"The Wolstenholme Fjord where the Thule Air Force Base is located is the entrance to the Smith Sound. We passed there early yesterday morning, but the Wolstenholme Fjord is too far from our route, so we couldn't see it." Brian's expression showed that he was a little tipsy.
"In fact, it is an Arctic research base that has existed for a long time. Previously, there was an Inuit settlement called Ulanmark, where the Inuit lived for hundreds of years. Later, Danish explorer Krud Rasmussen turned it into a trading center and forward base during his five Arctic scientific expeditions between 1912 and 1924."
"After World War II, a joint Danish weather station was established in the area. During the Cold War, the US military began to see the Arctic as a front line against the Soviet Union. During World War II, the Allies had established weather stations in Greenland and Canada, but during the Cold War, the United States wanted an air base to intercept bombers coming from the northeast to the United States and also as a refueling point for long-range bombers of the United States. Ulanmark happened to be halfway between Moscow and New York, so the US government set its sights on it."
"At that time, the secret project to build an air base here was codenamed 'Blue Jay'. In July 1951, a fleet of 120 containers, people and 300,000 tons of cargo arrived in North Star Bay and immediately began construction of the Thule Air Base. All the Inuit living in Ulanmark were relocated, and then the builders spent two years building a huge air base there. This is the Thule Air Base, where the 821st Regiment of the US Air Force was stationed at the time, and it was also known as the 821st Base."
Brian drank another glass of wine, shook his head and continued, "In 1961, the US military established the 12th Space Warning Squadron, which was called the 12th Missile Warning Squadron at the time. This squadron was also stationed at Thule Air Force Base. At that time, Thule Air Force Base was successively commanded by the US Northeast Air Force Command, Air Defense Command and Strategic Air Command. It was not until 1983 that the Air Force Space Command took over Thule Air Force Base. In 1992, the 12th Missile Warning Squadron was reorganized into the 12th Space Warning Squadron. I served there in 2007 and served there for a total of four years."
Yang Jing asked curiously, "It must be boring to serve there, right?"
Brian smiled and shook his head. "How can it be boring? If you say that serving there now is boring, that's for sure. After all, there are only about 200 American soldiers serving there now, but when I served, there were more than 2,000 people there. It is said that the number of people at Thule Air Force Base once reached more than 10,000 at its peak. How can it be boring?"
Brian said, stretching out his hand and drawing a circle. "You haven't been there. Although it is located 1,207 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, the scenery there is also spectacular. It is the only place on Earth where three active glaciers merge together, and Thule is also the northernmost port in the world. The deep-water dock there is large enough for the Blue Whale to dock. In addition, there is a 3,000-meter runway there, and there are more than 3,000 flights to and from Thule Air Force Base every year. Thule Air Force Base can be said to be the most important military base of the US government in the Arctic region! Serving there is actually not boring at all."
Gege asked curiously, "Is there anything else strange there? For example, what are you doing there? Or is there any high-tech radar or something like that in the base?"
Brian smiled and shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Madam Boss, I can't explain the things you asked about. Although I have been retired for seven years, I still have to abide by some confidentiality regulations. I don't want to be hunted down by the US government for the rest of my life for saying something I shouldn't say."
Carl Morris looked at Gege's disappointed expression and said with a smile, "Boss lady, you don't have to be disappointed. Not to mention you, even for those of us who are with Brian all day, he has never told us any sensitive things about that damn base."
Gege shrugged and said, "Well, this is something I shouldn't ask. I'm just too curious."
Because of the sudden snowstorm, everyone except the crew members on duty had a lively dinner at noon.
During such a boring voyage, it is very necessary to have a dinner from time to time, which will help alleviate some negative emotions caused by the boring voyage among passengers or crew members.
But what surprised Yang Jing and his friends was that the snowstorm came and went very quickly. After everyone had eaten and drunk enough at noon, they suddenly realized that the sun had appeared outside again without them noticing.
When they opened the hatch and walked out, they found that the blizzard had stopped. A dark cloud could be seen in the sky, pressing toward the southeast. Although there were still many clouds in the sky, they were not as dark and scary as before. The sun also showed its head playfully, contributing its heat to the sea.
Although the sky cleared up, the temperature became very low. Yang Jing looked at the outdoor thermometer and found that in just three hours, the temperature dropped from around 10 degrees Celsius to minus 17 degrees Celsius...
"The polar climate is like this, because the rising warm air in the entire Northern Hemisphere will cool down in the Arctic region, and then carry a huge amount of cold air to the warm areas in low latitudes to replenish the air that rises in the warm areas due to the rising temperature. So in the polar regions, we can often encounter such sudden snowstorms. Don't worry, it's summer now after all, and this kind of snowstorm will not cause any catastrophic consequences as long as you pay a little attention." Standing in the cockpit, Andrei whispered to Yang Jing to explain the snowstorm.
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