Men's Kapishi

"The bow is eleven degrees to the starboard, and the speed is reduced by two knots." Lester said a few words on the intercom, and then gave the order to the helmsman on the bridge again.

"Your ship's speed is very good, so after I reported the situation, I changed positions and got closer to the escort fleet. In case something happens to you, your speed can keep up with the fleet and maneuver." Before Ice could ask, the second lieutenant took the initiative explained.

"That would be great, but I hope the road is safe."

"It's natural." Lester hesitated for a moment, then whispered: "This time the situation is a bit special, try not to fall behind."

Hearing this, Ice Cube approached calmly and just about to speak, Lester said bluntly: "If you want to inquire about military secrets, you don't need to speak."

"Uh, thank you for reminding me, then I will leave it to Mr. Second Lieutenant."

"It's okay, you can go to work."

After being reminded by Lester, Ice did not delay and quickly reported the situation upwards.Although there is no intelligence channel for Victoria's army in the time travel, Wei Yanwu does.

"Any news?" Seeing Ofina approaching, Ice Cube, who was pacing in front of the big screen, turned around and asked.

"Longmen didn't provide any valuable information, but they marked the aerial photos we provided. The escort warship that Victoria dispatched this time is quite special."

"There are three destroyers in total, the Firefly, the Strong, and the Battle, three light land cruisers, the Luna, the Fairy, and the Banshee, and the flagship is the heavy cruiser Belleek. "

"The escort fleet of this size is really unusual, and without exception, they are relatively new high-speed ships, which makes Longmen's intelligence department very curious about where we took these photos."

"Are they all high-speed ships..." Ice stared at the Victorian warship parked outside the anchorage, and frowned when he thought about what Leicester had said earlier.

It is unbelievable that a fleet of this size needs to be used for escort in a non-wartime state, unless the Victorians know something and have prepared in advance.

Or, Victoria stuffed something important in this convoy.But in any case, the trip to Londinium will not be smooth.

"Notify the commanders of each ship to come to the conference room of the Mongoose for a meeting and prepare for battle."

Chapter 353 Chapter 19 Ghost Fleet

Commodore Perry was standing on the captain's balcony with freshly brewed black tea. As the cutting-edge cruiser of the Victorian Royal Fleet, the Belleek was significantly improved in seaworthiness compared with the old model, at least not at economical speeds. Worried about the occurrence of black tea being spilled.

Regarding this escort mission, Brigadier General Perry is actually unwilling to go through this muddy water.

There is actually an unidentified "ghost fleet" operating in Victoria. If this is said, it will not be laughed to death by colleagues from other countries.

And this "ghost fleet" happened to be witnessed, and it was accurately judged that it wanted to attack the fleet transporting military Originium materials to Londinium.

It's just a joke.

Since the throne was suspended, the struggle between the local county and Londinium has been completely publicized. If it wasn't for the fact that the fleet controlled by Londinium has an absolute advantage and can control the distribution of military origin stones, I am afraid that a few grand dukes will soon He entered Londinium to prepare for the enthronement ceremony.

During the routine meeting of the headquarters, that old Lieutenant General Pavel refused to send the main fleet to escort on the pretext that the roadside news might be false.

Who didn't know that he came from a local nobleman, and flirted with the Grand Duke who was waiting for an opportunity outside Londinium. If he wasn't still up for sale and didn't stand among the Grand Dukes, he would have been cleared out of the headquarters long ago.

Although the source of the news is unknown, if you can directly get to the top of the fleet, most of the status is not low, and the reliability is not too bad, so precautions must be taken.

Thinking of this, Brigadier General Perry sighed, who told me that he was only from a small nobleman in Londinium, he had no background, and he couldn't get along with the local nobles, so he went out to have lunch, and the escort task fell to himself .

The strength of the "Ghost Fleet" is unknown, but since the opponent wants to rob this batch of military origin stone materials, they will definitely take the initiative to attack, but it doesn't take much brains to find the enemy.

With three land cruisers as the main force, they can handle most of the situations, and I have also made two-handed preparations, using the name of escort to force the convoy to include many civilian ships that joined halfway.

