From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

As the commander of the entire strike group, the Marquis of Ascania generally only conducts strategic and tactical level command, and will not be involved in the combat command of a specific battle.

After all, no matter how active his mind is and how changeable his ideas are, there is no way he can command nearly 300 warships in combat by himself.

Except, of course, the raid on Lansford Naval Port.

Because it was the first battle of the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group, and it was a crushing battle, the Marquis personally commanded the battle.

But more often than not, he will only issue a macro-level tactical arrangement. The specific operational details and on-the-spot command are all handled by his combat staff group.

Like now.

After the Marquis of Ascania issued the order for the fleet to conduct defensive operations, the tactical staff group led by Raphael became busy.

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

At the same time, after summarizing a large amount of information during the battle, it was presented to the Marquis and allowed him to make the next decision.

As time went by, 75% of the warships of the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group of the Imperial Navy gradually gathered together, except for some capital ships that were still conducting outbound operations.

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

This is the tradition of the Royal Navy of the Star Dragon Empire. Since the fleet's flagship captains are all imperial nobles, these honor-seeking guys have habitually placed their flagships at the highest position since the first large-scale fleet battle after the founding of the empire. Prominent location.

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

Because of this, all fleet flagships, including the Dawn Sword, have much higher protection levels than their sister ships of the same class.

At the same time, the Dawn Goddess-class heavy cruisers, which were the fleet's firepower output, also spread out in a radial pattern around these battleships.

High-speed destroyers and frigates moved out from the periphery of the fleet, preparing for interception and air defense operations.

The entire Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group warships formed a hemispherical concave formation in the Robert IV's synchronous orbit.

The Dawn Sword is the pinnacle 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 formed a formation on the holographic projection, and then looking at the more than ten capital ships and ships that were still maneuvering between the fleet and Lansford Military Port. The heavy cruiser narrowed his eyes imperceptibly.

He didn't know whether the federal fleet got a tip or just got lucky and happened to take the opportunity to launch an attack when the battleships and many heavy cruisers were anchored at Lansford Naval Port.

Although in terms of overall fleet numbers, the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group still maintains a crushing situation.

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

In terms of strength on paper alone, it can indeed compete with the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group.

Not to mention that the opponent still had the speed advantage and approached at high speed with a raiding attitude.

"It is estimated that we will enter combat range in 4 minutes!"

The tactical information coordination officer once again reported the estimated time of contact with the enemy.

Major Raphael looked up at the main screen. In the picture returned by the optical observation equipment, the long blue plasma wake was no longer behind the federal warships.

The opponent has turned off the main thrust array, and the entire fleet now relies on inertia to maintain constant motion, and corrects its attitude through the vector nozzles around the hull.

And there is only one purpose for doing this.

That is the fusion reactor of the opponent's warship, which has switched all energy circuits to the ship's weapons.

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

"The eighth and tenth driving escort detachments launched excessive anti-beam gel missiles, covering the area directly in front of the fleet."

"The third and fifth driving escort detachments are loading defensive tactical hydrogen bombs and waiting for launch instructions."

"The battleships and cruiser divisions, the main guns have started charging, waiting for the salvo command."

Combat orders were quickly conveyed to the entire fleet.

After receiving the order, the high-speed destroyers and frigates opened their respective missile silos.

One after another, the anti-beam gel missiles were given extremely high muzzle velocity by the electromagnetic launch track and were sent out. The plasma thrusters at the tail end were turned on according to the preset instructions.

If someone can overlook the entire battlefield at this time, and his eyes have high sensitivity.

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

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

The diffuse scattering gel will cause diffuse reflection and refraction of the high-energy laser beam irradiated by the warship, greatly weakening its power.

Although warships of the destroyer level and above are equipped with high-power and high-energy laser transmitters, the laser beams irradiated can indeed penetrate these gels.

But after the excessively fired anti-beam gel bombs were dispersed, this matter became not so easy.

The reason for Raphael's arrangement is simple. In 90% of the cases, the first round of firing in a fleet battle is a salvo of high-energy laser beams and charged particle cannons.

"Into engaging range, repeat! Into engaging range!"

"High energy reaction detected!"

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

The federal fleet launched a salvo first!

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 recorded the time when the battle broke out.

At this time, Major Raphael had not yet given the order to counterattack. He looked at the flickering light screen in front of the fleet, waiting for an opportunity.

"Warning! The enemy fleet's high magnetic field response has been detected, and a large number of ultra-high-speed objects have detached. The number is incalculable! It is determined to be an electromagnetic reconnection cannon shot!"

The Combat Information Coordinator reported the latest situation again, and Major Rafael couldn't help but tighten his hands behind his back.

So far, the tactical procedures adopted by the federal fleet have been within his predictions.

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

The opponent's electromagnetic reconnection cannon fires a programmed compressed helium warhead.

These high-speed flying warheads triggered an explosion the moment they came into contact with the gel layer. The highly compressed helium gas lost its restraint and "blown" gaps in the anti-beam gel layer.

Almost at the moment when these gaps were created, a new salvo of high-energy laser beams and charged particle cannons from the federal fleet arrived.

Without the obstruction of the gel layer, these laser beams and charged particle beams finally hit the imperial warship that was targeted.

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

"The enemy fleet's trajectory has been calculated!"

After hearing the news, Colonel Raphael breathed a sigh of relief, then looked back at the Marquis of Ascania on the captain's seat, who was also looking at him and nodded slightly.

"All fleets, all heavy particle cannons fire double volleys from all turrets, open fire!"