February 1, 1946, Thursday, the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month.
The parallel beauty of the Gregorian calendar and the lunar calendar can sometimes make people feel at a loss. Today is the first day after the annual local winter break. Two days later it will be the beginning of spring. Logically everything will be back on track, but the Lunar New Year of the new year will have to wait for more than ten days.
The winter break is usually accompanied by the continuous occurrence of statutory holidays in many countries that are full of happiness. The busy pace of work and life of local people in China and the United States slows down rapidly in two months, and people will have more time to focus on their own affairs. Family life, such as spending time with your family, or dealing with some important trivial matters in life that you usually have no time to take care of.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs for many years, the consumption willingness and household expenditure of local citizens in Huamei will increase significantly during the winter break. It is also the most exciting time for businessmen everywhere. The retail sales of goods in local big cities will be more than twice the usual level, which is comparable to normal. It is called the peak period of ordinary national consumption.
The national statutory winter break, which has been implemented for more than 20 years, seems to be a national policy that is incompatible with the entire outside world and full of humane care and good business opportunities. However, both the oldest generation of citizens and those who have only immigrated to North America in recent years have New immigrants from the local area actually have mixed reviews, especially for factory workers in manufacturing companies.
According to relevant Chinese and American laws and regulations, the winter break in North America begins on December 1 of each year and lasts until January 31 of the following year. Factories have reduced their operating rates during these two months to make time for major overhauls of production equipment. Only those that pass the year-end corporate security inspections of local governments can be allowed to continue operations.
Of course, even if the equipment wear and tear of some companies has not reached the point of requiring large-scale shutdowns, due to the reduction of ocean shipping in the harsh winter climate of the North Atlantic, the import and export costs of raw materials or goods have increased, so even if there is no such mandatory winter break law , many local small business owners also have to consider cutting production.
During this period, the average working hours of employees in various local industrial manufacturing enterprises in China and the United States will be reduced by at least one-third, if the vacation time of several statutory holidays is added. Then the actual working time during the winter break will even be reduced to less than half of that in normal months.
This has brought about a negative effect, that is, the wages of local Huamei employees in the winter months have also been reduced. If it weren't for the fact that we are in the year-end holiday period where corporate benefits are intensively offered, which partially obscures the feeling of reduced wages, it is estimated that this kind of "human concern" may not be accepted by everyone.
At least in the current laws related to labor and social security. There is still no mention of workers' legitimate rights and interests in this regard. All companies follow the usual practice of settling workers' monthly wages based on "number of days worked."
??Or rather, the kind of labor rights protection that only later generations of labor unions will talk about endlessly, no one in China and the United States is willing to use it to reflect the "advanced nature of the system and civilization."
But since the Guan Ruzhong cabinet came to power in 1644, the winter break in Huamei has been a little different. Congress and the cabinet have deleted the relevant mandatory statutory content, leaving the choice of implementation of the winter break to companies to decide on their own. It can be regarded as further taking back the "parent's hand" from the administrative system.
According to the new enterprise safety management regulations, any enterprise can operate normally in the next twelve months as long as it obtains the annual inspection safety certificate from the local government in any month.
As for the reasons, it is not only because the number of enterprises now has greatly increased compared with the early years, but also because the burden of local governments focusing on safety inspections in winter is too heavy, or because Huamei's industrial production and import and export capabilities at this time have already reached the same level as in the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China. A world of difference.
After 1640, steam power became the absolute main force of Chinese and American ocean-going ships, and as routes became more mature, ocean-going trade transportation no longer faced too many harsh restrictions. certainly. For pure sailing ships still taking the North Atlantic route, caution on winter voyages is still unavoidable. However, judging from the total volume of ocean logistics, the impact of their temporary suspension on local industrial production is actually relatively small.
When the export of goods and the input of raw materials are guaranteed, the winter operating rate of Huamei's local factories and enterprises can be relaxed. Because of this, the mandatory winter break every year seems a bit useless, and it is especially unfair to some small and medium-sized enterprises that pay special attention to the seasonality of production.
