Mykolaiv, a port city located in southern Ukraine.

Compared to other cities in Ukraine that are open to foreign tourists, this heavy industrial city, which has not yet been opened to the public, is of great importance to Ukraine, and indeed to the entire former Soviet Union.

It is home to the largest shipyard in the Black Sea region, the Nikolaev Shipyard, as it is often called.

As the only aircraft carrier construction and assembly plant in the Soviet era, several aircraft carriers of the Soviet era, "Moscow", "Leningrad", "Kiev", "Minsk", "Novorossiysk", "Gorshkov", "Kuznetsov", all of which were built at the Nikolaev shipyard.

At the height of the Nikolaev shipyard's heyday, the plant had more than 25,000 employees, covered an area of 302 hectares (including 42 hectares of water surface), had a total length of 2,675 meters of outfitting docks, 29 kilometers of roads, 49 kilometers of railways, and a total of 2,100 cranes......

However, all this pomp and circumstance disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Since Gorbachev announced the collapse of the Soviet Union a few days ago, the Nikolaev shipyard has been transferred to Ukraine, and the financially strapped Ukrainian government's first order after acquiring the shipyard is to immediately stop all work.

In addition to the "Kuznetsov" aircraft carrier, which was hastily driven away by the Russian Navy, the other two unfinished aircraft carriers were quietly paralyzed in the shipyard that suddenly fell silent, like two cold steel tombs.

They were the "Varyag", which had not yet been outfitted at this time, and was moored at the mouth of the southern Gehe River outside the factory area, and it would have to wait for nearly 20 years before it could wait for its real owner and be renamed "Liaoning".

And......

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Ulyanovsk", which is still lying quietly in slipway 0, has completed 30% of the construction rate, and the core components have all been in place, is the only heavy aircraft carrier in the world that has the potential to compete with the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers of the United States.

You know, it's not a steam turbine-powered aircraft carrier like the Varyag.

This is a nuclear-powered power drive with a displacement of more than 80,000 tons, with an almost unlimited endurance, and the only high-efficiency war monster installed with a steam catapult for catapult take-off, which can accommodate nearly 70 carrier-based aircraft.

If this series is successfully developed, it will soon exceed the displacement of 100,000 tons, just like the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and become the top predator of human domination of the seas.

In the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, no country has been able to build a similar aircraft carrier.

Even nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, apart from the United States, are only the "Charles de Gaulle" built by the French Navy a few years later, and a full-load displacement is not even comparable to the Varyag's medium-sized aircraft carrier.

"What a beautiful boy this is......"

Empty Nikolaev shipyard, slipway 0, which has been out of work for almost 2 months.

The old factory director Makarov put his hands behind his back, looked up at the "child" in front of him who was about to complete the main body assembly, and sighed heavily, his voice was full of helplessness and desolation, and the shipyard had never been so quiet as it was now.

As a meritorious old man who led the shipyard to glory, Makarov devoted almost all of his life to this place full of steel and seawater, and he was most proud of the fact that he successfully turned the Soviet Union's large ship construction project into a streamlined operation.

Compared with the long process of building an aircraft carrier in the United States, which takes ten years to build an aircraft carrier, on his slipway 0, the Soviet Union only needs three years to complete the entire process of building a new aircraft carrier from construction to launching, and immediately start the next major construction.

For him, the task of building the "Ulyanovsk" is like a gate to a new world, he is already standing by the door, looking inside, the door exudes countless fascinating lights of hope.

Merely...... This light has now become extremely faint and faint with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"How are the negotiations between Kyiv and Russia going?"

Makarov sighed heavily again, and asked softly without looking back.

"There's still no progress, it's all bad news. ”

Yevgeny, the chief accountant of the shipyard standing beside Makarov, shook his head, his face full of sorrow.

"Russia refuses to buy and continue to pay for the subsequent construction of the" Ulyanovsk", and the "Varyag", they are also only willing to pay 30% of the price for the purchase, on the grounds that the previous costs have already been borne by the alliance, and they are not willing to pay the price of a full warship......"

"Is there a new order recently?"

"There is only one shipbuilding company from Norway, and they have preliminarily negotiated with the government that there are six large merchant ships in total, and only our shipyard's slipway zero can be built in Europe. The demand for orders is urgent, and the construction is required to start immediately, but the deposit is also very generous, which is enough to support the operation of our shipyard for many years. ”

"Hmph, of course...... This is a slipway that can mass-produce aircraft carriers, and most of those companies have been coveting it for a long time. ”

Makarov snorted lightly and shook his head noncommittally.

For those profit-seeking capitalists, although he is not extremely disgusted, he also has no good feelings, if not to maintain the livelihood of the whole factory...... And in any case, as he has no right to refuse the government's decision.

"But if slipway zero has to be used, what will happen to the Ulyanovsk? Do we want to push it directly into the sea? The state has already spent more than 30,000 tons of steel on it, and the final slipway closing process is missing. ”

"I heard from President Kravchuk's staff that they proposed to dismantle the Ulyanovsk, free up the slipway space, and complete important orders from Norwegian friends as soon as possible. Because the state and the shipyards need to live on this money. Fortunately, there is also an American scrap steel recycling company that is willing to buy back steel at a high price. ”

"Tear it down...... Is it?"

Makarov raised his head and looked at the steel monster in front of him that carried the most cutting-edge technology of the Soviet Union, and a trace of pain and sadness appeared in his eyes, since the Russian side refused to buy this giant ship, he had always had some kind of foreboding.

"Looks like we don't have any other choice, right?"

"Not really, there is actually a third option for you...... Get it done. ”

Just then, a crisp girl's voice with a slight British accent came from behind the two.

"Who?!Guards!"

Makarov and Yevgeny turned abruptly and looked behind them with a wary expression.

I saw a little silver-haired girl standing behind them with a smile, surrounded by several strange old men holding small wooden sticks, and as for the guards who had been following the two, they were all unconscious and fell to the ground.

"Don't panic, I have no ill intentions. They just passed out for a while, and then they woke up in a moment. ”

The girl shrugged her shoulders and her gaze fell on the two old Soviet men with wary faces, and the corners of her mouth rose slightly. (Fig.jpg)

"Let me introduce myself, Delisa Apokalis, from the Destiny Group...... We, very rich. ”