"Breaking news, two 10,000-ton United States military ships collided due to ship suction effect while Caribbean Sea was replenishing, causing 7 minor injuries."
"United States Southern Command spokesman Colonel Emmanuel Ortiz said the current situation is stable; both ships can continue sailing safely."
"Ortiz said that the cause of the collision is still unclear and the incident is currently under investigation. The location where the collision occurred has not been announced yet."
"It is reported that this is the second time in recent years that United States military has caused a major collision due to operational errors, exposing the fatal laxity in basic training under the expansion of hegemony..."
In the news footage, the official press release was understated.
But in the encrypted investigation report of the Pentagon underground conference room, there was another shocking scene.
USS Truxtun Aegis Destroyer, the middle and rear starboard sides were severely damaged by USNS Supply, and the huge bulbous bow directly penetrated the hull below the waterline. The second and third decks were all torn apart, seawater poured into the cabin, and the hull tilted 7 degrees to the right on the spot.
The Aegis radar base was severely deformed and the power system pipeline was broken. Let alone returning to deployment, it now does not even have the ability to drive back to the local shipyard, and can only be paralyzed in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Admiral Jensen slammed the encrypted investigation report on the conference table:
"I asked people to publicize to the outside world this morning that the ship is scratched and can sail safely in up to six months. As a result, you have now submitted a supplementary report, telling me that the 9,200-ton Aegis warship is about to be sunk by one of our own people!"
"The most important thing is that you actually told me that it is impossible to repair it in China!"
"Tell me, what should I do now?!"
Everyone below lowered their heads and did not dare to say a word.
Admiral Jensen became more and more angry as he thought about it, and asked angrily, "Our fleet once dominated the entire Pacific Ocean in World War II, and it is the founder of modern shipbuilding industry!"
"Who can tell me why we can't even find anyone to repair our own warships now?!"
There was still dead silence in the conference room.
All senior naval officials and local shipyard representatives lowered their heads, and no one dared to answer the question.
After a long while, the Chief of Operations White shrank his neck and defended in a low voice. "General, it's not that we don't want to repair it, it's just that there is really no one and no conditions to take on this job."
"No one?" Jensen pointed at his nose, spitting all over the table, "Where's Newport News Shipyard? Where's Ingalls Shipbuilding? Why can't those factories that have built aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines take over?!"
"General, most of these factories have closed down. Even those that have managed to survive have mostly undergone large-scale layoffs."
"What? Why?! Can't we support them with our annual orders?" Admiral Jensen did not believe this reason.
White handed over an industry report with an increasingly bitter tone, "After the end of the Cold War, our country engaged in industrialization, and the shipyards that closed down were either converted into national parks or turned into container terminals, and the supporting industry chains were completely scattered."
"Even the high-end aluminum materials used in shipbuilding have to be imported from Asia. Massachusetts Institute of Technology's shipbuilding department has been withdrawn for almost 20 years, and its talent has been out of stock for 30 years!"
The logistics director next to him followed up and slapped everyone present in the face with every sentence:
"If we look at the reason, it's mainly because of the 1920 <Jones Act>!"
"Back then, we engaged in protectionism and stipulated that domestic cargo ships must be built by Amerikan. As a result, two years later, the cost of our merchant ships was 20% higher than that of Europe. Shipping prices were directly abnormally high, dragging the maritime power into a second-rate country."
"Later, it relied entirely on military subsidies to survive. The subsidies once accounted for 50% of the shipbuilding cost. Reagan Administration As soon as the subsidies were cancelled, the shipyards collapsed. From more than 20 companies to bankruptcy to less than 10, the global merchant ship market share is now less than 0.1%!"
"How can it be so low? The price of our Amerikan is a bit expensive, but the technology is definitely top-notch!" Jensen, as a classic Ansa man, still has memories of the most glorious 1980s.
"No, General, if we build a 3,800-TEU container ship, it will cost US$200 million. A 20,000-TEU ship built by an Asian shipyard only costs this much."
"In addition, it takes us 4-5 years to build a ship, while Japan and South Korea only need 2-3 years."
"More importantly, our technology is still stuck in the 1980s, and we have never even touched green ships driven by methanol or electricity. Orders are not guaranteed, costs are high, and workers are lacking. No one is willing to place orders with us."
"Okay, let's not talk about shipbuilding. Let's talk about how to repair ships first." Jensen didn't want to hear these bad histories anymore, so he changed the subject and said, "We can ask Japan and South Korea to let our allies repair it!"
"Didn't the Secretary of the Navy just go to Japan and South Korea? Their shipyards are not the best in the world?"
"No, General." White said with a wry smile, "Congress is focused on the reshoring of the manufacturing industry and has explicitly banned the outsourcing of military ship maintenance overseas. No one dares to touch this red line."
The conference room fell into dead silence again.
Jensen sighed heavily, collapsed on the chair and asked, "How much will it cost to repair these two ships?"
"General, according to our calculations, the repairs for the USS Truxtun alone cost 368 million U. S. dollars, and the total of the two ships does not exceed 800 million U. S. dollars."
"So much?!" Admiral Jensen was shocked. This price is almost enough to buy a new ship.
"Yes, General, this is still our conservative calculation."
To repair or not to repair seems like a multiple-choice question, but in fact there is no choice at all.
"Open bidding!" Jensen ordered through gritted teeth, "Only for Amerikan local companies! I don't believe it, no one can take on the $800 million job!"
Reality gave General Jensen a slap in the face.
