novelDecision to Purchase
| ← Ch.181 | Ch.183 → |
Since we have already planned to rip off the French fellows, there needs to be a comprehensive and thorough plan in place. Their people's government isn't like some three-year-old kid, so what makes you think that you will succeed in fooling them?
Lying his head on the blanket, Chen Fan carefully deliberated the feasibility of his plan, as well as attempting to find its most practical way of operation. First things first, regardless of whether the scam could succeed or not, what was most important was to protect oneself from being traced.
Alternatively, the traces of evidence on the submarine should also be reduced to the minimum. This way, even if the French discovered that they had been cheated, all they could do is complain.
The interior machinery within the autonomous nuclear submarine, which could expose their traces, should not exist, as Chen Fan had never intended to install it. The most he would do was merely decorate the entrance a little.
If he let his ship factory build a submarine, the question then would be regarding how to avoid the other party from locating the factory, according to the traces left on the submarine.
Firstly, the employees in the ship factory would have no clue that the submarine would be used to deceive the French. That way, even if the French found out that it was a sham later on, they would never expose the information. They probably couldn't even wait to conceal it, choosing instead to then discreetly track down their enemy.
All that was left now was to find the material to build the exteriors, as well as deciding upon the pattern of welding. It would be best if these things were made from imported materials, or universal technologies, such as steel products and paint. After all, these two materials formed the most vital component of the submarine!
The method of welding was not a big issue, since all ship factories used the submerged arc welding method to build the ships' bodies. This welding method was practiced universally, so it was not one solely utilized in China.
As for the paint, they would go for the brand that had the highest sales. Regarding steelware, they'd pick the Japanese imported ordinary ship-use steel. But, it must be of a brand that had the widest coverage of sales worldwide.
After having built such a meticulous and rare device, it would be absolutely impossible for them to ascertain the origins of this submarine, unless the French possessed an extraordinary ability to be clairvoyant!
Taking a step back, one had to wonder if it would even really matter if the French found out that the submarine was made in China. After all, China is not Djibouti, Ghana, or Togo. it is not a country that no one has heard about. So, even if the French understood that it was made in China, all they could was complain.
Besides, it's not like the submarine was going to have a "Made in Zhongyun" tag! Also, the French fellows would not even have the means to find out where the submarine was produced, especially not by solely relying on the traces of its method of welding.
As he thought about it, Chen Fan crawled up from the golden stone bed and walked toward the computer that was connected to the Internet through a mobile phone. He then searched the subject of postmodern sci-fi designs of submarines.
The pictures provided by the internet were rather minimal. Chen Fan looked up the information for a good while, but was only able to search about six images, all of which were transfigured by 3D rendering experts, who were military affairs enthusiasts.
After Chen Fan downloaded the few pictures into his computer, he referred to the different parts of each submarine. Lastly, he opened the pictures in Photoshop, reducing the background transparency to 50 percent. He then traced a copy, according to the sample, using the line tool.
Chen Fan intended to build the submarine 90 meters long, with a draught of 10 meters and a width of nine meters. As for this big boy's outer streamlined body, it would be bullet-shaped, while the propulsion system at the back would take a cue from a miscellaneous military model's image.
This was a picture that looked similar to a waterjet mechanism. On the back of the wheel casing, lay three flat strips of fin stabilizers and a long tail pin. As for the fairwater, Chen Fan used another diagram, to which he added two balancing wings on the left and right positions.
Getting the idea for this bit from one picture, he then added a stroke on this position, and so on...
Chen Fan had spent almost two hours, sketching the overall layout of the submarine! Nevertheless, it was needless to say that this picture did not look professional at all. In fact, it appeared that it would be a definite fail!
Coincidentally, we have a newly-built submarine from our factory. It is 90 meters long, and it has a draught of ten meters and a width of nine meters. It has a displacement of 6500 tons and an underwater displacement of 8200 tons. Its maximum speed underwater can reach up to 50 knots, while it could also dive a maximum depth of 250 meters. Also, it has 6000 kilowatts of propulsion power and a maximum cruising range of 3000 nautical miles. It registers at 13 decibels of mechanical noise, and has no hush tile nor sound-absorbing ring...
