Great warships

Chapter 1226 Sea Test
Chickaseen Hydroelectric Power Station, Mexico.

This was once the largest hydroelectric power station in Mexico, with an installed capacity of 2400 megawatts. The dam of this hydroelectric power station is 261 meters high, making it one of the largest dams in the world.

But for Mexico, this electricity is in excess and cannot be used up, after all, their country's economy is too backward.

However, just recently, they suddenly discovered that people came from all over the world, rented a large number of rooms near their hydroelectric power station, installed various machines and equipment, and purchased a large amount of electricity from them.

They were very excited. These people were simply the gods of wealth who came to their doorstep!

On a nearby field, a group of little boys were playing football. Suddenly, the football flew up and flew towards a courtyard nearby.

"Suarez, jump in and get the ball out!" the captain shouted.

At this time, Suarez ran the fastest. He jumped onto the wall nimbly and climbed in.

Just when he was about to come out with the football, he was stunned by the scene inside. There were countless machines roaring, countless signal lights flashing, and the whole room was filled with a sense of modern technology.

What is inside?
A short man came out and looked at Suarez: "Hey, kid, do you want some candy?"

"What's in here?"

“There’s mining going on here.”

"Mining?" Suarez's brain was unable to understand these things. He just stared at the scene inside with lifeless eyes and a complicated look.

Shouldn't mining be done with a shovel? Shouldn't it be done in a mine?
"Suarez, Suarez!" The voices of friends came from outside.

"I'm going out to play ball." He planned to climb over the wall to go out.

"You can go through the door. By the way, can I play football with you guys later?"

The life of a miner is too boring. Every day, they have to look after so many machines and equipment, and they have to deal with any failure of any of them at any time. In their spare time, they also hope to exercise.

"of course."

This kind of scene can be seen all over the world, as miners look for places with the cheapest electricity and work hard to mine Bitcoin.

The situation is very good.

Mingzhou Group.

"Now, some small countries have considered using Bitcoin as legal tender." Xu Zhengyang said to Qin Tao: "I never thought that someone would take the bait."

“Of course.” Qin Tao said: “Bitcoin is valuable. It is the currency used in the future.”

"What future? Can our future city be used?"

"Of course not. Our country has its own digital currency. Although it is also a digital currency like Bitcoin, the credibility is worlds apart."

Bitcoin may be valuable if you say it has value, or it may be worthless if you say it has no value. However, the country’s digital currency is backed by the government. Taking advantage of the popularity of Bitcoin, the country’s digital currency has also begun to be rolled out in a big way.

"If all transactions are done with digital currency in the future, corrupt officials won't be able to store their money." Xu Zhengyang said: "I recently watched a TV series in which a corrupt official stored a lot of money in his house and still rode his bicycle to work every day. I really don't know what the point of doing this is."

"That's not right. Why have you started watching TV series recently? This doesn't suit your style."

"What can I do? My superiors told me to do this. Actually, I have everything I want when I follow our Mingzhou Group, but I have never thought of using my status and convenient conditions to achieve my own goals."

Qin Tao smiled and said, "You reminded me that this TV series should be shown to everyone in the group so that they know..."

However, before he finished speaking, Qin Tao knew that few people working in his group dared to embezzle money. After all, those who got the money were all planning to run away, while those under him were all people who did practical work.

Moreover, the monk can run away but the temple cannot. No matter where they run to, they will disappear without a trace, not even the moon or Mars. There is no place that the Mingzhou Group cannot reach.

"By the way, Mr. Qin, India has already acquired the electromagnetic catapult technology. We and Russia have each divided the funds in half. Russia has officially placed an order to purchase our carrier-based aircraft."

"Well, they should have purchased it long ago. Let them see what a world-class carrier-based aircraft is."

"France has also acquired relevant technology and started to independently develop electromagnetic catapults. Their progress should be faster."

"The faster you progress, the sooner you'll run into trouble." Qin Tao smiled.

"Also, the American ship USS Kennedy has been modified with an electromagnetic catapult and has begun testing."

"Really? That's really good news."

The U.S. Navy attaches great importance to electromagnetic catapults, so much so that when the progress of the Ford-class aircraft carrier was delayed, it actually pulled out the soon-to-be-decommissioned USS Kennedy to be modified for electromagnetic catapults.

Of course, there is no need to modify the entire ship, only one line needs to be modified. Considering convenience, they modified the No. 3 catapult on the angled deck so that the energy storage device at the end of the catapult is closest to the engine room and can easily obtain the power supply provided by the engine room.

After intensive construction, the catapult was finally installed. In fact, it was just a catapult transplanted from land, and the specific technology did not change much, so the reliability of the catapult can be imagined.

But they had no other choice.

"After we got the technology from the East, we found that it was almost the same as ours. If they can succeed, we can definitely succeed too!" Suliqi encouraged himself.

"Yes, the Navy is also looking forward to your good news." Michael Rand said: "Now, the boiler of the aircraft carrier has been started, what are we waiting for? Use the power of the warship to start the test first!"

"Okay. Let's test it without load first."

