The heavy rain at sea only lasted for one morning. At noon, the clouds in the sky had dispersed and the sun became bright again.
Above the ocean, such sudden changes in weather are very common. Usually when you encounter a rain cloud, there will be a burst of rain. When the ship sails away from this sea area, it will be another completely different weather.
It is already the fifth day of sailing, and the fleet of ships is rapidly passing through the Strait of Malacca.
By the afternoon, the wind on the sea had dropped to Level 2, and the three ships were as stable as a rock on the water. The situation was much better than when they encountered a tropical storm near Xisha.
People who suffered from seasickness gradually got used to it, and even the military newspaper reporter Yu Da, who was vomiting so much at first that his eyes were spinning with stars and his legs were weak, began to liven up.
He was full of energy, but for Li Zheng, it was a disaster.
He has finally set his sights on Li Zheng.
With such a good typical character, such good material, and the aerial shot that shocked the entire formation during the morning drill, reporter Yu Da became really excited.
Unless he wrote a typical story about Li Zheng and published it in the military newspaper, he would have felt sorry for this escort mission.
Almost as soon as he was free, reporter Yu Da would sneak into the rest cabin of the special forces team, get in and look for Li Zheng. When he found him, he asked to sit down face to face, and started a one-on-one interview with a small notebook and a recorder.
This type of visit made Li Zheng very uncomfortable.
He felt like he was sitting in an interrogation room and was a suspect. The reporter Yu Da across from him was the police. He almost dug up all the eighteen generations of his ancestors. He wished he could find out how old Li Zheng was when he didn't wet the bed and how old he was when he wet the bed.
Fortunately, in the afternoon, the formation began its first replenishment.
"Sea supply deployment!"
The captain's order came over the ship's radio.
Li Zheng stood up quickly and said: "Reporter Yu, the first supply is about to begin. Why don't you go and take some shots? This is very precious."
Yu Huan thought about it and felt that what Li Zheng said made sense.
The formation must carry out multiple replenishments during the escort journey, including replenishment at the shore and replenishment at sea.
Sea supplies are provided to the other two destroyers and frigates through the comprehensive supply ship No. 3. It has only been five days since the voyage, so there is no need for food supplies, but the fuel does need to be replenished.
"Okay, then..."
Reporter Yu also wanted to talk about it later.
Li Zheng, however, couldn't allow him to speak and immediately interrupted him: "Reporter Yu, everyone has gone out. You have to grab a good position to take good photos."
After saying that, he ran away without looking back.
The formation supplies finally gave Li Zheng an excuse to temporarily escape from the bombardment of interviews by reporters from Yu Da.
It was now half past two in the afternoon, and the formation had sailed to the west entrance of the Lijia Strait. From here, turn around and head west to the Indian Ocean.
The No. 3 supply ship, which had been at the rear of the formation, speeded up and caught up, first keeping parallel to the No. 2 ship where Li Zheng was.
Then, the two ships began to get closer and closer...
70 meters…
60 meters…
50 meters……
The distance between the last two ships has been shortened to only about 30 meters.
On the deck of supply ship No. 3, a naval petty officer controlled a cable skimmer and aimed it at the deck of ship No. 2. With the sound of a gunshot, a tough rope on the supply ship fell steadily to the deck of ship No. 2.
On the deck of the ship.
It is not easy to accurately launch a rope from two moving ships to the other side's deck. If it passes the tip of the gun, it will fall into the sea, and if the force is too low, it will fall into the sea. It requires extremely rich experience in ship work.
After the rope was launched, the officers and soldiers of the supply department on the No. 3 ship immediately split up and fixed and towed. The sailors on the No. 2 ship were also doing the same thing. Both sides must use the shortest possible time to fix the cable.
Come down.
Fatty Wei said to Li Zheng: "If you stay in the navy for a few years, you will be more than enough to be an ocean-going sailor when you return."
Li Zheng said: "You can apply to study in the destroyer detachment, and just stay there and become a sailor."
Fatty Wei said: "I'm not stupid. I'm a member of the Jiaolong Commando and I'm going to be a sailor?"
While the two were chatting, reporter Yu had already taken his camera and pointed it at the two ships.
Fatty Wei couldn't help but added: "I wonder if the photo in the military newspaper in a few days will show two fishing boats transporting goods to each other..."
