What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 412 Thousands of Miles Away
Although every second spent at sea was dangerous, Fern calmly did everything he could.

With a total of 270 planes, even if they were all suicide attacks, there would still be a lot of wreckage to be found.

Many aircraft wreckage pieces were even embedded directly in the warships; more than a dozen were pried off the USS New Jersey.

Because there was explosive in the nose and most of the flies still had fuel when they hit it, there was almost no intact wreckage.

The aircraft wreckage is still being assembled and analyzed, but experts are more interested in the authenticity of the flight at extremely low altitudes in extremely rough sea conditions.

"Could it be that they used some kind of stealth coating? That's why they were able to get within 15 kilometers?"

After thinking for a long time, someone came up with another conjecture, which was immediately agreed upon by others, and it sounded much easier to explain.

But then dissenting voices emerged:
"If it's cloaking paint residue, there will be some traces on it. And what kind of cloaking material can give mosquitoes such strong cloaking ability?"

"However, at such a low flight altitude, 50% of the air intake is seawater."

"Even with a rocket engine, ocean waves can cause the flight attitude to become uncontrollable."

"..."

Seeing that the meeting was about to turn into a technical exchange, Rams slammed his hand on the table to stop the experts' argument:

"Gentlemen, please discuss technical issues privately. We are now certain that this is something that can be done!"

Fern: "Yes, including the fact that they were still skimming the sea when they got close. I think there might be a chance to sort out some video footage, and the pilots' remains are also there, which suggests that it was done by humans or some kind of technology that we haven't discovered yet."

Johnson, who had been listening nearby, seemed to have grasped something and quickly asked the naval expert Matt:

"Is the Aegis system ineffective against this kind of penetration?"

When asked, Matt hesitated for a long time before finally managing to say:
"5 meters is already extremely low altitude. Considering the practical significance, even missiles would find it difficult to achieve. It would be more efficient to intercept from the air using carrier-based aircraft."

Five meters is far too extreme; even at a height of 15 meters, Aegis can effectively intercept targets within a range of tens of kilometers.

Johnson immediately followed up with:
"Obviously there exists an extreme situation where carrier-based aircraft cannot take off, and we cannot be helpless in such a situation."

And haven't you noticed? Aside from the USS Kearsarge and USS Enterprise, which have Sea Sparrow missiles, the other warships don't have close-in weapon systems at all. Air defense ships can't provide full-range air defense!

Matt: "The ship was not designed with such an extreme scenario in mind. And it's not that we don't have close-in defense missiles. We now have the RIM-116 'Rolling Body' missile, which is better and faster than the Sea Sparrow and has a high interception efficiency within 9 kilometers."

After he finished speaking, he looked at the people from Raytheon, who seemed very uncomfortable.
The RIM116 is positioned much better than the Sea Sparrow, and is planned to be used as a final line of defense, just like close-in weapon systems.

However, the "roller body" was jointly developed by General Dynamics, Hans, and Damco in 77, but several test launches in the 80s were unsuccessful, and it was later sold to Hughes Electronics.

In 92, Raytheon acquired Hughes Electronics and took over the project, only to find that it had become a disaster after passing through several companies, and many of the indicators set in the 70s were completely outdated and needed to be changed again.

With continuous adjustments to specifications and redesigns, the RIM116 has been undergoing numerous revisions and modifications before its final design was planned for this year.

But this was also to stabilize the navy, and at the time, no one expected that the Imperial warships would be threatened within 10 kilometers. Such an abandoned project was naturally dragged on and on.

But Johnson didn't care about all that. The Navy spent money and 20 years and still didn't get it. That's enough time to go from designing the Saturn V from scratch to landing on the moon twice!
"Look, this is the empire's weakness. We've allowed this shortcoming to exist for 20 years without addressing it. What a terrible scandal!"

Johnson angrily denounced Raytheon for delaying the project and the Navy's inaction during the review meetings, but everyone knew he was just trying to shift the blame.

There's no way around it; it would be too terrible to bear the responsibility if we were to lose the war.

Fern was a promising candidate to succeed Johnson as Secretary of State. Dalton is dead, and if Johnson is also dismissed, Fern will also be tried. How many people with prestige and qualifications will be left in the Navy? A new round of infighting and blame-shifting has begun, and a silent contest is raging.

……

Today's Times headline is:

"The Royal Ark is safe and sound!"

The accompanying photo is of an aircraft carrier taken at sea, along with a sunset.

Before this, all the front-page photos of British media were of the Clemenceau tilted and sunken in the harbor.

Upon receiving news of the attack and withdrawing the aircraft carrier, Dai Ying did everything he could to obtain firsthand photos of Georgetown Harbor, where he saw the dead Clemenceau.

At the time, Dai Ying's first reaction was extreme fear, because HMS Ark Royal was the first aircraft carrier to set off and went straight to the Falkland Islands, which now seems abnormally smooth.

Perhaps the Second Fleet intended to wipe them all out in one fell swoop, deliberately letting them go only to launch a thunderous attack on Clemenceau and the Enterprise later.

Once he came to his senses, Dai Ying disregarded all allies, Antarctic exploration, and the development of the Falkland Islands, decisively ordering the aircraft carrier to flee, even neglecting the slower supply ships.

Despite Downing Street's mockery of Britain after the Clemenceau sank, Britain's industry was actually inferior to Britain's!
The loss of the HMS Ark Royal would be a devastating blow to the entire House of Representatives, who would berate the fleet commander for three days and three nights without feeling any relief.

Now that even the Enterprise, which sails with its destroyers, is not safe, there is absolutely no way that Britain would risk an attack alone, and they have even planned to withdraw their personnel from Antarctica.

After all, reality has shown that the Second Fleet is not without strength, but it simply doesn't want to provoke a small fry.

But before they could even celebrate their narrow escape, a group of unusual visitors arrived in the waters of Europe.

……

"Damn it, Giants, are we really going to come here and fight them for territory?"

"What do you mean by 'robbery'? That sea was originally under my contract."

Shi Juzhu responded indifferently to the old man Yao Guozhu next to him. In fact, the old man was only forty years old, but he looked much older because he had been at sea for many years. His skin was so rough that it was almost like a hard shell.

Although he expressed his concerns, Yao Guozhu was clearly a restless fellow. It took courage to rise from a young lad to a boat captain.

Shi Juzhu distributed his first batch of more than 30 fishing boats to small boat owners and private individuals as much as possible to avoid losing too much say in the business.

The downside is that you have to keep a close eye on things personally at all times, and once the fishing fleet enters the Mediterranean, you even have to fly over to direct it yourself.

The outside world is unaware that Shi Juzhu and the Russians have broken ties. They only assume that this large fleet of fishing boats is heading to Russian territory, so they have done nothing but watch the spectacle.

Even most fishing boat contractors didn't know, and Shi Juzhu only dared to say so now.

Regret? It's too late for regrets now.

Moreover, he played a clever trick during the initial promotion and contract signing, making it absolutely impossible for anyone to find any loopholes.

It's a bit unethical, but if we don't push them a little, who would dare to come?

Looking at the yachts and cargo ships coming and going at the Gibraltar border crossing, Shi Juzhu could only believe that Tang Wenzhen's influence really could reach this place.

(End of this chapter)