In March 1937, the US and Japanese navy were still fighting desperately on the vast Pacific Ocean. Hundreds and thousands of soldiers died in battle almost every day. On the other side of the earth, the same turbulent North Sea, the smoke of war had long dissipated. But even so, ships passing through this sea still needed to be careful to guard against mines and anti-submarine networks left over from the war. In addition, they worked closely with the US and British camps during the war and from it.

The Soviet Union, which gained great benefits, was also regarded as a hidden danger of long-term peace. Their combat ships often crossed the North Sea alone or in small formations, or traveled from the Baltic Sea to the Barents Sea, or traveled in the opposite direction, and went through a long voyage of thousands of kilometers, from one naval base to another naval base, which was actually not far away in a straight line. This kind of operation is usually considered to be reconnaissance purposes and used to spy on the military deployment and important economic activities of other European countries.

In the spring North Sea, most days are in a state of rainy or foggy. The humid air makes people feel that all objects are moldy or rusty. The sky finally clears up, and the fierce sea breeze rolls up several meters of waves, slamming the walls of passing ships.

It was under such sea conditions that on the sea east of Scotland and west of Norway, two warships flying green, white and yellow flags always maintained a neat formation. The leading ship was once the famous fast battleship of the German Second Imperial Navy, "Von-der-Tann", after the end of the last war, it became an Irish naval ship and was named "Belfast". This large warship, built and put into service in 1909, was 28 years old by 1937. After the second modern day

With the modification, its standard displacement increased from the original 19373 tons to 24375 tons, and its maximum speed increased from 24.2 knots to 25.4 knots. The main gun followed the initial three-seat triple configuration, with a diameter of 283 mm, but the diameter increased from 50 to 56. When the full charge fired 350 kilograms of armor-piercing bombs, the gun borehole speed was 880 meters per second, which could penetrate 343 mm thick homogeneous armor at a distance of 15,000 meters, and the maximum range reached an astonishing 40 kilometers.

The second modernization of the Irish Navy flagship not only replaced the main gun, secondary gun, boiler, turbine and other hardware, comprehensively optimized the air and lightning protection configuration, but also installed an I-made mc-iiia-type carrier-based fire control radar with performance comparable to that of the German Lorentz-Iid, which greatly improved the long-range shooting accuracy of the main gun. From a technical perspective, the Irish Navy has brought the design potential of this warship to the extreme.

The light cruiser "Stokes" that started construction in 1934 and officially put into service in October 1936 is an improved type of the Fiona-class light cruiser, also known as the Stokes class. In terms of main technical data, it is similar to the Fiona-class. It seems that it has only been slightly improved on the basis of the Fiona-class. However, many years later, people will be surprised to find that the Irish actually reserved space for their cruisers to install missile weapons when ship-to-ship and ship-to-air missiles were still in the theoretical research stage!

This inconspicuous two-ship formation, which was placed on the Pacific battlefield, has been cruising in the North Sea for more than a week with the Naval Base of the Allied Powers in the North Sea as a supply ground. Its activities range from Fors Bay on the east coast of Scotland to Boken Fjord in western Norway, covering the entire northern sea area of ​​the North Sea. As the cruise was about to end, the two-ship formation once again came to the rarely-seen sea area. There were three strange-looking artificial buildings standing in the vast ocean, or to be precise, three strong offshore drilling platforms.

After approaching these platforms, the two Irish warships slowed down and slowly circled around them.

Three young naval officers stood side by side in a anti-aircraft gun position on the upper starboard level of the Belfast, chatting:

"What a great project! Even if you can't drill out of the oil deposits in the end, you can still be used as a sea hotel, summer summer vacation and snow watching in winter, and will definitely be sought after by travelers."

"Just kidding? Such a drilling platform based on the seabed is definitely tens of millions. If it is converted into a hotel, how high would it cost to recover the cost within a few years?"

"Well, I'm going to tell you, what I just said was indeed a joke. The project planned and implemented by His Majesty Joachim himself has never failed, and I firmly believe that this time will not be an exception."

"But I can't figure it out. Persia has so many oil fields to be developed, and our oil mining in Bahrain is also proceeding smoothly. Why should we drill here if we look far away?"

"If you could figure it out, you wouldn't be standing here now, but you were called by the Royal Institute of Strategics to be a senior consultant, enjoying high weekly wages and three months of vacation every year!"

"Well, that's a department full of geniuses. If an ordinary person with IQ goes, he is not qualified to serve tea and water!"