The propulsion system is confidential at the moment, so you will know it when you buy it! If you are interested in purchasing it, we can arrange for an observation event five days from now. We would notify you about the particular location later on.
By the way, the model of this submarine costs 700 million USD. No price negotiations!
After sending the message, Chen Fan did not actually have full confidence that the other party would buy the submarine. So, he figured that he might as well lie on his bed, then switched his thoughts toward the electric eel, determined to keep a lookout on the surroundings of the sea through the satellite receiver.
On the east side of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Presidential Office in Élysée Palace.
"How much authenticity do you think there is in their description?" President Kosaki sat on a chair, his looked a little absent-minded, as he stared ahead.
"The specifications of a submarine need to be examined by our troops, before we could gather any concrete statistics, " Navy admiral, Bérive said suspiciously."By just looking at the revealed data from the other party, this should be a hybrid submarine that is operating on a system that is ranging between conventional propulsion and nuclear propulsion. Its size is huge, and its cruising range is only slightly higher than an ordinary submarine. Also, it is not armed with any sort of weaponry. However, its cruising speed and acoustic quieting ability definitely do not show an advantage over current submarines that we already have in service."
"Tell me your thoughts..." President Kosaki gestured for him to speak freely.
"According to the vocal prints of the submarine, which we have managed to intercept, they do have a very advanced submarine. This piece of data also conveyed that, if we do not activate our sonar probe, we would never be able to discover it at all. However, if we do turn the sonar on, we would just be exposing ourselves at first. At this point in time, we are not able to determine if the submarine is a real thing or a sham. But, in my opinion, I think we should take a real serious look at this submarine."
"Didn't the other side just say that there can be an arrangement for a one-time observation event five days from now? So, ignore all other performance specifications of the submarine. Most importantly, we need to find out whether its propulsion system really does operate on a magnetohydrodynamic drive."
"Have the submarine experts been assigned to their specific jobs?" President Kosaki asked."Say it's a real thing... Without a weapon loading system, we could only dismantle it for research after purchasing it. Since the other party has the guts to sell it to us, they probably have something firm in their hold. There's no way we could penetrate into the secret within."
"Three submarine experts and two hydromagnetic technology experts will fly from Draguignan airport tomorrow morning. When the time comes, we will prepare a small business jet to send them to the location for the inspection of the submarine." Admiral Bérive touched his nose, then said carefully, "In my view, we have already attained a certain level of achievement in the area of the magnetohydrodynamic drive. Thus, in due time, even the slightest detail on the submarine would be able to greatly inspire the members of the research and development team."
"Hmm, I'll assign the submarine observation event to you for now, as well as to the Defence Minister. You and him should unanimously request to make a payment to obtain their good impressions. Hopefully, we can buy some relevant technical information from them."
President Cursache said expressionlessly, "If this project succeeds, I will not look into your previous misconducts. But, if it fails, not only would the loss be borne by the navy's fund allocations, but you'd also better get penalized.... ."
Zhongyun City, the ship construction factory by the sea.
"Boss, what color should we pick for that submarine?" Jiang Shui squatted on the floor, smoking his rolled cigarettes."Currently, the most commonly used paint for ships is the Dutch brand'AkzoNobel. '"
"Just use black!" Chen Fan pointed at the papers that were lying on the ground sheepishly, then said, "The sketches are a bit too simple. It's good enough, if you just weld roughly, according to the model. It doesn't have to be practical. It just has to look good. With regards to the the fairwater, I suggest that you weld a general outline of it, then, when the main body gets done, I will let you know what to do next. Oh yes, you should also weld four huge hooks underneath the base of the submarine. Then, for the front of the fairwater, weld another two huge hooks."
"How about the water storage? How much buoyancy should it be constructed with?"
"Just about 10 percent of it, then let the seawater be channelled into it directly."
Ten percent of buoyancy meant that, without any external force being exerted upon the submarine, only one meter of height of the submarine would appear on top of the water surface.
The French government had already agreed to pay 700 million American dollars to purchase the submarine. But, the prerequisite was that they must first enter into the interior of the submarine for observation purposes.
