Chapter 123 03.0122: "Untiring Attack"

"Level 1 combat alert! Level 1 combat alert! All personnel, take your combat positions! All personnel, take your combat positions!"

The loudest first-level combat readiness warning report sound was quickly transmitted throughout the ship through all sound array devices and sound tubes before the torpedo was launched.

Alarm lights flashed in every compartment of the battlecruiser Indefatigable, sailors and armed troops were running, and drummers began to beat drums in preparation for battle. The rapid drum beats were pleasant, loud and exciting.

Hearing the first-level combat alert and the combat drumbeat, Horatio opened his eyes instantly, immediately stood up, put on his officer's uniform, and walked out of the lounge.

"I think you should be in better spirits now." Farida looked at him with a smile.

"I slept well and my mind is clear. Did anything happen during this time?" Horatio asked as he adjusted his collar.

"Don't worry, everything has been solved perfectly. What can be difficult for me?" Farida smiled proudly, signaling the servant to bring Horatio the prepared hot refreshing tea and sandwiches.

In fact, there were some small things along the way, but in order to let Horatio sleep longer, she did not hesitate to lower her status to ask the warrant officer for advice. In the end, the matter was solved satisfactorily, and Horatio slept soundly for two hours.

"You're quite attentive." Horatio smiled as he looked at the hot tea and freshly cooked food in front of him.

"Hmph, I suggest you eat faster. We're about to fight, so don't choke."

"Hmm, it tastes very good." Horatio took a bite of the warm and soft fresh-cut steak sandwich and praised the solid ingredients inside.

Farida maintained a smug smile, clasped her hands behind her back dignifiedly and respectfully, and kept alert to the void.

Wearing long black leather boots, she tiptoed forward from time to time, and it was obvious that she was in a good mood.

Inside the command bridge.

"Watch the movements of that blasphemous warship! If it doesn't change course, speed up and ram it!" ordered Commodore Edward.

Six torpedoes sped forward, right on the planned route of the Murder-class. Even if it opened fire at full power to intercept, at least three would hit directly into the middle of her hull. Following closely behind would be the sharp and huge power ram of the Indefatigable, and the dark blue decomposition field would buzz.

The Murder-class cruiser retreated in the face of an imminent high-threat target.

She gave up chasing the badly damaged Cobra-class destroyer and began to turn the rudder to the left, avoiding torpedoes while distancing herself from the oncoming Indefatigable.

The timing and spread of this row of torpedoes was perfect.

In order to evade, the Murder-class cruiser was unable to fire its cannons at any angle at the injured Cobra-class, buying the small ship time to restart its void shield and escape.

"Thank you very much! Captain Peru!" The female captain of the hit Cobra-class sent a communication to express her gratitude.

"Thank you for your hard work, Captain, in keeping your warship outside the battle line."

"As you command, Commander!"

In addition to the ships originally scheduled to perform peripheral surveillance missions and the ships that had to join the surveillance due to damage.

The other two intact auxiliary warships began to change course and moved closer to the Indefatigable, hunting down the Chaos warship together, fully implementing the tactical principle of "retreat when the enemy is strong, and attack when the enemy is tired".

The Imperial Navy is an expert in void warfare, and its well-trained captains and officers know very well how to use flexible wolf pack tactics to tear apart the minions and traitors of the evil gods.

As the commander of this siege fleet, Commodore Edward Peru coordinated the tactics of each ship.

The warships are coordinated and unified, their battle positions are determined, and each warship has its own mission.

The frigate kept alert to its surroundings and continuously detected the void, while using its weapons to deplete the enemy ship's void shield until it was overloaded.

Destroyers used torpedoes to block the route and force enemy ships to change course in a direction that would be beneficial to the Imperial Navy's operations.

The Indefatigable will undertake the main firefight mission, severely damaging enemy ships at medium range, giving priority to paralyzing their systems, and then cooperate with the Blood Angels 2nd Company in boarding operations after the Vengeance arrives.

Cruiser-class battleships have two thrones, one is the battleship command throne and the other is the fleet command throne.