"So, with these extraordinary people who specialize in research and analysis, each of our important investments can receive several times or even dozens of times or dozens of times of return. Look, maybe it won't take long to bring considerable benefits to Ireland."

"This is the high seas. If the oil field is really drilled out...will there be no problem with the ownership?"

"Even if there is a problem, aren't we still there? Unless the Germans compete with us, which country around can force us to make concessions?"

"Scotland, England, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark..." One of the non-commissioned officers counted one by one. It is obvious that no country can compete with Ireland in the military and diplomatic aspects. After more than 20 years of hard work and the merger of Wales' industrial and labor resources, the Kingdom of Ireland has become a super second-rate power and a truly first-class power. However, there is only an order of magnitude difference from weak first-class and quasi-first-class powers. Only by making strong breakthroughs in the economic or military field can you cross this boundary.

Huge hollow steel columns are firmly rooted in the seabed more than 80 meters deep, supporting huge steel frame buildings, which can be used for hundreds of workers to work and live here... In the eyes of ordinary people, these three offshore drilling oil fields built in the summer of 1936 are indeed novel and fantastic and mysterious. In the first few months, fishing boats only occasionally passed by nearby. Since a Danish reporter took a photo and wrote an article under the name of "The Irish Sea Castle".

After the publication, spectators who came by boat or chartered boats began to rush, and soon a smart shipping company adjusted the original cruise routes so that passengers could see the wonders of the sea. At the same time, ships from various European countries came in a row, and their military leaders and military observers were also curious about the existing and potential military uses of this maritime platform. Even the German Navy, which was officially informed by Ireland in advance, could not help but ask a series of questions to its hardcore allies.

Looking back from the end of the 20th century, the Beihai oil field is undoubtedly a major discovery that affects the world economic structure. Its oil reserves are nearly 5 billion tons and natural gas are about 1.5 trillion cubic meters. Although the absolute value accounts for only two percent and one percent of the world's proven oil and natural gas reserves, it is enough to meet the industrial needs of all Nordic countries and the British Isles, so that it can get rid of its dependence on oil-producing areas in the Middle East and Americas, and even has a great surplus.

Since oil extraction has entered the threshold of industrialization, North America, Central America, West Asia, South Asia and other regions have successively explored a large number of oil fields. The number of submarine oil reservoirs in the Beihai Oilfield is second only to the Persian Gulf and the Malakaibo Bay, ranking third in the world. The main reason why it has not been noticed by oil and gas exploration workers for a long time is that the climate conditions in the Beihai region are harsh. More than two-thirds of the year are rainy days, strong winds and high waves, and the surrounding land is exposed with bedrock. The submarine oilfields are hidden in the south of the graben area.

The Permian sandstone above the Ministry is the main purpose layer, including Leman, Indifatigpur, Hewitt, Sisol, Odre and other large gas fields; the third-class sandstone and white layers below the central part are the main production layers, including Ekofisk and Fortis oil fields, Frig gas fields, etc.; the Jurassic sandstone is the main production layer, including Brent, Gulf of the State, Sisl, Ninian, Oseberg, Gulfax, Snori, Sislepna, Piper, Claymore oil fields and Troll gas fields.

Historically, the Groningen gas field on the coast of the Netherlands was discovered in 1959, the southern North Sea gas field group was discovered in 1965, the Ekofisk oil field in the central graben area was discovered in 1969, and the Brent oil field in the Viking graben was discovered in 1971. Although the difficulty and cost of exploitation of submarine oil than onshore, coastal countries were still determined to exploit it. The North Sea oil field in the UK began to produce oil in 1975, with output exceeding 100 million tons in 1984, while Norway has exceeded the UK since the 1990s, becoming an emerging oil and gas producer...

"Note! An unidentified ship was found on the northern sea! It is expected that contact will occur in 60 minutes. All combat readiness duty personnel will be invited to the post! Repeat, an unidentified ship was found on the northern sea. It is expected that contact will be found in 60 minutes. All combat readiness duty personnel will be allowed to enter the post!"

When this serious sound came from the cabin and the speakers in the passage, the two Irish warships also began to turn and accelerate. Although this sea area exceeded the effective range of US and Japanese ships, and the possibility of the Soviet Union's sudden attack on the Western allies was very small, the Irish naval officers and soldiers who were used to war thinking quickly rose to their spirits. If it was just an ordinary civilian ship full of curiosity, the towering body and strong military preparation of the warship were enough to allow the helmsman on the ship to understand the other party's attitude, but
Chapter completed!