Munitions Empire-Chapter 1162 - 1082 Styx Missile
"The radar has detected the target!" Under the slightly dim light, the technician sitting in front of the radar operation platform saw the flashing dot on the display.
The officer nearby excitedly grabbed the communicator and connected to the bridge: "Captain! Our fire control radar has locked onto the target! They are advancing at full speed! The speed exceeds 40 kilometers!"
"Check the status of the Styx Missile! Left rudder! Turn the broadside towards the enemy fleet!" The captain looked at the weapons officer beside him and loudly ordered.
"Left rudder!" The helmsman loudly repeated the captain’s order, forcefully turning the wheel, changing the course of the destroyer in the pitch-black sea.
"Beiyuan 29 has sent us a light signal! They are asking for the new course!" The signalman saw the light signal, grabbed the phone next to him, and shouted.
The staff officer immediately asked the captain: "Beiyuan 29 is asking for the new course."
"Broadside to the enemy! Course 95!" In the bridge of the Beiyuan 91 destroyer, the captain continued to order loudly: "Send it to Beiyuan 29 with a signal lamp!"
"Yes, sir!" The staff officer immediately grabbed the phone: "Broadside to the enemy, course 95!"
"Captain! The missile is powered up! The Styx anti-ship missile is ready against the enemy! The triple launch rack is in good condition, missile status... good!"
"First missile!" The captain continued to issue the order loudly.
"First missile!" The weapons officer repeated the command.
"Fire!" The captain shouted. frёewebηovel.cѳm
"Fire!" The weapons officer shouted into the phone as well.
"Fire!" Inside the vessel, the launcher pressed the red button in front of him.
"Whoosh!" With a whistling sound, a dazzling flare burst from the center of the ship, a flame detached from the warship and shot towards the darkness far away.
"Missile guidance initiated! Signal clear!" The fire control radar locked onto the target, the guide stared at the radar screen, seeing the missile just launched gradually approaching the enemy’s blip.
"Missile status stable!" Amid everyone’s anxious waiting, the guide continuously reported the missile’s status.
The missile had already completely disappeared from everyone’s field of vision by then; its range exceeded 40 kilometers, far beyond the naval guns.
Its flight speed was actually not as fast as the naval gun, so the whole flying process would be longer than the gun, and the 40-some kilometers still needed patience.
However, everyone who launched it knew that it was different from a shell because it could find its own target!
"Autopilot activated! Missile flight attitude good!" The guide received the signal sent back from the missile and excitedly continued to report.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the moment the missile approached the target. If successful, it would signify a new form of naval battle replacing traditional warfare.
This was a revolution, similar to when the Great Tang Group introduced the ironclad warship! From now on, the mode of naval warfare would enter a whole new phase!
"Entering terminal guidance state! Missile internal radar guidance device activated! All normal!" The guide breathed a sigh of relief as his task was roughly complete.
In the pitch-black night sky, at about 200 meters in altitude, a streak of light speeded by; in the violently turbulent air currents, the radar guidance head mounted at the front of the Styx Missile began its work.
The Styx Missile began actively emitting radio signals, scanning the area in front of it, using the radar reflections to adjust its tail rudder.
Its logic was crystal clear: the missile would prioritize attacking the warship with the most distinct target features, using the coordinates of this target warship to correct its flight trajectory.
The engine noise of the missile was very distinct in the pitch-black night sky; many Mirage Country sailors heard the strange sound.
They searched under the night sky and finally saw a meteor in the starry sky - a meteor speeding towards the direction of their fleet!
"Look! Quickly, look! What is that?" The Mirage Country sailors, unaware of something called an anti-ship missile, leaned on the railings, pointing at the meteor.
As they watched that ’meteor’ collide with the Great Southern Bay battleship amidst the roar of the missile engine, everyone was dumbfounded.
They even forgot to exclaim, just watching as the Styx Missile struck the towering bridge of the battleship, leaving an extremely exaggerated blaze.
The blaze instantly illuminated everything around, outlining the silhouettes of two nearby Mirage Country warships. Faces filled with terror were reflected in the flames, watching the bridge of the Great Southern Bay battleship engulfed in flames, unsure of what expression to show.
Shock? Fear? Despair? Bewilderment? Curiosity? Frustration?... In a moment, they had so many questions, not knowing where to begin.
An entire 500-kilogram warhead, processed into the most efficient shape for shaped charge anti-armor, created after the explosive formed a horrific jet, ensuring the penetration of over a meter of homogeneous steel armor.
