Haidt was really short of money.

As he confessed in fits and starts, Lorraine suddenly realized that it wasn't the first time she had heard his name.

Navy Revitalization Program.

On her first trip to New Orleans, Caterina bought a seemingly inconsequential piece of information from Bart Sr.

[Jefferson suffered a political defeat in Boston. Because of the French Navy's active performance in naval warfare, the U.S. Navy revitalization plan he supported lost the majority support of the Continental Congress.

[His friend Edmund . Haight is in an economic crisis as a result, two new destroyers under construction at Haight Dockyard are out of production, and Jefferson is at risk of facing charges of wasting taxes.

The Jefferson in this piece of information is undoubtedly referring to Governor Thomas of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson.

He was friends with Haight, who was in financial crisis after the United States abolished the shipbuilding contract......

It's just that Lorraine couldn't understand why the governor of Virginia had to support a naval revitalization in Massachusetts, and he was actually in trouble because of this.

Are there any dry stocks?

Lorraine, who had just opened her eyes, was in an unusually relaxed mood, and asked her questions casually without thinking too much.

Haidt looked even more embarrassed.

"I didn't expect you to know so much...... "Mr. Jefferson is not a good friend of mine, and our friendship ends at knowing each other." What he really wanted to help was Robert. General Smith, the core of democracy in the Continental Congress, is also the admiral of the Navy's Charles River formation. ”

Lorraine remembered the sampan admiral he had seen yesterday in the Old North Church, young and kind, but he didn't seem to be very talkative, and Lorraine made no impression of him except for a polite greeting.

Just because she doesn't remember Smith doesn't mean Lorraine can't figure out the corners.

The implementation of the Navy revitalization plan will elevate Smith's voice in Boston, just as Adams's efforts to help Hamilton in Baltimore are based on a political strategy to expand the group's influence.

The difference was that the Continental Army had an absolute advantage in Baltimore, so federalism succeeded, while Boston was mixed, and whoever didn't want the Smiths to dominate the Navy was aborted, and democracy naturally failed.

What to say? That's politics.

Lorraine only suddenly became interested in the two so-called new destroyers, wondering what was the ship that had given the democrats the courage to think that they could unite Boston with just a few ships.

"Mr. Haight, if you don't bother, I'd like to see the destroyers abandoned by the U.S. Navy."

"The ......"

"Is there a difficulty? Could it be that even the contract has been revoked, and the United States still treats those two warships as private property? ”

"It's not for this reason, it's just ......," Haidt sighed dejectedly, "Forget it, please follow me to Dock 1, and when you see the real thing, you can understand my feelings." ”

Haight's mood......

Soon, Lorraine was in the huge dock No. 1 of the Haight Shipyard.

This is probably one of the most advanced construction docks in the world today, including dry docks, wet docks, supporting water bunkers, land bunkers, office areas, processing areas, and a new steam engine room to replace manpower.

In my memory, the last time Lorraine saw a dockyard of this caliber had to be traced back to her hometown, the Royal Navy Yard in Plymouth, England, which is also recognized as the world's top dockyard.

The two sides are similar in size, with wet and dry docks up to 80 meters long to accommodate the most advanced first-class ships, larger tanks for two first-class ships, and a towering 70-meter-high water gate to meet the needs of this type of ship for high mast.

This made Lorraine begin to doubt the Americans' rhetoric, the so-called "new destroyer" will not be the code name of the first-class ship built by the United States, right?

As they walked, the two soon came to the dry dock.

A huge skeleton lies on the shipbuilding platform, including the keel, ribs, and part of the hull and bilge deck below the waterline, like walking into the tomb of a giant, and under the erosion of time, only the majesty of the past remains.

The skeleton was littered with formed timber, one pile after another, and the only problem was that there was no one, and there was not a single worker in the entire dock.

Lorraine's eyes widened.

"It's ......"

"This is the new ship that the Navy originally ordered."

