Looking out from the observation deck standing on the red tile roof of the Admiralty Building: the autumn sky is high and clear, and the sea is sparkling - the new Admiralty Building was built in Bopu Port, bidding farewell to the color steel plates of the past
The built "building" is a three-and-a-half-story red brick and red tiled building with a sloped roof, red bricks and red tiles, a watchtower with cast iron railings and continuous long vaulted windows, all revealing a Victorian decorative style.
It fully expresses the interest of some people in the navy.
The observation deck of the Admiralty Building is a small platform on the roof, with a copper ship's bell hung - it was not removed from any historic ship, but an old scrap ship bought from Macau.
For decorative purposes.
There are several wicker chairs and a wicker table on the platform. This is where the veteran and senior officers of the navy drink tea in their free time. However, according to the "balcony privileges" in the navy, only Minister of Military Order Chen Haiyang and People's Commissar of the Navy Ming Ming
Qiu comes here often, and everyone else consciously waits until they are invited to come here.
I will come here every day in Mingqiu to look at it, so that my mind and body can get enough rest.
As an old man who is over sixty years old, he is already very old according to the standards of this time and space. However, thanks to the good sanitary and nutritional conditions of the old time and his many years of military life, Mingqiu's body still appears healthy and energetic.
However, many years of naval career still left him with various diseases. Although not too serious, the level of medical care in the new world has greatly deteriorated. The Minister of Health of the Ministry of Health advised him to "recuperate more, exercise more, and exercise less."
"Worry". In fact, even if he has this enthusiasm, the daily high-intensity work of most elders has already made him incompetent.
Mingqiu is very clear: the experience and qualifications he accumulated in the plan do not have decisive significance in this navy with completely different technical levels, political foundations, and even values. Therefore, for naval construction, he mainly focuses on the naval profession.
In the business field, I never take a stand on matters involving values and ideologies.
Therefore, as the People's Commissar of the Navy, he rarely appeared in Senate hearings and the like. He played more of an "advisor" role, providing opinions and suggestions for the Senate's new navy, including participating in naval doctrine, conduct and procedures.
The construction of training and other institutional aspects.
He was sitting on a wicker chair under a white canvas awning, wearing the formal summer clothes of the Senate Navy - a pure cotton white shirt with a short-sleeved suit collar and a rear admiral epaulette on his shoulders - he was one of the only two rear admirals in the navy.
1. His feelings for the new navy are complicated. Although he did not come to this time and space voluntarily to build a "new world order". He just followed the form, but this new navy gave him and his family unprecedented high status and power.
, as long as you are willing, you can get the most out of it...
"Chief, your tea."
The female navy orderly served him black tea diligently - looking at the young girl wearing a white pullover sailor uniform, a blue pleated skirt, and a soft hat with a morning star badge on her head. Produced by Laigao Porcelain Factory
Brewing black tea with the "senior-only" bone china tea set, a strong sense of dissonance came to his heart, reminding him once again: he was no longer a member of the plan - he was "serving the Senate and the people"
Serve".
The admiralty building in front of me, the uniforms of the female servicemen, and even this balcony fully express the aesthetic taste of this "new navy". To be honest, Mingqiu is really uncomfortable with it. Even after being nicknamed the "Army and Navy"
In the plan, the navy is also a "foreign style" branch. But the "foreign style" of the Senate Navy is unique, just like the "mixed mix" he had eaten when he was a child. It has all kinds of flavors.
"Chief, do you want some candy?" the female orderly who had been trained by the maid school asked in a soft voice that was low enough for him to hear clearly.
"No." Mingqiu doesn't have the habit of adding sugar to tea - or in other words, he has never drank black tea. Drinking black tea is a new custom created by this "Senate Navy". Although Mingqiu disagrees with this, and even sneers at it,
At any rate, I understand the way of life of "being as light as the dust".
He took a sip of black tea, and a strong aroma that was completely different from green tea filled his mouth - there was no Ceylon black tea, Assam black tea or Lapsang Souchong in this time and space: none of these teas appeared. What he drank was Wu Nanhai
"Nanhai Black Tea" is fermented on the farm using tea leaves shipped from Fujian.
The female orderly brought another cigar box with a patterned seal saying "Specially Available to the Navy" - he took one. For health reasons, Li Mei had repeatedly suggested that he give up cigarettes and switch to smoking.
Healthier cigars. Mingqiu has also caught up with this trend.
He smoked a cigar and looked at the masts standing in the harbor in the distance and the black smoke that erupted from time to time - newly built and refitted ships were gathering in the harbor, and engine operation was imminent.
Chen Haiyang and Wen Desi, who summoned him in the name of the Executive Committee, have already talked to him: the Senate's first high seas fleet is about to be formed, and there will be no second commander of this fleet, She Mingqiu. Anyway,
, Mingqiu is not only the People's Commissar of the Navy, but also the only person in the entire crossing group who has experience in commanding a speedboat detachment.
