In the Barents Sea in the north, the scene of wind and snow and rough waves is as ordinary as the bright sunshine of the Mediterranean, and the officers and men of the Soviet Northern Fleet have long been accustomed to such bad weather. www.biquge.info This gentleman has an inspirational story from a sailor to a general, and he is not only outstanding in war, but also outstanding in naval organization and management, and it is under his rule that the Russian Northern Fleet ushered in a golden period of development, and eventually surpassed the Baltic Fleet and the Pacific Fleet to become the "first fleet" of the Soviet Russian Navy.

According to the prior agreement between the two militaries, the visiting fleet of the new United Kingdom will stay in Soviet Russia for one week, and all ships, including the new aircraft carrier "Feniana," will be open to the Russian side, and visitors will also be allowed to board the Russian ships for a tour. In addition to this static interaction, the two sides will also hold a unique joint military exercise -- the visiting fleet of the new United Kingdom will play the role of the invading side, and the Soviet Union's northern fleet will play the defensive side, and will successively carry out non-live-fire exercises in three links: the struggle for sea supremacy, the offensive and defensive battle of bases, and the attack and counter-attack.

On the day of the pre-arranged exercise, heavy snow fell around Murmansk, the wind on the sea reached 3-4 degrees, and the waves could reach up to 2 meters, so the Soviet and Russian sides proposed to postpone the schedule, but the new United Kingdom side replied that they did not mind the scheduled exercise under such bad weather conditions, and if the Soviet and Russian sides felt that it had to be postponed for technical reasons, they expressed their understanding and regret.

The bloody nature of the polar bear can't stand the slightest provocation, not to mention the fact that there are many national leaders on the scene to help, Yumashev patted his chest: Come on!

As a result, the heavily snowy port of Murmansk soon sounded a whistle, and the New United Kingdom visiting fleet from afar and the Soviet Russian light cruiser "Volga," which played the role of liaison and referee, were the first to leave the port, followed by the surface ships and submarines of the Soviet and Russian Northern Fleets sailing out one after another.

The Northern Fleet has been rooted in this area, and the officers and men are really familiar with the situation in this sea area, but before that, they have always felt that the severe cold wind and snow have greatly restricted combat operations at sea, and although they will also conduct training at sea in bad weather, it is usually for the main purpose of tempering their will and improving their navigation ability, and there is little training in artillery and torpedoes, and land-based aviation units are basically nested in bases in such weather......

Returning to the Mikhail Frunze, a battleship built in the Tsarist era, the battleship was sailing smoothly about 30 nautical miles northwest of Murmansk, the crew of the ship was guarding their posts in the face of wind and snow, and the officers were making various preparations for the upcoming exercise. After some thought, Yumashev turned his gaze to the young general beside him: "I always feel that the reason why the Irish do not change their plans and insist on holding joint exercises in such weather is to show us the military advantages brought by advanced radar systems, and to urge us to accept the high price they offer, and to import their radar technology directly or by purchasing technology licenses." If that's the case, then they really deserve the title of 'shrewd businessman'! ”

The person to whom Yumashev spoke was the Chief of Staff of the Northern Fleet, Rear Admiral Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov. At this time, although Gorshkov did not get the stage of the Great Patriotic War to show his military talent, he still won the appreciation of his superiors for his excellence and ability, and thus became another officer after Kuznetsov to wear the admiral's star before the age of forty.

The young Gorshkov clasped his hands to his chest: "I think that the demonstration of radar technology may only be their secondary motive, if it is just to sell equipment and technology, there is no need for their king to supervise the battle himself." Perhaps, their main intention is to show us their naval prowess in order to warn us not to think anything wrong about their offshore oil production platforms. ”

Yumashev retorted unhurriedly: "Since we have recovered the Baku oil fields and found new large oil fields in Siberia, we don't need to peek into the oil resources of any country at all, let alone the technically complex and expensive offshore oil rigs in Ireland?" Anyone with a little bit of a savvy can see that our past activities in the North Sea are nothing more than a tentative act, and that the king, who is regarded as a genius of the world, could not see through this? ”

Gorshkov also expressed his thoughts unhurriedly: "In peacetime, of course, we do not think anything about their offshore oil wells, but in recent times our relations with Germany and Austria-Hungary have been very tense, and perhaps the two emperors have a hot mind and go to war against us, how can the Irish stay out of it?" Once their United Kingdom becomes our enemy on the battlefield, in addition to active defense, the only countermeasures we can take at sea should be to strike at the enemy's merchant ships and destroy the enemy's maritime facilities. ”

