Chapter 390 05.0389: ‘The Enemy Turns Around’

"Lord Daros (Moon-class cruiser), I am the acting captain of the flagship, and I am conveying the order of the fleet commander.

Please immediately turn to the 90° azimuth emergency vector, and then accelerate. Our ship will follow your wake and perform accompanying maneuvers. "

"Acting Captain? Wait, are you sure about this order?'

The captain of the Lord Daros looked at the somewhat too young captain shown in the holographic projection in front of him.

I feel a little weird about this order.

But almost at the same time, the voice of fleet commander Commodore Edward Peru came from the holographic projection: "Immediately execute the order, Captain Rotheram, whether the fleet can survive the pinch depends on the current race against time maneuver. "

"But is it too early to turn now? And turning to a 90-degree azimuth angle is likely to cause confusion in subsequent ship maneuvers."

Horatio was certainly aware of Captain Rotheram's concerns.

This almost right-angle turn requires the warship to immediately activate the side high-energy steering booster, and all warships must execute it uniformly after reaching the point, neither too early nor too late.

However, the engine output and acceleration of the Imperial Navy cruiser, Voss-type light cruiser, and Dreadnought-class light cruiser are different.

If you are not careful, a huge gap will appear in the entire fleet's line, and it may even hit the engine of the turning warship ahead. This requires extremely high accuracy in speed control.

Now it happens that we are about to be attacked from two sides. Once a gap is exposed in the big turn in front of the enemy, or a collision occurs, it is tantamount to exposing our weakness. This kind of decision-making error can destroy the entire fleet.

"I believe in the organization and training of the naval colleagues on the battleships. We are the Gothic Fleet, the heroic fleet of the Human Empire. We can do what others can't do, and what others can do, we can do better!"

Brigadier General Edward Perroux spoke plausibly and seemed very confident in his subordinates.

"Colonel, the Chaos Fleet wants to cut through the center line of our fleet, if we don't make a big turn in front of the enemy and speed up.

So when maneuvering with the shortest turning radius arc of the fin rudder, the enemy ship must have calculated the corresponding interception route. By then, we will still be caught in the middle and beaten from both sides. " Horatio explained.

What the young captain said did make sense. The silent naval captain immediately compared the distance between the Chaos Fleet and the Gothic Strike Group, and then used a gauge to compare the lateral maneuvering space and discovered a problem.

Hiss, at this distance, even if the maneuver is successfully executed, doesn't the enemy ship still have room to maneuver to insert and intercept the battle line?

Although it is a bit difficult, if the opponent is not afraid of death and collides directly, he can still forcefully squeeze out a passage from his own fleet.

When the colonel was about to raise this point, he raised his head and saw four Cobra-class destroyers 300 kilometers to his left.

They did not sail silently, but the entire ship's systems were operating at full power, displaying their presence in a big way, as if they wanted to let the enemy see that they were preparing to release torpedoes.

The colonel immediately understood the arrangement of the young acting captain.

"Yes, report to the flagship, our ship will immediately execute the maneuver order."

Then, the Lord Daros activated its side high-energy steering booster. As if being held by a big invisible hand, the entire battleship suddenly turned sideways and made an almost right-angle steering maneuver.

"When the whole ship arrives at coordinates 833.439, it immediately turns sharply to the 90-degree angle. At the same time, 'Icarus Storm' (class-upgraded light cruiser), your ship will turn in an arc to the port side of our ship from now on to receive combat protection. .

When the 'Icarus Storm' maneuvered, the 'Ultramar Cavalry' (dreadnought-class light cruiser) and the 'War Will Everlasting' (dreadnought-class light cruiser) from the Karl-Duniash fleet immediately Afterburner propulsion shortens the distance, and the light cruise ships maintain a tight maneuvering distance of 6 kilometers apart. "

Commodore Peru watched calmly as Horatio issued a fleet maneuver order that was almost completely consistent with his strategic vision based on the plan he had submitted previously, with a faint smile on his face.

