Chapter 421 06.0420: ‘Horatio’s Epic’

"Farida, Louise, congratulations on becoming official military supervisors and commissioned officers."

Seeing the two sweet lovers reunited after a long separation, Horatio suppressed the joy in his heart and returned the greeting to them.

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"Congratulations, Mr. Corcoran, well, but I guess I'll call you Major now."

In front of many high-level people, Farida used a more distant, intimate tone that only she and Horatio were familiar with in private and smiled.

"Major? I remember that our military rank sequence does not include the rank of major." Horatio was stunned and quickly recalled the navy officer sequence.

"Indeed, there were none before, but now the situation has changed. I think you should have seen the new warships parked neatly in orbit, a hundred of them." Farida said.

"Of course, if you are referring to the E-type attack ship, it is indeed an eye-catching 'little guy' [a 'little guy' with a length of 1.2 kilometers, which can be regarded as a little guy in the empire, but in other places In any civilization, this could be a space battleship-level monster. At that time, the largest battleship in the world was only 300 meters long, with a crew of 3,000 and global strike capabilities.

"According to the decree of the Ministry of the Navy, a naval captain has the right to independently command an unclassified ship to conduct military operations. But that was the case in the past, when unclassified military ships were used to clean up various crudely built pirate ships.

Now, the Hazy Star Territory Navy Headquarters has approved the pilot use of this new type of attack ship, which will be carried to the war zone by a dock carrier with subspace navigation capabilities. A dock carrier can carry 6 such warships.

Based on the carrying capacity of the dock ships, the Naval Committee directly organized a squadron into six attack ships. "Vinaska Catalia answered Horatio herself.

"Unlike escort ships, when the captain of an attack ship is a captain, the squadron needs a senior commander for unified command, so the Navy Headquarters piloted the military rank of 'Navy Lieutenant Colonel', and Horatio

Mr. Cochrane, you were selected by the Navy Council of the Obscure Star Territory and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in this Star Territory, and you are probably the first Lieutenant Commander in the entire Empire. "

Lord Colonel Elphinstone stood next to Lord Katalia, his waist straight, his hands crossed behind his back, and he explained elegantly and decently.

When he said this, Horatio immediately understood what it meant.

Since the Blue Star Era of Holy Terra, for a long time, a naval captain has been the lowest rank in the navy that can command a small combat ship.

Lieutenant literally means 'assistant officer'.

They are required to be able to take over the command of the ship according to the command sequence at any time when the captain loses the ability to command, so independently commanding a battle ship can be regarded as their basic training quality.

This tradition was further carried forward as more and more types of naval ships developed with the times. When the navy transitioned from sails and steam engines to the diesel engine era, and torpedo boats and submarines joined the navy one after another,

The captains of torpedo boats and submarines who serve as their commanders usually have the rank of naval captain. If the number of captains is insufficient, they can be commanded by naval lieutenants.

Horatio and the naval commanders of the era understood that the best way to unleash the power of these small, high-threat fast attack ships was to use them in groups.

The rank of Lieutenant Commander was also completely formalized in the British Navy during the Victorian Era.

The meaning of the word has changed from the original "assistant commander" of the Navy Lieutenant Colonel (Commander) to the real "captain commander".

Responsible for commanding multiple torpedo boats or submarine squadrons captained by naval captains to conduct group attacks.

In order to maximize the attack effectiveness of this type of aircraft and improve the survival rate of warships.

"In the name of the Navy Council of the Obscure Star Territory, thank you for your loyal service to the Empire and the Holy Navy, Major Horatio." Louise directed the two servants to walk over, holding the thick and generous letter of appointment. Horatio.

"The letter of appointment takes effect immediately upon receipt by me. Now, you are a lieutenant commander of the Imperial Navy, the captain of the attack ship E96, and the squadron leader of an entire attack squadron.

At the same time, the Obscure Star Territory Naval Council decided not to change your accumulated military merit points, and will still include them in the promotion index of lieutenant colonel. You will be promoted after reaching the original standard of lieutenant colonel. "

"Yes, young man, you have achieved two-thirds of the goal of being promoted to lieutenant colonel." Brigadier General Peru patted his shoulder and said with a smile.

"Thank you, Louise. I really didn't expect you to come back with two letters of appointment after going to Sepula Mundy. You are really capable." Horatio was in a good mood and said in a teasing tone. .

"You helped me a lot. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to pass the Lieutenant Examination."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries reserved for young men, Horatio turned to two senior officers of the Gothic fleet.

"Your Excellency, will these attack ships be used in the second expedition to the Gulf of Damocles?"

"You were right, Major.

However, we have not yet fully determined the specific usage of this battleship in combat. Many captains believe that when fighting battleships, they should play the role of destroyers, carry out sneak attacks on the enemy fleet from the side, and usually accompany the fleet activities. "

"I have an idea," said Horatio.

"Please, Major."

"The plan of the predecessors is indeed a good idea, but I don't agree with the point of accompanying the fleet in the end.

Since it is a fast attack ship with torpedoes as its main attack weapon, it will not be able to play its due performance if it only accompanies the slow-moving fleet on weekdays.

I think that when there is no fleet-level void battle, the captains of the attack ships should be given the power to attack independently and focus on the enemy's logistics supply line.

