If you think about what scrap aircraft carriers the United States has at this time, it must be several Essex-class aircraft carriers built at the end of World War II. Compared with the Majestic class made by the British, every Essex class ship has outstanding achievements. Most of them participated in the Pacific War of World War II, and were also active in the Korean War, Vietnam War and other battlefields after the war.
But this still cannot hide that they are not much different from the Zhuang-class. The open hull has an old design and is not suitable for practical use.
However, beings like Qi Yiming have the power to turn decay into magic. Even if an aircraft carrier was repaired forty years ago by the Red Alert Maintenance Factory, it will not be a problem to serve for more than ten years, not to mention this The cost inside is almost nothing for Qi Yiming.
However, Qi Yiming is still unwilling to take the initiative to pay. Although the price of 8 million US dollars is not much, it is basically sold at the price of scrap metal, but it is still the price of a Xiaolong. There is a shortage of money everywhere now. With this The money is enough for him to invest in several potential companies and create gross national product.
Liu Huaqing could also see Qi Yiming's hesitation and encouraged: "This time everyone can see the combat power of the Hainan. With such a platform, our navy has a relatively strong tactical fulcrum in the middle and offshore seas, so The navy's idea is to place one ship in the south to control the South China Sea and one in the north to control the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. This is crucial for us to control the waters within the first island chain. Moreover, it also takes advantage of the Americans. , If we don¡¯t pick it up, we won¡¯t pick it up.¡±
Qi Yiming didn't expect Liu Huaqing to be obsessed with buying and replacing other people's scrap aircraft carriers into amphibious assault ships. He felt that Liu Huaqing mainly valued the amphibious assault ship's ability to carry more than a dozen fighter jets in air superiority mode. To put it bluntly, This is still an aircraft carrier, and it is not fundamentally different from the Invincible-class aircraft carrier developed by the British. They do not use ejections and use the capabilities of the STOVL fighter aircraft themselves to conduct operations.
And because the design level is relatively high, the Skua's air control capability is much stronger than that of the Sea Harrier. Even if it is used as an ordinary fighter jet, there is no problem. It is not as incompetent in air combat as the Sea Harrier, which mainly does some ground attacks. It's a piecemeal job, and it can't fight whether it encounters a MiG-29 or an F-16.
"Have the Americans said which one they want to sell to us?" Qi Yiming actually asked this question, which is a redundant question, because now the United States has a total of three Essex-class aircraft carriers, and no matter which one the hull is, the aging is quite serious. .
"It's the CV-38 Shangri-La." Liu Huaqing replied.
Qi Yiming nodded and said with a smile: "This can be regarded as returning the property to its original owner. Shangri-La is originally the name of our place in China. There is no need to change the name after we get it back."
The name of the Shangri-La comes from the fairyland on earth in the novel "Lost Horizon" that was once popular in the West, but the specific origin is to commemorate the historical event of Doolittle's air raid on Tokyo during World War II. At that time, a reporter asked Roosevelt where the B-25 took off. Roosevelt only answered with Shangri-La, and Shangri-La actually referred to China at that time.
Liu Huaqing also nodded and said: "I also think this ship name is quite commemorative and we can keep it. The ship names of many countries are actually inherited from foreign countries. For example, the USS Enterprise in the United States came from the Revolutionary War. Capture a British ship. We can also keep the name of the ship."
Qi Yiming actually doesn¡¯t have much idea about the name of this aircraft carrier. Since Liu Huaqing also said that it is still called Shangri-La, it is not bad to keep this name. What he was thinking about were other situations. Since the navy wanted this ship, it had to get it. However, 8 million US dollars was still quite painful. Qi Yiming walked around in a circle and clapped his hands, whimsical. He said quietly: "Commander Liu, how about we let the Americans give us this ship for free?"
Liu Huaqing was a little stunned and said: "Although it is a decommissioned ship, it is unlikely that the United States will give it to us for nothing."
Qi Yiming said: "According to me, the Americans are probably more interested in testing our engineering capabilities this time. We got the Melbourne a few months ago, and it was actually able to be sent to the battlefield a few months later. The Americans must They were very surprised by this, so they also wanted to test this, and they did not hesitate to throw out one of their abandoned aircraft carriers for us to rebuild."
Liu Huaqing hummed and said: "I didn't expect this. After you said this, I'm afraid the Americans do have this in mind. Otherwise, why would they be so confident in giving us ships and allowing us to increase our strength? The United States is also dissatisfied. Hopefully we will be too strong."
