Munitions Empire-Chapter 1170: The two armies exchanged artillery fire 1090 times

As the sky brightened, Mirage Country’s Battleships began to raise their gun barrels, preparing to bombard the Tang Country’s Battleship Fleet.

Shen Haifeng saw hope. As long as he could break through the front of Tang Country’s Battleship Fleet, the remaining Tang Country Fleet were nothing but lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

Just as his excitement peaked, he received another exhilarating piece of news: the lookout reported that only two Battleships had been spotted in Tang Country’s Battleship Fleet!

"The enemy has only two Battleships! They have only two!" The staff officer was so thrilled he almost burst out laughing. Now they had an absolute advantage of six against two!

Even though half of their Battleships were damaged or sunk, Mirage Country’s Battleships still held the numerical superiority!

From Shen Haifeng’s perspective, Shen Hai’ang’s sub-fleet seemed to play a decisive role: Tang Army’s Commander must have been confused about the attack direction of Mirage Country’s Fleet, which is why part of their forces were redirected to defend the northern side.

He hadn’t even considered the possibility that Tang Country might truly have only two Battleships, because in his view, Tang Country surely had more!

"Enemy ships are firing!" Seeing flashes of fire from Tang Army’s Fleet in the distance, the lookout shouted nervously.

Soon after, about twenty seconds later, Tang Army’s artillery shells landed with a thunderous crash, striking the water in front of Mirage Country’s Battleship Xiangyun. The shells obviously fell a little short, but they were already dangerously close to Mirage Country’s Fleet.

The gigantic water columns made the over-40,000-ton Xiangyun Battleship appear diminutive by comparison; more than a dozen water spouts formed such a spectacular scene that even from Shen Battleship’s bridge, they were awe-inspiring.

But this grandeur was lost on Mirage Country’s Commanders taking the hits — they felt only tension and unease.

Tang Army’s artillery accuracy was frighteningly precise. Before daybreak, they had somehow accurately struck the South Island Battleship, and now they were targeting the Xiangyun Battleship with an initial salvo that was highly well-aimed.

"Their gunnery is very accurate!" The staff officer retracted his gaze from the distant water columns and spoke to Shen Haifeng beside him.

"Our Mirage Country’s gunners are also the elite of the elite!" Shen Haifeng remained confident in his artillery crews. Mirage Country, being a nation founded on naval strength, had always selected its Navy gunners from the best of the best, ensuring skills were top-notch.

"Order! All warships can open fire as soon as they’re ready! No need to wait for my instructions." After saying this, he picked up his binoculars and looked toward the distant Tang Army Fleet.

A few seconds later, the six 460mm caliber main guns on Shen Battleship roared to life, the fire erupting from the barrels momentarily blotting out the sky — an awe-inspiring and majestic sight.

Right after, Goblin Battleship also opened fire, and Mirage Country’s various Battleships unleashed their shelling in unison. The battlefield instantly resounded with the roar of cannon fire everywhere.

This was exactly the kind of naval battle Mirage Country’s Navy had envisioned — at last, every naval officer and sailor seemed to rediscover their familiar rhythm.

They had always been preparing for such a battle; they were intimately familiar with the scene before them. They focused entirely on loading heavy shells into the guns, and then using mechanics to push the propellant charge in as well. Following that, the breech block closed, and a lethal strike was launched toward the distant enemy.

When firing high-powered shells, the warship itself would tremble in response. The terrifying sound was earth-shattering, akin to death’s call echoing across the sky.

Far away, the enemy was doing the same, with both sides’ Commanders skillfully maneuvering their ships to dodge incoming strikes. Everyone was calculating precisely, trying to anticipate the turning nodes of the opponent’s serpentine maneuvers.

Ultimately, Mirage Country’s courageous Navy soldiers would triumph over their cunning and despicable enemies with their bravery and luck, claiming victory in this naval battle… This was the tale Mirage Country had told countless times up and down all ranks.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel. Across the battlefield, inside the hull of an East Bay-class Battleship, its interior filled with mechanical instruments and a few heavy-looking monitors, a bespectacled soldier was inputting command parameters into his operating machine.

Beside him, another soldier was, under complex verbal instructions, adjusting a parameter dial that resembled an overlapping Eight-Trigram Chart, aligning the inner and outer ring’s numerical scales precisely.

In fact, as he adjusted the dial, all the main turrets aboard the East Bay-class Battleships automatically pointed toward a remarkably precise direction. If no malfunctions occurred, these movements were entirely controlled by the warship’s fire control system.

This system’s calibration combined firing parameters provided by fire-control radar with correction data from earlier shell impact points, resulting in scientifically calculated adjustments far more reliable than relying on gunners’ experience.