After the catapult is installed, you cannot launch the carrier-based aircraft right away, otherwise the carrier-based aircraft will most likely be thrown into the sea. This must be done step by step. First, run the secondary coil trolley on the track without load to make sure the track is tight and in a straight line. Then launch the trolley and gradually increase the load to eventually reach the point of launching the carrier-based aircraft.

This process may be slow and take a long time, so Sulic can continue to delay time. There is no other way but to rely on practice, slowly grinding out the skills and eventually making them mature.

"Attention, the turbine motor is at full power!"

When it comes to electromagnetic catapults, many people think that only nuclear-powered aircraft carriers can use them. After all, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have sufficient power. In fact, this is a complete misunderstanding. No matter whether it is conventional power or nuclear power, as long as the generator power is large enough, it will be fine.

Although the Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier is conventionally powered, its power generation capacity is not low. Although the configurations of different models vary, basically, they all have 8 1500-kilowatt steam turbine generator sets. During the mid-term modification, due to insufficient power supply, 2 750-kilowatt medium-frequency generator sets and 3 1000-kilowatt diesel generator sets were added.

The total power supply capacity is 17.5 megawatts, which is already very large and enough to supply a city's civil electricity. To power an electromagnetic catapult, only the steam turbine generator set on the boiler is needed.

Eight steam turbine generators roared, and the surging electricity entered the flywheel energy storage device through huge cables. Because it was just no-load, it stored a little energy before starting.

Whoosh!
The shuttle moves smoothly along the track, stops at the end, and then returns to the starting point under the action of reverse electromagnetic force. It looks extremely smooth.

"Not bad, not bad!" Rand nodded: "Next, let's hang up the car."

So fast? Suliqi frowned: "According to the original plan, the empty load needs to be tested more than ten times."

"Then let's do it again. We can't wait too long."

The second experiment was still perfect, and the next step was to launch the car.

As the sun gradually slid to the west, Sulichi suddenly thought of something: "Oh, we don't seem to have brought the car with us!"

They didn't plan to make such rapid progress. If they finish testing the small car today, shouldn't they be testing the carrier-based aircraft tomorrow?
Have to delay!

"That's okay. You can use my Hummer," Rand said.

"Hummer? How can that be possible? Hummers don't have towing hooks."

"No, my car does."

"According to the plan, we should increase slowly from a small tonnage."

"The Hummer is only two tons. If we remove the doors and roof and drain the fuel from the tank, there shouldn't be any major problems."

"Ok."

At Rand's urging, Sulich had no choice but to let his men hang the catapult on the Hummer.

"Attention, adjust the ejection weight to two tons!"

The advantages of the electromagnetic catapult are fully demonstrated here. If it is a steam catapult, the ejection pressure can also be adjusted, but there are only a few gears, and the lowest can only eject a load of 18 tons, and it cannot be lower than that.

With the advent of the drone era, drones will also need to be operated on aircraft carriers, but this type of aircraft is only one or two tons and cannot be operated by steam catapults.

The thrust of the electromagnetic catapult can be continuously adjusted, and the load can change from zero, so only the electromagnetic catapult can support the future of the US Navy!
Rand has been in charge of this project and he can't wait to see the launch of carrier-based aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier! Let's start with the launch of a Humvee!

"Energy charging completed!"

"Ejection begins!"

Whoosh!
The Hummer was having fun on the deck. It had never run so fast and accelerated so rapidly before. In just a few seconds, it had exceeded 100 km/h, and then broke 200 km/h!
The part where the tire was in contact with the deck had already started to smoke. Apparently, this kind of off-road tire with a large tread had never thought that one day it would be able to go so fast, and it could no longer bear the pressure!

Fortunately, the electromagnetic catapult began to slow down, and under the pull of the powerful electromagnetic force, the vehicle quickly stopped again and parked steadily at the front end of the angled deck.

"Yes, this is a really exciting start!" Rand said, "Bring the regular test vehicle tomorrow and try to complete the test. The day after tomorrow, I will dispatch a carrier-based aircraft and we will drive the aircraft carrier out for testing."

What? We're going to test it the day after tomorrow? Isn't that too fast? Suliqi frowned: "No, no, it's too fast!"

"No, this is already too slow. The Orientals have already started building a new batch of aircraft carriers, and they are building two at a time. If we don't hurry up, we will fall behind!"

"We are already behind," Sulic said. "Now it's about reliability, not schedule."

"No, no, we have to hurry!"

Previously, they lagged behind only in quality, but in the future, they might also lag behind in quantity. They must hurry up!
Sulichi showed a bitter face and dared not say anything else.

The test on the second day was still very successful. The load of the catapult car had been increased to ten tons, and it was still able to accelerate and decelerate. This smooth test made Suliqi curious. Could it be that they have already matured?

"Our program has been debugged repeatedly, and our various unreliable parts have also improved their manufacturing quality and become reliable." Suliqi said: "It seems that our catapult has been run-in and mature!"

You can't always be unreliable. After all its development to this point, it should be considered mature, right?
Little did Sulichi know, it was just an illusion.