The former is occupied by the captain, and the latter by the generals who are the commanders of the fleet.

But Commodore Peru was unique in that he was both the captain and the battle group commander.

He sat on the fleet command throne, while his first mate, Captain Lord Stirling, sat on the battleship command throne, giving specific operational command to the battlecruiser Indefatigable.

"All operations departments listen up. When the target appears within the firing range, start the first round of volleys." Captain Sterling shouted to the operations department officers.

"Yes! Captain."

The combat order has been issued, and the subsequent specific details will be released to their respective departments by the officers serving as macro artillery officers, light spear artillery officers, and close defense artillery officers in the Operations Department in an orderly and well-coordinated manner.

The Indefatigable's grand gunner is a senior lieutenant who graduated from the Naval Gunnery Department of the Abridar Academy. She is considered Fideo's predecessor and will issue orders to the gun crews in the upcoming engagement.

Horatio held his breath and waited for the enemy ship to appear through the large porthole in front of him. The width and height of this porthole matched the maximum pitch and rotation angles of this macro gun, so it could fire at any target that appeared in the porthole.

In the void, the Cobra-class destroyer "Silver Sword" turned from right to left with its high speed and flexible maneuverability, and went around to the right side and rear of the Murder-class from behind.

"Commander, our ship will release the last set of torpedoes to force the enemy ship to turn right!" The captain reported his planned tactics to Commodore Edward.

"Go ahead." Brigadier General Peru nodded.

At the same time, he shouted to the helmsman: "When you see the torpedo track, immediately turn right two and a half turns."

"Yes, sir. Turn right two and a half turns when you see the torpedo track!" The helmsman held the steering wheel with both hands, looked at the scale above, and repeated the instructions in reverse.

This is done to prevent the operator from simply repeating the command instead of fully interpreting and identifying it.

Four torpedoes streaked across the sky, their burning trails clearly visible.

The Murder-class cruiser immediately began maneuvering and chose to turn right.

As her course changed, the Indefatigable Doomsday-class battlecruiser immediately turned its bow at a 40-degree angle and cut in, with the left broadside gun slowly turning.

At this time, the distance between the two sides is about one "void chain" (about 7696 kilometers).

The combat regulations of the Void Ripper Light Lance on the backbone of the Indefatigable allow a maximum firing range of 1/4 chain (that is, ultra-long-range gun range, about 1924 kilometers), making it the turret with the longest range on the entire ship, but its power is not as strong as the Titan-Forged Heavy Light Lance Cannon on the side.

The maximum allowable firing range of the broadside macro cannon and lance cannon array is 3/16 chain (long-range gun range, approximately 1443 kilometers). Both are heavy artillery groups with amazing power.

Although the number of only four macro cannons and two light spear cannons on one side seems far lower than the murder level of 16 macro cannons on one side.

But the damage caused by all four huge Mars IV heavy macro cannons hitting the target was greater than the damage caused by all 16 small-caliber macro cannons hitting the target. The side and spine lance cannons had a 100% hit rate.

"The distance to the enemy ship is approximately 3300 kilometers! Closing rate is positive 1.3, bearing +0315, phase ZL."

"Get back on track and keep the rudder in place!" The captain announced the new course.

"Straighten the rudder and hold it!" As the helmsman turned the steering wheel straight, the huge body of the Indefatigable maintained the new course and began to slide sideways, gradually approaching the Murder-class while pointing all the weapons on its port side at its prey.

This not only ensures that the artillery crew has enough time to adjust the firing range, but also ensures a certain close rate, allowing both sides to enter the firing range.

In the artillery position, the lights on the command platform turned blue, and the lights in the gun compartment below turned red.

This also fits in with the ancient tradition of physiology.

Blue light can keep people calm, while red can make people feel motivated and affect the dilation of the pupils, allowing people to adapt to the darkness in advance.

After all, it is common for the power system to be damaged during battle and for the surroundings to be plunged into darkness.

Horatio stood in front of the display console, waiting for the ranging officer to send the parameters.

