The capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.
Fang Lang, who had just walked into the Navy Department office building, had a smile on his face. He greeted everyone he met with a smiling face and a casual expression.
This time, in order to promote the Brazilian Ministry of Defense to entrust Fangyuan Shipyard to design and build a new destroyer, Fang Lang has also made a great effort. He used to only come to the Navy Office twice in most half a year, but now he has to report to it every day in the past week.
Even many officers in the Navy Department who were originally unfamiliar with him became familiar with him, and people kept greeting him when they met him, which made his facial muscles swell and hurt from smiling.
Fortunately, hard work pays off. After a period of unremitting efforts, the independent shipbuilding plan has finally been successfully promoted. The Ministry of National Defense has officially issued an announcement, entrusting Fangyuan Shipyard to design and build a new destroyer.
And made specific requirements for the specific performance of the destroyer, but looking at the requirements put forward by the Navy, Fang Lang could only shake his head helplessly, because this requirement was not much different from the current "Fletcher" class destroyer.
However, Fang Lang quickly understood what the Ministry of National Defense meant. This was also because they were worried about the technical strength of Fangyuan Shipyard and afraid that the requirements were too high and Fangyuan Shipyard would not be able to complete them. But this was obviously not what Fang Lang wanted.
He kept greeting people along the way and finally arrived at the Navy Minister's office. When the secretary saw Fang Lang coming, he quickly stood up to greet him.
"General Fang, you are here! The Minister has ordered that you do not need to announce your arrival, just go in directly."
...
...
General Crook's secretary was a young major. Although he was young, he was actually two years older than Fang Lang. Fang Lang could still see a hint of immaturity on his face.
Unlike Fang Lang, although he is young, he already has a sense of maturity. Of course, this feeling is mainly reflected in his temperament. After all, as a military commander with a large number of troops, he naturally speaks and acts decisively and vigorously.
At this moment, the major's secretary standing opposite Fang Lang felt it very clearly.
Although Fang Lang looked like he was smiling, the confidence and determination revealed in his eyes could not be ignored.
Coming to a territory that did not belong to him, he did not feel any restraint at all. Instead, he looked like a leader coming for inspection. There was a hint of sharpness in his eyes, and when his gaze rested on the secretary, he would unconsciously straighten his back.
Hearing the secretary's words, Fang Lang smiled indifferently and waved his hand at the other party:
"Okay, just mind your own business! Don't worry about me."
Then he knocked on the office door without stopping and said loudly:
"Report!"
A deep voice came from inside:
"Come in!"
After receiving the reply, Fang Lang turned to the secretary, smiled and nodded, and opened the door of the office. Before Fang Lang could speak, the voice of General Crook came from inside:
"I can tell from the voice that it's you, come in!"
When the secretary at the door heard that General Crook, who always behaved very seriously, actually had such an easy-going side, his expression froze. He looked at Fang Lang's back with envy, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly, when will I be treated like this!
Fang Lang didn't care about what the secretary was thinking. After hearing what General Crook said, he walked into the office with a smile and said:
“I finally have the time to spend some time in Rio de Janeiro, so of course I want to get closer to you.
Aren't you welcome?"
The secretary at the door waited until Fang Lang entered, then hurried forward and closed the office door.
General Crook in the office had already stood up and walked towards the reception area, pointing to the coffee table in the reception area, motioning Fang Lang to sit down. Fang Lang was not polite and sat down directly on the sofa in the reception area.
The hand has naturally reached out to the tea tray on the coffee table. This is a small tea tray made of mahogany, and a variety of tea sets are placed on the tea tray.
This was installed by Fang Lang himself when he came to visit two days ago. In the past week, he came here every day to sit and drink Kung Fu tea. Under his influence, General Crook also got used to this novel way of drinking tea.
Seeing Fang Lang acting as casual as if he had returned home, General Crook was not angry at all. Instead, he smiled and joked:
"If I say you're not welcome, will you not come?"
Hearing this, Fang Lang looked up at the other party in surprise and said with a smile:
"That's impossible. I believe the general will welcome me at any time."
General Crook handed a cigar to Fang Lang, took out one for himself, then casually sat on the other side of the coffee table, waved his hand and said:
"Okay, let's not talk about this. Didn't you say yesterday that you wouldn't come today?"
Fang Lang casually took the cigar and placed it on the coffee table. He continued to make tea. Upon hearing this, he put away his joking expression and said to General Crook in a slightly formal tone:
"After I went back yesterday, I carefully studied the destroyer performance requirements proposed by the Navy Department this time. I personally feel that there is still some room for adjustment, so I would like to discuss it with you again."
Hearing this, General Crook glanced at Fang Lang with an unchanged expression, lit the cigar in his hand, took a deep puff, and then slowly said:
"Tell me what you think."
