Empire Conquest
Chapter 225 - 221 Collective Wisdom and Effort

Chapter 225: Chapter 221 Collective Wisdom and Effort

After ending the call, Bai Zhizhan went to find Zhao Yu and had him call Yang Hanlin.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yongtao went to request the blueprints for the "Heng River," as well as afternoon’s on-site survey report and several repair assessment documents.

In fact, what he found were the blueprints for the "Longjiang," but they could still be used.

Upon reaching the factory director’s office, Zhou Yongtao also told the driver who had been running around with him to return to the hotel and pre-order late-night snacks for several people.

Clearly, Bai Zhizhan and his team weren’t going to get any sleep tonight.

In the first half of the night, everyone was poring over the information, mainly to understand the damage sustained by the "Heng River" and to find the most efficient method of repair.

At midnight, the hotel manager personally delivered the late-night snacks.

It was quite a spread, with fried, stewed, and sautéed dishes, enough to fill a table.

The discussion began while they were eating their late-night snacks.

"President Zhao, what do you think?" Yang Hanlin was the first to speak, as it was the shipyard that had to undertake the repairs, so he had to be proactive.

"The only damage is where it was hit by the torpedo." Zhao Yu only had half a bowl of corn porridge, not much of an appetite; perhaps he wasn’t used to staying up late and didn’t have the habit of eating late-night snacks. "That section has several sailors’ living quarters and a few heavy oil tanks. My suggestion is to not fix it for now. Sailors can squeeze into other cabins to sleep in hot bunks, which is just a bit cramped. Carrying a little less heavy oil won’t have too much of an impact on the vessel’s range. It’s at least bearable."

Yang Hanlin nodded and poured Zhao Yu a bowl of hot soup.

"If we’re talking serious concerns, it’s whether the ship’s structure has been compromised, which could pose safety risks during high-speed navigation, and whether water-tightness in that section can be ensured. If it gets damaged again in combat, even without being hit by another torpedo but just by a near-miss shell, it could lead to serious flooding."

"Is there a problem with its survivability?" Bai Zhizhan interjected with a question.

Zhao Yu didn’t elaborate but nodded to indicate Bai Zhizhan was right to be concerned.

"Will it affect aerial operations?" Bai Zhizhan asked another question.

"After repairs, it could first go out to sea for a trial run. If there are no issues after running at top speed for a few hours, there shouldn’t be any major problems," answered Yang Hanlin. "However, when not in combat, we need to be cautious since no one knows if there are any undiscovered issues."

Yang Hanlin was savvy, and he quickly rounded out his previous statement.

Bai Zhizhan pondered for a while before letting out a breath and asking, "How long will the repair take?"

"Well, it will take at least seven days, at the very least..."

"Three days."

Zhao Yu suddenly interjected, startling Yang Hanlin.

"To be precise, three days will be enough for the repair time in the port, including half a day to exit the dry dock and half a day docked at the pier for basic resupply."

"President Zhao..." Yang Hanlin was truly unsettled.

Zhao Yu, as the head of the design institute, could of course talk big without being responsible for delivering results.

But Yang Hanlin was different, he was the head of the shipyard. He would have to take responsibility for anything that happened here and he would be the primary person accountable.

Zhao Yu could just slap his backside and leave after bragging.

But Yang Hanlin couldn’t just walk away!

Zhao Yu gestured with his hand to silence Yang Hanlin, then continued, "In dry dock, only the hull would be repaired, precisely speaking, to patch up that big hole. The interior compartments, as I mentioned initially, would just be sealed off. Other repair work could be done after leaving port, by then we could have the shipyard’s engineers accompany the carrier, but we’d have to arrange for a cruise ship to follow, so they can be brought back after the repairs are completed. Equipment and materials needed for repairs can also be transported by ship; these can be delivered to the carrier en route. If necessary, a crane can be placed on the carrier’s flight deck, and afterwards, it can simply be tossed into the sea."

Zhao Yu’s words left Yang Hanlin wide-eyed and speechless.

"It’s just that, inside the Xu Sea, the carrier can’t carry ship-borne aircraft, and we need to use the hangar to house personnel and store maintenance tools and materials. Therefore, the Navy has to make arrangements in advance, to dispatch the accompanying ship-borne aircraft to the front, like to Nagiu Port, and then fly over and land when the carrier arrives."

As he spoke, Zhao Yu’s gaze turned toward Bai Zhizhan.

"This won’t be a problem, I’ll think of a way."

"By making these arrangements, we can gain about two more days of maintenance time en route. As long as we have enough manpower and press the time by working round the clock in three shifts, internal maintenance should not be a big issue. Even if we can’t complete everything, we can leave some of the less critical maintenance tasks to the officers and sailors of the Fleet."

"It certainly is a solution, at least the officers and men of the Heng River are the original crew. Some of them, particularly the core personnel in various departments, participated in the last modification work." Zhou Yongtao spoke up at this time, "If we really get down to it, they know this carrier better than the shipyard engineers, and are even more eager to repair it quickly in order to seek revenge. Don’t forget, it was Lan Yun’s Mobile Fleet that inflicted damage on the Heng River in the Flame Sea. Although the Mobile Fleet is finished, Lan Yun is not yet finished."

Zhao Yu nodded, not saying much.

Now that the solution had been proposed, whether to adopt it was up to Bai Zhizhan to decide, since it was not Zhao Yu who would be leading the Heng River into battle.

After pondering for a while, Bai Zhizhan nodded and said, "You go ahead and make the arrangements. First, patch up the holes in the hull, and I’ll go get orders from the Commander-in-chief."

"This..."

"Is there a problem?" Bai Zhizhan looked toward Yang Hanlin, who appeared troubled.

In fact, the initial conversation was directed at Yang Hanlin, after all, the repair work was the responsibility of the shipyard, and had nothing to do with Zhao Yu’s design institute.

Yang Hanlin’s constipated expression certainly hid some difficult issues.

"It’s best to get the order first." Zhao Yu internally sighed and spoke for Yang Hanlin, "According to traditional repair methods, we should fix the inner compartments while in the drydock before sealing the hull. If we use the method I proposed, it will take much more time to redo maintenance later."

Upon hearing this from Zhao Yu, Bai Zhizhan understood the situation.

Obviously, Yang Hanlin did not want to take responsibility.

To put it bluntly, if something really went wrong, the Navy Commander would not trouble Bai Zhizhan; he would definitely find a scapegoat.

Without a doubt, the shipyard director was the ideal candidate to take the fall.

"Otherwise, why don’t we make the call now?" Zhao Yu added.

"Right, right, right, with approval from above, we can organize immediately. This is a carrier we’re talking about, if something goes wrong, responsibility is the least of it, delaying naval operations is the real issue."

Zhao Yu’s words served as a reminder to Yang Hanlin.

Bai Zhizhan was speechless, but he fully understood Yang Hanlin’s predicament.

Of course, Bai Zhizhan did not make things difficult for Yang Hanlin.

After indicating he would immediately call Liu Changxun, Yang Hanlin quickly excused himself to use the restroom and slipped out.

Zhou Yongtao followed, mentioning that he was going to arrange transportation back to the hotel.

"Don’t take it to heart."

"Don’t worry, it’s human nature, I understand."

Zhao Yu nodded and said, "I’ll go to the restroom too. If there’s good news when I return, I’ll head back. Honestly, it’s been many years since I’ve stayed up all night."

"Alright, we’ll talk about other things tomorrow."

After Zhao Yu left, Bai Zhizhan finally sat down. After organizing his thoughts, he picked up the phone on his desk.

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