Evidently, Chen Fan would not agree to their request. He insisted that he would only allow two people, at most, to enter into the fairwater podium, as well as two anti-submarine helicopters above the air, for the inspection of the submarine's soundproofing performance. Otherwise, the deal would be called off.
Without a doubt, they had to agree to these terms, or else Chen Fan would never have allowed Jiang Shui to construct this submarine. Now that half the success had already been achieved, what was left depended on whether the combination of the electric eel and the submarine could fool the French five days from now!
Realistically speaking, Chen Fan was not fully sure about this idea. However, the idea of foregoing the chance to rip-off the French fellows did not impress Chen Fan's sentiments. Thus, he decided to give it a try.
Time flew like an arrow, and five days lapsed in the blink of an eye. The ship factory had already completed the construction of the futuristic looking submarine yesterday morning. Currently, the electric eel was dragging it toward the south of the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean.
In the meantime, Chen Fan hid in a cave, keeping in contact with the French fellows through a computer. The satellite receiver was placed near the Japanese waters by the electric eel. Ever since the four special agents, who landed on the reefs to search for any possible satellite service, had been warned by Chen Fan, there had been no news from them.
While the electric eel would be away for two or three days, Chen Fan estimated that the French fellows would not act rashly at this crucial moment. In other words, it didn't matter, even if they had sent frogmen to look for the satellite emitter!
The fiber optic cables, which were planted 800 nautical miles underwater, would be sufficient to have them search for ten days or a fortnight, only to vaguely gather a location near Zhongyun City. When the time came, the electric eel would have long returned to bite them into halves!
The location of 150 nautical miles to the south of the Gulf of Aden is about 700 nautical miles away from the French naval military base at Gibraltar. Two French guided-missile frigates were situated on both the left and right side of the gulf, each of which were 800 meters apart.
Meanwhile, two AS-565SA Black Panther models of anti-submarine helicopters were silently parked at the back of the helicopter tarmac on the military vessel. After about five minutes, two light gray helicopters slowly swung their propellers. When they reached a certain speed, they would then give out a thudding "tutu... tutu..." sound, before dispatching themselves from the deck, flying toward the sea region, which was 2000 meters away.
This section of sea was about 700 meters deep. Its water ripples were murky, making the visibility less than three meters. It was definitely the best hiding place for the electric eel!
The two guided-missile frigates and the two anti-submarine helicopters had their reactive sonars turned on to the maximum levels. They seemed desperate to detect even the faint moanings of mating whales around that vicinity of the sea!
"Black Panther Number One, no discovery of any suspicious voiceprints!"
"Black Panther Number Two, no discovery of any suspicious voiceprints!"
"There is still one more minute before the agreed meeting time, and it looks like the submarine's soundproofing system is superb." Inside the helicopter, a 53-year-old submarine technical expert, Carlton, gazed down at the calm surface of the sea, muttering to himself.
Before he could complete his sentence, there was a sudden surge of enormous white waves on the surface of the sea. His sight was then immediately greeted by a black submarine, measuring about 90 meters. It was slowly emerging from the water.
"Ah!" Carlton's eyes fixated on the submarine. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost. Could it be an apparition? Otherwise, at such a close distance, why hadn't the sonar captured any unusual sounds of its approach?
The workmanship of this submarine... !
Carlton did not offer too many comments. He just kept shaking his head in awe. He was not an ordinary layman. After all, he was involved in the military industry. Thus, his judgments should not be doubted.
After briefly scanning through the outer body of the submarine, he immediately knew that it had been constructed with the welding method for ordinary submarines, instead of a military-made one that utilized the seamless laser welding method.
"Closer, closer!" Carlton excitedly rushed the helicopter pilot to lower the helicopter, so that he could observe it in a better and more convenient position. At the same time, high definition cameras on the two helicopters were transmitting real-time images through the satellite to the French Navy headquarters.
"You can now go aboard. However, remember that only two persons are allowed to enter the fairwater podium. The cabin door at the end of the submarine has been locked from the inside by our crew. Therefore, please do not try to open it."
A short while after Chen Fan's message was sent, one of the Blank Panther helicopters gradually descended to the same level as the podium. Then, the submarine expert, Carlton, who was wearing a life jacket, and another middle-aged man, who was carrying a huge black box in his hands, crawled arduously against the wind toward the submarine's podium.