A full month after the tender announcement was sent out, nothing happened.
Only two small shipyards responded to the bid, one directly quoted a sky-high price of US$1.8 billion, and the construction period was scheduled to be five years later.
The other company is even more outrageous. It only dares to repair the hull shell and repair the core radar and power system. It just ruins it and says it is incapable of doing it.
People from the Navy Tendering Office called local shipyards one by one, and the responses they received were all "unable, unavailable, unavailable", and there was no one who even started to bargain with the price.
It's not that no one values the 800 million U. S. dollars. It's true that no company in America has the ability and courage to take on this job.
The four major shipyards that can repair Aegis warship have all their docks occupied by aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, and it will take 18 months at the fastest to vacate the docks.
The remaining small shipyards don't even have 10,000-ton dry docks, let alone repairing the Aegis radar and power systems, which is such a delicate task. If you take it on, it will be a dead end.
Besides, Amerikan couldn't find the relevant workers at all.
What's even more ridiculous is that the Navy once tried to urgently recruit technicians from the private sector. As a result, at the written examination site, half of the people could not even understand the basic welding drawings of Aegis warship, and the remaining people could not even meet the basic welding standards of military special steel.
The Navy's personnel department has calculated that it would take at least seven or eight years to train a complete team of technicians for ship repairs from scratch, but USS Truxtun, which is stuck in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, cannot even afford to wait seven or eight months.
Virginia, CIA Langley Headquarters, in a certain closed office.
Agent Cole threw the bidding notice on the table and patted his colleague Miller on the shoulder. "Hey, look at this, no one dares to take the 800 million ship repair order."
Miller glanced at the screen, sneered, picked up the coffee and took a sip. "This is not surprising, our domestic shipbuilding industry has long been rotten to the core."
"My uncle used to be a senior welder in Newport News and participated in the construction of three Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. He was laid off ten years ago and now works odd jobs at the dock. He can barely afford to drink beer."
Cole's eyes suddenly lit up.
He sat up straight and opened an encrypted folder, which was full of surveillance data of DYB Technology and Fu Haoran.
"Do you remember Yellowstone's Chinese boss Fu Haoran? The one who made his fortune selling power banks, he just built a deep-water port in the Columbia River some time ago, and hired more than two hundred Amerikan retired shipbuilding engineers, and more than three thousand Chinese workers from South Korea."
"I remember that they are going to build a 320-meter giant ro-ro ship. Their dock can definitely accommodate USS Truxtun!"
Miller reacted instantly and moved forward, his eyes full of greed. "You mean... we ask him to take this job?"
"That's right!" Cole rubbed his hands and crackled his abacus, "The total budget given by the Navy is 800 million. We can not take any of it, but the additional overruns we can get must be 30 to 70 cents."
"We take away 70% and leave the remaining 30% to him."
Cole felt that he was very benevolent and only took 70% of the profits. If he and others had not defrauded the funds, Fu Haoran's factory would have been exhausted and could not make much money.
As a Chinese boss, how can he be grateful to receive an order from the military?
Miller nodded, but hesitated a little. "Will he not accept it? I heard that the military's budget is too low and no one is willing to accept it."
"Domestic shipyards would cost around 1 billion to do this work."
"He has no choice." Cole sneered and tapped his fingers on the table, "His factories and shipyards are all within Amerikan's territory. We have plenty of ways to deal with him."
"If he doesn't answer, we will label him as a threat to national defense security and directly seal his shipyard."
"Also," Cole added, "He has just hired thousands of workers and spent more than a billion to build a factory. Now he is definitely short of orders and cash flow. This is a piece of fat offered to him, and he has no reason to refuse."
The two looked at each other and smiled, as if they had seen the huge difference in price.
Cole picked up the encrypted phone on the spot, dialed the number of DYB Technology general manager Jimmy, and said politely:
"Tell your boss Fu Haoran that the CIA has an urgent task related to Amerikan's national security and ask him to wait for us at the Yellowstone factory for an interview within 24 hours."
DYB Shipyard.
The shipyard was brightly lit late at night, workers were working in three shifts, and welding was like rain.
The 320-meter giant ro-ro ship has been closed up in sections, and the huge hull is lying on the slipway, like a sleeping steel beast.
Fu Haoran stood by the dock and watched the workers welding the last keel weld.
The subordinate stood behind him holding a stack of reports, his expression not very good.
"Boss, the money in the account is indeed about to bottom out."
Fu Haoran said nothing.
Of course he knows how ugly the numbers on the account are.
Shipbuilding is a bottomless pit, and most of the money has been burned before the freighter is launched. Car manufacturing is even more of a gold-swallowing beast, with research and development, testing, and production lines, and every transaction is astronomical.
"How about... the shipbuilding company stops for a while?" Accountant asked tentatively, "We can continue after the funds have slowed down."
Fu Haoran shook his head. "You can't stop. If you stop once, people's hearts will be scattered."
"Those workers who were poached from South Korea have just settled down. Now I tell them that they have no work to do and half of them will leave tomorrow."
Accountant opened his mouth but did not try to persuade him any further.
At this moment, his cell phone buzzed. It was Jimmy calling.
"Boss! Something happened! Someone from CIA Langley Headquarters just called and said that they have an urgent task related to national security. They require you to wait for their interview at the Yellowstone factory within 24 hours!"
Fu Haoran was stunned for a moment.
CIA? Come to find yourself?
Fu Haoran subconsciously felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't escape, so he had no choice but to go back.