The auction for the "Melbourne" went smoothly, and the advanced company won the project by beating out all competitors for $4.3 million.

On the face of it, there are two reasons why China was able to get the project.

One is that in the early days of reform and opening up, the country must carry out a large number of infrastructure construction in order to attract foreign investment to develop the economy, such as roads, railways, transport ships, etc., and these are all required a large amount of steel, so the price of steel naturally rises according to market rules.

The other is that China has a large labor force, and this labor is quite cheap...... This is also determined by the rules of the market, there are a large number of unemployed people in society, these unemployed people are looking for work everywhere like crazy, no matter how low the salary is, as long as they can make a living, so the labor force naturally becomes very cheap.

Under the decision of these two factors, it was decided that China would make money by buying the "Melbourne" at a relatively high price...... The price of steel is high and the labor is cheap, so even if the "Melbourne" is directly sold as scrap iron, there is a profit, you must know that the steel used in the aircraft carrier is special steel, and the quality of the steel is not comparable to ordinary steel.

Other countries have no advantage at all in this regard, such as Australia...... It is a developed country, and at this time, when TV was still a rarity in our country, the penetration rate of private cars in Australia had reached more than 80%.

So it didn't really auction off the "Melbourne" for the more than $4 million, it was bitter about...... If it is dismantled in the country, the labor cost will be a large number. In addition, its infrastructure has been perfected, and there is no need for so much steel. And it will pollute the environment. So with such a calculation, it is convenient to sell scrap iron and have an income, so why not?

Of course, these are only one of the reasons why we bought the "Melbourne", and the other reason is needless to say, of course, it is to accumulate the relevant technology of the aircraft carrier. You must know that at this time, China's aircraft carrier is still starting from scratch, even the layout or design of the aircraft carrier has great reference significance for us.

Originally, I thought that this would be able to be towed back soon, but Yang Xianjin quickly made a phone call and reported: "Battalion commander, the Australian side said that they still need some time to dismantle the equipment on the aircraft carrier. ”

"Didn't they already tear it down before?" I couldn't help but be a little surprised when I heard this.

During this time, I also learned a little bit about the Melbourne. Knowing that although this thing is said to be a light aircraft carrier, it is full of high-tech things......

The reason for this is very simple, I have every reason to believe that the United States and Britain are playing Australia as the main culprit...... Because of the three modifications of the "Melbourne", except for the first one by the British, the other two were made in the United States, and the modification time lasted for three or even five years.

And it is impossible for Britain and the United States, which are aircraft carrier powers, not to know that a light aircraft carrier like the "Melbourne" will have its birth defects no matter how it is modified...... There must be at least two of them, and there must be destroyers, frigates, supply ships, submarines, etc., to form combat effectiveness.

Again, "at least", because there are usually three, one for mission, one for training or backup, and one for repair and replacement.

However, Australia only has one, so there are many loopholes, such as what if the war broke out when the "Melbourne" had to be repaired? Even potential enemies can spot the start of war at this time...... In other words, this aircraft carrier is actually just an embroidered pillow that is not useful.

But Britain and the United States don't care so much, it would be fools not to make money if they don't make it. And it is precisely because this aircraft carrier cannot form combat effectiveness, and at the same time Australia's military strength is weak...... This may be due to the fact that there were no wars in Australia's history. Coupled with the protection of the United States and Britain, the entire country's army is less than 60,000.

But this is precisely Australia's advantage, because for the United States and Britain and other powers, military weakness is almost synonymous with harmless countries, and they are completely at ease with such countries, so all kinds of advanced equipment such as missiles, radars, electronic equipment, catapults, etc., are vigorously loaded on the "Melbourne", as long as Australia is willing to pay.

This once made Australia get carried away, and it often drove the "Melbourne," which integrates all kinds of advanced equipment, to show off everywhere on foreign visits and joint military exercises.

But the Falklands War completely woke up the Australian military......

Yadi, Britain is an old country that uses aircraft carriers, and he has to use two aircraft carriers to fight on the Falklands battlefield, as long as one of these aircraft carriers is destroyed by Argentina, it means a complete defeat for the British army, so how should our aircraft carrier play? Isn't that doomed to fail before it was dispatched?!

Besides, it is so difficult for a destroyer as advanced as the British to defend against an attack by Exocet missiles on an aircraft carrier, so isn't it someone else's target for our aircraft carrier to add a few broken ships to drive out?

