"This is an aircraft carrier?!" When Zhong Liyu saw the "Varyag" still in the dock, his eyes were full of shock.

"Yes, this is the most powerful aircraft carrier ever built by the Soviets, the Varyag, but the Soviets don't call it an aircraft carrier, but an aircraft-carrying cruiser." Ye Kai stared at the unfinished "Varyag" not far away, and he was not without feelings in his heart.

When I saw this Sea Overlord with my own eyes, the main structure of the Varyag was actually basically completed, more than 60% of the hull had been installed in place, and now it is mainly some later equipment installation work, such as cable laying, weapon system assembly, and so on.

In 1962, the Soviet Navy began to build the first generation of Moskva-class aircraft-carrying cruisers (helicopter carriers), and in 1970 the second-generation Kiev medium-sized aircraft-carrying cruiser (medium aircraft carrier), and in 1982 began to build the third-generation Type 1143.5 (now the Russian "Kuznetsov") heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers.

In early 1983, Marshal Gorshkov, then Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy, proposed the idea of building a second Project 1143.5 aircraft-carrying cruiser, a plan supported by the then Minister of Defense of the USSR Uskinov.

On December 6, 1985, the construction of the Project 1143.6 "Riga" officially began at the Black Sea Shipyard.

In view of the experience of construction and testing of the "Kuznetsov", after complex calculations, the skid deck was improved from 12 degrees to 14 degrees of the "Kuznetsov". The Type 1143.6 aircraft-carrying cruiser was launched on November 25, 1988, when the main structure of the hull had been completed.

According to the original plan of the USSR Ministry of Defense, the "Riga" was supposed to be the No. 2 ship of the 1143.5 project, but the Soviet Navy believed that by this time there had been a new development of the ship's electronic equipment, and the original design should be improved.

In June 1986, the Type 1143.6 improvement plan was approved, the main content of which was to improve the radar system: the latest "Form" air warning radar replaced the "Mars-Tradewind" phased array radar of the "Kuznetsov", and at the same time, the Type 1143.6 also made significant improvements to other electronic equipment, with a total of more than 150 improvements compared with the Type 1143.5.

However, it was the renewal plan that delayed construction by nine months from the scheduled schedule. In July 1990, "Riga" was officially renamed "Varyag".

It stands to reason that the Varyag should have been built and put into service by now, but it is a pity that the Soviet economy has been in trouble in recent years, especially after the outbreak of the Gulf War this year, oil prices plummeted back to their original position, which dealt a fatal blow to the Soviet Union's oil exports, and the foreign trade of the entire Soviet Union fell into an incorrigible state, and the funds dried up, how could it be possible to continue to invest in such a money-burning thing as an aircraft carrier?

For these reasons, the contractor of the Varyag, the Ukrainian Black Sea Shipyard, could only put the ship there first and maintain the shipyard by undertaking the construction of some large civilian ships.

"If you want this ship to be put into service, you have to invest at least about 500 million dollars, but now the Soviet government has no money." The Ukrainians who accompanied Ye Kai on their visit said this, and there were some regrets on their faces.

Ye Kai was very interested in this aircraft carrier, and under the leadership of the Ukrainians, he went up to the platform and went around.

Iron Behemoth! Zhong Liyu stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier, and this term involuntarily appeared in his mind.

"You say, how about I buy it?" Ye Kai suddenly said to Zhong Liyu.

"Huh?!" Zhong Liyu was stunned when she heard this.

"It's just talking, don't be so nervous, I can't afford to buy it." Ye Kai snorted.

Ye Xingxing knew very well that if the Soviet Union collapsed, then it would be the best time to buy the unfinished aircraft carrier Varyag immediately.

In fact, in the years before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the chaos in the former union republics was almost unimaginable.

Even suitcase nuclear bombs were sold privately in the hundreds, not to mention ordinary weapons, as described in a movie starring Nicolas Cage "Lord of War", international arms dealers were once quite rampant, as long as the buyer could afford to pay, as long as the Soviet arsenal had weapons, they could get them for you.

The fact that the Chinese businessman back then pulled a cartload of food and daily necessities to Ukraine in exchange for two planes was definitely not a fictitious thing, in fact, he got more than he said.

We'll have to wait! Ye Kai reluctantly glanced at the "Varyag" in the dock again, and finally left with Zhong Liyu.

He came to Ukraine this time, and he had a lot to do, and the Black Sea shipyard was an important target that he had long been aiming at.

He is interested in Ukraine's mature shipbuilding technology, the technology of building 100,000-ton and 100,000-ton ships, and mature industrial workers.

Now the situation in the Soviet Union is very bad, and the situation at the Black Sea shipyard is also very bad, although it can make a living with civilian shipbuilding orders, but the operating rate is less than 30%, and most of the workers are in a state of barely making ends meet.

Especially after he came to the Soviet Union, he found that in fact, many Soviet people did not have much rejection of China, and even many older people even affectionately called them "Chinese comrades".

Obviously, because Gorbachev has now made a mess in the Soviet Union, the masses of the people have long complained about him and the current government, and they miss the powerful red Soviet Union even more, and naturally they also have a lot of good feelings for China, which also belongs to the camp of a socialist country, after all, it used to be "comrades and brothers" at the beginning, and China is said to be developing well now, and everyone has food and clothing.

More importantly, the Chinese have a lot of grievances against the Soviet Union, but the Soviets did not suffer any losses from the Chinese, so their ordinary people do not have any bad feelings towards China, and they still feel a little cordial when they mention it.

Ye Kaiyou plans to invest in the construction of a large shipyard in the peripheral area of Mingzhu City, first put up the shelves, slowly hollow out the foundation of the Black Sea Shipyard, and when the time is ripe, he will buy the Varyag and then build it.

But in this way, Ye Kai found that his money seemed to be a little insufficient.

Although he said that he transferred more than 700 million US dollars last time, this money was planned to be invested in the Hong Kong property market to make money, and now the plan has suddenly changed, which really makes him not know what to do.

However, it doesn't take much to dig up thousands of people from the Black Sea shipyard to return to China, and now these people, as long as you promise to feed their whole family, scientists are willing to go with you!