afterglow

Chapter 453: Bureaucracy with American Characteristics; Maintenance of the Lexington

More than a dozen officers of the Mustin have been questioned in detail - although there is no legal violation, their current treatment is infinitely close to that of suspects.

From the gunnery officer to the captain, everyone was questioned about various details one by one.

Captain Frederick Sherman, the captain of the Lexington, received similar, but slightly better, treatment.

The specially created investigative committee was a hodgepodge, including, in addition to Navy personnel, several lawmakers and presidentially appointed federal prosecutors.

Logically speaking, the investigation and handling of this kind of fault has nothing to do with the federal government and should be the responsibility of the Navy's judicial department.

However, the nature and impact of this matter were so bad that the Navy could not resist the criticism from the outside world and could only reluctantly agree.

During the investigative committee's interrogation of relevant personnel, the Navy's special court-martial also charged all officers of the destroyer USS Mustin for loss of equipment and aiding the enemy.

908. According to UCMJ-108-, the US military property was damaged due to its own reasons.

Second, according to UCMJ-904-104, he helped the enemy with various actions.

"Our investigation hasn't been put together yet, those Navy guys have made accusations, and I don't know what they were thinking."

"Perhaps it is to cope with the pressure of public opinion. This is normal."

In a conference room on the second floor of the building, several congressmen and federal prosecutors were chatting while sorting out files.

"Because they know that all the problems lie with them." Justice Department agent Egbert said calmly.

The rest of the people looked over, and he continued to speak unhurriedly: "The situation is very clear. Except for one torpedo launching mechanism that was unable to launch due to malfunction, the other two were all successfully launched. At that time, the USS Mustin and Lexington The ship was only 1500 yards away and at least seven torpedoes struck her, but only four explosions occurred."

"Egbert, what do you mean..."

"If the failure rate of a thing exceeds 43%, do you still think it is normal?"

The group organized the interrogation documents and left the building with their briefcases.

At this moment, countless protesters have gathered outside the Admiralty Building, stretching from the entrance to the National Mall. People continue to drive across the Potomac River Bridge and then join the demonstrations.

The banners carried slogans such as "Shame on the Navy" and "Forty-five million dollar Christmas gift."

Some of them were not afraid to hide their identities, and they loudly claimed that there was widespread dereliction of duty and corruption in the U.S. Army and Navy, and that much of the bureaucracy must be eliminated in order to win the war.

Silver shirt, blue tie, blue trousers...

"It's these guys again. Three months ago, an armed stronghold in Virginia was seized by the National Guard. There was a firefight between the two sides, and there were about forty casualties." Agent Eggbert said contemptuously.

What is clear is that political contestation is never absent from such events.

The conclusion of the preliminary investigation can now be said to be quite detailed, and all the fingers point to the culprit that caused the big mistake - the torpedo!

Although Admiral Hasband's character is upright, he still has basic wisdom in dealing with people.

According to the combat report of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force, the captains of several submarines have reported torpedo duds. This means that not only the Mk15 torpedoes used by surface ships have problems, but the Mk14 torpedoes used by submarines also have serious flaws.

Therefore, it can basically be concluded that the fault of the Naval Ordnance Bureau-the torpedoes provided by these guys are defective!

However, many officers in the U.S. Navy are aware of the stakes involved. The local congressmen in Newport are very protective, and they will not give up easily when they cause trouble.

So generally speaking, everyone is reluctant to provoke them and often choose to turn a blind eye.

After careful consideration, General Hasband-Kimmel decided to report truthfully.

For the sake of the morale of the navy, for the victory of the war, and for the sake of personal reputation, I can’t control so much for the time being!

The combat reports and handwritten feedback from the captains of the four submarines were compiled, photocopied and printed in quadruplicate, and sealed into waterproof portfolios.

A Navy lieutenant colonel, accompanied by several armed sailors, took the document on a humble PBY Catalina seaplane from Honolulu to the West Coast, and then transferred to Washington.

Because President Franklin attached great importance to this matter and specifically ordered that the progress of the investigation must be reported in a timely manner, it was not long before the preliminary conclusions of the investigation committee and the summary of the report sent by the Pacific Fleet Command were sent to the desk of the White House.

After reading it carefully, the president said solemnly: "I'm afraid someone in the Ordnance Bureau will have to give a reasonable answer."

