In the Barents Sea in the north, the turbulent scene was as normal as the bright sunshine of the Mediterranean. The officers and soldiers of the Northern Soviet Fleet of the Soviet Russian Fleet have long been accustomed to such bad weather. Even so, on the battleship "Mikhail Vronchi" flying the Soviet Navy flag, Admiral Ivan Stepanovich Yumashev frowned and looked solemn, and from time to time he turned his deep eyes to the sea with bad eyes. This man has an inspirational story from sailors to generals. He not only has outstanding military achievements, but also outstanding in naval organization and management. It was under his rule that the Soviet Northern Fleet ushered in a golden period, and finally passed the Baltic Fleet and the Pacific Fleet became the "first Fleet" of the Soviet Navy.

According to the prior agreement between the two sides, the visiting fleet of the new United Kingdom will stay in the Soviet Union for a week. All ships, including the new aircraft carrier "Fenia", are open to the Russian side, and visitors are also allowed to board the Soviet Union for a visit. In addition to this static interaction, the two sides will also hold a unique joint military exercise. The visiting fleet of the new United Kingdom will play the invading side, and the northern Soviet Union plays the defensive side, and launches non-live-fire exercises in three links: sea control, base offensive and defensive war, attack and counterattack.

On the pre-arranged training day, heavy snow fell around Murmansk, the wind on the sea reached level 34, and the waves could reach up to 2 meters. The Soviet Union then proposed to postpone the schedule, but the reply from the new United Kingdom was that they did not mind the scheduled exercise subjects under such harsh weather conditions. If the Soviet Union felt that it was necessary to postpone it for technical operational reasons, they expressed understanding and regret.

The polar bear's bloodiness cannot withstand the provocation of a little bit, not to mention that with many national leaders helping on the spot, Yumashev slapped his chest: Come on!

As a result, the snowy Murmansk Port quickly sounded, and the Soviet light cruiser "Volga" who came from afar, which played the role of contact and referee, left the port first. Immediately afterwards, the surface ships and submarines of the northern Soviet fleet of the Soviet Union sailed out in turn.

The Northern Fleet was already rooted here, and the officers and soldiers were very familiar with the situation in this sea area. However, before that, they had always felt that the severe snow and cold greatly restricted maritime combat operations. Although there would be training on sea in bad weather, it was usually aimed at tempering will and improving navigation capabilities. There was less artillery and torpedo training. The 6-base aviation troops were basically staying in the base in such weather...

The sight returned to the "Mikhail Vronchi", a battleship built in the Tsarist Russian era, was sailing smoothly about 30 nautical miles northwest of Murmansk. The crew members were not afraid of wind and snow and abide by their posts, while the officers were preparing for the upcoming exercises. After a relatively narrow space, Yumashev turned his eyes to the young general beside him: "I always feel that the reason why the Irish people did not change their plans and insisted on holding joint exercises in such weather is to show us the military advantages brought by advanced radar systems, and to encourage us to accept the high prices they offered, and to introduce their radar technology by directly importing or purchasing technical authorization. If this is true, they deserve the title of smart merchants!"

Yumashev spoke to Major General Sergeige Orgievich Gorshkov, chief of staff of the Northern Fleet. In this time and space, although Gorshkov did not receive a stage like the Patriotic War that could show his military talent, he was still appreciated by his superiors with his outstanding and capableness, thus becoming another officer after Kuznetsov who wore the star of the navy at the age of 40.

The young Gorshkov held his hands in front of his chest: "I think that showing radar technology may be their secondary motivation. If it is just to promote equipment and technology, their king will not need to supervise the formation himself. Perhaps, their main intention is to show us their naval strength to warn us not to have any unreasonable thoughts about their offshore oil production platform."

Yumashev retorted slowly: "Since we took back the Baku oil field and found a new large oil field in Siberia, we don't need to peek at the oil resources of any country, let alone those technically complex and expensive offshore drilling platforms in Ireland? Anyone with a little mind can see that our past activities in the North Sea were just a tentative act. Could the king who was regarded as a genius by the world could not see through this?"

Gorshkov also slowly expressed his thoughts: "In peacetime, of course we will not have any insignificant thoughts about their offshore oil wells, but in recent times, our relationship with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is very tense. Maybe the two emperors are so angry that they start war against us, how can the Irish people be outside of it? Once their United Kingdom becomes our enemy on the battlefield, in addition to active defense, the maritime counter-action we can take should be to strike the enemy's merchant ships and destroy the enemy's maritime facilities!"

