What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 628 This is cheating (600 monthly votes in August)

"There's really no need to be in such a hurry. Can't we talk about this at dawn?"

Tang Wen complained to Lao Zhang helplessly, but the latter ignored him and pushed him straight into the research room.

The familiar smoke swirled around.

Last time, Tang Wen gave a presentation on the Smart Selection Machine here. This time, the research lab has been transformed into a command center, except that there are no dazzling large screens, only a huge wall-mounted map and a blackboard.

"This is not enough for C4I... We can make a professional hybrid virtual and real electronic sand table. Paper maps are too troublesome to modify or observe."

Tang Wen tried to change the subject by finding fault, but everyone ignored him and focused on setting up the map according to the intelligence.

He glanced at it carefully and found that the positions of the first and second squads were roughly correct.

The navy has some skills, you know.

Seeing this, Old Zhang asked seriously:
"We know the first team is there to rescue people, but what is the second team's mission?"

Of course, we'll go on a picnic.

Tang Wen originally intended to say this, but instead of answering, he looked at Zhenhai:

"Let Assistant Lan answer that for me. I don't know anything about the joint defense team."

Lao Zhang: "..."

Everyone looked at the obviously Chinese woman and saw Zhenhai place the pointer on the map. Suddenly, her aura became sharp and capable, like... a strategist?
"The first team consists of fast boats, and its main purpose is to rescue the trapped personnel in the shortest possible time, while the second team's ultimate destination is here."

"Yadaga?!"

"To be precise, it was off the coast of Jataka. We were invited by Mr. Lim Cheng Wan and Mr. Lim Chia Yao, as well as the local chamber of commerce, to conduct a tour around this area and pass harmlessly near the coast."

"If we had arrived any later, the Chamber of Commerce's shops would probably have been looted and burned down. This also helped prevent further disaster."

At this point, Zhenhai moved the pointer in his hand down the coastline around Yadaga, sweeping hundreds of kilometers with a single stroke.

The others staring at the map gasped in unison. It was indeed an innocent passage, but it must be the kind of innocent passage the Imperial Navy used!
According to the Law of the Sea, non-fishing vessels can pass innocently through territorial waters without reporting, so in theory there is nothing wrong with it. But in reality... the second squadron has three battleships!

Gekin's intentions have become clear: the first team, though small in number, is strong in its own right and will be sent to carry out a real rescue mission, while the second team, which looks more ambitious, will go to Jadaga, both to retaliate and to stop the riots.

It had been planned for a long time.

Old Zhang thought to himself, but now was not the time to dwell on it. Instead, he immediately asked:

"Have you anticipated any interception measures against Wawa, and is there any possibility of other interceptions?"

Somewhat lost in thought, Tang Wen was mentally communicating with Chen Quanrong about how to deal with the Benfold, and immediately replied:

"No, I'm right here now. If we encounter any interception, they will definitely notify me."

As he spoke, Tang Wen took out the satellite phone he had brought and placed it on the table. No one suspected anything. This was also the reason why they had to invite him here, so that the people back home would know what was happening there.

The latter, who was already as familiar with this place as if it were home, spoke without any hesitation:
"I remember the night shift kitchen has noodles with gravy. Please add more gravy and less vinegar, thank you."

"..."

Old Zhang scratched his head and turned to look at the others:
"Anyone else want noodles? Let's go order them from the cafeteria."

The scene immediately transformed into a lively ordering session. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Old Zhang sat down next to Tang Wen, who was preparing to close his eyes and rest (to communicate with the fleet), and whispered:

"If you had said so earlier, the 055 Guangyi and 051 Shenjiang could have been deployed, but now it's too late."

"This is not necessarily a bad thing. In addition, appropriately increasing the mobilization rate can indeed help improve the handling of emergencies."

Tang Wen's riddle-solving skills were becoming more and more proficient. Old Zhang immediately realized that there seemed to be another meaning behind these words, and turned his head to carefully ponder them.

……

As is well known, intercepting civilian ships is a beginner-level mission for naval personnel, and it is not difficult at all.

Back then, Hans' U-boats could capture a cargo ship by surfacing with their 76mm guns on the deck, let alone a proper warship.
The Benfold thought so too, but when they caught up with the first squadron, they were directly confronted by the battlecruiser Kongo, which came to block their way.

With a full displacement of 3.1 tons, coupled with the formidable size of a battleship, the Benfold, lurking in the darkness, was startled by the sheer size of the behemoth when it realized the other's presence and turned on its searchlights.

The gray-black paint, the intricate masts, the upward-raised cannons, the dense armament all around, and the towering bridge loomed in the darkness... The sailors on the Benfold almost thought they had traveled back more than fifty years and encountered the Combined Fleet!
After confirming several times that he didn't see the flag, Moen swallowed hard and asked:
"Are you the Kongo battleship of the Dongjiang Maritime Joint Defense Force?"

The answer came quickly from the radio:
"I am Captain Huang Dongshun. Please allow me to correct your mistake. This is the King Kong-class battleship-themed sightseeing cruise ship under the Greater Bay Area Tourism Development Company."

Huang Dongshun's voice trembled slightly as he spoke from the bridge, his mind a jumbled mess. Although he had been brave when they set sail, he was terrified when he actually encountered the real Imperial Navy.

The Kongo-class battleship had a proper complement of 1300 men, but Gekin only filled the necessary basic navigation and main gun positions. Even then, he drastically cut many more positions without leaving any redundancy or backup, leaving the entire ship with only 200 men!
The Benfold, right across from him, has 330 men; they can't even handle a boarding maneuver!
However, Chen Quanrong sternly ordered him not to back down and had prepared his response beforehand, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer.

