Wen first towed the Algeria, which had already been completed in the shipyard, to the port and emptied the dock in preparation for upgrades.

The LV2 shipyard has a very large interior area. This time, the DIY function has been unlocked, allowing you to move the internal buildings, so there's no need to hide them from the outside anymore.

After adjusting the distances between several buildings near the dock, Tang Wen expanded the original 245*65 meter dock to 350*80 meter, almost reaching the shipyard's size limit, at a cost of 400 million silver coins.

It can not only be modified into a supersonic aircraft carrier, but it can also just accommodate the 349.6-meter-tall Hanover.

Although I don't know how to change it yet, this Super Warrior Tang Wen can't just be left as a mascot.

The upgraded dock area has increased by 75%, but at the cost of other buildings having to be moved to a very compact location, which is awkward according to the normal factory layout, but Tang Wen doesn't care.

After a quiet major upgrade, Tang Wen first retrieved the two A4E aircraft that had been left unused in Hongdu, and then built 18 of them in the dock in one go. This was just enough to form a battalion and three squadrons. There were also two spare aircraft, and the other four were sent to Hongdu for modification and dismantling for research.

The moment he saw the tiny A4, he was reminded of the scene of being brutally killed by the F14.

Somewhat angry, Tang Wen harassed Zhao Yaohua in the middle of the night. When Zhao Yaohua heard that it was A4 that had arrived, he lost his temper and immediately prepared to bring people over to dismantle it and then arrange for a train car to send it back to the research institute.

After finishing everything, Tang Wen returned to the villa and began sorting through the photos. Then he opened Word and wrote a line of text.
"The Second Fleet's Battle Chronicles on the High Seas (Internal Reference Edition)"

(End of this chapter)