Chapter 561 Life is like a box of chocolates
Chapter 561 Life is like a box of chocolates
Estuary of the Potomac River, North America.
The whistle blew long and the huge battleship USS Iowa weighed anchor and set sail.
The Iowa-class battleships were the last batch of battleships built by the Federation. When the Daxia Zhanjiang military exercise was held to showcase aircraft carrier technology to the world, four of them were already on the slipway.
Although we knew that the battleships were outdated, we had already started outfitting them and we couldn't destroy them, so these four ships were built.
The subsequent shipbuilding plan was cancelled and the plan was changed to follow Daxia's example, with aircraft carriers as the main force and destroyers as the escort mode.
When the shipbuilding plan was first formulated, the Federation had just made a fortune in the First European War and was wealthy and powerful, so it tried hard to surpass its British father in terms of fleet level.
The tonnage of this third batch of battleships reached 45000 tons, and the full load displacement was tons, far exceeding the largest battleship of Daxia, the HMS Dreadnought.
Although its combat capability cannot catch up with that of an aircraft carrier, its huge size is a reflection of a country's strong national power. When Garfield went to Cairo to attend the meeting, the Iowa was chosen as his flagship.
This post-war peace conference was held in Cairo, mainly to take into account Shao Quanzhong's travel distance. This location is near the dividing line between Asia and Europe.
This reflects Daxia's international status. Shao Quanzhong doesn't have to go to London for a meeting. I didn't invite you all to Hailing because Shao Quanzhong is a bit low-key.
After seeing off the President in a wheelchair, Lord James Bryan returned to the Palace of Certain Palace, where two university professors were waiting for him in the office.
Brian looked at the two professors and sighed, "As one of the most powerful countries in the world, is it possible that we only have two physicists who are worthy of our title?"
He ordered a meeting of professors from federal universities who were familiar with electromagnetism to discuss the matter, but he was greatly disappointed to find that only two of them showed up.
The older professor, Josiah Willard Gibbs, who was in his 50s and a professor at Yale University, shook his head when he heard Brian's sigh. "In fact, even the two of us only have a basic understanding of electromagnetism."
“I specialized in thermodynamics, and Michelson in optics and spectroscopy.”
"All along, federal investment has focused on engineering, and has generously rewarded inventors and technicians, but has lacked sufficient financial support for theoretical research. So - now the elites of electromagnetics in the world are all in Xiaoxiang Cliff."
The other professor, Professor Michelson, was only 38 years old, relatively young among scientists. He was relatively energetic and did not hesitate to speak like his predecessor, Gibbs. He was also outspoken when facing Bryan.
"Due to the short-sightedness of our leaders and the lack of foresight like Shao of Daxia, the serious consequence is that our country still does not have first-class physicists."
“If we want to catch up, we must look for leaders in this field in other countries, offering them higher salaries than Xiaoxiangya.”
"Before they can create federal science or contribute to world science, a few outstanding people in our country must be built from scratch and supported by greater wealth."
Professor Michelson's full name is Albert Abraham Michelson, professor of physics at Clark University.
He had long been dissatisfied with the federal government's policy of emphasizing practical technology and despising theoretical research, so he took the opportunity to vent his anger and told his superiors directly: If you want talent, you have to pay for it.
Brian crossed his arms and looked at the still-vigorous Michelson with interest. "The professor is right. There is a saying in the East that it is never too late to mend the fold after the sheep have been lost."
"I will grant you enough funds now, increase your salaries, and start the federal government's heavy investment in basic science. I believe that in a few decades, we will be able to keep pace with Daxia."
The two professors looked at each other and saw joy in each other's eyes. The spring of federal science was finally coming.
"But distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. Now I have an important task to entrust to you, and you must do your best to research it."
"I know this is difficult, but it involves national security." "Daxia just demonstrated their magnetic storm bomb in Eagle Castle. They have the ability to destroy any major city on Earth in an instant, which makes Garfield and I very uneasy."
"The Federation's current national policy is glorious isolation. We will not interfere in the affairs of Eurasia. However, America is the Federation's America, and we must maintain our leadership here."
"This is Garfield's bottom line for this meeting in Cairo. But after Daxia has the magnetic storm bomb, it will be difficult for us to maintain our bottom line. Therefore, I ask you to research the secret of the magnetic storm bomb in the shortest possible time."
"Please note that this is an order and your obligation as a citizen of the Federation."
After seeing off the two scientists, Brian sighed. The orders can be given and the money can be paid.
But - judging from the last geomagnetic anomaly, they had already tested the first magnetic storm bombing six years ago. It is extremely difficult to research their secret in a short period of time.
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what the next one will taste like.
Just when Brian was in despair and worried about the future of the Federation, the two professors came back to see him the next day.
"Mr. Brian, although we cannot create a magnetic storm bomb, we now have a plan to protect all cities in the Federation from being attacked by magnetic storm bombs."
Huh? Why are you guys researching so fast? Could it be that I happened to meet these two the most amazing scientists of all time?
The two loyal and patriotic professors had bloodshot eyes, obviously having not slept all night, but they were in good spirits.
Professor Gibbs smiled and took out a yellowed magazine, the English version of "Journal of the University of Hong Kong", the fourth issue in 1879.
"Sir, when we got back yesterday, we went to the library of the Academy of Sciences and quickly browsed through all the Daxia papers on electromagnetism, and I found this."
"This is the doctoral dissertation of Maxwell's direct disciple Tesla, "Feasibility Analysis of Transmitting Electricity Across Thousands of Miles"."
"Presumably, at that time, Daxia had not yet realized that this kind of power transmission through the air, which had no practical value, could be used as a weapon, so Tesla's paper was published publicly."
"After that, no more papers on this kind of research appeared. It should have been classified by the Daxia military, but this journal has already fallen into our hands."
"We cannot build a magnetic storm bomb based on this paper, but by understanding the principle of magnetic storm explosion, we can make magnetic storm attacks ineffective."
The two professors discussed with Bryan for a while, and Bryan's coded request telegram was immediately sent to the battleship Iowa.
Without time to apply for congressional approval, Garfield used the special defense fund at hand and issued an order for immediate execution.
Antenna arrays with a radius of tens of kilometers will be immediately established in all federal cities and connected to the local power grid.
Realize the nationwide interconnection of the federal power grid and start design and construction immediately.
In this way, if a magnetic storm attacks a federal city, the attack energy will be introduced into the entire federal giant power grid, turning it into free remote power supply to the federation.
Brine dips tofu, one thing conquers another. Daxia's secret weapon was used only once, because it was cracked by the Federation because of a public paper 11 years ago.
(End of this chapter)