Evidently, the bridge armor of the Mirage Country battleship was nowhere near a meter thick, with approximately 200 millimeters in these areas, 300 in the thickest places, and about 350 millimeters in the command tower.
But still, this battleship’s armor protection level was not much stronger than the frontal armor of a Type 59 main battle tank. Yet these armors faced an enemy much more formidable than the Army’s tank cannons.
The explosive jet swept through almost all compartments below the ship’s bridge, the massive damage even affecting the bearing structure, making the armor-laden command tower precarious.
Damage control personnel rushed towards the fire with hoses in hand amid the piercing alarm, only to find that nearly a hundred officers on board were rendered useless by the previous explosion.
That was the bridge! Below were some important command areas. The officers prepared for the decisive battle at dawn were densely packed here, now all turned into casualties... and corpses.
Due to the enormous shock, the captain of the Great Southern Bay battleship was also injured, but since he was in the bridge command tower, he narrowly escaped.
However, as he climbed back to his feet from the floor, he smelled a scorched odor, then was informed that all the compartments below were on fire, and they could not go down...
But the person feeling the worst at this moment was not the captain of the Great Southern Bay battleship, feeling like being roasted over a fire, but Shen Haifeng stationed in the fleet center, aboard the Shen Battleship.
He witnessed the big fire aboard the Great Southern Bay and now couldn’t stop thinking about how the enemy’s attack was initiated and where it came from!
Many warships reported their observations to him: the very piercing whistling sound and a meteor. But these pieces of information didn’t extend into anything solid for him.
Mirage Country’s navy also held night battle exercises, and they fired cannons at night, so Shen Haifeng certainly knew it was impossible for artillery shells to be seen so clearly flying through the night sky. Additionally, shelling wouldn’t produce noise that couldn’t be drowned out by the ship’s own noise!
"The night is unsafe!" This thought emerged in Shen Haifeng’s mind immediately, and he instinctively clenched his fist, barely suppressing the impulse to order an immediate fleet turn-around with almost all his strength.
If he led the fleet away now, the South Island would be done for, and if South Island fell, conquering the whole Mirage Country with the Tang Army using South Island as a base would be effortless.
Under such circumstances, blindly preserving the fleet was a slow death! Shen Haifeng was no fool; he was well aware of this.
"What should we do?" The chief staff officer beside Shen Haifeng asked his senior officer in a panic, his face pale.
Shen Haifeng gritted his teeth, deciding to continue advancing to probe: If this was just a coincidence, he, Shen Haifeng, even at the cost of losing one or two warships, must accomplish the task of annihilating the Tang Army’s landing fleet!
"Continue to advance! If the Great Southern Bay cannot keep up, let it fall behind! Extinguish the fire immediately! After engagement, the Great Southern Bay is very likely to become the targeted focus of Tang Army due to the blaze!" After stabilizing his emotions, Shen Haifeng showed his composed side and ordered.
"Yes, General!" The chief staff officer, also seemingly finding his backbone, stood at attention and saluted Shen Haifeng’s order.
But two minutes later, another Styx anti-ship missile flew towards them, once again hitting the Mirage Country Navy’s newest battleship, Northern Island, at the forefront.
This fast new battleship was among the most advanced in the Mirage Country Navy’s lineup, equipped with ten 400mm caliber giant cannons, and only entered service two years before the Shen Battleship.
Now, it was directly hit by the Styx anti-ship missile on the anti-aircraft gun area on one side, instantly destroying more than a dozen anti-aircraft guns. The fire spread near the smokestack, with damage control desperately ensuring that the battleship’s power system wasn’t affected by the conflagration.
With two ships struck and ablaze, even a fool knew this was the Tang Army’s new night battle weapon. Since the hit areas were all elevated, everyone knew it likely wasn’t a torpedo used by the opponent.
However, Shen Haifeng had practically no better solution; he could only deal with the situations occurring based on his known knowledge.
In utter helplessness, Shen Haifeng began issuing a series of commands that seemed inexplicable from the perspective of commanders in the Great Tang Empire Navy:
First, Shen Haifeng ordered faster cruisers and destroyers to move out to attract what was considered Tang Army’s firepower.
Secondly, he commanded the Mirage Country’s main fleet to commence zigzag maneuvers, seemingly attempting to avoid subsequent strikes.
Lastly, he ordered all cannons to be loaded, preparing for the night battle! Because he judged, the Tang Army’s main force was most likely not far in front of him.
