Great warships

Chapter 1251 Misfortunes never come singly
For Ah San, the phrase "misfortunes never come alone" is the most appropriate description.

Sunil came to the shipyard and looked at the Blue Sky Defender aircraft carrier that was smashed and deformed. His face looked so ugly that he almost cried!

Think about India's dream of an aircraft carrier. It was so difficult. They originally purchased one from the Russians and converted it into the Super Sun King. Who would have thought that it was a shoddy project. Due to the poor quality, it cracked everywhere and the boiler exploded, so it had to be scrapped in the end.

After much reflection, Ah San decided that he could not rely on the Russians and had to build it on his own. After launching it many times, he finally built the Blue Sky Defender. Now that he had purchased the carrier-based aircraft and the catapult was under development, another accident happened!
For an aircraft carrier, launching does not mean that it no longer needs a dock. If there are problems with the propeller and steering gear, it still needs to enter the dock for repairs. The Blue Sky Guardian is no exception.

After a series of sea trials, the Blue Sky Defender needed to enter the dock again for final adjustments. However, as the original dock was already occupied, they could only make do with the newly dug dock.

The earthwork of the new dock has been completed, but it has not yet solidified. However, it can be used as is. The Russians have done this before, merging two small docks into one large one.

The Blue Sky Guardian entered the large dock, and the construction team behind it built a dam, so the large dock was put into use. Asan was still happily enjoying the new dock, and no one had thought that such a thing would happen!
"Can anyone tell me what is going on?" Sunil's face was gloomy and he was about to fly into a rage.

"I don't know. There was a gust of wind and we didn't see what was going on. Then we heard a bang and the whole ground was shaking. We thought it was an earthquake. When the wind passed, we saw the scene in front of us."

Alex was also still frightened. Fortunately, he came up at that time. If he was in command on the aircraft carrier, he would probably have died!

That’s right, the gantry crane collapsed. How could there not be casualties in such a serious accident?
After all, this is a 12,000-ton gantry crane, which weighs several thousand tons itself. If a beam several dozen meters high falls directly down, who can withstand it?

Even the 40,000-ton Blue Sky Defender cannot withstand this level of attack!

The deck of the Blue Sky Guardian can withstand the landing of a 20-ton carrier-based aircraft, but it cannot withstand the impact of a gantry crane weighing several thousand tons. Therefore, when the crossbeam came down, it collapsed directly in the middle of the Blue Sky Guardian!
After the deck collapsed, the beam continued to fall down, breaking the hangar deck, and then fell down several more floors, getting stuck in the middle.

The broken part was twisted and deformed, and looked terrible. The gantry crane smashed into it, and the two merged into one, as if they never wanted to be separated.

"Can it be repaired?"

Repair? How can I repair it? Now I don’t even know how to deal with it. The best way is to just abandon this place! Alex thought to himself.

"We just took a measurement, measuring 50 meters from the broken hole to both sides, and the overall height dropped by about 10 centimeters."

"What do you mean?"

What's the point of this? Just beat it to pieces!
After the gantry crane came down, it not only broke the aircraft carrier in half, but also pulled both sides downward as a whole. Even at a distance of fifty meters, it was flattened by ten centimeters.

This shows what?
It is no longer worth rescuing. Even if we can find a way to get the gantry crane out, and even if the holes on both sides are repaired, what about the other parts that have been flattened?
There is no way at all!
This also means that the damage to the aircraft carrier is serious. Even if it can be repaired, it will be disabled in the future. The best way is to scrap it directly!
Seeing Alex not speaking, Sunil became annoyed: "Tell me, how long will it take you to repair this aircraft carrier?"

Alex's body shuddered. He knew that he must not tell Sunil that it couldn't be fixed at this time, otherwise Sunil would be furious. However, he didn't dare to promise that he could fix it.

What?

"If we want to repair this aircraft carrier, we need a gantry crane." In desperation, Alex came up with a vicious circle.

"This gantry crane needs a lifting capacity of at least 5,000 tons to lift this 12,000-ton gantry crane again!"

Well, for this collapsed gantry crane, another gantry crane had to be built. Would Sunil still insist on repairing it? You know, this gantry crane is not cheap. When it was purchased from the British, it cost 80 million US dollars, but then it was locked by the East. In order to unlock it, it cost another 60 million US dollars.

If the Orientals had not come up with an idea and defaulted on the final payment for the Rafale fighter jets from the French, they would really have had no money to give to the Orientals.

Now that they have made a fortune, they even have enough money to build a new aircraft carrier, but there is an accident at the dock again! What should they do?
"Take down this gantry crane!" Sunil is not stupid either.

Do they have to spend money to buy a gantry crane? Only the East can produce a 5,000-ton crane, and they absolutely cannot purchase it from the East!

So, just tear it down.

Although Asan is not good at shipbuilding, he is very good at shipbreaking. It would not take much effort for him to dismantle the gantry crane stuck in the ship.

Tear down?

Alex rolled his eyes and said, "We can dismantle it, but in the process of dismantling it, it may cause structural damage to our aircraft carrier. Moreover, we need a gantry crane, not only to lift out the damaged gantry crane, but also to lift our aircraft carrier!"

