What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 365 Sakura
In early May, McDonnell Douglas announced again that Geigin had paid them another $60 million through oil payments, with plans to increase that to $100 million by the end of June.

Oil prices remain high, with premium crude oil easily selling for over $20.

Oil from the South Pole and Antarctica contributes $3000 million each month, while last month, oil from the Spratly Islands also contributed $3000 million through domestic procurement to earn foreign exchange, almost the same amount.

And this number is still rising; in April, Gaijin Petroleum's daily output reached nearly 7000 tons.

Meanwhile, Ren'ai Reef and Feixin Island have been filled for a month. Feixin Island is easier to fill because of the many shallow shoals around it, and it has been filled to 0.5 square kilometers in a short time. Ren'ai Reef has also been filled to 0.35 square kilometers.

With continued filling and expedited construction in May, an area of ​​no less than 1.3 square kilometers will be available by the end of the month, and a total of 200,000 tons of oil can be produced by the end of June.

By then, the daily output of the entire Nansha Islands had reached an astonishing 15,000 tons. They rushed to sell off the last batch at a high price before the crude oil market crash in July, making a final profit.

Just when everyone was optimistic about the Nansha oil industry, a rumor suddenly broke out:
Based on data from the Spratly Islands, Shell discovered a potentially similarly sized, high-quality oil field in a region of Southeast Asia.

This news caused quite a stir in the Southeast Asian regions, with everyone speculating about where it came from.

After the information had been circulating for about a week, the Javanese authorities suddenly received an olive branch from Shell: they hoped to explore for oil in their territory.

This was originally a secret request, but it suddenly spread like wildfire.

Wow: Am I going to be the next one to get rich?

Without any hesitation, the authorities swiftly agreed to the exploration and began to dream of a wonderful life as an oil superpower.

Shell's people entered Joaqua with a boat, looking around and touching everything, appearing in many areas.

The authorities were not in a hurry, thinking that good things take time and patiently waiting for a good result.

……

[Random Battle: Defeat]

[Obtain 223500 silver coins and 10500 experience points]

The familiar notification sounded in his mind, but Tang Wen ignored it and chose to salvage the ship and return to the base.

The 13th submarine to sink in May.

A total of 57 U-boats were lost last month, mainly due to the large-scale broadcasts from the surface.

Even though you keep losing, you can still gain over 1 experience points even if you lose a single match without using experience cards.

However, this is conditional. If you are sunk instantly by a helicopter anti-submarine bomb, you will only get a pitiful one or two thousand experience points. You can only gain more experience by engaging in a maneuvering phase and stalling for time. The level of the opponent's warship is also an important factor.

Even after entering May, the Imperial sea ban was still in effect. The strict guard was indeed very effective. Unless it was a direct suicide mission, the success rate of U-boats crossing the sea routes dropped to a very low level, resulting in fewer risk-takers willing to attempt such routes.

Although some individuals with ulterior motives expressed a desire to cooperate with the Second Fleet, Tang Wen either looked down on them or they were likely just trying to lure him in, so he ignored them all.

This directly led to an increase in informants from the IAA and other countries. They abandoned the search for submarine hideouts and instead called on local military forces to sink them as soon as they were discovered, resulting in even heavier losses for the U-boats.

Although he was still not losing money, the cost-effectiveness of continuing the line-building project was declining, so Tang Wen significantly reduced the scale of his attacks.

After all, the empire's maritime ban and high-pressure surveillance could not be maintained for long. A combination of tightening and loosening, and a sustainable approach of constant turmoil, was the best strategy.

With the U-boats' maneuvering frequency visibly decreasing, the Imperial Navy naturally assumed that even the Second Fleet could not withstand a large number of personnel losses.

While the former Laoxi could afford it, it was backed by a powerful industrial nation, while the Second Fleet was at best a small regional power with limited manufacturing capabilities. Before the Antarctic task force departed, warships, the National Guard, and the Air Force on the west coast cooperated to thoroughly search the surrounding waters. On the last day of the maritime ban, they announced the Second Fleet's deployment and revealed its naval formation:

In addition to the warships that had been vaguely mentioned internally, two more Perry-class ships and two special names attracted everyone's attention:
USS Missouri, USS New Jersey.

The two remaining Iowa-class destroyers were deployed again.

This was certainly not because of the recent protests by retired Missouri sailors and warship enthusiasts, but rather a decision made by the Imperial Navy after careful consideration:

They need two human shields.

The two Iowa-class destroyers could withstand a few shells, and even torpedoes, and could still fight tenaciously. But the Enterprise and Kearsarge could not, and a bunch of destroyers and frigates could not either.

Even if two battleships were sunk, it would be more acceptable than losing a Ticonderoga.

After all, even if the former were to sink completely, it would take quite a while, allowing for the evacuation of many crew members.

Many of the surviving crew members from the USS Wisconsin and USS Iowa were crammed into the USS Missouri.

However, since the USS Missouri is on the East Coast, she will sail south with two newly added Perry-class destroyers and a nuclear submarine as escorts, stopping in several countries for resupply before rendezvousing with the task force in the waters off Chile.

To demonstrate their status as a force for justice, Johnson and Task Force Commander General Fern Clark agreed to hold a public naval review, inviting many media outlets and celebrities to the waters off Norfolk.

1条航母、1条战列舰、1条两栖攻击舰、2条巡洋舰、2条驱逐舰、4条护卫舰和2条补给舰全部露面，总吨位约30万吨。

If we include the Missouri and two frigates on the East Coast, as well as the submarines underwater, the total displacement reaches 37 tons.

The mobilization of such a large fleet had almost no impact on the Empire's global deployments; the only issues were reduced reserve forces and an additional expenditure of tens of billions of dollars.

It was a hastily assembled fleet that set out on the expedition, yet its lineup and sophistication were unmatched by any other force on the planet.

Everyone believed that the task force, having learned from its previous experience, would not repeat the same mistake.

At most, the concern is that the Second Fleet will be scared into staying put and thus gain nothing.

For a time, the focus of media outlets around the world shifted to analyzing how powerful the task force was, how it would deal with the submarine challenge, or whether the gradually disappearing Second Fleet would dare to provoke again.

……

"Ah!"

Tang Wen sneezed. He hadn't watched TV yet; he was busy editing the catapult version of "Gnatant" at the South Pacific base.

Tang Wen touched the wreckage that the submarine had brought back from India and immediately threw it away. After cutting his nails, he washed his hands several times.

Compared to modifying an A4E, the modification of "Gnat" can be completed with just the knowledge of an enthusiast:
-
The landing gear, cockpit and fuel tank armor, pressurization system, and even the ejection seat were removed and replaced with a steel bench. The modern HUD and GPS later added by India were also discarded, with the primary focus on weight reduction.
A hydraulic catapult holder was added to the abdomen, and the positions of the auxiliary fuel tanks on both sides were replaced with two AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles, while the two main 30mm cannons were retained.

This modification directly reduced the empty weight to 1980 kg, and the theoretical maximum thrust-to-weight ratio finally exceeded 1.

Even so, the gnat is still a jet aircraft, and it needs to be fully throttled and the flaps adjusted to the maximum angle before ejection. In addition, the amount of fuel cannot be too much, which will significantly reduce the 1800-kilometer range.

But after careful consideration, Tang Wen made one last modification:
Remove the ranging radar from the nose of the aircraft and stuff 150 kilograms of RDX into the nose.

(End of this chapter)