What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 273 Taking Advantage of a Crisis (April 2800 Monthly Tickets)

January 1st, New Year's Day.

Tang Wen got up and started browsing BBS and reading foreign news websites, and the news of the Battle of Antigua was kept from him.

Of course, it was also because the USS New Jersey was unable to travel at full speed. With an extra 1200 crew members on board, she was slowly making her way back to port at just over 20 knots, accompanied by a Ticonderoga-class destroyer and a Perry-class destroyer, which also carried a considerable number of crew members.

Even so, there were still nearly two thousand people without a place to settle them, so they requested several European warships to take in many more.

The parties involved remained silent, as did the three European countries; only the Hans family was in an uproar.

Not only did they begin their own investigation, but the United Nations also requested that an investigation team be sent to re-interrogate the suspected older generation of elites.

Some members of the public were overconfident because of the Second Fleet, while others opposed this underhanded behavior. There were also many conspiracy theorists who claimed to have participated in the reconstruction of the Second Fleet.

Even the idea that Hans elites had secretly fled to Argentina to preserve their strength, which Tang Wen had originally envisioned, came to light, forcing the latter to quickly come out and deny it.

Of course, you can't hide fire with paper forever.

At 9 p.m. on January 1, which was morning in the Western Hemisphere, a Prism Building spokesperson suddenly announced that Dalton was being removed from all his posts and held accountable for the serious mistakes he made while commanding the fleet.

This news immediately caused a huge uproar. Dalton had specially recorded the trip with three battleships, and many media outlets captured the famous scene of the three battleships meeting and setting sail.

Many old Texas State White Bannermen who witnessed this scene were moved to tears, and spontaneously stood tall for the strength of the Empire.

The outside world was unaware that Dalton had been airlifted back to the mainland by helicopter ahead of schedule, and assumed he was still on the ship.

How big of a mistake could a fleet commander have made to be dismissed before even reaching shore?

This immediately sparked a lot of speculation. After some guessing, the media did not believe that the Imperial Navy had been defeated, but rather that Dalton had led the fleet to destroy the Second Fleet, but mistreated the prisoners or failed to provide humanitarian aid.

This speculation had barely surfaced when, at 1 p.m. local time (13 a.m. on the mainland), the badly damaged USS New Jersey appeared off the coast of Norfolk.

"Oh, God!"

Brest and Tom were both at the port, and their hearts sank when they saw that there was only the lone New Jersey.

Because the research was assigned to BPRD, the two who did not participate in the operation were unaware of the details of the naval battle, only vaguely hearing that the situation was not good.

However, no matter how much they speculated, they could only conclude that their own battleships were damaged and needed long-term maintenance or were forced to be decommissioned.

Currently, the No. 2 turret of the USS New Jersey is stuck in a leftward rotation and hangs limply, covered with bullet holes and burn marks of all sizes, as well as visible deformation.

As the USS New Jersey approached, the sailors and wounded men temporarily housed on the deck were also seen; almost everyone was injured and bandaged.

"Damn it, look at Big J's secondary gun position!"

"Where are the secondary guns? All I see is a hole... Good heavens."

The USS New Jersey is now a pile of steel rubble, a far cry from the imposing figure it had when it set sail just days before.

As the USS New Jersey docked, the eagerly waiting reporters crowded forward and saw that the first things to come down the gangway were wooden boxes being carried on their backs.

Many of the sailors who were pulled from the water were injured, and the helicopter's transport capacity was limited, so some of the seriously injured could not be rescued in time.

Many of the sailors' family members who came to witness this scene felt their vision go black and almost fainted.

Brest and Tom were even more ashen-faced. If only the nearly scrapped USS New Jersey returned, then there would be no more battleships to deploy in the Pacific.

"Damn John Dalton, give me back my warship!"

……

Unlike other battles, the main characters in naval battles are warships that cannot be hidden. Battle reports may lie, but warships will not.

Even if the Second Fleet was completely annihilated, with no bystanders around, it's impossible to definitively say that the Atlantic Fleet won a great victory.