Therefore, except for some large factories and enterprises with large industrial equipment loss rates that still follow the practice of winter equipment inspections, basically more than 80% of small and medium-sized local enterprises have chosen to operate normally or have their winter break period greatly shortened.
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In Binzhou Yacheng Bay, several three-masted merchant ships were receiving supplies at the same time. Huge net bags carry tons of fresh water barrels or food hoisted onto the ship's deck. These are merchant ships belonging to domestic private shipping companies in China and the United States. They were unwilling to delay their business during the winter, so they temporarily changed their route.Caribbean cruises in ?? months.
Due to the short-term intensive increase in shipping capacity on the southern route, commercial freight rates on the Caribbean route have declined to a certain extent in winter. It is also a rare good thing for Chinese and American businessmen who travel to and from the Caribbean for trade all year round.
At the outlet of Yacheng Bay, the large five-masted merchant ship "Meteor", which has grabbed the freight business, is sailing towards the sea triumphantly. Thousands of tons of fertilizers and a large number of industrial products are loaded in the cabin, ready to be transported to the overseas territories of Nanshan via Butterfly Island.
On the deck, a dozen European crew members were reluctantly watching the paradise-like big city that they would never forget in this life gradually disappearing from their sight. Then he continued to work hard under the scolding of the first mate.
The Meteor is part of the Mayflower Shipping Company of COSCO International Group, and at least half of its crew are now experienced sailors hired from European countries.
In order to reduce the labor costs of its Mayflower Shipping Company, COSCO International Group first implemented a large-scale hiring system for foreign sailors in the country under the name of the "Foreign Labor Importation Law" as early as 1636.
In order to circumvent the "domestic prohibition" clause defined in the bill, all external sailors' labor contracts are registered in foreign states in the Caribbean.
Soon, not only the Mayflower Shipping Company hired a large number of sailors from European countries, but also state-owned ocean shipping companies and state-owned ocean fishing companies began to follow suit. Suddenly, a number of intermediary service companies specializing in the introduction of foreign workers appeared in Twin Ports, the capital of the Caribbean state.
In the past two years, the proportion of foreign sailors on Eastern Union Group¡¯s merchant ships traveling to and from the Far East has quickly exceeded half. According to statistics from the Maritime Safety Bureau under the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Cabinet, the number of foreign sailors in the entire Chinese and American shipping industry exceeded 3,000 last year, with an average contract period of three years, and most of them worked on privately owned ocean-going merchant ships. .
They are mainly Dutch sailors, and also include a small number of English, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish and Italian sailors. The contract wages they can get from Chinese and American employers. Most are $8 to $10 per month. Even though the salary is much lower than that of Chinese and American crew members, working for a Chinese and American employer for one month is almost equivalent to three months of working hard in Europe.
Historically, the hard-working quality of Dutch sailors was comparable to that of German mercenaries on land, and they were experienced and numerous. In the early 17th century. The Netherlands, with a population of just over 1.5 million, has as many as 80,000 registered sailors. One-third of the population in many coastal towns is drifting at sea, which shows its maritime heritage and the development of its shipping industry.
When the French at the same time lazily required captains to pay at least 20 livres a month before they would go to sea, Dutch sailors only needed half or even one-third of the wages of their French counterparts to do a good job. Difficult.
As a maritime country, it can only be regarded as a nascent state in nature. Even though the Chinese and American ocean shipping industry, with its classic image of steam merchant ships, is moving towards scale, the cultivation of marine talents cannot be achieved overnight. It requires the enthusiastic investment of the whole society and the deep infiltration of marine culture.
Therefore, regarding the large-scale use of foreign crew members by domestic capitalists in order to save labor costs, both the Chinese Congress and the cabinet are happy to see the self-reliance of domestic shipping companies to adapt and grow.