"Tung tung tung..."
After standing firm on his feet, Carlton took out a small steel hammer. He knocked it evenly on the podium to ascertain the thickness of the submarine's outer shell.
"Five to seven centimeters!" Carlton read out the gathered data, although he could not measure the strength of the steel. He did manage to figure that the dive depth would not be too high. Hence, the other party's assertion that the submarine could dive as deep as 250 meters was probably an exaggeration.
"Screech... screech..."
After testing the thickness of the submarine, Carlton then used a knife to scrape at some of the paint.
"Is... is.. is this really a submarine?" Carlton looked at the scratches beneath his feet, his face gradually turning solemn.
"Alright, alright, our main duty is to test its soundproofing abilities!" His companion, who was standing beside him, waved his hands to interrupt him. He then proceeded to pass him something that looked like a stethoscope.
"Can you start up the submarine?"
"OK!"
Chen Fan casually replied to the email, while controlling the electric eel that had been hooked invertedly at the bottom of the submarine. It then slowly wobbled its tail!
Regardless of the length and width of the submarine, it was still longer than the electric eel by a big fraction. Therefore, by observing from the outside, one did not need to worry that the electric eel would be exposed. For this purpose, Chen Fan even drove his cruise to the deep seas, where he did a few experiments, controlling the electric eel to grip onto the submarine.
The only thing that had Chen Fan worried was that the back of the submarine did not have any actual sprinkling mechanism. Thus, as the submarine cruised, it could not blast any water at all. This would potentially increase the risk of its being exposed.
This problem was not an easy one to solve. Therefore, Chen Fan had to instruct the ship factory to open up a curvatory trench, as wide as half a meter, at the bottom of the propellant, as well as to install a half-sectioned, funnel-shaped backboard around its edges. As such, there would be a huge influx of seawater from the trench, enabling water to then be squirted out as it entered through the back of the propellant.
"Are there any mechanical sounds?" said Carlton, as he stuck the giant stethoscope against the outer shell of the submarine, listening to it carefully, before turning toward his companion.
"No, I can only vaguely hear the noise from the movements of the seawater!" Cadwalader, his companion, also wore the same look of confusion.
Could it be that this submarine had no motor at all? Otherwise, it would be impossible not to hear any sounds...
In the French Navy headquarters
"Move the lens! Make sure it is focused on the propellant underneath the submarine!" said Admiral Bérive, as he held onto the electronic microphone.
Once the camera lens on the large screen had been gradually zoomed in, several submarine technical experts were immediately fixated on the propellant that had appeared on the screen, as if they were gazing at their favorite toy.
"The spurting ripples do not appear in a spiral shape. They should be in the form of a counter-spiral shape."
"There are no bubbles, and the water flows evenly. There shouldn't be any propellers installed in it."
"Hmm, apart from the sound of the flowing water, we aren't able to hear any noises from the machinery that is operating around the submarine. It also didn't sound like it was operated through a propulsion motor with propellers, nor by diesel."
"If that's the case..." Suddenly, a spectacled elderly person spoke up, "Can you tell them to speed up the submarine, taking it to its maximum cruising speed? The biggest shortcoming of magnetohydrodynamic drive is on the cruising speed, and its consistency. As long as these two points are justified, there shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"Send the two engineers on the podium back here!" Admiral Bérive barked into the electronic microphone.
Ten minutes later, the submarine's speed was gradually getting quicker. It only took 30 seconds for it to increase its speed from 20 knots to 50 knots.
"Ah!"
"Oh my god!"
"It is moving at a speed of 50 knots..."
"New noises have appeared at the surroundings of the submarine, registering at almost 30 decibels. According to the analysis of the sound patterns, the problem probably lies in the faulty design of the exteriors of the submarine. In addition, the cruising speed is too fast. Therefore, the sounds came from the friction with the seawater."
"Sir, can the submarine sink into a depth of 100 meters, and then maintain at a speed of 32 knots, so we can use our vessel's active sonar to trace their tracks?"
Submarine expert Caramel stood up, then pushed his glasses to the tip of his nose."If it could travel underwater at this cruising speed, I figure that, even if this submarine could only cruise for an hour, it would still be a worthy purchase. Moreover, they came from somewhere far away to cruise to this region."
