Chapter 527 The Third Combined Fleet
Amber sighed softly after hearing the answer she didn't want to hear from Cliffs.
He knew that Randall's plan was an extremely dangerous one, but it was indeed what he had to do at the moment to avoid a worse situation.
"When did Randall become so bold? This is too dangerous."
Hearing Amber's words, Cliffs also smiled bitterly: "Senior, he has always had the dream of becoming a fleet commander, but he never had the opportunity after graduation to transfer to the Star Port Operations Command Center. After taking this position, we are getting further and further away from this dream.”
Amber: "So his character has become the smoother one he is now? It does fit the character of a 'rear officer'"
Cliffs nodded, then looked at the three-dimensional model of the Rubian galaxy on the holographic projection platform, and said: "But the senior's decision this time shows that he still retains a trace of passion in his heart, so he knows that the battle will be extremely dangerous. , but also give us enough time.”
"Three days and eight hours," Amber muttered. This was the remaining time for the two unmanned fleets that had previously set off from the A. Bawa Ku asteroid fortress to arrive in the Rubian system.
If Randall can successfully postpone the entry time of the federal fleet, even if it allows them to jump to other backup 'entry coordinates', and persist until the two unmanned fleets of Atlas arrive, then it will be considered a success.
Because after the attack on Federal Secretary of State Davis, Isabel led the Intelligence Analysis Center and, with the help of Lilith, obtained an extremely important piece of information - the Federation may not only send the 17th and 18th fleets to the Lubion system. .
According to the information provided by this highly credible intelligence, in addition to the two fleets used as Davis's "negotiation trump card", the Federation is very likely to send a fleet that has an "indissoluble bond" with the Atlas Group. The 23rd Fleet participated in the operation to control the Rubian system.
Another piece of information that has not yet been fully verified is that if the 24th Fleet completes the replenishment of ships and the preparation of the entire fleet before an unclear time point, this fleet will also have fought against the Atlas Group. The fleet that is dealing with the matter may also be dispatched.
In other words, at a certain point in time, this galaxy will gather three to four full fleets of the Federation.
If they are allowed to complete the assembly before the main force of the Atlas Battle Fleet arrives, then Amber and the others will need to face this well-prepared and powerful federal fleet that greatly exceeds their own, which will make the next battle a bit difficult. .
But this is not the main reason why Randall is so eager to attack.
What really made him determined to launch an attack was the Atlas transport fleet that was about to arrive in the Rubian system.
I don’t know whether the federation deliberately estimated the arrival time of this batch of transport fleets, or whether they were lucky. All in all, this transport fleet will arrive near Rubian 5 in the next two days.
Unfortunately, neither Randall nor Amber could issue a warning to the fleet. Even if a message was sent, the transport fleet could only receive the message after leaving hyperspace.
Moreover, the current ship cannot temporarily interrupt the jump process after entering hyperspace through the jump drive.
If the jump drive is forcibly turned off, the ship can indeed escape from hyperspace, but in the few cases known to mankind, these ships that have forcibly escaped from the jump have reappeared in the state of parts.
This is like entering a highway on the planet with only two openings, "one in and one out". After entering the highway, the vehicle can only leave safely through the exit. If it forcibly hits the guardrail at high speed, it will only be left behind. A devastating outcome.
Therefore, if the actions of the federal fleet are not interfered with and the 17th and 18th fleets are allowed to arrive successfully in these two days.
Relying on the high speed and powerful strike capabilities of warships under normal navigation, Atlas's transport fleet of 30 heavy-loaded cargo ships will most likely be annihilated before it can enter the jump again. .
And the key is that this batch of transport fleets also has a batch of new equipment that the Renaissance Alliance is preparing to replace, as well as a large number of key spare parts and large fusion power plant components that they urgently need.
This made Randall have to find a way to deal with this problem.
After thinking for a while, Amber asked again: "Cliffs, what do you think Randall will do with the troops he has?"
"Based on my understanding of the senior and the previous exchanges with him about fleet warfare, he should use the Infinity as the core to cause casualties to the guarding fleet of the Rubian system as much as possible, and create a sense of 'there is no place here. "Safety's illusion, in order to force the commander of the Federation fleet to adjust the jump plan."
Cliffs said as he recalled:
"The Federation fleet has experienced the attack capabilities of the super-heavy purification beam generator on the 'Infinity', so as long as the opponent's commander is not a fool, they will not let the fleet jump directly into the face of the 'Infinity'.