What kind of operation is this?
Alex spitted and said, "We will weld a lot of hooks on the deck, and then use a 5,000-ton gantry crane to pull it, so that we can straighten the flattened aircraft carrier!"

This operation is very common in car repair.

When the car shell is damaged, the best way is to replace it with a new one, but what if you can't buy one? Especially the master of the Pakistan Railway, who can only use a pair of dexterous hands to repair the car.

Normally, a pulley would be used to forcibly pull out the part that was hit in, but now, similarly, a 5,000-ton gantry crane could be used to pull out the flattened part.

Although the actual operation is certainly quite cumbersome, this seems to be the most appropriate method!
In fact, the aircraft carrier suffered not only external injuries but also internal injuries from this collision. There is almost no possibility of rescue. Even if it is restored to its original state, it may encounter accidents when going out to sea.

Therefore, it would be better to scrap it, but Sunil doesn’t accept that, so we can only think of other solutions!

Gantry crane, would you like to buy it?

"Humph, this time our aircraft carrier was smashed because of the Dongfang gantry crane. Let's go to them to claim compensation! We want them to compensate us with a new gantry crane!" Sunil gritted his teeth.

Alex's eyes lit up. This was a solution to the problem! Claim!
"Since the Orientals took 60 million US dollars from us last time, this gantry crane has something to do with them!" Sunil said, "They must compensate us, not only for the gantry crane, but also for the loss of our aircraft carrier!"

"You're right!"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

Alex was stunned. What am I waiting for? Waiting for the gantry crane to come back!

"Why don't you go to the East? Now, immediately, right now, go to the East to claim compensation!"

Alex didn't expect that this matter would fall on him again, but he was the one who came to the last negotiation, so it should be him now.

Dongfang, Zhenhua Heavy Industries.

"You can't sit still without getting mad!" Guan Lao sighed, "Asan will definitely come this time and try to blackmail us. Sigh!"

Zhang Zhong looked into Guan Lao's eyes with a complicated expression: "Guan Lao, you really didn't do anything?"

"Are you kidding me? How could we do anything? What would we do?"

"For example, remote control can cause the gantry crane to operate unbalanced..."

"What are you talking about? Isn't this damaging our reputation? How could Zhenhua Heavy Industries do such a thing? We produce all the gantry cranes over 1,000 tons in the world. Have you ever heard of similar accidents in other factories?"

Zhang Zhong looked into Guan Lao's eyes and said, "Okay, I understand."

Old Guan watched Zhang Zhong leave and continued, “Old Gu’s European proverb says, if you lose a horseshoe nail, you lose a horseshoe, and if you lose a horseshoe, you lose a warhorse.”

"I've heard of it." Zhang Zhong continued, "Losing a warhorse means losing a general, losing a war means the fall of an empire. Therefore, project management is very important, and the Indians' management is chaotic, which must be their fault."

"That's natural."

Alex came just as Zhang Zhong left.

"Your gantry crane is of very poor quality. It was blown down by a gust of wind! It also damaged our aircraft carrier. We demand compensation!"

"Mr. Alex, we are also concerned about the accident at your shipyard. So, we found a lot of on-site information and conducted some analysis." Guan Lao said, "Here is the accident report, you can take a look."

Originally, we had to go to the scene to make an accident report, but thinking about it, the Indians would not let people from Zhenhua Heavy Industries go, so we just did it behind closed doors.

Alex picked it up. It was probably specially prepared for them and was written in English.

Report on the collapse of a 12,000-ton gantry crane.

Overall reasons: chaotic management, disorderly operations, negligent supervision, and man-made accidents.

Alex subconsciously wanted to throw the thing on the table, but after thinking about it, he held back and decided to finish reading it first.

1. The installation of the gantry crane needs to wait until the dock is fully built. However, the order of the Cochin Shipyard is reversed. The gantry crane is installed first and then the dock is built. During this process, the original foundation of the gantry crane will become softer due to the construction of the dock.

2. If the dock could have been successfully built and reused, there would have been no problems. However, this time, they were in a hurry to achieve success, and an earthen dock actually opened the gates to release water. After the seawater came in, it further soaked the gantry crane base. Although the seawater was pumped out after the ship came in, the seawater had already penetrated in and gradually softened the foundation.

3...

Not only is there a text introduction, there are also illustrations and even geological analysis. Looking at the photos taken from space, Alex wanted to curse, but when he looked closely, they were all completely consistent.

This is a man-made accident, a man-made accident caused by Asan’s chaotic management!
"In engineering management, a seemingly minor problem may accumulate to create huge risks, not to mention that you ignored many safety regulations and carried out construction haphazardly, so the collapse of the gantry crane was inevitable."

"What do you mean by inevitable? This gantry crane belongs to you. Now that it has collapsed, it is your responsibility. You must pay compensation!" Alex raised his voice: "Your investigation report doesn't prove anything!"

"Then we have no choice but to sue." Guan Lao said, "No matter where you go to sue, we will accompany you. However, I want to remind you that if you want to sue, you must first sue Rosyth Shipyard. After all, they are the ones who signed the contract with us."