If the situation is really bad, they can only use the maneuverability of military-standard ships to throw off those lagging merchant ships and buy time for themselves and reinforcements.

Of course, this is only the worst case, and Victoria's face still needs to be preserved.

But this batch of military origin stones absolutely does not allow any mistakes, and any mistakes by oneself may change the military strength comparison between the local county and Londinium.

Compared with this, Victoria's face seems not so important.

"Mr. Commodore, the Stronghold reported that a smoke column was found in the northeast, and the identity could not be determined. Ask if you are close to reconnaissance."

"No need, let the destroyer detachment come back, raise the battle flag, let the moon god, fairy, and banshee come over."

I looked at my watch, it was [-]:[-] in the afternoon, there were still more than three hours before sunset, and it would be considered a victory if I dragged it into the night battle.

Ice Cube, who was closely monitoring the movement of the Victoria fleet, immediately noticed the change. The Victoria ships, which were originally in a wheel formation conducive to air defense and escort, began to move to the northeast of the convoy and transformed into a single longitudinal formation, preparing to form a battle formation. Wire.

Without hesitation, according to the discussion results of yesterday's meeting, the two support sand patrol ships and the Mongoose base walker also began to move outward, protecting the transport ship replacing the Xiafeng fleet inside, ready to deal with emergencies.

It didn't take long for the entire fleet to discover the abnormal movement of the escort warships, and the atmosphere immediately became tense. However, most captains knew that panicking now would only make the situation worse, and the formation was not very scattered.

At [-]:[-] p.m., the watchtower of the heavy cruiser Berwick was the first to discover the target and made a notification, and the entire fleet entered a battle state.

"Let me see all those little babies." Brigadier General Perry picked up his binoculars and began to look at the huge shadow slowly rising from the outside of the hill in the distance.

For an actual combatant like him who rose all the way from the grassroots, distinguishing the model of a ship by its broken outline is a basic skill.

"Are there only two ships? I've been underestimated." The brigadier general murmured, "One is the fearsome class. Well, there are only two ships. The larger one behind should be a capital ship. It will be... ...Madja Fakel?!"

"Land Sovereignty! Who the hell tell me why there is a first-class battleship! Didn't the Land Sovereignty Mard be dismantled three years ago!"

In the bridge of the Berwick, there was no sound except for Commodore Perry, who was roaring, and the staff officers present collectively became dumb and deaf. It is better not to get involved in this kind of thing.

Originally, Commodore Perry thought that there were only two land-ships on the opposite side. No matter what the situation was, he would lead the team to take two rounds of battle lines to see the situation. Now the situation is really bad.

Each of the Sovereign Class ships is the glory of the Victorian Fleet. Even if they belong to the old generation of battleships that are outdated by the times, they are still dazzling.Even just stopping at the port can add a lot to the whole city.

Although the range, power and accuracy of the artillery cannot compete with the active warships, the super-large ship-borne spell augmentation platform mounted in the middle of the hull still has the ability to cause devastating blows to Zhanhe warships.

The only disadvantage is that the cost of maintenance and use is too high. With the rapid development of shipboard artillery technology, it is difficult to gain enough advantages, so it has to be withdrawn from active service and disassembled in batches.

Now that a first-class battleship that should have been turned into scrap iron and waited to be recycled into the furnace appeared in front of him, how could it not make Brigadier General Perry angry.

Head-to-head confrontation is definitely not enough. We can only rely on the advantage of speed to ensure that most of the ships leave safely.

After the battle alarm sounded, everyone's eyes were focused on the escorting warships in the fleet.The destroyer detachment, which had already returned to the flank of the convoy, seemed to have received an order to speed up and gradually separate from the brigade.

Seeing that their own numbers were superior, some unknown merchant ships honked their whistles, completely unaware that it was luck to reach Lentinium alive next time.

"The destroyer detachment seized the position and released a smoke screen to cover the convoy, and the ships in the battle line were ready to raise their shields. The drawing room began to track the enemy ships and calculate the bombardment elements." Brigadier General Perry walked into the map table while giving orders, and started Re-plan the route.

"Mr. Commodore, should you raise the shield now? Will it be too..."

"Your life is more important than those fucking origin stones!"