Based on my shallow understanding of the Tau, they have two types of large fleets. One is the Tau Guardian Fleet.

This is the main fleet of the aliens responsible for homeland defense and combat. They generally use cutting-edge warships, but the scale is small and the cost is high. They will only attack in groups when the fleet is in a decisive battle.

The other type is the Tau merchant fleet, which is their most common fleet in the galaxy.

These "merchant" class battleships have slender hulls and slow movements. They mostly sail in the void as single ships and can also be lightly armed. Upgrade.

(A fully armed merchant ship is classified as a light cruiser by the Imperial Navy when carrying weapons. It is the ship with the highest production of the Tau people, but the positioning of an armed merchant ship still means that its firepower is weak and it is difficult to compete with real warships.)

In previous battles, the Imperial Navy lacked small attack craft that could effectively damage Tau warships. The light macro cannons of escort ships often could not quickly destroy the merchant ships of the Tau merchant fleet. As long as they were not completely disabled at one time, they could use repair drones to repair most of the damage to the aircraft.

The small craft of the Imperial Navy basically accompanied the fleet and almost never sailed independently to carry out anti-commie tactics.

On the other hand, these aliens would use small fast craft and cutting-edge tracking torpedo missiles to threaten our transport ships and supply ships.

Now that we also have cutting-edge torpedo attack ships, it is time to treat them with their own methods. "

After saying this, the female admiral was silent for a while, and then said to the Lord Colonel next to her:

"It seems that I am not wrong. He is indeed talented and sharp. The conclusion he reached is consistent with the suggestions that the Navy Committee told us before. The old men spent a year and a half of repeated deductions and discussions to determine this conclusion. "

"I think it is for this reason that Admiral Jervis, who advocates the theory of sabotage, appointed Cochrane as the first lieutenant commander of the navy, allowing him to improve the theory of merchant fleet sabotage through actual combat exercises. "

Then Lord Colonel Elphinstone looked at Horatio: "Please follow me, Major. In order for you to better use your tactical thinking, I will explain to you the unique features of this new warship. "

The group followed the Lord Colonel to the assembly control room of the orbital shipyard.

In the dimly lit control room with tangled cables, dozens of Vospa mechanical priests wearing yellow and red holy vestments were debugging parameters in front of the operating table full of flickering indicator lights.

"Call up the design drawing. "The captain ordered.

"Please look, sir." The leading mechanical priest said respectfully, his face after being completely mechanically transformed showed no expression, only the two gas mask-like optical sensors on his eyes were silently glowing orange.

"The E-type attack ship is 1.2 kilometers long, 107 meters wide at the widest point of the ship, 203 meters high without the bridge, and 246 meters high from the belly of the fin to the top of the bridge.

It can reach an extremely fast speed of 18 void knots in the overspeed state, and the maximum speed of the shadow field is 8 void knots.

If the speed exceeds 8 knots, the camouflage force field of the shadow field cannot be activated, and 5 knots is the optimal concealment speed.

The entire ship has a loading capacity of 24 Helios-class torpedoes. The ship has four torpedo silos, and there is also a torpedo silo for anti-pursuit purposes at the tail.

The ridge of the ship is equipped with a light macro gun turret of the same type as the Scimitar-class escort ship, which is loaded with an automatic hoist.

The firing rate is three rounds per five minutes, and the firepower is fierce.

Because the warship does not have the ability to navigate in the subspace, it needs to be transported by a special dock, but this also saves the space required to install the Geller force field and the subspace engine.

And because the interior of the ship is highly automated, only 5,000 people are needed to ensure that the warship operates at the best efficiency in three shifts.

Based on 10,000 crew members, its onboard supplies can meet at least one and a half months of void navigation.

But if you want to squeeze in more crew members, as long as you squeeze in, it is not a problem to reach the same 15,000 people as the Cobra destroyer.

But in this case, you may need to consider the morale problem caused by the poor living environment due to the crowded personnel.

After all, the Cobra-class destroyer does not need to be equipped with so many torpedoes inside, and the extra crew members on the attack ship can only find a place to hang hammocks in the gaps between the torpedoes.

Of course, this part of the space can also be saved to pack more supplies so that the raiding mission can be carried out longer behind enemy lines without the support of supply ships.

However, the most eye-catching thing is such a small aircraft, whose rear ridge boat cabin can actually fit four furious interceptors and two small law enforcement transport boats.

The specially designed retractable apron can mount the aircraft from the inside and raise it to the back to facilitate its takeoff.

In addition, the design idea of ​​combat effectiveness first makes the design of this type of warship a bit too extreme from the perspective of livability for naval officers.

Although the living area on the ship is complete, it is very small.

The captain can only be allocated a 50-square-meter independent living room.

The officers' bedroom is designed in the mode of "three bedrooms and one living room". To put it in a high-level way, it feels like "home", which is the standard for Chinese civilians.

But in fact, the officers' bedroom on the destroyer is divided into three rooms from the inside.

The three officers can only get a bedroom of less than 25 square meters each, and then share a living room and entertainment room.

Of course, this is just a design layout. After you officially take over the battleship, you can freely arrange the specific space inside the ship.

Your vehicle E96 'Epic' is an experimental command-type attack ship. It is said that it is equipped with better experimental equipment. You have to explore it yourself. "