Chapter 73 Firefight

As the commander of the entire strike group, the Marquis of Ascania generally only conducts strategic and tactical command, and does not intervene in the operational command of a specific battle.

After all, no matter how active his mind is and how many ideas he has, he cannot command nearly 300 warships by himself.

Of course, the battle of the raid on Lansford Naval Port is an exception.

Because it was the first battle of the 8th Expeditionary Strike Group, and it was a battle of overwhelming momentum, so the Marquis personally commanded the battle.

But more often, he would only issue a macro-level tactical arrangement, and the specific combat details and on-the-spot command were all the responsibility of his combat staff.

Just like now.

After the Marquis of Ascania issued the order to "the fleet to carry out defensive operations", the tactical staff led by Raphael became busy.

Their job is to "translate" the Marquis's orders into specific instructions that can be understood by the commanders of each squadron and even the captains of each warship, and then distribute them.

At the same time, after a large amount of information during the battle was summarized and integrated, it was presented to the Marquis and he was asked to make the next decision.

As time went on, in addition to some main battleships that were still leaving the port, 75% of the warships of the 8th Expeditionary Strike Group of the Imperial Royal Navy gradually gathered together.

Under the command of Colonel Raphael and the fleet combat staff, the Requiem-class battleships with thicker layered armor and higher deflection field power began to move forward, and the Dawn Sword was the first to bear the brunt and was at the forefront of the formation.

This is the tradition of the Star Dragon Empire Royal Navy. Since the captains of the fleet's flagships are all imperial nobles, these guys who pursue honor have habitually placed the flagships in the most conspicuous positions since the first large-scale fleet battle after the founding of the empire.

Although it is more vulnerable to concentrated fire attacks, the improvement of fleet morale is also extremely obvious.

It is precisely because of this that all fleet flagships, including the Dawn Sword, have a much higher level of protection than their sister ships of the same class.

At the same time, the Aurora-class heavy cruisers, which were the output of the fleet's firepower, also spread out radially around these battleships.

High-speed destroyers and frigates advanced from the periphery of the fleet, ready to conduct interception and air defense operations.

The warships of the entire 8th Expeditionary Strike Group were arranged in a concave formation similar to a hemisphere on the synchronous orbit of Robert IV.

The Dawn Sword was the pole of this huge hemisphere.

Raphael stood in front of the holographic projection platform in the center of the bridge, looking at the fleet that had already formed a formation on the holographic projection, and then looking at the more than ten battleships and heavy cruisers that were still maneuvering between the fleet and Lansford Military Port, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

He didn't know whether this federal fleet received intelligence or hit a lucky opportunity, and just chose the opportunity when the battleships and many heavy cruisers were anchored in Lansford Military Port to launch an attack.

Although in terms of the overall number of fleets, the 8th Expeditionary Strike Group still maintained a crushing situation.

But just looking at the number gap between the two sides, the gap in the number of battleships and heavy cruisers has narrowed from more than two times to a few.

In terms of paper strength alone, it is indeed able to compete with the 8th Expeditionary Strike Group.

Not to mention that the other side still has a speed advantage and is approaching at high speed in a raiding posture.

"It is expected to enter the combat distance in 4 minutes!"

The tactical information coordinator once again reported the estimated time of contact.

Major Raphael looked up at the main screen. In the picture sent back by the optical observation equipment, there was no long blue plasma tail behind those federal warships.

The other side turned off the main propulsion array. The entire fleet now relies on inertia to maintain uniform motion and corrects its posture through the vector nozzles around the hull.

And there is only one purpose for doing this.

That is, the fusion reactor of the other warship has switched all energy circuits to ship-borne weapons.

"All ships, activate the deflection field generator and maintain the adaptive defense mode."

"The eighth and tenth destroyer detachments, over-fire anti-beam gel missiles to cover the area directly in front of the fleet."

"The third and fifth destroyer detachments, load defensive tactical hydrogen bombs and wait for the launch order."

"Battleships and cruiser detachments, main guns begin to charge, waiting for salvo orders."

Combat orders were quickly transmitted to the entire fleet.

The high-speed destroyers and frigates that received the order opened their respective missile silos.

After the anti-beam gel missiles were given extremely high initial velocities by the electromagnetic launch track, the plasma thrusters at the tail were opened according to the preset instructions.

If someone could overlook the entire battlefield at this time and their eyes were highly sensitive.

You will find that the densely packed missiles are like sperm, dragging long tails, flying to the position directly in front of the entire fleet.

Then they exploded silently in the universe and spread the built-in scattering gel in space.

The diffuse scattering gel will cause the high-energy laser beams emitted by the warship to be diffusely reflected and refracted, greatly weakening its power.

Although the high-power high-energy laser emitters equipped on destroyer-level warships can indeed penetrate these gels.

But when the excessive anti-beam gel bullets are dispersed, this matter becomes not so easy.

The reason why Raphael arranged it this way is very simple. In 90% of cases, the first round of firing in a fleet battle is a salvo of high-energy laser beams and charged particle cannons.

"Enter the engagement distance, repeat! Enter the engagement distance!"

"High-energy reaction detected!"

As soon as the tactical information coordinator finished speaking, dense rain of light bombarded the anti-beam gel layer in front of the fleet.

The federal fleet took the lead in launching a salvo!

A large number of high-energy lasers were blocked by the anti-beam gel layer. After countless refractions and diffuse reflections, a dazzling light curtain was almost formed in front of the fleet.

New calendar year 588, cosmic standard time, August 27, 18:42.

The navigation officer of the Dawn Sword silently noted the time when the battle broke out.

At this time, Major Raphael had not yet issued an order to counterattack. He looked at the light curtain that kept flashing in front of the fleet, waiting for an opportunity.

"Warning! High magnetic field reaction of the enemy fleet detected, a large number of ultra-high-speed objects detached, the number is incalculable! It is determined to be electromagnetic reconnection cannon firing!"

The combat information coordinator reported the latest situation again, and Major Raphael couldn't help but clench his hands behind his back.

So far, the tactical process adopted by the Federation Fleet is within his prediction.

More than 20 seconds later, the outer reconnaissance ship observed a large number of gaseous explosions in the anti-beam gel layer.

The opponent's electromagnetic reconnection cannon fired programmed compressed helium warheads.

These high-speed flying warheads triggered explosions the moment they came into contact with the gel layer. After losing their restraints, the highly compressed helium "blew" a gap in the anti-beam gel layer.

Almost at the moment when these gaps were generated, a new round of high-energy laser beams and charged particle cannons from the Federation Fleet arrived.

Without the obstruction of the gel layer, these laser beams and charged particle beams finally irradiated the Imperial warships that were targeted.

It was at this time that Colonel Raphael finally waited for that opportunity.

"The enemy fleet's track has been solved!"

Colonel Raphael breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this news, then turned back to look at the Marquis of Ascania in the captain's seat, who was also looking at him and nodded slightly.

"All fleets, heavy particle cannons, double-shot salvos from all gun ports, fire!"