Chapter 803: Salvage Submarine
When the sun shed its last rays of sunlight onto the sparkling sea, Cowell came over again.
Kewell doesn’t want to come. He had harsh words with Qin Tao last time. If he comes here this time, Qin Tao will definitely not look good on him!
However, he had to come, because everyone at the meeting thought that Kewell and President Qin had the most contacts and had the most experience. If he didn't come, who would?
So, Kewell had no choice but to come over. Although he was reluctant, he had no other choice. He could only shamelessly come to Qin Tao again.
"Mr. Qin, I'm very sorry. Last time I said something because I was angry, and I apologize to you." Kewell lowered his posture and seemed very sincere.
"It's okay, I know you're in a bad mood. I'm a very generous person and won't argue with you. By the way, you invited a Norwegian salvage team to come over. Don't worry, even if we have to salvage in our territorial waters, I will work with you. Those who say hello in China, you will not be targeted, just salvage with confidence and boldness."
"Thank you, Mr. Qin." Kewell was very touched when he saw that Qin Tao didn't blame him.
“By the way, you came to me, what’s the matter?”
“Mr. Qin, we want to rent a semi-submersible ship from you to transport the salvaged submarine. What is your price?”
Cowell came here with two things in mind, one was the semi-submersible ship and the other was the location of the sunken ship. He thought about it for a while on the way and thought that he should rent a semi-submersible boat first. The other party would definitely charge a high price. Then if he asked for the location of the sunken ship, the other party should give it to him at a low price or even for free. After all, it was just data. If There is no location for the sunken ship, so the semi-submersible boat cannot be rented, so just treat it as an add-on to the business.
After hearing what Kewell said, Qin Tao thought for a moment: "Well, our Mingzhou Group can provide it for free."
“Free?” Cowell was stunned. Mr. Qin has played so many tricks before and deceived many of his own parties. Why is he providing it for free now? There must be a pit here!
"Yes, this matter has been making a lot of noise recently. There are always some conspirators who want to call deer a horse and a rat a duck. Our Mingzhou Group is a well-known multinational enterprise. We want to contribute to the world. This time, your submarine The soldiers are miserable and there are no human beings inside and outside. Our Mingzhou Group is willing to help you. Isn't it just a semi-submersible ship? As long as our semi-submersible ship has time, we will transport it to you for free!"
Kewell was not grateful, but thought of something: "Mr. Qin, can you arrange a few of our people on this semi-submersible ship?"
"Why, are you still afraid that we will bring this semi-submersible ship back directly and impound your submarine? Don't worry, our Mingzhou Group has stopped doing ship-breaking business a long time ago." Qin Tao said : "Our Mingzhou Group has no place to dismantle ships. This backward work has long been transferred to third world countries. Besides, submarines are secondary. The key is that there are so many remains of submarine soldiers on them. If we If we just bring the submarine back, we won’t have people all over the world scolding us, and our reputation will be ruined?”
“Mr. Qin, are you really willing to transport us for free?”
"Of course." Qin Tao said: "We can make a public statement at any time. This is the responsibility and behavior of our large enterprise, Mingzhou Group."
Kewell seemed to understand that the other party was doing this just for the sake of fame. For Mingzhou Group, they have already made enough money. They don't care about money, they care about reputation. If this move is taken, they will definitely be praised by the world. .
In this way, one's own side can also benefit and get the best of both worlds. This advantage can be taken advantage of!
“Mr. Qin, I’m here to do one more thing.”
"What's up?"
“We want to know the specific location of the sunken ship, accurate to ten meters, so that we can salvage it.”
"There is no problem with this." Qin Tao looked up at Xu Zhengyang: "Secretary Xu, go get the location of the sunken ship and give it to Mr. Cowell."
This is actually free of charge? Is this the sun rising from the west? Cowell looked at the distant sky in confusion. The sun was in the west, but it was setting. The earth had begun to be shrouded in darkness. However, Shuangsha Island was brightly lit, and the nightlife had just begun.
Xu Zhengyang walked for more than ten minutes. When he came back, he said with embarrassment on his face: "Mr. Qin, they searched for a long time but couldn't find the coordinates of the sunken ship."
"How is this possible?" Cowell said, "Isn't it marked on the chart?"
"We have long started using electronic charts." Xu Zhengyang said: "The computer used on the Jiaolong was five years ago and had limited memory capacity. Therefore, yesterday, in order to accommodate the new data, some parts of the computer were useless. The data was deleted, including the sunken location of the submarine HMS Farncombe."
