Chapter 910 Dreadnought Nuclear Submarine

It is now obvious that the Soviet Union is the leader in the field of intercontinental missiles, while the United States is a chaser.

This is already difficult for the United States to accept. What is even more unacceptable is that the United Kingdom is actually ahead of the United States.

Although the British Blue Light missile has a range of only 5,500 kilometers, it is not a true intercontinental missile.

But only if the test launch of the Atlas strategic missile is successful can we be said to be ahead of the UK. If it exploded directly on the launch pad, what kind of lead is it?

The United States cannot tolerate lagging behind the United Kingdom. Even if the United States accumulates little in the field of intercontinental missiles, it is definitely ahead of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is starting from scratch. Although the United States did not capture von Braun's team, it obtained much more information than the United Kingdom.

As a result, there was a contrast between the success of the Blue Light missile and the failure of the Atlas strategic missile. How should the Pentagon accept it?

"Oh, what a good news." On the other side of the Atlantic, in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, Alan Wilson read Whitehall's internal documents with excitement and cheered for the news that the Atlas strategic missile exploded on the launch pad.

In the research of intercontinental missiles, the United States was completely backward in the early days. If he remembered correctly, the launch test of the Atlas strategic missile should have been eight in total, with six failures and two successes. Either it exploded in the air or it exploded on the launch pad.

However, failure is the mother of success. He still believes that the United States is powerful enough to overcome temporary difficulties with heavy investment. Is the world war a waste of money?

"Nigeria won't be able to handle the tickets, the development of the Niger Delta, oil exploration and the four major construction projects in just twenty or thirty years. If you start everything, even if Nigeria becomes independent, it will still need our help for a long time. help."

When Alan Wilson called Roberts over, it couldn't be regarded as a face-to-face meeting. The basic principles were all understood when he reached the position of colonial commissioner, and he just had to have this framework to implement it.

"Deputy Secretary-General, without your personal visit, things would not have been so easy to handle." Roberts expressed his gratitude. Nigeria would never be able to implement these projects with its own strength.

In fact, it is impossible to do it now. Completing these projects requires long-term investment. Obviously, except for the oil field, British capital will not help in other aspects.

"The economic crisis will last only one or two years at most. When the global environment improves, the UK will be able to survive this crisis. I don't believe that while other countries are prosperous, the UK alone will be hit by an economic crisis. "

Alan Wilson raised his eyebrows and said that surviving the economic crisis cycle would be considered a victory. He was not prepared to build Nigeria into a lighthouse in Africa. He would not be able to do it if he stayed in Lagos his whole life.

Anyway, Nigeria will officially become independent in a few years.

What will happen then will have nothing to do with Britain anymore.

Anyway, with Nigeria's status as the most populous country in Africa, as well as its oil resources and agricultural conditions in the Niger River Delta, its status in Africa will definitely not be low. After all, Africa is a place where novices are pecking at each other.

"That's right. It's not like Europe, where the competition is so fierce." Roberts said with deep approval.

"Haha!" Alan Wilson chuckled. The colleague's sigh reminded him of the East Asian monster house. It's just an optimistic attitude of enjoying joy in hardship.

Who is willing to feed such a large army and be in a state of confrontation at any time? Being able to get rid of this state is also a relief for the Europeans. Of course, he himself does not like it. It is best for the Cold War to continue and be in a static state where the enemy cannot win. In best condition.

"In this case, you should work hard in the past few years. The Dominion of Nigeria is surrounded by French colonies. We definitely don't want it to be too weak. Fortunately, the French colonies are not that good either. The difficulty is neither high nor low. I'm getting ready to go back to London. If you encounter any difficulties, remember to send a telegram."

Before leaving, Alan Wilson tried his best to let his colleagues relax, "Maybe changes in Africa will happen soon."

Grace is still staying in Lagos. Northern Rhodesia is a landlocked colony. The deployment of manpower depends on flights from the Northern Rhodesia colony. The entire Northern Rhodesia relies on copper mining. This is also Grace's prominence in contrast to the Congo. The reason why everyone is greedy.

The copper belt in Northern Rhodesia is shared with the southeastern part of the Belgian Congo, and the local area almost divides Northern Rhodesia into two halves, east and west. No one can suppress their greed.

"Wait for the opportunity and be patient." Alan Wilson asked the Chetnik a question, "It's really successful. You Chetnik and Ustasha won't fight."

"Compared with different races, ethnic discord is already on the back burner." Grace said confidently, "In Africa, there are only white people and black people. The combined number of our ethnic groups only has such a small number of people. How can we still fight against each other?" what?"

"It makes sense. This is reassuring." Alan Wilson breathed a sigh of relief, "Don't always stay in the inland if you have nothing to do. The world is still big, and you may need your help for many things. And there are few Plant some poppies, although this is your freedom and it is not convenient for me to interfere, but after all, it is not an industry worth developing."