"How long is she?"

"It is 62.2 meters long, 13.6 meters wide, has an aspect ratio of 4.5, has a design draft of 6.8 meters, and has a drainage of 2,200 tons."

"A first-class ship? Or a second-class ship? ”

Haight shook his head wistfully: "Neither a first-class ship nor a second-class ship. We are just a private shipyard, and even if we spend a lot of money to renovate the top shipyard, we don't have the confidence to build more than two floors of heavy artillery gun bays. ”

"Her design ship carries only 44 ships, with 28 24-pounder main guns and 10 twelve-pounder secondary guns, plus two bow guns and four stern guns, and her firepower is slightly higher than that of today's mainstream corvettes, barely reaching the top in the fourth class and below."

Lorraine frowned when she heard this: "Doesn't it feel like a waste of such a big physique?" ”

Haight laughed, desolate, proud, confident, and seemed to have some other indescribable emotion.

"Her firepower was disappointing, but it was because the United States could only build twenty-four pounder guns. What's more, in our design, her speed is close to 13 knots, and as long as she runs, no warship in the whole world can catch up with her. ”

"Speed type...... Could it be that the road marker? ”

"As a warship, many of the details explored by the Dao Marker were eventually rejected, but the few traces left behind, such as the Bermudaization of sails, the Baltimoreization of the ship, and the addition of winged sails and the lengthening of the bow mast, etc., still make her the fastest warship in the world! Become a real pocket battleship! ”

Pocket...... Battleship......

Looking at Haight's fanatical face, a dangerous thought began to sprout in Lorraine's heart.

Pocket...... Battleship!

……

"I'm going to buy the Haidt shipyard."

Bidding farewell to Haidt and returning to the water warehouse, Lorraine immediately summoned all the seafarers and urgently convened an interim board of directors of the General Chamber of Commerce.

The seafarers were not surprised by the call.

After all, they suffered a big loss last night, and the Jackdaw was hammered on the berth, but they didn't even know who their opponent was.

With Lorraine's temperament, this one is definitely going to be recovered.

Even if he was about to swallow this breath for some reason, Drake's pampered core seamen were ready to convince him, because the dignity of the pirate flag could not be desecrated!

They waited, waited, anger lingered in their hearts, humiliation fermented in their souls.

Then, at last, they waited for Lorraine's summons, but ......

Excuseme？

Did the chairman go to inspect the investment project?

Is the project promising? Is the annual rate of return high? Will shareholders be satisfied? Is your brain broken?

Without saying a word, Acharin slammed his palm on the table: "Captain, shouldn't our current topic be something else?" ”

"Other?" Lorraine tilted her head innocently.

"Like last night!"

Lorraine suddenly realized, and asked strangely: "Find out, kill it, pay for it with blood, is there any other way to deal with that incident last night?" ”

"Uh......"

There was silence.

Only then did the seafarers react that the doomed answer did not need to be discussed, only action was sufficient.

Lorraine smiled and waved her hand to sit Yacharin back in her place.

"Since you're all concerned about last night, let's just say a few words."

"One, mentality, the planner did a good job last night, we should be convinced."

"Second, emotions, anger can't solve any problems, but will affect judgment, so I only need to vent last night."

"Three, action, the enemy is dark and I am clear, and it is useless to talk too much about the so-called plan."

"Fourth, prerequisitely, we are outsiders in Boston, and if we want to act, we must first rely on a certain force, and it is the most difficult to be associated with that force."

"Fifth, the way back, the day when the action always has a result, before that, we should first consider the way back, that is, the problem of the ship."

"Six, in the end, Boston is unstable and could fall at any moment, and our identity is sensitive. So before we act, we have to make ourselves safe. ”

"The above six......" Lorraine looked around, "is there any more problem?" ”

Shake one’s head......

"In that case, let's get to the top of today's board meeting, I'm ready to buy the Boston Haight Shipyard......"