As soon as the order was given, the Tiaopan-class light cruiser slowly turned around, broke away from the battle line, and sailed towards the side of the Indefatigable.

It was protected behind by the wide and slender hull of the Indefatigable.

Then, two Dreadnought-class light cruisers of the Karl-Duniash fleet immediately followed.

Horatio sat on the command throne and watched the Lord Darros turn and accelerate forward, but it turned slightly too far, so the port steering booster pushed briefly again before correcting to 90 degrees. horn,

Keep sailing.

This caused the Lord Daros to waste some extra afterburner reserve energy, which would subsequently shorten its afterburner sailing distance by nearly 100 kilometers.

Horatio saw this, and he deployed the Cobra destroyer squadron in order to increase the error tolerance rate of the fleet's maneuvers.

Lord Daros entered the expected battle route, and now it was the turn of the battlecruiser Indefatigable.

"Power department, turn on the starboard high-energy steering booster device with three-quarters of the afterburner power! Captain, full rudder on the left side!"

"Yes! Full left helm!" the helmsman shouted, repeating the young acting captain's order backwards.

"Follow your orders! Side power unit, immediately activate the starboard high-energy steering afterburning engine, three-quarter power!"

The 5.3-kilometer-long huge aircraft body of the Indefatigable, driven by the sudden force of the side attitude adjustment nozzle,

It turned urgently like a dragon wagging its tail.

The scene outside the porthole in front of Horatio changed rapidly, and even turned into a shadow for a while. Many candidates who had just boarded the ship half a year ago had adverse reactions when they looked at the colorful scene in front of them, and some of them even vomited.

But Horatio was not dizzy at all. He was concentrating and holding a compass in his mind. When the azimuth compass in his mind approached 90 degrees, he immediately gave the order to return to the cabin.

"Get the cabin right!" he stood up and shouted to the helmsman.

"Back to the cabin!" The helmsman quickly turned the rudder straight with the help of his assistant.

Unlike the Lord Darros, the high-energy steering of the Indefatigable is very perfect. It points directly to the 90-degree angle almost at once, with a deviation of no more than 1 degree. There is no need to correct the course, and there is no need to turn on the port side steering afterburner for assistance. push.

Brigadier General Edward Peru observed Horatio's command and asked the clerical officer in charge of recording the log to add a note to the captain's log:

Acting Captain Horatio Cochrane performed a perfect, textbook emergency turn at 8:21 Terran Time today.

The green-skin fleet, which was emitting billowing smoke, was still charging, but even the miraculous creations of I Xunsi, these crude engines had to temporarily sail at cruising speed after a long-term afterburner charge that even the Imperial Navy warships could not bear. And the cooling operation will be carried out by the big technician.

The nearest one is about 2300 meters away from the most prominent Endurance-class light cruiser of the Gothic Strike Group.

kilometer.

For a moment, cannonballs flew across this space. The Gothic fleet made a sharp turn while calibrating the trajectory.

Fire at the green-skinned gunboats and attack ships scurrying between them.

The candidates on the Macrocannon and Light Spear command platforms were sweating profusely as they quickly retrieved the calculation formulas in their minds.

In such a difficult environment, even many experienced warrant officer gunners fired empty guns with a large error.

So much so that the macro artillery officers and light spear officers had to personally help the candidates on the right artillery control command platform to correct the parameters.

"Report! The enemy Chaos Fleet is trying to make a sharp turn to the right, blocking our maneuvering route, and cutting into the port side of our fleet!"

The Observation Department sent the latest maneuver warning of the enemy fleet.

"Your Excellency Peru, it's time." The acting captain and the fleet commander looked at each other, and they nodded to each other.

"The 1st detachment of the 'Abyss Destroyer' Destroyer Squadron launched the first round of torpedo salvo, forcing the enemy's lead ship to give up its turn!"

"Yes! Commander." The silent holographic projections of the four naval lieutenant colonels who had been on standby responded in unison.

Egg!

The tails of 16 Helios-class torpedoes spurted with fire, and they carried sharp weapons as they shot into the cold void.