The income from drug production seems to be a lot, but at what level you look at the problem, at best, it can only support a warlord.

What's more, geographically, transportation costs in Northern Rhodesia are very high, and it may not be able to compete with several other drug manufacturing sites.

Places that regard drug production as a pillar industry are undoubtedly extremely poor. The upper limit of this thing is too low.

"We want to purchase a batch of armed helicopters." Grace made a request. "I heard that the UK has a Tiger armed helicopter that will be put into service. We can buy it."

"The cost seems to be 150,000 pounds a piece. I will help you with it." Alan Wilson agreed and revealed a piece of information to Grace. This information is absolutely accurate. You need to know the cost of the blue-light missile. Five hundred thousand pounds a piece.

Immediately, Alan Wilson boarded a flight to Paris. Although he was in a foreign country, he still did not forget to contribute to the rocket industry. When he arrived in London, he was already overworked.

But even so, the United States, which firmly believes that failure is the mother of success, still cheered up Alan Wilson with the news of the explosion of the second volley. He was exhausted and returned to a state of full energy.

"The Tiger's armed grit-making machine must first satisfy domestic orders, but from the perspective of arms sales, selling it should not be a problem." Mountbatten saw his son-in-law coming to the door, answered his question, and then expressed his appreciation for Alan Wilson's work. The conversation changed, "It's a coincidence that you're back. I have some good news to share with you."

"The good news told by the general must be related to the navy." Alan Wilson saw Mountbatten's behavior and knew that his guess was not far away. Otherwise, Mountbatten would not be so happy. Unless he is strong and his mother-in-law is happy, but it should not be too bad. possible.

"The nuclear submarine has been completed, and the Queen is ready to personally preside over the launching ceremony. I can feel relieved." Mountbatten spoke and confirmed Alan Wilson's guess, and it was indeed related to the navy.

Alan Wilson is also happy about this. After all, nuclear submarines are the most important weapon of the country. Aircraft carriers are to protect interests to some extent. Unlike nuclear submarines, they are a life-saving weapon.

After the United States is willing to provide nuclear reactor technology, the United Kingdom has successfully overcome the nuclear power difficulty. As for other aspects of nuclear submarines, there is no difficulty for Britain, which is a powerful shipbuilding country.

The launching ceremony was held recently, and the nuclear submarine has been named the Dreadnought nuclear submarine. Nuclear submarines combine the British Royal Navy's requirements for nuclear submarines in terms of structural strength and fluid power. Although the United States provided the United Kingdom with the appearance and construction experience of nuclear submarines, the United Kingdom ultimately designed the nuclear submarine's hull and combat system on its own.

The British company Rolls-Royce has cooperated with the British Atomic Energy Agency to develop a new nuclear power propulsion system.

The Dreadnought nuclear submarine is powered by a 15,000-horsepower cycle steam turbine provided by Rolls-Royce. It can maintain a speed of 28 knots underwater, with a surface tonnage of 3,600 tons and an underwater tonnage of 4,000 tons. Compared with the big guys in the late Cold War, which often weighed tens of thousands of tons, it seems very small, but it is definitely sufficient for the present.

Alan Wilson is very pleased that with Britain's shipbuilding capabilities, as long as the nuclear reactor is digested, there will be no problem. This is due to the confidence of the world's largest shipbuilding country.

Promising his father-in-law to take advantage of the hot spots, Alan Wilson went to Whitehall non-stop to report and elaborate on several issues related to Nigeria's construction.

"You are right, in fact, just push through the economic crisis cycle." Norman Brooke calmly affirmed Alan Wilson's hard work, "Using the Mountbatten Group's reputation to attract funds into Nigeria, there will be no problem. "

"It's not a big problem." Alan Wilson used his wife's property as a benchmark, and he couldn't hide it from the heads of Whitehall. When Norman Brooke asked, he immediately admitted.

"That's good." Norman Brooke nodded. "If the Gulf of Guinea really has rich oil reserves, it would be a good thing for the UK. We can't rely too much on the Persian Gulf. Well, I still have a meeting to hold. Yes. Difficulties will come to me again..."

On July 12, the launching ceremony of the Dreadnought nuclear submarine, which was launched a year earlier than originally planned, was witnessed by the Minister of Defense, Earl Alexander, and senior naval officials, and was presided over by Queen Elizabeth.

The Armstrong Shipyard, which has been established for more than 100 years, officially launched the Dreadnought nuclear submarine in the presence of the Queen, marking a solid step in the development of Britain's underwater power.

After Queen Elizabeth finished her speech, the military generals in the shipyard applauded in unison and shouted God save the Queen...