What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 627 Our ship sails unimpeded

In the vast darkness, under the pressure of ventilation, the Shin-feng continued southward at a speed of 43 knots, making her the fastest and foremost destroyer in the first squadron.

The destroyer, weighing thousands of tons, crashed into the sea at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The sailors on board could only hear the roar of the boilers and the constant vibration of the steel.

Captain Li Si leaned on the railing and looked down, only to see the snow-white bubbles at the waterline rapidly retreating with the waves. After watching for a while, he felt a little dizzy.

Even now, the question is still lingering in his mind:

Where did this go?
Besides being a recruited seaman, he also shared a common identity with Wang Wu: before joining the company, he came with the intention of finding out the details of Southeast Asia.

They haven't even figured out the details yet, but they've headed straight for Southeast Asia!

God knows how shocked Chen Quanrong was when he issued the order. If it were a passenger ship or cruise ship carrying out Article 74, it wouldn't be a big deal, but the aggressive look of the first squad seemed really off!

Times have changed. Li Si, the observer from back then, is now the captain of the Xinfeng because of his rich experience and strong abilities. However, he doesn't know the specific plans and is only required to do his best to head south as quickly as possible.

The Shinpuku destroyer never dropped below 39 knots from the moment it set off, and it accelerated by overloading its engines every hour. It sped along like this for nine hours without dodging or avoiding anything. Once it passed Umape Island ahead, it would enter the Sulawesi Sea and be completely inside the heart of the Chawa region.

He had just inspected the engine room again, and as he expected, it was in excellent condition.

Gaijin's maintenance skills are so good that even the Navy is ashamed of them. The Xinfeng has been in service for so long and it shows no signs of aging. In fact, it was lucky that it was not damaged even when the trainees made mistakes.

It was already past midnight. Li Si looked around and saw that no crew members had come looking for him out of nervousness; most of them had already taken turns going to sleep.

He carefully entered the cabin, took out the satellite phone, operated it for a few moments, and dialed. Immediately, a hurried inquiry came from the other end:
"Passerby A, we know the joint defense team has headed south. Where are you right now? Have you encountered any danger?"

Li Si honestly revealed his location, and soon an exclamation rang out from the other side:

"So you're saying you didn't stop for nine consecutive hours? And you weren't stopped?"

“We encountered some civilian ships, and maybe patrol boats, but they were all far away. In addition, the destroyer was too fast and we missed them. No one on Su Luhai’s side can speak English.”

"No warships are intercepting?"

"No, but two hours ago, two fighter jets tried to stop us and demanded that we stop the ship immediately for inspection."

"Huh? And then what?"

The voice on the other end immediately tensed up, but Li Si's reply stunned him:
"Then the USS Yorktown sent four A4s to escort them to land before leaving, and there has been no further news since."

Furthermore, the Xinfeng I'm on is moving too fast; it will arrive at the outskirts of Bitung County before 8:00 AM tomorrow. Please advise on the next steps.

"What? So fast... Does that mean there will be no obstacles until dawn?"

Li Si's face grew even more bitter:
"That's right. I don't know what the maritime joint defense team's intentions are. Judging from the current situation, there are only half the journey left. Our ship can pass through unimpeded, unimpeded!"

Li Si's claim of unimpeded passage was not arrogance. He couldn't believe the sudden southward movement of the maritime joint defense team until the moment it was actually implemented, and now he was afraid of causing any trouble.

If there's a real dispute, that's fine, but if someone rushes all the way to Sulawesi, who knows what might happen?

What he didn't know was that a warship was indeed rushing to intercept the first detachment, but it wasn't part of the interception fleet.

What does it mean to intercept a civilian fleet?

Onboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer DDG65 USS Benfold, Captain Moen Edwards felt that the orders from Prism Building were utterly absurd.

Two weeks ago, in response to the HMS Hood's visit to India, the Empire dispatched two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the USS Steinsen and the USS Benfold, and one frigate to Singapore for a friendly visit.

The USS Stanson departed from the desert base, while the USS Benfold departed from the Japanese base.

By April 2, HMS Hood had arrived in the Indian Sea, and HMS Stanson and its escort ships had also rushed there. HMS Benfold was delayed due to maintenance plans during its rest period and had just passed Luzon when the incident occurred.

Suddenly, they received a message ordering them to immediately proceed to the Sulawesi Sea to intercept a Geyser fleet, and the creative use of the term "civilian fleet" was utterly baffling.

The Benfold cuts diagonally from Coron in Luzon, intersecting with the First Squadron's route. It is estimated that it will take another 3 hours before it will encounter the First Squadron at Umape Island.

Because it hasn't been closely monitored, Prism Building doesn't currently know exactly how many ships went to the Spratly Islands; at the time of departure, it only speculated that there were a few destroyers and one cruiser.

