During the entire supply process, Li Hai was worried.
His new captain is even less experienced in ship command than a new captain in the traditional sense, but he does not lack actual combat experience!
Anything related to ammunition must be a serious matter, and it is something that needs to be treated with great vigor.
It’s quite scary for a layman to see the scenes of manipulating guns and artillery, especially on vehicle and artillery range days. All the equipment of the troops must be pulled out for maintenance. The scene must be shocking and shocking, even if it is an ordinary replacement company with more than 100 troops. It's quite scary to have guns and cannons there.
But in the eyes of insiders, these things are just fire sticks because they have no ammunition.
Weapons are killing machines only when combined with ammunition.
Similarly, no matter how fierce the firepower of the No. 53 ship is, without enough ammunition to support it, it is just a relatively sturdier cruise ship...
What is being done now is to restore the strong veteran of Ship No. 53 to its peak combat effectiveness. In the process of the supply ship transferring ammunition to Ship No. 53, a small mistake may cause both ships to be buried at the bottom of the sea.
Especially when replenishing torpedoes, even though he knew that the thing couldn't explode without a bound fuse, Li Hai's heart was still hanging, as if he was being asked to land on the ship with a bomb.
Of course, landing on a ship with ammunition is more dangerous, because the fuse safety tips of those ammunition are removed before takeoff!
Seeing Li Hai like this, Chang Haizhou asked with a smile, "Are you worried that they are inexperienced? Jinchang Hao often does this work, and they are very experienced."
The one currently supplying ammunition to the No. 53 ship is the Jinchang, a bulk carrier of more than 5,000 tons, equipped with cranes and other equipment. In fact, the Jinchang ship spends more than half of the 365 days a year doing this work, or on the way to do this work.
Li Hai felt a little relieved and said solemnly, "After all, this is close to the Niu Liujia Strait. The situation on the sea is very complicated. I can't rest assured if the supply is not completed for a moment."
Chang Haizhou is often active in this area, so he couldn't help but say, "We have chosen remote sea areas. If big ships don't come, small ones won't dare to approach. There shouldn't be any problem."
"Yes." Li Hai walked out of the bridge and stood in front of the guardrail.
Chang Haizhou followed him out, took out a cigarette and handed one to Li Hai. He knew that Li Hai was under great pressure. He encountered so many things as soon as he took office, all of which were not easy tasks. The veteran captain must admire him for being able to survive to this day and still be alert and agile.
"Stop smoking." Li Hai looked at Chang Haizhou and said, "Stop smoking too."
Chang Haizhou looked at the crane and carefully transferred a torpedo from the Jinchang to the No. 53 ship, stuffed the cigarette back into his pocket, and stopped smoking.
In the past, Chang Haizhou would have waved his hand and lit up indifferently. How many years has he been working and how many years has Li Hai been working? He doesn't know what occasions and times he can smoke?
But even though Li Hai said he wouldn't smoke, Chang Haizhou really didn't smoke. This is because Chang Haizhou recognized Li Hai as the "ship boss" from the bottom of his heart.
The long three hours finally passed, and the entire replenishment process went very smoothly. After bidding farewell to the Jinchang, the No. 53 ship accelerated westward and headed straight for the Niurekko Strait.
Until now, Li Hai has not waited for the order from his superiors - what task will he perform this time? Mysterious!
Entering the Nilacca Strait means that we are out of the support range of our shore-based aircraft. The 167th Independent Flying Group at Musa Naval Air Station only has a combat radius of No. 037 that can cover the Nilacca Strait. The problem is that even if it can reach it, it cannot fly over.
The air conditions in this area are complicated. Not only does it have the busiest waterway, there are dozens of intertwined civil aviation routes, and it also involves the airspace of several countries. There is too little airspace for movement.
Therefore, our ships are actually quite vulnerable when passing through the Nilacca Strait.
At dawn, ship No. 53 arrived at the designated sea area, that is, the entrance to the strait, and stopped and anchored in the anchoring sea area as required. There are several ocean-going cargo ships around. Most of these ships are preparing to berth in Singapore. Before entering the strait, they usually stop here and wait for the port to become vacant.
One of the busiest shipping lanes and one of the busiest ports, this is the current state of the Cowacca Strait. According to statistics, more than 200 ships pass through the Strait of Malacca every day, and the traffic volume is very huge.
Ship No. 53 entered a standby state. Warships from other countries passed through the Nilacca Strait from time to time throughout the morning. Some entered the Indian Ocean from east to west, and some entered the South China Sea from west to east. Most of them were warships from neighboring countries.
It was around four o'clock in the afternoon and the order had not yet arrived. Li Hai could not sit still and discussed with Chang Haizhou, saying, "Should I take the initiative to ask for instructions?"
Chang Haizhou said, "It is indeed strange that no new orders have arrived for such a long time, but the superiors' instructions to us to wait for orders at the anchorage must have been considered."