“How could this happen? Isn’t there a backup hard drive?” Qin Tao asked.
"No."
"Well, electronic technology is changing with each passing day. Our Jiaolong should have been updated a long time ago." Qin Tao sighed with emotion and looked at Cowell: "Mr. Cowell, I am very sorry, we have no location for the sunken ship. In fact, if you want If you hire us to salvage, this kind of accident will not happen. We must have heard that you hired ships from Norway to salvage, and we knew that it was no longer needed, so we deleted it."
These words are also reasonable and reasonable. You don’t need us to salvage it anymore. Why do we still keep the location of the sunken ship? There is no way, the computer technology of five years ago was still not good enough.
Cowell’s expression became complicated.
real or fake?
Kewell’s eyes were filled with confusion. Did the other party really delete it or not give it to him? It is said that semi-submersible ships can provide it, which is real money, and the location of the sunken ship is just data, and does not require the other party to spend more money. This is more likely to be true.
In this case, he has nothing more to say.
Qin Tao smiled and sent the other person out of the door, returned to the room, and met the confused eyes.
"Brother Tao, now is a good opportunity to make money." Zhao Ling said: "They need a semi-submersible ship. Even if we ask for 50 million, they have to accept it. After all, we are close. Now, you can directly pay Bai delivered?"
“Yes, of course it has to be given away for free, they won’t need it anyway.”
“Can’t use it?”
"Yeah, do you think they can salvage the sunken submarine from the seabed of three thousand meters? With the Norwegians' little technology? It's long gone. Once they fail to salvage it, they may break the submarine into several sections. , they don’t need a semi-submersible boat at all, so I give it to them for free. I’ve gained a reputation and don’t have to pay anything, so why not?”
Qin Tao had already planned it.
The other party wants a semi-submersible ship? Okay, let's use it for free. Now we have all the trappings. The other party will have to fail in salvage anyway, so all we have to do is talk.
When the salvage fails, they have to come to Mingzhou Group. Although Qin Tao originally promised a salvage cost of 100 million US dollars, if it is broken into several sections, the cost will be doubled several times!
This money has to be earned, and the right to use the semi-submersible boat is given away, which just relaxes the relationship.
Sure enough, when Cowell went back to report, Michael and others were shocked.
“Are the Orientals willing to lend it to us for free?”
“Yes, are they trying to trick us?”
"I don't know what kind of pit is inside, but Mr. Qin has made it clear that there is no need for them to seize the submarine. If they don't dismantle the ship, it will also discredit them, especially since there are still the remains of our sailors on the submarine. , the whole world is watching," Cowell said.
"If this is the case, then they may really be doing it for a reputation, or to show goodwill to us." Michael said: "Unfortunately, they do not have submarine position data."
“Well, we can only discuss this with the Norwegians.”
Soon, Sollot came in.
“If we need to search, the cost will be up to 30 million US dollars. We need to airlift the underwater robot and start the search immediately. Please rest assured that we are professional and will never let you down.”
The semi-submersible ship is a gimmick, because Qin Tao bets that they can't salvage it at all, so there is no need for a semi-submersible ship.
“Okay, we are collecting the expenses, and I hope you can take action first.”
Everyone is in the same camp, and there is no need to worry about defaulting on the loan, so Sollot didn't say anything, just added the contents of the contract, and started taking action.
On the third day, the sea was rough and the underwater robot from Sweden entered the seabed and began to detect.
One day, two days, three days...At the end of October, before the two floating cranes arrived, they finally found the location of the sunken submarine by luck. When they saw the images returned from the water, they were stunned.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier? We didn't know that this submarine was actually stuck vertically. How can we salvage it?" Sorlot was worried.
Generally speaking, submarine accidents are caused by sinking horizontally. They lie flat on the bottom of the water and are lifted horizontally. Who would have thought that the submarine in front of them was sunk vertically, almost perpendicular to the bottom of the sea. How could it be salvaged?
"Aren't you the most professional? Aren't you able to deal with this kind of problem?" Michael, who followed them to the sea, became nervous: "In short, don't think about using this excuse to increase money! If you can't salvage it, don't even think about it. The final payment will follow!”
The other party has already come to this sea area, so you have to keep going, otherwise you will not get the balance. If you want to add more money now, it is even more impossible. Sollot was also a little disappointed with the Norwegians. These people were good at asking for money and would always find various excuses to ask for more money.
