In the courtyard where He Changzheng lives, it has always been quiet, and only when He Mengying takes He Nanfang to visit his grandfather on weekdays, it will become lively.

Of course, if the National People's Congress or the Central Committee Plenum is held, it will become very lively.

Today is a little special, though.

Several guests came, but the courtyard was still quiet.

The reason is that these guests are not too fond of lively temperament.

He Changzheng was dressed in a yellow old-fashioned military uniform, sitting in the center of the Taishi chair, playing with a purple clay pot in his hand. I don't know when He Changzheng fell in love with collecting purple clay pots. Since he has this hobby, Secretary Liu wants to work on his own, and through various channels, he got a few small teapots that are some years old and gave them to He Changzheng to play with in order to make a smile.

On the left and right sides of He Changzheng, there are also several mahogany Taishi chairs. Liu Jun, He Dongjin, Wu Qiuhan, Xiao Dongzhan and others sat in groups, and on the small round table in the middle, there was a set of tea sets, and Secretary Liu was personally demonstrating his tea art.

A meeting of the Politburo will be held in two days, and Secretary Liu is going to Beijing to attend the meeting.

This meeting of the Politburo will discuss various matters concerning the convening of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 17 th CPC Central Committee. However, when I came to He Mansion as a guest today, it was not Secretary Liu who took the initiative to come to the door, but came by invitation.

General Wu Qiuhan, director of the General Armament Department, personally called and asked him to go to He's house if he was free to sit down and have a chat.

In general, this is extremely rare. Wu Qiuhan is a very taciturn person and rarely takes the initiative to invite. Besides, if you go to He Changzheng's house to sit, it stands to reason that He Changzheng should invite Liu Jun.

There is no doubt that Wu Qiuhan's invitation has something to do with him.

When Liu Jun arrived at the courtyard of the He family, Wu Qiuhan was already present, and soon after, Admiral He Dongjin, the commander of the Navy, and Admiral Xiao Dongzhan, the chief of the General Staff, also came together.

"Third uncle, how is the repair and modification of the Admiral aircraft carrier going?"

Ryu Jun asked as he made tea, with a smile on his face and a very casual tone.

The aircraft carrier "Admiral" is a retired aircraft carrier of the former northern neighbor. After the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the aircraft carrier under construction was only 60 or 70 percent completed, and the construction had to be stopped because of financial problems. After many years, there is still no sign of construction. In the end, it was purchased as a whole by China at the price of scrap steel. Of course, what was purchased was only a navigation platform, and the weapons and equipment and electronic warfare equipment on the ship were all dismantled. We bought this aircraft carrier with the intention of converting it into a water theme park. In a seaport in the south, it is used as a water carrier for entertainment.

Prior to this, a coastal city in China already had a water theme park converted from a former Soviet aircraft carrier. That aircraft carrier is far inferior in displacement to the "Admiral", and it was built earlier, and it belongs to the second generation of aircraft carriers in the former Soviet Union. The overall performance of the battleship design is also completely incomparable with the "Admiral".

After the arrival of the Admiral at a seaport in the north of our country, repair and construction work has been underway.

It's an unfinished megaship.

At that time, because of this unfinished aircraft carrier, it caused an uproar*. The Western powers insisted that the republics bought the Admiral in order to have their own aircraft carrier combat power. All of a sudden, the "theory of the threat of aircraft carriers from the East" was on the rise. When the "Admiral" set off from the Black Sea shipyard through the Bosphorus, it encountered all kinds of obstruction from a certain NATO country and was delayed for a long time.

Nominally, the country did not allow the Admiral to pass through the Bosphorus for the safety of navigation of other ships in the area, but in fact there were deep political and military considerations.

Although the Admiral was never completed, it was indeed a large modern aircraft carrier. With the right modifications, it is possible that the "Admiral" will be put into active service.

"It can basically be completed next year. The phased array radar system, the fire control radar system and the shipborne anti-aircraft missile system have been installed. The powertrain is also being transformed. If all goes well, it will be launched for sea trials in the second half of next year. ”

He Dongjin explained succinctly.

As the commander of the Navy, He Dongjin had high hopes for the "Admiral".

Because of his age, He Dongjin may retire from active duty in two or three years. Of course, the age limit within the army is not so strict, and He Dongjin can also extend his service if necessary.

"How is the combat effectiveness of the Admiral?"

Liu Jun poured the tea into the teacup, placed it in front of several uncles one by one, and continued to ask casually.

Undoubtedly, Wu Qiuhan personally called him today to invite him over to discuss matters related to the "Admiral". Not only abroad there is a "aircraft carrier controversy" in the republic, but at home, this controversy also exists. Even within the army, there are different opinions.

As far as Liu Jun knows, General Wu Qiuhan, director of the General Armament Department, has an opposing view.

Today's gathering should at least unify opinions within the He Wu department.

And Liu Jun's opinion is undoubtedly crucial.