The benefit of hiring foreign crew members is not only to expand the maritime transportation workforce in China and the United States, but also to attract outstanding European marine practitioners to immigrate to China and to create a good opportunity for the country to integrate more maritime human factors.
In the past two years, among the limited quota of European immigrant families each year, families of marine practitioners have accounted for more than one-fifth. Some old European sailors with decades of maritime experience are tempted by high salaries or by emigrating with their families. He was hired as a junior teacher in various maritime academies of China and the United States or as a senior business consultant for various shipping companies, specifically to train new talents for China and the United States.
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Blocked by the shadows of passing ships and sails, the Meteor gradually disappeared at the end of the horizon. In the dry dock of Yacheng Shipbuilding Group Shipbuilding Plant deep in the bay, there is also a 500 small three-masted schooner merchant ship belonging to Caribbean United Shipping Company lying unwillingly, waiting for overhaul and maintenance. .
As the Yacheng Shipbuilding Group with the strongest sailboat design and manufacturing capabilities in China, its shipyard in Yacheng is the largest sailboat construction and maintenance center in the country.
After multiple models of multi-masted schooner merchant ships became national standard promotion ship types, some overseas users were also allowed to apply for commercial loans at the United Bank of Atlantis in the Azores to pay their bills in installments. Yacheng Shipbuilding Group thus welcomed It¡¯s a period of great development with fruitful results.
But the ambition of Shi Yige, chairman of the board of directors of Yacheng Shipbuilding Group, goes far beyond digging a big hole in the sailboat construction and export market. Ship maintenanceThe development and modification industry are Shi Yige's next main focus.
As one of the three leading shipbuilding companies in China. Yacheng Shipbuilding Group itself has technical strength that is not much worse than that of Beiyang Shipbuilding Group and state-owned Qingcheng Shipbuilding Company. Moreover, in recent years, Shi Yige's vision has become much wider than when he was young, and he has repeatedly lowered the price floor in the industry in terms of commercial competition, thereby obtaining naval contracts that were once completely monopolized by Beiyang Shipbuilding Group, such as the naval part Annual overhaul of main battleships.
Except for Peter the Great of Russia who was eager for quick success. As a result, hundreds of thousands of tons of warships rotted in the harbor due to lack of long-term maintenance awareness. Historically, the service life of wooden sailing warships was actually not low. As long as they undergo reasonable regular maintenance, the service life of wooden sailing warships can usually be as long as thirty or forty years. Even many famous sailing warships have a service life of more than sixty years. The Royal Navy of England has done particularly well in this regard.
Starting from the first USS Constitution with iron frame and wood hull technology, the main warships of the Chinese and American Navy have natural limitations due to their high combat readiness and anti-corrosion technology at the joints of internal iron and wood components. Its service life is not as good as that of a purely wooden sail warship.
In fact, this is also a common problem of most Huamei's iron-framed and wooden-hulled ships, which causes the "bathtub curve" during normal service life to be unsightly. Even the Princess-class light cruiser and the Atlantic Queen large merchant ship, which were once hailed as having the best construction technology, still have a much higher frequency of overhauls than the purely wooden Republic-class frigates.
Judging from the actual maintenance experience of Huamei Ships and the industry quality management standards that are far more stringent than those of the European shipbuilding industry, no matter whether it is a naval warship or a civilian merchant ship, offshore, inland rivers or oceans, any Huamei iron-framed wooden-hulled ship will have a service life of more than two years. Ten years will be a big threshold that cannot be bypassed, and a thorough life extension overhaul must be carried out before it can be allowed to continue to be used.
This also makes Huamei¡¯s wood processing and paint and coating chemical industries appear extremely developed in this time and space. The annual consumption of anti-corrosion coatings for the maintenance of civilian ships alone exceeds 1,500 tons. Coupled with the demand and exports of other industrial projects, Huamei consumes a large amount of natural animal and vegetable oils, coal tar or wood tar every year, and related industries are very prosperous.