Li Zheng didn't understand it at first, but he quickly came to his senses and almost couldn't hold back his laughter.
"Lead cable!"
"Tighten the tightrope!"
"Watch the height!"
A series of maritime supply procedures were launched one after another, and the first rope bridge was quickly built in the airspace between the two ships.
A few minutes later, the oil hose and metal joints coiled at the top of the portal hanger of the No. 3 ship began to stretch toward the No. 2 ship along the already constructed steel cables like a living snake.
Under the command of the officer, the sailors in the supply department on the No. 2 ship focused their attention on the huge metal oil supply joint.
This thing weighs a hundred kilograms. You need to control the speed and not go too fast to avoid hitting the oil filling port of the No. 2 ship, which will cause damage to the equipment of both ships. Once this happens, it is an accident and you will definitely be criticized or even punished.
The supply soldier who controlled the oil pipeline on the No. 3 ship was an old sergeant. He controlled the motor to keep the pipe head at speed and accuracy. Soon, the pipe head gently stopped less than half a meter in front of the oil port. The supply of the No. 2 ship
Two soldiers went up to lift the joint, and one of them started to signal to the control officer of the No. 3 ship, and the command continued to let go.
Everything was hammered out after thousands of times of training. With a "bang" sound, the two supply soldiers on the No. 2 ship had already stuck the oil pipe joint on the oil filling port, and quickly tightened and fixed it.
"good!"
A supply soldier raised his hand.
"Connection completed!"
Immediately, oil was continuously pumped out from the supply warehouse of the No. 3 comprehensive supply ship and continuously injected into the ship's oil depot of the No. 2 ship through hoses.
In fact, as a 054a frigate, the support capacity of the No. 2 ship in ocean operations can reach 15 days. If cruising at a speed of 18 knots, the range can reach 4,000 nautical miles.
We have just passed the Strait of Malacca and there is still at least half of the oil in the oil depot.
But since we are about to enter the Indian Ocean next, especially before entering the Gulf of Aden, we have to pass through some sensitive waters, and no one can tell what will happen. Replenishment immediately after leaving the Strait of Malacca in advance is also an insurance policy to prevent problems in the bud.
What's more, maritime supply is an important basis for the sustained combat capability of a blue-water navy. Currently, there are three main ways of supplying the navies of major countries in the world -
One is to establish overseas bases, such as the Yingjiang family. Their bases are located in every corner of the world, so the supply of ships, personnel repairs, and equipment repairs can all be completed in overseas bases.
The second type is accompanying support. The so-called accompanying support is actually like escort formation, which uses ocean-going comprehensive supply ships to replenish the fleet. This is also the most commonly used method by the navy so far. After all, it is not comparable to the Takajia family.
Their navy has been in business for many years and has a solid foundation.
Another method is to accept supplies from ports of call. As the name suggests, it means to stop at ports along the way and replenish supplies and fuel on site.
Each of the three methods has advantages and disadvantages.
The first mode is convenient for supply, but the cost of maintenance is astonishing. Hundreds of overseas bases in Yingjiang are swallowed by gold beasts every year, so it is not surprising that their military expenditures top the list every year.
The third method is the most economical and low-cost, but it is easily restricted by the port where you are located. For example, if a non-friendly country does not allow you to dock during a war, or you are unable to dock due to extreme weather, or you are unable to dock
, there are no local supplies suitable for the fleet, and the quality is even too poor, etc.
The second kind of on-ship supply is somewhere between the two, with cost and convenience at a balance point, but it is not without its shortcomings. For example, the supply may not be able to keep up when encountering extreme weather or extreme missions, and
This method of supplying at sea has very high requirements on the quality of the ship's sailors. It is not something that can be done casually. If two ships collide, it will definitely make international headlines.
After a full hour and twenty minutes, the No. 2 ship completed its replenishment, and the No. 3 ship began to approach the No. 1 ship and began to milk the formation flagship again.
After the formation was completely replenished, it had completely left the waters of Malacca. The ship's broadcast began to broadcast that the ships had begun to enter the Indian Ocean.
Li Zheng passed through this sea area for the first time. He heard that this sea is not a peaceful place, and there are many monsters and monsters.