At his request, the Investigative Committee immediately went to Newport to investigate the Naval Ordnance Bureau Torpedo Station.

The Mk14/15 torpedo and its matching Mk6 magnetic fuze were designed and developed by engineers from the Naval Ordnance Bureau. After the finalization, the mass production work was mainly concentrated at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport.

However, because the United States began to expand its military and prepare for war in the past few years, the increase in torpedo production is one of its many plans. Now some private companies are also involved in parts manufacturing.

The Navy's purchase price for the Mk14 533mm torpedo is US$. This price is so expensive that it is enough to buy ten brand-new cars. You must know that most cars are sold for only more than US$, which is slightly better. It's only more than a thousand yuan.

Now, the Douglas DC-3 passenger plane aboard the Investigation Committee landed smoothly on the runway of the Newport Naval Base.

Newport is located in Rhode Island in the northern part of the east coast. It has beautiful seaside scenery and colorful art festivals. It is also an important base of the U.S. Navy. The Naval War College, which trains middle and senior commanders, is located here.

The Ordnance Bureau Torpedo Station was not surprised by the sudden arrival of the investigation team.

Although the Naval Ordnance Bureau still firmly denied that there was a problem with the torpedo itself, they stated that the occurrence of dumb bombs must be attributed to the sailors' illegal operation or failure to perform maintenance according to the technical manual requirements.

But at this time of crisis, even if they deny it, it can't change the fact that the investigation has led to them.

The Ordnance Bureau Torpedo Station is essentially an official enterprise owned by the Navy. Some of the managers here are also Navy civilians, and those workers are also employees who have signed standard labor contracts.

After a decent investigation visit, the investigation committee expressed its hope to conduct actual tests and randomly inspect a batch of test fires from the completed torpedoes to test their reliability.

However, the torpedo station management rejected the test launch on the grounds of "insufficient authority" and "lack of test conditions."

So the investigative committee could only submit an application to Washington first, and then prepare to stay here for one night, hoping to get authorization in time.

"I don't know why they would choose a canning company as a parts contractor?"

"That's not all, International Harvester has also taken on some orders."

That afternoon, just as the group was preparing to leave, Agent Egbert made a quick trip to the bathroom.

As he tied his belt, he came to the sink. Suddenly, a figure quietly slipped behind him, threw something on the ground and turned away.

He quickly turned his head, but only saw the man passing by and disappearing from the bathroom door.

But on the floor tiles at the door, an envelope was lying there quietly.

Agent Egbert picked it up and saw the words "To Investigators" written on the envelope, and he immediately became vigilant. After looking around to make sure it was safe, he opened the envelope, took out and unfolded the letter inside.

The handwriting is a bit illegible, but it doesn't affect reading.

"To investigators, I am a naval officer at Newport Torpedo Station, and I feel I need to give you some inside information.

Rhode Island voters, legislators, and labor unions have always had close ties to Washington, and they have always favored us—Newport Torpedo Station, or the workers who work here.

I think the guidelines they maintain are excessive and inappropriate, I once had a manager try to fire an incompetent worker but was met with so much resistance that he eventually gave up.

Some voters even claimed that members of the House and Senate from Rhode Island would pay a personal visit to the Secretary of the Navy if employees working here were fired at will.

But in fact there is no arbitrariness. In my opinion, a considerable number of workers lack a sense of professional responsibility. They often work when they are sleepy and hungover, and the failure rate is very high..."

The frowning Agent Egbert took a deep breath, then took out the Mysterious Camera from his pocket, pointed it at the letter, and took several pictures in succession.

The shouts of companions also came from outside, "Egbert, what are you doing? Three minutes have passed."

"Sorry, I'm here."

In this way, the group of people left the torpedo station factory area while talking with each other.

They stayed at a nearby hotel that day. Agent Egbert put the film in an envelope and dropped it into a mailbox on the street before returning to his room.

After making sure there were no outsiders nearby, he told the other members of the investigation committee what had happened.

Everyone got together and read the letter from beginning to end, and then immediately started arguing.

The federal prosecutor couldn't help but sigh: "Man, this is much worse than a privately owned company."

Everything has its pros and cons. In a sense, it was a bad thing that the Lexington was captured by the Ming army by chance.

