Pearl Harbor, located at the lowest point in the plain between the Kolau and Waiana Mountains on the southern shore of Oahu, and the land on which it belonged once belonged to the so-called "President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Hawaii," Sanford? Dole, 7 years ago, after thwarting a coup plot by the American diaspora with the support of the Chinese diaspora and the fleet, Queen Liliukalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii announced that the coup leader Sanford? The land in Dole's name was confiscated, and the 120,000-acre land was later gifted to the Beiyang Fisheries Company by Queen Liliukalani in return for her support of the "kingdom" during the coup. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

It was from that time that the Beiyang Fisheries Company began to build Pearl Harbor as its most important stronghold in the Pacific, and with a huge bank loan, the Fisheries Company dredged the Gulf Channel, built Zhenqiu Harbor, and began to build ship repair shops, dry docks, fuel supply stations, docks, and necessary navigation facilities near the harbor.

After five years of hard work, Pearl Harbor has become a "commercial port" with complete facilities, but when the port was beginning to take shape, taking advantage of the "Spanish-American War" when the United States was unable to take care of it, with the efforts of diplomats, it finally completed the "unified supervision" of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and it is precisely because of this that the Second Fleet of the Northeast Navy, which was originally stationed in the South Seas, was transferred to Hawaii.

As for Pearl Harbor, the Pacific "fishing home port" built by the Beiyang Fishery Company with tens of millions of yuan was also purchased by the Navy for a huge amount of money, thus making this largest and best safe anchoring port in the North Pacific island the Pacific base of the Northeast Navy.

Due to its geographical location, Pearl Harbor does not avoid the northeast trade winds, especially in July and August. Especially in the East Bay, it appears stronger. Its speed can reach more than 9 m/s. That's why. The warships moored at the berths will sway with the wind and waves.

When the transport boat approached the side of the armored cruiser "Jibo", the hull of the ship made a clanging sound, and a lieutenant colonel who was not very tall in a snow-white naval uniform jumped out and stepped up the gangway.

This 10,000-ton armored cruiser is an extremely rare "purchased ship" in the Northeast Navy -- it is the first of two 10,000-ton armored cruisers ordered from Britain according to the 1895 expansion project, and it will be used as a 10,000-ton armored cruiser. Although it only has a 7-inch armor belt, it still has a high speed of 21 knots thanks to the strong power of 15,000 horsepower provided by two triple-expansion steam engines, and more importantly, it has two twin 254mm main guns, which gives it powerful firepower, and 14 six-inch secondary guns, which gives it the same firepower as a second-class combat ship, which is why it is proud of the Pacific Ocean.

Even in the eyes of the British, it ushered in an era - an era of battlecruisers. Although its original intention was to counter the powerful armored cruisers of the Russian Pacific Fleet. Of course, for this point of view. The Northeast Navy has never admitted, in the views of the Northeast Navy. The real first battle cruiser was the "Zhenhai", not the "Jibo class" purchased from the British, in fact, in the navy, the "Jibo class" has always been in an extremely awkward situation.

In terms of firepower, it is far inferior to the Zhenhai class, and can not be compared with the more powerful "Pinghai class", and as an armored cruiser, it can not be compared with the "Jingbo class", although the firepower of the two is comparable, but the Jingbo class has reached the same firepower with a "small tonnage" of 8170 tons, and it also has more powerful power by virtue of heavy oil boilers and steam turbines, in contrast, it is more suitable for long-distance voyages than the use of three-expansion steam engines.

It is precisely for this reason that as the main force of the Third Fleet, together with the Zhenhai and Zhihai and their sister ship Dingbo, they are stationed at the Zhenhai Bay Base, and in the sequence of the Northeast Navy, the First and Second Fleets are stationed in the outer oceans, and the reason why Pearl Harbor appears today is just normal ocean-going navigational training.

The "Jibo" tied to a pontoon, in Pearl Harbor, drifted with the high tide pouring in outside the harbor, and the gray hull and cannon were covered with a layer of pink and gold by the rising sun, the lieutenant colonel climbed the steep gangway to the ship and saluted the flag and officers.

"I ask for permission to board the ship."

"Agreed, sir."

"My name is Xu Zhiyuan."

Hearing the name, the officer's eyes widened.

Zhiyuan, Zhiyuan, isn't that a warship in the Beiyang?

The naming rules of the Northeast Navy are very simple, it can be said that there is no simpler principle than the Northeast Navy, it is nothing more than the sea, the wave, the "sea" for the combat ship, the "wave" for the cruiser, as for the prefix is the simple "Ding, Zhen, Jing, Jing, Ji, Ping, Sui, Ning, Fu", for the Northeast Navy, "ten seas and ten waves" is the "dream composition" in the navy's dream, as for the current six seas, eight waves and fourteen provinces, but only the completion of the basic expansion of the navy.

