Empire of the Ring

Chapter 653: Ostentation (1)

“Officer on duty, what’s the temperature outside now?”

“It’s currently negative 28 degrees outside, Commander.”

“I don’t understand that the Arctic Ocean is warmer than inland.”

Commander Jun tilted his head as he heard that the outside temperature was negative 28 degrees.

He just spoke to the Astana-based Kazakhstan Defense Department and its temperature was negative 32 degrees.

“Commander, couldn’t it be just this year?”

“It’s irregular, but it’s a sign that the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer.”

The fact that the speed of the preceding icebreaker was similar to the speed of ship sailing in the unfrozen waters was evidence that the thickness of the ice was not great.

The fleet of Arirang Shipping was sailing on the Arctic route for the third day after it entered the Arctic Ocean through Norway.

The Arctic Ocean, covered with pure white ice, had no waves due to the ice, with only the fierce wind blowing.

Whether one was a sailor or a navy, he was always used to wobbling little by little, but it was rather unnatural to be on a ship sailing as if it was gliding.

Despite the smooth sailing, it was not quiet.

The noise made by pieces of ice hitting the hull of the ship was heard in the cabin, so the crew was always on edge for fear that the hull might get damaged.

Although two icebreakers were ahead for the large fleet, it was the first time for Commander Jun to sail through the ice, so his mind could not rest during the entire voyage.

“Officer, where the hell is the North Sea Fleet? Isn’t it about time we met it already?”

“It’ll be here in an hour. They’re following the sea path we’ve made.”

“They don’t even have icebreakers?”

“They’ve been following the route we’ve been through since the White Sea.”

Upon hearing the Kazakh royal family sailing with two icebreakers ahead, they apparently followed along without an icebreaker.

“Whoa, they can’t save on something like this. Can’t they even support an icebreaker when they said they wanted to have a joint drill?”

It was said that they were refraining from training the navies due to economic difficulties, but Victor Jun did not know if they could not even support the icebreaker in joint drills with foreign forces.

“Commander, our ship should now stand by here.”

“Let the fleet proceed and leave one icebreaker here for standby.”

If the sea froze again after the training, they could get stuck on the sea.

No matter how warm the Arctic Ocean was, it still went down 30 degrees below zero.

In this weather, the broken ice quickly froze.

Ships with weak propulsion could fail because even weak ice could be overwhelming.

If a ship was damaged or the engine was overburdened, it must be prepared for huge repairs. It would suffer even bigger damage to save some money for operating an icebreaker.

Moments later, a Russian fleet appeared with a huge cruiser ahead.

Three Russian vessels responded with loud horn sound as the Kazakh Aegis destroyer welcomed them with flag signals.

The Russian warships participating in the joint drill were one Kirov-class cruiser and two Sovremenny-class destroyers, all of which were missile ships.

While the Aegis destroyer was only armed with a 127-millimeter gun and goalkeeper machine gun, Russian warships were full of all sorts of armament here and there on deck

“Russia has deployed all the weapons. I wonder if those heavy warships can even speed up properly.”

Armaments on deck alone weighed so much that it seemed no icebreaker was needed.

It was said that none of the existing warships could defeat the Kirov-class by one-on-one.

The nuclear cruiser built to deal with U.S. aircraft carriers was the Kirov class.

It was the monster boasted a speed of 30 knots with 230-meter-long and 28-meter-wide body, 726 crew member capacity and 24,300 tons of displacement.

As for weapons, it was equipped with 20 ship-to-ship missile launchers, 12 ship-to-air missile launchers, two 130-millimeter guns, eight anti-aircraft guns, two anti-submarine missiles, ten torpedo launchers, two anti-submarine rocket launchers, and even an anti-submarine helicopter.

***

“Ship-to-ship missile launch!”

-Aye, aye, sir! Ship-to-ship missile fired!

In two Aegis warships, missiles were flying into the sky, blasting flames.

Despite the cold and harsh winds, Russian sailors from the North Sea Fleet were out on deck to watch the missiles fly. They seemed to be envious of the Kazakh destroyers which were launching two missiles although it was just a drill.

Russian officers aboard the Aegis destroyer were also keeping a close eye on the series of missile launches, taking notes.

Soon after, the goalkeeper machine gun, which boasted a firing speed of 4,000 shots per minute, blew fire, and everyone was speechless.

When the goalkeeper stopped shooting, the 127-millimeter gun started firing. It had a range of 23 kilometers and fired 40 rounds per minute.

When the firepower demonstration was over, Russian officers were smiling brightly, waving their thumbs.

They seemed to think that it was fortunate that Kazakhstan, which had such a great warship, was an ally, not an enemy.

“Commander Jun, that was great. I salute the Kazakh Navy.”

“Thank you. With the Russian Navy, no one will ever dare to confront us.”

Victor was speaking with Russian naval officers in fluent Russian.

The atmosphere was more amicable as they were speaking the same language.

Kazakhstan used Russian as its official language, so there was no language barrier between the two navies.

“Why don’t we have regular joint drills in the Arctic Ocean in the future?”

“It’s welcome anytime. I think we’ll be able to get more warships involved in the future.”