Yumashev thought for a while and said, "A person with far-sightedness will indeed consider the possibilities of the situation."

"But..." Gorshkov smiled slightly, "I have a feeling that although every war in the previous thirty years has benefited Ireland a lot, this time, the king who ruled Ireland and Wales did not want the Western camp to go to war on us."

Yumashev speculated: "Because he is worried about a drastic change in the situation in East Asia?"

"That's right!" Gorshkov replied, "From the past, he cared about the situation in East Asia more than any region, and Ireland's aid to China is far more than any country. With his wisdom, it is not difficult to foresee a series of consequences caused by the war with the Western camp, including the imbalance in East Asia. Of course, this is a good thing for us. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is not worth worrying about, but Germany is at the peak of its strength. They have a very elite professional army and terrible military mobilization ability, and have extremely powerful nuclear weapons technology. It is difficult for us to resist their offensives on 6, in the air and at sea. Even if we can win in the end, it will have to go through an extremely long, tortuous and painful process!"

At this time, as the commander of the fleet and the chief of staff, the Soviet leaders had reached a secret agreement on the exchange of nuclear explosion data for the Soviet army to support the Chinese Soviet regime in taking over the Northeast. Their speculation was a key point, indicating that their analytical capabilities and strategic vision were indeed better than ordinary people.

After talking here, the two of them looked at their watches at the same time. There were still a few minutes left before the official opening of the joint exercise. They couldn't help but wait and see how outstanding the opponent would perform.

At the same time, on the sea more than 100 kilometers away, the ships of the New United Kingdom Navy are trying hard to maintain a warning formation in the wind and waves. Compared with the light cruisers and destroyers in the queue, the USS Finnia has a much better navigation stability. 16 single-engine carrier-based fighters have been installed in the ejection takeoff area, and the supercharged motors that provide them with strong power have a loud roar in the wind and snow, driving the four-leaf constant propeller to fly. Although the new single-engine jet carrier-based aircraft has passed the test and is in line with batch installation.

As required, the Irish Navy, the new United Kingdom Navy, still lists 44 as active carrier-based fighter jets. In fact, the actual combat performance of 44, which leverages the piston power to the extreme technology, is not much inferior to that of the fledgling jet fighter jet, but the cost is only 60% of a single-engine jet. The daily maintenance costs and pilot training costs are also higher cost-effective. Now only the wealthy Germans have included jet aircraft in active naval equipment, but they are only equipped with a squadron on each of the two aircraft carriers.

In the modern bridge command room of the Finnia, Major General Gavin Bainier, the commander of the 1st Task Force of the New United Kingdom Navy, stayed on his watch for a moment, and then said in a calm tone: "Prepare for the last two minutes!"

At the front left of Rear Admiral Bainier, Xia Shu wore a mink-collared deerskin windbreaker and a naval uniform with cashmere fabric. He stood in front of the porthole in his usual steep posture. At this moment, the bow of the aircraft carrier was in the wind, so he saw snowflakes with goose feathers rushing towards him. The temperature in this sea area was around minus 12 degrees Celsius, which belonged to the relatively warmth of the Arctic Circle. If you go north for hundreds of kilometers and the temperature drops to minus 30 to 40 degrees Celsius, even a highly modern aircraft carrier like the Finnia will lose its carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing capabilities.

Two minutes passed in a flash. As the new generation officer with the best performance and highest rated performance by the Irish Navy in recent years, Major General Bainier, who had just celebrated his fortieth birthday a few months ago, respectfully reported to His Majesty the King: "Everything is ready, please order your Majesty."

Xia Shu glanced at everyone in the command room and nodded, "Start!"

The take-off indicator light on the flight deck changed from red to green, and the two 44s on the front line were quickly ejected, without any dragging throughout the journey. You should know that the steam catapults equipped by the "Fenia" are designed according to the standards of the catapult jet carrier-based aircraft, which can instantly add a 12-ton aircraft to the take-off level, while the maximum take-off weight of the 44 is only 6 tons, which can be said to be the gear configuration of a "big horse pulling a small car".
Chapter completed!