Chapter 1166: Dawn is Approaching 1086
The Tang Army was, of course, expanding its victories—not only on South Island but also by continuing to attack the main fleet of the Mirage Country Navy at sea.
This ti, the offensive was launched by the 7th Destroyer Flotilla of the Great Tang Navy. Positioned on the flank of the Mirage Country fleet, their angle of attack was far superior.
As the frontline commander, Shen Haifeng had been waiting for about half an hour but still hadn’t received a reply from headquarters. His request to allow damaged warships to retreat had disappeared like a stone sinking into the sea, with no response at all.
The Great Tang Navy gave Shen Haifeng no ti to wait. According to their plan, they launched an even more ferocious assault about 150 kiloters from the landing zone.
One Styx Anti-ship Missile after another penetrated the Mirage Country Naval fleet. In just 15 minutes, two cruisers were struck, and a battleship was damaged.
Although the damage to the ships hit this ti didn’t seem particularly severe, certain details filled Shen Haifeng with dread.
These warships weren’t hit in any vital areas, which could be considered good news for the Mirage Navy—but every hit landed on the warships’ sides!
All the signs pointed to the presence of a Great Tang fleet on the Mirage flank, ard with those bizarre weapons that boasted terrifying accuracy!
Worried about the vulnerability of his fleet’s flanks, Shen Haifeng feared even greater losses from exposure.
From his perspective, the forward profile of a warship presented the smallest target area, while the side was significantly larger—and worse still, many parts of a ship’s side lacked proper armor protection, making them its weakest points.
Sure enough, while Shen Haifeng was fretting over more losses, a Styx Anti-ship Missile directly struck the side of the Mirage Navy’s Courage Battleship.
Although the Courage was an older battleship, it was still a crucial component of the Mirage Navy’s firepower.
The Courage Battleship, ard with 10 main guns of 350mm caliber, had a conventional turret layout: Turrets #1 and #2 were stacked at the bow, a third turret was positioned between two smokestacks midship, and Turrets #4 and #5 were stacked at the aft.
This arrangent allowed the battleship to protect more firepower with relatively short stretches of armored defense, considered a mature design. However, its design had one glaring issue—its magazines and boiler fuel were located in proximity beneath the gun barrels, posing a significant safety hazard.
Normally, few enemy weapons could penetrate a battleship’s thick outer armor to damage its internal structure and expose this vulnerability.
But the Tang Army’s Styx Anti-ship Missile easily pierced the Courage’s 200mm to 300mm main armor belt—as though it was paper.
The missile’s furious jet of heat tore through every compartnt in its path, ravaging them until its energy was fully dissipated.
With a 500-kilogram warhead and nearly supersonic penetration capabilities, the missile effortlessly delivered flas to the core of the battleship.
The Styx Anti-ship Missile that breached Courage’s side armor directly ignited its boilers… Flas erupted instantly, and the boilers, subjected to high pressure, exploded. The explosion then destroyed the watertight division, spreading fire to the midship magazine.
Before anyone could flood the magazine compartnts to contain the fire, the Courage Battleship’s magazine detonated! A massive explosion tore apart the middle of the vessel, twisting its structure and hurling its superstructure into the air.
One of the smokestacks collapsed entirely, while the smaller-caliber guns and the recently added anti-aircraft guns were all obliterated. A mont earlier, the battleship had been accelerating to keep pace with the fleet, but its speed now plumted to under 10 kiloters per hour.
With the side plating collapsing under the vibrations, seawater rushed into the ship’s interior. The Courage was now forced to slow down for damage control in a desperate attempt to save itself.
The strike demonstrated to Shen Haifeng that, while most Tang attacks targeted superstructures, they could still inflict catastrophic damage on a massive ship displacing over 30,000 tons at full load!
Yet before Shen Haifeng could even regret his situation, the outermost heavy cruiser of his fleet took a direct hit from a Styx Anti-ship Missile.
Flas soared imdiately, and the fire spewing from the cruiser’s smokestack terrified sailors on nearby Mirage ships.
Monts later, the cruiser nad Divine Tiger broke in half. It beca the first Mirage warship to sink that night, beating the second by a full ten minutes.
The Divine Tiger was not a new vessel to begin with, designed heavily in favor of speed, which allowed it to keep pace with the fleet.
However, its weak defenses and poorly designed ammunition stowage made its demise seem almost inevitable.
The ship’s elongated hull was nearly over-penetrated by the Styx Anti-ship Missile, but the missile fortuitously struck its smokestack and an ammunition magazine for its newly installed anti-aircraft guns. These compartnts acted as an additional layer of armor, allowing the Styx Missile to unleash its full power.
The ignited ammunition triggered a chain of explosions, transforming the cruiser into a spectacular fireball.
“General! If this continues, the entire fleet will be annihilated!” an anxious staff officer warned Shen Haifeng, hoping the commander would order a retreat. But such hopes were destined to be dashed.
Shen Haifeng sighed and replied, “Headquarters’ orders are that the fleet must head south! Maintain speed! Execute the orders!”
The staff officer froze for a few seconds before nodding heavily and returning to his station. anwhile, the Mirage battleship New Island had just been struck by a Styx Anti-ship Missile and was also ablaze.
As the Mirage Navy fleet pressed forward, more warships sustained damage. Their previously organized formation began to resemble a chaotic arrowhead
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