Dressed in a crisp white uniform with gilded buttons, white gloves, and binoculars under his armpits, the vigorous second lieutenant was straight enough, but now he straightened up.

"Oh, yes, sir. I'm going to inform Colonel Sunkeley, sir, herald! ”

"Don't bother him yet. He didn't know I was coming, so I went to the deck first. ”

"Sir, I know he's awake."

"Okay then."

Xu Zhiyuan walked along the foredeck, where there were already teams in coarse blue cloth overalls, busy dodging the water sprayed out of the hoses as the flashing deck sailors washed the deck. The oak deck under your feet is comfortable to step on. The Japanese breeze in the harbor has the unique smell of the sea, and it smells pleasant. It was the world he knew, a well-organized world of massive warships, powerful machinery, vibrant sailors, heavy artillery, and the sea.

After a long period of travel, he finally returned home after his mission abroad. Three years ago, when he passed through Hawaii to take up his post in the United States, it was still only a "fishing dock", although it was known that the so-called "fishing dock" was actually a preparation for the navy, but at that time, Hawaii was only Hawaii, there was a queen, but there was no governor's office, and now, the commander-in-chief, since the lieutenant appointed by the marshal himself, was in charge of everything.

The past three years have been the three years of the Navy's "Great Leap Forward," and in a short period of three years, the Navy has "sent" warships into the sea like "dumplings." In the shipyards of Dalian and Incheon, warships have been launched almost every day, and even when he was stationed in the Naval Attaché's Office in Washington, he heard his American counterparts say in an envious tone more than once.

"You spend half of your steel on building warships!"

Although it is a bit exaggerated, it expresses the fact that five years ago, when the Northeast Navy was first formed, there were only three seas and four waves, among which the "Dinghai" class and "Pingbo" class armored cruisers were renamed and had already been "expelled" from the capital ships before they could enjoy the name of "Haibo."

Five years ago, who would have thought that today's Northeast Navy would be so powerful, with a fleet of "six seas, eight waves and fourteen provinces" as the main force.

"That's Dinghai......"

Looking not far away, looking at the cruiser with a French style, Xu Zhiyuan thought in his heart that he had served on the sister ship "Jinghai" of the Dinghai, and three years ago, the Admiralty downgraded the "Dinghai-class" and "Pingbo-class" and downgraded them to "Fu-class" cruisers, thus "freeing up" the name of the capital ship.

Of course, the "Qiandinghai", which was renamed the "Liaoyang" class, cannot be compared with the "Changchun class", compared with the former, the latter has a larger tonnage, faster speed, and more powerful firepower. In those years, the cutting-edge warships were eliminated in just a few years, and they were not even worth mentioning, and they were reduced from "main forces" to "auxiliary," and this was the development of the navy -- it would always be quickly replaced by cutting-edge warships.

Standing near the fluttering blue bow flag and anchor chain, looking back at the twin ten-inch turrets, the tall bridge and the heavy mast protruding in the sunlight, Xu Zhiyuan couldn't believe himself. This armored ship is many times larger than the destroyer he last captained. It had always been his dream to be the captain of a capital ship; However, receiving the appointment of the deputy captain of the "Jibo" does not seem to be very real, he once served on an armored cruiser, but it is not the same thing as the "Jibo" as the capital ship after all, the former is just in the name of "sea".

The gangway herald, who looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, hurried forward and saluted. Generally speaking, the sailors of the Third Fleet are very young, and in fact, the Third Fleet is like this, always sending the best sailors to the First and Second Fleets, and in a way, they are another training fleet.

"Zibai!"

At this moment, a somewhat joyful laughter suddenly came from behind him, and as soon as he turned around, he saw a colonel standing there with his back to the sun, and when Xu Zhiyuan wanted to salute, the other party had already walked over, it was the captain Sun Keli.

"Haha, it's really you, I thought it was a duplicate name!"

There was no salute, but a hug came directly.

"The Admiralty told me that my vice captain would be reporting from Hawaii, and I thought it was from the Second Fleet, but I didn't expect it to be you kid......"

After the warm hug, Sun Keli's whole person seemed quite excited, as if it was because he had met an old friend.

"Sir......

Without waiting for Xu Zhiyuan to finish speaking, Sun Keli pointed his hand to the side and said.

"Old man, this time we just formed a team to go to the North Pacific, a routine sea training, a month! How's it going, old man, I've been in Washington for the past few years, I'm used to eating American steaks, do you remember the English breakfast on the ship? ”

(There is a change at 9 o'clock!) (To be continued.) )