Fang Lang did not answer immediately, but brewed the tea in his hand, handed a cup to General Crook, and then served himself a cup, took a sip, and then slowly said:
“I think the Navy Department’s request is still a bit conservative.
Now that we have decided to produce our own destroyers, we should not just copy them, but should have our own innovations and develop a brand new destroyer that meets the actual needs of our Brazilian Navy.”
Hearing this, General Crook's expression did not change much. He continued to smoke the cigar in his hand calmly. After waiting for a while, he said with a smile:
"So what kind of destroyer do you think our Brazilian Navy needs?"
Fang Lang already had the answer to General Crook's question in his mind, but he did not answer it directly. Instead, he picked up the cigar on the table, trimmed it while thinking about how to start the conversation. After a while, he slowly said:
“General, I was born in the Army and later became a Navy soldier. Many people may think that I am not professional.
But when I was receiving training in the United States, I learned about the development history of destroyers. Combined with my own naval combat experience and my actual feelings on the Pacific battlefield, I also had a general idea of the future of destroyers.
If there is anything wrong with what I said, please feel free to correct me. "
Knowing that Fang Lang has always been a very humble person, Crook did not say much, but smiled at him and said:
"You are the backbone of our Brazilian Navy. How dare anyone say you are unprofessional?"
I didn't expect that old fellow Crook would be so naughty. Fang Lang could only smile bitterly and said:
“At my age, I have become a powerful general in the Brazilian Navy. How could there be no gossip about me?
But I don't care about this. After all, I got promoted based on my real military achievements.
Of course, this was also due to the strong support from the General.
In addition, I never forget to improve myself and have been learning naval-related knowledge from US military advisers.
Now, I consider myself to be a very professional naval officer.”
General Crook did not let Fang Lang speak his mind directly, but continued to look at Fang Lang with a smile and said:
"Then do you know why the Navy Department made such a design request?"
Hearing this, Fang Lang smiled bitterly and said helplessly:
“I understand what you mean. The reason why the Navy Department put forward such a design requirement is to give our shipyard an opportunity to learn and exercise.
But I think this is wrong. Our shipyard cannot always live under the protection of the government. We must accept the baptism of reality.
Moreover, the times have changed. Communication between countries has become very easy. We don’t have to worry about the shipyard not having such strength.
At worst, we can hire professional designers and excellent engineers from developed countries to work in our shipyards.
Moreover, given the relationship between our Fangyuan Shipyard and Global Shipbuilding of the United States, I think these are not difficult.
With technical support from the United States and around the world, I think we are fully capable of taking bigger steps.”
Looking at Fang Lang's serious expression, General Crook also understood that the other party's attitude was serious.
Initially, the Navy Department did adjust the destroyer's performance parameters to those of the US Fletcher-class destroyer in order to train the team.
In General Crook's view, this was protection for the country's shipbuilding enterprises, but after Fang Lang's words just now, he felt a little relieved.
As Fang Lang said, they really should not lower performance requirements in order to protect their own shipyards. This is not only irresponsible to the navy, but also not beneficial to the development of the shipyards.
After thinking this through, General Crook nodded solemnly and said:
"What you said makes sense. What kind of destroyer do you want? Or how big a step do you want to take?"
Seeing that the topic had returned to the development direction of destroyers, Fang Lang picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea to moisten his throat before slowly saying:
"When I was receiving training in the United States, my teacher said that the purpose of destroyers in the first place was to protect our large warships from attacks by small torpedo boats. They mainly killed enemy torpedo boats through artillery and torpedoes.
But as time goes by, the roles of torpedo boats are becoming more and more diverse. During World War I, with the emergence of submarines, destroyers were given anti-submarine tasks.
In this world war, destroyers were not only used for anti-submarine warfare, but also responsible for protecting aircraft carriers from attacks by enemy aircraft. Therefore, destroyers were also given the mission of air defense.
The tonnage of ships has also grown from the initial 400 tons to the current 5,000 tons.
Its function has also changed from killing enemy torpedo boats and protecting our large warships to the current anti-submarine, air defense, ground attack, support for landing operations, etc.
As for the future of destroyers, I believe that their functions will be more diversified and their tonnage will be further expanded. And our construction direction will definitely continue to move in this direction. "
As an old navy man, General Crook was of course very clear about what Fang Lang said, but Fang Lang's conclusion surprised him a little. After a little contemplation, he said uncertainly:
"You said that the future of destroyers will be more diverse in function, and I agree with that. But aren't the current functions diverse enough?
You know, it covers almost all directions from which the enemy can launch an attack. Whether it is land, sky, sea or seabed, the destroyer has been included in the attack range.
Besides these, could the enemy launch an attack from somewhere else that we don't know about?"
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