Brigadier General Perry, who was questioned by his staff, was furious. These brats who had just graduated from the military academy were constantly calculating the consumption of the fleet.

The cost of activating the shipboard shield is indeed expensive, but it is difficult for them who have not experienced actual combat to imagine how powerful an even eliminated first-class battleship is.

"The Karak Heavy Industries fleet is calling, requesting to join the battle line."

"What?" Brigadier General Perry recalled that he had indeed received a report, and he had some reflections on Karak Heavy Industries' fleet, "They don't even have a decent main gun, and the battle line is limited. What's the use, nonsense!"

Chapter 354 Chapter 20 Karak Aegis

Three destroyers seized the space where the fleet had the upper hand, and two enemy ships had already circumvented the terrain obstacles and cut into the interception route.

Sailing on dry land is not like being able to maneuver in a large range on the endless ocean.Even if the route chosen by the convoy and the Victorian escort fleet has open terrain, it is impossible to avoid the enemy ships coming straight in.

The good news is that according to the current course, it is temporarily T favorable for the escort fleet.The bad news is that the enemy fleet contains a Sovereign-class battleship on land. Even though it has been eliminated by the Victoria fleet, its armor and firepower cannot be taken lightly.

What Commodore General Perry is most worried about is that the "ghost fleet" without a hull number will rely on its tonnage and armor to withstand the firepower of the escort fleet and rush into the battle line to cut off the line. In chaos, none of the ships could get away.

Although Brigadier General Perry's first task was to ensure the safety of the military Originium, he still decided to do something out of the responsibility and integrity of a soldier, and this would inevitably represent battle damage and casualties.

Soon, the destroyer detachment in place began to release smoke screens, intending to interfere with the range measurement and aiming of the enemy ships, and provide cover for the convoy behind. The brigadier commanded the fleet to fight back and started throwing rubbish at each other at a distance of about [-] kilometers.

The three light cruisers and one heavy cruiser in the main formation of the escort fleet have a clear advantage in the number of main guns, with a total of eight 203mm naval guns, thirty 152mm naval guns, and retired old Compared with warships, they surpassed each other in terms of rate of fire and shooting accuracy, but it was useless.

The enemy fleet's willingness to engage in long-distance artillery battles is obviously not strong, but it just faces the occasional escort fleet that appears behind the smoke screen with a salvo angle, and continues to approach while fighting back.Except for the 203mm heavy guns carried by Commodore Perry's flagship Berwick, the light artillery carried by other ships has limited effect.

27 minutes after the two sides started fighting, the light cruiser Luna, the battleship leader of the escort fleet, scored the first hit with its cutting-edge bombardment director and high-density firepower projection. Two 2mm shells hit the enemy ship Sovereignty-class battleship on land bow.

Although the observation drone confirmed the flash and smoke of the shell explosion, the penetration depth and explosive equivalent of the 152 mm caliber shell were not enough for a battleship, and it did not cause any impact except for some deck facilities.

However, this round of bombardment still forced the Formidable-class heavy cruiser led by the Land Sovereign-class escort to start a Z-shaped maneuver, and the approaching speed of the two sides slowed down.

The Luna light cruiser is worthy of being the cutting-edge warship of the Victoria Fleet. Its bombardment accuracy is quite good, and it frequently achieved results in the subsequent rounds of bombardment.

It is a pity that the caliber of the main gun of the Luna is too small for the target, and it has no effect except to leave a black radial mark at the hit position.Commodore Perry rolled his eyes, and almost ordered Master Yue not to shave to save shells.

However, Brigadier General Perry still did not issue a ceasefire order in the end, because it is not possible to pour firepower in a safe position as much as possible, even if it is just to interfere with the speed of the Sovereign Class on land. When it is close to the effective range of the opponent, whether the Luna will have a chance to open fire. is the problem.

Of course, the 305mm naval guns carried by the Sovereign-class enemy ship on land are not just there to watch the fun. Although the shooting frequency is not high, each shell weighs more than [-] kilograms, and the earth thrown by the explosion can easily fly hundreds of times. meters altitude.

