Chapter 378: The Battle of Cleves
When Amber turned on the 'burst mode' on the surface of Para 4 and prepared to fight against thousands of people, Cliffs, who was commanding the Atlas fleet and the Federation's 13th main fleet, was feeling the pain that he might never have experienced. Lower your heart rate.
This is what a fleet commander is like. Amber who breaks into the atmosphere only needs to devote himself to the battlefield, activate Wushuang, and increase the number of hits. But a fleet commander in space has many things to consider.
Especially when the gap in hardware strength between our own fleet and the enemy's fleet is slightly larger.
"The boss has landed, and we have to rely on ourselves for the rest of the battle. Adjutant, where is the Infinity?"
"Report, we received news 2 hours ago that they have entered the jump!"
"Tsk, do you mean it will take at least another 2 hours?"
Cleaves shook his head, realizing that he was in what might be the most critical battle of his 'career'.
The Federation's Thirteenth Main Fleet opposite, although it had withdrawn from the galaxy where the battle with the Star Dragon Empire was most intense after losing many battleships, has been undergoing repairs and maintenance at the mooring point of Para 4 during this period. and unit supplements.
But at this moment, it is still a main fleet with a total of 186 ships including 18 Kraken II-class battleships and 38 Hydra heavy cruisers.
As for the Atlas fleet under his command, although it has been continuously expanded for a long time and the number of fleets has exceeded 200, the most fatal problem is that there are no capital ships.
The largest tonnage in the fleet is the 54 Griffin-class, Giant Bird-class and Apocalypse-class light cruisers. In addition, the remaining more than 150 ships are all destroyers and frigates.
There is a huge gap in quantity and quality. If the previous Cliffs looks at it, this is basically a desperate battle.
After all, in Cliffs' previous understanding, capital ships, especially battleships, can be said to be the final word in fleet battles.
But now, after conducting a large number of simulated battles with Amber, he is no longer the same Cliffs he was before, and he also has a lot of new understanding of fleet battles.
At the same time, an excellent commander can quickly adjust his emotional state no matter what the situation, so he quickly found a novel thinking angle.
"If I win this damn thing, won't it be included in the textbooks of the Federal Naval Academy?"
"You're overthinking it. It's not the Imperial Royal Navy you're winning."
As Cliffs' senior, Randall, who had also spent a lot of time in the federal navy, immediately poured cold water on him.
"It's not like you don't know how bad the Federal Navy is. Do you think they will write down a person who defeated them in their textbooks? It would be nice if they didn't compile a bunch of dark history for you."
"Hahahaha, as expected of you~"
The brief and relaxed conversation allowed Cliffs to quickly adjust his emotions, and then the next second after the smile disappeared, the whole person quickly entered a fighting state.
The Atlas fleet commander looked at the three-dimensional diagram in front of him. At this time, the trajectory distance between the Federation's Thirteenth Fleet and the Atlas fleet was still about 46,000 kilometers.
With the help of the blockage of the planet's arc, the Atlas fleet was not subjected to long-range artillery fire from the opponent during the maneuver.
But now, the federal fleet, which has entered combat speed and continues to increase its relative speed, is closing the distance between itself and the Atlas fleet.
According to the calculation results based on the shipboard control personality, the opponent will enter the bombardment window in at most 20 minutes. By then, the Atlas fleet without a capital ship will have a hard time fighting back.
Therefore, from the very beginning, Cliffs had no intention of engaging in a serious battle with the Federation. He was not a lunatic, and it was impossible for him to take this small number of battleships to fight against the Federation fleet with battle lines and heavy patrols.
In his mind, all this was a mock battle he had with Amber that impressed him so much.
The situation at that time was very similar to now, except that Cliffs commanded a standard fleet that was newly launched into battle, while Amber only had a badly beaten fleet that had lost all its capital ships.
Originally, Cliffs thought that with such a huge gap in strength, he should always be able to win against Amber, right?
As a result, after the simulated battle ended, Cliffs' dreams for several days were filled with scenes of his flagship being blown up and the bridge being engulfed in flames from the explosion.
Although Cliffs received a "spiritual baptism" at the time, now it seems as if he had finished a set of test papers with a 99% hit rate before the exam.
"Attention all fleets, the current route remains unchanged and the combat speed begins to increase!
Each combat position enters combat status, and the ship-borne HCP squadron is ready to attack!
The plasma torpedo enters pre-launch preparations and sets the trajectory according to the attack path shared by the fleet data link! "
As Cliffs' order was issued, the propulsion arrays at the sterns of all the battleships in the Atlas fleet lit up a little more, and in the torpedo launch bays arranged on both sides of the battleships' bows, new types of stealth-configuration missiles appeared. The torpedoes were loaded into place.
"Attention all ships, the number of plasma torpedoes is 8, launch them!"
There is no gorgeous shooting effect of directed energy weapons such as heavy particle cannons, nor is there the dazzling tail flame when anti-ship missiles are launched.
Huge and heavy plasma torpedoes were sent out from the electromagnetic orbit of the torpedo launcher and rushed forward at extremely high speeds.
The matte black paint also made them quickly blend into the dark background of the universe, as if they had never appeared.
Looking at the icon representing the 'plasma torpedo cluster' on the three-dimensional schematic diagram, which was constantly moving away, and then looking at a special force that had been in place in the high orbit of Pella IV, Cliffs took a deep breath and issued a new order.
"All fleets, maintain the same track, and turn the ship's axis 180°!
After completing the axial adjustment, the ships will disperse and launch anti-ship missiles and plasma torpedoes at the same time!"
Although Cliffs's order made the captains of the Atlas fleet feel nervous, they still executed the order without hesitation after long-term training.
The propulsion array at the stern of the battleship dimmed after the acceleration during this period, and the attitude control nozzles arranged in various parts of the ship began to work, allowing the battleships to complete the axial adjustment while continuing to maneuver.
At the same time, anti-ship missiles and plasma torpedoes were also launched, and their relative speed with the federal fleet began to soar in the face-off state.
On the other side, on the flagship of the 13th Federation Fleet, Destiny, Guterres also heard the latest report from the Tactical Information Coordinator.
"General, the forward reconnaissance ship reported that the specific location of the Atlas fleet has been captured. The other side has just completed the battle axis adjustment and launched a large number of missiles and torpedoes."
"Hmph, finally can't hold back and open fire? Being able to hold on for so long under such pressure, the other side's fleet commander does not seem to be an ordinary person."
Guterres showed a smile of approval, and the fleet combat staff beside him smiled and said after seeing this scene:
"You seem to recognize the other side's fleet commander?"
"Yes. And under such a huge gap in strength, he dared to take the initiative to attack. It can be said to be courageous."
"It may also be overestimating one's own ability," the fleet combat staff continued.
"Hahahaha, anyway, since the other side has already "shown the sword", then we naturally have to respond well."
Guterres waved his slightly excited hand and issued a combat order at the same time.
"All fleets, arc artillery formations are deployed!"