After all, in the most critical three minutes after leaving the jump, if the fleet happens to be within the attack range of the Infinity, it will become a target and be strafed."
"But that doesn't solve the underlying problem."
Amber shook her head, and then used gestures to control the three-dimensional model of the Lubion system to zoom in to the position of Lubion 5 and show the equatorial plane of the planet.
"There are too many places on the equator that are suitable for escape jumps. If Randall just lets the fleet carry out harassment, based on my understanding of the federal navy, they will only adjust to other backup coordinates and still launch attacks normally.
Moreover, after alerting the enemy in this way, the Federation fleet may give up its plan to jump directly, but will first enter other areas of the Rubian system and then conduct a short-distance jump.
In this case, because the distance is too short, the movement caused by the jump drive tearing up the space will not be so obvious. Randall can only find the other party after the other party arrives, which will be even more passive. "
The 'short jump' Amber refers to is a routine tactical action of the human navy.
Due to some characteristics of the jump drive that humans have not yet figured out the principle of, the longer the distance of a jump, the greater the movement of the jump drive tearing up space at the destination, and signs will appear long in advance.
A jump distance of more than ten days will allow the destination to quickly detect abnormal space fluctuations and thus know that a ship has jumped over.
For civilian ships, this is not a problem. After all, most of them must report every jump to the relevant departments in advance.
But for warships that need to pay attention to stealth and suddenness under certain circumstances, this abnormal space fluctuation is undoubtedly holding up a loudspeaker to tell the enemy: "Hello, I'm here."
This is also the reason why the Federation and the Empire cannot organize fleets to jump directly to each other's capital for a real 'change of homes'.
If anyone really dares to do this, after leaving the jump, he will see an extremely large fleet that has already completed the super large artillery formation and may even see a celestial fortress quietly commanding the fortress master. The gun is pointing this way
Therefore, when conducting some military operations, the naval fleet first jumps to a coordinate that is several hours away from the final destination, and then waits for the jump drive to complete preparations before making the second jump.
In this case, by the time the enemy captures the abnormal space fluctuations, the fleet has actually entered the end of the jump and will leave hyperspace in the next second.
"That's true."
Cliffs nodded in agreement, and then continued:
"And I suspect that the Federation fleet probably did not intend to make a long-distance jump in the first place. Instead, it will arrive at any coordinate on the ecliptic plane of the Rubian system in the next two days, and wait until it contacts the autonomous government's garrison fleet and confirms that there is no After the problem, use another 'short jump' to arrive."
Cliffs' face became uglier as he spoke, because judging from the current analysis, Randall's side is likely to be in a dead end. As long as he cannot prevent the two federal fleets from entering the jump, it will basically be a disaster.
In other words, this sudden situation really caught Atlas by surprise.
Amber and the others had indeed anticipated that the Federation would consider intervening in the galaxy situation and had begun deployment in advance. However, the death of Secretary of State Davis directly disrupted Atlas's deployment.
Even though Amber quickly ordered the two unmanned fleets to pull anchor and set sail after receiving the news, there was still a short-term "force vacuum" in the Lubion system.
And the Federation was still alive. At the end of this "military vacuum", it began to take action.
However, he still looked at Amber with a hopeful look, hoping that this Boss whose "strength is unknown and who becomes stronger when strong" would think about it and didn't have any other comeback points.
And Amber did not disappoint him. After recalling several battles he knew in which the federal fleet was used as a "background", he spoke again:
"There is one last way."
"What can we do, Boss?"
Amber: "That means Randall will take the initiative as soon as possible within the next ten hours or so to complete the 'destroying blow' to the autonomous government's garrison fleet. It is best to launch a swift and efficient annihilation battle!"
"War of Annihilation"
Cliffs muttered this word in a low voice, frowning and thinking about it, but soon the word "Chuan" between his eyebrows slowly relaxed, and his originally tangled eyes lit up.
"Boss, what do you mean, through this 'war of annihilation', to make the commander of the federal fleet put the enemy on the line?"
"That's right~" Amber snapped her fingers, and then continued:
"Suppose you are the commander-in-chief of the 17th and 18th Federation Fleets, and before you are about to start the operation, you suddenly find that there should not be many enemies near the Lubion 5. The garrison fleet that opened a 'safe zone' for your own side has lost contact. It is suspected that What would you think if it were completely destroyed?"
