Chapter 27

After the World War broke out completely, the Ying Nation, to save personnel, leased part of its fleet to Australia to protect their Asian colonial interests; during this period, they transferred a large amount of assets from the mainland and, in return, transported quite a lot of supplies.

There were especially many shipping routes around Xiangjiang and the Shanghai-Zhou area, with many small-scale friction battles, but quite a few also passed through the waters near E City.

The operation passing by Crescent Moon Island this time was codenamed 'Monsoon 16'; the Oak carried a batch of mechanical equipment. The cargo ship hit a reef and leaked water; the captain originally wanted to beach it on Crescent Moon Island, but failed.

The Oak was a Liberty Ship, a type of fast mass-produced cargo vessel built by the US during World War II, with a deadweight of 7,000 tons and a full load of over 12,000 tons. I guess it must have been at least fully loaded to sink so fast; otherwise, it would be impossible to abandon such a cargo ship in a non-combat state.

With a breakthrough, Tang Yi immediately searched for data to corroborate it and began looking for the sinking location more carefully.

Besides maps, he also retrieved the nautical charts drawn at that time and estimated the shipping route according to the recorded data.

"Less than ten nautical miles from Crescent Moon Island; the text mentions no turning back, so it must have been on the way there, roughly... here."

Tang Yi drew a circle at a position slightly below the Pratas Islands:

"The average depth of the South China Sea exceeds 1,000 meters, but it is okay near the Pratas Islands, probably just over one hundred meters, not deep."

Over one hundred meters? Not deep?

Coincidentally, Tang Wen knew a bit about diving; before crossing over, he had rented diving gear at the seaside and also knew the normal diving depth for humans.

Without special protective gear, a normal person can generally only dive 10 to 15 meters; even with equipment, reaching 10 to 40 meters is already considered deep diving.

As for the interval between 40 and 100 meters, it is already a realm reachable only by professionals using very good professional equipment; ordinary people without special training almost cannot dive there.

Even the diving depth of a nuclear submarine is generally only around 200 meters; the deeper one goes, the more terrifying the water pressure becomes, and only professional submersibles can handle it.

Can the shipyard provide this thing?

Seeing Tang Wen's strange expression, Tang Yi asked in confusion:

"Commander, you wouldn't be thinking of diving down yourself to salvage it, would you?"

"..."

Tang Yi: "No need to dive personally; just lower a grappling hook with a steel cable. As long as we can hook the Oak, diving over 100 meters is a very risky behavior."

Tang Wen finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, but immediately Tang Yi continued:

"However, we still need to build a new ship. Salvaging a sunken ship requires sonar, and it will take at least a few days, needing supplies to sustain us for several days.

It must be at least a 50-ton hull, loaded with supplies sufficient for 5 people to survive for over 5 days."

Tang Wen: "A small matter."

Compared with over ten thousand tons of steel, this investment was negligible; Tang Wen still had 70 experience points, which he could "squander" all at once.

A 50-ton small boat was very simple; Tang Yi casually drew a simple diagram and parameters, designing it as a small yacht equipped with 6 V8 gasoline engines, sonar, and a device for releasing grappling lines, codenamed "Y1".

【Design Blueprint: Length 20.4 meters, width 5.8 meters, draft 1.2 meters, full load displacement 58 tons, hull treated with epoxy zinc-rich anti-corrosion coating, integrated welding process;

Power: 6 outboard engines of 250 horsepower each, maximum speed 33 knots, maximum range: 15 knots/400 nautical miles】

【Estimated Cost:

Required R&D:

50-ton class light coarse steel low-resistance hull: 50 experience points

Required Manufacturing:

1. Direct manufacturing: 1,080 silver coins/each (Zhou Qi 7 days)

2. Processing with supplied materials: 55 tons of steel, 0.2 tons of oil, 405 silver coins/each (Zhou Qi 4 days)】

Compared with the speedboats manufactured previously, the Y1 yacht added sonar and salvage equipment; fortunately, these two small things were covered under Tier 1 ship technology, requiring no extra R&D.

Six 250-horsepower outboard motors were actually not very good for such a yacht, even slightly insufficient, only achieving a speed of 33 knots (about 60 kilometers per hour).

If one still wanted it to race like the wind to over 40 knots, a diesel engine set of 3,000 to 4,000 horsepower would be needed, requiring extra R&D for power.

However, this was already enough; reaching the Pratas Islands, one hundred nautical miles away, would take only 5 hours even at an economical speed of 20 knots.

Tang Wen paid 1,080 silver coins without hesitation to start building the ship, while Tang Yi would continue searching for other sunken ships in the following 7 days.

Everyone had already realized that sunken ships were very convenient resources that required no money; what was buried in the seabed was not ruins, but clearly a treasure!

The next day, Tang Wen went to the village head's house first.

Although Crescent Moon Island was nearby, he had no experience going to sea, so it was safer to ask the village head.

However, after knocking on the door for a long time with no response, he remembered that the village head might have gone to the town again.

"Wen Wa-zi, you're here to find the village head again; he hasn't been here these past two days."

Tang Wen turned around and saw an old man coming out for a stroll, surnamed Wang, who often came out to sunbathe.

Uncle Wang was a fisherman and also a militia member in his youth; or rather, back then all fishermen were militia members. Tang Wen suddenly thought he could ask him; his experience might be even more than the village head's.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly went up to help Uncle Wang sit on a stone by the roadside and asked:

"Grandpa, do you know Crescent Moon Island?"

"Crescent Moon Island? That's the Chaoshan way of saying it; it's just the Pratas Islands!"

Uncle Wang looked as if he understood everything; Tang Wen hurriedly pressed further:

"Is it easy to go there? I want to go over there for a spin."

After hearing this question, Uncle Wang was stunned for a moment, then a look of vigilance suddenly appeared in his eyes, and his attitude became somewhat stiff:

"What do you want to do at the Pratas Islands? That is not a place for you to go."

I can't even go?

Tang Wen was somewhat puzzled; why did he feel Uncle Wang was a bit angry?

But he didn't recall anything special about that area; Tang Wen tried hard to recall for a long time, then suddenly realized:

Just like the Xisha and Nansha Islands, the Pratas Islands must also have border defense posts and coast guards; he was afraid I would disturb the guards' work!

After figuring it out, Tang Wen hurriedly said:

"Grandpa, are you worried about the coast guards on the Pratas Islands? Don't worry, I won't go to the island; I just want to play around nearby; it just so happens I have an extra boat to go to sea."

"Aren't you afraid of being caught?"

"What am I afraid of? Going out to sea isn't illegal."

Tang Wen grew even more bewildered; no one had stipulated that one couldn't go out to sea to see the scenery. Moreover, he had checked the map; the Dongshaqundao were far from the high seas.

Uncle Wang stared at Tang Wen, scrutinizing him from head to toe. Only after a long while did he confirm that the latter truly knew nothing, and only then did he speak lightly:

"The mainland's water police indeed won't catch you, but I never said the water police on the Dongshaqundao belong to the mainland."

"What do you mean?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than memories surfaced in Tang Wen's mind.

He remembered when the village head mentioned Crescent Moon Island; the village head had said that when going out, one must avoid the vicinity of Crescent Moon Island.

The water police living on the Dongshaqundao were indeed compatriots, speaking Mandarin (the accent of the current time had not yet begun to be annoying), and their household registration belonged to the same place as that old Huang who liked wearing leather jackets.

Moreover, it was the end of July 1996; due to some minor frictions in the preceding period, the relationship between the two sides might be slightly, just a tiny bit, unfriendly.