Yumashev thought for a moment and bowed his head: "A far-sighted person will indeed consider all possibilities for the development of events. ”

"But ......," Gorshkov smiled slightly, "I have a feeling that Ireland has benefited greatly from every war in the previous thirty years, but this time, the king who ruled Ireland and Wales did not want the Western camp to go to war against us. ”

Yumashev speculated: "Because he is worried about the drastic changes in East Asia? ”

"That's right!" Gorshkov replied, "In the light of what has happened in the past, he cares more about the situation in East Asia than in any other region, and Ireland has provided far more assistance to China than any other country." With his wisdom, it is not difficult to foresee a series of consequences of our war with the Western camp, including the imbalance in East Asia. Of course, this is a good thing for us, Austria-Hungary has nothing to worry about, but Germany is at the peak of its strength, they have a very elite professional army and a terrible military mobilization ability, and they have the technology of nuclear weapons very powerful, it is difficult for us to resist their offensive on land, in the air and at sea, and even if we can win in the end, it will be a very long, tortuous and painful process. ”

At this time, the two people, as the commander of the fleet and the chief of staff, did not know that the leaders of Soviet Russia had reached a secret agreement on the exchange of nuclear explosion data for the Soviet army in China to support the takeover of the northeast region by the Soviet power.

Talking about this, the two invariably looked at their watches, and they couldn't help but wait and see what kind of brilliant performance their opponents would give when they were left before the official start of the joint exercise.

At the same time, more than 100 kilometres away, the ships of the new United Kingdom Navy were trying to maintain a vigilant formation in the wind and waves. Compared with the light cruisers and destroyers in the queue, the "Fenian" aircraft carrier is much more stable, 16 IR-44T single-engine carrier-based fighters are ready to take off in the catapult take-off area, and the variable-speed supercharged engines that provide them with strong power make a loud roar in the wind and snow, driving the four-blade constant-speed propeller to rotate rapidly. Although the new single-engine jet carrier-based aircraft had already been tested and met the requirements for mass installation, the Irish Navy, now the new United Kingdom Navy, still listed the IR-44T as an active carrier-based fighter. In fact, the actual combat performance of the IR-44T, which brings the piston power to the extreme, is not much inferior to that of the fledgling jet fighter, but the cost is only 60% of that of a single-engine jet, and the cost of daily maintenance and pilot training are also more cost-effective. Today, only the deep-pocketed Germans have included jets in the Navy's active equipment, but only with a squadron on each of the two carriers.

In the modern bridge command room of the "Fenian", the eyes of Rear Admiral Gavin Bainier, commander of the new United Kingdom Navy's 1st Task Force, lingered on his watch for a moment, and then said in a calm tone: "Last two minutes to prepare!" ”

In the front left position of Rear Admiral Bunier, Natsuki wears a mink-collared deerskin trench coat and a navy uniform made of cashmere, standing in front of the porthole in his usual upright posture. At this moment, the bow of the aircraft carrier is facing the wind, so I see the snowflakes with goose feathers blowing in the face, and the daytime temperature in this sea area is about minus 12 degrees, which is relatively warm in the Arctic Circle, if you go a few hundred kilometers further north, the temperature drops to minus 30 or 40 degrees, even a highly modern aircraft carrier like the "Fenian" will lose the ability of carrier-based aircraft to take off and land.

Two minutes passed, and Rear Admiral Bunier, who had just celebrated his fortieth birthday a few months earlier, reported to His Majesty the King: "All is ready, and your Majesty is invited to give your order." ”

Natsuki's gaze swept over everyone in the command room, and nodded, "Let's go!" ”

The take-off lights on the flight deck turned from red to green, and the first two IR-44Ts in the platoon quickly ejected into the air, all without any mud or water. You must know that the steam catapult equipped with the "Fenian" is designed according to the standard of catapult jet carrier-based aircraft, which can make the 12-ton aircraft instantly accelerate to take-off speed, while the maximum take-off weight of the IR-44T is only 6 tons, which can be said to be the overshift configuration of the "big horse-drawn car".

In less than ten minutes, all 16 planes took off smoothly, and the sound of gurgling machinery immediately sounded on the empty flight deck. In the blink of an eye, IK-43 carrier-based bombers and two IA-40 carrier-based early warning planes carrying training missiles were sent to the flight deck by elevators. Just a few months ago, during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the two carrier-based aircraft won over many discerning military critics with their outstanding battlefield performance, and made the navies of the great powers realize the great value of precision bombing tactics.

(End of chapter)