"We are the most professional, but your submarine has gone beyond the professional field." Sollot said: "We will not increase the money, but our salvage will be very difficult, and it may also cause the submarine to be salvaged during the salvage process. Break into sections.”
He has already foreseen the risk. After all, he is also a professional. In order to salvage in this case, the submarine must be pulled out from the bottom of the sea first. Who knows if there will be an accident? The submarine has withstood the impact and the strong pressure of sea water, and the load-bearing structure has long been destroyed. No one knows what accidents will happen.
“If you mess up, we’re not going to pay the balance,” Michael said.
“This is not what the contract stipulates!” Sollot also became angry: “Even if we fail to salvage, you still have to pay.”
“Now, the contract has been modified,” Michael said.
At this moment, Sorlot wanted to raise his fist and beat the annoying guy in front of him with a happy face, but he held back.
Still have to salvage!
"Mr. Sollot, it is precisely because of the difficulties that your salvage skills will be tested. We believe that you will succeed." Cowell came to smooth things over. He raised his head and looked at a helicopter flying in the sky nearby: "Everyone is watching. You can only succeed, not fail."
The new episode of Zhang Zhongshuo's program begins with a salvage scene shot by a helicopter. It includes two crane ships, a working mother ship, and a cargo ship. It looks mammoth.
"Dear viewers, the footage we just saw is the footage of the salvage site captured by our helicopter. We can see that the salvage work has begun, but we don't know what happened inside. Now, we have invited domestic expert Xu Lao, he has been responsible for salvaging many sunken ships on the seabed and has rich experience. Now, let him analyze it for us."
"Hello everyone, in the eyes of ordinary people, salvage means using a crane to lift things from the seabed. In fact, it is very complicated. After all, the things below are very big, weighing thousands of tons, and require many slings. These When the sling is impacted by ocean currents in seawater, uneven stress may occur. Of course, the most critical thing is the specific condition of the sunken ship on the seabed." Mr. Xu easily entered the role and followed the content prepared in advance. .
"It is said that the submarine Farncombe sank this time because the bow ballast tank failed, which caused the stern ballast tank to be emptied, the stern of the boat to rise, and the bow to sink. If it falls into the water like this, the situation is probably not optimistic." Zhang Tadashi said.
"Yes, it is said that images have been captured underwater. The submarine is almost perpendicular to the seabed and plunges vertically. The bow of the submarine is about one or two meters deep into the seabed. Therefore, this is the most difficult of all salvage tasks. Of course, we don’t have to be afraid, there are ways to deal with this.”
"any solution?"
"Undersea excavator." Mr. Xu said: "Develop a special wide-track excavator with all-electric propulsion. It can be connected to the mother ship at sea through cables, and it can also use the power of its own battery. With this kind of excavator, First dig out the mud around the bow of the boat."
To get the submarine out, the best way is to dig out the surrounding mud, and dredging is, of course, the job of an excavator.
Ordinary excavators generally work on the ground. Excavators that work in rivers are equipped with particularly wide tracks, which can move freely in the mud. However, when it comes to submersible excavators, most people still I have never heard of it, let alone an excavator that dives below three thousand meters.
“Mr. Xu, can there be such a thing?”
"Yes, we are currently developing it for submarine infrastructure. If we want to be a big infrastructure country, we must have a variety of advanced machinery. We are already pre-researching this product. What we need now is funds. If Someone invests a lot of money in us and we can do it in half a year.”
Complete it within half a year? The day lilies are cold!
So, even if they hear that Dongfang is researching this kind of equipment, people who are salvaging submarines will not be able to use it.
Sorlot is under a lot of pressure.
"We found some stress points based on the mechanical condition of the hull. Next, we need to install cables on these stress points to try to drag the submarine up at once." Sollot said to Michael: "This It should be the safest solution.”
"Are you sure? Will the submarine be towed into two pieces during towing?"
"If something like that really happens, then there's nothing I can do about it." Sollot said: "We have to try. If we don't try, how will we know."
“There is no way? You are the most professional salvage team, how come you have no way?” Michael shouted angrily.
“We don’t have an underwater excavator, that thing is a joke!”
“You must ensure that nothing goes wrong, otherwise I will not sign the official salvage order.”
“Then we can only say goodbye.” Sollot said: “But don’t waste our salvage fees, we will sue you in the International Court of Justice.”
Cowell was there watching the conflict between the two people, and was a little anxious: "How about Mr. Michael, we ask BOA to try to salvage it. If there is an accident in the middle, we stop quickly. As long as we are careful, we should be able to eliminate the danger." Keep it to a minimum.”
