Chapter 198 The Queen's Fleet
After agreeing to the invitation to co-write the textbook, Tang Lintian took out a ballpoint pen and a notebook from the inner pocket of his cotton coat, wrote something on it, and then put the page The paper was torn off:
"This is my pager number, as well as the phone numbers at home and office. If you have anything you want to ask, you can contact me at any time."
Chang Haonan Subconsciously, I want to give the other person my contact information back.
Then I realized that I didn’t have any...
So I had to take the note, fold it and put it in my pocket:
"Okay Dean Tang, I will contact you if I have any questions."
......
At the same time, Chang Haonan got the opportunity to write a book for the first time in his life.
Permanent Joint Headquarters, Northwood, Kent, UK.
A man in the uniform of a rear admiral knocked on the door of the office of First Sea Lord and Chief of the Royal Naval Staff Jock Slater.
"Sir Jock, are you looking for me?"
"Yes, Alan, sit down first."
Jock stood up and took a He took out a bottle of wine and poured half a glass for himself and the visitor.
Although there is a big gap in official ranks between the two, they both come from naval families, and their families are familiar with each other, so there is not a strong sense of alienation.
"It's already 1997."
This seemingly gratuitous sentence made Alan West, who had just received the wine glass, a little confused:
"Uh...actually, now It’s already the second month of 1997.”
Obviously, he has no intention of getting his superiors.
A somewhat speechless Jock had to choose a more straightforward way of expression:
"If nothing else happens, the United Kingdom will lose a piece of land again this year."
"You mean... Hong Kong Island?"
Now West understood, But I didn’t fully understand:
“But wasn’t that something that Mrs. Thatcher decided on more than ten years ago?”
“That’s true, but it’s happening after all. Change.”
Jock held the wine glass and sat back behind the desk gracefully.
Although the other party still didn't guess the gist of the conversation, at least it got to the point:
"Prime Minister Major asked us to do something before everything becomes irreversible."< br>
"This..."
The people in Wester were dumbfounded when they heard this sentence, and the wine glass they brought to their lips stopped in mid-air:
"What can we do?"
"For example, send a fleet."
West's hand shook and he almost spilled the wine in the glass.
For a moment he thought that at least one of himself, Sir Jock, and the Prime Minister had gone mad.
After about a few minutes, the rear admiral regained full language skills:
"This... this is crazy."
"With all due respect, Sir, we are all nuclear countries, and China is not Argentina. At least they have much more missiles."
< br>After saying this, West added in his heart:
"And even if there are no missiles, we can't survive just iron bombs."
In 1982 , who is serving as captain of the frigate Zealot.
In that war, the Zeal was hit by five 1,000-pound MK17 unguided bombs by Afghan attack aircraft penetrating at low altitude.
If it weren't for the fuse setting problem that caused only two explosions, I'm afraid it would be a different person sitting here today.
“Of course I know this, so I never said I would send a fleet to go to war.”
Jock shook his head and drank the liquid in the cup:< br>
“The Conservative Party is in a very bad situation now. If nothing is done to save support, it may soon fail. So he hopes he can be tougher on this matter.”< br>
"Can't we just find an excuse to drag it out? Could it be that the cabinet secretary can't even do this now?" West said with some disdain:
"Isn't that how they treated us coldly about increasing the number of people? Is it a funding requirement?”
“Actually, there is another reason.”
Jiao Ke, who was pushed back, also realized that the reason he gave was indeed incorrect. It was so convincing that after hesitating for a moment, he continued:
"Some members of the royal family also hope to use this to divert public attention. Britain needs a propaganda victory to suppress the public opinion storm caused by the prince and princess."
In theory, the royal family under a constitutional monarchy should only A mascot.
But this is obviously not the case.
"Victory in publicity..."
After picking up the glass of wine again, West added an accent to the word publicity, and then imitated the tone of a character in a certain TV series. A famous line:
"ItistomakepeopleBELIEVEBritainisdefended?"
Obviously, he has gradually caught up with the rhythm.
"That's right, so we don't need to get close to the coastline. We just drive the fleet over, show force in places beyond their reach, and then return."
Jock spoke softly. He fiddled with the globe on the table:
"You know, if the Chinese navy wants to go to sea, it will take at least several months to prepare, so it is impossible to react."
"But if the distance is too far, wouldn't there be no threat at all? They don't have to deal with it at all."
West is still a little confused about the specific plan.
The admiral stood up again and came to a huge world map posted on the wall:
“On this point, the Pentagon will exert some influence and arrange for Annan’s army and us to For a joint exercise, the location... is right here."
His finger pointed to a place not far from the coastline of Annan:
"The ownership of this sea area is controversial. Annan has always hoped to develop the deep-sea oil and gas fields nearby, so it approached BP."
"So we want to go over and support them?"
West also came to the front of the map.
“It’s no big deal, let’s each take what he wants.”
Jock turned around and looked at West next to him:
"We kill two birds with one stone. We can not only help BP win this project, but also disgust the Chinese people and give an explanation to the royal family and the Prime Minister. With our support, Annan will be more confident."
"Anyway, the exercise area is nearly 900 miles away from their Qiongzhou. According to intelligence, the Chinese have no sea and air force worth mentioning in this direction. At most, they can dispatch some old-fashioned frigates or speedboats without any risk."
< br>"So, you are going to let me lead this fleet?"
At this point, West can guess the purpose of calling him here.
Faced with this question, Jock did not answer directly, but changed the topic:
"Alan, if I remember correctly, you have been in the position of rear admiral for five years, right?"
West's eyes suddenly lit up.
This naked statement can no longer be regarded as a hint -
As long as this unchallenging task can be completed, promotion to an official position is just around the corner.
“So, has the specific composition of the fleet been determined?”
Obviously, he had accepted this mission by default.
"Not yet, what do you think?"
On professional issues, Jock decided to seek the opinions of the frontline commanders.
“Since we want to influence public opinion, the size of the fleet must be large, otherwise the impact will be insufficient.”
West immediately began to analyze:
"We must have an aircraft carrier. If we want to set off soon, the Excellence should be in a seaworthy condition. The Sea Harrier aircraft performed very well last time. Its performance is not inferior to Annan's MiG-21, so we can take the opportunity to promote it. "
"The reputation of the Type 42 destroyer is average, but it shows cowardice when carrying it. It can be replaced by the Type 22 frigate, Beaver, Cornwall and Campbelltown. Although they are frigates, their displacement is 4900 tons, which is larger than that of all Chinese ships. All the combat ships are large and can completely suppress them."
"Although we will not really do anything to Hong Kong Island, we still need to make a sufficient posture and integrate the Dreadnought dock landing ship into it. A few medium-sized landing ships and marines are prepared according to the scale of landing on the Falkland Islands. The cost of using these ships is very low, and they can also increase the size of the fleet, which is very cost-effective."
"Also. The supply ship, the newly commissioned USS Fort Victoria should be able to perform the mission..."
West's business level is really nothing to say, and he arranged a fleet that considered all aspects almost on the spot.
Since it is just a fleet cruise with no actual risks, it is natural to make the Royal Navy look more majestic.
It would be best to clear away the shadow of the loss in 1982.
(End of this chapter)