I believe that the Australian military probably pinched a cold sweat when it thought about this: fortunately, there was no war, otherwise the losses would have been great.

After pinching a cold sweat, it's time to scold the United States and Britain, these two "brothers" are too uninteresting, after making so much money from us, we will give a thing that basically has no actual combat ability, and what is even more embarrassing is that I have been driving this "embroidered pillow" everywhere before!

So after the Falklands War, that is, 82 years later, the "Melbourne" entered a standby state, and from this time on, the Australian Navy actually decided to let it withdraw from the stage of history, that is, from this time, the Australian army dismantled the advanced equipment installed on the "Melbourne".

"They said it wasn't done yet!" Yang Xianjin replied: "And...... It seems that there are also Americans who put pressure on them, because after we took the film, there was another clause in the contract: 'No military use'. ”

"Oh!" When I heard that, I understood.

For the United States, we are the opposite of Australia, a "harmless country", an adversary capable of fighting the US military.

Needless to say, the reason for this is that when they resisted US aggression and aided Korea, they basically defeated the Yankees' aircraft and artillery with millet and rifles, and the Viet Cong who defeated the US troops during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Vietnam was actually trained and equipped by China, and the reason why the Yankees are allies with us now...... That was only to deal with the common enemy of the Soviet Union.

But now, on the one hand, the relations between the Soviet Union and China have eased, and on the other hand, China is the only country in history that has defeated the American army in a frontal battle...... Many Americans believe that the Vietnam War was a strategic defeat rather than a tactical defeat, because they did not have much pressure to fight the Viet Cong on a frontal battlefield, and the reason why they could not eliminate the Viet Cong was only because of the protection of China, and in the end they withdrew on their own initiative.

As the saying goes, "being bitten by a snake for a year and being afraid of the well rope for ten years", the Yankees have suffered losses under the hands of the Chinese volunteers, and they will naturally take precautions against us, so they will naturally be a little nervous about the "Melbourne".

"Battalion Commander Yang!" At this time, I received a call from the headquarters: "The commander asked you to come to the headquarters!" ”

"Yes!" I answered.

I secretly thought that it should be for the "Melbourne", but I didn't expect the news from Commander Zhang's side to be quite fast.

However, this seems to be normal, you must know that this is the first time that our army is so "close" to the aircraft carrier, and it is strange that Commander Zhang has no manpower to pay attention to this matter.

Sure enough, when I walked into the headquarters, Commander Zhang raised his head at me and said: "I heard about the situation of the Melbourne, they once again demolished it on a large scale, and even blasted the things that could not be removed, and all we could get was an empty shell!" ”

"It's the Americans behind it!" I say.

Commander Zhang nodded: "The Americans have begun to be wary of us!" ”

I didn't answer, thinking in my heart that the United States' wariness of us did not start at this time, but that it has always existed since the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

"Actually, it didn't have much of an impact on us." I say.

"Well, let's hear it." Commander Zhang was quite surprised by my words.

"First of all." I said: "Our expectations for the Melbourne itself cannot be too high, and this is partly due to the weak industrial base of our country, and even if there is something left on the aircraft carrier, it will be difficult for us to copy it." ”

Hearing this, Commander Zhang couldn't help but nodded, my country has a lot of experience in this regard, and the Soviet Union withdrew all its experts when China and the Soviet Union were at odds, leaving behind a bunch of unfinished projects...... Even if there are drawings or related materials for these projects, it is still difficult for us to develop them.

"On the other hand." I said: "Most of our equipment is from the Soviet Union, for the sake of equipment compatibility and design ideas, I think we still have to follow the Soviet route in the development of aircraft carriers, that is to say, the Melbourne can give us an empty shell to see how the aircraft carrier is designed, built and laid out, we have to aim at the Soviet Union if we want to accumulate experience." ”

"Hmm!" Commander Zhang couldn't help but look at me in surprise: "What you said makes sense, but the Soviet Union ...... Buying an aircraft carrier is not as simple as buying a civil aviation, do we still have a chance? ”

I smiled, of course there was an opportunity on the Soviet side, in fact, after the "Melbourne", the three scrapped aircraft carriers we bought were all from the Soviet Union, including the Varyag, which was converted into a training ship Liaoning by our country.

Of course, these are all things after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and now is the time for the United States and the Soviet Union to compete for hegemony. (To be continued......)