On the night of the USS New Jersey's return, Prism Building quietly released a statement:
The Second Fleet attempted to close in on the homeland to impose a blockade. In order to protect the trade lines, Dalton led the battleships Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Jersey to intercept them. During their attempt to negotiate, they were suddenly attacked.

Due to the suddenness of the attack, the USS Clarkling and USS McClusky were sunk by the guns of the capital ships. Our side immediately launched a counterattack and, with the assistance of the aircraft carrier, successfully annihilated the Bismarck fleet and the Tirpitz fleet.

During the battle, the USS Wisconsin was unfortunately hit by a torpedo and sank, while the USS Iowa was rammed and sunk. Most of the crew members were recovered after the battle, and the casualty figures are still being tallied. John Dalton bears undeniable responsibility for the fleet's failure to maintain a dispersed battle formation due to negligence during the engagement and will be subject to hearings and questioning.

The Second Fleet on the High Seas and its backers will be severely punished for their crimes.

Following this, Prism Building issued another announcement, declaring a partnership with the UK to build an outpost in the Falkland Islands for large-scale search and exploration of the South Atlantic and Antarctica.

Hastings submitted a bill to the United Nations requesting the right to conduct armed investigations in Antarctica in order to locate the secret hideouts of criminals.

……

Manhattan.

“Antarctica is an internationally recognized peaceful region, and war should not be brought there for any reason.”

After hearing Hastings' proposal, Zhang Siyuan calmly expressed his refusal.

Antarctica's abundant resources were discovered many years ago, and many considered it the next new continent. However, due to various obstacles, an agreement was ultimately reached:
Apart from scientific exploration, no one can claim sovereignty over its territory, much less send armed forces there.

Although Hastings' reasons are valid, what does that have to do with Zhang Siyuan?
"We deeply sympathize with the fate of the Atlantic Fleet, but Antarctica is a matter of global interest and cannot be easily crossed. Besides, there is no conclusive evidence that the Second Fleet came from Antarctica."

When Zhang Siyuan spoke of sympathy, the corners of his mouth curled up sadly, making Hastings grit his teeth in anger.

He immediately retorted:

"The Second Fleet first appeared near Antarctica. If we hadn't addressed this potential threat sooner, what if a Third Fleet emerged on the high seas next time, appearing in the Pacific or other sea areas? This would be a common threat to the entire world!"

After Hastings finished speaking, France and England immediately chimed in. They had witnessed firsthand the strangeness of the Second Fleet and were naturally eager to investigate.

Zhang Siyuan: "You mean some ancient warships from half a century ago could pose a threat? Destroyers with missiles can easily sink battleships."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The representatives who knew the truth wanted to refute it but couldn't bring themselves to say it. If they did, they would have to share the secret. If they didn't, it would be quite embarrassing for two powerful fleets to be unable to defeat a group of old World War II ships.

Hastings: "Does your side intend to conduct research in Antarctica without any defenses?"

Zhang Siyuan shook his head directly:

"We are not participating in this investigation."

Hastings was momentarily speechless, then realized why Zhang Siyuan had gone against him.

Currently, China lacks the resources to conduct expeditions to Antarctica. The only station, the Great Wall Station, is merely symbolic and lacks the capability to project research capabilities over extremely long distances.

The representatives from England and France were also somewhat speechless. If you're not going, we are!
Kochlev, who had been observing from the sidelines, finally spoke:
"Antarctic research is a collaborative process involving multiple parties, and we are happy to explore it together with other relevant parties."

Of course, the Russians wanted to get involved in such a big project. They are the experts in icebreakers and extreme cold operations, but they just didn't have the money.

If we could bring domestic companies along, it would be a win-win situation.

Zhang Siyuan shook his head again: "We don't have that in mind at the moment."

"..."

Hastings understood; the conditions hadn't been met sufficiently.

Zhang Siyuan had them figured out; regarding the demand for armed forces in Antarctica, there were actually very few representatives.

After all, who knows if this is just a pretext for suppressing bandits to mark off territory? If Zhang Siyuan leads the opposition, this matter will be really difficult to handle.

After the fruitless meeting ended, Hastings immediately extended an invitation privately.

(End of this chapter)