"I would wonder if the main force of the 'enemy' has arrived early. After all, the number of garrison fleets is not small. If we jump over again at this time, will we be ambushed by the enemy?"
Cliffs spoke subconsciously, but soon he hesitated.
"But how do we make the federal fleet believe that our main force has arrived? If the garrison fleet is attacked, it should issue a warning to the federal fleet and provide basic information about the incoming enemy. By then, the other party will find that there are fewer ships than them. If you expect more, will you still choose to launch an attack?"
"Cliffs, you have touched on the most critical point. This is also the point that worries me the most."
Amber sighed with some uncertainty, and then continued:
"Randall must launch a perfect raid that only exists in theory, and organize the entire process of pre-war maneuvers, tactical deception, electronic warfare suppression, and raids without any error, so that it is possible to annihilate the enemy before they send out a warning message."
"Hiss" Cleves took a breath of cold air after hearing this, "Boss, if you say that, I am now very worried about whether the senior can do this, after all, he has never commanded a battle of this level."
Amber also shrugged somewhat helplessly, and then joked in a bitter and amusing way:
"Don't talk about you, I am also worried about this now. If there is a prayer hall of the Dragon God Cult on the 'Dawn', I am high Go in and pray for Randall for three days and three nights.
Then kneel down and pray to the Dragon God to bless our warships in the Rubion system, so that the electronic warfare virus they release can penetrate the enemy's firewall, cut off their communications and other electronic equipment, and bless the warship's main gun to fire and hit the enemy's central fusion furnace."
"Is it too late to build one now? There are several places on the Dawn that can be transformed into prayer halls. If the honeycomb core carried by the Gnacuri releases worker bees, it will take a few hours to build one."
After listening to Amber's words, Cliffs actually touched his chin and really thought about this plan seriously, fully reflecting what it means to "try any possible means when you are desperate."
"What are you thinking about? What's the point of just building a church? Where can I find the Dragon God maid and the choir?"
Amber kicked Cleves with a smile to make him come back to his senses, and then continued:
"If you have this spare time, you might as well deduce the success rate of Randall's side. By the way, how many troops does he have?"
--
Atlas Combat Fleet, Third Combined Fleet (TF3) Organization Table
Fleet Flagship: Infinity Super Heavy Battleship
Battleship Division: Truth Class Battleship × 4, Giant Demon II Class Battleship × 2
Cruiser Division: Hellfire Class Heavy Cruiser × 6, Hydra Class Heavy Cruiser × 4, Griffin Class Light Cruiser × 22
Drive and Escort Division: It has 3 drive and escort detachments, a total of 75 destroyers and frigates of various types
These are all the available ships under Randall's command, including a small mobile fleet carrying the first batch of trainees of the Renaissance Alliance.
The Truth-class battleships are actually the ‘Project 08’ battleships designed, manufactured and officially finalized by Atlas Shipbuilding.
The Hellfire-class heavy cruiser is another pure self-use battleship of Atlas Shipbuilding in addition to ‘Project 12’ and ‘Project 08’. Its performance is also slightly better than the Hydra-class and Aurora-class currently in service in the Federation and the Star Dragon Empire.
Randall, sitting in the captain's seat of the Infinity, looked at the fleet organization table in front of him expressionlessly for a long time without saying a word. I don't know what he was thinking.
Until a somewhat lazy voice sounded in his ears.
"I'm not saying this, Colonel Randall, even if you read the organization table, we can't have a few more battleships."
"You are like your master Amber, both of you are good at talking."
Randall curled his lips speechlessly, and glanced at Murat, who was leaning on the captain's seat. He couldn't help but frowned after seeing the other's posture.
"Look at you, the commander of the Atlas HCP force, you are already a major, but you are still as lazy as before. No, I remember that when you just left Robert IV, you were quite serious and diligent. You probably learned bad things from Amber."
"The war is imminent, and I am also trying to maintain a good attitude~"
Mura smiled embarrassedly, stood up with his hands behind his back, and then asked:
"So, Colonel, you have been staring at it for a long time, what did you see?"
"Alas, what else can I see? I see that there is no future, and I see that there is only a dead end~"
Mura: "."
"But there are some things we must do."
Randall turned his head to look at Murat, and Jacob who had been silent beside him.
"There are no cowards in the Atlas Group, and there are even fewer cowards in TF3."