Everyone knew that it would not be long before the first salvos of fire began.

Farida, who had little experience, was a little nervous. The most obvious manifestation was that she spoke less and her slender fingers were twisted together behind her back.

Although she still tried her best to maintain a dignified appearance, the smile on her face disappeared, replaced by some anxious little movements.

Horatio noticed Farida's nervousness.

"Don't worry, it's safe here." He stared sharply into the void and spoke in a soft but serious tone, giving people a full sense of security.

"I'm looking forward to the battle, not worried about the danger." The girl spoke softly and exhaled slowly.

Horatio smiled but continued with his work.

"Based on the closing rate, it is expected to reach the long-range range within 5 minutes."

The message and parameters sent by the Operations Officer popped up on the display console.

"Second battery, deflect to 21 degrees positive, 14 degrees elevation, load with high-speed normal rounds."

Horatio reported the results of his calculations on the draft paper with a quill pen, and only gave the order after it was consistent with the data on the display console.

That’s right, it’s calculated by hand, that’s how the grass grows.

Because even machine souls in this world could be invaded by demons, machines were considered untrustworthy, and the Imperial Navy's combat regulations required that officers' manual calculations and the data on the display console be completely consistent before they could issue orders.

These formulas and precise mathematical calculations can only be performed by well-educated naval officers.

If a warrant officer like the battery gunner wants to fire independently, he can only rely on his sense accumulated over the years and cannot be as accurate as a naval officer.

This kind of intuitive artillery technique has almost no hit rate at a long distance.

This fundamentally determined that unless the naval officers participated in the mutiny, even if the crew seized the battleship, they would still be pinned down and beaten by the encircling Imperial Navy warships in the crossfire of the void war.

"Follow your orders, sir!" The gunner immediately implemented Horatio's orders on the operation of the macro cannon: "Load high-speed normal rounds!!"

With the whip waving, the contract worker struggled to push the huge steering and elevation dials, and the terrifying black muzzle slowly moved through the layers of mechanical gears.

Although the muzzle's rotation speed was not fast, it was not a problem considering that the target was a giant ship several kilometers long.

Horatio pulled out his pocket watch and counted the time silently in his mind.

[It will take about 1 minute to reach the long-range artillery range. (About 1443 kilometers.)]
He held the pocket watch and looked at the spinning void.

This is the Indefatigable accelerating her turn to increase her firing range, but she will not go directly parallel. She is still moving forward, trying to get closer to the medium-range gun range (about 962 kilometers).

Therefore, the captain of the operations department requested that the first round of artillery fire from the port side macro guns should be directed obliquely to the right.

[10…9…]
Horatio looked at the stopwatch, his eyes sharp.

Farida looked at his serious expression and couldn't help but get nervous herself.

[3…2…]
Horatio took a deep breath and looked into space.

The blood-red surface of the enemy ship appeared in the porthole, and the pale skulls on it seemed to be mocking him provocatively.

"Start firing from front to back!" the artillery officer gave the order.

Buzz! The first sharp sound of the acceleration coil came from the right, and the command platform trembled.

"Hmm!" Farida uttered a small sound, clutching Horatio's arm with one hand and the guardrail beside her with the other.

She didn't expect the movement and sound of the heavy cannon firing would be so loud, far exceeding her psychological expectations.

This is still inside the armored command platform, and it is the No. 1 macro cannon in the distance.

If it was closer, it would be entirely possible that the person would be shocked to the point of bleeding from all seven orifices!

Buzz! ! ! A louder sound came from the next cabin, and the vibration was more intense, like a small earthquake.

It was Horatio's macro artillery array's turn.

Farida became even more nervous. What was it like to fire in front of someone?

Nervous sweat slid down her beautiful face.

Horatio raised his left hand and swung it downward, shouting, "Fire!!!"

"Fire!!!" the gunner repeated Horatio's order and shouted to the firing console below.

　I have posted the same level 1 combat alert drum wake-up ringtone as Horatio in the reader group. Readers who need it can join the group and pick it up.
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(End of this chapter)