However, he is over sixty after all. Although he is generally in good health, many people have doubts about whether he can sustain his energy by commanding a naval formation to cruise for a long time to prepare for war. Chen Haiyang also said that he would be invited to "
No need to force it."
Mingqiu readily agreed. He was already an old man, and of course he was not fighting for money, power or reputation. Moreover, commanding maritime battles in the steam-sail era was not his specialty. The main reason why he accepted this task was
Satisfy past regrets.
He knew that Li Mei had complained several times to the leaders of the executive committee because of the occupational diseases he had suffered from many years of service in the navy. However, he felt that his biggest regret in his life was that he had not achieved any real military exploits at sea. Not even real military exploits.
He had never participated in a war before - this illness would not prevent him from going to sea, and Mingqiu did not think there was any trouble with his health.
His thoughts were flying in the air along with the smoke of the cigar. Suddenly he heard a command to "stand at attention", the door to the observation deck opened, and the military commander Chen Haiyang walked up.
Chen Haiyang once served as gunnery commander in hunting submarines and deputy captain of frigates, but his qualifications in the plan are far inferior to him. Therefore, although both parties currently have the same military rank, and there is no subordinate relationship between the People's Commissar of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Command, this
Despite the culture of ranking seniority in the military, Chen Haiyang still respected him very much.
"Commissioner Ming, you are so relaxed and relaxed!" Chen Haiyang said, quickly walked over and sat down on the wicker chair opposite him. Here, naval etiquette can be temporarily put aside.
Ming Qiu nodded. They often talked about naval construction work on the observation deck. He did not have a close relationship with Chen Haiyang, but he still admired this man with an upright personality.
The female orderly brought him black tea, and Chen Haiyang waved his hand casually: "Put it down."
"Yes, chief." The orderly realized that the two chiefs wanted to talk and exited the lookout in accordance with discipline.
"Ming Lao——" In private, Chen Haiyang always addressed Ming Qiu as a general elder, "Are you ready to accept the position of commander of the First Fleet?"
According to the plan formulated by the General Staff Headquarters: the 854 modified cruiser "Lichun" and the Type 901 first-class gunboats that have been launched into service: four ships: power-controlling, wind-controlling, wave-riding, and wave-raising to form the Navy's first fleet and go to Hong Kong for training and standby.
The commander of the First Fleet is planned to be concurrently appointed by Ming Qiu, and Li Di is concurrently appointed as the chief of staff of the fleet. Except for the veteran Mond as the commander of the "Electric" and the captain of the "Wind Regulator" as Le Lin, the captains of the other ships are all naturalized civilians.
.
Mingqiu nodded: "That's right, I plan to be Feng Fu again and go into battle again." He said with emotion: "If I don't go into battle, I'm afraid I won't have any chance in the future."
Chen Haiyang nodded: "Is your body able to bear the food?"
"It's not a big problem. The Lichun is larger than the 037 submarine hunting submarine I was in the speedboat detachment back then - it's also a ship of over a thousand tons anyway."
The full-load displacement of the Type 037 hunting submarine is only 392 tons, and the living conditions are very narrow and inconvenient. Chen Haiyang, who was the gunner of the Type 037 hunting submarine, certainly has a deep understanding of this.
"However, this engine operation takes a long time. It may last until next spring, including the head and tail. It will take more than half a year to sail continuously. Kaohsiung and Jeju do not have good support bases. You have to take care of yourself."
"It's not a big problem." Mingqiu said and frowned, "I'm worried about something else." He straightened up as he said, "I'm really not sure about this steamship. I read some information. 854 and
I'm afraid it's difficult for 901 to support long-term maritime cruises, right? Our most modern destroyers back then had a low on-going rate - you still remember the old 051s in the South China Sea Fleet, even if they could be on the line for forty or fifty days a year?
Not bad.”
Chen Haiyang thought that 051 was still a modern destroyer - he was a young officer in the plan, and he was quite critical of the obsolete and backward naval equipment in the 1990s.
However, Chen Haiyang himself has no idea about the sailing performance and self-sustainability of the "ace of the Senate Navy" - the steam engine-sail warship - he is an officer promoted from the grassroots level of the army, except for the power department of the gunnery department.
The department has also done this: Even the modern power system of a modern ship's diesel engine is very laborious to maintain on a daily basis. The big, black and thick steam engine with flying soot makes people feel uneasy when they look at it.
"The establishment of a temporary base in Kaohsiung has been included in the plan." Chen Haiyang said, "The shipyard has not yet given detailed data, but I estimate that the engine motoring hours of these ships are very short, and it will not take long to complete