What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 538 A Peculiar Brain Circuit
"Dismantle the reactor, how badly?"

Huang Shaoqiang muttered to himself about this inexplicable request. At this moment, he was still studying the Bremerton in the secret dock in the cliff cave.

Unlike Tang Wen, the domestic expert team treated him with utmost care, patiently learning from the whole to the parts.

In fact, he could roughly understand the technical aspects of many things at a glance. However, the Empire was far superior in terms of design experience and materials. At present, the domestic industry was mainly based on surveying and imitation, copying first as a sign of respect.

After thinking for a moment, he replied to the question relayed by Lao Zhang:

"Forget about dismantling the reactor for other uses. Ship reactors are highly customized, and even the original shipyard would find it very troublesome."

However, if it's just cutting off sections, removing the outer shell, or taking away the reactor, there shouldn't be any major problems. The reactor has an independent protection mechanism, and as long as the operation triggers this mechanism, there generally won't be any major issues.

He quickly provided a definite answer and implementation plan, but when the news reached the capital, the naval office simply set it aside.

Tang Wen raised the question, and the Navy naturally began to think about it further:
Where did another Los Angeles-class railway come from?
The abducted Bremerton doesn't count, and Tang Wen explicitly said he wanted to cut off the reactor, which most likely means that the submarine was faulty, or even, in extreme cases, a sunken wreckage.

The sinking of the HMS Birmingham had only been a month old, and it immediately became the target of everyone's suspicion.

After piecing things together, the possible truth gradually emerges:

"After the sinking of the HMS Birmingham, some people wanted to salvage the wreckage and study nuclear submarine technology."

The reactor is the biggest threat to the salvage of the wreckage. Only if the reactor can be cut off and dismantled in advance can the other debris be salvaged and studied more safely.

This conclusion was reached by several staff members and then written on the blackboard and circled in chalk.

The fact that the Second Fleet is still using U-boats on a large scale shows that their underwater capabilities are weak, because the navy, like rockets, is very special and relies heavily on experience.

The most valuable aspect of a nuclear submarine is not its nuclear core, but its design. If there is a long gap between its nuclear capabilities and its nuclear technology, many technologies will become obsolete, and the experience accumulated in the past will be lost.

The destruction of the orthodox high seas fleet and the subsequent decade-long stagnation caused the Han navy's operational thinking and warship technology to fall far behind.

Years later, when the Empire proposed the "Constellation Project" to return to the moon, it was discovered that the Saturn V rocket's blueprints had been destroyed due to the merger and bankruptcy of the supplier, the loss of engineering personnel, and the expensive tooling used to manufacture the rocket had been thrown into the scrap metal furnace.

Some domestic estimates suggest that even if Lao Xi or others bring the last elites to Antarctica, it would take at least ten years to develop basic industrial capabilities.

Underground development is even more difficult, and it is inevitable that only a portion of the technology can be selectively maintained to avoid falling behind.

Nuclear submarines are clearly a crucial part of this; if we could obtain a wreckage...

"No, it also proves something else."

Someone suddenly slapped their forehead:
"Does this mean that there is a super spy within the Imperial Navy who has been working for Antarctica all along? The disappearance of two nuclear submarines is not something that can be done casually."

"Perhaps."

Old Zhang nodded, but then said meaningfully:
"That's a nuclear submarine. The Empire isn't Russia; why would they give up on salvaging it?"

Just as the topic was drawing to a close, someone brought news:
"Charles is dead! The general was killed by artillery fire!"

Marin's superior was no stranger to those in the office, and everyone gasped in surprise:

For so many years, the death of such a high-ranking general in war has been a major event that could shake the empire's strategy!
...The news of the empire's setback could not be kept secret, and the channel was still the same: the chicken.

Marvel never expected that by simply sending out eight Mirage 2000s to help with the mission, he would end up being the one who suffered the most injuries.

Wayne's original plan was to "hit and run," intending to destroy the fortress and then retreat to avoid Hans's massive attack by a hundred aircraft. However, this plan has now become an excuse for "incorrigible" and "underestimating the enemy," and Marvel has directly shifted all the blame onto him.

The 406 naval guns could not be kept secret. Soon the outside world knew that the Empire was helpless against a small anti-aircraft tower and had even lost nearly a thousand heavenly soldiers and a general to the artillery fire!
Strictly speaking, there were two. Brigadier General Hunt was also on the front line, but because no belongings or bodies were found, he is currently listed as "missing" in the Empire's announcement.

More than 400 other people also "disappeared," but only half of their bodies have been found.

Based on the coordinates obtained from the ballistics detected by the artillery radar, the Air Force dispatched an EF111 to investigate after daybreak. They eventually discovered the part of the floating gun emplacement that was exposed above the water, but dared not attack it.

Although the floating turrets have poor defenses due to their weight reduction, with only 300mm of steel plates and low health, the Imperial Air Force has no intention of taking any more risks at this point.

At the same time, Marun also chose to retire while he was still at the peak of his career, because he could no longer stay in Caracalla.

Caracalla was a small town to begin with, and after that horrific cannon attack, a large number of residents evacuated. Who knows if Hans would have disregarded public opinion and simply blasted Caracalla to the ground?

From then on, Marun's tentacles retreated more than 500 kilometers, shrinking back to Manaus, the main channel of the Amazon River.

The incident has drawn a huge reaction from the outside world, with many speculating about what kind of retaliation the death of a general would bring.

Sure enough, later that afternoon, the president delivered another televised address, declaring that the enemy would "pay a heavy price."

……

The Grand Commander made some harsh remarks, but in reality, it was not the Lost Empire that "paid a heavy price" first.

The empire, already seething with anger, was also betrayed by its third brother, who refused to listen to any of its conditions and showed no sign of repentance.

In Sindeli, Kazimirz is making a final attempt.

He met with Paraniapan Chidambaram, an important member of the cabinet.

After repeating the pointless tug-of-war once more, Paraniapan said something:

"The Empire has the Mushroom Egg, and we are about to master the Mushroom Egg technology. If you don't want us to develop the Mushroom Egg, then just sell us fifty 'Minuteman 3's'."

Anyway, we'll develop the same or even better weapons someday. You can still make a lot of money selling them now, and we'll still be friends.

Kazimirz, a seasoned strategist who has navigated the world for decades and once dominated the bipolar competition, suddenly found himself speechless, unsure of what to say.

It turns out that people really can be speechless when they're speechless.

After confirming that the person in front of him was not an imposter, Kazimirz still politely said goodbye and left, then immediately boarded a flight back to his home country that same evening.

The morning after the flight landed, several media outlets released information to the public:

"The World Bank will cease all aid and financial support to India and will further assess the risks of its investments."

(End of this chapter)