"We have dispatched a Hornet. After we go out to sea tomorrow, it will land and take off using the electromagnetic catapult. Once our electromagnetic catapult test is successful, we will need to improve the electromagnetic arresting cable." Rand looked at the arresting cable on the rear deck and spoke.

The entire set of Oriental systems are already mature, but they are currently only testing the electromagnetic catapult, and there are still many difficulties with the electromagnetic arresting cable.

"Bumblebee?" Suliqi was stunned: "We don't need a Bumblebee, just an ordinary A7 attack aircraft."

The Hornet is the main carrier-based fighter-attack aircraft of the US Navy and is expensive. In comparison, the A7 attack aircraft is much cheaper. Even if an accident really happens, it will not cause much reaction.

Rand smiled and said, "The Navy has already planned to phase out the A7. In the future, the Navy will have very few types of carrier-based aircraft. The only manned fighters are the Hornet and the F-35. So, the Hornet can be used directly for testing."

The F-32 was originally selected as the winner of the competition, but due to various defects, it was not able to enter service. After many waits, the Navy finally made up its mind: use the X-35!
Anyway, the X-35 is just a small single-engine F22. Its appearance is already mature, and its onboard equipment can be updated according to the latest technology. It is not difficult to develop. The Navy does not need a vertical take-off and landing version, so it directly purchased a batch and named it F-35.
The Air Force also decided to use this type of aircraft to match the F22, leaving only the Marine Corps. The Flying Toad's vertical take-off and landing are also full of problems. The lift fan used by the F-35 is becoming more and more mature. It is conceivable that Lockheed will have the last laugh in the end.

Now, the F-35 is still very expensive, and the most suitable one is of course the Hornet.

The next day, the USS Kennedy, which had been docked at the Newport News Shipyard for several months, finally started moving. Its huge body once again headed for the sea, riding the wind and waves.

Dozens of former crew members returned to operate the carrier again and test the electromagnetic catapult together with shipyard technicians.

"Attention, full speed!" First mate Dex was in charge of the warship. He gave the order expertly: "Turn against the wind!"

Thick black smoke billowed from the chimney, the bow of the ship split the waves, and the huge warship sailed at full speed against the wind.

Speed ​​up, speed up!
"Carrier-based aircraft are approaching!"

"Deck crew, prepare for recovery!"

The carrier-based aircraft landed skillfully with a roar. The excellent pilots of the naval aviation force are so strong.

Soon, the Bumblebee was hooked onto the catapult in front.

"This is a new era for the United States Navy. Starting today, we have thrown away the outdated steam locomotives and finally entered the electrical age!" On the island, Rand said excitedly as he looked at the carrier-based aircraft waiting to take off below.

"Attention, the flywheel is charging!"

"Aircraft carrier, full speed!"

Although it is just a conventional-powered aircraft carrier, it only has one catapult. The other systems on the aircraft carrier are temporarily unavailable and do not need to consume too much electricity. Therefore, even if the aircraft carrier is sailing at full speed, there is still sufficient power to supply the catapult.

"Charging has ended!"

"take off!"

This seems to be a very common operation for the US Navy. The commander bends down with his right hand pointing forward. The carrier-based pilot releases the brakes and fully opens the throttle, waiting for the push from the back. The catapult starts to output at full power...

Whoosh!
The Bumblebee jumped out!
The electromagnetic catapult pushes the Bumblebee, accelerating on the deck!
Suliqi was relieved, it seemed that he had really matured! After so much trouble, he finally matured!

Snapped!
At this moment, a special sound suddenly rang out. With this sound, the lights above my head suddenly went out, and all the monitors went dark in an instant.

"Damn it, the brakes are off!"

The experienced Suliqi realized what happened almost instantly. When they were testing the catapult, a common fault was tripping! During the land test, tripping often occurred, and they attributed this to insufficient land power supply.

All previous tests on the aircraft carrier were conducted with no load or medium load, and they had never operated at full load. They originally thought that this nightmare would not happen again, but they did not expect that the nightmare was so terrible that the entire aircraft carrier lost power!
Without power supply, the electromagnetic catapult broke down instantly. The pilot of the carrier-based aircraft woke up from the overload of the catapult and immediately turned on the afterburner.

It is impossible to stop now, I can only go at full speed and try to fly!
The Hornet is an aircraft with excellent take-off and landing performance. As long as it has a speed of two to three hundred kilometers per hour, it can fly. What's more, there is deck wind now. It can definitely, definitely fly!
With this thought in mind, the pilot continued taxiing the fighter plane until it reached the end of the runway, and then...

As the landing gear left the deck, the plane began to lose altitude instantly!

At this moment, the pilot did not hesitate at all. He immediately put his legs together, pulled the ejection ring, and looked forward to the feeling of flying out.

Wait, no response, what's going on?

The Martin-Baker ejection seat, which is widely used in the Western world, is supposed to be very reliable. Why did this happen today? It failed at the critical moment!
Pfft!
The fighter plane fell into the sea.

"Damn it, hurry up, send out a rescue helicopter!"

(End of this chapter)