Chapter 676 Natural Military Port (for the Leader "Zai" 2 More

For Cai Ruichen, the arrival of Gertney, the commander of the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy, is not a small matter.

Although it is currently forming an alliance with the United States, so far, the two sides have not actually been of one mind except for the issue of anti-terrorism.

However, Cai Ruichen also believes that Gertney's intentions are also good, because the area under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy is actually very large.

Affiliated to the Fifth Fleet of the US Central Command, the entire jurisdiction includes the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and multiple waterways near the Pacific Ocean.

With such a huge area, the Fifth Fleet's main focus should be on the Middle East.

Coupled with the fact that the current Fifth Fleet has entered an era without aircraft carriers, the pressure on the Fifth Fleet has increased sharply.

The loss of an aircraft carrier is equivalent to the loss of a patrolling sea area with a circumference of thousands of nautical miles. For the stretched Fifth Fleet, Gertney is under great pressure.

Now, the U.S. military has launched multi-faceted cooperation in the Middle East and the Future Technology Group. In the anti-terrorist operations along the coast of the Middle East and Africa, the Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy has always needed allies.

However, it is impossible for NATO allies to assist the US military in completing such a huge maritime security task, and the burden has always fallen on the US Navy.

For a long time, the US Navy has been looking forward to the naval ships being built by Future Technology Group.

Here in the Middle East, the Air Force already has the cooperation of the Future Security Company. Under the same defense budget, the Air Force's military expenditure in the Middle East has been reduced by nearly 40%.

The operating costs of the Navy's military expenditures in the Middle East have been increasing unabated, which has always put great pressure on the Ministry of the Navy.

The United States, which is moving eastward strategically, currently spends most of its naval expenditure on the Far East.

To put it bluntly, the current Fifth Fleet is having a hard time. It doesn't even have an aircraft carrier, and there is only one amphibious strike group left in the main fleet, which is not considered a main fleet at all.

Although the Fifth Fleet has no decent opponents in the Middle East, it is even more arduous in the face of Iran and the anti-terrorism tasks from the Middle East to the east coast of Africa.

Fighting against piracy, plus combating anti-terrorist shipping lines at sea, is not an easy task.

Seeing that the Air Force has a future technology group to undertake daily combat tasks, the US Navy will naturally have its own ideas.

The Ministry of the Navy also agrees with the Fifth Fleet's idea. If the Future Technology Group can be brought in to help, the Fifth Fleet can be much easier, and at least it can save a lot of military expenditure every year.

After all, even if a warship sails on the sea without incident, the daily consumption of fuel and supplies of personnel is a huge expense.

Now the U.S. Navy's annual budget is tight, and if it can save a little, it is natural to save a little.

As soon as the four sea scorpions appeared, combined with the combat effectiveness of this warship, Gertney didn't want to wait any longer.

When he left Bahrain and came to Basra, he received authorization from Central Command, and both Congress and Washington agreed to the plan of the Navy Department.

After all, there is already military cooperation with the Future Technology Group, and it is not bad to deepen some cooperation in the navy.

If the Future Technology Group can be built into a wider partner in the future, it will be of great benefit to the future of the US military.

However, this is also based on the military development of the future technology group, which is always under the control of the US military.

Cai Ruichen's enthusiasm for Gotney's arrival made Gotney see it when he just boarded the naval port of the future security company in Umm Qasr.

In the lonely military port, scenes of construction can be seen everywhere. Gotney, who had just stepped off the red carpet at the port, saw Cai Ruichen waiting here.

Although the two met for the first time, they were like two long-lost good friends. They hugged very cordially, and then, under the leadership of Cai Ruichen, inspected the naval honor guard of the future security company.

Under the military music of the US Navy, Gotney, accompanied by Cai Ruichen, also participated in the flag-raising ceremony of the two sides.

Gotney, who came aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, after finishing the welcome ceremony on the shore, took Cai Ruichen aboard and visited this old and vigorous guided missile cruiser of the US military.

For lunch, Cai Ruichen was still on the cruiser, eating with the officers and soldiers of the US Navy, and had a taste of the sumptuous lunch on the US Navy warship.

After lunch, it was time for officers and soldiers from both sides to communicate. Although the future security company is not a country, the US Navy still conducted exchanges with the naval officers and soldiers of the future security company at the national etiquette level.

Cai Ruichen did not participate in this kind of grassroots activity. At this time, he had already taken Gotney to spread out after lunch on the unfinished military port.

The two walked on the beach on the shore, looked at the beautiful U-shaped bay in the distance, and chatted about various topics.

Especially when seeing the huge U-shaped bay around, Gertney has shown a satisfied look more than once.

"Umm Qasr, this is the most natural naval port. It is 3,000 meters into the port and 1,100 meters wide. It is all deep water. There are no shore reefs under the water. The water depth is 100 meters. There is no need to build dikes.

If Kuwait had been occupied by Iraq, it would have become the core port of the Iraqi Navy. In the future, it will be no problem to stop five aircraft carrier battle groups. If it is artificially expanded, there will be few ports in the world that can be better than this one. "

Gertney looked regretful. The port in front of him, with his current professional vision, if this place becomes a military port, it will definitely be more suitable for the stationing of large buildings than Bahrain.

It doesn't even need to invest too much in construction. A huge U-shaped harbor is surrounded by mountains. It is definitely the most suitable military port, whether it is building defense facilities or considering the climate and tsunami of the military port. .

The reason why the Iraqi navy didn't use it at the beginning was because of Kuwait's relationship. Umm Qasr is only 10 to 20 kilometers away from Kuwait. It is impossible for a military port to be placed so close to the second country.

Just as Gertney said, if Saddam successfully merged Kuwait into Iraq and had Kuwait as a buffer, then this would be the best military port in Iraq.

However, regret is regret, and it is already in the past tense. Regarding Cai Ruichen's ability to use this place, Gertney is still very optimistic about everything here.

,