However, although these old-fashioned naval guns have scary calibers, their multiples are relatively low.The low muzzle velocity of the shells results in an effective range of less than ten kilometers, and poor accuracy. Under the current circumstances, the threat is average, but what really worries Brigadier General Perry is the flagship-level surgical platform equipped with the land-based Sovereign-level.

At 59:50 p.m., more than [-] minutes after the battle between the two sides began, the main guns of the escort fleet flagship Lentinium-class heavy cruiser Berwick hit the superstructure of the enemy ship Formidable-class.

203mm shells are not an easy hit for the Dreadnought.The middle part of the hit hull exploded and caught fire, and the billowing smoke was clearly visible more than ten kilometers away.

Although the Land Sovereign class is difficult to deal with, its speed is relatively slow, so the Formidable class heavy cruiser behind the enemy fleet is the focus of Commodore Perry's attack.

Although the three light cruisers of the escort fleet have been bombarding the land Sovereign-class, the main guns of the flagship Berwick have been trying to attack the enemy's Formidable-class heavy cruiser.The latter has an excellent speed and is obviously prepared for chasing the transport ship after defeating the escort fleet.

From the very beginning, Commodore Perry had no unrealistic illusions about preventing the killing of the Sovereign Level on land. He only hoped that his efforts would not be in vain. How many civilian ships and transport ships in the convoy could escape.

The Dreadful class also seemed to have discovered Brigadier General Perry's intentions, began to speed up and maneuver in a large area, and distanced itself from the Land Sovereign class, obviously preparing to let the Land Sovereign class take on the firepower ahead.Facing the Dreadful class that was constantly maneuvering or even giving up the attack window, the Berwick had no good way, and had to aim its main guns at the Sovereign class on land.

Under the cover of the smoke screen, the warships of the two sides appeared and disappeared from time to time, but the shortening of the distance did not stop, gradually approaching the range of the secondary artillery and anti-aircraft weapons of both sides.Various spell-casting devices and spell-launching platforms began to fire, trying to destroy the enemy's drones. Red beans and mung beans were flying all over the sky, but none of them achieved results.

"Mr. Brigadier General! The enemy's flagship operation platform is starting to recharge!" The orderly roared to convey the information, his voice cracked due to tension.

Although due to the instability of super-large-scale operations, the range cannot be compared with that of artillery, and this expensive weapon is gradually eliminated on land ships, but the power and high precision that can be guided in a small area make people have to be nervous.

"Immediately determine the line of sight of the enemy ship's operation platform! All ships in the fleet are ready for impact! The damage control team is on alert!"

"The enemy's attack target is confirmed! It's the Firefly!"

The Firefly, which was at the forefront of the fleet, was not protected by a smoke screen, and became the first target of the sovereign class on land.

Every release of the flagship spell-casting platform means the consumption of massive source stone resources, so in order to ensure a hit, a beam spell will be released to the target before launch to guide and assist aiming.Although this method of aiming and guiding will arouse the enemy's vigilance, in the face of this scale of Originium spell attack, the alarm bell cannot change the result of being destroyed.

The targeted Firefly began to maneuver immediately, but it was too late.The magic core that had been fully charged rose into the air from the middle of the land-based Sovereign-level spell platform with the radiating radiance, and slammed into the hull of the Firefly through an arc.

Chapter 355 Chapter 21 Under the Aegis of Karak

The weak armor of the Firefly as a destroyer is no different from Guoben in the face of this super-large-scale anti-ship technique. It carries a huge energy magic core, and dozens of layers of sharp and hard techniques are attached to its front armor-piercing body. What was meant to counter flagship shields and armor defenses was like shooting butter with a scorching bullet on the Glowworm.

However, this kind of ship-to-ship spell controlled by several spell casting teams will not cause low-level mistakes such as over-penetrating. With precise control, the spell core was detonated in the Hulk of the Firefly.

A violent explosion happened instantly, and the expanding spherical shock wave blew away the smoke released by other destroyers in the blink of an eye, allowing everyone to witness the tragedy of the Firefly.

Just one blow destroyed all the superstructure of the Firefly, the bridge was blown to pieces, the keel was twisted and deformed, the deck collapsed with howling, and the running gear on one side was blown out, accompanied by harsh friction sounds, The Firefly quickly lost power and began to tilt off course.