"That's for sure," Qi Yiming smiled slightly and added: "But this is not something that the United States can have the final say on. Even if they don't help, we will one day surpass them. Since the Americans are willing to test , then let¡¯s test it out, I don¡¯t care about letting them know that we have some amazing powers.The Americans have all decommissioned the Sykes class aircraft carriers and put them in storage. There should be three of them, two of them, the Oriskany and the Bonhomme Richard. A few years ago, when Reagan wanted to fully confront the Soviet Union, what kind of six hundred was he going to do? Fleet, he wanted to renovate the two aircraft carriers and reuse them to maintain the U.S. Navy's maritime superiority. However, it is said that the condition of the two ships was very bad, and the cost of repair was very high, so the U.S. Congress rejected this proposal. "
A sly light flashed in Qi Yiming's eyes, "Since the Americans want to repair but don't have that much money to repair, we will help them do it. It is impossible for me to repair things like the structural strength and metal fatigue of the hull. Our ships are equally attentive, but there will be no problem for at least another ten or eight years. The repair price of the two ships is US$100 million. By the way, they will give us the Shangri-La for free. If necessary, our carrier-based aircraft will be destroyed. -8V can also be sold to them, what do you think, Commander Liu?¡±
Liu Huaqing was dumbfounded at this moment. He never expected that Qi Yiming would involve everything in making money from arms sales. Moreover, asking China to repair warships for the Americans and even sell them fighter jets sounds like a fantasy.
"The Americans will definitely consider it carefully. Using 100 million US dollars to exchange for 10 years of continued service for two aircraft carriers that should have been scrapped is a very cost-effective thing no matter how you think about it. And we sell them the J-8V , the price of one is about US$16 million, and an Essex-class modified version can carry at least 16-20 J-8Vs, and it can basically cope with low- to medium-intensity conflicts. Even if they don't buy our aircraft. , it doesn¡¯t matter if you still use AV-8B, 100 million US dollars is enough to do a lot of things for the navy, and the Shangri-La, which was earned in vain, can also become our new amphibious assault ship.¡±
Liu Huaqing also had to admire Qi Yiming's fantastic idea, but said rather worriedly: "But can the Americans agree to this? I think the Americans themselves won't believe it. One hundred million dollars to build two ships Ship, it is estimated that the cost of replacing a ship-borne radar and power device is basically this amount. Not to mention that the Essex¡¯s flight deck is all made of wood. To take off and land STOVL fighters, it is necessary to replace it with a steel structure deck that is resistant to high temperature corrosion. The problematic areas still need to be re-examined, which is a lot of work.¡±
Qi Yiming chuckled and said, "It can give Americans the impression that we have strong human resources and are very capable of doing such projects. But if the United States wants to visit the modification process, that is absolutely not allowed, haha ¡±
Liu Huaqing nodded and said: "Okay, I will report this matter to the Military Commission, Chairman Ping and others will discuss it, and then report it to the United States to see how they deal with it."
Qi Yiming himself has an indifferent attitude towards this matter, so the suggestion is more of a joke. The Americans no longer feel that they are in short supply of aircraft carriers. A light aircraft carrier can only be of limited help to the US military, and it is definitely prone to safety risks after such a long time. The US military, which attaches great importance to this point, will not easily take over one that may go wrong at any time. battleship.
As for showing the cards in his hand to the Americans, Qi Yiming was not worried at all. Even people like Liu Huaqing and Ping Taizong were not worried at all. Because they all know that what Qi Yiming has come up with now is not the best. These weapons and equipment technologies were considered mainstream in the 1980s, but they may not necessarily be the main weapons of the Chinese army in the future. Things like black technology cannot be covered up just by saying that you want to cover them up. No matter how you explain it then, it will be lame. Why not tell them forcefully that I have the superiority of socialism, that is, I am more capable than you guys.
For example, the AESA technology on the J-10, the electronic technology of the Hongqi-9 missile, and the advanced mechanical transmission technology for manufacturing the sickle mecha, these are things Qi Yiming would not want to show to others. If you modify an aircraft carrier from the Second World War to install at most four gas turbines, a half-new shipborne radar, and even weapons and equipment, Qi Yiming will not be installed by the Americans. If they are willing, they can install Bofors 40mm or Phalanx and stuff like that. Work such as renovating a ship's hull is laborious work, and a large part of the money is spent on labor costs. Americans can't do it, but it doesn't mean that Qi Yiming can't do it. In addition, the high-temperature corrosion-resistant steel deck is not a technology that is not available in the United States. Both the Tarawa-class and Wasp-class amphibious assault ships are using it, but Qi Yiming can provide a cheaper option.
There are deep considerations in strengthening exchanges with the United States in the field of military equipment, and even working with the United States to suppress the rebellion in South Korea. The number one enemy of the United States is still the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union is destined to be unlucky. If China always maintains aloofness towards the United States, the United States will definitely have greater suspicion of China after the 1990s, even if there is no political turmoil in China that affects its image. also the same.
Now China is committed to strengthening cooperation with the United States and promoting exchanges between the two militaries, and is not even afraid of?The U.S. military acting together will give Americans the illusion that China is willing to obey the post-World War II order established by the United States and is willing to follow in the footsteps of its "big brother" like the United Kingdom, France, Germany and other NATO allies.
According to Qi Yiming, the United States is actually a docile donkey full of pragmatism. If it adopts passive confrontation methods, it will easily cause unnecessary trouble. It should change its own style of doing things in a timely manner and get on the express train of American hegemony. The big brother is in front. Charge into the battle to attract hatred, while the younger brother reaps the benefits from behind, waving the flag and shouting.
How much is moral integrity worth?
One day when the eldest brother came to his senses, he found that the younger brother following him was eight feet tall, dancing with two big daddies, trembling and wagging his tail, begging for mercy. It was probably the eldest brother himself.