Chapter 1437 Complete Control

at the same time.

North Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden.

After finishing the call with the country, Captain Lin Xi left the bridge again and found a group of three people who were making final preparations before departure on the helicopter deck.

"Lao Li."

He called over Li Wanbing, the political commissar who was crouching over to check the slings, and handed him a note:

"The new requirement is that you take the opportunity to board the ship to assist the British in restarting the equipment and confirm as many important parameters as possible related to the engine... I have written it down on paper for you, but for safety reasons, it is better not to carry it with you..."

The latter straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He wanted to take it from Lin Xi, but when he saw the greasy gloves, he just leaned over to take a look.

It turned out that there were only two lines of words written on it.

“What is the flow rate and humidity of the cooling airflow at the outlet of the indirect cooling circuit?”

Li Wanbing rolled his eyes, feeling a little puzzled:

"But haven't we already mastered the intercooling cycle technology... I even heard that the Air Force's turbofan engines have already used it?"

Then he looked up at Lin Xi and confirmed:

"Are you sure it's not the regenerator parameters?"

In fact, even if he had not received any specific request, Li Wanbing had already made up his mind to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to collect some intelligence information.

But in his plan, the highest priority is the energy distribution logic of the integrated power system, followed by the operating parameters of the WR-21 gas turbine regenerator.

After all, Li Wanbing is not a professional researcher, and he is not clear about China's current specific progress in the fields of power control and intercooling and heat recovery technology. He just feels based on his experience that since these two key technologies are still missing on the 052C, even the British accident experience should be helpful for the subsequent development of similar technologies.

However, the instructions I see now are completely different from my own judgment.

Lin Xi shook her head:

"I can tell the difference between an intercooler and a regenerator... And this request was not made by the Navy leaders, but by an academician who came here specifically. He said that the cause of the Courageous's failure can be analyzed through data... And judging from the response from the command center, the feasibility should be very high."

Because time was urgent, he didn't have time to ask in detail about the person who was talking to him directly, and only heard the title of academician.

However, it is not difficult to see from the scene on the screen that the other party is highly valued by his superiors.

"Analyze the cause of the failure..."

Li Wanbing frowned slightly, with a complicated expression on his face, and it seemed that he felt that this statement was not quite right.

But on second thought, he felt that his superiors must have some deeper plan by specially connecting to the satellite communication, and as a regimental commander, it would be better for him not to delve too deeply into it.

Then he regained his serious expression and nodded towards Lin Xi:

"Okay, I'll try..."

Due to the suddenness of the incident, the entire boarding plan was formulated rather hastily, and many details were not 100% coordinated with the British side. In addition, no one knew the internal structure of the Type 45 destroyer before, so there was no guarantee what mission could be accomplished on this trip.

You can only accept whatever you encounter.

So Li Wanbing didn't dare to say anything.

Lin Xi knew very well that his old partner was the type who would do half of what he said. The fact that he said "strive for it" showed that he at least had a plan in mind. So he did not continue to dwell on this topic, but stepped forward to the side of the helicopter and patted the short wing under the cabin door.

The ground clearance of the Z-12 in landing position is not large to begin with, and the naval version also has an additional search radar, an auxiliary landing equipment and a dipping sonar stuffed under the fuselage, so there is really no space to fix the cables under the fuselage.

The only option was to hang the cable connector on the weapon rack like a torpedo.

The structure is very simple, but this will greatly limit the maneuverability of the entire helicopter, especially it cannot rotate more than 180° around the axis, otherwise the cables may get entangled on the fuselage and cause an accident.

After hesitating for a long time, Lin Xi finally spoke again:

"It's 3 o'clock local time now. We will probably have 4- chances to try landing before nightfall. If you can't guarantee success or find that the lighting conditions are not good enough, don't force it. If it doesn't work, you can deal with it tomorrow morning..."

"Don't worry, I know what's going on..."

The Courageous's landing aid system and landing guidance equipment were unable to work properly due to power outage, causing the difficulty and risk of this aviation operation to far exceed the restrictions of the training outline. It had to be carried out under sunlight conditions, a decision the two had made long before reporting to the country.

So Li Wanbing simply waved his hand, interrupting the captain's mother-like instructions:

"We must be prepared to disconnect at all times. If we find that the Courageous's track is abnormal, we must immediately release the physical lock between the cable and the output interface and then execute the disengagement action."