No need to think about it, the Firefly is obviously hopeless, and only God knows how many crew members can survive this devastating blow.

The Firefly, which was the training target, was sunk, which obviously boosted the morale of the enemy. Not only did they immediately start preparing for the next attack against ships, but the main guns also fired frequently, and this time the target was the largest in the battle line. Berwick.

The distance between the two fleets has been shortened to about seven kilometers, and the 305mm main gun of the land sovereign class has entered the effective range, but the speed is also close to the limit, gradually changing from the obliquely inserted interception route to the same flight battle.

Now is the critical moment when the bayonet is red. Once the heavy cruiser Berwick, the flagship of the escort fleet, is destroyed, the Formidable heavy cruiser behind the enemy fleet will rush over and try to cut off the convoy, and then start Harvest your own prey.

What makes Commodore Perry difficult is that in order to cover the civilian ships and transport ships on the other side of the battle line, he has no way to speed up the departure of the escort fleet, and with the current speed of the fleet, he wants to completely throw off the sovereign-level departure on land. The range of its main gun takes more than an hour.

This is enough for land sovereigns to use the flagship operation platform to tear the Berwick to pieces five times!

Now the only thing Berwick can rely on is the Originium shield system on board.This kind of defense system built through complex magic circuits will consume a lot of source stones for energy supply when it is working, and the protection it provides is also solid, especially in the case of fighting against anti-ship magic formulas, using magic to defeat magic , Defeating magic with magic is outstanding.

But this does not mean that the Berwick can sit back and relax. The protection provided by the shield system has an upper limit, and the enemy obviously knows it very well.While the operation platform was re-preparing for the anti-ship operation, the Sovereign-class main guns on land were not idle either. After a brief flash and roar, a large cloud of smoke was left behind.

After two rounds of straddle shooting, several near-misses hit the port side of the Berwick. Fortunately, the charge of the old-fashioned artillery was relatively low, and air was not incompressible like water, so this round of near-misses did not cause any damage. Too much damage.

After the carbine that lasted for more than ten minutes, the Land Sovereign scored its first effective hit. An armor-piercing projectile weighing [-] kilograms hit the port side of the Berwick, but was successfully defended by the Originium shield.

The moment before the shell hit the freeboard of the Berwick, a bright white barrier flashed in mid-air, spreading from the tip of the warhead to the surroundings, and then the shell containing more than ten kilograms of Originium explosives exploded in front of the shield.

After another effective hit, the Sovereign-class main battery on land continued to score in the subsequent rounds of shelling, and the Berwick's Originium shield dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye, crumbling.

Although Berwick and the other two land cruisers fought back desperately, the caliber of the cruiser's main guns was still too small for the armored tortoise-shell battleship of the previous generation.Even if there are continuous shells hitting the freeboard and superstructure of the land sovereign class, it is difficult to play a role.

Under constant shelling, the sovereign-level superstructure on land caught fire twice, but both were quickly extinguished by damage control personnel.

Another formidable-class heavy cruiser of the enemy also began to approach, and used its main gun fire to suppress the two light cruisers Luna and Banshee in the Victoria escort fleet.

After losing the Firefly, the destroyer detachment bravely rushed to the enemy ship, trying to interfere with and attack the Sovereign-class walking device on land, but they were all forced by the dense secondary guns and various small magic devices to be unable to approach.

After a long 25 minutes of reloading, the Land Sovereign-class anti-ship operation platform was reloaded again, the dome armor on the top was slowly opened, and the escaping light could be clearly seen on the bridge of the Berwick.

The Victoria convoy tilted its fire wildly, trying to prevent the enemy from launching anti-ship spells, but with little success.

Compared with the old artillery, Victoria's cutting-edge naval gun has a longer barrel, a higher diameter, a faster egg speed, and a longer range, but it seems a bit out of date at this moment.

At this distance, it is impossible to penetrate the horizontal armor belt of the sovereign-level protection platform on land, and the relatively straight trajectory cannot sling and hit the top gap exposed by the dome armor.

"The enemy's line of sight is on the Berwick!"