After pondering for a long time, Li Hai said, "This is the entrance to the strait, and there is a channel next to it. We are exposed to all ships. A living person cannot die of urination. I think we should ask our superiors for instructions. If there is no new order, then it is best Need to change positions."
"Okay, I agree." Chang Haizhou said.
The anchorage is right at the entrance of the strait. Warships and ships from various countries coming and going can see the No. 53 ship at a glance. It is not in line with tactical principles to stand by at this location.
Li Hai sent a message to his superiors. In his opinion, there was no reason for his superiors to disagree with his suggestion. After all, there were only advantages and no disadvantages in changing to a hidden sea area.
However, what he didn't expect was that his superiors explicitly asked the No. 53 ship to stay at the anchorage and wait for new instructions.
"Hey, this is strange." Li Hai looked at the message and was confused.
Chang Haizhou said, "It's really strange. This has never happened before."
"Wait." Li Hai was helpless, watching the night slowly fall.
It was late at night, and Li Hai asked the drone squad to release the reconnaissance drone to conduct routine reconnaissance of the surrounding sea areas. The real-time picture was transmitted to the tablet-sized display terminal in Li Hai's hand.
Under the high-definition camera, the ship's mast lights formed a long dotted line on the Nilacca Channel under eagle eye vision, stretching east to west, like a luminous bracelet on the Malacca Strait. The coastal areas on both sides of the strait are brightly lit, representing the strong economic strength of these areas.
Some people say that the easiest way to know the extent of a place's economic strength is to get on a plane at night and look down from the air to see the brightness of the lights in the area.
After more than half an hour of routine aerial reconnaissance, nothing suspicious was found, and Li Hai felt relieved. The sea area where the Niulaka Strait is located is not unfamiliar to the People's Navy. The hydrological conditions, channel conditions, surrounding conditions, etc. here are very familiar.
Because of this, Li Hai was worried.
His biggest concern was pirates.
Don’t think that pirates don’t dare to attack ships on busy shipping lanes. Don’t think that pirates don’t dare to attack ships in the Niurekko Strait, which is surrounded by several countries. Precisely because of these, pirates have more loopholes to exploit.
There have been several cases of ships being robbed. Pirates robbed ships close to Singapore's territorial waters. The Singapore Navy is relatively well-trained and equipped with advanced equipment. They can mobilize quickly. However, the pirates immediately entered the territorial waters of other countries after they succeeded. , no matter how powerful the Singapore Navy is, it can only stare blankly. By the time other countries' navies or maritime law enforcement vessels arrive, the pirates will have long since disappeared.
Taking advantage of the imperfect mechanism of neighboring countries to jointly combat piracy is a characteristic of the Nilukko pirates. There is also a type of mysterious pirates with advanced equipment and well-trained personnel. This type of pirates is even more difficult to deal with. They are often able to complete their crimes before local law enforcement and the navy can respond, and may even attack armed law enforcement vessels. , very arrogant. This type of pirate was what Lehi was most worried about.
Today, as civilian drone technology becomes more and more advanced, upper-level pirates are equipped with these devices, and their grasp of the sea area is often unexpected.
According to a United Nations analysis report on the current situation of piracy in Somalia, pirates there have shown a trend of becoming more technical and professional. Pirates in the form of "pirates during leisure time and fishermen during busy farming time" are becoming more and more common. few.
This also represents the development trend of global piracy, which adds difficulties to the anti-piracy efforts of various countries.
Could it be an escort?
Thinking about pirates, Li Hai couldn't help but suspect that the task assigned to ship No. 53 by the war commander was to escort passing Chinese merchant ships.
But he soon overturned this guess.
If it was to escort merchant ships, the war commander would have given the order long ago.
Li Hai ordered the troops to strengthen their alert and took this opportunity to conduct an emergency combat command drill with Chang Haizhou and others to hone the command and combat capabilities of the ship command team when encountering emergencies in complex sea areas.
"The enemy situation is set up to simulate that our ship is being pursued and intercepted by the combined fleets of the three navies. The enemy has an amphibious landing ship, two frigates and several gunboats. The enemy forms a formation against our ship from the direction of Changi, Malay and the Gulf of Thailand. Encircled on three sides, based on the enemy's assessment, our ship decided to break out toward the South China Sea. But in fact, this was a strategy. After attracting the enemy to gather forces toward the South China Sea, our ship quickly turned to the southwest, killed a carbine, and used anti-ship missiles to kill it. The amphibious landing ship used the numerous merchant ships in the Cowlerk Strait as cover to enter the Indian Ocean from east to west..."
After listening to Li Hai's enemy situation setting and response tactics, Chang Haizhou and others couldn't help but smile bitterly. Captain Li's boldness has reached a new level. Not to mention the response tactics, just such an enemy situation setting makes people listen. Everyone was frightened.
However, since it is a simulation, it does not matter how the imaginary enemy is set up.
A simulated command combat exercise involving a single ship versus a combined fleet was over. The orders from the superiors who had been waiting for them came immediately, as if they knew that the simulation exercise was over... (End of this chapter)