Historically, due to the stubbornness of the Naval Ordnance Bureau, it was not until 1943 that the United States began to formally address the problem of torpedo duds.

In October of that year, twenty-one months after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the first batch of improved Mk14 torpedoes were loaded into submarines and put into use.

But this time it was not the case. The huge pressure from the military, government, and civilian parties was put on the arrogant Ordnance Bureau bureaucrats, and it was impossible for them to shirk the blame.

It is foreseeable that the Ming Dynasty's maritime transportation lines will face a surge in threats in the near future. The US submarine force that sank 5 million tons of Japanese merchant ships in the original plane will soon get rid of the infuriating problem of dumb bombs.

In addition, the new submarine, the Little Shark class, which draws on the experience of previous generations of submarines such as the Dolphin class and Salmon class, has also completed the design plan and is about to be put into production.

Sharks are coming.

However, Akito, who was intoxicated with the joy brought by victory after victory, did not realize this. Asano and Asano still had the mentality of watching the fun.

"With carelessness and weak armaments, the pioneer of aviation warfare was finally captured by our country."

"Beauty must fail!" The 10,000-ton giant ship was abandoned and the general was furious.

"You can catch a glimpse of a leopard in a tube, and you can see that there are such omissions in the grand national war"

Major newspapers from north to south of the Ming Dynasty happily published various articles, gloating and ridiculing.

The teahouse is filled with the eloquent talks of folk critics, who often speak thousands of words and tell people various jokes.

For example, a certain general is so angry that he vomits blood, a certain officer takes the blame and resigns, or the commander-in-chief in the white house is so angry that he orders the arrest of many people...

"Hey, I still don't understand Cantonese."

Zhou Changfeng, who was dressed in casual clothes, and several soldiers were strolling along the river. Many magnificent boats floated slowly on the river, and the laughter of diners could be heard from nearby teahouses and restaurants.

After more than half a month of hard work, the Lexington finally arrived in Guangzhou under the escort of three destroyers.

After preliminary repairs in Surabaya, all the Lexington's breaches were sealed and half of its power was restored.

Zhou Changfeng believed that he was a common man after all, and he couldn't resist his love of watching the excitement, so he flew all the way from the capital just to witness this rare scene.

Aesthetically speaking, the bridge and chimney of the Lexington class are very tall and appear rather abrupt, with some feeling that one side is lighter and the other is heavier, which is not coordinated enough.

【Picture】

But this is someone else’s boat after all, and the bad things are also good, and the ugly things are also beautiful.

At this moment, the Lexington is being towed by a barge into the No. 3 dry dock of Chuting Shipyard.

Zhou Changfeng, who was standing by the side, pointed and asked, "What is the navy's plan? Can it be repaired?"

There were several shipyard directors and naval officers surrounding him. One of them, a major, clasped his fists and replied without hesitation: "Sir, it hasn't been finalized yet. We need to carefully evaluate the repair cost. If it's too big, just repair it simply." , as a training ship.”

Repairing such a severely damaged warship is very difficult, time-consuming and expensive.

Moreover, only this 260m dry dock at Chuting Shipyard meets the maintenance conditions, and the remaining dry docks are not long enough to accommodate the Lexington.

Maintaining her means that the production task must be put on hold. The five armored aircraft carriers are preparing to start construction, and the two are in conflict.

"And Zhou Daizhao doesn't know something. The power plant of this ship is different from ordinary ships. To be honest, it requires a lot of thinking."

Zhou Changfeng looked at the shipyard engineer who was speaking in surprise, and asked doubtfully: "They are usually boilers and steam engines?"

The latter shook his head slightly, smiled wryly and replied, "Although this ship also has a boiler and a turbine, it uses steam to drive the turbine to generate electricity, and then uses an electric motor to drive the propeller."

The optimal speed range of the steam turbine main shaft is usually 10,000 revolutions per minute, while the optimum speed range of the large propeller is about 300 revolutions per minute.

How to adapt the two? Countries around the world generally use large gear reduction mechanisms to reduce rotational speed.

But the Americans took a different approach and used electric propulsion on many battleships, directly adjusting the speed of the electric motor to drive the propeller.

"Is this difficult?" Zhou Changfeng blinked and said thoughtfully: "It would be nice to go to the thermal power plant to find someone to help."

(End of this chapter)