People from the outside world can hardly imagine the extent of Liu Jun's influence on He Wu's family. Building a powerful surface combat force will not happen overnight. Perhaps the day when the aircraft carrier combat power of the Republic is truly formed will be the time when the new generation of leaders will ascend to the altar.

In a sense, this sword is specially forged for the leaders of Liu Jun's generation.

He Dongjin said: "Comparatively speaking, the Admiral can only be regarded as a medium-sized aircraft carrier, and its conventional power, combat range and combat capability are greatly limited. The ability to truly confront is not possessed. It is mainly used as a training and exploration experience. ”

Although He Dongjin is a staunch supporter of the "aircraft carrier theory," he still has an objective and sober understanding of the role of the "Admiral." The idea that a single aircraft carrier can build the status of a maritime power is unrealistic.

Wu Qiuhan's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he said, "I still have that opinion, it doesn't apply." It costs too much. ”

This is also the reason why Wu Qiuhan has always opposed the construction of a large-scale aircraft carrier battle group.

The "Admiral" itself is not a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and as far as the eastward expansion goes, its combat range and combat capability are greatly limited. Compared with the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the United States, it is completely different from the same level. And it is necessary to have at least three aircraft carriers in service in order to truly form an aircraft carrier combat force.

Medium-sized conventional-powered aircraft carriers have formed combat capability, and in the face of an "imaginary enemy" that has absolute superiority in quantity and quality, a real war is nothing more than a few live targets. However, maintaining an aircraft carrier battle group requires a lot of manpower, material resources and money. Purely from an economic point of view, this is very cost-effective.

He Dongjin smiled: "Qiu Han, you still hold on to your submarine strategy......"

Wu Qiuhan did not deny it, and said indifferently: "The submarine saves money and trouble, and the goal is not so obvious. The deterrent power is far greater than that of surface warships, and I believe that at this stage, we should still focus on the development of underwater combat capabilities. ”

Speaking of which, Wu Qiuhan's views are somewhat similar to those of German Navy Marshal Dönitz in World War II, and are also very similar to those of the naval decision-makers of the former Soviet Union.

Because of its geographical relations, Germany has traditionally had a super strong army, and the development of its navy has not been able to catch up with Britain and other old maritime powers. The development of large surface ships with large targets can easily trigger an arms race. What is particularly important is that large surface ships have extremely high requirements for shipbuilding technology, electronic technology, and shipboard weapons and equipment, and it is a large, comprehensive project that requires a long period of technological accumulation and has very high requirements for national strength. It is very difficult to win in a head-to-head competition with maritime powers in terms of large surface ships. During World War II, German Admiral Dönitz proposed the wolf pack tactics for submarines. With hordes of submarines, cut off the sea transportation lines of the British Empire and drag Britain down alive. It should be said that Dönitz's submarine tactics played a great role, and if the US Navy had not entered the war in time to escort British merchant ships, Britain might not have been able to hold out.

Despite being a defeated country in World War II, Dönitz himself was universally respected, and even his enemies praised him. His original wolf pack tactics are also regarded as a classic strategy by navies around the world and are widely studied.

During the Cold War, the former Soviet Union adopted Dönitz's submarine strategy.

Because the former Soviet Union's technological strength was far inferior to that of the United States in terms of electronic equipment, carrier-based aircraft, and other weapons and equipment, the Soviet Union decided to abandon the development of large aircraft carrier battle groups and instead go all out to develop submarines. At the same time that the United States built the world's largest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the former Soviet Union built the world's largest nuclear-powered strategic nuclear submarine, the Typhoon-class strategic nuclear submarine. With a full underwater displacement of more than 30,000 tons, it is a real behemoth, a deep-sea monster.

In addition to strategic nuclear submarines, the former Soviet Union also built a large number of attack nuclear submarines and conventionally powered attack submarines. In its heyday, the total number of submarines owned by the former Soviet Navy exceeded three hundred. The former commander of the Soviet Navy proudly said that US aircraft carriers cruised the seas of the world, while Soviet submarines cruised underwater all over the world.

The United States could strike any point in the globe within twenty-four hours if it needed to, and Soviet submarines were just as capable of doing the same.

It is precisely because of the existence of this extremely powerful submarine battle group in the former Soviet Union that the Soviet Union has always been regarded as a naval power, and their large number of submarines posed a mortal threat to the huge aircraft carrier fleet of the United States. According to military chess deductions, once war breaks out, the US aircraft carrier battle group may be basically destroyed by the underwater battle group of the former Soviet Union in a short period of time and completely lose its combat effectiveness.

Throughout the Cold War, the underwater forces of the former Soviet Union have been the biggest problem of the US Navy.

Comparatively speaking, the technical and financial requirements for the development of submarines are far lower than those for the development of large surface ship battle groups. As the head of the General Armament Department, it is reasonable for Wu Qiuhan to favor this "cheap" killer feature.