Chapter 577: The Power of the Electromagnetic Pulse Cannon
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
On the vast blue ocean, 101 ships slowly anchored at the Xin-F border. Under the command of the flagship, they arranged themelves in formation.
The main naval forces in Country F were mostly decommissioned Western ships such as the UA minesweeper, the British patrol boats, and some of the France and UA tank-landing ships from World War II.
Take the largest and most powerful “Rajah” destroyer of the Country F Navy as an example. The predecessor of this “legendary” destroyer was the Cannon-class destroyer built by UA during World War II. In 1955, UA handed it over to Nippon’s navy. Nippon renamed the ship to “Sunrise” and it was used until 1975. The ship was handed over to Country F by Nippon in 1978 and first served in Country F in 1980 after being towed to South Korea for overhaul and modernization.
It was a third-hand good; a bone that fed two dogs.
The ship was equipped with three MK22 76 mm open-naval guns which exposed the gunner without any basic armor protection, three 40 mm double-gauge guns, six 20 mm cannons, and four 12.7 mm machine guns. This set up was typical for the UA Navy during World War II.
However, as the main force of the Country F Navy, there were also “Hamilton” class cruisers that were eliminated by two UA coast guards. In August 2011, the UA handed a retired “Hamilton” class patrol ship to Country F that was renamed “Gregory” by Country F and considered the most advanced among the F Navy warships.
However, the backwardness of the equipment didn’t prevent them from despising Xin in their hearts.
They feared a confrontation against Hua, but beating a small country like Xin was no problem at all!
51 major combat ships, and more than 50 auxiliary ships for a total of more than one hundred warships lined up near the border in the western Pacific. Naval soldiers raised their heads high, fully armed. They looked quite like “the King of the military”!
Lieutenant Colonel Millennion, who served as the commander-in-chief of operations, was also considered “young and promising” in Country F politics. During his tenure as commander of the Country F Navy, he commanded a “landing attack” exercise jointly organized by the Marine Corps and the UA Army and proposed a strategy of “front-line first,” participated in the 116th anniversary celebration of the founding army, and proposed the construction of a naval base…
Standing in the command tower of the flagship “Hamilton” class patrol ship, General Millennion adjusted his naval cap. His hands were behind his back while he gazed out at the peaceful ocean.
In this overwhelming war, he was thinking up ways to humiliate his opponent that dared to simultaneously challenge them.
Country F needed a real victory to demonstrate its naval strength to the world in order to deter the young from frequently harassing their borders.
Guardian-class frigate?
It was indeed very powerful; Russian weapons always dominated. But he heard that the idiot demolished the ship’s 100-mm A-190 gun and replaced it with a cannon that couldn’t be recognized at all. The wide, flat barrel was like a “tuning fork” lying down, and Millennion didn’t consider it a threat to the “Hamilton” under his control. Without the most important main cannon, with just two 14.5 mm machine guns, what could the Guardian-class frigate even do?
Millennion knew that while the Russians sold the ship to Jiang Chen, both its anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles were dismantled. After all, these equipment were considered military secrets; even as a business partner, Russia didn’t have any reason to share all of its knowledge.
Adjutant went to his side and sharply saluted him.
“Five FA-50s have arrived and are currently in cruise mode. Harpoon-1 is requesting attack commands.”
Millennion smiled and didn’t answer. Instead, he asked an irrelevant question.
“Rolando, in your opinion, what suit color is the most appropriate for attending a celebration ceremony?”
Roland took a moment to process before smiling pleasantly
“I recommend the blue one.”
“Just as I thought; that’s my favorite suit,” Millennions said before narrowing his eyes at the distant horizon and reciting in an ancient dialect poem. “Our warriors have been eager while the opponent is still on the road …”
However, this general had no poetic abilities. Two sentences in and he was stuck. Next to the general, the first mates were watching, and Millennion’s expression couldn’t be more embarrassed.
Roland, watching the scene, immediately stepped in to divert people from the embarrassment. “They are so slow. It’s as if they’re heading to an execution.”
“Yes! It’s like heading to an execution!” Millennion laughed and patted Roland’s shoulder. He was glad his subordinates were witty to save him from embarrassment. “No more waiting – pass on my orders! All ships push forward with speed six nautical miles. If they don’t come, we’ll go conquer them! Also regarding our flight formation – they’re approved for attack!”
“Roger!” Roland straightened his back with his face red in excitement. He roared into the radio: “This is the control tower. Harpoon-1, target the enemy ship, attack permission granted… Harpoon-1?”
There was no response from the radio.
Roland’s expression began to change. He had a bad feeling.
Just then, on the deck outside the command tower, someone screamed and pointed at the clear sky.
“What’s that?”
Among the clouds, a fighter jet soared by before two explosions bloosomed in the air.
The pieces falling had FA engraved on them before smashing into the ocean. Like a tiger in a herd of sheep, Aurora-20’s machine guns shredded FA-50’s fragile armor while repeating the cycle with its high mobility.
The second they engaged in battle, two FAs were taken down. The other three FA-50s, who realized something was wrong, attempted to escape the lock-on by guided missiles.
But the two Auroras didn’t give them the opportunity to escape.
The trails of five ignitions interweaved in the sky. After a moment of battle, three more explosions rang out in the sky.
The F navy, which understood the situation immediately, started to fire into the air, but Aurora-20s dodged swiftly like seagulls.
They dropped two missiles before quickly ascending above the clouds. The heat-luring missiles danced in the air and disrupted the anti-air missiles originally intended for them.
“Rajah destroyer has been hit! The ammunition bunker is on fire! Ahhhhh!”
“… Kemira anti-submarine ship has been hit! The deck is collapsing!”
Millennion looked pale because too much information was being shouted at him. He couldn’t handle it all at the same time. His previous ease had been brutally crushed. He raised his trembling fingers and adjusted his crooked navy cap, but it couldn’t be fixed somehow.
“Sir …” The captain looked equally as pale as Millennion. His ominous feeling grew stronger.
But he couldn’t say the word “retreat.”
Just then, an unexpected incident happened again!
An orange-red arc pierced through the still waves and broke through the side of the Hamilton-class cruiser leading the fleet without warning, leaving a staggering hole! The hull was exposed by the large kinetic force and pushed it down into the ocean. Water flooded in and instantly submerged the ship that was regarded as the pride of Country F.
Millennion looked pale white. The previous conceit on his face could no longer be seen.
His adjutant, Rolando, had forgotten his language abilities completely. His pupils blankly zoomed into the calm ocean.
They hadn’t even seen the shadow of the enemy ship before they were pierced by shells.
Yes, this was an asymmetrical war.
…
But the asymmetrical advantage didn’t belong to them – it belonged to the opposing side.
“Run!”
His fictitious arrogance was crushed. Millennion used his last bit of courage to yell the word into the radio.
The Country F Navy began to disperse, turn around, and flee.
But the two Guardian-class frigates that already arrived at the border wouldn’t let them suceed. The raised electromagnetic pulse cannon repeatedly charged and fired. The orange tails under the influence of the earth’s gravitational force drew out a large curvature in the sky. Under the observation of the Sky Eye X1, it constantly rained down on the fleeing Country F ships.
The two Kilo-class submarines shifted around the edge of the battlefield. They used torpedoes to sink any ships attempting to escape, like fishing boats that dispersed fish.
The Country F Navy’s nightmare had just begun!
Pieces of steel appeared and vanished in the waves as did the cries and prayers hidden among the explosions.
Fires kindled on the surface of the ocean and matched the redness in the horizon.
In that instant, it was hard to distinguish where the actual sunset was.