At the same time, I felt a little funny.

When the candidates for the mission were just determined, the captain volunteered to lead the team, but was stopped by him with the excuse that "the captain must remain in the command position". He then used the reason that "a chief officer must be on the scene to make a temporary decision" and became a member of the boarding team himself.

The reason why the other party is so fussy now is probably because he is just itching...

Fifteen minutes later, with the fierce airflow created by the rotor, the already prepared Z-12 helicopter quickly left the deck and, after ensuring a certain safety distance, turned towards the Brave, which was a few hundred meters away and slightly behind the ship.

There is a long tail behind it.

When the helicopter flew over the starboard side of the British ship for the first time, Tian Baoyuan, who was waiting above the hangar, raised his camera and captured this rare moment.

The moment the shutter sounded, an idea suddenly popped up in the deputy captain's mind:

"If this photo is put together with the photo of the J-12C flying over the USS Illustrious 8 years ago, it will surely be very meaningful..."

……

Facts have proved that the members selected to participate in the second escort mission in the Gulf of Aden are all top-notch elite soldiers.

Faced with a scene that had never appeared in normal training, the crew members seized the opportunity in the first attempt and landed smoothly.

Before the rotors completely stopped, Captain Baram, who was waiting in the hangar, strode onto the helicopter deck. He held his hat with one hand and saluted Li Wanbing and the other two who were unbuckling their seat belts with the other hand:

"Welcome aboard our ship. Due to limited conditions, we are sorry that we cannot give you a proper welcome..."

He deliberately did not announce the name of "HMS Courageous" as per convention. He was obviously aware that this was not a glorious occasion, so he tried to keep a low profile as much as possible.

But Li Wanbing had also been through the hard times in the 90s, and now he finally had a chance to show off. Even if he didn't want to be too obvious for the sake of the overall situation, he would not miss the opportunity to say something sarcastic:

So, after jumping off the plane and returning the military salute, he responded in fluent English:

"It doesn't matter. I am also honored to be the first foreign officer to board the Royal Navy's newest destroyer..."

Even has a bit of a Cockney accent.

Balam's expression on the opposite side was frozen as if he had eaten a fly.

Especially the adjective "cutting-edge", although it is a compliment on the surface, it is particularly harsh in this situation.

But there was not a single wrong word in Li Wanbing's entire sentence, so he had no way to refute it.

I could only laugh awkwardly and force myself to get back to the topic:

"Colonel, every minute the current situation lasts, the danger to our two ships will increase. Why don't we wait until the power supply is restored before we discuss other matters?"

Li Wanbing was straightforward and nodded decisively:

"Alright."

Then, he gestured to the two officers behind him:

"Major Li Qi, the chief engineer, will stay on the deck to assist your personnel in completing the cable switching operation... and according to the prior agreement, the other two of us need to enter the engine room and the power distribution room respectively to ensure that the entire restart process will not have a negative impact on our ship."

Although Balam, as a victim, had prepared himself mentally, he still felt an inexplicable palpitation when he heard the request in person.

However, he couldn't regret it now, so he had to calm down and personally lead Li Wanbing and Yang Huailei into the ship...

It should be said that the interior space design of the Type 45 is quite commendable.

The spacious and tidy aisles ensured that even in an environment of near darkness with only very little emergency lighting, Li Wanbing, who was on board for the first time, did not encounter any bumps and smoothly made his way to the lowest area inside the ship.

The power compartment design that the Type 45 was originally proud of will also be exposed to outsiders in its entirety for the first time.

Before pushing open the last watertight door, Balam looked back as if he wanted to save a little dignity.

"This is the first time for both of you to come into contact with the integrated power system, so please be sure not to directly touch or operate any equipment in the cabin to avoid affecting the reliability of the restart process..."

Looking at Balam who was still acting arrogantly, Li Wanbing just wanted to laugh:

"Captain, if this equipment was reliable enough, we wouldn't be here at all, right?"

The implication is very obvious -

Since the Courageous can completely stay in the open ocean, it means that this thing is not very reliable. Compared to worrying about us, you should worry about yourselves...

This sentence left Balam speechless, and he had no choice but to push open the hatch with a dejected look:

"Please come in..."