Chapter 1386 A Real Icebreaker
Xiao Peng waved his hand and said, "Ma Xiao, why are you so nervous? What's so exciting about finding a ship in the ocean?"
Ma Xiao said, "Boss, it's the 'Xuelong 2'! 'Xuelong 2'! It's 22 nautical miles away from us!"
There was a reason why he was so excited. It was not easy to see a ship from Daxia here, let alone the "Xuelong 2"!
There is a reason why many people jokingly say that the people of Daxia have the "Sharingan", and this "Snow Dragon No. 2" is a good example.
Daxia has a fairly long coastline, and the northern Tianjin Haihe River and Bohai Sea areas face ice problems in winter. In order to solve this problem, Daxia actually designed and built many types of icebreakers after its founding, but they were all small-scale ships, and their ocean-going and icebreaking capabilities were quite weak. They were considered the first generation of icebreakers of Daxia.
The first time Daxia conducted an Antarctic scientific expedition was in 1984. Due to the lack of large icebreakers, it could only use the "Xiangyanghong No. 10" research vessel without icebreaking capabilities and a naval salvage and lifeboat to go to Antarctica to complete the construction of the "Great Wall Station".
Although they arrived at the polar region during the Antarctic summer and completed the work plan on time, the Xiangyanghong No. 10 was forced to withdraw from the Antarctic scientific expedition because the hull was severely damaged by the weather during the expedition.
The following year, Daxia purchased a second-hand general cargo ship "Rhea" with ice-carrying capabilities from Finland. After a series of modifications, it became Daxia's second-generation icebreaker "Polar" - there was no other way. It was not easy to buy an "old ship" under the blockade. Although that ship's icebreaking capability was not strong and it was too old, it still insisted on carrying out six Antarctic scientific expeditions and completed the construction of "Zhongshan Station" before it withdrew from the stage of history. Now the icebreaking capability of "Polar" is similar to that of "Luna" and "Calypso", both of which have A1-level ice resistance, that is, they can move at a speed of five knots in a floating ice channel with a thickness of less than one meter. There is no way to deal with an icy channel.
The retirement of the Polar Ship also marked a long period of absence of icebreakers in Daxia.
It was Ukraine that changed the situation that Daxia had no icebreakers.
No matter what the current Ukrainian actor-president does, one thing cannot be changed: Daxia got "three treasures" from Ukraine.
After Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union, its economy was weakened and it was forced to rely on selling various military products to make money, such as engines and aircraft. The first "treasure" it acquired was naturally the Soviet-era legacy "Varyag" aircraft carrier, which later became the "Liaoning" of Daxia. After Daxia mastered aircraft carrier technology, they are now about to launch their third aircraft carrier...
The second treasure is the "Qinghai Lake" comprehensive supply ship.
The Daxia Navy does have comprehensive supply ships, specifically the "Taicang" class. However, despite being called "comprehensive supply ships," these ships are primarily used for oil and water replenishment, carrying only a small amount of refrigerated food, effectively qualifying as "oil and water replenishment ships." They only increase the fleet's ocean-going range but cannot replenish ammunition, making their impact on enhancing the warships' long-range combat capabilities extremely limited. The "Qinghai Lake," on the other hand, boasts a large tonnage, a small crew, a large cargo capacity, and a long endurance, making it a true "comprehensive supply ship."
Of course, the 'Qinghai Lake' also has its problems, such as low speed, no self-defense weapons, poor stability of the retractable hangar, etc. However, after Daxia mastered the technology of the 'Qinghai Lake', the 901 supply ship with a displacement of 48,000 tons and a speed of 25 knots that can escort aircraft carriers was born: You must know that the full load displacement of the 'Qinghai Lake' is only 37,000 tons and the speed is only 15.5 knots!
As for the third "treasure", it is the "Xuelong" icebreaker.
It was a Vitas-Bering-class icebreaker built by the Kherson Shipyard in Ukraine in 1993. It could continuously break through 1.2-meter-thick ice at a speed of 1.5 knots! Captain Kherson had undergone three modifications, completely transforming it to its former glory, according to Daxia's requirements. The ship's laboratory area had been expanded to 580 square meters, and all laboratory equipment had been replaced. It could now record atmospheric and hydrological data, and conduct specialized research in marine geology, physics, biology, and other fields anywhere in the world.
The Xuelong has conducted more than 30 Antarctic scientific expeditions and rescued more than 50 passengers from the stranded Russian research vessel Academician Shokalsky in Antarctica. This incident has been made into a movie, which should be available soon. By the way, the screenwriter and producer of the movie are also the screenwriter and producer of "Sully" starring Tom Hanks.
Is Daxia satisfied with just the Snow Dragon? Of course not! That would be underestimating Daxia's Sharingan.
While using the "Xuelong", Daxia studied the technology of the "Xuelong", and thus the new generation of independently developed and domestically produced icebreaking research vessel "Xuelong 2" was born, which is even more powerful than the "Xuelong".
Xuelong 2 is the world's first polar research icebreaker to utilize both bow and stern bidirectional icebreaking technology, achieving PC3 icebreaking capability according to the International Classification Association (IFCA) standards! Its technical specifications surpass those of the Xuelong. Since its commissioning, Xuelong 2 has performed a series of remarkable feats: first conducting icebreaking experiments in Prydz Bay near Zhongshan Station in Antarctica, then conducting multidisciplinary surveys of the atmosphere, oceans, and seabed and ecological environments in the Astronaut Sea, and even completing a circumnavigation of Antarctica, deploying westerly and surface drift buoys, totaling 30,000 nautical miles in one go.
After a brief rest back home, he headed straight for the Arctic, conducting a series of scientific research activities in the Chukchi Plateau, the Canada Basin, and the central Arctic Ocean, focusing on global climate change and comprehensive Arctic environmental surveys. He never expected to see it here? No wonder Ma Xiao was so excited!
The question is, how did it end up here? Was it heading to the Yellow River Station in Daxia after completing its expedition to the central Arctic Ocean? That wouldn't be the right route!
But this is not what Ma Xiao is considering: Can't people conduct scientific research here?
Xiao Peng, who was playing a game on his console, perked up after hearing Ma Xiao's words: "'Snow Dragon II'? Are you sure?"
Ma Xiao nodded and said, "Of course, the AIS system shows it clearly."
"Notify the Luna to turn around and head for the Xuelong II!" Xiao Peng put down his game console. "When fellow villagers meet, tears well up in their eyes. Go get me two packs of tissues! I'm going to have a good cry today!"
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