368: Chapter 366: Avenger 368: Chapter 366: Avenger When Gao Yang boarded the ship, Uriyangko opened his arms and hugged Gao Yang tightly.
Then, with a look of concern, he said, “Buddy, congratulations, I saw on the news, it seems your girlfriend is alright now?”
Gao Yang was in a very good mood at that moment, revealing a heartfelt smile for the first time in days.
“Yes, she’s fine now, everything’s good.
If we can send those whaling ships to the bottom of the sea, then everything will be even better.”
Uriyangko laughed heartily, and after Glolov got on board, Uriyangko congratulated Glolov as well.
Then, Uriyangko proudly said, “Guys, Grand Ivan always keeps his word.
He said he could get everything ready within five days, and he definitely will.”
Looking at the bow deck piled up with fishing nets, Gao Yang could see four large cylinders beneath them.
Judging by the diameter, they should be 533mm torpedoes.
Gao Yang pointed at the pile of fishing nets and asked, “Beneath that, those are torpedoes, right?”
Uriyangko nodded, walked to the bow’s fishing nets, and after forcefully lifting a thin layer of net, he pointed at a torpedo tube and loudly proclaimed, “Guys, take a look, heavy torpedoes.
To take down a ten-thousand-ton ship, it only takes one!”
Gao Yang walked over to the torpedo tubes, feeling quite emotional as he touched the torpedo tube.
The tubes were directly welded to the deck, and from the messy traces, it was clear that the welding had been done in a very hurried and sloppy manner.
It was Gao Yang’s first time truly seeing torpedoes.
To be precise, it was torpedo tubes, and they were much larger than he had imagined.
They seemed to be over eight meters long, with a diameter of nearly one meter.
With such large tubes, the torpedoes inside must be substantial as well.
Cui Bo exclaimed excitedly, “Strong, impressive, so big, it will surely make the Japanese go crazy with excitement!”
Uriyangko clapped his hands vigorously, drawing everyone’s attention to him, then he smiled and loudly said, “Guys, I know what you’re thinking, so let me tell you about the details of the Avenger.”
Uriyangko pointed at the deck under his feet and said, “First, our ship, this vessel has a full-load displacement of 1,350 tons, launched in 1998, with a maximum speed of 23 knots.
The ship is in good condition.
Also, this ship was sunk in 2009, meaning that we are aboard a ghost ship.”
Gao Yang raised his hand and asked, “Sorry, what do you mean by ‘ghost ship’?”
Uriyangko chuckled lightly and explained, “That’s a great question.
A ‘ghost ship,’ taken literally, means this ship no longer exists, it has sunk, disappeared.
And there are two hundred and fourteen ships of the same model left in the world.
That means our ship can be painted to look like any one of those ships and operate in any waters.
And this ship’s paint and name are exactly the same as a vessel currently fishing for krill in the South Atlantic, called Shunli Hao.
Of course, aside from us, no one knows this Shunli Hao is an impostor.
As for the original purpose of this ship, considering it came from Colombian drug traffickers, you should understand what it was originally used for, right?”
Laughing heartily, Gao Yang said, “Understood, clear, awesome, please continue.”
Uriyangko nodded and loudly stated, “So, that’s the ship, now let’s talk about the weapon systems.
First, this ship carries three types of torpedoes, six in total.
What you see now are the Russian 53-65 active/passive homing 533mm torpedoes.
We have two of these, and they are our first choice for attacking the Nisshin Maru.”
Here, beneath the fishing nets, we have the slightly shorter Russian 53-39 straight-running torpedoes, also numbering two.”
At the very front of the deck, under fishing nets that cover an unseen area, we also have two 324mm lightweight torpedoes, Italian-made Whitehead A-244 torpedoes, anti-submarine and anti-ship torpedoes, which are two little guys that’s why you can’t see them.”
Though also anti-ship, torpedoes are much more expensive than missiles.
Take the American 533mm heavyweight torpedo MK48 as an example: the earliest base model MK48-1 cost five hundred thousand US dollars.
By 1984, the MK48-4 had risen to nine hundred and eighty thousand US dollars; by 1992, an MK48-ADCAP torpedo cost two million and fifty thousand US dollars; and by 1998, an MK48-ADCAP was three million five hundred thousand US dollars, while in the same year, a Harpoon anti-ship missile, even the most expensive model, cost almost one million US dollars at most.”
Gao Yang knew about the 53-65 torpedo because he was aware that they were equipped on the Modern-class destroyers that Huaxia had imported.
Of course, the 53-65 was cheaper than the MK48, and it came in both early models and more recent advanced ones.
Still, even the cheaper 53-65 with acoustic and wake-homing capabilities wouldn’t be that cheap.
After Uriyangko finished, Gao Yang immediately asked, “Wasn’t it supposed to be all straight-running torpedoes?
Why do we have 53-65?
That’s a wake-homing torpedo, and there’s also the A-244, which is mainly for anti-submarine warfare, isn’t it?
Although small, those aren’t cheap either.”
Uriyangko made a helpless gesture and replied, “Can’t help it, Grand Ivan certainly preferred straight-running torpedoes, but our stock of 53-39 torpedoes is too old.
We tested two, one had power failure, it didn’t move when hitting the water, the other, launched and disappeared after traveling less than a kilometer.