However, at this moment, all Moen wanted to do was curse. This is what they call a cruise ship?
Moreover, the vice-captain Jeremy and his men had just carefully observed the Kongo, made a simple analysis of the waterline depth, and pinged the other ship's hull with sonar. It was all solid steel, so this battleship seemed to be the real deal!

Even if it's not up to warship standards, the amount of iron used is absolutely sufficient, and the 30,000-ton displacement is no exaggeration!

Unless missiles are used, there is no way to deal with the thick-skinned Kongo and Benfold. Even close-range gunfire is ineffective. Even if all the shells are used up, they cannot penetrate the armor belt, let alone sink it.

A ramming attack? That would be suicide!

Sinking the Kongo would be no problem at all, but intercepting it... intercept it my foot! Besides the Missouri, who dares to intercept a battleship? Only battleships can intercept battleships!
Moen's confidence was greatly diminished upon meeting him, but he still said coldly:
"Mr. Huang, the tonnage of a civilian ship is meaningless. Even if you were on a real battleship, it would be far from being able to fight against a modern warship. Please cooperate and stop the ship immediately for investigation."

Huang Dongshun: "(Sound of turning pages) Sorry, according to relevant..."

It was another pre-prepared template. Huang Dongshun answered whatever Moen asked by referring to the template, but the Kongo continued to move at full speed, while the small Benfold seemed to be escorting it.

After an hour of bickering, Huang Dongshun, who had been observing the Benfold from above for a while, suddenly lost his fear, and his tone subtly changed.

Moen immediately realized that the King Kong was completely fearless due to its large size, and what was worse was that many "flies" began to appear on its head.

It is the OS2U Kingfisher seaplane.

Too afraid of an accident, the aircraft carrier dared not take off or land any planes. Instead, the destroyer launched a seaplane that carefully flew to the side of the USS Benfold. The pilot in the back seat then very rudely took a series of photos with a searchlight and camera.

The Kingfisher reconnaissance plane was slow and had no fear of stalling and crashing into the sea. It circled the Benfold like a fly, forcing Moen to fire warning shots to force it to retreat.

Unable to endure the stalemate any longer, he accelerated, intending to overtake the Kongo and intercept the Yorktown aircraft carrier directly.

However, they were startled as soon as they did so. The cruiser Yahagi and the destroyer Kosei had also moved in and, without saying a word, tacitly blocked the Benfold from the front and right, forming a triangle with the Kongo to firmly block the destroyer.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Moen, who had been grinding away until the early hours of the morning, had no choice but to slow down and retreat, while continuously calling for support from the mainland, but to no avail.

The surrounding warships are definitely not reliable. After finding out the scale of the conflict, the navies of Luzon and Java remained offline and silent. As for aircraft? They won't be available until dawn.

Despite being the most powerful destroyer on the planet, the USS Benfold was held captive by three ships and could only helplessly wait until dawn.

At 5 o'clock, when Moen discovered that the Yorktown had launched two aircraft, he immediately issued an order to activate electronic jamming.

The four phased array radars immediately began to operate, and communication with the first squadron, except for the lead destroyer, was immediately cut off, leaving only meaningless white noise. But the most ruthless aspect of this move was that it disrupted communication between the aircraft carrier and its carrier-based aircraft.

Without carrier-based radio guidance, carrier-based aircraft landings would become extremely dangerous, even for the Imperial Navy.

He believed that under the threat of carrier-based aircraft being unable to land, the first squadron would soon compromise.

Fifteen minutes after the jamming was initiated, Moen issued another warning and demanded that the ship be stopped, while specifically explaining that the Yorktown was no longer able to land and that it was extremely dangerous for the pilots.

He didn't give the first squad a chance to talk back. After giving them a warning, he left them with the words that if they compromised, they should obediently disperse and start interfering again. Soon after, the three warships that had been harassing him were indeed released.

The Benfold immediately accelerated and approached the Yorktown, soon reaching visual range.

Seeing the Yorktown, which looked almost identical to the historical photographs, Moen was somewhat dazed. He finally shut down the electronic jamming and was about to give orders when he heard Chen Quanrong's voice:
“Mr. Moen, you are right, our pilots cannot land under interference, but I must say it is too late now.”

First, the Yorktown has far more aircraft than carrier-based aircraft, so we can launch them directly without aircraft;

Secondly, the Yorktown is now only 400 kilometers from Biton County, which makes it clearer what that means.

After he finished speaking, Moen saw two A4s eject one after the other, and more planes were lined up on the deck, heading straight for Bitong County.

After all, catapult launch is not subject to radio restrictions.

Moen stared in disbelief as this unfolded, only to receive news from Prism Building at the same time:

Due to a lack of refueling aircraft and transit bases, planes from Singapura and Guan Island were unable to come to provide support, but they have persuaded Luzon to send five patrol boats to help.

Moen looked around and saw that the Kongo, Yahagi, and Kosei had come up like ghosts, and with the aircraft carrier, the four ships had trapped him in the middle, making it seem as if the Benfold was also part of the escort.

He nearly vomited blood on the spot and immediately received a direct call from the Pacific Fleet:

"I'm accusing the maritime defense force of cheating, cheating! They have battleships, aircraft carriers, and cruisers, and these are civilian ships?"

However, the Seventh Fleet headquarters seemed oblivious, instead issuing an order that shattered his resolve:

"We just confirmed the news again. Gaijin has another fleet approaching Yadaga. Tell the first squadron to escort them to the port and then intercept them! Be quick. Although that fleet has three battleships, they are slow. We can make it in time!"

(End of this chapter)