"I think so, too. Apparently this submarine hadn't undergone the spray pattern test, and there is a significant defect on its exteriors. Furthermore, its welding craft was done very coarsely, causing the surface of the submarine to be full of bumps and hollows. After some improvements, I think its speed can still progressively increase another five to ten knots."
When Chen Fan received such news, he hesitated for a little while, before agreeing in the end. He replied with two simple letters in his message: OK.
The electric eel stuck closely on the base of the submarine. The active sonar would only be able to detect the submarine, not reach the electric eel.
"Hong Rong Rong..."
A large water bubble had risen up. The giant black submarine presented vertically in a linear angle of 90 degrees, then slowly sank into the deep waters.
Meanwhile, two frigates that were roaming 1000 meters away also had travelled toward it at a high speed, their propellers humming along. When the submarine had completely disappeared from the water surface, a loud thump was emitted, as the spherical active sonar at the bottom of the frigate was released.
"This submarine had not been painted with any absorbing material?"
"Magnetohydrodynamic machines have very high peak values, so it seems like the other party did not remove the exterior magnetic mechanism."
"Within 20 nautical miles, there is no sign of any other submarines around."
"The noise cannot be detected at all. It looks like the submarine is using the technology of a magnetohydrodynamic drive (MHD)."
"Tentatively, we have not managed to intercept any telecommunication signals around the submarine. It seems that the other party has a way of communication that we could not decipher at the moment. If the deal is closed, I strongly suggest that we buy this unknown way of communication, along with the magnetic attack sonar technology that was used at Djibouti's cove."
Twenty minutes later...
"The submarine's cruising speed is stable, and there is no indication of any declination in power."
"I think you should purchase it for research purposes!"
"I think so, too!"
"I agree!"
"At the price of 700 million USD, it's an extremely worthy deal!"
"Wait!"
Admiral Bérive suddenly lifted his hand up to interrupt the conversation."What happens if we've already made payment, but they steer the submarine to run away?"
"This..."
Everybody lapsed into a moment of silence. If that really did happen, the other party just needed to increase the cruising speed to its maximum, in order to remove itself from the detection of the active sonar within 20 minutes. That is, unless they attacked it with a torpedo. However, the consequence of such an action would mean that it would irritate the other party.
"Let me ask them!" Admiral Bérive contemplated this scenario for a short while, then decided to throw the question back to Chen Fan.
"How do we know that, upon your receipt of our cash, you will not run away with the submarine? Alternatively, after you hand over the submarine to us, how are you going to evacuate the staff personnel that you have inside the submarine?"
"The solution to the problem is simple. Can you see the two giant hooks on top of the submarine? You will allow your frigate to fasten a steel cable on top of it in order to test its strength, before deciding whether you want to pay or not."
"As for the departure of our people, you need not worry. The interior of the submarine contains small submarines, which were built specially for such purposes. As long as you turn off your active sonar, our people will leave in them."
"***WARNING: If you attempt to use the active sonar to trace these small submarines' tracks, we will be forced to take extreme revenge measures."
"What do you guys think?" Admiral Bérive showed the message to everybody, then crossed his arms.
"If it is really so, I think we still have some room for negotiation with the other party. This process seems akin to the purchase of America's Ohio grade mini submarine system."
"Okay, we'll leave these questions for the future." Admiral Bérive stood up, then turned around and spoke to the several submarine experts, "I believe all of you have a brief understanding of the basic functioning performance of this submarine. Now, let's vote by a raising of hands to decide whether we should purchase this submarine or not."
Swoosh.. swoosh.. swoosh...
Without any hesitation, the few experts raised their hands up high.
"Since the proposal has been passed, I would like to clarify this to everyone. If we cannot produce any relevant results within a year, the funding of this purchase will be deducted from your scientific research allocations."
Bérive raised his brow, grabbed the electronic microphone, then yelled, "After testing the tolerance of the submarine's hooks, dump the diving cabin to the designated location, as demanded by them. If the giant submarine decides to break off the steel cables and dive into the water, once the cabin is dropped into the sea, all of you must strike down that submarine immediately, using the torpedo!"
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