Grand Ivan couldn’t install a few unusable torpedoes for you, could he?”
Gao Yang gaped and asked, “What era were those torpedoes made?
That’s too unreliable, right?”
Uriyangko shrugged and answered, “Yeah, a large batch of the torpedoes was made in the 1950s.
After all this time and lack of maintenance, it would be odd if they were reliable.
If it weren’t for your urgency, Grand Ivan could have checked and maintained the torpedoes before using them.
But with only five days, he had to think of other ways.”
Out of curiosity, Gao Yang said, “What other ways?”
Uriyangko’s tone sounded like he was complaining, but his expression looked more like he was bragging.
“The six torpedoes here come from the navies of three countries, all currently in service.
Hmm, I won’t say which countries specifically—I actually don’t know.
What I do know is those two 53-65s, came from a torpedo boat.
They used gas welding to cut the torpedo tubes right off and then mounted them onto this ship.
Those two 53-39s also came from a fast attack craft.
Unfortunately, Grand Ivan only found two.
Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had to pay a high price for those two 53-65s.
As for the two A-244 Whiteheads, they were from an anti-submarine warship.
They were originally part of a three-tube launcher, but Grand Ivan felt two were sufficient, and to offset some losses, he kept one after dismantling the triple-tube launcher.
Maybe he could sell it at a high price later on.
The A-244s, being anti-submarine torpedoes, have a minimum attack depth of 6 meters.
It wasn’t until this morning that the attack depth for these two A-244s was reset.
Overall, because of the torpedoes, Grand Ivan’s costs have significantly increased.
He asked me to tell you that just the expense for the torpedoes this time is eight million US dollars, greatly exceeding the budget.
But you can rest assured, Grand Ivan said, you don’t have to pay a single dollar more.
Grand Ivan is a man of his word, the agreed price will absolutely not change.”
Gao Yang sincerely said, “That’s incredible, Grand Ivan really is remarkable.
In five days, finding torpedoes, converting a fishing boat, although I don’t know how Grand Ivan did it, I know it must’ve been really difficult.”
Uriyangko laughed heartily and said, “Who is Grand Ivan?
Pal, he’s the current underground arms kingpin of the world, and achieving all this is nothing to him.
I told you before, as long as you have the money, whatever you need, anything at all, we can deliver it to your door.
Of course, an appointment is necessary.”
Gao Yang nodded and asked, “We have the weapons and the ship now.
So, what about the people?
The crew of the ship?”
Uriyangko shrugged and answered, “The crew are exhausted.
They did a lot of preparatory work.
You’ve got to understand, pal, it takes more than just moving the torpedoes onto the fishing boat to make them operational.
They’ve been working to the bone these past five days.
But you’ll be able to meet them soon; I’ll introduce them to you shortly.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “All right, is there anything else you need to tell me?
If not, I want to get some sleep.”
Uriyangko said, “Yes, there is.
First, you must know that this ship now belongs to you.
But, once the mission is complete, this ship will be scuttled in the Southern Ocean.”
Gao Yang didn’t hesitate to say, “No problem, I don’t want someone to find this ship later on and cause trouble for you and me.
It’s better sunk, let them search for clues at the bottom of the Southern Ocean.”
Uriyangko then said, “Furthermore, I’ve named this ship Avenger, but you are the owner of the ship, the initiator of this operation, so, I think it should be up to you to name the ship.”
Gao Yang without hesitation said, “Avenger, let’s call it Avenger.
I like the name very much.”
After Gao Yang finished speaking, Cui Bo suddenly exclaimed loudly, “I think, shouldn’t we give this operation a codename now?”
Uriyangko laughed heartily and said, “Right, it’s time to come up with an operation codename.
So, what do you want to call this operation?”
Cui Bo shouted, “Brother Yang, you come up with a codename.
It’s got to be powerful, something like Thunderbolt or Desert Sabre, something that tells its purpose at first hearing.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said to Glolov, “Big Dog, you do it.
This operation should be named by you.”
Glolov thought for a moment then said in a deep voice, “I can’t think of anything.
I’m not good at naming operations.”
Gao Yang pondered for a while, then finally shrugged and said, “I’d also like to come up with a powerful and meaningful codename.
But considering we’re going to take down some Japanese whaling ships and the Japanese, a too powerful sounding codename would be giving those bastards too much credit.”
Cui Bo immediately suggested, “How about Operation Slaughter Dog, or maybe Killing Pigs?
Or perhaps Operation Extermination?
Or something grander like Operation Obliterate Japan.”
Gao Yang scoffed and said, “Pah!
Don’t you like to eat pork?
What did the dogs do to you?
To compare the Japanese to pigs and dogs, have you considered how the pigs and dogs feel?
Operation Obliterate Japan?
We’re just going after a few whaling ships; it’s a far cry from obliterating Japan.
‘Operation Obliterate Japan’ might as well be ‘Operation Kill the Little Japs’.”
Li Jinfang burst out in applause, yelling, “Good!
That’s the name, simple, straightforward, and imposing.
It’s decided then, Operation Kill the Little Japs!”
Gao Yang gestured dismissively and announced, “Alright, Operation Kill the Little Japs, commences now!”(To be continued.
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