In other words, for Huamei, which adds more than a dozen large ocean-going merchant ships with a carrying capacity of more than 2,000 tons every year. In the future, ship maintenance and modification is already a market that cannot be underestimated.
Today, another large dry dock adjacent to the maintenance dock area is filling with water. A newly painted naval warship is slowly rising along with the waterline. Hundreds of shipyard workers are nervously waiting on both sides of the dry dock to prepare for the upcoming arrival. Preparing for the next step of work.
By the dock. There was no celebration ceremony or cheers. A dozen middle-aged and elderly people dressed in different costumes were still whispering to each other and passing document boards under their armpits. The most conspicuous among them were two men in navy uniforms, one of whom was An old European man with the rank of Commodore.
When the water filling was completed, a worker guarding the bow of the ship lifted up the red cloth covering the ship's nameplate, and the words "Constitution" stood out.
The USS Constitution, after a year-long "super life extension and major renovation project", finally ushered in a comprehensive new life that can be called a makeover since it was put into service.
"Colonel Adair, this sea trial of the USS Constitution will last at least three months. There must not be any hidden dangers. I hope that the naval engineering supervision team will follow up the entire process and give me a detailed report every month!"
Looking away from the USS Constitution, Commodore Kent withdrew from the crowd, and along the way, he called in Colonel Adair, the military supervisor in charge of the life extension and overhaul project of the USS Constitution.
Like retired Navy veteran Andrew, Kent was among the first batch of European sailors to join the Chinese and American Navy. He participated in the first Far East military operation and served as the first commander of the Asian Fleet. Both qualifications and combat experience are among the best.
After Andrew retired with the rank of rear admiral a few years ago, Kent was promoted to commodore, becoming the second European-American naval senior general. He took over the position of Director of Logistics and Equipment of the Naval Command.
As an old subordinate of the Commander of the Home Fleet, Adair, a former transport captain, also served as the captain of the USS Constitution, and also commanded the USS Constitution to participate in the Brazilian War against the Dutch West India Company.
Because he is better at logistical organization work, after the Brazilian War. Adair retired from the combat fleet, served as a senior instructor at the Naval Academy at Long Island for several years, and now serves as a supervisory officer for the Navy's shipbuilding program.
The brand-new Constitution in the eyes of Commodore Kent is not just a battleship overhaul or equipment update in the traditional sense. It also involves a bold attempt by the Chinese and American shipbuilding industry. Therefore, Commodore Kent, the top person in charge of the major modification of the Constitution, has to be Be cautious.
The completion and undocking of a warship's life extension modification project. It can alert the director of logistics and equipment to be present in person, and there are even technical representatives from Beiyang Shipbuilding Group and the state-owned Qingcheng Shipbuilding Company in the crowd, which shows that its importance has exceeded its original purpose.
According to the naval expansion plan formulated by the Naval Command a few years ago, the USS Constitution, which has been in service for more than 20 years, will have its service life extended to after 1655. However, its initial nature as a test ship resulted in a large amount of verification content in its structural design and construction process.
After the boiler explosion accident on the maiden voyage twenty years ago, conservative ideas prevailed in the Chinese and American Navy. The greatest significance of the Constitution is no longer purely military operations, but to provide more reference experience for subsequent naval ship construction.
The poor USS Constitution, although it had tried its best to clear its bad reputation during the boiler explosion accident during its service, and even experienced the "humiliation" of being downgraded from a light cruiser to a frigate after the Brazilian War ten years ago, it still did not Get rid of the fate of once again becoming a guinea pig of the Chinese and American shipbuilding industry.
The officers and soldiers serving on the USS Constitution do not want to see their beloved ship decommissioned. The Naval Command also has rigid quantitative indicators to maintain the size of the main fleet. The Ministry of Industry is even more willing to try to launch the in-depth ship modification industry.
The life extension modification project not only intends to extend the service life of the USS Constitution, which has been in service for twenty years, for at least another ten years from now on, but also includes major changes to the entire hull structure, including lengthening the stern, widening the hull, increasing the depth and Re-adjusting the layout of the power cabin and other projects are among the most risky and difficult projects.