“I understand that there are only a few warships in Kazakhstan…”

“You haven’t heard the news yet. There are a dozen frigates being remodeled at our Royal Shipyard in Denmark. It will be delivered to our Navy next year with a multipurpose landing ship. Three more Aegis destroyers will be delivered next year, so it will be a proper joint exercise.”

Commander Jun bragged to the Russian officers as it seemed like a good opportunity to flatten Russian officers’ noses.

The Russian officers, who did not respond much to his remark at the mention of frigates, seemed very surprised when they heard about the multipurpose landing ship and Aegis destroyers.

“You mean you’re building more Aegis destroyers?”

“There are only five ships in total. We will increase the number of Aegis destroyers to ten and deploy four more multipurpose landing ships in the future, and soon, we’ll be introducing a hospital ship.”

“I really envy the wealth of the Kazakh royal family.”

“We’re still a child compared to the Russian navy. I envy the Russian Navy more. It has six such great cruisers.”

The Russian navy had six cruisers, including the Kirov-class and Slava-class, which were undergoing a repair process.

“Well, they’re a pain in real life. We can’t afford the maintenance cost, so they are stuck in the harbor.”

“It’s important to have warships like that. We wouldn’t have a wish if we had such a warship.”

“You envy everything. They’re large that it does not fit into modern warfare. Small and medium-sized missile ships are more substantial than cruisers, which only cost a lot of money.”

Commander Jun listened to the officers carefully as they had been in the Russian navy for decades.

It was imperative to keep in mind the problems of the Russian Navy from the active officers. It was because Russia could be an enemy one day although it was an ally now.

***

After the joint drill, the Russian North Sea Fleet hurried back.

It would be a disaster if the sea path made by the Kazakh icebreaker froze solid again.

The powerful thrust of the nuclear cruiser could break the ice, but if the engine was overpowered, it would need repair which would cost a lot and be tied to the port without a deadline.

They were not able to train properly due to a lack of budget at the moment.

As the paint was not supplied in time, Russian naval vessels would sail with rusty spots on their bodies. This time, as there was a joint drill with the Kazakh navy, the Russian Navy had hastily painted their warships. It was obvious that they had coated the body without even peeling the rust.

“Sir, we’ve loaded the Russian ships with combat rations. They took it gladly.”

“If I had known, I would have brought more food.”

When Commander Jun asked to have a meal to the Russian naval officers, they refused as they needed to hurry to go back. As they were very disappointed by the fact, he gave them combat rations and cigarettes, which they happily accepted.

“The morale of the soldiers would be ridiculous, considering that even officers are pleased with combat rations.”

“They seem to be underpaid. I must have bragged too much about Kazakhstan’s wealth.”

“Since they now know exactly what the Kazakh Navy is like, they won’t underestimate us.”

“The Russian Navy was once the world’s best force, but it’s now a paper tiger.”

“But still, their warships are great weapons.”

“It would be great if their missile launchers are loaded with missiles. I wonder if they’re carrying empty shells.”

Victor Jun, who saw the fall of the Russian North Sea Fleet with his own eyes, was proud.

In the joint drill, Russia showed only three or four guns and failed to show other firepower due to a lack of budget.

The use of expensive weapons was burdensome as it was only a drill, not an actual situation. The phrase ‘joint training’ was overshadowed by the fact that the Russian navies only communicated with each other after failing to properly demonstrate using fires.

The Russian navy came to see the operational capabilities of the Kazakh Navy.

“I would rather not do this kind of joint exercise. I think we just hurt their pride. They’d envy you at first, but they’ll be jealous after a while. I think we shouldn’t show off more.”

“You worry about everything. We even fired missiles to make them feel envious. We have to show that we are untouchable.”

“There was a reason why the Russian navy can’t be aggressive in the Caspian Sea. It was because of our small missile ships.”

Russian naval forces, which operated mainly on warships, had a relatively weak armament of small coastal vessels.

It was burdensome to even mount missiles on small ships.

So in the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan’s naval forces were overwhelming.

Even so, Russian naval forces were still second only to the U.S.

It was because it had a nuclear-powered submarine that carried intercontinental ballistic missiles.

“Chief, the Caspian Sea is not even a disputed area, and it is also a loss of power to leave five Yoon Young-ha-class missile ships in the Caspian Sea. Bringing them to the ocean would definitely increase our power.”

“When I return home, I’ll propose to His Highness that we pull them out of the Caspian Sea.”

The Yoon Young-ha class was the latest advanced missile ship brought in from Korea with a combined displacement of 570 tons and a length of 63 meters. It also had four anti-ship missiles in addition to the 76-millimeter and 40-millimeter guns, so it could be operated in the ocean if forced.

The Yoon Young-ha class had four powerful engines, two gas turbine engines and two diesel engines, that could generate a speed of more than 40 knots.

Since there was no screw because of the water jet propulsion system, it was a ship that could change the direction of the outlet and freely change the direction of progress.

Even without Yoon Young-ha, Kazakh naval forces were still at their strongest in the Caspian Sea.

This was because there were about 30 speedboats under 300 tons that were built in the royal territory and 20 missile patrol ships acquired from the U.S.