When the two Mustangs were driven away from Melinda Airport, Moen received an outrageous message:

The Geyser Fleet has at least one aircraft carrier, which just launched four carrier-based aircraft and successfully drove away the Wawa fighter jets. It is currently suspected that the Wawa is the concrete aircraft carrier HMS Yorktown.

When Moen received the message, he looked like he'd seen a ghost, but he did manage to pinpoint the location of the first squad more accurately based on the aerial contact and slightly correct its course.

He had only just learned about the conflict between Wawa and Gekin, but still didn't understand what a "civilian fleet" actually was. Just then, the situation room issued a warning:

"An unidentified target is approaching at an altitude of 2500 meters, 140 kilometers to the east. The identification and comparison results are similar to A4!"

Moen immediately perked up. There was also A4 in the vault, but it was more likely to be the legendary A4 from the HMS Yorktown.

However, he was not worried. Arleigh Burke would not be afraid of a mere A4. No matter whose Skyhawk it was, no one would dare to attack them.

"Observe first; if they continue to approach us, then confirm their identities."

The A4 on the radar did not appear to have detected the Benfold, and its trajectory... was a very classic reconnaissance route escorting the fleet.

How classic is it? The more you look at it, the more it resembles the style of the Imperial Navy. Even some experienced officers are wondering about it.

Less than ten minutes later, the A4 appeared to have spotted the Benfold and changed course to approach directly.

The A4 radars on the USS Yorktown are all of the E type, whose main function is range finding and they do not have good maritime search capabilities. However, during the Hongdu refit, the J-7H's 317 radar was upgraded for training safety, which is better than the original version.

Little did he know that Lei Zhan was also having doubts. When he served in the Air Force, he had trained in warship target identification in coastal areas. Although the 317 radar's identification was not clear, the signal did not look like a cargo ship but a warship.

Looking in that direction... a Luzon warship?
Thinking of this, Lei Zhan flew over at full speed to see what was going on, but as soon as he accelerated, he heard a voice on the radio. Lei Zhan translated it...

Holy crap, what does "Benford destroyer of the Imperial Navy's Seventh Fleet" mean?

"Unidentified aircraft, you are approaching the Benfold. Please turn around immediately, maintain a safe distance, descend to an altitude of 1000 meters, and state your intentions and identify yourself!"
Repeat, unidentified aircraft…

Lei Zhan quickly turned around. His A4 had nothing but a machine gun, and he dared not provoke an Imperial destroyer: "This is the first detachment of the Dongjiang Maritime Joint Defense Force. You are approaching the first detachment. We are carrying out a humanitarian relief mission. Please do not interfere with us."

Moen: "...Hello, Maritime Defense Team pilot. The Benfold is under orders from the Seventh Fleet and suspects your purpose and course. We request that the First Squadron stop for a security check. Once the check is completed, our ship will allow you to proceed."

Lei Zhan: "The first detachment is navigating normally in international waters and does not require inspection."

Moen: "Repeat, I request that you stop your ships and undergo inspection because your fleet... the convoy may be carrying dangerous goods."

Lei Zhan: "What kind of dangerous items?"

"Of course, they are internationally defined dangerous goods, such as firearms, explosives... um..."

Moen suddenly stopped speaking and looked at the vice-captain Jeremy with a puzzled expression:

"Hey, this guy is piloting a fighter jet, does that count as a dangerous item?"

"..."

"Wait a minute, if they really did start those ships in the Spratly Islands, can they be classified as warships? Are warships dangerous goods? What about the shells on them? But I heard that those ships are actually exhibits built by tourism companies. How should that be defined?"

Jeremy had never considered these things before, and immediately felt a little dizzy, blankly repeating:

"Yes, are warships and airplanes considered dangerous goods?"

At this moment, Lei Zhan also chimed in:

"Captain, I am piloting a small sightseeing aircraft belonging to the Greater Bay Area Tourism Development Company. All the vessels in the first squadron are registered as tourist passenger ships managed by this company and hold relevant permits for the use of props in performances."

"No, no, you still need to stop and undergo inspection."

Moen decided to give up on reasoning and just focus on doing the work; let Prism Building handle the reasoning with the media.

But this time Lei Zhan didn't know how to respond either, but at that moment Chen Quanrong's voice came through the public channel:
“Mr. Moen, I am the captain of the first squad. According to international law, we are neither a sensitive vessel nor in a sensitive area. You also do not have authorization from the General Assembly, so you have no right to inspect us.”

Moen blurted out:

“The Sulu Sea and Sulavisi have been designated as sensitive sea areas by the Prism Building.”

There was no such demarcation, of course, but Moen remained calm. This kind of operation was just routine for them, and their superiors would not blame them for it.

As for civilian ships, you can scare them into submission, or if they don't, you can just use force.

HMS Benfold has detected the signals of the first squadron's ships and is expected to make contact around 1 a.m.

(End of this chapter)