¡°Compared with the ship modification industry in which major shipbuilding powers in later generations have accumulated rich experience, Huamei¡¯s shipbuilding industry is still limited to the design and construction of new ships.
For the in-depth modification of ships with more technical complexity, it is usually not touched if possible. In the eyes of many young naval engineers, this high-risk and costly major renovation is far less simple and trouble-free than building a new ship.
With the rapid growth of the country's economy, the inflationary bubble has gradually been squeezed out, or as industry competition has intensified, it can be said that the construction price of Huamei Shipbuilding has been falling again and again. It is no longer the Beiyang Shipbuilding Group more than ten years ago. Open your mouth and have the final say. However, the total cost of the Constitution's life extension and in-depth modification project is more than 200,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to the cost of the latest improved version of a brand-new Alfalfa-class frigate, and the construction period is as long as one year.
Funding is not a problem with the annual "Navy Club Fund" donation from the Eastern Union Group. Coupled with the allocation from the Ministry of Industry, it means that the Navy can get a result without spending a penny of its own money. Therefore, the always conservative Navy Command The Constitution was neatly delivered to the operating table a year ago.
The requirements for the life extension project of the USS Constitution are extremely complex. Once the original structure of the hull is significantly changed, it will involve a series of difficult topics such as float adjustment and stability calculation for ship modification. Therefore, even the Ministry of Culture and Education came to cooperate during the design of the renovation plan, organizing colleges and universities and senior shipbuilding craftsmen to participate in it, hoping to accumulate an amount of industrial experience that cannot be measured in money for the Huamei Shipbuilding Industry, and to efficiently maintain and refit old ships in the future. Lay a practical foundation.
At this time, the Constitution has changed in many details from its original appearance.
The stern was lengthened by 3 meters, and the waterline length of the hull was increased from 72 meters to 75 meters to improve high-speed seaworthiness; the maximum ship width was increased from 106 meters to 12 meters, and the length of the underwater bilge keel was adjusted, which greatly improved certain The problem of ship rolling in some rough sea conditions.
The depth of the hull has also increased slightly, and the maximum draft has increased from 41 meters to 47 meters. The problem of speed impact caused by the slight increase in the square coefficient of the hull will be solved by replacing the steam unit with a larger horsepower.
If coupled with the major adjustments to the internal structure, the comprehensive replacement and upgrade of the power pack and observation equipment, it would be an exaggeration to say that today, when the project ends, perhaps except for the name and basic appearance of the ship, the USS Constitution is half a ship from the inside out. New boat.
Of course, the only thing that hasn¡¯t changed is the weapons and equipment. Except for the redesigned armored fence of the terrace turret, all naval guns are still the old 120 mm and 90 mm Wisworth rotary bore guns.
Due to the cost of the huge inventory of old naval gun ammunition, in the life extension and maintenance modification plan of the main warships of the Chinese and American navies, the USS Constitution, Republic-class and Flower-class frigates will all give up upgrading the latest expensive steel rifled guns.
The standard displacement of the modified Constitution was suddenly increased to 1,900 tons, and the full-load displacement will also exceed 2,300 tons. In terms of tonnage alone, it barely reaches the standard of a third-class light cruiser, and will return to the light cruiser category again.
The navy is eagerly awaiting the upcoming acceptance sea trials. According to the plan of the Naval Command, the new light cruiser USS Constitution will sail to the Far East after returning to service to continue to enhance the strength of the Asian fleet and prepare for the coming distant war.??Military operations have contributed to the success.
The sea trial in a few days must be ensured to be foolproof, but the on-site employees of Yacheng Shipbuilding Group seemed to be a little worried. After a simple congratulations on completion, several senior technicians continued to get into the lowest level of the hull and continued to carefully inspect certain cabins with kerosene lamps. (To be continued.)