The turrets housed complex stabilization equipment, similar to the dual-axis stabilization found in Tanks: they ensured that despite the ship’s sway on the turbulent sea, the elevation angle and orientation of the guns were unfalteringly precise.

The entire system guaranteed that the ship’s guns would fire at the exact moment the pitching and rolling motions due to the waves reached their calmest point, essentially transforming every gun into an isolated, stable platform.

Unlike other nations’ naval artillery systems, this system provided high attack precision, complemented by Tang Country’s technologically advanced artillery barrels, making Tang Country’s shells capable of hitting their targets with exceptional accuracy.

Moreover, Tang Army’s 380mm caliber main guns could reload without needing to reset the guns to a horizontal angle. While this technology wasn’t unique, many older Battleships weren’t equipped with it.

This gave Tang Country’s Battleships a remarkably fast firing rate, capable of firing a shell every 25 seconds! At distances between 15 and 20 kilometers, this firing cadence closely matched the time it took for shells to reach their targets.

In other words, as tangential water columns erupted near enemy ships, Great Tang Empire’s Battleships were already firing their main guns again! For a 380mm caliber main gun, this rate of fire was undoubtedly phenomenal.

The distance between the two Fleets continued to narrow. Mirage Country’s Fleet advanced diagonally closer to Tang Army’s Fleet, while Tang Country’s Fleet showed no intention of retreating.

At this moment, the two Fleets were approximately 18 kilometers apart. Tang Country’s Navy fired again, with over a dozen shells landing successively near the forward Xiangyun Battleship of Mirage Country’s Navy.

"They’re closer…" Shen Haifeng’s heart tightened as he watched the impact points of Tang Army’s shelling. He felt an ominous premonition: although Xiangyun Battleship had engaged in serpentine maneuvers, the opposing forces were still adjusting their impact points right onto its course.

As one of the leading warships in the fleet, Xiangyun Battleship couldn’t veer too far off course, as Mirage Country’s tactics relied on closing the distance. If it maneuvered outward, it would throw the whole fleet’s positioning off.

Aboard the bridge of the Shen Battleship trailing diagonally behind Xiangyun Battleship, Shen Haifeng nervously held his binoculars, observing the first salvo of shells he had just fired landing near Tang Army’s warships.

But "near" was relative — Shen Haifeng himself could only shake his head when seeing the results: most of the shells fell far away from Tang Country’s Fleet, so far that even in his binocular’s field of view, the distant water columns were barely discernible.

"Range too short! Correct the parameters!" Mirage Country’s artillery Commanders worked furiously to fine-tune their variables, striving to ensure the next salvo landed closer to Great Tang Empire’s warships.

Numerous soldiers were busy as well, operating secondary guns on the Battleships. As the distance closed further, these soldiers would unleash their ammunition through the secondary guns.

Confident in their numerical superiority, they believed that in close-range combat, they could overwhelm their adversaries with vast amounts of firepower.

Yet as they prepared for a second salvo, the missiles that had vexed them all night long appeared once again. Tang Country’s Destroyers fired missiles one by one to maintain an optimal electromagnetic environment, releasing a maximum of one or two missiles at a time, often directed at differing vectors.

This steady and methodical approach ensured an exceptionally high missile hit rate. As Mirage Country’s Navy had no concept of electromagnetic interference, Tang Army’s missiles maintained a success rate above 80%.

For missiles participating in combat for the first time, this operational hit rate was exceedingly high. Aside from the occasional missile malfunctioning and crashing into the sea, and some striking peripheral Cruisers or over-penetrating, the rest dealt significant damage.

Suffice to say, when it came to missiles, the armor on a Battleship was as fragile as paper — the penetration power was simply too great, far beyond what armor thickness could resolve.

If… Mirage Country’s Battleships were equipped with ceramic Composite Armor and more densely arrayed decompressing compartments, perhaps they would stand a better chance. But who would install over two meters of Composite Armor on a Battleship?

The Great Southern Bay Battleship at the rear of the formation suffered another heavy blow. While it wasn’t facing imminent danger of sinking, successive strikes had left it utterly battered.

Shells from the rear struck its main gun turrets, and the resulting thick, billowing smoke obscured its view. The entire Battleship resembled a massive firework floating across the sea.

Unfortunately, no one was paying attention to the Great Southern Bay Battleship anymore, because Tang Army’s next salvo included a shell that directly struck Xiangyun Battleship mid-maneuver. This single hit left Shen Haifeng aboard Shen Battleship’s bridge trembling with unease.

The two Tang Country Battleships opposing them displayed gunnery precision vastly surpassing Mirage Country Navy’s expectations. Shen Haifeng began to worry that if two more similar Tang Army Battleships appeared, his fleet might not be able to hold its ground.

Fortunately, the shell struck Xiangyun Battleship’s bow rather than critical areas, merely damaging the anchor chains without inflicting severe harm on the vessel.