Although the lock was unlocked for Asan, it was only an unlocking contract, not a sales contract. Asan's gantry crane was still purchased from the British, so even if he wanted to claim compensation, he had to go to the British!

Alex was discouraged again. He knew that what Mr. Guan said was right. If they really went to court, they would not be able to sue Zhenhua Heavy Industries according to the contract in their hands.

"In fact, you could have purchased the gantry crane from us. I don't know why you went to the British. If you had purchased directly from us, not only would the price be cheaper, but we would also provide strict guidance on the construction and would never let you make such a mistake. Alas, you still don't trust people enough!"

Nonsense, can we Indians trust you? We have always regarded you as our opponents!

"Now that things have come to this, it's meaningless to file a claim. If you have the energy, you might as well do something meaningful." Mr. Guan said.

"Meaningful? What meaningful things?"

"I've seen it. After the gantry crane was hit, it was damaged to varying degrees, with the hit area as the axis and extending to both sides. You can only cut off this part. It will take about 100 meters, and then reshape the remaining parts and weld the central part out again. This way it will be repaired naturally."

Can it be repaired this way? Alex opened his eyes wide, but thinking about the modular shipbuilding method currently advocated, it seems that this is how it is built. If this method can really be used to restore the ship to its original state...

"Fortunately, the damage was only to the middle part. The most valuable engine room at the back was not damaged, and the bow anchor engine room at the front was not damaged either. Even if the middle part was damaged, we can rebuild a new one, and..."

Guan Lao looked at the other party and said, "Haven't you always wanted an aircraft carrier with a larger displacement? When it was built, it was made longer, so the displacement would naturally be larger. Although it can't reach 70,000 or 80,000 tons, 50,000 tons is no problem."

Alex's eyes lit up, yes, this is a solution!
Of course, this approach doesn’t work.

Although modular shipbuilding is like building blocks, this is in the case of pre-design. The design has been completed. Modification? What a joke, the workload is definitely greater than building a new one!

Guan Lao sighed, this must be Boss Qin's purpose! Of course, Boss Qin taught him to say this.

However, Alex was also very smart and quickly reacted: "No, if we modify it like this, the workload will be too much, and it may not be easier than making a new one."

Alex is also an expert on aircraft carriers, and he is not easily fooled.

Mr. Guan smiled and said, there is a plan B!

"Don't you have a ship called the Chaori Wang? It is said that the leapfrog deck at the bow of that warship collapsed, and there are also problems with the engine room at the stern, but the middle section should be intact, right? You can just cut off the middle section of the Chaori Wang and weld it back on, wouldn't that be enough?"

Now Alex was excited.

Yes, of course!
Although the USS Blue Sky Guardian aircraft carrier was built by India itself, the design drawings were made by the Russians. One can tell from the drawings that it was a simple modification of the Kiev-class aircraft carrier. Many parameters have not changed, and the middle section is exactly the same.

This plan is totally feasible!

Although the claim was unsuccessful, a way to repair the aircraft carrier was found!

"Thank you, Mr. Guan." Alex was polite for once.

Guan Lao smiled and said, "As you should. You have such a big accident, you must come up with a solution as soon as possible. We will not interfere. You can go and discuss it with Lao Maozi."

"well."

Alex left with satisfaction. Looking at his back, Guan Lao uttered two words: Idiot!

They can do the cutting work, and even modify the design drawings to connect them, but there is still a key problem that they cannot solve: transportation!
How can we move the cut sections over and connect them together?
This compartment weighs several thousand tons, if not ten thousand tons. So, when they finally want to start construction, they will find that they still need a ten-thousand-ton gantry crane, and they still have to ask Zhenhua Heavy Industries for help!
Aren't Indians unwilling to buy Eastern products? Then let them buy them!
"Asan is gone?" At this time, a voice sounded from behind.

"Yes, Ah San is gone." Guan Lao said, "They listened to our last plan, which is to put two aircraft carriers together. Mr. Qin, your method is really good! Do you think they will succeed in the end?"

"Of course not." Qin Tao said: "In the end, they will find that they can't be connected together at all."

Not everyone can do segmented construction. The Americans tried it once and found that the error was too large to dock them, so they had to give up. Can the Indians dock two scrapped aircraft carriers together?
How can it be!

After cutting, moving, and docking, they finally found that they could not be put together and had to be scrapped. By that time, another one or two years had passed, and India was still miserable without an aircraft carrier!

Why are you still the boss?

"Will Ah San buy our gantry crane?"

"I don't know about that either, but moving these sections doesn't necessarily require a gantry crane. Multi-axle vehicles can also do the job. It depends on what Ah San chooses."

Ah San is proud and has self-esteem. If Ah San says he won't buy our gantry crane, then he won't buy it. However, this time, Qin Tao's operation is not to sell another gantry crane, but to continue to delay the construction of Ah San's aircraft carrier.

If Asan was smart, he would know that the best way now is to give up completely and start building a new one. However, Asan cannot afford to wait for such a long construction period.

(End of this chapter)