The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Chapter 411: The Anmin Army wants to buy an aircraft carrier?

The special intelligence team led by the synth Bruce constantly used golden bullets to pave the way in Europe, corrupting the already shaken Hans officials, and continuously shipped various high-tech weapons left by the Hans people and experts and engineers stranded outside the Hans from Marseille in Gaul to Yangon.

On the other hand, in Southeast Asia, Zhang Chi immediately became bolder when he found that after he insisted on launching a general attack on Lion City, the White Eagle side not only did not reprimand him, but instead sent Special Envoy Harold to invite the An Min Army to send representatives to participate in the United Nations that was about to be established.

Anyway, it's time to strike the snake while the stick is still there. Zhang Chi also knows that the White Eagle still needs him to hold the Japanese back, so it's natural to fleece them.

In the newly renovated reception room, the vertical air conditioner produced by Nanhua Home Appliance Factory is working hard to produce cool air.

Harold took off his hat, sat on the sofa, and looked at the young man in front of him.

Zhang Chi, commander-in-chief of the People's Security Army, was a man who transformed a defeated army into a regular military and political machine across Southeast Asia in three years.

There is no doubt that what he did was a miracle in Harold's eyes.

"General Zhang, thank you for your hospitality," Harold said with a smile, raising his glass. "What is this? Tea?"

"Oolong tea, top-quality Dahongpao from Fujian Province." Zhang Chi smiled slightly and sat opposite him. "If you're not used to it, there's also Coca-Cola."

Harold laughed: "You know us very well."

After the pleasantries, the two quickly got down to business...

"Buy Casablanca-class escort aircraft carriers? But as far as I know, all 50 Casablancas have been delivered to the navy and are currently carrying out combat missions. There are no plans to sell them, right?"

Harold looked at Zhang Chi in confusion.

Of course, this is not the post-war period. The biggest headache for the White Eagle War Assets Administration (WAA) after the war is how to sell these surplus war materials.

Throughout World War II, White Eagle produced a total of 40 aircraft, 102,000 tanks, 230 million road vehicles of various types, and 150 aircraft carriers.

Once there is no need for war, the maintenance and preservation of these military supplies becomes a big problem.

The remaining war materials were worth $340 billion at the time, and the WAA's mission was to sell them cheaply and recover the funds.

At present, the war is still going on. Although the Nazis and the Japanese are showing signs of decline, the White Eagles are unwilling to directly sell their active ships and weaken their combat effectiveness.

Zhang Chi smiled and said, "I understand Special Envoy Harold's concerns, so I suggest placing an order directly with the shipyard to build a few new ships."

This was due to the use of segmented shipbuilding and large-scale welding, which were common technologies in later generations but were still radical at the time.

The average construction time of the Liberty ship was shortened to 42 days, and the Casablanca class, which was improved on the basis of the Liberty ship, was naturally built very quickly.

The CVE-100 "Bougainville" was successfully built in just 76 days in history. Zhang Chi estimated that if he placed an order now while the shipyard was still "hot", it would be completed in about 3 months.

"According to the Lend-Lease Act, in principle, we allow allies to directly purchase military supplies. However, as you know, the Casablanca is, after all, an aircraft carrier with a full load of over 1 tons, so I still need to consult the Special Administrative Region."

In order to attract attention, some self-media in later generations said that White Eagle Industry was powerful and built hundreds of aircraft carriers like dumplings in the late World War II. In fact, they also included escort aircraft carriers such as the Casablanca class, Independence class, and Borg class.

After all, no matter how powerful the White Eagle is at this time, it cannot build hundreds of fleet aircraft carriers.

Zhang Chi had already prepared for Special Envoy Harold's answer, as the White House would ultimately have to make the final decision on this matter.

As an escort aircraft carrier, the Casablanca class weighs just over 1 tons at full displacement and can carry 28 carrier-based aircraft (usually 12 torpedo bombers and 16 fighters) for combat, or 50+ aircraft at a time using deck moorings. (No combat capability, purely transport)

Although its maximum speed is still only 19.3 knots, as the latest model, its comprehensive combat capability is much stronger than the previous Borg-class and Sangamondo escort aircraft carriers.

In particular, it is equipped with a steam catapult and two elevators, which solves the problem of attack aircraft taking off with heavy loads.

Zhang Chi felt that since it was impossible to obtain a fleet aircraft carrier in the short term, it was still necessary to test the waters with escort aircraft carriers, train the navy, give them experience points, and learn how to use catapults and how to land with arresting cables.

Moreover, after getting the finished ship, he can also let the engineers of the First Shipyard conduct on-site inspections to learn about the construction and design of aircraft carriers.

Kill two birds with one stone, how great!

Not to mention that the combat effectiveness of the Casablanca-class escort aircraft carriers is not weak. In the Battle of Samar Island during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1945, six Casablanca-class escort aircraft carriers faced Kurita Takeo's Combined Fleet's First Guerrilla Force.

The White Eagle destroyers faced the Yamato and Nagato, charged bravely, launched suicide torpedo attacks, delayed time, and covered the six Casablanca-class aircraft carriers to launch aircraft attacks. In the end, it turned into a heroic battle like a puppy fighting an elephant.

Despite being outnumbered, the White Eagle Squadron still sank three Japanese heavy cruisers and severely damaged the Nagato, Kongo, and Haruna at the cost of losing two escort carriers (Saint Lo and Gambier Bay) and two destroyers, leaving Kurita Takeo with only the intact Yamato battleship as a hotel.

This battle proved that even if she was only escorting an aircraft carrier, the planes she launched could still kill people.

For Zhang Chi, if he wants to dominate the South Pacific after the war, this aircraft carrier is definitely indispensable, especially an escort aircraft carrier that can do miscellaneous work. The maintenance and deployment costs are relatively cheap. In the future, the territory of the Anmin Army will have a large territorial waters, so naturally the more the better.

However, he will not place too many orders now, but will wait until after the war, when the WAA is selling them at a fire sale price, and then he will directly purchase a large number of aircraft carriers.

As for whether the White House would agree, Zhang Chi was not worried.

It’s not a question of whether the United States recognizes Zhang Chi and the People’s Army as close allies, but that the White Eagle has no other choice at the moment.

Harold had the same idea. The current situation in Southeast Asia was in chaos. John was no longer able to manage the economy. The Gallic colonies were also in turmoil. Although the Japanese pirates were remnant, they still resisted stubbornly. The only one who was truly capable of maintaining order was the young man in front of him.

He disciplined the army strictly, implemented new policies, gained public support, and gradually formed an industrial system. Most importantly, he knew how to deal with the White Eagles.

Once the People's Army of the Security of Singapore occupies Singapore, it will allow White Eagle Capital to enter and establish a joint venture to jointly develop the mineral resources of the Malay Peninsula and the Singapore port, and even set up a duty-free zone.

Naturally, one of the board seats of the proposed joint venture would be reserved for Harold's second son.

With such favorable conditions, Harold was naturally very concerned about the purchase of an aircraft carrier by the People's Army.