"Okay." Michael could only nod: "You must be careful! We need to salvage the submarine completely, we don't want an accident!"
"We will. By the way, if the following situation analysis is correct, the remains of those unlucky sailors should be in the front cabin, right?"
"Why do you ask this? We don't just want the front cabin, we want the whole thing. The rear cabin is also very important, because the propeller at the back is leaking. We have to fish it out and show the Swedes that the submarine they built is leaking. They We need to compensate for our losses, and if they compensate for our losses, we will have money to pay you for the salvage costs, do you understand?"
Looking at the roaring Michael, Sorlot felt that he had been cheated. The other party had no money at all and actually hired his own party to salvage it. It seemed that even if the salvage was successful, it would be difficult to collect accounts in the future, and he might have to litigate.
—
Sorlot felt a little helpless in his heart, but he was already here and had set up a battle formation. No matter what, he had to salvage it first.
A few days later, the salvage officially began.
Two floating cranes released long cables deep into the seabed. It took several hours just to release the cables. Then, the underwater robot did a lot of work and hung the cables that fixed the submarine on the hooks.
While they were doing all this, there were always onlookers nearby. There was no way around it. In theory, this was really the territory of the Orientals. Now, the Oriental has dispatched another 054 and has been hanging around here. However, the other party is very He restrained himself from getting too close, for fear that they would fail in salvage and be unjustly watching the excitement.
On Shuangsha Island, Qin Tao was also listening to the progress here.
“They used a longitudinal salvage plan and arranged three sets of steel cables on the submarine, namely the front, middle and rear. These steel cables are of different lengths, but they can be fixed on the hook just right.”
“Are they planning to salvage the water vertically?” Qin Tao was also curious.
"Probably not. They only plan to pull the submarine out vertically, then lay it flat on the seabed, readjust the length of the steel cable, and fish it out of the water horizontally."
“It turned out that I just planned to pull out the carrots.” Qin Tao said, “I guess they must pull them off.”
“This mainly depends on the strength, if you are careful...”
Looking at Zhao Ling making various inferences, Xu Zhengyang couldn't help but said: "In recent days, our Jiaolong has been hanging around outside for a long time, so the submarine will definitely break from the middle."
Zhao Ling opened her eyes wide and looked at Qin Tao: "Has everything been arranged?"
"Zhengyang, what are you talking about? If you keep talking nonsense, I will transfer you somewhere else, separate you from Xiaoqian, and work as a monk every day. By the way, have you sown the fields every night?"
Zhao Ling's face turned red. What are you talking about?
"There are three kinds of unfilial piety, the worst is not having an heir." Qin Tao said: "We are discussing important matters, what's wrong? What are you thinking? Why are you blushing?"
“Nicholas has called several times recently and wants to ask you to visit him when you have time.”
"Nicholas? It's not easy for this old friend to still remember me. When this matter is over, let's go...forget it, let's go now, maybe there will be fun."
As a spectator, Qin Tao can point out the rivers and mountains. The people salvaging there do not have the leisure time like him, and everyone is very nervous.
"When lifting, you must pay attention to the balance on both sides. We have the most experienced veterans who can control all this. Now, I hope God will bless you." Sollot said: "Salvage begins!"
The two floating cranes roared, and the thick cables slowly rose. It was visible to the naked eye that they were slowly tightening and tightening. The underwater robot was also monitoring all this vigilantly. It looked at every cable below. Prompt at any time whether the cable has been tightened.
“It’s all tightened!”
“Start lifting!”
The cable creaked and began to exert force. The pulley supporting the cable on the floating crane also began to sink under the huge pulling force.
“Today’s weather is quite good. If the sea is too rough, we will stop the operation.” Sollot said.
Creak, crunch!
“The bow of the boat is already loosening!”
“The bow of the boat is slowly leaving the mud!”
A piece of good news came and everyone became excited.
marvelous!
They have seen the glimmer of hope!
Creak!
There were still sounds under the water, which seemed normal. The images sent back by the underwater robot satisfied them: "The bow of the boat is being pulled out!"
“The bow of the boat is about to leave the mud!”
“Great, now get ready to put the submarine down!”
However, the Rambitz hoisted on it suddenly discovered something was wrong.
“The stress on the cable seems to be reducing!”
“Has the submarine been pulled out?”
“No, it seems that the cable has completely come loose!”
The personnel monitoring the underwater robot discovered an unexpected situation: "No, the middle of the submarine..."
(End of this chapter)